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CHINA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2002-09
CHINA
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
NEWSLETTER
The Ministry
of Science and Technology
People's Republic of
China
N0.289 March 20,2002
IN THIS ISSUE
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*
Social Attentions to S and T Awards
* World Bank Loan
for Tuberculosis Control
* Missing Dinosaur Link
Discovered
* Non-spherical Optic Components
Manufacturing Base
* Genetic Products Testing Package
* New Extraction Technique for Xanthophyll
*
China's Plasma Physical Lab for Export
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SPECIAL
ISSUES
Social Attentions to S and T
Awards
21 S and T awards such as Wang Daheng
Optics Award and Zhongchuang Software Awards have recently
been allowed as the awards created by social forces in the
second round approval check. Up to date, there have been 47
science and technology awards established by social forces
in the country.
When announcing the names of
the said 21 awards, the spokesman of the Ministry of Science
and Technology expressed that creating S and T awards by
social forces is a component part of Chinas S and T
awarding system as the State Regulations on Science and
Technology Awards has clear provisions stating that
when creating science and technology awards serving the
whole society, social forces shall have such awards
registered at administrative authorities responsible for S
and T activities. The administrative authorities responsible
for S and T activities under the State Council shall work
out concrete methods for doing so. As is requested by
the Regulations, the State S and T Award Office started from
February, 2000 to accept applications for establishing S and
T awards by social forces. In 2001, 26 such awards got
approval for their registration. In addition to 47 S and T
awards run by social forces so far approved for their
existence, more other applications are now flowing in for
approval. Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology will
review and approve the applications in line with the
Regulations and publish the results in a timely manner.
The so-called S and T awards founded by social
forces are defined as conventional public S and T awards
created by industrial or institutional organizations, social
groups or other social organizations and individuals through
using non-governmental financial appropriations or self
raised funds to reward excellent results or individuals or
organizations who have rendered outstanding contributions in
the fields of scientific research, technical innovation and
development, which aims to realize high tech results
industrialization and S and T results diffusions and
applications.
It is reported that such awards
and associated organizations and evaluation bodies approved
for registration are entitled according to law to organize S
and T awarding activities and cover related events through
publications and new media and shall not be interfered with
by any other organizations or individuals. In the meanwhile,
such awards are requested to organize their activities
strictly within the scopes under registration and shall not
seek for any payments in their awarding activities.
Confidential projects and accomplishers related to national
defense or security are not allowed to apply or be
recommended as candidates for S and T awards founded by
social forces.
World Bank Loan for Tuberculosis
Control
On the basis of two-year preparation,
the World Bank and the British Government have on March 24,
2002 in Beijing inked the agreement with the Chinese party
to provide their respective loans and contributions for
tuberculosis control project in China.
The
said project will support China's tuberculosis control
efforts by using the World Bank loans whose interest will be
reduced as the result of British contributions. It is
briefed that by taking advantage of such a new financing
approach for supporting social development activities, the
World Bank will provide USD 104 million loans for the
project while the British Government is complimenting China
with USD 37.4 million contributions for the purpose of
reducing the World Bank loans' interest to about 2%. As
planned, the three undersigned parties will continue the
same cooperation mode in the fields of education and poverty
alleviation.
Officially started from
March 24, 2002 China's tuberculosis control project will
last for 7 years and end in December, 2009. Designed for a
coverage of 16 provinces, autonomous regions and
municipalities in the underdeveloped middle and western
sections of the country containing a population of 680
million, the project will be composed of sub-projects at
both central and local levels. Target provinces are
requested to implement national tuberculosis control and
prevention plan, improve the accessibility to and quality of
tuberculosis prevention and control efforts and strengthen
institutional construction and financial support. It is
believed that the project will play an important role in
tuberculosis prevention and control campaign in the country.
Hundreds Million RMB for Agronomist
The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
has recently launched its first human resources campaign for
talented researchers to be employed in the next five years.
The said recruitment is opened up for the first time before
overseas talents. It is reported that the newly recruited
staff will enjoy annual salary package rated differently as
RMB 100, 000 for class 1 post with a settlement down payment
of RMB half a million and research budget of RMB 4 million.
Of the said 4 million research budget, RMB 2.5 million will
be used to purchase instruments and equipment with the rest
of the money for experiments. Major fields covered by this
recruitment are basic studies, applied basic studies, key
technologies and cutting edge fields. The candidates shall
be the ones working for higher learning institutions and
research institutions both at home and abroad.
