Individual Mission Research Articles

Multiple New or Updated Satellite Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) Composites (1978–2023)

Several total solar irradiance (TSI) satellite missions have been carried out since 1978. None of these missions have lasted more than one to two solar cycles (SCs), and each mission implies a slightly different absolute TSI baseline. Nonetheless, several satellite composites have been developed by compositing satellite data from different missions to form an almost continuous daily record for the satellite era. However, disconcertingly, each mission has implied slightly different changes in TSI between consecutive solar minima and solar maxima. Some groups have developed adjustments to individual missions that have substantially reduced these differences. Others prefer to use the original data published by the satellite science teams. Some TSI composites average together conflicting records, while others prioritize specific records over others. Here, we compare four existing composites to 17 new alternative series based on the available satellite data. These 21 TSI series are statistically sorted into six groups of three to four series each. We found that the six groups suggest different intercycle trends between solar minima. We compare the groups to eight daily resolved solar proxy-based TSI reconstructions and to daily sunspot numbers. Excellent agreement is obtained over one to two SCs, but significant differences are observed over longer timescales for each group. Therefore, we have assembled all these time series (old and new) into a large and new TSI data set for use by the scientific community. Versions scaled to 1 au (for studying solar variability) or in situ values at Earth (for studying solar/terrestrial interactions) are provided at daily, monthly, and yearly resolutions.

Leadership Agency in UN Peace Operations

ABSTRACT There is a growing interest in the role of individual mission leaders in UN peace operations in peacekeeping studies. However, the concept of ‘agency’ has remained latent in much of this literature. This omission presents a risk of concept stretching and concept ambiguity as scholars continue to explore this topic. In this paper, I analyse the different ways in which the agency of mission leaders has been (implicitly) conceptualized thus far and argue that the existing literature pays insufficient attention to how the scope for individual agency can be context-dependent. Furthermore, I contend that mission leaders are too rarely seen as real human beings, with personalities, background experiences and values. I build on sociological and principal/agent-theories to develop the concept of ‘personal identity’ and then formulate a set of conditions under which the room for individual agency in UN peace operations is enhanced or reduced. Subsequently, I demonstrate the added value of this approach by conducting an illustrative case study of Patrick Cammaert’s tenure as Commander of MONUC’s Eastern Division between 2005-2007. The article shows that investigating the interaction between structure and real-world agents leads to a more holistic and sophisticated understanding of the behaviour of peacekeeping leadership.

The postmodern subject from a psychopolitical perspective: An analysis from logotherapy.

From a hermeneutic interpretation, this article analyzed the new psychic pandemic configuring a typology of psychopolitical man, provided by digital swarms and mass psychology, that, from logotherapy, can be perceived as a postmodern collective neurosis. We also analyze a self's hyper-reflection as a social phenomenon of psychopolitics, suffering as repression, and the love of narcissistic consumption. Consolidating a sense of life as a social ethos is the answer to finding compromises and responsibility for the individual mission that every human being has as a member of a community and society.

Mission Statement Components and Social Enterprise Sustainability: Findings from a Mixed-Method Approach

Mission statement components are crucial for the sustainability of social enterprises. Based on content analysis and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we investigate the link between mission statement components and sustainability in a sample of 148 Chinese social enterprises. Our findings indicate that social enterprises’ mission statements are both socially and commercially focused. An individual mission statement component does not constitute a necessary condition for the high sustainability of social enterprises, but products or services and enterprise philosophy play a universal role in this regard. There are four configurations of mission statement components that lead to high social enterprise sustainability. This study helps to reveal the complexity of the impact of mission statement components on social enterprise sustainability.

Are we on the same page? Individual interpretations of missions within human service nonprofits

AbstractWithout unique missions to serve a public purpose, nonprofits have no justification to exist. Much of the focus on mission in scholarship centers on concerns with mission drift and pressures from external actors. Yet internal dynamics may be just as important in developing a common mission and the coherent activities pursuing it. This research identifies the structural forces shaping organizational members' individual mission conceptions and leading them to emulate and converge around a shared dominant conception. We apply the concept of institutional isomorphism to 104 interviews conducted with staff, managers, board members, and volunteers from 14 human services nonprofits and explain the isomorphic pathways of individuals adopting dominant mission conceptions. Employing qualitative comparative analysis, we analyze the interviews capturing various combinations of individual backgrounds, motivations for joining the organization, and language used to share the mission with others. We find the presence of seven isomorphic pathways leading nonprofit professionals to adopt the dominant interpretations.

