City Fiscal Conditions 2023

Three years after the pandemic outbreak, cities have recovered and have maintained a largely positive outlook about their near-term fiscal future. The 2023 City Fiscal Conditions report analyzes data on a total of 820 cities (including the responses from 533 city finance officers from municipalities of various population sizes). Here are four key takeaways from this year's report:Cautious budgeting resulted in better preparation: The cautious approach by many cities in 2023 yielded increased reserves and limited spending, demonstrating that local governments remain good stewards of public dollars.  Better able to weather inflation: Despite the challenge of inflation, the average city experienced more than a six percent increase in general fund revenues. Inflation is more manageable and cities are reaping some benefits of lower inflation.    Federal aid had a positive Impact on city budgets: Direct federal aid through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and the bipartisan infrastructure law was among the factors that had a positive impact on cities' ability to balance their 2023 budgets. Planning for uncertainties: Making it through a strong 2022 fiscal year, our survey analysis reveals that many cities are still very cautious in their budgeting. They anticipate potential risks and uncertainties in the post-COVID era as they plan for the current and next fiscal year. Among the concerns for local leaders is the expected end of federal funding through ARPA.

“EL RIESGO DE NO PAGO EN UNA INSTITUCIÓN MICROFINANCIERA DEL MUNICIPIO DE TENANCINGO ESTADO DE MÉXICO, 2011-2014”

En la presente investigación, se diseña un modelo de Credit Scoring empleando la técnica de regresión logística con la finalidad de calcular probabilísticamente la posibilidad del no pago de los clientes. Para ello se emplean datos de campo en el periodo 2011-2014 de Compartamos Banco, microfinanciera en estudio, ubicada en el municipio de Tenancingo, Estado de México. Así el modelo se convierte en una herramienta auxiliar para la toma de decisiones en instituciones microfinancieras en zonas rurales, por la bondad de ajuste y valor predictivo del modelo hace de este una propuesta viable para disminuir los índices de morosidad en dichas instituciones. Finalmente, el rigor teórico y metodológico en el análisis de dicha investigación nos permite proporcionar una serie de recomendaciones para mejorar el manejo del riesgo y la correcta toma de decisiones en las entidades microfinancieras

Conflicto por el agua en el Sistema de Riego Tepetitlán después de la trasferencia

El objetivo del artículo es identificar y explicar el conflicto surgido en el Sistema de Riego Tepetitlán, Estado de México, a partir de la trasferencia de los distritos de riego a los usuarios, en 1993, consistente en la entrega de obras de infraestructura. El Sistema de Riego Tepetitlán fue trasferido según la modalidad de unidad de riego, poco conocida en los estudios en México. Aquí se analiza este sistema bajo la lente del conflicto; se identifica y examina los momentos coyunturales que lo propician en las organizaciones de regantes, y se explica la situación actual de administración, operación y manejo del regadío

Estrategias de comunicación aplicadas por el Gobierno peruano durante la segunda ola de la Covid-19

El presente trabajo tiene como propósito analizar las estrategias de comunicación aplicadas por el Gobierno Peruano durante la segunda ola por Covid-19. La investigación se desarrolló bajo la metodología de un enfoque cuantitativo. Se rige con los criterios de un diseño no experimental, descriptivo. La población total estuvo conformada por 18 conferencias de prensa, por las campañas comunicativas ‘No bajemos la guardia’ y ‘Pongo el hombro’ y 200 publicaciones en la red social Facebook. Las Variables se operacionalizaron en 3 dimensiones y 15 indicadores, las cuales fueron medidas utilizando como técnica la observación, y la ficha de observación como instrumento de investigación, confiable y veraz. Se encontró como resultado final que las conferencias de prensa fueron una de las principales estrategias que sirvieron para mantener la comunicación por parte del gobierno hacia el pueblo, por otro lado, Facebook es la principal red social que sirvió como medio para comunicar temas relacionados al Covid-19

Los roles de género de los hombres y las mujeres en el México contemporáneo

Desde el nacimiento, hombres y mujeres presentan una diferenciación clara des- de la biología; sin embargo, las variantes comportamentales, sentimentales y de pensamiento se atribuyen más a la influencia de la cultura. Por ello, la presente investigación pretendió conocer el significado contemporáneo del rol de género que hombres y mujeres consideran tener. Se trabajó con una muestra de 300 jóvenes universitarios repartidos equitativamente por sexo. Como instrumento de recolección de datos se utilizó la técnica de redes semánticas naturales. Los resultados muestran diferencias significativas, encontrándose que los hombres se definen con un rol que implica proteger, proveer, comprender, ser profesio- nista, seguro y amoroso, en comparación con las mujeres, que indicaron verse como profesionistas, independientes, esposas o amas de casa, cuyo rol es com- partir y educar. Finalmente, para la definición de lo que a los hombres del país les toca ser y hacer, se observó que los varones se definieron como profesionis- tas, honestos, inteligentes, fuertes, amables, emprendedores, padres y libres, mientras que las mujeres los definieron como padres, proveedores, profesionistas, fieles, honestos y protectores. Esto permite afirmar que los roles que viven los jóvenes universitarios muestran cambios importantes respecto de los roles sexuales tradicionales de la cultura mexicana

Dual-Query Multiple Instance Learning for Dynamic Meta-Embedding based Tumor Classification

