Spotlight: Texas service sector outlook survey completing the regional economic picture

The service sector drives the Texas economy, accounting for 59 percent of private-sector output and employing close to 7 million workers. Despite the service sector’s prominence, there are no timely state-level gauges of its activity. To fill this regional data gap, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas began assembling the Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey (TSSOS) in 2007. After a four-year collection period, the data have been seasonally adjusted, with public release June 1.Service industries ; Business cycles - Texas

The maquiladora's changing geography

A lack of data has limited our understanding of the distribution of maquiladora activity. Recently, Mexico's chief statistical agency provided previously unpublished information that will allow us to draw a more detailed portrait. ; We take a preliminary look at where specific maquiladora activities take place within Mexico. Then we examine changes in location since 1990, finding that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other trade pacts have been the most important factors reshaping patterns of maquiladora employment.Maquiladora ; Mexican-American Border Region - Economic conditions ; Economic conditions - Mexico ; Manufacturing industries ; Textile industry

Industrial structure and economic complementarities in city pairs on the Texas-Mexico border

The U.S.–Mexico border provides a number of examples of pairs of neighboring cities, one in the U.S. and the other in Mexico. The advent of the North American Industrial Classification System provides a new opportunity to look at these cities using a common industrial classification system. Using U.S. data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis, and comparable information from the 1999 Mexican economic census, we were able to compare employment by industry sector in city pairs that are located along the Texas–Mexico border: El Paso–Juarez, Laredo–Nuevo Laredo, Brownsville–Matamoros, and McAllen–Reynosa. ; This paper focuses on the distribution of employment in border city pairs. It is primarily descriptive in nature, but looks at industrial structure from several perspectives. First, we look at each city as part of its own national economy, then as part of the combined U.S.–Mexico economy. Second, we demonstrate that each city-pair has a distribution of employment by industry that complements the sister city. Different wage levels, distinct legal and regulatory systems and unlike stages of development provide each city with unique opportunities to specialize in the local marketplace. Finally, we interpret the role of these cities as part of a combined US-Mexico economy. The chief economic role played by all city-pairs is that of a manufacturing center, driven largely by maquiladora activity and its support industries.

Mexico rides global recovery but still faces hurdles

The Mexican economy has grown robustly following the worst recession since the peso crisis of 1994. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth surged 5.4 percent in 2010, surpassing expectations. Though the pace of expansion slowed in early 2011 as the U.S. engine sputtered, forecasts call for a slight pickup in the second half. ; The recovery is the product of primarily three factors: first, a rebound in manufacturing exports, mostly to the U.S. but also to other markets; second, a strengthening internal market fueled by a healthy domestic financial sector; and third, significant capital inflows from advanced economies seeking higher rates of return in emerging markets such as Mexico. ; In spite of the recovery, the country faces significant challenges both in the short and long run, including the worst violence since the Mexican Revolution.Economic conditions - Mexico ; Exports ; Employment ; Investments, Foreign

Low-wage occupations remain a hallmark of El Paso economy

Textile industry ; Education

El Paso economy sluggish in 2007: U.S. slowdown outweighs Fort Bliss expansion

This has been a disappointing year for El Paso in terms of job growth. Through October, the city added only 1,200 new wage and salary jobs, according to seasonally adjusted data, an annualized growth rate of less than 1 percent. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at a historically low level of 5.4 percent in October, but progress in lowering the rate further stalled at midyear.Mexican-American Border Region - Economic conditions

Commentary on session III: U.S.-Mexico remittances: recent trends and measurement issues

Summary and discussion of the three papers in this session: "Leveraging remittances for development" by Dilip Ratha; "Remittances and their microeconomic impacts: evidence from Latin America" by Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes; and "The relationship between international migration, trade, and development: some paradoxes and findings" by J. Edward Taylor. ; The rest of this commentary explores recent trends in U.S.?Mexico remittances, explaining how they are measured and comparing them with forecasts of remittances based on an econometric model and with trends in other developing countries.Emigration and immigration ; International trade ; Economic development ; Developing countries ; Emigrant remittances ; Econometric models ; Mexico

Mapping recombination rate on the autosomal chromosomes based on the persistency of linkage disequilibrium phase among autochthonous beef cattle populations in Spain

