Metropolitan Area Of Monterrey Research Articles

Diluted density. Urban planning in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area

La Zona Metropolitana de Monterrey (zmm), en el norte de México, ha tenido un crecimiento expansivo y disperso en las últimas décadas. En treinta y cinco años, la ciudad duplicó su población y aumentó ocho veces la superficie del territorio (Secretaría de Desarrollo Sustentable, 2020). Como medida de mitigación y con el objetivo de repoblar las zonas dentro de la ciudad que perdieron población debido a la migración, se han impulsado regulaciones urbanas que liberan la densidad y los potenciales de edificación en algunos municipios; sin embargo, los esfuerzos son aislados y sin una coordinación metropolitana.

Efficient use of electric energy in homes through multi-agent systems, case study Monterrey N.L., Mexico

This article presents an experimental research whose objective is to verify through experimentation if the systems for air conditioning and lighting homes based on the use of Multi- Agent Systems (MAS) are more efficient than traditional systems in terms of perceived environmental comfort. by people and the electricity cost generated. The proposed methodology involved the development of a housing simulator, the definition of the “environmental comfort” variable, the description of the evaluated lighting and air conditioning systems, and the definition of the proposed experiments based on independent variables that could impact on the performance of the aforementioned systems. Based on the data obtained when conducting the experiments and taking the homes in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area as a case study, it could be observed that the use of MAS is a very good alternative to reduce the consumption of electrical energy in homes taking care of not sacrificing people's comfort, thus helping to reduce the ecological impact generated by electricity generation.

Chemical Composition of Bulk Precipitation and Its Toxicity Potential Index in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Northeastern Mexico

The rainwater chemistry within the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey (MAM) was studied during a one-year period (January 2019–January 2020) in seven sampling sites. The metal concentration of Zn, Fe, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Mn was analyzed in bulk samples and the toxicity potential (TP) was calculated for each metal. A canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was applied to identify the relationship between environmental variables and metals concentrations. An average of 26.6 ± 10 mm of rainfall was obtained. A mean pH of 7.2 ± 0.3 and a mean electrical conductivity of 177.8 ± 8.7 µS cm−1 were observed. The average concentration of metals in all sites follows a descending order of Fe> Zn > Mn > Cu > Ni > Cd. The university site shows the highest averages of Fe, Zn, Cu, and Mn, which is attributed to its proximity to the metallurgical industry. The TP value of Cd reflects a risk in all sites and Fe only for the Universidad, Obispado, Pastora, and Santa Catarina sites, using as a reference value the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Drinking Water Regulations and Mexican norm NOM-127-SSA1-1994. The CCA analysis showed that only Ni and Cd had a strong correlation with the environmental variable of relative humidity of air.

Occurrence and seasonal distribution of five selected endocrine-disrupting compounds in wastewater treatment plants of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico: The role of water quality parameters.

Five endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) were determined in four urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey (MAM) in two seasonal periods (winter and summer). The MAM, one of the most urbanized areas in Mexico, is characterized by high industrial activity and population density, leading to extensive use of several EDCs. In the MAM, ∼90% of urban and industrial wastewater is treated in WWTPs, where EDCs can be partially eliminated. In this work, dissolved levels of 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2), bisphenol A (BPA), 4-nonylphenol (4NP), and 4-tert-octylphenol (4TOP) in wastewater were determined. The EDCs' determination was carried out through solid-phase extraction (SPE) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). High EDCs levels (0.4-450ng/L) were found in the influents of WWTPs, while concentrations in the effluents ranged from 0.2 to 26.8ng/L, with E2, EE2, and 4TOP being the most persistent. The Spearman correlation analysis revealed the association between E2 and EE2 (r=0.4835, p<0.05), and between BPA and 4NP (r=0.5180, p<0.05), suggesting that these EDCs have similar sources. Also, E2, BPA, and 4TOP were positively correlated with the chemical oxygen demand (COD), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and total suspended solids (TSS) (r=0.4080-0.5694, p<0.05), indicating the association of the EDCs with the organic matter in the wastewater. The factor analysis confirmed the significant correlation of COD, BOD, TSS, temperature, and pH with the high occurrence of 4TOP during the summer. It was also confirmed that summer warmer temperatures favored the removal of BPA and 4NP in the studied WWTPs. Finally, the studied sites were classified by cluster analysis in three groups, revealing the impact that seasonality has on the behavior of the selected EDCs.