The so-called excellent talent posts are
mobile in nature, termed for five years. The disciplines
desired for these posts involve 25 frontier fields covering
genetic engineering, bioinformation science, rural economy
and agricultural policies, biological security and etc. It
is planned to recruit 500 and odd modern agronomists for 25
class 1 posts, 100 class 2 posts and 400 class 3 posts.
In addition, the said posts can be
divided into two major categories in terms of disciplines:
major disciplines for priority development that are of great
importance to Chinas economic and social development
and reach or may most probably reach internationally
advanced level, and other newly emerging disciplines sitting
at cutting edges and expecting major breakthroughs.
The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
expressed that the candidates applying for class 1 posts
shall be equipped with not only proven academic record but
also have innovative scenarios for the development and
associated research activities in the discipline, who as
well are supposed to possess the competitiveness for
overtaking or maintaining the internationally advanced level
in cutting edge fields. Overseas applicants may have access
to more detailed information through the website of
www.caas.net.cn.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Missing Dinosaur Link Discovered
The British Journal Nature published in its
issue of March 21st, 2002 the paper of Dr. Xu Xing, a
research fellow with the Institute of Paleovertebrate under
the Chinese Academy of Sciences on horned dinosaur unearthed
in west Liaoning, China.
Traditionally horned
dinosaur can be divided into parrot like dinosaur with a
mouth similar to parrot and new horned dinosaur species
grown with neck shield. The Liaoning horned dinosaur
unearthed by China-US investigation team headed by Dr. Xu
Xing has been confirmed as the earliest new horned dinosaur
thus far known to the world.
It is briefed
that being a walking animal with four limbs fed with plants,
the Liaoning horned dinosaur lived in the early
Cretaceous Period about 130 million years ago with its size
close to that of a large dog. It has the shape indicating
transitional traces, which filled up the gaps between two
different horned dinosaurs by showing fast changes and
differed shape characteristics evidencing the division of
the said sub-species. The said discovery has been deemed as
an important fill in the so-called missing link in
understanding the evolution of horned dinosaur. Scientists
involved in the investigation expressed that the discovery
has unveiled the so-called nested evolution
phenomena in the earlier development of horned dinosaur,
demonstrating the sophisticated nature of dinosaur
evolution, and leading to the changes of horned
dinosaurs evolution tree.
Before the
said story, the Nature had reported that the small
carnivorous Chinese hunting dinosaur discovered in west
Liaoning is also a key missing link and its strong
transitional nature has provided firm evidence for the view
that part of dinosaur family was turned into birds. Studies
have shown that the development of birds wings and
respiratory system suitable for flying was completed in the
earlier stage of the evolution from dinosaur to birds. Both
discoveries have further strengthened the position of west
Liaoning being the center and a hot spot for international
dinosaur studies though they are belonging to different
dinosaur species. The development is expecting a more
profound study of Liaoxi Dinosaur.
Dr. Xu Xing
expressed that his team would soon embark on dinosaur
studies in Xinjiang, hoping that they will find more
evidences for such missing links so as to fill up the blanks
in peoples understanding of the evolution of different
dinosaur species.
Non-spherical Optic
Components Manufacturing Base
Chinas
first industrial base for non-spherical optic components has
recently announced its completion of construction and gone
into industrialized operation. To develop Chinas
non-spherical technologies, the central authorities
concerned and Yunnan Provincial government have jointly made
huge investment in the construction of Kunming Industrial
Base for Non-spherical Optic Components Manufacturing, which
has worked out Chinas first proprietary non-spherical
VCD optic lens able to read audio and video signals in a
short period of time. On the basis of their weathered
experience in optic designing and manufacturing techniques,
the scientists and engineers of the base have developed
different non-spherical optic systems such as CD, VCD and
DVD and CCD lens, digital camera lens and large screen
projector lens, worked out the production charts, production
line layout and performance requirements for equipment and
technologies, special requirements and configuration for
equipment and indicators, and completed the construction of
the domestically most advanced non-spherical optic
components manufacturing line. Now the base has reached an
annual scale of production for 12 million pieces of
non-spherical optic lens, demonstrating broad market
perspectives.
Genetic Products Testing Package
Thanks to its 2-and-odd-year painstaking
efforts, Shenzhen Piji Bioengineering Co. Ltd. has worked
out the so-called real time fluorescent PCR testing
techniques and associated reagent package. The said product
has recently passed the state-level approval check organized
by the State Administration for Quality Control and
Quarantine in Shenzhen, which marks China's technical
capability for testing genetically modified products.
As is confirmed by the experts who nodded
their heads for the verification, the said technology and
associated product are able to test genetically modified
seeds, roots and leaves of agricultural produce. It takes
only 4 hours to obtain results from the testing process with
its technical level and product's overall performance
reaching the advanced level of its international
counterparts. It is briefed that the said product has
applied for patent right and will find its first
applications in the Custom's quarantine testing of
genetically modified products for import and export
purposes.
