Day In Mexico Research Articles

Comparison of the Real Part of Dielectric Constants with Different Materials to Decrease the Emittance and a Virtual Dielectric Constant to Reproduce Reflectance

This paper analyzes how the real part of the dielectric constant affects the emittance or temperature in some materials. A two-layer configuration was implemented on a glass substrate, with theory and experiment, on a sunny day in Mexico. Furthermore, the transfer matrix method was used as theory, changing the material on the top of the substrate and below a film of zinc sulfide. As a result, for a larger real part of the dielectric constant, the emittance decreased in analytical results, and therefore a decrease in temperature was obtained in the experiment. Furthermore, a virtual dielectric constant was obtained from the experimental reflectance in a bilayer system reproducing this system analytically with one layer having different thickness. The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method was used to obtain the optimal length of equilateral pyramids on the surface of a flat film by changing the materials to improve the reflectance or decrease the emittance. It was concluded that for a wavelength of the incident source, optimal dimensions of the triangles on the surface exist.

GRADO DE COMPROMISO LABORAL PARA LA MEJORA DE UNA EMPRESA CONSTRUCTORA EN MEXICO

The construction sector is becoming more important every day in Mexico, due to population growth and its multiple needs for urban infrastructure, requiring for this purpose to have committed workers who allow the achievement of business objectives of development and growth. The objective of this research is to measure the degree of labor commitment of a construction company located in Mexico, with the purpose of influencing the improvement of the behavior of its personnel. First, a quantitative measurement was made and then the information was supplemented by qualitative interviews. A total of 30 workers that make up the company participate. The results indicate that the workers are moderately committed, because their participation and loyalty are not well defined. In addition, they have medium identification and belonging. Therefore, it is suggested to implement a strategic program for a culture of participation (empowerment), which includes greater initiative and autonomy for employees when sharing information and giving them greater control over their work performance, increasing trust, responsibility, and commitment to the company.

Necrotaboos and Political Afterlives in Social Justice Activism during Mexico's Day of the Dead

AbstractThis article shows how vulnerable communities use Mexico's Day of the Dead for social justice activism. Activists sustain what I call the ‘political afterlives’ of their victims through street altars and dark humour. I analyse this as a ‘necrosocial repertoire of contention’. The Day of the Dead can play an important role in human rights advocacy by insisting that the marginalised dead be honoured and cared for. However, disappeared people pose a challenge to Mexico's horizontal, or popular, ethics of commemoration and illustrate what I call ‘necrotaboos’, with new problems for the nation's inclusive spirit of commemorating the dead.

Intervention during the first 1000 days in Mexico.

Health systems and society are facing the growing problem of obesity and its accompanying comorbidities. New approaches to reduce these problems must be oriented to population groups in which long-lasting effects of interventions may occur. Biological processes occurring during the first 1000 days of life, which may be modulated by environmental modifications and result in phenotypes with differential risk for noncommunicable chronic disease, constitute an opportunity for interventions. The nutritional and general health conditions of pregnant women and the fetus, as well as toddlers, can be improved with interventions during the first 1000 days, offering pregnancy care, promoting breastfeeding, instructing on the use of complementary foods, and educating on the adequacy of the family dietary patterns for children. Evidence that interventions during this period result in promotion of children's growth and development, influencing the risk for development of obesity in infancy, is available. In this article, an ongoing program in Mexico City directed to offer continuum of care during the first 1000 days is described.

Contributors

Contributors

Sizing of a Composting Plant and a Reception and Storage Center for an Ecological Park in Mexico

The management of the 86,388.00 tons of solid wastes generated every day in Mexico is a complicated matter. In order to help solve this problem, sustainable buildings that include solid waste management plants and community awareness programs are being constructed. The objective of this research is to propose the building of a reception and storage center for storing the economically valuable wastes as well as a composting plant for treating the organic fraction within the installations of a sustainable park. The methodology is based on Laws, Regulations and Standards related to sustainable buildings, reception and storage centers and composting plants. From a generation study conducted in an ecological park, the volumetric weights of the generated wastes were obtained, the most abundant ones being polyethylene terephthalate (better known as PET), 38.75 kg/m3; food wastes, 110.5 kg/m3; and gardening wastes, 2443 kg/m3. PET wastes and plastics were added and a volume of 7.8 m3 in three months was obtained. This volume was used to design the four specific areas into which the reception and storage center was divided, each area being 2 meters long, 1.5 meters wide and 2 meters high, plus one meter for ventilation purposes. A movable partition was proposed in order to accommodate the eventual need of a larger space for a given type of wastes. As regard to the composting plant the method applied in the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) workshop - composting techniques was used, in which compost density is established at 250 kg/m3 and the daily volume of organic wastes (2.25 m3) was obtained to design a weekly mound being 1.5 meters long, 0.8 meter wide and 1.2 meters high, forming a 16-meter-long pile in three months. These areas will help promote awareness among the visitors.

