The European Union (EU) faces many crises and risks to its security and existence. While few of them threaten the lives of EU citizens, they all create a sense of anxiety and insecurity about the future for many ordinary Europeans. Amongst these crises are the more obvious challenges of sovereign debt and fiscal austerity; refugees from conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria; and the rise of po

As part of the “enlightened” reform activity, Gustav III issued a Tolerance Edict for “foreign believers” in 1781. This law allowed Catholic immigrants to publicly practice their religion. The members of the Reformed communities had already been granted the same rights, and in 1782 the ban on Jewish immigration was abolished. According to previous research, these edicts of toleration, in addition

Henzinger et al. posed the so-called Online Boolean Matrix-vector Multiplication (OMv) conjecture and showed that it implies tight hardness results for several basic dynamic or partially dynamic problems [STOC'15]. We first show that the OMv conjecture is implied by a simple off-line conjecture that we call the MvP conjecture. We then show that if the definition of the OMv conjecture is generalizeHenzinger et al. posed the so-called Online Boolean Matrix-vector Multiplication (OMv) conjecture and showed that it implies tight hardness results for several basic dynamic or partially dynamic problems [STOC'15]. We first show that the OMv conjecture is implied by a simple off-line conjecture that we call the MvP conjecture. We then show that if the definition of the OMv conjecture is generalize

A reflection on contemporary Polish-Catholic identity. It starts with ponderings on how a gluing-together of national and religious identity is evident in discourses about the most pressing challenge of the Catholic Church in Poland today: the child abuse scandals. The revelation of these crimes is bound up with the premieres in 2018 and 2019 of the movies Clergy and Tell No One. The reactions gen

Environmentally friendly tin (Sn)-based metallic halide perovskites suffer from oxidation and morphological issues. Here, we demonstrate the composition engineering of Pb-Sn-alloyed two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites, (BA)2(MA)3Pb4-xSnxI13, for efficient and stable solar cell applications. Smooth thin films with high surface coverage are readily formed without using any additive ow

The discrete circle map is the archetypical example of a driven periodic system, showing a complex resonance structure under a change of the forcing frequency known as the devil's staircase. Adler's equation can be seen as the direct continuous equivalent of the circle map, describing locking effects in periodic systems with continuous forcing. This type of locking produces a single fundamental re

High-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and density functional theory (DFT) were used to characterize IrO2(110) films on Ir(100) with stoichiometric as well as OH-rich terminations. Core-level Ir 4f and O 1s peaks were identified for the undercoordinated Ir and O atoms and bridging and on-top OH groups at the IrO2(110) surfaces. Peak assignments were validated by comparison of the c

Background: Despite improvements in surgical methodologies and perioperative chemo- and radiotherapy, the prognosis for patients with esophageal and gastric cancer remains poor. Hence, there is a great need to identify complementary biomarkers for improved treatment stratification. Tumor-infiltrating immune cells have been shown to impact on outcome in many types of cancer, including gastroesophag

We review and extend the list of stability and convergence properties satisfied by Runge-Kutta (RK) methods that are associated with Summation-By-Parts (SBP) operators, herein called RK-SBP methods. The analysis covers classical, generalized as well as upwind SBP operators. Previous work on the topic has relied predominantly on energy estimates. In contrast, we derive all results using a purely al

BACKGROUND. Hyperglycemia, insulin insensitivity, and low IGF1 levels in extremely preterm infants are associated with an increased risk of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), but the interactions are incompletely understood. METHODS. In 117 extremely preterm infants, serum glucose levels and parenteral glucose intake were recoded daily in the first postnatal week. Serum IGF1 levels were measured we

Technological advances and the evolution of mobile technologies enable patients to meet their doctors through their smartphones. While offering the opportunity of digital visits to patients, there are also challenges for this development. The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of digital visits, as perceived by experts working in telemedicine companies. To serve this purpose, th

Background: Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults. Previous studies have suggested that CRP (C-reactive protein) could serve as a biomarker candidate as well as a prognostic factor in glioblastoma patients, and we here further investigate its potential role. Materials and methods: Publicly available datasets were used to compare gene expression between brain sampl

Residual melanins have been detected in multimillion-year-old animal body fossils; how-ever, confident identification and characterization of these natural pigments remain challenging due to loss of chemical signatures during diagenesis. Here, we simulate this post-burial process through artificial maturation experiments using three synthetic and one natural eumelanin exposed to mild (100◦C/100 ba

The role of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability is investigated using coupled model experiments with different topography setups. Removing the TP results in weakened trade winds in the tropical Pacific, an eastward shift of atmospheric convection center, a shallower mixed layer in the equatorial Pacific, and a flattened equatorial thermocline, which leads to

BACKGROUND: Gastrectomy including D2 lymphadenectomy is regarded as the standard curative treatment for advanced gastric cancer in Asia. This procedure has also been adopted gradually in the West, despite lack of support from RCTs. This study sought to investigate any advantage for long-term survival following D2 lymphadenectomy in routine gastric cancer surgery in a Western nationwide population-