On April 28, 2025, a large-scale blackout affected mainland Spain and Portugal for over ten hours, severely impacting Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Although the cause remains uncertain and initially cyberattack was a concern, it has most probably been related to infrastructure failure. This event exposed critical vulnerabilities in EMS preparedness, as no region had a specific contingency plan for power outages.

The blackout led to wide-spread disruption, including traffic signal failures that caused accidents and delayed emergency response, and the collapse of communication networks that affected 1-1-2 emergency calls. Fuel shortages also emerged as gas stations became non-operational. Patients using home medical devices faced life-threatening situations, with at least one death reported due to a ventilator failure. The reliance on technology proved to be a major weakness, as many EMS systems lacked backup communication tools like satellite phones or analog radios, and many hospitals and ambulance bases were not prepared with stable generators and adequate fuel access.

Coordination between EMS, hospitals, and other emergency services was challenged by incompatible protocols and equipment. Despite these difficulties, EMS demonstrated adaptability by prioritizing urgent care and reallocating resources. The event exposed systemic fragilities and underscored the need for robust emergency planning, interagency drills, technological redundancy, and investment in resilient infrastructure. This incident serves as a global wake-up call, emphasizing that health systems must be prepared for increasing risks from climate change, cyber threats, and energy insecurity. Emergency preparedness should shift from being reactive to proactive, focusing on flexible systems, coordinated action, and workforce training to ensure continuity of health care during future blackouts.

The Pelagatos volcano is situated within the Sierra Chichinautzin Volcanic Field (SCVF), 20 km southeast of Mexico City. Previous radiocarbon (14C) dating has revealed that the age of the Pelagatos volcano ranges from 2.5 ± 0.1 to 14.1 ± 0.2 ka BP (1σ). The analysis of additional cosmogenic radionuclides, such as in situ 10Be, facilitates the confirmation of the geochronology of any geological phenomenon by determining exposure ages in quartz minerals. This study proposes a new chronology for the exposure of the Pelagatos volcano rocks by in situ analysis of 10Be in olivine samples collected from five locations. The average 10Be ages in olivine from Pelagatos rocks range from 3.95 ± 0.97 ka to 5.7 ± 1.4 ka (1σ), with a mean age of 4.6 ± 0.9 ka and 4.9 ± 0.9 ka for flow 1 and flow 2, respectively. These results are consistent with previously reported 14C ages, confirming the reliability of the 10Be exposure ages obtained in this study. The in situ dating of 10Be in olivine minerals presents a viable alternative for elucidating the volcanic history and estimating the timing of the next eruption in this volcanic field.

The study of the Indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America during the colonial era has long been a central pillar in the historiography of Latin America. This essay, a contribution to the TAM Vault series, provides an overview of colonial Mesoamerican ethnohistory through a quantitative and qualitative study of relevant articles and book reviews published in The Americas. My primary goal in writing this essay is to demonstrate how increased attention to Indigenous-language sources, beginning in the 1990s, has transformed the writing of colonial history in Mexico and Central America. By tracking data from relevant publications and analyzing the debates and discussions featured in the journal, I construct a chronological historiography of colonial Mesoamerican ethnohistory from 1944 through 2019.

We study a continuous-time mutually catalytic branching model on the $\mathbb{Z}^{d}$. The model describes the behavior of two different populations of particles, performing random walk on the lattice in the presence of branching, that is, each particle dies at a certain rate and is replaced by a random number of offspring. The branching rate of a particle in one population is proportional to the number of particles of another population at the same site. We study the long time behavior for this model, in particular, coexistence and noncoexistence of two populations in the long run. Finally, we construct a sequence of renormalized processes and use duality techniques to investigate its limiting behavior.

This work proposes a small, wideband circularly polarized planar monopole antenna. The antenna comprises a modified C-shaped radiating patch and a truncated rectangular ground plane with a small open-ended slot to achieve a wideband circular polarization property. The proposed antenna has a compact volume of 0.57 λ0 × 0.45λ0 × 0.024λ0 (where λ0 is the free space wavelength at resonant frequency of 4.5 GHz). It provides a measured fractional impedance bandwidth of 50.70% and fractional 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth of 45.04%. The measured peak gain of the antenna is 7.4 dBi. It also maintains a gain of more than 6 dBi throughout the entire band. The mechanism of circular polarization is also described herein. A parametric investigation of various design parameters has also been prepared herein. The proposed model was simulated using the High Frequency Structure Simulator, and measurements were conducted to validate the simulated results. The simulated and measured results of the various characteristics of the proposed antenna are presented. Owing to its low-profile, wideband, and circular polarization characteristics, the proposed antenna is applicable for different wireless applications.

As CEOs play pivotal roles in shaping environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment strategies, existing studies have explored the influence of CEOs’ demographic and professional traits while acknowledging the impact of their cognitive characteristics. However, an overlooked aspect in these investigations is the role of CEOs’ time perspective. To address these gaps, this study investigates the relationship between CEOs’ temporal focus, a key executive perception in strategic contexts, and three dimensions across ESG investments. Utilizing data of Chinese listed firms between 2009 and 2021, we find that CEOs with past-oriented or present-oriented temporal focus exert suppressive effects on environmental and social investments, whereas CEOs with future-oriented temporal focus significantly enhance such sustainability initiatives. Present-focused CEOs are more likely to champion governance investments while both past-focused and future-focused tend to restrict them. Notably, these relationships are further moderated by CEO wealth sensitivity. Our findings illuminate the considerable influence of executive temporal perceptions on ESG investment heterogeneity, offering valuable implications for both research and practice.