Testing of Pilots Abilities on Flight Simulators

The article presents more than ten years of experience in testing the abilities of pilots during flight control on flight simulators. A hypothesis is stated about the possibilities of finding common features in flight control, the basic mathematical apparatus for evaluation is presented, the flight simulators used and, of course, the achieved results are presented. 110 pilots have already been tested and a total of 2360 missions - test flights - have been simulated. Subsequent mathematical analysis provided approximately 40,000 results suitable for further statistical processing. This amount of data obtained from realistically simulated flights provides a prerequisite for defining applicable conclusions to the proposed mortgages. For the needs of subsequent certification, a proposal for the pile measurement methodology was also prepared, which summarizes both the theoretical approach to pile testing and the procedure for carrying out tests on individual simulators. Part of the proposed methodology includes an overview of the software created to facilitate the recording of data from individual missions, as well as software for own analysis of the measured data from the missions.

Distributed Denial-of-Service Resilient Control for Urban Air Mobility Applications

Urban air mobility (UAM) systems are characterized by the heterogeneity of participating aerial vehicles (AVs). Participating AVs are expected to cooperate with each other while maintaining flexibility in individual missions and reacting to the possibility of cyberattacks and security threats. In this paper, we focus on the vulnerabilities of the UAM cyberphysical system against distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) cyberattacks. We develop a resilient control strategy for the AVs navigating through the UAM airspace to mitigate the effect of DDOS cyberattacks. A graph-theoretic vulnerability metric is proposed. Each AV can compute its vulnerability against DDOS cyberattacks in a fully distributed manner using this metric. Based on this computed metric, the AVs self-organize to minimize collision risk in the operating airspace after assessing self-vulnerability. This reconfiguration is also carried out in a fully distributed manner. The proposed resilient control is proven to reduce vulnerability in a probabilistic manner. This reduced vulnerability holds against DDOS cyberattacks with a known attack budget.

A multi-platform active debris removal mission planning method based on DCOP with chain topology

In this work, a distributed multi-platform active debris removal mission planning task is formulated as a distributed constrained optimization problem (DCOP), and a novel Synchronous Incomplete Searching Algorithm under Chain Topology (SISACT) is proposed. We envision a distributive cooperative mission planning scenario where multiple debris removal platforms generate individual mission sub-plans on how to remove a subset of assigned debris subject to constraints on mission duration and orbit transfer cost. The overall goal is to maximize the aggregate reward for debris removal while avoiding conflicts among sub-plans. To resolve the potential conflicts, multiple platforms must communicate each other intensively. The proposed SISACT algorithm can reduce the inter-platform communication burdens by inducing a fully connected constraint graph into a chain graph with domain assignment. SISACT is designed to focus on global collaboration among the platforms for mission plan partitioning while leveraging existing single platform mission planning algorithms to provide details of the sub-plans. Simulation with a realistic active debris removal scenario has been carried out. It is shown that the proposed SISACT algorithm can optimize the overall reward of the mission while satisfying all the constraints. This validates the effectiveness of SISACT. • A new multi-platform ADR mission planning is proposed based on DCOP. • A new DCOP model with fully-connected all-hard constraint graph is presented. • Proposed method can satisfy all constraints without changing solution frequently. • Tests on Iridium33 debris set with 4 platforms verify its efficiency.

Commentary: Astronomy from space after the JWST

Commentary: Astronomy from space after the <i>JWST</i>

Shaping a Career as a Clinician Educator.

Shaping a Career as a Clinician Educator.