A Contingent Valuation Approach to Estimating Regulatory Costs: Mexico's Day Without Driving Program

Little is known about the cost of environmental regulations such as residential zoning restrictions and recycling mandates that target households instead of firms, partly because of significant methodological and data challenges. We use a survey-based approach, the contingent valuation method, to measure the costs of Mexico City’s Day Without Driving program, which seeks to stem pollution and traffic congestion by prohibiting vehicles from being driven one day each week. To our knowledge, ours is the first study of an actual regulation to use this approach. We find that the Mexican program’s costs are substantial: up to US $103 per vehicle per year, about 1 percent of drivers’ annual income. Recent research has questioned whether programs for driving restrictions in Mexico City and several other megacities actually have environmental benefits. Our results suggest that whatever benefits these programs may have, they can be quite costly.

Modeling Ultraviolet Radiation for Mexican Conditions

Water pollution is an important problem in Mexico as it's in other countries around the world. The UV Solar Radiation can be useful for water detoxification, unfortunately now a days in Mexico doesn’t exist robust data bases about UV Solar Radiation and it's the first obstacle to develop projects like that. By other hand, the UV Solar Radiation is the responsible of several diseases like cataracts and melanoma and can detonate other illnesses. In Mexico, cataracts are considered a public health problem according with the health sector.In this work was developeda correlation between Global Radiation and UV Solar Radiation in Mexico City, taking advantage of the existing databases aboutGlobal Radiation. In order to find an appropriate model, it was necessary in first place to perform a statistical and seasonal analysis of Global and UV Solar Radiations, concluding that a linear model was the one approaching most between both variables. The results for Mexico City were that UV Solar Radiation is equal to 3.57% of horizontal Global Radiation. The next step was to study thecloudiness influence on the results obtained and for that reason, the clearness index was analyzed. Another result of this was that duringthesummer, when most of the days were partly cloudy, higher levels of UV Solar Radiation were reached. It was because the small water drops in the atmosphereactuatedas small lenses and this factor affects directly the UV Solar Radiation flow.For this reason this work aims to develop a UV Solar Radiation statistical model for mexican conditions and it will be validated using spectral models (SMART'S [1])and ground measures that will be taken with carefully calibratedradiometers and UV spectrometers.

Exchange Rate Market Expectations and Central Bank Policy: The Case of the Mexican Peso-US Dollar from 2005-2009

This paper examines two approaches characterized by different tail features to extract market expectations on the Mexican peso-US dollar exchange rate. Expectations are gauged by Risk-Neutral Densities (RNDs). The methods used to estimate these densities are the Volatility Function Technique (VFT) proposed by Malz (1997) and the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) approach suggested by Figlewski (2009). We compare these methods in the context of monetary policy announcements in Mexico and the US. We find evidence that US surprises, which are measured following Kuttner (2001), have significant effects on exchange rate variations. Around event days in Mexico and the US, the results also indicate that, although both VFT and GEV suggest similar dynamics at the center of the distribution, these two methods show significantly different patterns in the tails. Our empirical evidence shows that the GEV captures better the extreme values of the distribution around monetary policy event days given its unique procedure that allows for longer asymptotically well-behaved tails. This explains the main differences.

United States Male Students Who Heavily Consume Alcohol in Mexico are at Greater Risk of Travelers' Diarrhea than their Female Counterparts

The relationship between alcohol consumption and travelers' diarrhea has not been well studied. A cohort of US college students (n=171), who attended 2001 or 2002 summer educational sessions in Guadalajara, Mexico, were followed prospectively to examine the frequency of alcohol consumption and the development of travelers' diarrhea. More male students reported consuming >5 drinks/day of drinking while in Mexico compared to female students (p <.001). Males who consumed >5 drinks/day of drinking while in Mexico were more likely to develop diarrhea than their female counterparts who drank the same amount (79% vs. 46%; p=.035). No association was found between the development of travelers' diarrhea and the consumption of fewer than 5 drinks per day in Mexico. Non-drinkers accounted for only 8% of the population and had a relatively high attack rate of diarrhea (69%). This study suggests that males who drink heavily are at high risk for developing travelers' diarrhea and may be a group of people to target for education about the moderation of use of alcohol while traveling. Nondrinkers also deserve further study in larger numbers to confirm an apparently high attack rate of diarrhea and to explore what risk factors might be involved.

