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Mexican States (mexican + states)
Selected AbstractsDemocracy and Human Rights in the Mexican States: Elections or Social Capital?INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2004Caroline Beer Why does the relationship between a government and its citizens deteriorate to violence? Large-N cross-national quantitative analyses of human rights violations have found an inverse relationship between democracy and violations. These analyses, however, have not been able to address the central finding of an influential subnational analysis of democracy that stresses the importance of a single dimension of democracy, social capital. In this article we combine these two streams of research with fresh data from the Mexican states to investigate how and why democracy inhibits violations. Theoretically, we connect a policy interest in protecting human rights to politicians' office-seeking goals and to the level of social capital. Empirically, our data allow us to disentangle two principal components of democracy, elections and social capital, and include important control variables, notably ethnic diversity, which have been largely left out of the cross-national analyses. Our central finding is that the electoral components rather than social capital produce important consequences for the protection of citizens' human rights. [source] Estimates of environmental effects and genetic parameters for body measurements and weight in Brahman cattle raised in MexicoJOURNAL OF ANIMAL BREEDING AND GENETICS, Issue 4 2002C. D. U. Magnabosco Summary A Derivative Free Restricted Maximum Likelihood (DFREML) algorithm was used with single trait and two traits animal models to estimate the variance and covariance components and thus, heritabilities and phenotypic, genetic and environmental correlations among nine different body measurements and weights of Brahman cattle raised in Mexico. The following measurements were considered: hip width, pin width, hip-pin width, anterior height, posterior height, body length, thorax perimeter, scrotal circumference and weight. The analysis was based on a total of 1018 animals, born between 1992 and 1995, from 17 herds in the Mexican States of Chiapas, San Luis Potosi, Tabasco, Tamaulipas and Veracruz. The model included the following fixed effects: herd, year-season of birth, sex, age of the animal and feed management. The only random effect was the direct additive genetic contribution of each animal. All fixed effects in the model were significant for all traits (p < 0.05). Estimated heritabilities for the traits were: hip width 0.57, pin width 0.32, hip-pin width 0.41, anterior height 0.56, posterior height 0.54, body length 0.32, thorax perimeter 0.49, scrotal circumference 0.02 and weight 0.66. The magnitude of the heritabilities was medium to high, with the exception of scrotal circumference. The genetic correlations among all body measurements were consistently positive and high, ranging from 0.64 to 1.00. Although other measures showed higher genetic correlations with weight, thorax perimeter combines a high value (0.70) with ease and repeatability, making it a useful field measurement to estimate body weight when scales are not available. Resumen Estimados de efectos ambientales y parámetros genéticos para medidas corporales y peso vivo en ganado brahman criado en méjico Fue usado un algoritmo de Máxima Verosimilitud Restricta Libre de Derivadas (DFREML) con modelos animales para una y dos características para estimar componentes de (co)varianzas, heredabilidades y correlaciones fenotípicas, genéticas y ambientales entre nueve diferentes medidas corporales y peso vivo de ganado Brahman criado en México. Fueron considerados los siguientes rasgos: ancho anterior de la grupa, ancho posterior de la grupa, largo de la grupa, altura a la cruz, altura a la grupa, largo del cuerpo, perímetro toráxico, perímetro escrotal y peso vivo. Se usaron datos de 1018 animales, nacidos entre 1992 y 1995, procedentes de 17 rebaños de los Estados mejicanos de Chiapas, San Luis Potosí, Tabasco, Tamaulipas y Veracruz. El modelo matemático incluyó los siguientes efectos fijos: rebaño, año-época de nacimiento, sexo, clase de edad del animal y manejo alimentar. Se consideró el efecto aditivo directo de cada animal como el único efecto aleatorio. Todos los efectos fijos del modelo fueron significativos para todas las características (P < 0.05). Las heredabilidades estimadas fueron: ancho anterior de la grupa 0.57, ancho posterior de la grupa 0.32, largo de la grupa 0.41, altura a la cruz 0.56, altura a la grupa 0.54, largo del cuerpo 0.32, perímetro toráxico 0.49, perímetro escrotal 0.02 y peso vivo 0.66. Las magnitudes de las heredabilidades fueron de medias a altas, con excepción del perímetro escrotal. Las correlaciones genéticas entre todas las medidas corporales fueron consistentemente positivas y altas, variando de 0.64 a 1.00. Aunque otras medidas corporales mostraron altas correlaciones genéticas con el peso vivo, el perímetro toráxico combina un alto valor de esa correlación (0.70) con facilidad de medición y alta repetibilidad, haciendo de esta una medida útil, para estimar el peso vivo, en condiciones de campo donde no se dispone de balanza. [source] Judicial Performance and the Rule of Law in the Mexican StatesLATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2006Caroline C. Beer ABSTRACT What determines how judicial institutions perform? Prominent