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Human teeth from pre-Columbian and recent population groups have been analyzed by PIXE. Ancient teeth corresponding to children and adults were obtained from archaeological burials located in five geographic areas of Mexico. Inter-specific and inter-site differences in the trace element contents of enamel were compared in order to get some insight into differences in diet, environmental conditions, teeth health, disease state and post mortem alteration among the co-occurring populations. For permanent teeth from adults, small variations in trace element levels were found depending on the collection site or tooth health, but for deciduous teeth from children, the concentration of elements such as Mn, Fe and Sr varied considerably. In this work, the possible sources of variation are discussed.

This paper examines the short and long-run relationships between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Trade Openness and GDP in China, India and Mexico from 1980 to 2011. Based on the properties of individual time series data, the paper estimates the VAR or VECM of the three variables to determine short and long-run causal relationships. The results confirm the existence of long-run causal relationships between the three variables for China and Mexico. The results also point to sharp differences in short-run causal relationships in the three countries and several plausible explanations consistent with the findings are offered.

Extension Study for Virax’s HIV Drug Granted.

Virax and New York Blood Center to Develop HBV Treatment.

Novogen’s Promensil Decreases Frequency and Severity of Hot Flushes.

Metabolic’s Obesity Drug Completes Single Dose Phase 2A Trial.

Ranbaxy Gets US Nod to Market Terazosin Hydrochloride Capsules.

Cipla in Talks with South African Firm to Supply AIDS Drugs.

Olympus Launches System for Analysis of Biomolecular Interactions.

Yamanouchi Gives Up Acquisition of Approval of Osteoporosis Drug.

Ono-manufactured Pranlukast Capsule Launched in Mexico.

Additional Clinical Trials for Shionogi’s Anti-depressant Drug.

Genomine Inc.

Peptron Inc.

The scaling properties of the time dynamics of self-potential data (in the frequency range between 0 and 0.125Hz) observed in 1995 at Acapulco station in Mexico were investigated. On the basis of detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), which is a powerful method to detect scaling in nonstationary time series, deviations from uniform power-law scaling were identified and quantified. Our results suggest that an evident non-uniform scaling behavior in self-potential data could be related to the occurrence on September 14, 1995 of the strongest earthquake. These first results could be useful in the framework of earthquake prediction studies.

The capacity to manipulate matter at the atoms scale promises such a potential that, both positive and eventual negative aspects of nanotechnology are part of current debate. Nano-applications promise to revolutionize healthcare, energy production, agriculture, environmental remediation solutions, and most of manufacturing processes; in fact some earliest products are already hitting the market. At the same time socioeconomic, legal, environmental and ethical aspects stand as issues of legitimate public concern that policy makers are faced to address. It is a context in which an open, constructive, and permanent dialogue among diverse social actors seems to be needed in order to avoid or reduce unnecessary costs and probable risks, while promoting benefits. This paper offers an overview of such aspects from Mexican perspective. After a general introduction, it describes and contrasts the promotion of nanoscience and nanotechnology worldwide and in Mexico. A brief discussion on legal aspects follows, including intellectual rights and patenting challenges ahead. Finally the need of an ad hoc regulatory framework takes us to discuss the relevance of a social dialogue and management as a democratic way of promoting a responsible development of nanotechnologies.

One important agent in the process of converting scientific knowledge into technology are University Research Centers (RCs), which are engaged in scientific research (Sc), technology development (Tech), technical services (S), and teaching activities (t). The products of these activities are the publication of "papers", graduation of students, mainly Masters and Ph.Ds., services and patents which are part of technology development and technology transfer (TT) to industry. The mix of these functional activities and products defines the RC's profile.

This paper focuses on how patents contribute to the Mexico National University (UNAM [note: UNAM is the Spanish acronym of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.]) RCs' profiles. The statistical analysis shows no direct effect of technology intensity on patenting. There is no sustained increase in UNAM patenting for the period 1975–2007, although two maximum peaks of patent granted appeared in 1993 and in 2005 which were triggered by a variety of internal and external events. One explanation of this pattern is the role played by the UNAM's Technology Transfer Offices (TTO) which have moved forward and backwards changing from being a centralized agency to a more flexible and diverse organization within RCs, showing a lack of a proactive university policy on patenting and TT. An overlapping policy of the disciplinary UNAM's RC structure with entrepreneurial attitudes could provide better dynamics for applied science and technology, and would have a positive impact on TT.

This paper analyzes the necessary and sufficient conditions for successful innovation in design and engineering companies (DECs) of the aerospace industry in Mexico. It is argued that successful innovation activity is a condition for achieving a high-performance level (HPL) among DECs. Seven innovation capabilities are analyzed to determine whether an HPL exists. Based on the dynamic capabilities approach, this research suggests that learning capability (LRC), research and development capability (RDC), creative capability (CRC), collaborative innovation capability (CIC), knowledge sharing capability (KSC), and exploitation capability (EXTC) are necessary conditions to achieve an HPL in DECs of the aerospace industry in Mexico. The fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) methods are applied in this research to get insight into the configuration complexity that determines configurational causal relationships between HPL and innovation capabilities among firms of this industry in Mexico.

