Chinese analysts have paid close attention to the concept of European strategic autonomy (ESA). This is largely motivated by China’s long-held vision of a multipolar world wherein Europe is defined as one major pillar. To better reveal the Chinese understanding of ESA, this research adopts a combination of bibliometric analysis and documentary analysis of Chinese scholarly literature. Two takeaways can be drawn from this study. Firstly, China’s perception or expectation of ESA in terms of goals, scope, and approaches differs considerably from Europe’s practice. Secondly, China’s attitude toward ESA has evolved over time and across different domains and has grown increasingly ambivalent. Although the overall China-EU relationship is unlikely to experience a sharp turn in the near future, Chinese policymakers should be more realistic and better prepared for major changes because the EU has been readjusting its China policy in its quest for ESA.

For every $0 \lt \alpha\le\infty$ we construct a continuous pure mixing map (topologically mixing, but not exact) on the Gehman dendrite with topological entropy $\alpha$. It has been previously shown by Špitalský that there are exact maps on the Gehman dendrite with arbitrarily low positive topological entropy. Together, these results show that the entropy of maps on the Gehman dendrite does not exhibit the paradoxical behaviour reported for graph maps, where the infimum of the topological entropy of exact maps is strictly smaller than the infimum of the entropy of pure mixing maps. The latter result, stated in terms of popular notions of chaos, says that for maps on graphs, lower entropy implies stronger Devaney chaos. The conclusion of this paper says that lower entropy does not force stronger chaos for maps of the Gehman dendrite.

In today’s ‘crisis of democracy’, critical theorists defend democratic principles as public intellectuals. Yet, they remain hesitant to ‘conservatively’ defend liberal democratic institutions. This article contributes to a special issue on civil society defences of liberal democracy. It asks under what conditions critical theorists can justifiably intervene to defend existing institutions. The article first discusses arguments in critical theory which suggest that defences of democracy should be based on core democratic principles. It then turns to early critical theorists, demonstrating that their defence of existing institutions does not refer to such strong principles. Subsequently, the possibility of defending existing institutions without appeal to strong normative standards is discussed in dialogue with contemporary critical theory. Finally, the article suggests that critical theorists can defend existing institutions if they avoid strong normative claims and focus instead on institutional matters. Practically, they should forge civil society alliances to defend the potential for abolishment inherent in existing institutions.

We study the subsymmetric basic sequence structure of variable exponent Lebesgue spaces $L_{\boldsymbol {P}}$ built from index functions $\boldsymbol {P}\colon \Omega \to (0,\infty ]$ on $\sigma $-finite measure spaces $(\Omega ,\Sigma ,\mu )$. Specifically, we prove that if $\boldsymbol {P}$ is bounded away from infinity, then any complemented subsymmetric basic sequence of $L_{\boldsymbol {P}}$ is equivalent to the canonical basis of $\ell _r$ for some $r\ge 1$ in the essential range of $\boldsymbol {P}$.

The paper investigates a non-zero-sum differential investment and reinsurance problem between two alpha-robust, risk-averse competitive insurers under a time-consistent mean-variance criterion. The claim arrival processes for both insurers follow the classical Cram’er–Lundberg model, and the reinsurance premium is calculated using the variance premium principle. Each insurer can invest its surplus in one risk-free asset, one risky asset, and a defaultable corporate bond. The paper also considers the effect of bounded memory, which is characterized by the wealth process with delay. Using the game-theoretic approach, we derive the non-zero-sum differential alpha-robust equilibrium strategy and the corresponding value function by solving the extended Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation system. In the numerical simulation section, we observe a phenomenon where the optimal strategy for investing in defaultable bonds decreases as the competitor’s risk aversion coefficient increases, provided that one’s own risk aversion coefficient remains constant. However, when there is a change in one’s own risk aversion coefficient, even if the competitor’s risk aversion changes in the opposite direction, the optimal investment strategy in defaultable bonds still decreases as one’s own risk aversion coefficient increases.

Prolonged grief disorder (PGD), recently classified in ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR, is characterized by persistent and functionally impairing grief lasting beyond 6–12 months. The COVID-19 pandemic was accompanied by widespread mortality, social isolation, disrupted mourning rituals, and social disconnection, raising concerns about a potentially high burden of PGD during the pandemic period. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis, following PRISMA guidelines and PROSPERO registration (CRD42023463720), to estimate PGD prevalence under standardized ICD-11 and DSM-5-TR diagnostic frameworks and to examine potential moderators during the COVID-19 pandemic. PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception to October 2024. Eligible studies included adults who experienced bereavement during the pandemic and were assessed using validated PGD instruments (PG-13-R, ICG, BGQ). Random-effects models were applied to pool prevalence estimates, with subgroup and meta-regression analyses. Thirteen studies comprising 5,766 participants were included. The pooled prevalence of PGD during the pandemic period was 24% (95% CI: 13%–36%), with the highest estimates observed in China (43%, 95% CI: 33%–54%). In the overall pooled analysis, studies applying DSM-5-TR criteria yielded lower prevalence estimates than those using ICD-11 criteria (18% vs.26%, p = 0.41). Digital interventions showed no statistically significant pooled effects (Hedges’ g = −0.38, 95% CI: −0.90 to 0.14). The high and geographically heterogeneous prevalence of PGD observed during the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the need to strengthen mental health surveillance, standardized assessment, and service accessibility in large-scale public health emergencies, and provides important evidence to inform population-level interventions and resource allocation strategies.

This article argues that an emerging body of ‘target laws’ – legislation that incorporates binding, quantified environmental targets with specified deadlines – represents a crucial evolution in environmental governance. Whereas traditional environmental risk regulation was valuable for managing discrete environmental impacts, it has proven inadequate to address systemic challenges like climate breakdown and ecosystem collapse. Target laws, by contrast, are better equipped to deliver the transformative change needed to respond to systemic threats. Drawing on examples from climate legislation and the European Union’s Nature Restoration Law, the analysis demonstrates how target laws can overcome environmental law’s persistent vulnerabilities to short-termism, marginalization, and public obscurity. However, targets are paradoxical entities that inject considerable complexity into legal frameworks, creating novel challenges around temporality, legal status, implementation, and enforceability. While acknowledging these formidable difficulties, the article contends that target laws merit vigorous defence as they offer environmental legislation unprecedented dynamism, resilience, and transformative potential.