Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico Research Articles

Beyond barriers, towards diversity: how hybrid student conferences can drive accessibility.

The third International Student Symposium on Animal Behaviour and Cognition (ISSABC) aimed to address barriers for early career researchers, hosting a conference both in-person and online at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The conference, attended by 101 in-person and 79 virtual participants from 24 countries, featured 81 presentations, 29 posters, five plenary talks, three workshops, and a career development round-table discussion. A user-friendly website and digital platforms facilitated communication and real-time discussions between in-person and online participants. Transparent fund management, support from sponsors and societies, and sustainable practices ensured financial accountability and minimised environmental impact. The conference emphasised sustainability measures, including eco-friendly catering and local reusable mugs. Future organisers of similar events are encouraged to prioritise local representation, plan contingencies, select plenary speakers rigorously, and employ effective marketing. With this meeting review, we highlight how hybrid conferences like the third ISSABC, through innovative approaches and sustainable practices, enhance accessibility, inclusivity, and empower the next generation of scientists.

ANALYSIS OF AGROFORESTRY RESEARCH IN MEXICO: A BIBLIOMETRIC APPROACH

The world is currently confronted with a complex task involving the sustainable balance of food production and long-term consumption. One way to face this challenge is through agroforestry systems (ASF). At the national level, there is relevant information on the subject; however, few studies have attempted to analyze trends in agroforestry scientific development over time. In this sense, it was proposed that the number of ASF publications related to food security and natural resource conservation increase on an annual basis. The objective of the present study was to perform a quantitative analysis of agroforestry research published between 1990 and 2022 from Web of Science in Mexico with a bibliometric approach. There were 204 publications related to agroforestry systems, recording an increase of 86 % in the last decade. Among the scientific journals analyzed, Agroforestry Systems and Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine registered the highest number of publications and citations. The most frequent terms mentioned in publications over 32 years were the relationship between the effects of ASF on crops, traditional management, local knowledge, and the conservation of natural resources. The Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) is the institution with the highest number of research works on the subject, mainly by scientists Alejandro Casas Fernandez and Isabel Moreno Calles, both individually and collaboratively. In conclusion, the number of publications on ASF increased during the time period studied, primarily in the area of food security.

PC Puma: conectando a la comunidad

The goal of the PC Puma program is to integrate technology into the academic life of students and teachers, thus allowing Access to digital tools and content that strengthenthe teaching and learning process. Its initiative is in tune with the evolution of education and technology and is prepared to adapt to future changes and challenges that may arise. In addition, the program seeks to reduce the technology gap by providing wireless connectivity services and loaning computer equipment to those who do not have Access to them. By offering digital tools, the program helps the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico community to develop technological and digital skills that are fundamental for today’s society. In this article, the project is presented from a historical perspective, emphasizing the incorporation of the program in the different UNAM campuses, and highlighting its relevance in the Faculty of Medicine. Keywords: Connectivity; digital divide; PC Puma; ICTs; technological infrastructure.

Assessing the impact of free-ranging cats (Felis silvestris catus) and dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) on wildlife in a natural urban reserve in Mexico City

Conservation of natural ecosystems embedded in urban contexts is a big challenge because diverse anthropogenic factors continuously impact native biodiversity and ecological processes. One such factor is the pervasive presence of free-ranging predators, especially cats (Felis silvestris catus) and dogs (Canis lupus familiaris), which may severely affect local wildlife. The “Reserva Ecológica del Pedregal de San Ángel” (REPSA), located within the main campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), in southern Mexico City, is an important natural area that protects a peculiar volcanic spill ecosystem holding native and endemic biodiversity. In 2012, UNAM launched a control program of cats and dogs in REPSA that is still active. To assess the potential impact of cats and dogs on wildlife species, we used live and camera traps coupled with capture-recapture analyses to evaluate changes in the vertebrate community, particularly in the presence and abundance of two medium-size native mammals (Didelphis virginiana and Bassariscus astutus), before (2008–2009) and during (2017–2019) the control program. Results showed that the abundance of dogs decreased between the two periods, but not so the abundance of cats, whereas the native vertebrate diversity increased from the pre-control stage to the control period. Furthermore, we found a negative, non-significant relationship between the abundance of D. virginiana and that of dogs, and a positive, also non-significant relationship between the presence and abundance of B. astutus with the abundance of dogs. We conclude that the control program of free-ranging predators has been beneficial for the conservation of native vertebrates and recommend its continuation and enhancement.

Arrhythmias by Angelina Muñiz-Huberman

Reviewed by: Arrhythmias by Angelina Muñiz-Huberman Misha Klein ANGELINA MUÑIZ-HUBERMAN Arrhythmias Trans. D. P Snyder. Houston. Literal Publishing / Hablemos Escritoras. 2022. 167 pages. IN TITLING HER COLLECTION of essays Arrhythmias, Mexican poet, novelist, and essayist Angelina Muñiz-Huberman signals to the reader that this collection of thirty-two essays is highly irregular. The theme of arrythmias pulses through these essays, both explicitly in the repetition of the word itself throughout the book and implicitly in the varying lengths and modes of these musings. Recently inducted into the prestigious Mexican Academy of Language (where she now occupies the seventh chair of the exclusive thirty-six-chair literary society), the eighty-six-year-old Muñiz-Huberman is professor of medieval and comparative literature at the renowned Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City. Muñiz-Huberman has also just received an honorary doctorate from UNAM in recognition of her prolific lifetime of work, which includes fifty books of poetry, essays, novels, and translations. The essays in this volume hint at her own early peripatetic life, a life that paralleled, intersected, and shadowed the lives of philosophical and literary giants of the twentieth century, a century punctuated (arrhythmically) by wars and exiles that demarcated and, in many cases, defined the lives of those who lived and died along the way. Muñiz-Huberman's own parents fled Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and she was born at the very end of 1936 in Hyères in southern France. From there, the family was forced to flee again, first to Cuba in 1939, before finally settling in Mexico City in 1942. The reader catches glimpses of these incidents and traumas in fragmented accounts and oblique references, sometimes clearly autobiographical [End Page 90] and sometimes refracted through the lives of twentieth-century prophets, poets, and philosophers, many of whom were Jewish. Drawing on the Jewish themes of exile and mysticism that she is credited with introducing to Mexican literature, as well as classical Western mythology, art, and music, Muñiz-Huberman is an extraordinarily erudite scholar. These meditations on death and other passages are a retrospective journey through the memories of an accomplished woman of letters late in life, confronting aging and the "proximity of death." However, this is far from a standard chronology of a singular life or accounting of a fraught century. These poetic, jagged, fractured contemplations reject order and convention. Elements of Muñiz-Huberman's biography appear in these essays, sometimes in first person, sometimes more distantly, occasionally displaced onto other historical figures as repositories of memory, all filtered through travels and crossings, loss, and (inevitably) trauma. She muses on death, exile, and wandering, through biographical and autobiographical hints and sketches, both her own as well as those of the philosophers and writers who populate these essays. In referring to luminaries by first name, she creates intimacy: Walter (Benjamin), Gershom (Scholem), Hannah (Arendt), Simone (Weil), and so many others. She also ponders the fate of lesser-known witnesses: journalists and photographers who were reunited in death across decades while documenting the human atrocities of "Spain. Vietnam. Suez." (She personalizes the tragedy of the ill-fated ship, the St. Louis, in the figure of the young poet, Leo Baum, who would rather plunge to his death in the port of Havana than return to Europe and its death camps.) They are connected to Muñiz-Huberman by the repetition or simultaneity of their experiences across time and across the ocean. These ocean crossings are layered onto those of Greek mythology, while the meanderings of exiled Jewish writers recapitulate the diasporas of their ancestors. In recuperating their stories, she recovers fragments of their memory, lost in death. However, Muñiz-Huberman is ambivalent about memory, referring to it as a hindrance, a prison sentence, an "unbearable accumulation" but also a "necessary guide," one that is unifying: "all memories are one exalted memory." Syncopated throughout these essays, arrhythmia serves as both metaphor and method. Her writing starts and stops, hiccups and sighs, with sentences and paragraphs that sometimes barely qualify as such, orchestrated by one for whom language is the very heart of...

