Open Access

Not Only in Times of Crisis: The Necessity of Contextualizing and Updating Knowledge It is not only due to the ongoing crises that we have come to understand the necessity for diverse academic disciplines to contextualize and continuously update their bodies of knowledge in order to respond to societal demands. Furthermore, it is essential that discipline-specific knowledge, shaped by its distinct academic traditions, can also be proactively contributed to public discourse. History and Present of the Sciences The Core Curriculum addresses these questions in the context of university teaching, from the perspective of students, and with relevance across all disciplines. It goes beyond long-established courses that are widely offered to develop methodological competencies, guide students in writing academic papers, or provide general introductions to scholarly work. Rather than replacing these essential offerings, the Core Curriculum seeks to provide a broader framework in which such courses can ideally achieve even greater impact. To meet this objective, the Core Curriculum consists of two components: one dedicated to the contemporary landscape of the sciences and the other to their historical development. Accordingly, the curriculum is structured with a sociological and historical orientation. Both modules are also enriched by insights from cultural and media studies. A Flexible Syllabus Not only the Core Curriculum as a whole, but also its two components, are designed in a modular format. Each course consists of both core and elective elements, allowing instructors from different academic traditions to adapt the seminars to their specific institutional and disciplinary contexts. The selection of materials and themes will naturally differ between engineering, education, or political science, just as it will at an art academy compared to a comprehensive university. The Core Curriculum explicitly encourages creative engagement with its provided resources. To facilitate preparation, key sources are recommended, but they can be supplemented flexibly. The syllabi of both modules have been developed with the goal of offering practical frameworks that allow for meaningful academic exploration without unduly restricting the autonomy of instructors and students. Co-Creative Further Development The Core Curriculum was developed by the Rhine Ruhr Center for Science Communication Research in collaboration with students at select exemplary universities. Ideally, it will continue to evolve in practice as it is implemented locally. The sciences themselves are in constant transformation, and this ongoing change should not only be reflected in the curriculum but also actively negotiated within it. At its core, the Core Curriculum is committed to a "spirit" of praxeological reflection: it is designed to support both students and instructors in critically engaging with the multiplicity and complexity of the sciences, as well as their respective histories. Shared Responsibility for Science in Higher Education However, this goal is not an end in itself. The underlying assumption of the Core Curriculum is that students across all disciplines in Germany are being educated for a society in which an increasing number of issues, opportunities, and conflicts are shaped by scientific knowledge. Engaging at an early stage in a foundational and conceptually rich examination of both the origins and future trajectories of scientific knowledge can benefit students from all fields. This engagement does not begin only after graduation; rather, the Core Curriculum empowers students from the undergraduate level onward to critically reflect on their own academic environment, questioning why certain academic practices prevail at their institution—and whether they might actively participate in shaping alternative approaches.

In 2020, around 44% of natural gas in Germany was used in combined heat and power as well as in combined cycle gas turbines plants. As district heating will play an important role in future heating planning, the retrofit of these plants to hydrogen is a viable option. This paper analyzes a typical combined cycle power plant, including its balance of plant under consideration of different hydrogen blends. We show that retrofits are limited by the gas turbines in many cases. For instance, the preheater in the fuel gas system must be dimensioned higher than with natural gas. While pressure losses are very low, materials could be a problem due to higher volume flows. Additionally, the higher combustion temperatures in the gas turbine can compensate for possible efficiency losses in the Heat Recovery System Generator (HRSG) and steam turbine making this a suitable approach for electricity-led plants. However, for heat-led plants this leads to a reduction in the district heating output. Therefore, the performance of the HRSG must be considered as a limiting factor for heat-driven plants and the change in flue gas must be analyzed. Currently, hydrogen blends of 20–40 vol.-% appear feasible without major adjustments. The water content in the exhaust gas can also lead to problems in the HRSG and flue gas aftertreatment due to changes in the dew point. For higher hydrogen blends, a plant specific analysis is recommended.

Object-oriented programming is a wonderful way to make programming of huge real life tasks much easier than by using procedural languages. In order to teach those ideas to students, it is important to find a good task that shows the advantages of OOprogramming very naturally. This paper gives an example, the game Battleship, which seems to work excellent for teaching the OO ideas (using Java, [1], [2], [3], [4]). A three-step task is presented for how to teach OO-programming using just one example suitable to convey many of the OO ideas. Observations are given at the end and conclusions about how the whole teaching course worked out.

The widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and large-scale energy storage has necessitated advancements in battery management systems (BMSs) so that the complex dynamics of batteries under various operational conditions are optimised for their efficiency, safety, and reliability. This paper addresses the challenges and drawbacks of conventional BMS architectures and proposes an intelligent battery management system (IBMS). Leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as cloud computing, digital twin, blockchain, and internet-of-things (IoT), the proposed IBMS integrates complex sensing, advanced embedded systems, and robust communication protocols. The IBMS adopts a multilayer parallel computing architecture, incorporating end-edge-cloud platforms, each dedicated to specific vital functions. Furthermore, the scalable and commercially viable nature of the IBMS technology makes it a promising solution for ensuring the safety and reliability of lithium-ion batteries in EVs. This paper also identifies and discusses crucial challenges and complexities across technical, commercial, and social domains inherent in the transition to advanced end-edge-cloud-based technology.

