Land-use changes in the small watershed of the Loess Plateau,hilly-gully region, China

As more and more farmland is converted to forestry, the need for effective decision support regarding the use of land in the fragile ecological environment of the Loess Plateau hilly-gully area. The Luoyugou watershed was chosen as the study area to calculate the single dynamic degree, integrated dynamic degree, and change indexes of land use, as well as the land-use type transition matrix. This was done by interpreting the TM and SPOT images of the Luoyugou watershed in 1986, 1995, and2004 and making statistical analysis. The results of ou statistical analysis show that the conversion of slope farm land to terrace and forest land plays a dominant role in land-use changes in the Luoyugou watershed from 1986 to2004. The land-use changes are mainly driven by popula tion growth, socio-economic development, consume spending, and investment in forest ecology.

Spatial differences and driving forces of land urbanization in China

Land urbanization plays an important supporting and restriction role in the rapid and sustainable development of urbanization in China, and it shows distinctive spatial heteroge- neity. Applying urban area as the basic research unit and urban construction land area as the core indicator, this paper establishes the conceptual framework and calculation method for the quantity and rate of land urbanization process. The study evaluates the spatial differen- tiation pattern of absolute and relative process of land urbanization in 658 cities in China from 2000 to 2010. The spatial distribution of cities with rapid land urbanization process is dis- cussed, and the contribution rate and its spatial heterogeneity of major land use types are examined with the aid of GIS. The main conclusions are as follows： （1） Land urbanization in China shows a clear spatial difference. The greater the city scale, the faster its land urbani- zation. The cities with rapid land urbanization show a significant pattern of central distribution in coastal regions and a scattered distribution in the inland regions. （2） Over the last 10 years, the average quantity of land urbanization in the 656 cities was 3.82 km2, the quantity of land urbanization is differentiated by administrative grade. The average rate of land urbanization was 6.89%, obviously faster than the speed of population urbanization. The rate of land ur- banization reveals a pattern of differentiation between coastal and other cities. （3） In the past 10 years, the two primary land use types associated with land urbanization in China are residential and industrial, with a combined contribution rate of 52.49%. The greater the scale of the city, the more significant the driving effect of industrial land. In small- and medium-scale cities of the western and central regions, the growth of residential land is the primary driver of land urbanization, while in coastal urban agglomerations and cities on important communica- tion axes, the growth of industrial land is the main driver. （4） Overall, urban population ag- glomeration, industrial growth and investment are the three drivers of land urbanization in China, but cities of different scales have different drivers.

A novel trajectory planning strategy for aircraft emergency landing using Gauss pseudospectral method

To improve the survivability during an emergency situation, an algorithm for aircraft forced landing trajectory planning is proposed. The method integrates damaged aircraft modelling and trajectory planning into an optimal control framework, in order to deal with the complex aircraft flight dynamics, a solving strategy based on Gauss pseudospetral method （GPM） is presented. A 3-DOF nonlinear mass-point model taking into account the wind is developed to approximate the aircraft flight dynamics after loss of thrust. The solution minimizes the forced landing duration, with respect to the constraints that translate the changed dynamics, flight envelope limitation and operational safety requirements. The GPM is used to convert the trajectory planning problem to a nonlinear programming problem （NLP）, which is solved by sequential quadratic programming algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can generate the minimum-time forced landing trajectory in event of engine-out with high efficiency and precision.