Mexican Colorectal Cancer Research Consortium (MEX-CCRC): Etiology, Diagnosis/Prognosis, and Innovative Therapies.

In 2013, recognizing that Colorectal Cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of death by cancer worldwide and that it was a neglected disease increasing rapidly in Mexico, the community of researchers at the Biomedicine Research Unit of the Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) established an intramural consortium that involves a multidisciplinary group of researchers, technicians, and postgraduate students to contribute to the understanding of this pathology in Mexico. This article is about the work developed by the Mexican Colorectal Cancer Research Consortium (MEX-CCRC): how the Consortium was created, its members, and its short- and long-term goals. Moreover, it is a narrative of the accomplishments of this project. Finally, we reflect on possible strategies against CRC in Mexico and contrast all the data presented with another international strategy to prevent and treat CRC. We believe that the Consortium's characteristics must be maintained to initiate a national strategy, and the reported data could be useful to establish future collaborations with other countries in Latin America and the world.

Didactic prototype for the implementation of the STEAM methodology in university electronics courses using the Arduino platform with a constructivist approach to learning

In this paper a didactic prototype for the implementation of the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) methodology based on the scientific method and using the Arduino platform for use in the electronics courses offered by the Physics Department of the Faculty of Sciences of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) is proposed. The implementation of the STEAM methodology in the electronics courses was carried out under a constructivist approach to learning through the development of an electrical prototype defined by the students and using Arduino. This proposal aims to implement training processes with technological tools that encourage the development of thinking skills, deductive reasoning, logic, inquiry, design, and optimization among students through observation, induction and questions, hypotheses, analysis, and experimentation using the Arduino platform. Arduino is a technological development tool that allows solving problems in different contexts and situations in a simple and affordable manner.

Surviving Racism and Sexism in Academia: Sharing Experiences, Insights, and Perspectives