Whole slide image (WSI) assessment is a challenging and crucial step in cancer diagnosis and treatment planning. WSIs require high magnifications to facilitate sub-cellular analysis. Precise annotations for patch- or even pixel-level classifications in the context of gigapixel WSIs are tedious to acquire and require domain experts. Coarse-grained labels, on the other hand, are easily accessible, which makes WSI classification an ideal use case for multiple instance learning (MIL). In our work, we propose a novel embedding-based Dual-Query MIL pipeline (DQ-MIL). We contribute to both the embedding and aggregation steps. Since all-purpose visual feature representations are not yet available, embedding models are currently limited in terms of generalizability. With our work, we explore the potential of dynamic meta-embedding based on cutting-edge self-supervised pre-trained models in the context of MIL. Moreover, we propose a new MIL architecture capable of combining MIL-attention with correlated self-attention. The Dual-Query Perceiver design of our approach allows us to leverage the concept of self-distillation and to combine the advantages of a small model in the context of a low data regime with the rich feature representation of a larger model. We demonstrate the superior performance of our approach on three histopathological datasets, where we show improvement of up to 10% over state-of-the-art approaches

Self perception of body attractiveness in two cultures: Mexican and Argentine

In order to describe the level of physical attractiveness that mexican and argentine consider having, we worked with an intentional non-probabilistic sample composed of 272 university students shared equally by nationality and gender from the cities of Toluca (Mexico) and Mendoza (Argentina). The instrument used was physical attractiveness assessment, which evaluates the attractiveness of the visible body parts from 0 to 100%. The research findings by nationality show that mexican people value more their body parts compared with argentinean. Sex differences indicate that mexican men tend to consider more attractive their body parts than mexican women. However, argentinean people show no difference in the number of body parts evaluated as attractive. In both nationalities, there is a tendency to put a higher value on body parts considered masculine by men and feminine by women. In general, it appears that the body is and will remain an important mean of expression and the value that it is given will establish the degree of security that people has to relate to their particular psychological, sociological and cultural context

Reporting of statistical regression analyses in Biomédica: A critical assessment review

Introduction: Regression modeling is a statistical method commonly used in health research, especially by observational studies. Objective: The objectives of this paper were to 1) determine the frequency of reporting of regression modeling in original biomedical and public health articles that were published in Biomédica between 2000 and 2017; 2) describe the parameters used in the statistical models, and 3) describe the quality of the information reported by the studies to explain the statistical analyses. Materials and methods: We conducted a critical assessment review of all original articles published in Biomédica between 2000 and 2017 that used regression models for the statistical analysis of the studies main objectives. We generated a 20-item checklist based on four good practice guidelines for the presentation of statistical methods. Results: Most of the studies were observational studies related to public health sciences (65.7%). Less than half (37.2%) of them reported using a combination of conceptual frameworks and statistical criteria for the selection of variables to be included in the regression model. Less than one quarter (22.1%) reported the verification of the assumptions of the model. The most frequently used uncertainty measure was the p-value (73.5%). Conclusion: There are significant limitations in the quality of the reports of statistical regression models, which reviewers and readers need in order to correctly assess and interpret the statistical models. The results, herein, are provided as an invitation to researchers, reviewers, and editors of biomedical journals to develop, promote, and control an appropriate culture for statistical analysis and reporting in Colombia

Organic carbon production, mineralization and preservation on the Peruvian margin

Carbon cycling in Peruvian margin sediments (11° S and 12° S) was examined at 16 stations from 74 m on the inner shelf down to 1024 m water depth by means of in situ flux measurements, sedimentary geochemistry and modeling. Bottom water oxygen was below detection limit down to ca. 400 m and increased to 53 μM at the deepest station. Sediment accumulation rates and benthic dissolved inorganic carbon fluxes decreased rapidly with water depth. Particulate organic carbon (POC) content was lowest on the inner shelf and at the deep oxygenated stations (< 5%) and highest between 200 and 400 m in the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ, 15–20%). The organic carbon burial efficiency (CBE) was unexpectedly low on the inner shelf (< 20%) when compared to a global database, for reasons which may be linked to the frequent ventilation of the shelf by oceanographic anomalies. CBE at the deeper oxygenated sites was much higher than expected (max. 81%). Elsewhere, CBEs were mostly above the range expected for sediments underlying normal oxic bottom waters, with an average of 51 and 58% for the 11° S and 12° S transects, respectively. Organic carbon rain rates calculated from the benthic fluxes alluded to a very efficient mineralization of organic matter in the water column, with a Martin curve exponent typical of normal oxic waters (0.88 ± 0.09). Yet, mean POC burial rates were 2–5 times higher than the global average for continental margins. The observations at the Peruvian margin suggest that a lack of oxygen does not affect the degradation of organic matter in the water column but promotes the preservation of organic matter in marine sediments

Super-enhancer-based identification of a BATF3/IL-2R-module reveals vulnerabilities in anaplastic large cell lymphoma

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), an aggressive CD30-positive T-cell lymphoma, comprises systemic anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive, and ALK-negative, primary cutaneous and breast implant-associated ALCL. Prognosis of some ALCL subgroups is still unsatisfactory, and already in second line effective treatment options are lacking. To identify genes defining ALCL cell state and dependencies, we here characterize super-enhancer regions by genome-wide H3K27ac ChIP-seq. In addition to known ALCL key regulators, the AP-1-member BATF3 and IL-2 receptor (IL2R)-components are among the top hits. Specific and high-level IL2R expression in ALCL correlates with BATF3 expression. Confirming a regulatory link, IL-2R-expression decreases following BATF3 knockout, and BATF3 is recruited to IL2R regulatory regions. Functionally, IL-2, IL-15 and Neo-2/15, a hyper-stable IL-2/IL-15 mimic, accelerate ALCL growth and activate STAT1, STAT5 and ERK1/2. In line, strong IL-2Rα-expression in ALCL patients is linked to more aggressive clinical presentation. Finally, an IL-2Rα-targeting antibody-drug conjugate efficiently kills ALCL cells in vitro and in vivo. Our results highlight the importance of the BATF3/IL-2R-module for ALCL biology and identify IL-2Rα-targeting as a promising treatment strategy for ALCL