Eight years of homicide evolution in Monterrey, Mexico: a network approach

Homicide is without doubt one of Mexico’s most important security problems, with data showing that this dismal kind of violence sky-rocketed shortly after the war on drugs was declared in 2007. Since then, violent war-like zones have appeared and disappeared throughout Mexico, causing unfathomable human, social and economic losses. One of the most emblematic of these zones is the Monterrey metropolitan area (MMA), a central scenario in the narco-war. Being an important metropolitan area in Mexico and a business hub, MMA has counted hundreds to thousands of casualties. In spite of several approaches being developed to understand and analyze crime in general, and homicide in particular, the lack of accurate spatio-temporal homicide data results in incomplete descriptions. In order to describe the manner in which violence has evolved and spread in time and space through the city, here we propose a network-based approach. For this purpose, we define a homicide network where nodes are geographical entities that are connected through spatial and temporal relationships. We analyzed the time series of homicides in different municipalities and neighborhoods of the MMA, to observe whether or not a global correlation appeared. We studied the spatial correlation between neighborhoods where homicides took place, to observe whether distance is a factor of influence in the frequency of homicides. We constructed yearly co-occurrence networks, by correlating neighborhoods with homicides happening within a same week, and counting the co-occurrences of these neighborhood pairs in 1 year. We also constructed a crime network by aggregating all data of homicides, eliminating the temporal correlation, in order to observe whether homicide clusters appeared, and what those clusters were distributed geographically. Finally, we correlated the location and frequency of homicides with roads, freeways and highways, to observe if a trend in the homicidal violence appeared. Our network approach in the homicide evolution of MMA allows us to identify that (1) analyzing the whole 86-month period, we observed a correlation between close cities, which decreases in distant places. (2) at neighborhood level, correlations are not distance-dependent, on the contrary, highest co-occurrences appeared between distant neighborhoods and a polygon formed by close neighborhoods in downtown Monterrey. Moreover, (3) An elevated number of homicides occur close to the 85th freeway, which connects MMA with the US border. (4) Some socioeconomic barriers determine the presence of homicide violence. Finally, (5) we show a relation between homicidal crime and the urban landscape by studying the distance of safe and violent neighborhoods to the closest highway and by studying the evolution of highway and crime distance over the cartel-related years and the following period. With this approach, we are able to describe the spatial and temporal evolution of homicidal crime in a metropolitan area.

Short-Term Effects of Atmospheric Pollution on Daily Mortality and Their Modification by Increased Temperatures Associated with a Climatic Change Scenario in Northern Mexico.

Short-term effects of air pollution on the health of residents in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico were assessed from 2012–2015 using a time-series approach. Guadalupe had the highest mean concentrations for SO2, CO and O3; whereas Santa Catarina showed the highest NO2 concentrations. Escobedo and Garcia registered the highest levels for PM10. Only PM10 and O3 exceeded the maximum permissible values established in the Mexican official standards. Most of pollutants and municipalities showed a great number of associations between an increase of 10% in their current concentrations and mortality, especially for people >60 years. Different scenarios resulting from climatic change were built (increases of 5–25% in daily mean temperature), but only the increase of 25% (5 °C) showed a significant association with air pollutant concentrations and mortality. All pollutants and municipalities showed significant increases in relative risk indexes (RRI) resulting from an increase of 5 °C when people >60 years was considered. Results were comparable to those reported by other authors around the world. The RRI were low but significant, and thus are of public concern. This study demonstrated that the elderly is strongly threatened not only by atmospheric pollution but also by climatic change scenarios in warm and semiarid places.