It is widely acknowledged that gender bias is pervasive in all levels of academia, affecting all women regardless of social identity (Llorens et al. 2021). Despite many resources invested into diversifying the workforce in ecology, little has changed in terms of retention of underrepresented minorities (URM; Miriti 2020, Cheng et al. 2021). This is especially true for groups at the intersection of different identities, such as women of color or indigenous women. The bottleneck for retention in academia seems to be the lack of minority representation at the higher ranks: increasing the diversity of incoming students without diversifying the faculty body limits URM students' sense of belonging and their ability to envision themselves pursuing successful careers in Ecology (Miriti 2020, Cheng et al. 2021, Berhe et al. 2022). Unless we fix the institutional discrimination against faculty of color and/or underrepresented backgrounds, especially women, lift the barriers for their recruitment, retention and advancement, and recognize and reward the extra efforts they devote to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, there is little hope for improving diversity in the sciences. If we are not able to make this improvement, we also forfeit the benefits that come with it, such as the surge in creativity and innovation through diverse and multicultural perspectives (Freeman and Huang 2014), and an improved, more humane climate within departments. Motivated by the need to rectify this problem, we organized a symposium (Symposium 4, held at the 2021 ESA Annual Meeting), to which we invited women ecologists at different stages of their careers to share their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives on how impactful change can be made to promote women of color, and URM in general, in the academic workforce. The presentations by these scientists highlighted how training students to do research can be used for institutional assessment and for detecting bias, how academia can be transformed into a progressive lighthouse to inspire society, how it is essential to give a voice to URM scientists who have been wronged and to capitalize on the power of personal (counter) narratives, and how to educate URM on protecting themselves from micro- and macro-aggressions in their workplace. Research on gender bias in ecology and biogeography can be used as a tool for mentoring young scientists. In her talk, Ana Santos from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid presented research on inequality, which she developed with four students. These student projects illustrated how and why awareness on gender bias should not only be raised among publishing agencies, university authorities, or funding agencies, but also among the students themselves as they represent the future of science and academia. The first student project Ana presented was conducted by Lara Rio Moreno, who collected data from an international biogeography journal and found that the majority of first and last authors were male. She also analyzed these trends through time and found that the number of papers published by both males and females are increasing but less so for female authors. Ana then described the findings of a second student, Sheyla Pindado Sanz-Cruzado, who studied how researchers perceive the impact of maternity and paternity on research careers in Spain (Sanz-Cruzado et al. 2021). She found that researchers tend to view both maternity and paternity as detrimental to scientific careers, but particularly so for women's careers. She also found that women shoulder most of the child care duties compared to men. The third project, by Bárbara Borgio Royo, was on gender balance in Universities in Spain, Finland, and the United Kingdom (UK). She found that the universities in the UK had the lowest percentage of women working, and that this was particularly true at the highly ranked institution she was a student of. The average percentage of women staff was particularly low among full professors of the three countries. The fourth student, Erika Barahona Muzo, studied gender balance in journal editorial boards in Ecology. She found that while the majority of the editors were men, the percentage of women editors increased with the journal's impact factor. Collectively, the four studies clearly show that gender bias in academia is pervasive at different levels, from authorship to the composition of editorial boards, and contingent on the job position. Research on gender balance in academia is important, she continues, not only to understand the magnitude of the imbalance and its pervasiveness, but also as an important tool for mentoring students and bringing awareness to future generations. Ana's future directions include bringing more examples of research performed by women into the classroom and also fostering students to organize seminars focused on women in ecology. Identifying bias Identifying bias can be complicated because it can be difficult to distinguish from constructive criticism. However, Priyanga's advice is to look for recurring patterns. Identifying bias is a comparative process where one must establish unequal treatment based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. For instance: Are male students receiving more attention and guidance, more time to talk in meetings or more consistent praise? Are they getting better career advice and better recommendation letters? Protecting oneself Learning how to respond and not to react is key. Reactions are immediate and based on emotions rather than reason. Those who react often do not consider long-term impacts of words or actions, which can harm them in the end. Responses, in contrast, come more slowly are more rational than emotional. They evaluate long-term effects and the desired outcome. They allow one to identify the problem, assess the damage, and then formulate a plan of action. Learning about others' experiences is another way to protect oneself, which can be done by reading narratives by female and minority scholars such as news stories, journal articles, and institutional reports on biases. It is crucial to formulate a plan of action to protect oneself. First, document the incident immediately by writing it down. This forces one to think carefully of what happened, what it means, and what to do next. The biggest challenge in establishing bias is the lack of independent corroboration. So, it is important to email the narrative to yourself or a trusted friend or mentor. It is a big mistake not to share these narratives because not sharing can lead to “They said, I said” scenarios. Finally, think about the desired outcome. Obviously, one would like the bias to stop, but it is also important to think about alternative outcomes. Reporting the bias and requesting redress may not always be possible if it is too traumatic or if there is too little evidence, as cases of abuse are often dismissed due to insufficient evidence. Not taking action, on the other hand, could mean living with the consequences: past experiences can lead to posttraumatic stress, and ongoing bias can lead to stress and anxiety. Either scenario means significant costs to the victim in terms of time, energy, and emotional trauma. Thus, it is important to safeguard one's mental and physical health. To do so, Priyanga recommends keeping a journal, seeking therapy or counseling, mindfulness, or pursuing any activities that bring one joy. Again, reading about the experiences of others and learning about the actions they have taken to safeguard their mental, physical, and emotional health can be helpful. But, the most important thing of all, Priyanga says, is to excel at your work: “Your greatest victory will be to prove your detractors wrong!” Making change One person can do relatively little, but there is strength in numbers. Documentation of multiple incidents may help establish recurrent patterns and may lead to collective action. This can begin by contacting institutional resources such as equity advisors, campus counseling and psychological services, or discrimination prevention offices. Change comes slowly, but every little bit of effort counts and these little efforts help empower oneself and heal wounds. Priyanga says to remember that you are not alone: “It is a collective struggle: others have been there before, and others will be there after you.” Maria Miriti, from The Ohio State University, discussed the importance of educating and advocating for inclusivity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Her first key point was the need to recognize that scientific contributions are not independent of identity. We frequently disregard cultural and societal influences on scientific practice. However, culture has a major influence on whose work is recognized and what scientific questions are worth pursuing. Acknowledging cultural influences on ecological knowledge in teaching will help to recognize the many ways in which our understanding of nature is biased, and how such biases limit student retention in ecology and environmental disciplines. For instance, disregarding color means disregarding racialized experiences, which leads to continued discrimination. Race matters, and even though everyone may have to suffer micro-aggressions, the outcomes are quite distinct, most strongly in response to race. Furthermore, these outcomes are exacerbated by a rewards system. Teaching, research, and service are the metrics of hiring and promotion, with research productivity being the most valued. Black faculty, however, are two and a half times more likely to report stress due to micro-aggressions, which negatively impacts their research productivity. Studies also show that racial minorities in STEM, especially women of color, have their research and service undervalued and suffer greater disrespect from students compared to their white colleagues. One activity that is important for developing effective interventions for Black scholars, in particular Black women, is to listen to and account for personal stories as storytelling, which can reveal elements of departmental climates that are difficult to capture in quantitative studies. This highlights the urgent participation of everyone, not just the marginalized, to find effective interventions to eliminate disparities and support diverse participation. Currently, a PI with the Comisión Nacional para el Conocimiento y Uso de la Biodiversidad, Alicia's presentation examined gender roles and stereotypes during three distinct periods of her academic journey: as a student, a teacher, and a principal investigator. First, she detailed her social service project as a student in rural communities where the majority of landowners were male. Next, she discussed her experience in teaching and working toward preventing stereotypes, after completing her Ph.D. Finally, she spoke of her current role as the PI of a transdisciplinary research program in forest management, which involves very few women. As an undergraduate student attending the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Alicia was required to perform community service related to her area of study while taking a natural resources course. The objective was to help to incentivize alternatives for cattle raising in low-income rural communities to avoid deforestation. The course's students were mostly women from Mexico City, so one of their main challenges was interacting with the predominantly male landowners. The students were trying to implement payment for environmental services in exchange for the protection of forest remnants, but landlords were reluctant to work with the students. Their professor, Julia Carabias, had to intervene and speak with the landowners; she insisted that if they wanted to participate in the program they would need to work with her female students. The landowners eventually acquiesced and as a result of this collaboration, ecotourism businesses belonging to the community were also implemented as an alternative to cattle raising. An unexpected result was that, after witnessing Alicia and her colleagues' efforts, women from the community began taking a more active role in directive positions within their lands, changing the local gender dynamics. After receiving her Ph.D., Alicia started teaching a course on bioinformatics for ecology and evolution for graduate students back in Mexico City. The challenge with teaching her course was the stereotype that computer programming is a male prerogative. To combat this false narrative, she started her class by showing data from surveys answered by current and past students demonstrating that both women and men attending the course started programming on a similar level, and reached similar skills at the end. She also asked students to read on the history of bioinformatics and programming, showcasing successful women programmers and how the male programmer stereotype arose. Since she started teaching this course in 2015, she has found no statistical difference in the performance of female and male students. Currently, Alicia is a PI on a transdisciplinary project on the forest surrounding Mexico City that is degraded by fire and pollution. Her research aims to use natural variation from the trees for the restoration of the forests while involving women in forest conservation. Her approach to combating sexism in the classroom, in academia, and in the field is following the same steps we take to do our research: (1) take the problem seriously, (2) read copiously about it, (3) collaborate with experts on the subject, (4) think outside the box, (5) try, fail, and repeat until succeeding, and (6) share experiences broadly. Sustaining motherhood and careers in profoundly masculinized science sectors still constitutes a huge challenge for women. This was one of the points most strongly emphasized by the speakers during our live discussion. In fact, it has been shown that parenthood disproportionately impacts women's careers in STEM: female researchers dedicate more time toward parenting than their male counterparts, especially when the children are young (Sanz-Cruzado et al. 2021), causing 43% of new mothers to leave full-time STEM employment, compared to 23% of new fathers (Cech and Blair-Loy 2019). The unequal parenting burden at home only adds to the many academic disadvantages faced by women in the workplace, including unclear institutional maternity policies, nonextension of contracts, and the lack of maternity friendly work arrangements (Eren 2022). Such a strenuous obstacle course demonstrates how unfeasible it is for new mothers to sustain full-time careers in STEM. This struggle for existence in academia is obviously exacerbated for single or widowed mothers, who for that reason should have a protected status instead of being marginalized, as is often the case. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem: Editors of several journals noted a decline in the number of papers submitted by women compared to a 50% increase in submissions by men (Caruzo et al. 2020, MacArthur et al. 2020). Considering that most women become mothers during their working lives, STEM fields must do more to retain women with children and those considering motherhood. In other words, women should not have to choose between their families and their careers. Initiatives which support paid leave, flexible work hours, reduced class loads in academia, grant pausing, and no-cost grant extension during maternity leave are necessary to increase inclusivity and diversity in science and the retention of trained and experienced women in these male-dominated professions in STEM (Guatimosim 2020). Another challenge that women face in male-majority institutions is the fear of speaking up against discrimination. This results from the perception that the institution will not change, or that retaliation will occur; retaliation that can end a career (Rolison 2000). Although changes tend to happen slowly, institutional policy initiatives can be created to develop opportunities for women to voice concerns. These policies need to be publicly prominent, clear, and practical to amend this fear. Such policies include acknowledging the critical contributions of women, providing the freedom to openly speak up against discrimination, and establishing effective means of protecting those who speak up from retaliation. Institutions can also create affinity groups where women can feel comfortable communicating their issues in a safe environment and gain a support system. The issues raised in these groups can then be brought up to the managers by the heads of each affinity group for managers to get involved and address the concerns that women are facing in their workplaces (Gaines 2017). These solutions can ultimately foster a community of representation and support for women to speak up against discrimination. The main goal of our symposium was to discuss the purported advances made by academic institutions toward solving one of our age's most pressing issues: the reparation and inclusion of groups historically marginalized by scientific communities, especially women of color. All of our speakers' testimonies reflect that, although many institutions are increasingly concerned about diversity, equity, and inclusion, underrepresented minorities (URM) still struggle with insurmountable obstacles to pursue their careers in ecology, especially women of color. Even though our speakers had different racial and cultural backgrounds and were at different stages of their careers, there were common themes in all of their experiences. They all emphasized that groups that are at the intersection of multiple overlapping identities are particularly vulnerable, with these overlapping identities leading to multiple interactive effects on the way they experience and react to pressure and aggression in the workplace. Moreover, during the symposium's live discussion session, our speakers highlighted the impact of maternity on the progression of their scientific careers as well as the importance of sharing experiences broadly, teaching students how to navigate hostile departmental environments, and leading by example with the dual goal of protecting oneself from bias and working toward eradicating it in the foreseeable future. There is still a long way to go to achieve greater inclusion of URM in academia, but our speakers have presented a set of brilliant and creative paths forward. These insights provide an invaluable guide not only to survive and navigate a gender- and racial-biased world in the short term, but also to transform it in the long run. At the same time, we cannot emphasize strongly enough that the scientific community as a whole should be responsible for protecting URM and strive for an equal workplace, as opposed to relegating the burden to the already overstrained victims of abuse and discrimination. Little progress in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion can be made without first accounting for the multiplicative effects of overlapping identities. Gender bias impacts all women, but especially those whose gender intersects with other identities that are often discriminated against, such as race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disabilities (Armstrong and Jovanovic 2015, Guatimosim 2020, Llorens et al. 2021). Effectively tackling these issues of intersectionality requires both structural and cultural change. Academic journals, for example, need to pay attention to potential sources of gender bias in order to be able to identify ways to mitigate them. One way to improve accountability and transparency is to make demographic information regarding authors and reviewers publicly available. Some journals are publicly releasing statements in support of diversity in authors, citations, and/or referees. For example, Cell Press is encouraging authors to evaluate their citation list biases, as well as to ensure diversity in their research participants, authors, and collaborators (Sweet 2021). Initiatives like these might help researchers to think about their own biases. Institutions that can see DEI initiatives as a long-term investment, instead of a cost, have much to gain. In science, gender diversity can drive discovery and innovation through diversity in research teams, methods, and questions (Nielsen et al. 2018). On the other hand, discrimination in the workplace can lead to low productivity and affect self-esteem and morale (Newman 2014, Nielsen et al. 2018). Traumatic experiences can begin in the undergraduate stage (Settles et al. 2016) and will compound throughout a woman's career. Women in STEM doctoral programs, for example, have to experience aggressive communication, dismissive treatment, and micro-aggressions in their daily interactions with members of their departments (Cabay et al. 2018). The experiences of our speakers highlight the fact that mistreatment of women continues after graduate school and throughout their entire careers. As a result, there is increased burnout and psychological damage of female researchers (Pascoe and Richman 2009, Hall et al. 2015). Gender equality in STEM has the potential to lead to gains at the social and economic levels (Shannon et al. 2019), but the lack of safe environments for women causes a great waste of human potential. Moreover, as new generations become increasingly aware and concerned about discrimination issues, institutions that insist in turning the blind eye on the matter will fatally lose significance and be obfuscated by the ones that champion DEI causes.