Iconography in Mexico's Day of the Dead: Origins and Meaning

This article analyzes the origin and meaning of artistic representations of death-principally skulls and skeletons-in Mexico's Day of the Dead. It challenges stereotypes of the death-obsessed Mexican by tracing mortuary imagery in the Day of the Dead to Two separate artistic developments, the first deriving from religious and demographic imperatives of colonial times, the second from nineteenth-century politics and journalism. Now generally perceived as belonging to a single, undifferentiated iconographic tradition, cranial and skeletal images of death have become virtually synonymous with Mexico itself.

The Day of the Dead, Halloween, and the Quest for Mexican National Identity

Mexico's Day of the Dead is a version of the widespread Roman Catholic feasts of All Saints' and All Souls' Days. This article analyzes how the holiday has come to be perceived, both within and outside of Mexico, as a unique Mesoamerican legacy, hence a symbol of the nation itself. Tourism and international relations have been largely responsible for this development. The recent spread of Halloween within Mexico has given rise to a symbolic competition in which Halloween is associated with the United States and the Day of the Dead with Mexico. The presence of Halloween symbols within Mexico is interpreted throughout Mexico as symptomatic of U.S. imperialist aggression.

Sugar, Colonialism, and Death: On the Origins of Mexico's Day of the Dead

Mexico's most famous holiday is, without doubt, the Day of the Dead. At the end of October, large numbers of foreign visitors descend upon Mexico to witness colorful—some would say carnivalesque—ritual performances and artistic displays. Decorated breads, paper cutouts, and plastic toys, most of them humorously playing on the theme of death, are evident everywhere. Sculpted sugar candies in the form of skulls, skeletons, and caskets suggest an almost irreverent, macabre confrontation with mortality. During November 1 and November 2, Mexicans clean, decorate, and maintain vigil over the graves of relatives. Tombstones and burial sites are adorned with flowers, candles, and food, all aesthetically arranged in honor of the deceased. Some Mexicans claim that the souls of the departed watch over their living relatives during these few days. Negligent family members await punishment, whether on earth or in the afterlife. This belief is invoked throughout Mexico to explain the substantial time, money, and energy invested in the two-day ceremony.

Manufacturing poverty: the maquiladorization of Mexico.

Based on interviews with social workers, attorneys, feminists, union activists, and factory workers, the author argues that the maquiladora free trade zone of Northern Mexico portends developments under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Today some 500,000 Mexican workers labor in 2,000 factories for $4.50 a day in Mexico's maquiladoras. Two-thirds of the workers are women, many single women who head their households. These women work in the new, modern manufacturing plants in industrial parks, but live in squalid shantytowns without adequate water, sewage, or electricity. On the job, workers face exposures to toxic chemicals and dangerous work processes. The Mexican government does not have the political will, the trained personnel, or the equipment to monitor these occupational health problems. While Mexico's Constitution and labor laws guarantee workers the right to organize, bargain collectively, and strike, in practice the state controls the unions and opposes worker activism. In the face of employer and state repression workers are forced to organize secretly to fight for higher wages and safer conditions.

Strenuous exercise electrocardiogram of top class swimmers in Mexico City.

The effect of strenuous exercise (60 knee bends in 1min.) on the electrocardiogram was studied in 8 top class swimmers in Mexico City (altitude 2, 240M.). The electrocardiographic changes during the 3 week Mexico training were compared with the responses in Tokyo.(1) Heart rate immediately after the exercise increased markedly on the second day in Mexico, and declined gradually. Heart rate before and immediately after the exercise remained at higher level during Mexico training than in Tokyo.(2) Average amplitudes of P waves before and after the exercise in lead II were taller during Mexico training than in control study in Tokyo, the most prominent P waves after the exercise being observed on the second day in Mexico. P pulmonale at rest was observed in 2 cases. Right axis deviation of P waves was observed in 3 cases. These changes in heart rate and P waves returned to the control value after coming back to Tokyo.(3) Amplitude of T waves in lead II decreased immediately after the exercise throughout the study. Decreased amplitude of T waves before and after the exercise was remarkable after 12 days of Mexico training.(4) The junctional depression of ST segment after the exercise was remarkable in the first week of Mexico training, and disappeared gradually in the following week.(5) Relative QT duration was increased 2 and 5min. after the exercise. Relative QT duration increased during the Mexico training both before and after the exercise.These electrocardiographic changes during Mexico training and anginal chest pain experienced during and after the race indicated the need for the careful health examination of the athletes.