Estrategias de autorregulación del aprendizaje y rendimiento académico en estudiantes de bachillerato

El objetivo del presente trabajo fue indagar acerca del empleo de las estrategias de autorregulación del aprendizaje y su relación con el rendimiento académico en estudiantes de bachillerato. La muestra fue de 97 estudiantes de bachillerato (70% varones y 30% mujeres) con edades comprendidas entre 14 y los 17 años (M = 15.29; DT = 0.07) del área metropolitana de Monterrey (México). Para examinar las estrategias autorreguladoras utilizadas por el alumnado se utilizó el Cuestionario de Autorregulación del aprendizaje; en cuanto al rendimiento académico, se emplearon las calificaciones otorgadas por las instituciones educativas participantes en la investigación. Se realizaron análisis descriptivos, pruebas t de Student, para conocer diferencias entre los sexos en cuanto a las estrategias autorreguladoras utilizadas, y de regresión lineal, para determinar cuáles de las variables de estudio predicen mejor el rendimiento académico. Los resultados mostraron que el alumnado utiliza con mayor frecuencia la estrategia metacognitiva y que esta variable es la que más predice el rendimiento académico. No se encontraron diferencias significativas en las estrategias autorreguladoras utilizadas en función del sexo. El artículo concluye con un análisis de los resultados y sus posibles implicaciones prácticas.

Explicit Modeling of Meteorological Explanatory Variables in Short-Term Forecasting of Maximum Ozone Concentrations via a Multiple Regression Time Series Framework

Statistical time series forecasting is a useful tool for predicting air pollutant concentrations in urban areas, especially in emerging economies, where the capacity to implement comprehensive air quality models is limited. In this study, a general multiple regression with seasonal autoregressive moving average errors model was estimated and implemented to forecast maximum ozone concentrations with a short time resolution: overnight, morning, afternoon and evening. In contrast to a number of short-term air quality time series forecasting applications, the model was designed to explicitly include the effects of meteorological variables on the ozone level as exogenous variables. As the application location, the model was constructed with data from five monitoring stations in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area of Mexico. The results show that, together with structural stochastic components, meteorological parameters have a significant contribution for obtaining reliable forecasts. The resulting model is an interpretable, useful and easily implementable model for forecasting ozone maxima. Moreover, it proved to be consistent with the general dynamics of ozone formation and provides a suitable platform for forecasting, showing similar or better performance compared to models in other existing studies.

Prevalence of anabolic steroid use in recreational users of gyms in the Monterrey metropolitan area

Prevalence of anabolic steroid use in recreational users of gyms in the Monterrey metropolitan area

Acute effects of fine and coarse particulate matter on daily mortality in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, México.

Background: The Metropolitan Area of Monterrey (MAM) is the third most populated city in Mexico. Ambien air pollution is a serious environmental problem in this city. Since fine particulate matter (PM2.5) measuring started, every year the measurements of particulate matter have more than double the annual mean values recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) to protect the human health.Objective: To estimate the effect of different particle size fractions on total and specific causes of mortality in the MAM, México, between 2004 and 2017.Materials and Methods: A retrospective ecological study was conducted, using time‐series analysis of daily total and specific causes of mortality, fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM2.5-10) particles. The data were analyzing using Poisson Linear Additive Models controlling for trend, seasonality, day of the week and meteorological conditions, on the same day and at lags 1, 3 and 7.Result: Daily mean PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 concentrations were 26.59 μg/m3 (SD=11.06) and 48.83 μg/m3 (SD=21.15) respectively. An increase of 10 μg/m3 of PM2.5 was associated with 11.16% (CI95%: 1.03-21.39) increased risk of respiratory mortality in children &lt;=5 years old and 6.6% (CI95% 3.31-9.37) increased risk of pneumonia-influenza in adults &gt;=65 years old. Weaker mortality associations were observed with PM10-2.5.Conclusions: Positive and significant associations were observed between exposure to fine and coarse particulate matter and daily mortality in the MAM´s population.

