Journals
2026 EN
Ferraro Laura · Rubino Franco Ernesto · Crocco Giovanna
+1 more
ABSTRACT Sustainable practices and shareholder value often come into conflict, yet Benefit Corporations (BCs) and B‐Corps combine these goals into a single core mission. While previous literature reviews exist, this study offers a current, cross‐disciplinary perspective, highlighting the strengths and critical aspects of BCs and B‐Corps through bibliometric and manual content analyses. A dataset of 114 peer‐reviewed articles from the Scopus and Web of Science databases, published between 2006 and 2024, was identified. The bibliometric analysis revealed that research is geographically concentrated, with the United States and Italy leading due to their first‐mover status in the BC legislation and B‐Corp movements. This, in turn, has concentrated authorship and affiliations within these two countries. Content analysis identified four main themes related to BCs and B‐Corps: (i) mission, governance, and financial performance; (ii) stakeholder engagement; (iii) sustainable business models versus greenwashing; (iv) contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals. By synthesizing fragmented insights into a validated framework, this research advances understanding in this niche area and exposes the main gaps in existing literature. It also suggests clear directions for future research and offers practical guidance for BC and B‐Corp leaders, investors, and policymakers on governance, transparency, and performance metrics that promote both profit and positive societal impact.
Journals
2026 EN
Amarawardhana Kumudu · Moreland James D. · Edwards Michael Thomas
+4 more
ABSTRACT Mission engineering (ME) emerges as a crucial framework, integrating cutting‐edge technologies and fostering collaborative partnerships across government, industry, and academia. The interdisciplinary nature of ME ensures its versatility and applicability across a wide range of sectors, making it a crucial framework for Australia's strategic development. Despite its significance, the professionalization of ME within Australia remains overlooked. This paper underscores the imperative role of ME in fortifying Australia's defence capabilities and its broad applicability to diverse industrial sectors. UNSW Canberra pioneered a three‐tier micro‐credential model in collaboration with experts from defence, various domains, and international partners to nurture ME skills, ensuring alignment with real‐world challenges. The design and implementation of the pilot course and associated research were conducted in four major steps: pre‐design steps, curriculum development, pilot course execution, and surveys with critical appraisal, where various stakeholders were engaged in each step to ensure the course's applicability, validity, and overall quality. The pilot course surveys revealed a need to restructure the course content to include less systems engineering knowledge and revisit the case studies to connect practical insights with theoretical concepts better. These findings were instrumental in refining the curriculum to meet the needs of diverse learners and the industry better. Additionally, based on the current ME competencies, a professional profile for ME practitioners has been developed, further enhancing the relevance and impact of the program. This work significantly advances educational methodology in ME by presenting an innovative pedagogical framework and validating its effectiveness through an empirical pilot study.
Journals
2026 EN
Bakirtzis Georgios · Carter Bryan · Fleming Cody H.
+1 more
ABSTRACT Perimeter cybersecurity, while essential, has proven insufficient against sophisticated, coordinated, and cyber‐physical attacks. In contrast, mission‐centric cybersecurity emphasizes finding evidence of attack impact on mission success, allowing for targeted resource allocation to mitigate vulnerabilities and protect critical assets. Mission Aware is a systems‐theoretic cybersecurity analysis that identifies components that, if compromised, destabilize the overall mission. It generates evidence by finding potential attack vectors relevant to mission‐linked elements and traces this evidence to mission requirements, prioritizing high‐impact vulnerabilities relative to mission objectives. Mission Aware is an informational tool for system resilience by unifying cybersecurity analysis with core systems engineering goals.
Journals
2026 EN
Tribble Dana · Holt Aubrey · Gordon Sarah
To best support women in higher education, especially those balancing complex professional and personal roles, deepening our understanding of their lived experiences is critical. From those experiences we can build meaningful support structures that truly meet their needs. As passionate educators and advocates, we — Drs. Dana Tribble, Assistant Professor of Higher Education and Student Affairs at Arkansas Tech University; Aubrey Holt, Visiting Lecturer of Leadership Studies at Arkansas Tech University; and Sarah Gordon, Dean of Jackson College of Graduate Studies at the University of Central Oklahoma — have held leadership positions in Arkansas higher education and officer positions with the Arkansas Council for Women in Higher Education (ACWHE). ACWHE's mission is to promote institutional change, elevate women's voices, and advocate for meaningful support in higher education.
Journals
2026 EN
Zahra Khyal A.