Can training improve the entrepreneurial outcomes of those in poverty? Typical training modalities to teach entrepreneurship to the poor are generally one of three: 1) financial literacy training, 2) values training and 3) “rules of thumb” training. In this study we examine the Academy for Creating Enterprise’s (ACE) entrepreneurship training program in Mexico, which uses a variation of all three types of training. We compared those who received ACE training: residential, night-class and regional, with a control group to see if the training would improve ACE participants’ personal income, business employment, gross revenue and relative poverty status. Our study shows that, when compared to the control group, ACE training had a marginal positive impact on income, employment and revenues, and a substantial one on mobility from poverty. However, when making comparisons within the different types of training, the type of training program participants attended had little impact on these same outcomes. Thus, practitioners and researchers interested in training the poor to engage in entrepreneurial activities might explore low-cost, high volume options because there seem to be positive results with these programs when compared to more intensive programs that require more labor and higher costs.

This study examines the characteristics of self-employed workers who reside in Mexico but work in the United States and the factors behind their decision to become cross-border entrepreneurs. This group is compared to entrepreneurs who live and operate in Mexico. Based on census data from Mexico, it is observed that cross-border entrepreneurs are older and more educated, and have stronger ties to the United States, shorter workweeks and higher hourly and monthly earnings than self-employed workers who live and work in Mexico. A series of probit models show that years of schooling, having previously resided in the United States and having an adult in the household who was born in the United States increase the likelihood of becoming a cross-border entrepreneur. Ordinary least squares earnings regressions show that years of schooling and years of work experience are positively associated with the earnings of entrepreneurs operating in Mexico, but not with those of cross-border entrepreneurs.

We developed a theoretical model capable to analyze U.S. fiscal and monetary policy effects on Mexican exports in order to provide an alternative approach to the study of economic interdependence. The model was estimated for the sample period of 1980–2013. The existing literature evidences quantified interdependence through trade flows and ignores the role of the U.S. fiscal and monetary policies. This paper uses the concept of sensitivity, from the economic interdependence literature, to verify the long and short run relationships between the U.S. and Mexico in a context of trade integration. Our findings confirm Mexico’s sensitivity to unanticipated shocks in particular coming from the U.S. monetary policy, the exchange rate and the world oil price.

In December 1993, restrictions to foreign ownership across major Mexican economic sectors were abolished. This paper studies output, industrialization intensity, "international infrastructure", and government expenditures on infrastructure as determinants of FDI inflows into Mexican states over 1994-2001. We conduct a "general to specific" estimation strategy across Mexican states. Telephone lines appear to be very important to FDI as their coefficients are around 2.0 in Random Effects Models. Industrialization is also important, with coefficients varying from 0.62 to 0.67. Allowing for endogeneity between FDI and real output, dynamic GMM panels confirm the robust effects of telephone lines on FDI. International infrastructure thus appears more conducive to FDI than domestic infrastructure, such as interstate and secondary roads. With international infrastructure being a major catalyst of FDI inflows into Mexico, we provide support to ongoing conventional wisdom promoting such type of investment.

A substantial body of evidence documents the relationship between macroeconomic variables and stock returns and risk from developed countries. The evidence for emerging markets is limited, particularly identifying risk premia compensations for inflation and exchange rates. This paper attempts to quantify the short and long term relationship between inflation and exchange rates with over all stock market performance for the case of the two largest Latin American capital markets, Mexico and Brazil. Extending the Fisher model, the aim is to determine whether or not these markets have failed to keep pace with movements in those two variables (the most unstable and economic growth hampering variables in these economies during the last three decades), and therefore to what extent the stock market succeeds or fails to test as inflation hedges. The empirical evidence is presented assuming positioning of a local investor in their own market, and from the point of view of a U.S. investor in each of these markets. Two unit root tests are also presented to stress long term relationships between stock returns, inflation, and foreign exchange.

In this paper we use household survey data to study the evolution of income distribution in Mexico over the last decade, a period of rapid integration to the global and North American economies -- "globalization" for short. We measure differences in income inequality, over time and across Mexican states, and relate them to regional differences in the degree of globalization, controlling for the potential endogenous relationship between the two. We use the percent of state employment in exporting firms or in firms with foreign capital participation, as well as data on state trade, as proxies for integration to the world economy. Our findings strongly indicate that globalization has not raised income inequality in Mexico. On the contrary, we present compelling evidence showing that income distribution is more equitable in states that are more closely linked to the world economy and that those states exhibit larger declines in inequality. We also find some statistical evidence suggesting that deepening globalization results in reduced inequality, although our results are sketchier on this point, perhaps because such effect is only observable in the long run. As a potential explanation of why globalization might improve the distribution of income among Mexican households, we show that states that are more integrated to the world economy offer better work opportunities for low-skilled women relative to more educated female workers.

