Populism in Mexico and Brazil: why are voters moving in opposite directions?

Differences in ethnic makeup, religious affiliation, institutional openness to outsiders, experiences of crime, and economic performance have driven Mexican and Brazilian voters in opposite ideological directions: left towards AMLO in Mexico and right towards Bolsonaro in Brazil. But this doesn’t mean Mexico will remain immune to right populism in future, writes Rodrigo Aguilera

Mexico’s 2021 mid-term elections: more Morena and glimmers of hope for AMLO’s opponents in 2024

Mexico’s recent mid-term elections were widely seen as a referendum on the country’s polarising president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and his National Regeneration Movement party (Morena). The opposition PAN-PRI-PRD coalition made important gains in the Chamber of Deputies, but the same parties were roundly beaten by Morena in a number of state governor races. Though this means that Morena will go into the 2024 election as a consolidated, nationwide political force, these results do also offer glimmers of hope for the opposition, writes Rodrigo Aguilera

How Mexico’s far right is slowly awakening

Frustrated Mexicans provoked a left-wing populist landslide in 2018 after the centre-right neoliberal consensus failed. The emergence of insurgents like Jaime ‘El Bronco’ Rodríguez and the FRENAAA movement suggests that voters could easily flock to the far right in 2024 if they feel that AMLO has failed them too, writes Rodrigo Aguilera. The rise of ... Continue

COVID-19 in Latin America: were we doomed from the start?

Even though different countries responded very differently to the emergence of coronavirus, its impact has been devastating virtually everywhere in Latin America. Underlying factors like labour informality, compounding health issues, low healthcare spending, multi-generational households, and economic openness have made the region’s experience of the crisis especially grave, writes Rodrigo Aguilera

Discretionary rule of law in Mexico could undermine AMLO's anti-corruption drive

Mexico has a long history of discretionary application of the law, as demonstrated recently by the government's failure to prosecute corrupt state governors while they remained in office. Even from their position of political strength, Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his Morena party may find it hard to revert this trend and make good on their promise to root out corruption, writes Rodrigo Aguilera

Despite reform, Mexico's 2018 election is business as usual

On paper the 2018 Mexican presidential election should benefit from recent reforms that sought to improve electoral conditions. But the reality of campaigns awash with dark money, widespread vote buying, toothless electoral institutions, weak democratic processes within parties, and independents that aren't very independent suggests that little has really changed, writes Rodrigo Aguilera

Tuning the Magnetic Moment of Small Late 3d-Transition-Metal Oxide Clusters by Selectively Mixing the Transition-Metal Constituents

Producción CientíficaTransition-metal oxide nanoparticles are relevant for many applications in different areas where their superparamagnetic behavior and low blocking temperature are required. However, they have low magnetic moments, which does not favor their being turned into active actuators. Here, we report a systematical study, within the framework of the density functional theory, of the possibility of promoting a high-spin state in small late-transition-metal oxide nanoparticles through alloying. We investigated all possible nanoalloys An−xBxOm (A, B = Fe, Co, Ni; n = 2, 3, 4; 0≤x≤n) with different oxidation rates, m, up to saturation. We found that the higher the concentration of Fe, the higher the absolute stability of the oxidized nanoalloy, while the higher the Ni content, the less prone to oxidation. We demonstrate that combining the stronger tendency of Co and Ni toward parallel couplings with the larger spin polarization of Fe is particularly beneficial for certain nanoalloys in order to achieve a high total magnetic moment, and its robustness against oxidation. In particular, at high oxidation rates we found that certain FeCo oxidized nanoalloys outperform both their pure counterparts, and that alloying even promotes the reentrance of magnetism in certain cases at a critical oxygen rate, close to saturation, at which the pure oxidized counterparts exhibit quenched magnetic momentsJunta de Castilla y León (Ref. project VA124G18)Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (Project PGC2018-093745-B-I00) and FEDE

Identification of biofilm proteins in non-typeable Haemophilus Influenzae

BACKGROUND: Non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae biofilm formation is implicated in a number of chronic infections including otitis media, sinusitis and bronchitis. Biofilm structure includes cells and secreted extracellular matrix that is "slimy" and believed to contribute to the antibiotic resistant properties of biofilm bacteria. Components of biofilm extracellular matrix are largely unknown. In order to identify such biofilm proteins an ex-vivo biofilm of a non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae isolate, originally from an otitis media patent, was produced by on-filter growth. Extracellular matrix fraction was subjected to proteomic analysis via LC-MS/MS to identify proteins. RESULTS: 265 proteins were identified in the extracellular matrix sample. The identified proteins were analyzed for COG grouping and predicted cellular location via the TMHMM and SignalP predictive algorithms. The most over-represented COG groups identified compared to their frequency in the Haemophilus influenzae genome were cell motility and secretion (group N) followed by ribosomal proteins of group J. A number of hypothetical or un-characterized proteins were observed, as well as proteins previously implicated in biofilm function. CONCLUSION: This study represents an initial approach to identifying and cataloguing numerous proteins associated with biofilm structure. The approach can be applied to biofilms of other bacteria to look for commonalities of expression and obtained information on biofilm protein expression can be used in multidisciplinary approaches to further understand biofilm structure and function

Retornos accionarios y anuncios de fusion y/o adqusicion: El caso chileno.

64 p.El presente estudio busca estimar el impacto del anuncio de fusión y/o adquisición sobre la riqueza de los accionistas de la empresa adquirente que posea presencia bursátil sobre el 50% en el mercado de capitales chileno, para los periodos comprendidos entre los años 1990-2005 y 1996-2005 respectivamente, utilizando una muestra de 37 anuncios de adquisición de paquetes accionarios igual o superior al 50% y una muestra de 15 anuncios de fusiones. Los resultados obtenidos evidencian a favor de la hipótesis planteada, la que sugiere que los retornos anormales promedio provocados por el anuncio de una adquisición y/o fusión, relativos al día o en la proximidad del evento, son estadísticamente significativos y mayores que cero