The study aimed to analyse the European experience of investigating criminal offences in the field of official activity and the peculiarities of its adaptation to the Ukrainian context. The study employed a combination of case study methods, formal legal analysis, content analysis, comparative legal analysis, contextual analysis and PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal) analysis. The analysis of international experience was conducted in the context of European Union member states that have successfully established effective systems for investigating crimes in the public sector, including Germany, France and Poland. The study found that the approaches and strategies implemented in Ukraine have several shortcomings that significantly reduce the effectiveness of criminal investigations, including a widening gap between the number of registered offences and the number of notices of suspicion served. The reason for the identified discrepancy is the lack of coordination between the subjects of criminal investigations, as well as the lack of transparency of the investigation process and accountability of the parties involved. To overcome these shortcomings, the study recommended adapting the German experience in the field of round-the-clock interaction between the subjects of a criminal investigation, which guarantees quick access to information and prompt permission to conduct investigative actions. Adaptation of the French experience in conducting investigations was recommended to ensure cross-control of the investigation subjects and improve the efficiency of their work. The Polish experience of utilizing electronic resources in criminal proceedings was recommended to enhance interdisciplinary cooperation among the parties involved in the investigation. Adopting the best international practices can be used to enhance the detection statistics of criminal offences and increase public confidence in the country’s system for investigating and prosecuting criminal misconduct in office.

This study investigates the transnational mobility of Iranian women pursuing higher education in South Korea, focusing on their motivations, adaptation, and postgraduation trajectories. Drawing on the influence of the Korean Wave since the 2000s, it examines how popular culture, gender constraints in Iran, and migration aspirations intersect. Despite their initial attraction to Korea’s global image, many face cultural barriers, discrimination, and restrictive visa systems that limit settlement opportunities. Consequently, some seek “onward migration” to third countries such as Canada or Germany. By situating these experiences within broader Iranian migration dynamics, the study highlights gendered dimensions of educational migration and the policy limitations shaping Iranian students’ transnational mobility.

After a brief overview of Cassirer’s symbolic form argument, the discussion turns to one question: does Cassirer offer a lucid normative position in politics? My core argument is that he does not. Three arguments providing potential insights into his moral and political sensibilities are contested: the first concerns his The Myth of the State text; the second, the Bildung tradition; and third, his arguments on the contract and natural rights tradition. The latter argument, in particular, underpins the claim that Cassirer was sympathetic to liberalism. The concept of left-Kantianism is then examined in the context of the German socialist tradition.

We consider the existence of normalized solutions to non-linear Schrödinger equations on non-compact metric graphs in the L2-supercritical regime. For sufficiently small prescribed mass (L2 norm), we prove existence of positive solutions on two classes of graphs: periodic graphs and non-compact graphs with finitely many edges and suitable topological assumptions. Our approach is based on mountain pass techniques. A key point to overcome the serious lack of compactness is to show that all solutions with small mass have positive energy. To complement our analysis, we prove that this is no longer true, in general, for large masses. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first results with an L2-supercritical non-linearity extended on the whole graph and unravelling the role of topology in the existence of solutions.

The foundation of the Kantian theory of right is the one innate right to freedom. Here, I offer a comprehensive philosophical comparison between Kantian rightful freedom and the conception of freedom as negative liberty or non-interference, a hugely influential view in terms of which Kantian rightful freedom is often understood. This fruitful comparison clarifies the fundamental differences between the two views, emphasizing the resources the Kantian approach offers for contributing to contemporary debates on freedom as a distinctive rights-based republican view. This Kantian perspective also offers a useful lens for critiquing negative-liberty-based views, revealing a dilemma they face.

Do appeals to Black voters necessarily detract white voters from supporting the left? Extant studies have yielded mixed answers to this question by examining voter turnout data. We use two survey experiments to test how framing politicians as either supportive of or hostile to the #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) and #SayHerName (SHN) movements affected the willingness of voters to support them during the 2020 Senate runoff elections in Georgia. We find that Democratic-leaning respondents in both a national sample of Black respondents and a sample of White respondents in Georgia were more likely to support politicians whom we framed as supportive of the BLM and SHN movements. These findings illustrate the potential potency of messaging strategies grounded in racial justice themes for mobilizing Democratic-leaning voters in American elections.

We argue that the far-right is turning to law and legal institutions to institutionalize its extreme agendas but does so in the name of democratic values. Right-wing attempts to affirm and repress rights speak to the duality of democracy, often hinging on the perceived worthiness of rights along cultural and ethnic boundaries while still espousing equality for all. To understand and explain this phenomenon, we bring together socio-legal literature and far-right scholarship and focus on the understudied but significant Swedish case, often viewed as exceptional. We analyze critical events within the Swedish polity, such as the free speech crisis over the Quran burnings and recent reforms of the Tidö Agreement, the governing document of the right-wing coalition government, which is deeply influenced by the far-right Sweden Democrats. Empirical evidence shows how right-wing movements go beyond conventional right-against-rights expectations of authoritarian or strongman tactics to instead advocate for liberal values.

A reflection mapping is a singular holomorphic mapping obtained by restricting the quotient mapping of a complex reflection group. We study the analytic structure of double point spaces of reflection mappings. In the case where the image is a hypersurface, we obtain explicit equations for the double point space and for the image as well. In the case of surfaces in ${\mathbb C}^3$, this gives a very efficient method to compute the Milnor number and delta invariant of the double point curve.