Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Mexico Research Articles

Bridging Language Barriers in COVID-19 Research: Descriptive Study of AccesoCovid.com's Reach and User Engagement.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the challenge of swiftly disseminating research findings to a global audience. Language barriers further exacerbated disparities in access to timely scientific information, particularly for non-English speaking communities. The majority of COVID-19 research was published in English, limiting accessibility for Spanish-speaking populations. This paper aims to assess the reach and effectiveness of AccesoCovid.com, a platform designed to disseminate up-to-date COVID-19 research in both English and Spanish, addressing the language gap in scientific communication. AccesoCovid.com was developed through a partnership between the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The website's performance and user engagement were evaluated using Google Analytics over a span of 2 years. Key metrics included user language preference, geographical distribution, and site traffic. The website summarized and translated 1032 articles on various COVID-19 topics, such as "Pharmaceutical Interventions and Vaccines." From February 2021 to February 2023, the platform attracted 57,000 users. Of the 43,000 unique new visitors, 84.2% (n=36,219) hailed from Spanish-speaking regions. The majority accessed the site organically through search engines, with 88.4% (n=38,000) of users arriving this way, while 5000 (11.6%) users accessed the site directly. Most users (n=30,894, 72.1%) preferred the Spanish version of the site. The website's most accessed category was "Pharmaceutical Interventions and Vaccines," followed by "Clinical Presentation and Management" and "Mental Health." Regarding language distribution, 72.1% (n=30,894) of users primarily used Spanish; 21.4% (n=9215) used English; and 6.7% (n=2891) spoke other languages, including Portuguese, Chinese, and German. Geographically, the website attracted visitors from 179 countries, with the highest visitor counts from Mexico (n=12,342, 28.7%), Spain (n=6405, 14.9%), the United States (n=4416, 10.3%), and Peru (n=3821, 8.9%). AccesoCovid.com successfully bridged a critical language gap in the dissemination of COVID-19 research. Its success underscores the pressing need for multilingual scientific resources. The platform demonstrated significant user engagement and reach, particularly in Spanish-speaking countries. This highlights the potential for similar platforms to ensure equitable access to scientific knowledge across diverse linguistic communities. Future efforts should focus on expanding to other languages and conducting formal evaluations to enhance user satisfaction and impact.

Breaking the gender barrier: a study on enrollment trends in medical specialties at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Objective. To analyzes the gender gap among residents enrolled in the medical specialization program of the Graduate Division at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Facultad de Medicina. Materials and methods. We conducted a descriptive observational study of students registered in all 78 medical specialties offered by UNAM over a period of 7 years (2015-2022) at approximately 161 hospitals in Mexico. Results. A total of 79 175 students were studied, we observed a predominance of women 51.69%, compared to 48.30% men. In medical specialties, we found a predominance of women of 57.33%, in contrast to surgical specialties with 44.76% women. The specialties with the most women enrolled were dermatology, neonatology, pediatrics, gynecology, and psychiatry. In men, the specialties with the most enrollment were general surgery, cardiology, neurosurgery, plastic surgery among others. Conclusion. Women predominance is observed in some medical specialties, especially those that require caregiving tasks. However, a gap remains between men and women, particularly in surgical specialties and in higher decision-making positions. We suggest extending support networks to include men as well as women.

Ashfall characteristics and development of the ash monitoring network during three decades of the long-lived eruption of Popocatépetl Volcano, México

A long-lived eruption of Popocatépetl volcano in central México has produced almost continuous ash fall on the populated areas for 30 years. The eruptive phase that began in 1994, has been characterized since 1996 by the growth of about 90 subsequent crater domes and their destruction that has produced most of the ongoing ash emissions. Since the beginning of the ash emission in 1994, we designed, established, and maintained an ash-sampling network of more than 200 sites around the volcano. This sampling network has been improved over the years and there are currently also 19 automated samplers, that we describe in this manuscript. This ash sampling network is part of the Popocatépetl monitoring system run by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). The sampling sites that are distributed over an area of ∼8000 km2 where ash fall occurs, involve collection of ash over 0.4 cm2 and 1 m2 areas during ash emission events associated with plumes over 1 km high. Community participation has greatly enhanced both, ash sample collection efficiency and public awareness.Growth and destruction of lava domes are variable over time, with growth times that could last up to weeks and residence times ranging from days to months, producing frequent ash emissions. There have been about 1225 ash emissions >1 km high, of these, 110 have been identified with ash columns from 3 to 13 km high above the crater (8.5–18.5 km asl), some of which has produced abundant ash fall in nearby populations. Ashfall has been distributed in all directions around the volcano up to 2 50 km from the crater but dominantly in the east and northeast direction. The total minimum volume of non-compacted ash emitted over these three decades is >149 × 106 m3 while the estimated total volume of lava emitted in the form of domes is >70 × 106 m3.The average ash mass load is 32 g/m2 and the ash is commonly deposited <30 km from the crater and up to 250 g/m2 have been deposited in periods of intense activity. Ash grainsizes range from coarse to extremely fine (MdPhi 1–6) with up to 37% of particles smaller than 10 μm and up to 10% smaller than 2.5 μm. Medium lapilli (MdPhi −3) was ejected during a sub Plinian event in 2001.Ash emission is common in both dome growth and destruction phases, as well as in the clearing of the conduits during explosive phases in the absence of domes. Vitreous lithic fragments are produced by fragmentation of the degassed lava domes in the vent. Higher amounts of vesicular clasts, individual glass particles and crystals, on the other hand, are associated with magma ascent into a more open vent. The higher percentage of accidental lithic particles is linked to clearing of the vent.