theoretical approaches, such as international political economy, institutional rational choice, social capital, and structural theories, suggest that international economic actors, political competition, political participation, and poverty may all be important forces driving institutional behavior. This study analyzes these various theoretical approaches and uses qualitative and statistical analysis to compare judicial performance in the Mexican states. It provides evidence to support the institutional rational choice hypothesis that political competition generates judicial independence. Poverty, political participation, and an export-oriented economy seem to influence judicial access and effectiveness. [source] In vitro immunopotentiating properties and tumour cell toxicity induced by Lophophora williamsii (peyote) cactus methanolic extractPHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH, Issue 9 2003M. Franco-Molina Abstract Lophophora williamsii, also known as peyote, is found primarily in dry regions from Central Mexico, including the Mexican States of Nayarit, San Luis Potosí, Zacatecas, Nuevo León, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Tamaulipas, to Texas particularly in regions along Rio Grande. Peyote extracts have been associated with stimulating the central nervous system and regulating blood pressure, sleep, hunger and thirst. However, there is no evidence of any effect of peyote on the immune system or against tumour cell growth. The present study was designed to evaluate the in vitro effects of peyote methanolic extracts on some parameters of mouse and human leukocyte immunocompetence and tumour cell growth. Peyote extract (0.18,18 µg/mL) activated nitric oxide production by murine macrophages, and stimulated up to 2.4-fold proliferation of murine thymic lymphocytes. In addition, peyote extract induced up to 1.85-, 2.29- and 1.89-fold increases in mRNA signal of IL-1, IL-6 and IL-8 by human leukocytes. Also examined were the effects of peyote extracts on murine lymphoma L5178Y-R and ,broblastoma L929, and human myeloid U937 and mammary gland MCF7 tumour cell growth using 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT). Peyote extracts were toxic for MCF7, L5178Y-R, U937 and L929 (18 mg/mL peyote extract caused 1.3%, 8%, 45% and 60% viability respectively) cell lines. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Democracy and Human Rights in the Mexican States: Elections or Social Capital?INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2004Caroline Beer Why does the relationship between a government and its citizens deteriorate to violence? Large-N cross-national quantitative analyses of human rights violations have found an inverse relationship between democracy and violations. These analyses, however, have not been able to address the central finding of an influential subnational analysis of democracy that stresses the importance of a single dimension of democracy, social capital. In this article we combine these two streams of research with fresh data from the Mexican states to investigate how and why democracy inhibits violations. Theoretically, we connect a policy interest in protecting human rights to politicians' office-seeking goals and to the level of social capital. Empirically, our data allow us to disentangle two principal components of democracy, elections and social capital, and include important control variables, notably ethnic diversity, which have been largely left out of the cross-national analyses. Our central finding is that the electoral components rather than social capital produce important consequences for the protection of citizens' human rights. [source] Screening of cry gene contents of Bacillus thuringiensis strains isolated from avocado orchards in Mexico, and their insecticidal activity towards Argyrotaenia sp. (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) larvaeJOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008N.M. Rosas-García Abstract Aims:, To screen for Bacillus thuringiensis strains from avocado orchards in two Mexican states with lepidopteran-specific cry gene content and evaluate their insecticidal activity against Argyrotaenia sp., an undescribed species present in avocado orchards. Methods and Results:, Lepidopteran-active cry1, cry2 and cry9 genes were detected by PCR analysis in 37 isolates. cry1 genes were more frequent in Michoacán, but were undetected in Nayarit isolates. cry9 and cry2 genes were detected in isolates from both states, although cry2 genes were less frequent. A variety of crystal shapes were observed among the isolates. According to gene profile, eight isolates were selected and tested against 2-day old Argyrotaenia sp. larvae. Standard strain HD-125 caused the highest mortality followed by strain MR-26 from Michoacán at a concentration of 500 ,g ml,1, respectively. Conclusions:,Bacillus thuringiensis strains isolated from avocado orchards exhibit a low toxic activity towards Argyrotaenia sp. larvae, in spite of their specific cry gene content. Significance and Impact of the Study:, Toxic activity of B. thuringiensis is not necessarily related to insect pest habitat and neither to specific cry gene content associated to other lepidopterans. [source] Biogeography and conservation of the genus Ficus (Moraceae) in MexicoJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 3 2004Alejandra Serrato Abstract Aim, The main objective of this study is to document the