Does gender affect business continuity? An analysis with hierarchical modeling

Introduction: Gender differences, which are socially and culturally created, determine how women and men will perform and the more appropriate activities for each person. As cultural and social aspects emphasize the differences in men’ and women’s roles, culture and gender stereotypes may influence the difference in the probability of success of business headed by men or women. The objective of this article is to explore whether the impact of the determinants of micro-businesses continuity varies between men and women in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico.Method: We use hierarchical modeling with Bernoulli distribution using the sex of the micro entrepreneur as a variable in the second level.Results: Results indicate that sex moderates the effect of schooling, having the micro-business to exercise his or her career or profession, if the micro-entrepreneur is willing to change the business activity to a job with similar income, but with access to social security, and if the micro-business is in the manufacturing sector.Discussion: Women entrepreneurs can feel disadvantaged as entrepreneurs or make choices that emphasize traditional gender roles. As a consequence, the social and cultural restrictions faced by women restrict their participation and performance in the business world.

Análisis de la presencia de violencia institucional en el contexto escolar en el nivel medio superior

En la actualidad la violencia escolar se encuentra como una de las principales problemáticas que aquejan al sistema educativo en todos sus niveles. En los últimos años ha recibido una atención especial dado que ha puesto de manifiesto que escuelas e instituciones, no están exentas del entorno conflictivo que ha permeado en la sociedad mexicana desde hace algunos años. A pesar del creciente abordaje del fenómeno de violencia entre iguales, conocido como bullying en la literatura académica, pocos estudios se han interesado específicamente en la violencia institucional, misma que es ejercida en el plantel escolar por autoridades y docentes hacia los estudiantes, y sigue vigente no obstante los esfuerzos legislativos de las autoridades mexicanas para garantizar espacios educativos libres de violencia. Abordar los diferentes tipos de violencia que existen desde la ya muy conocida violencia entre iguales hasta la violencia institucional en el contexto académico y sus consecuencias en las personas que intervienen resulta necesario en un contexto social en el que las políticas educativas desarrolladas por las autoridades para combatir prácticas de violencia escolar han tenido resultados limitados. El presente estudio tiene como objetivo analizar a presencia de violencia escolar, sus tipos y principales consecuencias en una preparatoria publica del área metropolitana de Monterrey, N.L.

Mortality associated with fine and coarse suspended particles, in inhabitants of Monterrey Metropolitan Area

To estimate the mortality risk of fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM2.5-10) particles in the Metropolitan Area of Mon-terrey (MAM). A retrospective ecological time-series analysis (2000-2014) was conducted using total and specific causes of mortality, and daily mean PM2.5 and PM2.5-10. Generalized additive distributed lag models controlling for trend, seasonality, day of the week, meteoro-logical conditions and gaseous pollutants. Mean (SD) PM2.5 and PM2.5-10 concentrations were 26.59 μg/m3(11.06 μg/m3) and 48.83 μg/m3 (21.15 μg/m3). An increase of 10 μg/m3 of PM2.5 (lag 0) was associated with 11.16% (95%CI:1.03-21.39) increased risk of respiratory mortality in children <=5 years old and 6.6% (95%CI 3.31-9.37) increased risk of pneumonia-influenza in adults >=65 years old. The risk of mortality associated with the concentration of coarse particles was lower. Positive and significant associations were observed between exposure to particulate matter and daily mortality in the MAM ́s population.

Spatial and Temporal Distribution of PM2.5 Pollution over Northeastern Mexico: Application of MERRA-2 Reanalysis Datasets