NEWS BRIEFS
Online
State Awards Reviewing
From this year on
candidates to win the National Natural Science Award will be
subject to public screening at the website www.nosta.gov.cn
for extensive collection of experts' views or comments
though project's major accomplisher may voluntarily air his
or her arguments before corresponding reviewing committee.
As is revealed by the Head of the National
Office for S and T Awarding Activities, public screening of
candidate projects will change document based reviewing
procedures practiced long by the National Natural Science
Awards, which will effectively ensure the openness, fairness
and justice of reviewing process. It is helpful for the
project accomplisher to make their voluntary presentation
before corresponding reviewing committee, brief their
research results and answer queries so that reviewing
committee's members can have direct understanding of the
scientific contents and academic contributions of the
candidate projects and work out accurate and fair judgement,
and improve the quality of such reviewing.
It
is reported that the said approach will be extended to other
national S and T awards when proven effective.
New Extraction Technique for Xanthophyll
Recently the Department of Botany of Shanghai
Jiaotong University has successfully turned out new
technologies for extracting Xanthophyll from longevity
chrysanthemum and improved longevity chrysanthemum
species.Through screening out from different kinds of
imported American longevity chrysanthemum plants the species
having limited requirements for soil and fertility with
tolerance for drought, transplanting, thin soil and strong
resistance to pests as well as with high Xanthophyll
content, the experts of the research team eventually
extracted Xanthophyll of a purity as high as 90% with new
techniques. Shanghai Jiaotong University in collaboration
with Zhejiang Haining Fengming Chlorophyll Co. Ltd. and
Baotou Farming Group has grown longevity
chrysanthemum over 1300 mu(1mu=0.0667ha.) and in Baotou and
established corresponding preliminary processing base. It is
estimated that the output value will reach RMB 1500 per mu.
China's Plasma Physical Lab for Export
Helimak, a plasma physical lab developed by
Plasma Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences for
FRC of Texas University saw its completion of construction
on March 21, 2002, waiting for its final destination to the
U.S.. Designed for the applications in developing clean
energy such as "making the sun with sea water",
the said lab is China's first export of the whole plasma
physical experiment system through cooperation.
In July 2000, Plasma Institute signed an
agreement with FRC for the design and development of a
complete Helimak system. Shanghai Boiler Plant manufactured
its vacuum chamber. The successful development of Helimak is
the result derived from the cooperation between China and
the U.S., which has equally benefited both sides and
attracted great attention of U.S. nuclear fusion community.
The development has laid a foundation for more cooperation
between the two sides in the field of nuclear fusion.
China's Superconductor Materials into World
Market
High temperature superconductor line
materials manufactured by Beijing Ying'na Superconductor
Corp. have recently destined their shipment to Korea, which
makes China's first export of its bismuth series high
temperature superconductor line materials into international
market.
Ying'na Superconductor Corp.
established in 2001 the first domestic production line for
manufacturing bismuth high temperature superconductor line
materials. Up to date, the critical electric current of its
high temperature superconductor line materials has been
raised by 75% against that recorded in the previous year.
With its individual line length exceeding 1000
meters and integrated performance sitting in the world
leading position, the said product is of strong
international competitiveness. So far high temperature
superconductor research institutions in the U.S., Europe,
Korea and Japan have embarked on business talks with the
company. As a result, the first export of high temperature
superconductor line materials has found their destination in
Korea. In the meanwhile, agents from Korea and Holland have
inked their respective agreement with Ying'na for being the
agents selling high temperature superconductor line
materials in Korea and Europe. The said development has
demonstrated China's competitive strength for high
temperature superconductor line materials supply in the
world.
China's Vitamin D3 Production Tops
World
Thanks to its painstaking R and D
efforts, the Physical and Chemical Technology Research
Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has worked
out a new integrated vitamin D3 production approach that is
quite different from the one currently available in the
world. The said new production technique has fundamentally
changed the thermal chemical phase of vitamin D3 production
by application of reactors and solvents, which have greatly
improved both yield and quality.
In October
1996, the Institute and Zhejiang Garden Group signed a joint
operation agreement, under which the Institute successfully
turned its expansion efforts into a new vitamin D3
production line with an annual capacity for 3 tons. On the
said basis, Garden Group further completed with the
technology provided by the Institute the construction of a
60,000ton vitamin D3 production line that may flow out a
profit of over RMB 56 million a year. The verification
testing has shown that the products manufactured with the
new techniques have reached internationally advanced
level.
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