Strikes, Stoppages, Occupations

Abstract After the repression of the student movement in 1968, it was feminists who collectively took over public spaces for the first time in the 1970s. In recent years, two of the most representative occupations have taken place at the Angel of Independence in Mexico City and the Department of Philosophy and Literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Over the past fifty years, feminist political strategies have proliferated, exerting a significant, direct impact on the visual regime and the disappropriation of cultural patrimony. Drawing on the voices of different generations of feminists, this article explores the political meanings that striking, work stoppage, and occupation have acquired, and some of the visual and narrative political strategies (including strikethroughs, graffiti, and mural-making) that serve them.

Mexican agricultural soil dust as a source of ice nucleating particles

Abstract. Agricultural soil erosion, both mechanical and eolic, may impact cloud processes, as some aerosol particles are able to facilitate ice crystal formation. Given the large agricultural sector in Mexico, this study investigates the ice nucleating abilities of agricultural dust collected at different sites and generated in the laboratory. The immersion freezing mechanism of ice nucleation was simulated in the laboratory via the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) microorifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI) droplet freezing technique (DFT), i.e., UNAM-MOUDI-DFT. The results show that agricultural dust from the Mexican territory promote ice formation in the temperature range from −11.8 to −34.5 ∘C, with ice nucleating particle (INP) concentrations between 0.11 and 41.8 L−1. Furthermore, aerosol samples generated in the laboratory are more efficient than those collected in the field, with T50 values (i.e., the temperature at which 50 % of the droplets freeze) higher by more than 2.9 ∘C. Mineralogical analysis indicated a high concentration of feldspars, i.e., K-feldspar and plagioclase (>40 %), in most of the aerosol and soil samples, with K-feldspar significantly correlated with the T50 of particles with aerodynamic diameters between 1.8 and 3.2 µm. Similarly, the organic carbon (OC) was correlated with the ice nucleation efficiency of aerosol samples from 3.2 to 5.6 and from 1.0 to 1.8 µm. Finally, a decrease in INP efficiency after heating the samples at 300 ∘C for 2 h indicates that the organic matter from agricultural soils plays a predominant role in the ice nucleating abilities of this type of aerosol sample.

Diversity as the fuel of my scientific career.

A flight of 6 h changed my life completely. I can certify that leaving my family, friends, food, language and culture was one of the most difficult decisions I have had to make. But I can also certify how my life, personal and academic, has been positively impacted since I work in a department with an environment full of diversity.My first experience of working in an international laboratory was part of a short stay in the laboratory of Dr Bertil Hille. I was a PhD student at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico at that time. Every Tuesday, postdocs from China, South Korea, Germany, the UK, Colombia, and the USA rounded a table to discuss their science data. When I thought that the discussion about the results was over, a new point of view challenged the idea, and a new discussion started (Fig. 1). These meetings were long and tiring, but more importantly, these meetings were inspiring. Before this academic stay, I had to convince myself frequently that my efforts to follow a science career made sense. Swimming against the tide was overwhelming sometimes, but that academic stay, the opportunity to see many international scholars fighting for their dreams, reinforced my dream – I wanted to become a scientist. I want to clarify that those postdocs were not perfect. Some of them did not speak English fluently, and sometimes their experiments failed, but they always had something interesting to contribute. Every member was important because each one had their own perspective, enriching in many ways the same data. They did not look like me, but I identified myself with them. I understood that there is not a scientist prototype. Understanding that fact is essential for people like me who frequently hear from family and friends, “you should come back down to the earth and face reality”. The reality of each person should not be limited by religion, nationality, gender or any other condition.I am part of an underrepresented group in science, but I didn't realize the meaning of that until some years ago. Science is a very competitive career, and only the best will have the opportunity to win awards, fellowships, grants, and finally, a faculty position. I used to see my CV and feel ashamed because it was not as great as others; it took time to learn that only I knew and understood my fight. Today, I can recognize myself as a great scientist with the potential to create novel and fascinating ideas. I am more than just a number of articles, grants or awards.Diversity reminds me that one cannot judge someone until having walked a mile in their shoes, as my grandpa used to tell me. I have learned to see the person behind a scientist, to smile and cry together. Most importantly, I have learned to share experiences and knowledge because dreaming and working side by side is the best way for us to develop as scientists.The author Lizbeth de la Cruz (ddlc@uw.edu; Twitter: @Lizbeth_Cruz24) is a Weill Neurohub postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA, USA.