Aerosol and meteorological remote sensing data could be used to assess the distribution of urban and regional fine particulate matter (PM2.5), especially in locations where there are few or no ground-based observations, such as Latin America. The objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application, version 2 (MERRA-2) aerosol components to represent PM2.5 ground concentrations and to develop and validate an ensemble neural network (ENN) model that uses MERRA-2 aerosol and meteorology products to estimate the monthly average of PM2.5 ground concentrations in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA), which is the main urban area in Northeastern Mexico (NEM). The project involves the application of the ENN model to a regional domain that includes not only the MMA but also other municipalities in NEM in the period from January 2010 to December 2014. Aerosol optical depth (AOD), temperature, relative humidity, dust PM2.5, sea salt PM2.5, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and sulfate (SO42−) reanalysis data were identified as factors that significantly influenced PM2.5 concentrations. The ENN estimated a PM2.5 monthly mean of 25.62 μg m−3 during the entire period. The results of the comparison between the ENN and ground measurements were as follows: correlation coefficient R ~ 0.90; root mean square error = 1.81 μg m−3; mean absolute error = 1.31 μg m−3. Overall, the PM2.5 levels were higher in winter and spring. The highest PM2.5 levels were located in the MMA, which is the major source of air pollution throughout this area. The estimated data indicated that PM2.5 was not distributed uniformly throughout the region but varied both spatially and temporally. These results led to the conclusion that the magnitude of air pollution varies among seasons and regions, and it is correlated with meteorological factors. The methodology developed in this study could be used to identify new monitoring sites and address information gaps.

La participación ciudadana y las acciones comunitarias en la prevención del delito. Caso Nuevo León

La prevención del delito es la herramienta adecuada y principal para la disminución de los índices de criminalidad en cualquier sociedad. En este artículo se hace una revisión sobre los modelos de participación ciudadana y las leyes vinculantes con la sociedad específicamente en materia de inseguridad, prevención del delito, mecanismos para la prevención, con los objetivos de determinar el grado de conocimiento de la población con respecto a la Ley de Prevención Social de la Violencia y la Delincuencia con Participación Ciudadana del Estado de Nuevo León y los niveles de participación ciudadana en la prevención del delito e identificar si las acciones sociales y gubernamentales han sido eficientes en la prevención del delito; en lo que corresponde a la metodología del estudio es de corte cualitativo, ya que se aplicaron entrevistas semiestructuradas. Los objetivos del presente estudio consisten en apreciar el índice de criminalidad y violencia que existe en el Área Metropolitana de Monterrey, Nuevo León, identificar el nivel de participación ciudadana para prevenir delitos e indagar cuales son las causas o factores que influyen en las comunidades del área Metropolitana de Monterrey, para accionar de acuerdo a la Ley de Prevención Social de la Violencia y la Delincuencia con Participación Ciudadana del Estado de Nuevo León, así como comprobar la existencia de acciones sociales impulsadas por instituciones estatales que conlleven al fiel cumplimiento de la Ley de Prevención Social de la Violencia y la Delincuencia con Participación Ciudadana del Estado de Nuevo León, para efectos de una efectiva participación comunitaria para la prevención del delito.

Modelo para el análisis de experiencias de innovación pública: el caso del centro de integración ciudadana

El artículo analiza la creación y desarrollo del Centro de Integración Ciudadana (CIC) de San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, México. Este es un esfuerzo creado por la sociedad civil local, que en conjunto con otros actores, que colabora con distintos órdenes y dependencias del gobierno mexicano para la detección y solución de problemáticas sociales en el Área Metropolitana de Monterrey por medio de una participación ciudadana masiva. A partir de un trabajo de análisis documental, entrevistas en profundidad y cuestionarios a actores clave, el artículo destaca que el CIC enlaza exitosamente a ciudadanos y autoridades, al recibir, validar, canalizar y dar seguimiento a los reportes ciudadanos recibidos por medio de redes sociales digitales

Determinantes de la probabilidad de robo a micronegocios en el área metropolitana de Monterrey

El presente artículo analiza los factores determinantes de la probabilidad de robo a micronegocios antes de que alcancen su primer lustro de actividades. Se estudian las características estructurales, localización y vecindario que experimentaron estos micronegocios en el área metropolitana de Monterrey durante la cohorte de enero 2016 hasta diciembre de 2017. Los participantes del estudio fueron 1,657 micronegocios que están inscritos en la incubadora de negocios del Centro de Desarrollo Empresarial de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. La información recabada se estudia a través del método de análisis de supervivencia y modelada con la regresión de riesgos proporcionales de Cox. Entre los principales hallazgos se encuentra que los micronegocios más proclives a sufrir un robo son aquellos que se encuentran en el sector de comercio debido a las características de vecindario. De igual modo, los micronegocios en los que se emplean medidas preventivas como mecanismos de seguridad presentan altos niveles de supervivencia. Adicionalmente, el riesgo de sufrir un robo difiere según el número de empleados en el micronegocio, observándose una relación inversa entre el tamaño (medido con el número de empleados) y la tasa de riesgo.