ABSTRACT Climate change has a significant impact on the world, primarily through sea level rise (SLR), which causes flooding and erosion in vulnerable, low‐lying coastal areas, such as the Nile Delta. The study utilized the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in conjunction with the SimCLIM/Marine Climate Model to project SLR along Egypt's northern coast (ENC). Additionally, a spectral analysis of satellite images from 1985 to 2022 was conducted to assess shoreline erosion and accretion along the ENC. This analysis utilized the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) tool and the Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI). Estimates of erosion and accretion levels were projected up to 2040. The study identified and forecasted inundated areas for various scenarios from 2020 to 2100 using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and modified Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation maps. By 2040, the regions east of the Damietta and Rosetta Nile branches are expected to be vulnerable to issues of erosion and accretion. According to the RCP 4.5 scenario, approximately 30.1 km 2 may be inundated by 2080, whereas the RCP 8.5 scenario predicts an increase to 348.1 km 2 , potentially reaching 738.2 km 2 by 2100. These data indicate that the ENC will become highly vulnerable to climate change under the RCP 8.5 scenario by 2080, whereas the RCP 4.5 scenario is unlikely to impact its current condition significantly. The study recommends implementing integrated measures, such as dikes, to tackle the challenges of low‐lying inundation. This study's findings enhance our understanding of shoreline evolution and refine our ability to predict future changes, enabling policymakers to develop effective policies that protect our marine ecosystem.
Journals
2026 EN
Root Bart · Qin Weilun · Tang Youandi
+1 more
Abstract The volcanic complex Tharsis Region on Mars is known for its numerous volcanoes on top of the crust, elevated topography (doming), and a long‐wavelength gravity anomaly correlated with the region. Flexural modeling of the lithosphere has commonly been used to understand the relationship between observed topography, crustal structure, and gravity, but no conclusive answers have been obtained due to the ambiguity of these models. NASA's InSight mission has brought new information about the Martian lithosphere, which warrants a reanalysis of the support of the Tharsis Region. After analyzing the topography and gravity data, we found that a thin shell model of Mars matches both the observed gravity field for spherical harmonic degrees higher than 8 and the crustal thickness at Elysium determined by the InSight mission. Our thin shell flexure model uses an average crustal thickness of 55 km, crustal density of 3,050 kg/m 3$3}$ , average mantle density of 3,750 kg/m 3$3}$ , and an elastic thickness (T e${T}_{e}$ ) of 100 km. The mismatch between modeled and observed gravity field for the long‐wavelengths (betweenn = 2 − 8 $n=2-8$ degrees) correlates with the Tharsis Region, suggesting active large‐scale dynamic support of the volcanic region. After modeling this dynamic support, we concluded that a substantial negative mass anomaly (hot buoyant mantle material, or depleted mantle region) in the mid mantle underneath the Tharsis Rise can explain the long‐wavelength gravity residual. The remaining short‐scale gravity residual gives insight to the Martian crustal density distribution and seems to correlate with geological structures of Mars. Buried mass anomalies in the subsurface of the northern polar plains seem not to be related to any geological or surface expressions, suggesting a more complex geology of the northern Martian crust than is suggested by the surface topography.
Journals
2026 EN
Du Kecheng · Liu Sicong · Tong Xiaohua
+5 more
Abstract The lunar south polar region has been a focus of human exploration due to its potential rich water‐ice and mineral resources. However, scientific exploration of this area based on spectral data is limited due to challenging lighting conditions and complex topography. In this work, we used the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M 3 ) and Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) reflectance data to construct a hyperspectral cube in the lunar 83°–90°S region. Mineralogical abundance maps of the four major lunar minerals were derived from M 3 data at a spatial resolution of ∼193 m/pixel. Quantitative mineral maps of four common lunar minerals, including high‐calcium pyroxene (HCP), low‐calcium pyroxene (LCP), olivine, and plagioclase, were derived from the M 3 data, with abundance ranges consistent with those from the Kaguya Spectral Profiler (SP) data. The high‐resolution mineral maps enhance the identification of mineral distribution details, such as purest anorthosite enrichment in the crater wall and floor of the Shackleton Crater. Comprehensive analysis of the mineral abundance maps reveals geological characteristics and potential effects of impact events, with particular emphasis on Artemis III mission landing site candidates. Pyroxene enrichment detected in the De Gerlache‐Kocher Massif region may present an opportunity to collect South Pole‐Aitken ejecta materials.