Thirty years' progress in cardiological diagnosis

I WANT MY first words to convey to you my expression of gratitude for the honor of having been invited to give this talk to the members of the American College of Cardiology. It is also meant to express my deep gratitude for the high distinction bestowed upon me in appointing me as an Honorary Fellow of this College. This appointment is beyond my personal merits and for this reason I am doubly indebted. When such a distinction as this is awarded for other than mere formality and it is accepted with humility, it establishes between him who gives it and him who receives it a current of noble intellectual esteem which propitiates the strengthening of bonds of friendship. Tonight’s talk is not without difftculties for me. It is neither simple to find the subject nor the way to keep the attention of such a select audience. That is why it was with pleasure that I accepted Dr. Luisada’s suggestion one day in Mexico, when we reminisced on our first studies in cardiology in Paris, back in 1926, with the most brilliant representative of French cardiology of his time, Professor Vaquez. Vaquez was the most authoritative figure of clinical cardiology not only in France but in all of Europe. He was to the field of clinical cardiology what Lewis was in laboratory investigation. Luisada left for Italy; I spent another year with Laubry, the brilliant follower of \‘aquez, and upon my return I started the teaching of cardiology in my country, precisely in 1927. These memories which took us 30 years into the past suddenly brought up Doctor Luisada’s question: “Why don’t you talk to us of cardiology as it was practiscd and compare it with cardiology today. You who have witnessed the changes could tell us how much we have advanced.” Then he kindly added: “You are young enough to have kept up to date” and I replied with a smile: “Kind way of saying I am old enough to be able to tell about the beginning of this transformation.” I accepted the assignment gladly. There was another good reason to do so. Since a Mexican physician becomes today a member of this organization, there is no better occasion to say a little of the work done in his country by several investigators. Therefore, with a purely informative purpose, without any intention of overestimating our work or comparing it with that of others, I hope I will be permitted to outline the international aspect and to talk at the same time of the modest contribution of Mexican Cardiology. The transformation of these last 30 years has been impressive, but this is not because new continents ,have been discovered in the world of cardiology ; it is because the old ones have been filled and changed. There are, to be true, new lands previously unknown, but they are not the best nor the greatest yet. This is because

Notes on Amphibians of the Los Tuxtlas Range of Veracruz, Mexico

Recent collecting activity by naturalists in the small range of coastal mountains in southern Veracruz, known as the Los Tuxtlas, is verifying the suspicion that the region is of considerable zoogeographic significance, characterized by a high degree of endemism. This report, the first of two, deals with the amphibians secured during a preliminary sampling of the area,. principally on Volcin San Martin, the highest point in the northwestern half of the Tuxtlas Range. A later paper will list the reptiles and will contain a description of the region and a summary of collecting localities, as well as acknowledgments. The first field party, consisting of John Werler, Jack Reid, and Bob Roberts, was in the field from February 4 to 19, 1953. A second collecting expedition, formed by the same group and a fourth member, Donald M. Darling, spent 22 days in Mexico, from January 17 to February 7, 1954. On the second trip, collecting activity in the Los Tuxtlas was limited to 10 days, while excursions to Chiapas and to the mountain crest just west of Acultzingo, Veracruz, consumed much of the remaining time.

The Educational Activities of Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz in Sixteenth Century Mexico

The Little Pueblo of Tiripetío lies at the foot of a mountain near Morelia in the state of Michoacán. Its Indian name means “place of gold”, but the adobe houses with their straw roofs plus a general appearance of shabbiness belie such a title. Tiripetío, however, was not always a ghost town. In the sixteenth century it pulsed with life and activity. The life of the place centered about a convent of Augustinian friars, with its adjoining church, hospital and school. The name Vera Cruz is closely linked with this convent and school as with many other educational activities in sixteenth century Mexico. But like Tiripetío itself, which marked the scene of his early labours, the name of Alonso de la Vera Cruz has fallen into obscurity and today counts little, even with historians of his own Order. The recent work of Oswaldo Robles, a translation of one of Vera Cruz’s philosophic treatises, the Physica Speculano, (vd. The Americas, October 1944, under article: “Fray Alonso de la Vera Cruz and the Beginnings of Philosophic Speculation in the Americas”.) is truly a step in the right direction. It can only be hoped that the relatively settled political set-up in Mexico will open the way for a more thorough search for historical data on outstanding figures like Alonso de la Vera Cruz. The present article attempts, from the sources now at hand, to synthesize the many and varied activities in the field of education in which Vera Cruz engaged and to give an interpretation of the influence he exerted in the field of learning and in the development of the philosophic thought of his day in Mexico.

"Offrenda" on All-Souls' Day in Mexico

"Offrenda" on All-Souls' Day in Mexico