Time series forecasting of ozone levels in the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico

Based on the limitations of air quality models to forecast air pollution, statistical models are convenient and suitable tools to predict pollutant concentrations. This research work proposes a SARMA model to forecast ozone maxima concentrations in five sites of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico. The design of the model includes diverse novel features: meteorological variables were considered as predictors, short-term ozone concentrations (4 times in the day) were forecasted, and appropriated transformations of meteorological parameters were included. The performance measures applied to assess the SARMA model demonstrated that this statistical model is reliable to predict short-term ozone concentrations and it is consistent with the general dynamics of the ozone formation in the metropolitan area.

Automated SPE-HPLC-UV methodology for the on-line determination of plasticisers in wastewater samples

ABSTRACT An automated methodology (SPE-HPLC-UV) is proposed in this work for the determination of plasticisers in water samples collected at different stages of two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Bisphenol A (BPA) and 4-tert-butylphenol (4tBP) were chosen as model pollutants. The 33−1 fractional factorial experimental design (FFED) was used to determine more significant variables associated with the preconcentration procedure. The factors studied were the adsorbent composing the SPE membrane disk, sample volume and pH of the sample. Three SPE membranes disks were evaluated: (1) C18 octadecyl bonded silica (C18), (2) styrenedivinylbenzene‐extra clean (SDB‐XC) copolymer, and (3) styrenedivinylbenzene‐reversed-phase sulphonated (SDB‐RPS) copolymer. The preconcentration conditions selected were the SDB-RPS membrane disk as the sorbent, a sample volume of 30 mL and a solution pH of 7. HPLC-UV analysis was achieved isocratically using a C18 column with CH3CN:H2O, 60:40% v v−1, at a flow rate of 1.0 mL min−1. The linearity range was between 5 and 80 μg L−1 with determination coefficients (R2) higher than 0.9989. The limits of detection (LODs) were 0.77 and 1.46 μg L−1 for BPA and 4tBP, respectively. Furthermore, the intraday and interday precisions expressed in terms of relative standard deviation (RSD) were found between 2.5–5.0% and 4.6–6.0%, respectively. Excellent recovery rates (72.2–99.8%) were demonstrated by spiking known concentrations of BPA and 4tBP in the WWTP samples. The proposed methodology was successfully applied to determine BPA and 4tBP in water samples of two WWTPs from the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Mexico. BPA was found in wastewater influent ranging from 5.9 to 16.6 μg L−1, while 4tBP was detected in samples from different stages of WWTPs in concentrations ranging from 4.9 to 21.5 μg L−1.

Mexican Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale in Physical Education.

Basic psychological needs are an energizing state that, if satisfied, will produce an increase in confidence and a healthy motivational orientation that leads to wellness. Frustration of these needs is the opposite concept of satisfaction, which refers to the negative sensation experimented by an individual when he or she perceives that their psychological needs are being actively limited by the actions of the significant other. To date, we have not found instruments validated in Spanish that measure both the satisfaction and the frustration of basic psychological needs in the physical education (PE) context. Therefore, the aims of this study are adapting the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale (BPNSFS) to the PE context in Mexico; and examine its psychometric properties, structure, and factorial invariance by gender in a sample of fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students. This study included a total of 1,470 fifth- and sixth-grade students from elementary schools in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. The results support the reliability, validity, structure, and strict invariance of the sixth Mexican version of the BPNSFS in physical education (BPNSFS-PE). The BPNSFS-PE can be used to measure the satisfaction and/or frustration of the basic psychological needs of students in PE class and to perform comparisons between groups of boys and girls.