In den letzten Jahren haben 3D-Laufzeitkamerasysteme (ToF-Kameras) Einzug in immer mehr Anwendungen der Industrie und des Alltags gehalten. Sie sind insbesondere dort gefragt, wo herkömmliche 2D-Kameras durch fehlende Tiefeninformationen an ihre Grenzen stoßen. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, die Performanz und Zuverlässigkeit dieser Systeme zu verbessern. Sie konzentriert sich auf den Einsatz von Sensorfusion, um die Limitierungen von ToF-Kameras zu adressieren. Hierzu werden weitere 3D-Messverfahren integriert, di die Genauigkeit und Zuverlässigkeit der Daten verbessern und den Einsatz des Systems für Anwendungen der funktionalen Sicherheit ermöglichen.

Because of their resilience, Time-of-Flight (ToF) cameras are now essential components in scientific and industrial settings. This paper outlines the essential factors for modeling 3D ToF cameras, with specific emphasis on analyzing the phenomenon known as “wiggling”. Through our investigation, we demonstrate that wiggling not only causes systematic errors in distance measurements, but also introduces periodic fluctuations in statistical measurement uncertainty, which compounds the dependence on the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Armed with this knowledge, we developed a new 3D camera model, which we then made computationally tractable. To illustrate and evaluate the model, we compared measurement data with simulated data of the same scene. This allowed us to individually demonstrate various effects on the signal-to-noise ratio, reflectivity, and distance.

Bei der Entwicklung von Kunststoffbauteilen kommen in kontinuierlich zunehmendem Maße Simulationen zum Einsatz. Vor dem Hintergrund von steigenden Produktanforderungen als auch dem unausweichlichen Zwang zur Schonung von Ressourcen ist der erweiterte Einsatz von Simulationswerkzeugen wichtiger Teil des Lösungsweges. Zu den nutzbaren, aber in Bezug zu Realprozessen bisher wenig eingesetzten Methoden gehört die Molekulardynamik Simulation. Auf Grundlage dieser Methode können auf mikroskopischer Ebene die tatsächlichen physikalischen Abläufe, die bei der Verarbeitung von Kunststoffen im Prozess auftreten, sichtbar gemacht werden. In dieser Arbeit wird beleuchtet, wie Randbedingungen in Anlehnung an den Extrusionsblasformprozess den Werkstoff Polyethylen auf mikroskopischer Ebene beeinflussen. Hierzu wird ein mesoskopisches Modell (Coarse-Graining) zur Beschreibung des Polymers genutzt. Dieses Modell wird durch die Bestimmung von Materialkennwerten verifiziert. Es wird der uniaxiale Zugversuch auf der Mikroskala modelliert, um Größen wie beispielsweise Elastizitätsmodul, Streckspannung oder Querkontraktionszahl zu ermitteln. Ebenso werden thermische Kenngrößen, insbesondere zur Charakterisierung des Kristallisationsverhaltens, bestimmt. Ziel dieser Untersuchungen ist, Effekte, die bei dynamisch ablaufenden Dehnungs- bzw. Kristallisationsvorgängen stattfinden, mikroskopisch zu beobachten und zu quantifizieren. Die ermittelten Kennwerte liegen insbesondere für die thermischen Größen in dichter Nähe zu experimentellen Daten. Das Spannungs-Dehnungs Verhalten wird qualitativ mit guter Übereinstimmung mit dem realen Verhalten wiedergegeben. Die kurze Zeitskala, auf der sich die Simulationsmodelle befinden, hat jedoch mikromechanisch extremeres Verhalten zur Folge, als makroskopisch beobachtet wird. Durch Erweiterung der Modelle werden biaxiale Verstreckvorgänge, wie sie im Extrusionsblasformprozess beispielsweise während des Aufblasens des Vorformlings auftreten, nachgebildet. Die Betrachtung verschiedener Abkühlbedingungen, insbesondere unter Formzwang, ist in Anlehnung an den Realprozess weiterer Schwerpunkt der Untersuchungen. Die Analyse der biaxial verstreckten Modelle offenbart, dass Entschlaufungsvorgänge während des Verstreckens die weitere Entwicklung der Polymersysteme dominieren. Es gelingt, die Dynamik von Kristallisationsvorgängen in Abhängigkeit von Verstreckgrad und Abkühlbedingungen durch unterschiedliche Größen (Verteilung von Verschlaufungspunkten, lokale Orientierungen) zu quantifizieren. Die erzielten Resultate zeigen auf, dass es mittels vergröberten Molekulardynamik Simulationen möglich ist, das mikromechanische Verständnis von Vorgängen, die bei der Verarbeitung von Kunststoffen auftreten, signifikant zu erweitern. During the development phase of plastic components, simulations are being used to an increasing extent. Against the background of product requirements and the inevitable necessity of conserving resources, the expanded use of simulation tools is an essential part of the solution. Among available methods, but so far underutilized with respect to real-life processes, is the molecular dynamics simulation. By the use of this method it is possible to visualize the physical processes occurring on the microscopic level, as e.g. those that arise during plastics processing. This thesis examines how boundary conditions, which mimic the extrusion blow molding process, affect the behavior of polyethylene on the microscopic level. A mesoscopic model (coarse-graining) is applied to describe the polymer. Initially, this model is verified by determining material properties. The uniaxial tensile test is modeled on the micro-scale to identify parameters such as the elastic modulus, yield stress, and Poisson’s ratio. Additionally, thermal properties, particularly those characterizing the crystallization behavior, are identified. The objective of these investigations is the microscopic observation and quantification of effects that occur during dynamic stretching and crystallization processes. The calculated properties show good agreement with the experimental data, especially regarding the thermal parameters. Qualitatively, the stress-strain behavior is reproduced in alignment with experimentally observed results. However, the short time scale of the simulation models leads to micromechanical behavior that is more extreme than what is monitored on a macroscopic level. By extending the simulation models, biaxial stretching processes are simulated. These stretching processes resemble the situation during the inflation of the parison in the extrusion blow molding process. The examination of various cooling conditions, particularly by the use of mold constraints, is another focus of the investigations. The analysis of the biaxially stretched simulations reveals that disentanglement processes during stretching dominate the further development of polymer systems. It is possible to quantify the dynamics of crystallization processes depending on the degree of stretching and cooling conditions through various parameters (distribution of entanglement points, local orientations). The results indicate that coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations are able to significantly enhance the micromechanical understanding of local events occurring during plastic processing.