Mouresan, Elena Flavia. Universidad de Zaragoza. Departamento de Anatomía, Embriología y Genética Animal. Zaragoza, España.González Rodríguez, Aldemar. Universidad de Zaragoza. Departamento de Anatomía, Embriología y Genética Animal. Zaragoza, España.Cañas Alvarez, Jhon J. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments. Barcelona, España.Munilla Leguizamón, Sebastián. Universidad de Zaragoza. Departamento de Anatomía, Embriología y Genética Animal. Zaragoza, España.Altarriba, Juan. Universidad de Zaragoza. Departamento de Anatomía, Embriología y Genética Animal. Zaragoza, España.Díaz, Clara. Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA). Departamento de Mejora Genética Animal. Madrid, España.Baro, Jesus A. Instituto Agroalimentario de Aragón (IA2). Zaragoza, España.Molina, Antonio. Universidad de Valladolid. Departamento de Ciencias Agroforestales. Valladolid, España.12In organisms with sexual reproduction, genetic diversity, and genome evolution are governed by meiotic recombination caused by crossing-over, which is known to vary within the genome. In this study, we propose a simple method to estimate the recombination rate that makes use of the persistency of linkage disequilibrium (LD) phase among closely related populations. The biological material comprised 171 triplets (sire/ dam/offspring) from seven populations of autochthonous beef cattle in Spain (Asturiana de los Valles, Avileña-Negra Ibérica, Bruna dels Pirineus, Morucha, Pirenaica, Retinta, and Rubia Gallega), which were genotyped for 777,962 SNPs with the BovineHD BeadChip. After standard quality filtering, we reconstructed the haplotype phases in the parental individuals and calculated the LD by the correlation -r- between each pair of markers that had a genetic distance smaller than 1 Mb. Subsequently, these correlations were used to calculate the persistency of LD phase between each pair of populations along the autosomal genome. Therefore, the distribution of the recombination rate along the genome can be inferred since the effect of the number of generations of divergence should be equivalent throughout the genome. In our study, the recombination rate was highest in the largest chromosomes and at the distal portion of the chromosomes. In addition, the persistency of LD phase was highly heterogeneous throughout the genome, with a ratio of 25.4 times between the estimates of the recombination rates from the genomic regions that had the highest (BTA18-7.1 Mb) and the lowest (BTA12- 42.4 Mb) estimates. Finally, an over representation enrichment analysis (ORA) showed differences in the enriched gene ontology (GO) terms between the genes located in the genomic regions with estimates of the recombination rate over (or below) the 95th (or 5th) percentile throughout the autosomal genome

Effect of extended defects on AlGaN QDs for electron-pumped UV-emitters

We study the origin of bimodal emission in AlGaN/AlN QD superlattices displaying high internal quantum efficiency (around 50%) in the 230-300 nm spectral range. The secondary emission at longer wavelengths is linked to the presence of cone-like defects starting at the first AlN buffer/superlattice interface and propagating vertically. These defects are associated with a dislocation that produces strong shear strain, which favors the formation of 30{\deg} faceted pits. The cone-like structures present Ga enrichment at the boundary facets and larger QDs within the defect. The bimodality is attributed to the differing dot size/composition within the defects and at the defect boundaries, which is confirmed by the correlation of microscopy results and Schr\"odinger-Poisson calculations

Caracterizacion del riesgo por fenomenos naturales de la comunidad de La Plata (bahia Malaga)--Pacifico Colombiano

Resumen: El presente artículo realiza caracterización de los fenómenos naturales amenazantes sobre el territorio de la Bahía de Málaga, que unido a las condiciones sociales y económicas de la población, configuran unas situaciones especiales de riesgo. Se explica cómo frente a estas situaciones la comunidad se ha organizado políticamente y decidido afrontar un proceso de reubicación que pasó fundamentalmente por la escogencia de un sitio condiciones de menor vulnerabilidad. ABSTRACT: This article conducts characterization of the natural phenomena hazard on the territory of the Bahia Málaga, coupled with the social and economic conditions of the population, make up some special situations of risk. It explains how to address these situations, the community is organized politically and decided to confront a process of relocation happened mainly by the choice of a site with less vulnerability conditions