The economic effects of NAFTA on Mexico have been discussed and measured mostly in terms of its effect on employment on both sides of the border and by the increase in Mexico-US trade and investments before and after NAFTA. These are the wrong ways to measure the effects of a free trade area on a member state. In this paper, I will first discuss the theoretically correct method of evaluating the economic effects of the formation of a free trade area in general and then apply this method to correctly measure the effects of NAFTA on Mexico.

The effects of NAFTA on Mexico’s environment were of great concern pre-NAFTA and have continued to be a matter concern in the post-NAFTA era. As the many studies and evidence presented in this paper show, Mexico’s environment in the post-NAFTA period has not suffered as much as pessimists feared, nor has it improved as much as optimists hoped. This outcome is consistent with theory and evidence from Environmental Kuznets Curves in that Mexico’s macroeconomic performance has been inadequate to raise Mexico’s per capita income to levels needed to cross estimated turning points for many pollutants. Seen in this light, Mexico’s environmental quality will continue to be a mixture of modest improvements along with modest setbacks until the economy exhibits strong and sustained growth.

Emerging markets face a challenging recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Although most nations strive to improve their competitiveness to escape from the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, the results may be different from the expectations of these governments. In this chapter, we analyze competitiveness in Mexico and Brazil. We attempt to go beyond the interpretation of results collected in well-known reports, such as the Global Economic Index, to demonstrate the need for further analysis in those countries where political factors may carry a non-comparable weight. We use the DD-Based 9-Factor Model, which considers the impact of politics in public policymaking. We compare Mexico and Brazil, as both nations are undergoing substantial political change, with personal leadership and geopolitical impact unmatched in the region. International managers should be aware of the impact of strong leadership upon public policy and national competitiveness. Those findings are no novelty in Latin America, a region where the political dimension may turn the table on investors without warning. Indeed, political factors should not be adequately addressed by competitiveness benchmarks in those nations where the rule of man may replace the rule of law.

Drawing upon the historical use of Las Castas — paintings of racialized identity categories during the Spanish colonial era — we use this chapter to explore stories of discrimination and how it persists in Mexico. Borrowing from non-corporeal actant theory, we set out to explore differences and inequality formations of multiple identities. Inequity is symbolized through the names given to biracial and multiracial castes and overtly presented through the arrangement and numbering of categories in the paintings. We overlay contemporary understandings of oppression and opportunity found in the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP). New antenarratives of hierarchies appear along with the persistence of the old. In particular, the hierarchical positions of those whose ancestors are Spanish and Indigenous have improved over time, while those who identify as Indigenous remain disadvantaged. The stories that we surface suggest that racial differences co-existed in colonial-Mexico and remnants of the caste system may still haunt social life of citizens today. The research attempts to build on scholarship that identified ideas of discrimination as persistent actors in evolving networks. It also contributes to our understanding of how oppressive systems and discrimination are transmedial, persisting as stories embedded in, and reinforced by, complex understandings of interaction. One can plausibly conclude that oral narratives are transmediated both in the art of classic paintings and in response to questions of the LAPOP.

Shoreline identification using satellite images is compared with in situ shoreline measurements in the Yucatan Peninsula to evaluate its potential for studying shoreline changes in places with a paucity of data. This study firstly tests the detection limits of shoreline identification by comparing a SPOT image with ground shoreline measurements, and secondly we show examples of overlaying satellite-derived shorelines from three different years to assess the ability of the technique to quantify real shoreline changes. The mean (-0.19 m) and the standard deviation (4 m) between the ground and satellite-derived shoreline are much smaller than the pixel size. Shoreline changes of more than 30 m were measured between images spanning several years (2004, 2006 and 2008) in areas near to coastal structures and near urban areas without coastal vegetation.

This study analyzes the differences in financial performance between sustainable firms and nonsustainable firms through the use of a fuzzy Jensen’s alpha to measure abnormal returns. The sample consisted of 28 of the 35 firms from various sectors that composed the Mexican Price and Quotation Index (IPC) from 2008 to 2011. We compared two different methodologies to measure the Jensen’s alpha values, namely, ordinary least squares and Fuzzy Regression. Our results demonstrate that sustainable firms have greater possibilities of obtaining abnormal returns and evince less uncertainty than non-sustainable firms. Finally, we mention the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) trends in the Mexican capital market to emphasize the importance of the disclosure of non-financial issues as part of the process of generating long-term sustainability profits.

This paper exploits the surge in Chinese exports from 1994 to 2004 to evaluate the effects of a competition shock from a low wage competitor for producers in an important middle-income country, Mexico. We find that this shock causes selection and reallocation at both firm and product levels and that its impact is highly heterogeneous at the intens ive and extensive margins. Sales of smaller plants and more marginal products are compressed and are more likely to cease, whereas those of larger plants and core products seem relatively impervious to the shock. This implies a reallocation in terms of market shares within firms and between firms. We also show that the impact of expanded access to cheaper Chinese intermediate inputs has a similar effect, with larger plants benefiting more from the availability of cheaper imported inputs.