Hardware qualification for scientific ballooning missions

The European Stratospheric Balloon Observatory (ESBO) initiative aims at simplifying the access to stratospheric balloon missions. We plan to provide platforms and support with instrument design in order to support scientists. During the design process, the inevitable question of qualification for the harsh flight conditions arises. Unfortunately, there is no existing standard for qualification of stratospheric ballooning hardware. Thus, we developed a qualification procedure for use within ESBO and similar projects.In this paper, we present our analysis of the environmental conditions in the stratosphere. While conditions at typical balloon float altitudes are similar to the space environment, there are also some relevant differences. For example, the thermal environment is dominated by radiation and thermal conduction, but the remaining atmosphere still supports a certain amount of convection. The remaining atmospheric pressure in the stratosphere also leads to reduced arcing distances. Vibrational loads are far less than for space missions, but quasi-static or shock loads may occur. The criticality of radiation increases with mission duration.Based on the environmental conditions, we present the qualification procedures for ESBO, which are based on the European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ECSS) standards for space systems. Overtesting against too high requirements leads to overengineering, driving mission cost and mitigating the advantages of balloons over space missions. Therefore, we modified the ECSS standards to fit typical scientific ballooning missions over several days at altitudes up to 40 km. Furthermore, we analyzed design rules for space systems with regard to their relevance for scientific ballooning, including material and component selection. We present the experience from the hardware qualification process for the ESBO prototype STUDIO (Stratospheric UV Demonstrator of an Imaging Observatory). Even though boundary conditions are different for each individual mission, we aimed for a broader approach: We investigated more general requirements for scientific ballooning missions to support future flights.

The subversive power of calling: The Girls’ Auxiliary and Baptist women in ministry

In the second half of the twentieth century, a group called the Girls’ Auxiliary (GA) became influential in the lives of many Southern Baptist girls and women. Through weekly meetings, annual camps, fund-raising, and individual mission activities, girls learned about how they could make a difference in the world through missions. In Baptist life, mission was the central work of the church. Alongside the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU), which sponsored and led the girls, the GAs brought attention to the mission cause and helped in collecting funds to support it. In annual “coronations,” girls were honored and crowned as mission queens in the Baptist kingdom. They often even spoke in these church-wide gatherings. This article explores the impact of the GA program on women who ultimately became Baptist ministers. Based on a survey of over 200 contemporary women ministers, the program did clearly impact a significant number of women who reported that the GA program gave them a greater sense of purpose, helped them to understand their vocational calling, and helped them see themselves as church leaders. Ultimately, the GA program became less influential and has now disappeared in many congregations.

Data Fusion of AIRS and CrIMSS Near Surface Air Temperature

AbstractWe present a near surface air temperature (NSAT) fused data product over the contiguous United States using Level 2 data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, on the Aqua satellite, and the Cross‐track Infrared Microwave Sounding Suite (CrIMSS), on the Suomi National Polar‐orbiting Partnership satellite. We create the fused product using Spatial Statistical Data Fusion, a procedure for fusing multiple data sets by modeling spatial dependence in the data, along with ground station data from NOAA's Integrated Surface Database (ISD) which is used to estimate bias and variance in the input satellite data sets. Our fused NSAT product is produced twice daily and on a 0.25° latitude‐longitude grid. We provide detailed validation using withheld ISD data and comparison with ERA5‐Land reanalysis. The fused gridded product has no missing data; has improved accuracy and precision relative to the input satellite data sets, and comparable accuracy and precision to ERA5‐Land; and includes improved uncertainty estimates. Over the domain of our study, the fused product decreases daytime bias magnitude by 1.7 and 0.5 K, nighttime bias magnitude by 1.5 and 0.2 K, and overall RMSE by 35% and 15% relative to the AIRS and CrIMSS input data sets, respectively. Our method is computationally fast and generalizable, capable of data fusion from multiple data sets estimating the same quantity. Finally, because our product reduces bias, it produces long‐term data sets across multi‐instrument remote sensing records with improved bias stationarity, even as individual missions and their data records begin and end.