The family Angelidae (Insecta, Mantodea) in Mexico and Central America, new records and two new synonyms

The stick-like mantis Angela miranda Saussure, 1871 (Mantodea, Angelidae) is newly recorded for the state of Chiapas in Mexico as well as for the department of Izabal in Guatemala, and the female is newly described. A re-examination of material from the Colección Nacional de Insectos (CNIN) of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) labeled as Angela miranda and recorded from Tabasco, Mexico, was conducted, revealing that they were misidentified, belonging instead to the genus Phasmomantis Saussure, 1869 (Mantidae: Stagmomantinae). Finally, Angela perpulchra Westwood, 1889 and Angela championi Saussure &amp; Zehntner, 1894 are hereby relegated as junior synonyms of Angela miranda.

CRUZAS SIMPLES PROGENITORAS E HÍBRIDO TRILINEAL DE MAÍZ H-53 AE: DENSIDADES Y PRODUCTIVIDAD

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt;. The use of improved seeds in Mexico is limited. To increase its use and improve its supply, it is necessary to promote the generation of micro-enterprises; for this, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Agrícolas y Pecuarias (INIFAP) work in a coordinated manner on the development of new varieties. &lt;strong&gt;Objective&lt;/strong&gt;. To determine the seed productivity by effect of the population density of the trilinear hybrid of H-53 AE maize and its simple progenitor crosses in two environments of Valles Altos. &lt;strong&gt;Methodology&lt;/strong&gt;. In the spring-summer cycle of 2014, in Cuautitlán Izcalli and Texcoco, State of Mexico, three genotypes were evaluated: the simple female cross androsterile (M53AE x M59) and fertile version (M53F x M59), as well as the trilineal hybrid H-53 AE. Population densities were 55,000, 70,000, and 85,000 ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; plants, respectively. The variables evaluated were male and female flowering, plant and ear height, volumetric weight, weight of 200 grains, ear length, grains per row, dry matter percentage, and grain percentage. The experimental design employed a factorial design with random complete blocks, and the Tukey method was used for mean comparison. &lt;strong&gt;Results&lt;/strong&gt;. The simple crosses, androsterile and fertile, exceeded the performance of the hybrid trilineal H-53 AE (7280 Kg ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;). The population density where genotypes expressed a higher yield was 70, 000 ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; plants, with 8602 Kg ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;, significantly different to 7813 Kg ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;, and 7748 Kg ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; for 85,000 and 55, 000 ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; plants, respectively. &lt;strong&gt;Implications&lt;/strong&gt;. Further analysis of other environmental factors should be carried out to strengthen the recommendation of the evaluated trilinear hybrid. &lt;strong&gt;Conclusion. &lt;/strong&gt;The best responses were presented in the population density of 70,000 plants ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt;, and the highest average yield of three genotypes and three population densities with 8768 Kg ha&lt;sup&gt;-1&lt;/sup&gt; was in the FESC environment (Cuautitlán Izcalli).&lt;/p&gt;

Editorial

It is an honor for me to present the first issue of volume 50 of the Mexican Journal of Behavior Analysis (MJBA) and its new editorial team. Linda Hayes, from University of Nevada at Reno, and Mitch Fryling, from California State University at Los Angeles, both will serve as the new English language editors. Víctor Alcaraz, from Universidad Veracruzana (UV), and Sara Cruz, from Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), will serve as associate editors in the areas of Biological bases of behavior and Behavioral pharmacology, respectively. Carlos Flores, from Centro de Estudios e Investigaciones en Comportamiento (CEIC) at Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG), and Daniel Gómez Fuentes, from Instituto de Psicología y Educación at UV, will do the same in the areas of Experimental analysis of animal behavior and Experimental analysis of human behavior, respectively. Nora Rangel, from CEIC at UDG, will be the associate editor for Experimental analysis of social behavior, while Alicia Roca, from Facultad de Psicología at UNAM, will be for Applied behavior analysis. The sincerest thanks go to all of them for their selfless collaboration, as well as to the members of the editorial board, the executive editor (Abraham Ortiz from UV) and the rest of the editorial collaborators.

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

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

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 (&gt;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

News, Events, Publications, and Awards

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...