Breaking new ground in mapping human settlements from space -The Global Urban Footprint-

Today 7.2 billion people inhabit the Earth and by 2050 this number will have risen to around nine billion, of which about 70 percent will be living in cities. Hence, it is essential to understand drivers, dynamics, and impacts of the human settlements development. A key component in this context is the availability of an up-to-date and spatially consistent map of the location and distribution of human settlements. It is here that the Global Urban Footprint (GUF) raster map can make a valuable contribution. The new global GUF binary settlement mask shows a so far unprecedented spatial resolution of 0.4 arcsec ($\sim12 m$) that provides - for the first time - a complete picture of the entirety of urban and rural settlements. The GUF has been derived by means of a fully automated processing framework - the Urban Footprint Processor (UFP) - that was used to analyze a global coverage of more than 180,000 TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X radar images with 3m ground resolution collected in 2011-2012. Various quality assessment studies to determine the absolute GUF accuracy based on ground truth data on the one hand and the relative accuracies compared to established settlements maps on the other hand, clearly indicate the added value of the new global GUF layer, in particular with respect to the representation of rural settlement patterns. Generally, the GUF layer achieves an overall absolute accuracy of about 85\%, with observed minima around 65\% and maxima around 98 \%. The GUF will be provided open and free for any scientific use in the full resolution and for any non-profit (but also non-scientific) use in a generalized version of 2.8 arcsec ($\sim84m$). Therewith, the new GUF layer can be expected to break new ground with respect to the analysis of global urbanization and peri-urbanization patterns, population estimation or vulnerability assessment

Entwicklung eines mehrstufigen Gegentaktdurchflusswandlers hoher Leistung mit weitem Eingangsspannungsbereich und bidirektionalem Leistungsfluss

Transformer coupled multiport DC/DC converter with bidirectional power flow have proven to be an efficient approach to integrate varying sources and storage elements in a sustainable energy generation system. This work presents a Triple Active Bridge converter wherein two ports are wide input range DC links and the third port is optimized for a 48 V battery system. The wide input range DC links are designed for voltages that can be varied between 200 V and 1000 V. To optimize efficiency over the whole operating area, a five winding transformer is developed whose windings can be selected separately to use the optimal transformer turns ratio depending on the three different DC voltages. The converter is capable to transfer power of up to 12 kW with an arbitrary direction of power flow. The construction of the Triple Active Bridge converter is demonstrated. First the required components are designed. Thenceforth the design process is validated by a simulation. Subsequently a schematic of the whole converter is developed. Based on the schematic a PCB Layout is designed, manufactured and assembled. Finally the converter is tested

Особенности продвижения образовательных услуг ТПУ на китайском рынке

В статье рассмотрены особенности продвижения образовательных услуг ТПУ на китайском рынке, приведены доводы целесообразности выхода университета на международную арену, описаны способы, с помощью которых ТПУ предоставляет свои услуги. На базе данных характеристик проводится маркетинговое исследование информационной обеспеченности университета

The Impact of Guide Tubes on Flow Separation in Rocket Nozzles

Rocket engine test facilities and launch pads are typically equipped with a guide tube. Its purpose is to ensure the controlled and safe routing of the hot exhaust gases. In addition, the guide tube induces a suction that effects the nozzle flow, namely the flow separation during transient start-up and shut-down of the engine. A cold flow subscale nozzle in combination with a set of guide tubes was studied experimentally to determine the main influencing parameters

Intervista ad Arnold Esch. A cura di Roberto Delle Donne e Thomas Frank Versione italiana

DEUTSCH: Das auf Italienisch und Deutsch veröffentlichte Interview behandelt Ausbildung, akademischen Werdegang und wissenschaftliche Beziehungen zu Historikern und Historikerinnen verschiedener Nationalität, denen Arnold Esch während seiner langen Forschungstätigkeit begegnet ist. Es geht ferner ausführlich auf die wichtigsten Problemstellungen ein, die für Eschs außerordentlich breite geschichtswissenschaftliche Arbeit prägend sind. / ITALIANO: L’intervista, pubblicata in italiano e in tedesco, ripercorre la formazione, la carriera accademica e i rapporti scientifici che Arnold Esch ha intessuto con gli storici e le storiche di diversa nazionalità con i quali è entrato in contatto nella sua lunga attività di ricerca, per fermare infine l’attenzione sui principali temi che caratterizzano la sua ampia produzione storiografica.. /ENGLISH: The interview, published in both Italian and German, traces Arnold Esch’s education, academic career, and scholarly relationships with historians of different nationalities with whom he was personally acquainted during his long research activity. Finally, it focuses on the main themes that characterize his extensive scholarly production

Interview mit Arnold Esch. Fragen von Roberto Delle Donne und Thomas Frank

Das auf Italienisch und Deutsch veröffentlichte Interview behandelt Ausbildung, akademischen Werdegang und wissenschaftliche Beziehungen zu Historikern und Historikerinnen verschiedener Nationalität, denen Arnold Esch während seiner langen Forschungstätigkeit begegnet ist. Es geht ferner ausführlich auf die wichtigsten Problemstellungen ein, die für Eschs außerordentlich breite geschichtswissenschaftliche Arbeit prägend sind