News, Events, Publications, and Awards

Previous articleNext article FreeSociety InformationNews, Events, Publications, and AwardsPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreNewsDr. Jesse R. Erickson & Dr. Sarah Werner Appointed Editors of PBSAWe are delighted to announce that the new editors of Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America will be Dr. Jesse R. Erickson and Dr. Sarah Werner.Both have strong editorial experience: Werner was a guest editor at Shakespeare Quarterly, textual editor of Norton Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and founding editor of The Collation; Erickson serves on the editorial board of the University of Delaware Press and Publishing History. The pair offers an unparalleled breadth of expertise, from incunables and early modern print and manuscript (Werner) to 19th and 20th Century American print (Erickson) to digital media (Werner). In addition, they bring a wide diversity of professional backgrounds—Werner is an independent scholar with long experience in the library world and academia, as well as a successful author of the widely-adopted Studying Early Printed Books 1450–1800: A Practical Guide; Erickson is both an Assistant Professor in English and a Special Collections librarian at the University of Delaware. Both have established outstanding reputations as engaging speakers in the world of bibliography and beyond. In addition to this broad subject and professional identity coverage, they bring exciting areas of research expertise: Werner’s work on feminist bibliography is newly available in a California Rare Book School course; Erickson’s extensive collaborative experience in curating exhibitions at Delaware and elsewhere, as well as his ethnobibliographical research on Ouida and Black bibliography has generated a large following.We are impressed by the team’s commitment to diversifying the field of bibliography, not just through their combined networks and research expertise but also by engaging with high-level disciplinary questions in order to reaffirm PBSA’s position as the flagship journal in bibliographical studies. The Society’s Equity Action Plan is central to their team vision, and they propose to diversify all aspects of PBSA’s coverage, with attention not only to neglected geographical and chronological areas but also material forms, proposing special issues on subjects such as ephemera and the non-codex. They had clearly given a lot of thought to the journal’s future role within the larger publishing environment and expressed commitment to building on the journal’s existing strengths while also broadening its coverage and potential readership.Erickson and Werner received the unanimous support of the Search Committee, with unanimous confirmation by the Executive Committee. They begin collaborating with Editor David Gants and Managing Editor Meaghan J. Brown this July, with their transition to full editorship taking place in January 2022 following Dr. Gants’s stepping down from the role as Editor. Dr. Gants and Dr. Brown are excited by what Erickson and Werner bring to the journal as the next chapter in its long history is set to unfold and look forward to working with them on a smooth transition.On behalf of the Publications Committee, the BSA recognizes and applauds Dr. Gants after nine years of service as Editor. His dedication and leadership have safely guided our journal to a productive and happy relationship with the University of Chicago Press and maintained the Society’s long tradition of rigorous bibliographical scholarship in PBSA. We also thank Dr. Meaghan J. Brown for her strong support of the journal as Managing and Book Reviews Editor, and for continuing her work through summer 2022.A Message from Drs. Erickson and WernerWe are honored to be asked to lead PBSA and excited about the possibilities ahead of us. We believe that the field of bibliography is strengthened by a broad attention to different textual objects and theoretical frameworks even as it builds on its intellectual heritage: codices alongside ephemera, tablets, and websites; Western print and manuscript traditions as well as the wide range of African, Asian, and indigenous textual traditions; analytical bibliographic work together with ethnobibliography, feminist, queer, and ecocritical theorizations. Likewise, inclusive scholarship is at the core of our approach, and we are committed to expanding the range of voices represented in the journal. The BSA has long been a space for expanding our knowledge of bibliographical work, and we are eager to build on that tradition and to make PBSA a home for conversations about the nature of and futures for bibliography. We applaud the Society’s Equity Action Plan, and we are committed to its implementation in our work.Welcome, Eighty New Members to BSA!We are thrilled to report that the Bibliographical Society of America’s first-ever membership drive has been a resounding success. This membership drive was part of the Society’s efforts to bring our vision of a broader, more inclusive, and exciting bibliographical community to life.Our buy-one-give-one membership drive was designed to bring new and lapsed members into the community, and we are pleased to report that both new and lapsed members have gifted sixty BSA memberships to newcomers through their own membership purchases. We extend a hearty welcome (back!) to each and every one of you and offer our sincere thanks to the existing members who renewed their memberships early or purchased gift memberships for others.We want to extend a special thanks to Council members for their promotion of and participation in our membership drive. President Barbara A. Shailor, María Victoria Fernández (Council Class of 2024), Nick Wilding (Council Class of 2024), Douglas Pfeiffer (Council Class of 2023), and Jackie Vossler (Council Class of 2022) all renewed their memberships early and promoted the program to friends and colleagues, gifting a total of fifteen memberships.The Society is grateful for the work of the Council and the Membership Working Group, whose many and varied contributions of time and talent help bring so much to BSA. All of us extend our sincere thanks to new and returning members whose membership purchases this year helped to make this program such a success.The 2022 Annual Meeting and New Scholars ProgramThe 2022 Annual Meeting will be held virtually on 28 January 2022 starting with the New Scholars Program at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. The keynote lecture will be by Dr. Elizaveta Strakhov, entitled “What Makes Bibliography Critical? A Medievalist’s Response.”What makes bibliography critical for a Western manuscripts scholar? Medievalists have, after all, enshrined bibliography to the point of developing the specialized subdisciplines of paleography and codicology. How does a Western medievalist breathe new life into bibliography, that bread-and-butter of their scholarly pursuits? This talk offers a case study of two manuscripts of bilingual Anglo-French poet Charles d’Orléans’ work: not the two collections notoriously supervised by him but two later fifteenth-century, largely neglected manuscripts of his work, one made for European humanist circles and the other circulating with English Tudor royal audiences. These collections’ scribal layout, textual organization, and codicological arrangement can help us glean contemporary attitudes regarding authorship and authorial collaboration; the distinction between authors and translators; bilingualism and multilingualism; and the relationship between the agency of the compiler and the exigencies of material and textual form. In the process, these manuscripts further problematize our sense of the scope of early humanism and its relationship to fifteenth-century England; the reading tastes of Tudor circles; and our understanding of late-medieval England’s relationship to Europe.An in-person reception will be held at the Century Association, 7 West 43rd Street, New York City at 5:30 p.m. for all who wish to attend. As always, the BSA Annual Meeting and New Scholars Program are open and free to all who wish to attend. For more details on the program and schedule, please visit the Annual Meeting page on the BSA website (https://bibsocamer.org/programs/annual-meetings/).The Equity Action Plan Quarterly UpdateThe Policy and Procedures Manual Working Group and the Council achieved our goal of devising equitable and transparent procedures by which appointments to all BSA Committees and Working Groups will be made. This policy was passed by Council at the April 2021 meeting, and is now posted to the Society’s website. In August of this year the Society published its first call for Committee and Working Group Volunteers. New appointments will begin in January 2022 following the annual meeting. The Society made improvements to its website to include more information about Committee and Working Groups, volunteering, and service requirements (https://bibsocamer.org/join-bsa/how-to-volunteer/).As noted in the above announcement and message from Sarah Werner and Jesse Erickson, work toward goals set for PBSA in the Equity Action Plan is ongoing. The Publications and Executive Committees look forward to working with Drs. Werner and Erickson in 2022 and beyond to make appointments to the PBSA Advisory Board and support their plans work toward achieving the Society’s additional EAP-driven goals for the journal.To pursue our goal of developing collaborative partnerships with cognate organizations that represent any and all time periods, geographic regions, and methodologies in the study of material texts, the Society bifurcated the Events Committee. In the past, all liaisons to external organizations served as members of this Committee. The Liaisons Subcommittee, chaired by Catherine Parisian, now exists as its own body in pursuit of its own charge, which was written with the Equity Action Plan in mind.The Executive Director, in collaboration with her assistant and Committee and Working Group chairs, is developing and evaluating a list of outlets for sharing calls for proposals to ensure that opportunities are publicized to a wide range of relevant organizations and interested individuals. This list will be available to all Committee and Working Group Chairs internally, and used to advertise BSA programs on a regular basis.The BSA Events Committee Calls for ProposalsIn accordance with our identity as an international, interdisciplinary scholarly organization that fosters the study of books and other textual artifacts in traditional and emerging formats, the Bibliographical Society of America pursues its mission by hosting public programs and collaborating with related organizations to do so. The Events Committee calls for proposals to invite collaborations between the Events Committee, BSA members, and a broader bibliographical public. The BSA aims to sponsor a calendar of varied programs each year, which can include but are not limited to lectures, workshops, conference sessions, and receptions following events that are bibliographical in nature.The Event Committee issues triannual calls in January, April, and October that are similar to open calls for conference proposals; from time to time, the Committee may call for proposals around a specific theme. We request a general overview of the content of sessions and presenters as well as information about the budget, promotion, and general organization of the event. This allows us to compensate presenters and organizers with honoraria for their intellectual and organizational labor and to cover other necessary costs.In all BSA events, the material text—that is, the handwritten, printed, or other textual artifact, broadly conceived—as historical evidence, and/or the theory and practice of descriptive, historical, textual, and/or critical bibliography, should be a central concern to participants and organizers.Proposals for events taking place between March and October of 2022 are due 4 January 2022. Please visit the Events Committee page on the BSA website to review application guidelines and the application form (https://bibsocamer.org/programs/propose-an-event/).❧EventsSociety EventsIn light of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the Events Committee has continued to coordinate virtual sessions offered to members and the general public. Most events are recorded and posted to the Society’s YouTube channel at (http://www.youtube.com/c/TheBibliographicalSocietyofAmerica).The following events were held in the summer of 2021:¶ “500 Years of Mexican Books / 500 Años de Libros Mexicanos” was a series of events held between 1 June and 12 August 2021. On the occasion of the anniversary of the so-called “conquest” of Mexico, this series of presentations addressed the relationship between bibliography, the history of the New Hispanic book, and the production of Indigenous-language books in Mexico. The series included two roundtable discussions and five lectures by Marina Garone Gravier on the print production of New World languages, publishing criteria of Indigenous languages in New Spain, the uses of books in the teaching of Indigenous languages at the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico, the collaboration of Indigenous calligraphers, typographers in the elaboration of books in New Spain, and the participation of printers as agents of the colonial edition in native languages. Co-sponsored by the Newberry Library and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Chicago Campus, recordings of this event are available on the UNAM Chicago YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkkv8TG6zzQ&list=PLTAqRJcnp4e3cftZexmMNDK9RFaC1UFzb).Virtual sessions will be scheduled into the future, with in-person events taking place as it is safe to do so. Registration is required. A full schedule of upcoming events is available on the BSA website (https://bibsocamer.org/programs/upcoming-events/).❧ProgramsNew Scholars ProgramThe Bibliographical Society of America each year invites three scholars in the early stages of their careers to present twenty-minute papers on their current, unpublished research in the field of bibliography as members of a panel at the annual meeting of the Society, which normally takes place in New York City in late January. Per the announcement above, the 2021 meeting was held virtually, and this includes New Scholars’ presentations. The New Scholars Program seeks to promote the work of scholars who are new to the field of bibliography, broadly defined to include any research that deals with the creation, production, publication, distribution, reception, transmission, and subsequent history of textual artifacts (manuscript, print, or digital). Papers presented by the BSA New Scholars are submitted to the editor of the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America (PBSA) for publication, subject to peer review, and are published in the December issue as part of the proceedings of the annual meeting. The 2021 BSA New Scholars are Mathieu D. S. Bouchard (Pantzer New Scholar), Dr. Sophia Brown (Malkin New Scholar), and Ryan Low (BSA New Scholar). Applications to the 2022 New Scholars Program will open in late summer of 2021. Please visit the New Scholars page on the BSA website for further information (https://bibsocamer.org/awards/new-scholars-program/).