Energy meteorology is an applied research field of meteorology that focuses on the study and prediction of weather conditions and events that affect energy production and use. This field has become increasingly important as the energy industry has become more dependent on weather conditions, especially in the areas of renewable energy sources such as wind energy, solar energy, and hydropower. The following paper has been written by experts of the Committee on Energy Meteorology of the German Meteorological Society summarizing their more than 30 years of experience and lessons learnt. It gives an overview of activities in energy meteorology that are already essential for the transformation of energy systems to systems with high shares of renewable energies. Building on this, the experts have created a vision of future topics that describe the future research landscape of energy meteorology. The authors explain that work in energy meteorology in recent years has primarily been concerned with the physically based modeling of wind and solar power generation and the development of short-term forecasting systems. In future years, a significant expansion of work in the areas of energy system modeling, digitalization, and climate change is expected. This includes the detailed consideration of regionally specified spatiotemporal variability for system design, the integration of artificial intelligence skills, the development of weather-related consumption based on smart meters, and the mapping of the effects of climate change on the energy system in planning and operating processes.

Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) simulations of incompressible flows are nowadays common and well-established. However, for compressible turbulent flows with strong variable density and intrinsic compressibility effects, results are relatively scarce. Only recently, progress was made regarding compressible LBM, usually applied to simple one and two-dimensional test cases due to the increased computational expense. The recently developed semi-Lagrangian lattice Boltzmann method (SLLBM) is capable of simulating two- and three-dimensional viscous compressible flows. This paper presents bounce-back, thermal, inlet, and outlet boundary conditions new to the method and their application to problems including heated or cooled walls, often required for supersonic flow cases. Using these boundary conditions, the SLLBM's capabilities are demonstrated in various test cases, including a supersonic 2D NACA-0012 airfoil, flow around a 3D sphere, and, to the best of our knowledge, for the first time, the 3D simulation of a supersonic turbulent channel flow at a bulk Mach number of Ma=1.5 and a 3D temporal supersonic compressible mixing layer at convective Mach numbers ranging from Ma=0.3 to Ma=1.2. The results show that the compressible SLLBM is able to adequately capture intrinsic and variable density compressibility effects.

In welchem Zusammenhang steht ›das Virtuelle‹ mit Poetiken, die in der Romantik konturiert wurden? Andreas Sieß zeigt, dass sich die ästhetischen Vorstellungen dessen, was ›das Virtuelle‹ ist, nicht nur bereits um 1800 konsolidierten, sondern dass die (bild-)ästhetischen Maßstäbe, die heute grundlegend für moderne Anwendungen der Virtual Reality sind, bereits damals Gegenstand von Aushandlungen waren. Anhand der Begriffe ›Maschine‹ und ›Atmosphäre‹ verhandelt er zwei gegenläufige Stoßrichtungen des Virtuellen, deren dialektisches Spiel eine neue Perspektive auf Fragestellungen zu der Gestaltung von gegenwärtigen virtuellen Medien anbietet.