Sen2Like: Paving the Way towards Harmonization and Fusion of Optical Data

Satellite Earth Observation (EO) sensors are becoming a vital source of information for land surface monitoring. The concept of the Virtual Constellation (VC) is gaining interest within the science community owing to the increasing number of satellites/sensors in operation with similar characteristics. The establishment of a VC out of individual missions offers new possibilities for many application domains, in particular in the fields of land surface monitoring and change detection. In this context, this paper describes the Copernicus Sen2Like algorithms and software, a solution for harmonizing and fusing Landsat 8/Landsat 9 data with Sentinel-2 data. Developed under the European Union Copernicus Program, the Sen2Like software processes a large collection of Level 1/Level 2A products and generates high quality Level 2 Analysis Ready Data (ARD) as part of harmonized (Level 2H) and/or fused (Level 2F) products providing high temporal resolutions. For this purpose, we have re-used and developed a broad spectrum of data processing and analysis methodologies, including geometric and spectral co-registration, atmospheric and Bi-Directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) corrections and upscaling to 10 m for relevant Landsat bands. The Sen2Like software and the algorithms have been developed within a VC establishment framework, and the tool can conveniently be used to compare processing algorithms in combinations. It also has the potential to integrate new missions from spaceborne and airborne platforms including unmanned aerial vehicles. The validation activities show that the proposed approach improves the temporal consistency of the multi temporal data stack, and output products are interoperable with the subsequent thematic analysis processes.

ABOLITION OF THE JESUIT ORDER (THE SOCIETY OF JESUS) AND ITS CONSEQUENCES FOR THE UZHHOROD JESUIT COLLEGIUM

The Jesuit Order is one of the most high-powered religious orders in early modern history. From the Order's foundation until its liquidation, the whole of Europe had a network of monasteries, collegiums, and universities. The liquidation of the Order arose the questions of spiritual and educational succession and the fate of movable and immovable property of the Society of Jesus. The abolition of the Order had significant consequences both for the whole organization and for individual components, namely educational institutions (collegiums, universities), for all Order members from the head (general) to the paters, fathers in individual missions. The author considers the reasons for the liquidation of the Society of Jesus. The author also tries to find out how it affected the situation of the Uzhhorod Jesuit Collegium, what happened with the Order's property, and what was the fate of the paters and masters who were providing the functioning of the institution in Uzhhorod. Based on available sources, the author states that after the announcement of the dismissal of the Society of Jesus (1773), the Uzhhorod Collegium continued to work as usual for two years. At first, the property was transferred to the newly created Educational Fund. Later, Empress Maria Theresa donated a part of it to the canonized shortly before (1771) Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo. The official transfer of the Jesuit buildings, castle, and library funds to the Greek Catholic Eparchy of Mukachevo took place on August 1, 1775. For almost two centuries, from donations or ransoms from local nobles, Uzhhorod Jesuits received land estates, forests, vineyards, meadows, various buildings, mills, etc. After the dissolution of the Order, the majority of lands were given to the educational fund, then sold. Its proceeds were used for the needs of the educational fund.

The Charity Hall Mission: An 1820s Boarding School for Native American Children in the Chickasaw Nation

This study focuses primarily on the historical and archaeological investigations of Charity Hall, a Christian mission school that operated within the Chickasaw Nation in northeastern Mississippi between 1820 and 1830. This school and others during this time were funded by the United States government through the 1819 Civilization Fund Act, so I argue that these stations served as outposts for American colonialism before the federal government shifted its Indian policy to one of removal. Additionally, I argue that it is impossible to adequately understand the operation of individual mission schools apart from their networks, which I theorize here as “missionscapes.” The historic component also, therefore, focuses on a broader missionscape that encompassed both the Chickasaw Nation and the neighboring Choctaw Nation during the 1820s and 1830s. More precisely, the historical and archaeological data marshalled here are presented to answer my primary research question: what material tools and practices did missionaries use to “civilize” Native American children and their families prior to Indian removal?&#x0D; One of the chief ways that Chickasaw and Choctaw children were being “civilized” by the missionaries at Charity Hall was through the use of material culture. Their lives were regimented around an alien work schedule, they were clothed in materials procured by charitable societies, and they sat around a dinner table with ceramic and metal implements produced in faraway places, some coming all the way from east Asia. The pastors used practical mastery of both educational and mechanical “arts” to civilize the children in accordance with the wishes of the United States government. Here processes of practice and materiality took on a colonial character due to their being encouraged and enforced in a context where the balance of power was shifting from the Indians to the Americans. The American elites found the Christian missionaries to be ready-made agents to “civilize” Indians and spread political influence internally within both the Chickasaw Nation and the Choctaw Nation. The mission experience, however, ultimately proved to be too costly and slow and therefore paved the way for the removal policies of the 1830s and the abandonment of the “civilization” project altogether.

