San Diego State University

The mathematical modeling of composite structures requires the solution of a set of partial differential equations that rule how strains, displacements, stresses, loads, material properties, and boundary conditions are related. This is usually carried out in weak form, where the solid-mechanics problem is formulated by the means of functionals, such as the Principle of Virtual Displacements (PVD). However, several difficulties related to poor quality of the calculated transverse stresses and numerical pathologies that included various types of locking phenomena motivated the researchers to explore other functionals and work with the so-called mixed variational theorems. In parallel, the practical need to adequately represent the displacement and stress fields, led to the proposal of a vast variety of axiomatic models where the various quantities (often the displacements) where expanded in the thickness direction with chosen functions. However, in some cases oscillations of the stresses were observed even in analytical computational frameworks without a finite element representation. The present contribution will introduce the Thickness Energy Functional Error Analysis (TEFEA), which provides an a-priori theoretical indication of functional errors potentially co-responsible for the poor quality of the numerical evaluations of the stresses without the need of carrying out a-posteriori implementation in a computer code and performing simulations. TEFEA can be considered a bridge between the generation of functionals and the creation of practical models for engineering use. In the present work TEFEA is applied to Reissner’s Mixed Variational Theorem and is used to interpret the transverse stress results for various low-order theories. It is shown that under certain conditions functional error in the equilibrium equations is present. TEFEA can be used to effectively construct the Best Theory Diagrams by a-priori discarding ineffective axiomatic models.

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing seafood production system globally, offering economic and social opportunities for small-scale fishing communities. Yet, it is often introduced through top-down, technocratic approaches that ignore the social-ecological realities of these communities. Drawing on four case studies from Mexico and Honduras, this study uses a multistage, participatory mixed-methods approach to examine the integration of aquaculture into existing fisheries. We focus on governance, social organization, economic assets, and cultural traditions, key yet understudied dimensions of implementation. Findings reveal that projects overlooking these interactions risk deepening inequities, displacing traditional livelihoods, and weakening community cohesion. Success depends on early economic support, recognition of local traditions and social structures, and the creation of context-specific governance systems. Centering community needs and experiences can help design equitable, place-based aquaculture initiatives that strengthen, rather than disrupt, small-scale fishing livelihoods.

Understanding the root causes of harmful work behaviors is critically important for organizations. Within this context, justice perceptions (particularly interpersonal justice) represent a core area of interest. This literature generally assumes a straightforward, linear response to a given level of equitable treatment: Higher experienced justice yields beneficial outcomes, while lower justice leads to less favorable outcomes. Lost in this view is recognition that employees do not merely evaluate the treatment they receive in a vacuum but, rather, contrast their treatment with how they expect to be treated. That is, little if any consideration has been given to how justice expectations for a given day may impact the way employees subsequently react to the actual, experienced levels of daily treatment. This notable oversight oversimplifies the complexity of the justice phenomenon, consequently constraining theoretical advancements. To examine the interplay between expectations and experiences of interpersonal justice, we cast expected-experienced justice (in)congruence as a heretofore unexplored phenomenon that may exhibit differential counterproductive outcomes than would otherwise be expected by current theoretical models. Findings from our two-study design promise to push the justice literature in new theoretical directions while holding practical import for managers in organizations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

Measuring the forces of individual muscles in a muscle group around a joint is non-trivial, and researchers have suggested using surrogates for individual muscle forces instead. Traditionally, experimentalists have shown that the force output of the skeletal muscle tissue can be correlated to the intra-muscular pressure (IMP) generated by the muscle belly. However, IMP proves difficult to measure in vivo, due to variations from sensor placement and invasiveness of the procedure. Numerical biomechanical simulations offer a tool to analyze muscle contractions, enabling new insights into the correlations among non-invasive experimentally measurable quantities, such as strains and the force output. In this work, we investigate the correlations between the muscle force output, the principal, shear and volumetric strains experienced by the muscle, as well as the pressure developed within the muscle belly as the tissue undergoes isometric contractions with varying activation profiles and magnitudes. It is observed that pressure does not correlate well with force output under higher sub-maximal and maximal activation levels, especially at locations away from the center of the muscle belly due to pressure relaxation effects. This study reveals strong correlations between force output and the strains at all locations of the belly, irrespective of the type of activation considered. This observation offers evidence for further in vivo studies using experimentally measurable principal and volumetric strains in the muscle belly as proxies for the force generation by the individual muscle and consequently enables the estimation on the contribution of various muscle groups to the total force.

Tsunamis from large subduction earthquakes pose severe coastal hazards, yet their genesis near the trench remains poorly constrained by land-based seismic geodetic data and distant deep-water sensors. Following the 29 July 2025 magnitude 8.8 Kamchatka earthquake, the NASA/CNES Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite captured a distinct train of short-wavelength tsunami waves, which we link to near-trench tsunamigenesis. Sensitivity analyses of earthquake slip indicated tsunamigenesis within 10 kilometers of the trench, an inference not attainable from land seismology and geodesy or sparse deep-water seafloor pressure records alone. These results provide the first high-resolution, two-dimensional spaceborne observation directly linking the measured dispersive tsunami wavefield to near-trench tsunamigenesis, extending earlier model- and gauge-based inferences. They establish SWOT as a constraint on source processes, with implications for tsunami hazard science and subduction-zone geodynamics.