❧FellowshipsAnnual FellowshipsEvery year the Society offers a variety of fellowship in support of bibliographical inquiry and research in the history of the book trades and in publishing history: The Katharine Pantzer Senior Fellowship in Bibliography and the British Book Trades ($6,000) supports research in topics relating to book production and distribution in Britain during the hand-press period as well as studies of authorship, reading, and collecting based on the examination of British books published in that period, with a special emphasis on descriptive bibliography. 2021 Winner: Sandro Jung, “Eighteenth-Century British Regional Book Illustrations of Literature: Models, Production, and Commercial Use in the North of England.” The BSA-ASECS Fellowship for Bibliographical Studies in the Eighteenth Century ($3,000). Recipients must be a member of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies at the time of the award. 2021 Winner: Julie Park, “Writing’s Maker: Inscribing the Self in the Eighteenth Century.” The BSA-Harry Ransom Center Pforzheimer Fellowship in Bibliography (two awards at $3,000 each) supports the bibliographical study of early modern books and manuscripts, 1455–1700, held in the Ransom Center’s Pforzheimer Library and in related collections of early printed books and manuscripts, including the Pforzheimer Gutenberg Bible. 2021: No winners. The BSA-Mercantile Library Fellowship in North American Bibliography ($3,000) supports scholarship in North American bibliography, including studies in the North American book trade, production and distribution of North American books, North American book illustration and design, North American collecting and connoisseurship, and North American bibliographical history in general. 2021 Winner: Mark Mattes, “Archival Apocrypha: Indigenous Writing and the Figure of Logan in Colonial and Native American History.” The BSA Peck-Stacpoole Fellowship for Early Career Collections Professionals ($3,000) supports bibliographical research by conservators, curators, librarians, and others who are responsible for institutional collections of textual artifacts, at early stages of their careers. 2021 Winners: Ostap Kin, “Poet’s Choice: Bohdan Boychuk’s Lost Anthology of Ukrainian Modernist Poetry”; and Lucy Mookerjee, “The Itinerary of a Cookbook: Mapping the Cultural Routes of Morgan MS B.36 (An edition and analysis).” The BSA-Pine Tree Foundation Fellowship in Culinary Bibliography ($3,000) supports the bibliographical study of printed and manuscript cookbooks (once commonly known as receipt books), medical recipe books that also contain culinary recipes, other types of books, manuscript, and printed material that include a substantial body of culinary recipes, treatises on and studies of gastronomy, or memoirs, diary accounts, or descriptions of food and cooking. Projects may cover any period or country. 2010 Winner: Ellen Barth, “Women as Producers of American Community Cookbooks, 1950s to 1990s: Motivations and Materials.” The BSA-Pine Tree Foundation Fellowship in Hispanic Bibliography ($3,000) supports the bibliographical study of printed and manuscript items: 1) in the Spanish language produced during any period and in any country; 2) in any language provided they were produced in Spain or in its overseas dominions during the time of Spanish sovereignty; 3) the bibliographical study of book and manuscript collections in Spain or in its overseas dominions during the time of Spanish sovereignty; 4) the bibliographical study of Spanish-language book and manuscript collections during any period and in any country. 2021 Winner: Carlos Diego Arenas Pacheco, “Indigenous Latinists: 16th-century Books from Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco at the Sutro Library, San Francisco.” The Caxton Club Fellowship for Midwestern Bibliographers ($2,500 and one-year memberships in both the Caxton Club and the BSA) supports bibliographical research that focuses on the physical aspects of books or manuscripts as historical evidence. Books and manuscripts in any field and of any period are eligible for consideration. Projects may include studying the history of book or manuscript production, publication, distribution, collecting, or reading. Projects to establish a text are also eligible. Studies of enumerative bibliographies and enumerative bibliographies are also eligible as long as they meet the requirements described above. Applicants must live in one of the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, or Wisconsin. 2021 Winner: William Little, “The Latin Poetry of Nallio Rainaldi of Tagliacozzo.” The Charles J. Tanenbaum Fellowship in Cartographical Bibliography ($3000) supports projects dealing with all aspects of the history, presentation, printing, design, distribution, and reception of cartographical documents from Renaissance times to the present, with a special emphasis on eighteenth-century cartography. Funded by the Pine Tree Foundation of New York. 2021 Winner: Anne Garner, “Recovering Feminine Cartographies: Women Wayfinders and ‘Vanishing Monuments’ in the Canadian Territories, 1795–1990.” The Dorothy Porter Wesley Fellowship ($3,000) supports bibliographical study conducted by an individual who identifies as Black. Building on the Society’s commitment to expanding representation of scholars of all backgrounds and identities, this short-term fellowship may be used to pursue bibliographical research in any field and of any period. Projects may include studying the history of book or manuscript production, publication, distribution, collecting, or reading. Projects to establish a text are also eligible. The fellowship honors the life and work of Dorothy Porter Wesley (1905–1995), an accomplished Black bibliographer and librarian, an active member of the Society, and author of the influential 1945 PBSA article “Early American Negro Writings.” Funded by Bruce and Mary Crawford and Barbara A. Shailor in memory of Dorothy Porter Wesley. 2021 Winner: Jacinta Saffold, “Independent Hip Hop Production as Freedom Dreaming.” The Katharine Pantzer Junior Fellowship in the British Book Trades ($3,000) supports bibliographical inquiry as well as research in the history of the book trades and publishing history in Britain. 2021 Winner: Yelda Nasifoglu, “Mathematics in Circulation in Late Seventeenth-Century London: Evidence from Hammer Copies of Auction Catalogues.” The Reese Fellowship for American Bibliography and the History of the Book in the Americas ($3,000). The fellowship may be awarded to any scholar, whether academic or independent, whose project explores the history of print culture in the Western Hemisphere. 2021 Winner: Fabián Vega, “Books from the Guaraní Missions. Jesuit Libraries and Circulation of Knowledge in the South American Borderlands (18th Century).” The BSA-Rare Book School Fellowship. 2020 Winner: Tielke Uvin (Ghent University) BSA Short-term Fellowships ($3,000). The Society also offers a number of unnamed, short-term fellowships supporting bibliographical research as described above. 2021 Winners: James P. Ascher, “Seventeenth-Century Printer’s Copy and Records at the Royal Society”; Amanda Arceneaux, “To Know an Herbe: Vernacular Herbal Manuscripts, 1570–1750”; Paulina Banas, “Visualizing Egypt: European Travel, Book Illustration, and the Marketing of the East in the 19th Century”; Patricia Andrea Dosio, “Sketching Connections: Reconstruction of the Rioplatense Cultural Scene through the Editions of Aquilino Fernández (1880–1930)”; Cecilia Sideri, “Reconstructing the Library and Reading Habits of the Renaissance Manuscript Collector and Calligraphist Marco Antonio Altieri (1450–1532)”; Jessica Terekhov, “The Life Cycle of the Part-Issued Victorian Novel”; and Laura Viaut, “Production and Circulation of Educational Manuscripts of Roman-Barbarian Law in the Early Middle Ages.”Details of the program are located at http://bibsocamer.org/awards/fellowships/, or can be had by contacting Hope Mayo, Chair of the Fellowship Committee, [email protected]. The application for the 2022 cycle of Fellowships will open in summer 2021.❧The Margaret B. Stillwell Legacy SocietyOrganized in 1904 and incorporated in 1927, the Bibliographical Society of America is the oldest scholarly society in North America dedicated to the study of books and manuscripts as physical objects. Member gifts have played an important role in advancing BSA’s scholarly mission over the past century. Contributions and legacy gifts from BSA members have provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote the study of books and manuscripts as textual artifacts and have furnished important financial support to early-career bibliographers and scholars.The Bibliographical Society of America has established a Legacy Society named after distinguished bibliographer Margaret Bingham Stillwell (1887–1984). BSA’s intent in founding the Margaret B. Stillwell Legacy Society was to recognize the long tradition of giving at BSA and to ensure a vibrant future for tomorrow’s bibliographical scholars.The Society welcomes new members to the Stillwell Legacy Society, and invites you to join this growing cohort of bibliophiles. Please let us know by letter or email that you have remembered the Bibliographical Society of America in your estate plan, and we will be honored to recognize you as a member of the Margaret B. Stillwell Legacy Society. Your membership can be acknowledged in your name. You can also join the Stillwell Legacy Society in honor of—or in memory of—someone close to you. Should you wish, you may choose that your membership remain anonymous. There are no minimum financial requirements for joining—you may pledge any amount that inspires your philanthropy and brings you personal reward. All gifts help to further our mission.Members of the Margaret B. Stillwell Legacy Society will be acknowledged in this journal and on the BSA website, with their permission. Legacy Society members will also be invited to our annual donor recognition event, held each year during Bibliography Week.For more information about the Stillwell Legacy Society and remembering BSA in your estate plan, please contact President Barbara A. Shailor ([email protected]) or Executive Director Erin McGuirl ([email protected]; 212-452-2710). Information is also available on the Support BSA page on the Society’s website (https://bibsocamer.org/support-bsa/). You may also write to the BSA at 67 West Street, Suite 401, Unit C17, Brooklyn, NY 11222.Members of the Margaret B. Stillwell Society are: Anonymous (1) Martin Antonetti R. Dyke Benjamin in honor of Dr. Barbara A. Shailor John Bidwell G. Scott Clemons Bruce & Mary Crawford Elizabeth Denlinger in honor of Erin McGuirl Joan M. Friedman Thomas A. Goldwasser John Neal Hoover Wallace Kirsop Mark Samuels Lasner Jennifer Lowe and Gregory Pass Andrew and Eleanore Ramsey Nadell Justin G. Schiller Caroline F. Schimmel in honor of Miss Stillwell Erin McGuirl in honor of Joan Cullen Palattella John T. McQuillen Barbara A. Shailor in memory of Marjorie G. Wynne Daniel J. Slive Kenneth Soehner Peter Stallybrass in honor of James N. Green William P. Stoneman David J. Supino Jacqueline M. VosslerThe Society celebrates the Stillwell Society’s Founding Members for their generosity, and hopes their leadership inspires others to join them in making a similar legacy gift to BSA. These unrestricted gifts fortify the long-term stability and financial security of BSA, and allow the Society to continue the intergenerational promotion of bibliographical study and the expansion of our scholarly community.❧Triennial AwardsWilliam L. Mitchell PrizeThe Bibliographical Society of America invited submissions for its seventh William L. Mitchell Prize for Bibliography or Documentary Work on Early British Periodicals or Newspapers. The deadline for the 2021 competition was 15 October 2020, and considered works published after 31 December 2017. The winner of the William L. Mitchell Prize will receive a cash award of $1,000 and a year’s membership in the Society.The Mitchell Prize for research on British serials was endowed to honor William L. Mitchell, former librarian at the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas, where he was curator of the Richmond P. and Marjorie N. Bond Collection of 18th-Century British Newspapers and Periodicals and of the Edmund Curll Collection. It was conceived and mainly endowed by Mitchell’s colleague at the Kenneth Spencer Library, Alexandra Mason. The Prize serves as an encouragement to scholars engaged in bibliographical scholarship on eighteenth-century periodicals published in English or in any language but within the British Isles and its colonies and former colonies.Submissions for the Mitchell Prize may concentrate on any periodicals or newspapers printed before 1800 in English-speaking countries, but should involve research into primary sources of historical evidence, such as the analysis of the physical objects, whether for establishing a text or understanding the history of the production, distribution, collecting, or reading of serial publications.Eligible scholarship may take the form of a book or article, a Master’s thesis or PhD dissertation defended and approved, or research results distributed in another manner, such as on a website or a CD-ROM. Eligible scholarship must have been published or, if a dissertation or thesis, approved during the year of the deadline or the three previous calendar years. If a publication has an incorrect nominal date disqualifying it for submission but an actual date of publication within the prize period, it may be nominated with a letter by the publisher or editor testifying to the actual date of publication. Unpublished dissertations and theses must be accompanied by a letter from their authors’ directors attesting to their having been approved.For further information on the Mitchell Prize and to learn how to apply, see the Society website at http://bibsocamer.org/awards/william-l-mitchell-prize/.Justin G. Schiller PrizeEndowed by Justin G. Schiller, a dealer in antiquarian children’s books and past member of the BSA Council, the Schiller Prize for Bibliographical Work on Pre-20th-Century Children’s Books is intended to encourage scholarship in the bibliography of historical children’s books. It brings a cash award of $3,000 and a year’s membership in the Society.Works put into nomination, whic