FIXED-WING MICRO UAV OPEN DATA WITH DIGICAM AND RAWINS/GNSS

Abstract. We have recently released in the open domain data originating from a series of flights conducted with a fixed-wing micro UAV carrying high-quality small camera and navigation sensors. This data was previously used in several peer-reviewed publications. However, the data that we describe in the following is part of a larger series that will be released gradually after incorporating user feedback (e.g., on formats, description, etc.) from the first (three) released open data-sets. In the first part of this work we provide a thorough description of the common elements of these data sets, notably the UAV, its sensors, methods of time-stamping and synchronizing data streams, reference geometrical relations among them (system calibration) as well as time-invariant sensor parameters (e.g., lens distortion, non-orthogonality of inertial sensors) together with ground control points that are valid over the whole series. In the second part we describe the individual missions and provide the links to the released data sets.

Resuming Dental and Craniomaxillofacial Surgical Missions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Guidelines and Recommendations.

Descriptive review article. The purpose of this article is to provide guidelines and recommendations for how to safely resume dental and craniomaxillofacial STSMs. The following considerations will be discussed: the need for extensive collaboration between organizations and local leadership, the importance of COVID-19 testing, use and management of personal protective equipment, team selection and training, social distancing protocols, and criteria for patient and case selection. A literature review was completed, identifying resources and current data regarding the safe resumption clinical activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. At this time, there are no protocols developed regarding the safe resumption of STSMs. Primary resources, including the CDC, WHO, and FDA should be closely monitored so that developed protocols from these recommendations reflect the latest information. This paper outlines general considerations and recommendations for dentists, oral health specialists, and craniomaxillofacial surgeons seeking to safely resume STSMs. These recommendations are designed to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19 by reinforcing social distancing protocols, reviewing criteria for patient and case selections, encouraging collaboration between organizations and local leadership, and team training. These guidelines should be tailored to fit the needs of each individual mission while keeping the safety as the main objective.

Leadership strategies for a higher education sector in flux

ABSTRACT The 2020 pandemic experience signals a pivotal opportunity for a transformation in universities, critically through narrowing and sharpening a distinctive mission and aims for each campus. A series of strategies are proposed for university leadership, commencing with a move towards hybrid delivery of teaching and a reconceived support of the student experience, to a rescheduling of teaching semesters to fill the year, a repurposing of existing buildings to a blended-learning, externally collaborative norm, a reallocation of funds away from new capital works towards investment in staff upskilling in digital tools and online pedagogy, and towards an array of salaried appointment types rather than casuals contracts for staff. Ways to address the financial crisis are outlined, focusing in Australia on a resizing of the university to fit new, more focused goals. These would also facilitate a revitalised, more purposeful approach to donors and government – to the former for more scholarships, research fellowships and chairs targeted to a university’s individual mission and strengths, and to the latter for urgent funds to save our national research effort from demise, to expand funded student places for the growing domestic demand, and to refocus and recover some level of recruitment of international students.

Handling “Space Debris” under the International Space Treaties Regime: Case Studies Analysis

A fundamental risk for any space mission is a collision with "space debris" – nonfunctioning artificial objects that keep in orbit around Earth. Besides collisions that may prove fatal to individual space missions, scientists fear a space debris chain reaction that, if triggered, might preclude most space activities for decades. The current international legal regime that governs space was designed mostly during the Cold War. Using four notable incidents where space activities generated pollution as case studies, this article highlights the current regime’s major problems, most notably that it creates market failures. The article then suggests guidelines for designing a new legal framework that tackles it.