Journals
2026 EN
Zhan Pengfei · Wang Jida · Chen Tan
+6 more
Abstract Reservoirs play a crucial role in global water resource management. Monitoring reservoir hydrologic dynamics is critical for assessing climate variability and anthropogenic regulation. However, traditional satellite altimetry faces multiple challenges hindering high frequency and accuracy water level monitoring. This study develops a proof‐of‐concept framework that integrates multi‐source satellite data, with the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission as the primary data source, to generate high‐resolution reservoir water level time series. The SWOT‐anchored integration framework establishes a unified two‐dimensional height reference by rule‐based virtual station selection and monthly water surface elevation difference fields. On this reference frame, heterogeneous nadir/laser altimetry from multiple missions are cross‐calibrated, while multi‐source area series are converted to dense levels via reservoir‐specific hypsometry model and then fused. The framework's robustness and re‐applicability were confirmed using eight representative Chinese reservoirs. Results demonstrate that the integrated multi‐source water level time series significantly enhanced observation frequency, achieving near‐daily temporal resolution and capturing detailed non‐linear and short‐term water level dynamics. The water level observation frequency for all reservoirs based on SWOT exceeds 20 times per yr, with the highest reaching 38 times. After multi‐sensor synthesis, the water level observation frequency increased by 3.2–8.1 times, yielding an average of 121 observations annually. Validation results showed strong correlations ( R 2 > 0.90) and low errors (0.46 m ≥ MAE ≥ 0.11 m), confirming the method's robustness and effectiveness. Instead of treating SWOT as another input, this framework standardizes water levels across sensors and tracks, enabling a scalable and transferable multi‐mission synthesis for global reservoir monitoring under changing climatic and anthropogenic pressures.
Journals
2026 EN
Tilling R. · Egido A. · Harbeck J.
+6 more
Abstract Differences in satellite sampling affect their ability to resolve small‐scale features over Arctic sea ice. For CryoSat‐2 (CS2) and ICESat‐2 (IS2) these differences are driven by geometric (footprint resolution) and radiometric (radar or laser) sampling. Here we compare growth season (October‐April) surface type densities (the detected densities of lead, floe, and ambiguous targets) from CS2 and IS2 products, Arctic‐wide over a common mission period. We develop these products using standard and fully‐focused CS2 sea ice processing, IS2 ATL07 sea ice height data, and IS2 ATL10 sea ice freeboard data. Our analysis shows agreement in the spatial distributions of lead and floe densities between products, but significant variations in magnitude. Average floe densities from CS2 standard and fully‐focused processing are 40% and 41% respectively, but 91% for all IS2 products. The average lead density from CS2 standard processing is 45%, and below 10% for all other products. The factors causing ambiguous classifications and misclassifications differ between satellites; while CS2 is more susceptible to off‐nadir ranging to leads, IS2 retrievals are complicated by variable apparent lead brightness at nadir, and the presence of ridged ice. We also investigate the impact of sampling on sea ice floe length estimates, which average 1.8–2.9 km. Finally, we assess the performance of CS2 and IS2 surface type classification along near‐coincident CRYO2ICE orbits. Based on our results we encourage CS2 and IS2 data users to consider how satellite sampling impacts true geophysical retrievals, and to utilize both missions simultaneously to benefit from their complementary strengths.
Journals
2026 EN
Tchonang Babette C. · Wang Jinbo · Waterhouse Amy F.
+8 more
Abstract The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission provides high‐resolution sea surface height (SSH) observations from the Ka‐band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn), with the potential to improve our understanding of ocean circulation dynamics. A key objective of SWOT is to convert SSH measurements into ocean currents, a process that requires rigorous validation beyond direct SSH assessment. In this study, we evaluated SWOT‐derived geostrophic velocities in the California Current System (CCS) at 125.044 ° circ}$ W, 35.917 ° circ}$ N by comparing them with in situ velocity measurements from a moored current meter array during the post‐launch Calibration and Validation (CalVal) phase (April 1–4 July 2023). During this period, SWOT operated in a special 1‐day repeat orbit, providing daily sampling that is not representative of the nominal 21‐day science orbit. To derive reliable velocities, SSH fields were low‐pass filtered at 70 km to suppress noise and unbalanced motions. Compared to the in situ velocities, SWOT explained up to 80% (43%) of the meridional (zonal) variance, outperforming DUACS, which explained 63% (15%). SWOT also better captured variability at periods longer than 6–10 days and resolved sharper mesoscale features than the DUACS gridded product, which resolves signals with time scales greater than 25–30 days. When the comparison was repeated using only one SWOT snapshot every 21 days, mimicking the science‐phase orbit, SWOT still retained meaningful skill in representing the velocity field. These results demonstrate SWOT's ability to improve mesoscale and large‐scale velocity estimation, while also highlighting the challenges in regions with strong internal gravity waves.