This article examines the effects of the militarization of public security and the conflicts it triggers on a central democratic institution: press freedom. We focus on Mexico, which experienced multiple waves of assassinations of local journalists after the federal government declared a War on Drugs against the country’s main cartels and deployed the military to the country’s most conflictive regions. We argue that violence against journalists is tied to the outbreak of criminal wars—the multiple localized turf wars and power struggles unleashed by the federal military intervention. Subnational politicians and their security forces and drug lords are at the center of these conflicts because they jointly enable local operations of the transnational drug-trafficking industry. To defend their interests, they have individual and shared incentives to prevent city- and town-level journalists from (or punish them for) publishing fine-grained information that may compromise their criminal and political survival and their quest for local control. We compiled the most comprehensive dataset available on lethal attacks on journalists from 1994 to 2019 to test our claims. Using a difference-in-differences design, we show that violence against local journalists substantially increased in militarized regions, where the military decapitated the cartels and fragmented the criminal underworld, triggering violent competition for criminal governance—de facto rule over territories, people, and illicit economies. Evidence from original focus groups and interviews with at-risk reporters suggests that governors, mayors, and their police forces possibly joined cartels in murdering journalists to mitigate the risks of unwanted information and to minimize the costs of criminal governance by silencing the press and society. Our study offers a sobering lesson of how the militarization of anti-crime policy and the onset of criminal wars can undermine local journalism, press freedom, and democracy.

Owing to habitat loss, the entire breeding population of the globally threatened Aquatic Warbler Acrocephalus paludicola, a flagship bird species of fen mires, is now limited to scattered areas in east-central Europe. The breeding biology of the Aquatic Warbler was studied between 2012 and 2015 in calcareous fens dominated by the Cladietum marisci sedge community at the south-western range limit of the species, near Chełm, in south-east Poland. Two nesting peaks were observed during the breeding season, corresponding to first and second breeding attempts. Nest densities were greater during the first- rather than the second-brood period but singing male densities did not differ between the brood periods. Clutch size and post-hatching fledging success were significantly lower during the second-brood period. Total nest fledging success (whether or not a nest fledged at least one young) was 76.6% in 124 nests with known outcomes with an average of 2.7 (± SE 0.2) fledglings per nest. Mayfield probability of nest survival was 56.9% with losses mainly due to predation (55%), nest desertion or female predation (28%), and changes in water level (14%). Nest survival to fledging increased along the gradient of increasing levels of litter layer thickness, stagnating water, and vegetation height at the nest, and increasing height of the nest above the soil. Fledgling production tended to be lower than in the Biebrza Marshes (north-east Poland) habitats, assumed to be optimal for breeding. Otherwise, the reproductive success estimates did not deviate from nests found in the core breeding areas in north-east Poland or Belarus. Brood feeding frequency (15.5 ± 1.0/hour) was similar to that observed in the Biebrza Marshes. Our results suggest that the calcareous fens at the margins of the current species’ range provide a suitable breeding habitat. However, as the nesting area has contracted, management programmes tailored to the ecological requirements of the Aquatic Warbler are required.

Let G be a finite group and r be a prime divisor of the order of G. An irreducible character of G is said to be quasi r-Steinberg if it is non-zero on every r-regular element of G. A quasi r-Steinberg character of degree $\displaystyle |Syl_r(G)|$ is said to be weak r-Steinberg if it vanishes on the r-singular elements of $G.$ In this article, we classify the quasi r-Steinberg cuspidal characters of the general linear group $GL(n,q).$ Then we characterize the quasi r-Steinberg characters of $GL(2,q)$ and $GL(3,q).$ Finally, we obtain a classification of the weak r-Steinberg characters of $GL(n,q).$

A daily prompt to offer vaccination to inpatients awaiting transfer to rehabilitation resulted in increased SARS-CoV-2 (OR 5.64, 95% CI 3.3–10.15; P < 0.001) and influenza (OR 3.80, 95% CI 2.45–6.06; P < 0.001) vaccination. Compared to baseline, this intervention was associated with reduced incidence of viral respiratory infection during subsequent admission to rehabilitation.

Open science is good for both epistemic and social reasons, but in nonobvious ways, it can have detrimental epistemic side effects. Drawing on case studies and the social epistemology of science, I show how practices intended to increase transparency, communication, and information sharing in science can backfire. We should not reject Open Science, just implement it carefully. I argue that we can do so by treating openness as a governing value in science, and thus, that our pursuit of openness needs to be balanced against our pursuit of the whole scheme of values that govern science.

The role of initial specimen diversion devices (ISDDs) in preventing contamination of central venous catheter (CVC) blood cultures is undefined. A model to simulate CVC colonization and contamination compared standard cultures with ISDD technique. ISDD detected 100% of colonized CVCs while decreasing false-positive cultures from 36% to 16%.

Organizations are utilizing digital technologies to modernize their innovations in today’s competitive and rapidly changing market environment. This study’s goal is to explore the influence of open innovation on firms’ digital technology integration, aiming to enhance their innovation skills and produce competitive, adaptable digital solutions. The methods used include analysis, synthesis, and generalization. Organizations can enhance open innovation by acquiring knowledge, capabilities, ideas, technologies, and information for new products and services, with the relationship between open innovation and digital innovation accelerating their capabilities. The study emphasizes the challenges organizations face in modern IT, emphasizing open innovation, access to external knowledge, and the need for improved internal production efficiency and competitiveness. The practical value of this study is manifested in the identification of strategies for optimizing open innovation for their transformation into digital solutions.