Geophysical characterization, design and construction of the Teoloyucan Geophysical Test Site for archaeological and engineering applications, Central Mexico

The Teoloyucan Geophysical Test Site (TGTS) is designed to replicate and simulate scenarios encountered in engineering and archaeological contexts. It is meant for calibrating instruments, testing near-surface geophysical techniques, training students and developing new ideas for shallow surveys and data interpretation. TGTS has been built within the Teolyucan Geomagnetic Observatory of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in the town of Teoloyucan, N of Mexico City. The test site covers an area of 864.00 m2, consisting of 17 structures buried less than 2.00 m deep with regular and irregular shapes, and vertical and horizontal layers simulating stratigraphic sequences. We selected materials similar to those commonly used since the Pre-Hispanic period (adobe, wood, basalt, tezontle), and current materials (concrete, reinforced concrete, plastic containers and PVC). Prior to the construction, the field area was characterized by a combination of non-invasive near-surface geophysical techniques including magnetic gradiometry, electromagnetic induction, ground penetrating radar, seismic refraction tomography and electrical resistivity tomography. The structures' physical properties (density, elastic modules, electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility) and their geometrical characteristics are well known, therefore the near-surface geophysical response of the TGTS is controlled. The geophysical results indicate three flat interfaces at approximate depths of 0.45 m, 0.91 m and 1.82 m, respectively. The lithological analysis indicate that the layers are well graded coarse soil layers, including two volcanic hard-horizons (tepetates). Geophysical results coincide with Teoloyucan's lithology, proving that the field area selected is suitable for a test site.