biogeographical patterns, endemism and degree of conservation of the species of Ficus (Moraceae) in Mexico. There are over 750 species of the genus Ficus distributed worldwide, and Mexico practically represents its northernmost limit in the American continent. Detailed studies at regional scales may help to understand the biogeography of large genera such as Ficus. Location, Mexico. Methods, The biogeographical patterns of Mexican Ficus were obtained from information of fig specimens available in two of the main herbaria of Mexico (2140 vouchers), collecting figs throughout this country, and revising the specialized literature. The presence of each species of Ficus was recorded for every one of Mexico's states and several tropical countries of America. Besides, the Mexican territory was divided into cells of 1° × 1° and the presence or absence of all species of the genus was recorded. Rarity of species was classified based on the width of geographic distribution, habitat specificity and population size. Results, A total of 21 species of Ficus occur in Mexico, including six species (28.6%) that are endemic to this country. Five species are included in subgenus Pharmacosycea and 16 species are documented under subgenus Urostigma. Affinities of Ficus flora with other tropical countries in America generally decreased as geographical distances from Mexico increased. Mexican states and cells with highest values of Ficus species richness (both total and endemic species) were located. Ten species, including three endemics, presented a wide distribution. Five species, including two endemics, possess the three attributes of rarity (narrow geographical distribution, high habitat specificity and scarce local populations). Three species of Ficus, including the endemic and very rare Ficuslapathifolia (Liebm.) Miq., are not recorded in any protected area existing in Mexico. Main conclusions, Most of the Mexican Ficus show a great morphological variation and occupy different habitats along their geographic distribution. The biogeographical patterns described here establish a fundamental scenario for ongoing studies on Ficus,pollinator interactions. However, many local populations are considered to be at risk, as there have been significant reductions in the number and size of local populations. Further studies are needed to understand the process of colonization, maintenance and persistence of fig,pollinator mutualism in species with different patterns of geographic distribution. Mexican Ficus require special policies for conservation due to their complex degree of rarity, particularly their geographic distribution in different types of vegetation, ranging from dry scrublands to tropical rain forests. [source] Judicial Performance and the Rule of Law in the Mexican StatesLATIN AMERICAN POLITICS AND SOCIETY, Issue 3 2006Caroline C. Beer ABSTRACT What determines how judicial institutions perform? Prominent theoretical approaches, such as international political economy, institutional rational choice, social capital, and structural theories, suggest that international economic actors, political competition, political participation, and poverty may all be important forces driving institutional behavior. This study analyzes these various theoretical approaches and uses qualitative and statistical analysis to compare judicial performance in the Mexican states. It provides evidence to support the institutional rational choice hypothesis that political competition generates judicial independence. Poverty, political participation, and an export-oriented economy seem to influence judicial access and effectiveness. [source] Proto-Uto-Aztecan: A Community of Cultivators in Central Mexico?AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2001Jane H. Hill Authorities on the origin and history of Uto-Aztecan have held that speakers of the protolanguage were foragers who lived in upland regions of Arizona, New Mexico, and the adjacent areas of the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua about 5,000 years ago. New lexical evidence supports a different view, that speakers of the protolanguage were maize cultivators. The Proto-Uto-Aztecan speech community was probably located in Mesoamerica and spread northward into the present range because of demographic pressure associated with cultivation. The chronology for the spread and differentiation of the family should then correspond to the chronology for the northward spread of maize cultivation from Mesoamerica into the U.S. Southwest, between 4500 and 3000 B.P. [Uto-Aztecan, cultivation, Mesoamerican, historical linguistics, migration] [source] Fiscal Coordination and Financial Dependence of State Governments in MexicoPUBLIC BUDGETING AND FINANCE, Issue 3 2010JORGE IBARRA-SALAZAR This paper presents evidence of the effects on subnational financial dependence of the intergovernmental fiscal agreement implemented in 1980. In contrast with a previous study that uses annual time series national data, we use a panel of annual time series (1975,1995) of 31 Mexican states. We propose and estimate three different empirical models using the fixed effects panel data approach. In concordance with previous literature, we find strong statistical evidence that the implementation of the agreement increased financial dependence. The main contribution of this paper is to distinguish the effect of the 1980 fiscal arrangement on every state's degree of financial dependence. [source] | |||||||||||||