Eugenia Correa In Memoriam (1954–2021)

Eugenia Correa was a Professor of the Graduate School of Economics Faculty of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM). She passed away on March 13, 2021 with a large number of projects i...

AMS cross-section measurement for the $$^{28}$$Si(d,$$\alpha $$)$$^{26}$$Al reaction near the Coulomb barrier

Understanding the production of $$^{26}$$ Al is important in nuclear physics, astrophysics (stellar nucleosynthesis), earth sciences and other fields. In previous years, we attempted to measure the $$^{28}$$ Si(d, $$\alpha $$ ) $$^{26}$$ Al reaction cross section at low energies. AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) at the LEMA (Laboratorio Nacional de Espectrometrometria de Masas con Aceleradores) facility at IFUNAM (Instituto de Fisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico) was used to measure the concentration of the produced $$^{26}$$ Al in a mixture of Al/Si targets after irradiation with a deuteron beam. Those measurements showed that many improvements had to be made to our protocols in order to reach our goal. In this paper, the continuation of those studies is reported. We take advantage of the recently acquired expertise in the radio-chemistry process to separate aluminum from silicon. Deuteron beams with energies between 3.4 and 4.8 MeV were used to irradiate 5 $$\times $$ 5 $$\times $$ 0.3 mm $$^{3}$$ silicon slabs. Considering that the Coulomb barrier for touching spheres is around 4.7 MeV, our experiment explores an energy interval near the barrier, on the lower energy side. Here reaction cross sections are much larger than those expected at lower energies, toward the Gamow window, an energy range appropriate to develop and test the project’s strategy before tackling the lower energies (most relevant for astrophysics) where the cross sections drop exponentially.

Increase in Relative Humidity Increases the COVID-19 Contagion Rate and the Increase in UV Index Decreases It

Background: Since the emergence of COVID19, researchers have wondered about its seasonality. This article provides the answer based in the analysis of which climatic variables are the ones that most affect the infection rate and how they affect it.Method: From the SIR epidemiological model applied to the spread of COVID19 throughout the world, it has been calculated how the model’s β parameter depends on climatic factors for each virus strain and for each country. We have established a linear formula for the β parameter, in terms of humidity, UV index and population density in the most representative city of the countries studied for the spread of the COVID19. This has been achieved from a linear regression done by Machine Learning from data from 21 countries and 205 cities or regions of the world.Findings: Two of climate variables have been shown to be relevant in propagation of COVID19: relative humidity and ultraviolet index. When humidity increases the rate of transmission too and when the ultraviolet index increases the rate decreases. Another variable on which it depends proportionally is the population density of the cities.Interpretation: From the result shown in the study we can conclude that containment strategies can also be based on the consideration of humidity and the ultraviolet index in the spaces in which people move, live, stays or work, in cases where the strategy of staying at home cannot be maintained.Funding: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.Declaration of Interests: The authors state that there is no conflict of interest.

Las investigaciones en torno a la Real Universidad de México. Una síntesis historiográfica

La historiografía dedicada a la Real Universidad de México ha pasado por distintas etapas desde el siglo XX, y goza de diferentes puntos de vista sobre variados aspectos de sus actividades corporativas y académicas. El artículo se encarga de proporcionar una panorámica general acerca de las principales interrogantes y problemas planteados hasta ahora, tomando como eje la historiografía impulsada por investigadores de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, y plantea algunas temáticas que todavía están por explorarse.  

La perspectiva de género en el estudio de la ciencia política mexicana (2010-2020)

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Hay pocos estudios que indagan la participación de las mujeres en la ciencia y son aún más escasos aquellos que reflexionan sobre el papel de las mujeres en el desarrollo de las disciplinas. En este trabajo destacamos dos aspectos del campo de la ciencia política mexicana: primero, las investigaciones con perspectiva de género, y segundo, la construcción de conocimiento que emprenden las mujeres. Se trata de una investigación de carácter exploratorio y descriptivo cuyo estudio de caso es la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) durante el periodo 2010-2020. Se analizan dos criterios: </span><span>1</span><span>) los artículos publicados en dos revistas especializadas: la </span><span>Revista Mexicana de Ciencias Políticas y Sociales </span><span>y la Revista </span><span>Estudios Políticos</span><span>, y </span><span>2</span><span>) los temas de género que fueron seleccionados para la elaboración de investigaciones para obtener el título de licenciatura en Ciencias Políticas y Administración </span>Pública con especialidad en Ciencia Política, así como los grados de maestría en Estudios Políticos y Sociales y en el doctorado en Ciencias Políticas y Sociales con orientación en Ciencia Política. Los resultados muestran que el impacto del feminismo, la perspectiva de género y los estudios de género tienen una resonancia importante. Sin embargo, los objetos de estudio hegemónicos per- manecen estables y este campo de investigación, de la mano con las metodologías feministas, aún lucha por abrirse paso en la disciplina.</p></div></div></div></div>

Developmental Biology in México.

Contemporary scientific endeavor in México emanates from two great public institutions: the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), founded in 1929 and 1936, respectively. Here, the first research institutes and centers dedicated to various scientific areas were created. Thus, the origin of most laboratories of Developmental Biology in México was like that of other scientific fields. In this article, I have attempted to describe the establishment of a specialized community involved in the understanding of organism development during ontogeny. The use of chick embryos to study heart development was among the first experimental approaches developed in México. Then, a younger group employed chick embryos to study the mechanisms underlying limb development. Various laboratory animal models have been employed, including mouse, rat, rabbit, and recently the naked mole-rat, as well as some wild species, such as sea turtles and bats. Two classical invertebrates, Drosophila melanogaster, and Caenorhadbitis elegans, also form part of the multilayered complex models used by Mexican developmental biologists. My use of animals brought me closer to the pioneer developmental biologists who worked with animal models. Their academic trajectory was more detailed than that of investigators using plant models. However, the pioneering merit and bright contributions of the two groups are on a par, regardless of the biological model. As current scientific knowledge is the sum of individual contributions throughout human history, here I have attempted to describe my suitable experience as a witness to the birth of the fascinating field of developmental biology in my country.

Echinoderes unispinosus (Kinorhyncha: Cyclorhagida), a new record fromdeep-sea sediments in the Gulf of Mexico.

Kinorhyncha is a phylum of exclusively marine, meiofaunal invertebrates (Sørensen Pardos 2008). Currently, the knowledge about the worldwide distribution of most of its species is considerably patchy, as several taxa have been reported from a single or few localities, usually within a limited geographic area (Sørensen Pardos 2008; Yamasaki et al. 2018a). This even becomes more evident for deep-sea kinorhynchs, as noticed by Sørensen et al. (2018). Given the particular value of new records from the deep-sea to increase our understanding in the distribution of meiofaunal organisms plus the observed relationship of morphological variation through the bathymetric gradient, we aim to report the first record of Echinoderes unispinosus Yamasaki, Neuhaus George, 2018 in the southern edge of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM), and contribute with new information about the morphological intraspecific variation of this species. In Mexico, studies of kinorhynch biodiversity are limited to the northern Gulf of California (50-1570m depth) (Álvarez-Castillo et al. 2015, 2018; Cepeda et al. 2019) and the Yucatán Peninsula (Sánchez Martínez 2019). The GoM is a semi-closed basin located in a transition zone with both subtropical and tropical weather. Deep-sea muddy sediment samples of the present study were collected during the expedition XIXIMI-5 (10-24 June 2016) and processed according to Cisterna-Céliz et al. (2019). Kinorhynch specimens were mounted, measured and photographed according to Cepeda et al. (2019). Two adult males were identified as E. unispinosus, one from station B11 (2298 m depth) and another from station B15 (3708m depth). Kinorhynch specimens were deposited at the Aquatic Invertebrates Collection of the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico, under accession numbers: KGM.001 and KGM.002.