|
CHINA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
NEWSLETTER
The Ministry of Science and
Technology
People's Republic of China
N0.313 November 20,2002
IN THIS
ISSUE
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*
China's R and D Budget Exceeding RMB 100 Billion
*
Clean Auto Action for 10th Period
* China Deployed 3
ARGOs
* Breakthroughs in Traditional Medicine Quality
Control
* The New Generation Simulator
*
China's First 50KW Battery Powered Bus Engine
*
China's 19th Antarctic Expedition
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPECIAL
ISSUES
China's R and D Budget Exceeding RMB 100
Billion
As is shown by Statistics Bulletin on
China's S and T Budget for the year 2001 jointly published
by the State Statistics Bureau, the Ministry of Science and
Technology and the Ministry of Finance, the Chinese
government has continued to enhance its input in the
nation's R and D budgeting with a total amount exceeding the
threshold of RMB 100 billion at RMB 104.25 billion. As a
result, the international general indicator showing a
nation's R and D input strength has reached the historical
height of 1.1% of its GDP.
The Bulletin
also shows that the state financial appropriations for R and
D sector reached RMB 70.33 billion in the year, or RMB 12.77
billion more against that of the previous year with a weight
of 3.7% in the nation's total financial budget. Meanwhile,
the total S and T expenditures amounted to RMB 231.25
billion, or RMB 26.23 billion up in comparison with last
year, landing a growth of 12.8%.
The Bulletin indicates that the R and D
activities reflecting China's independent R and D capacity
recorded a total expenditure of RMB 104.25 billion in the
year, or RMB 14.68 billion more than the previous year with
a growth rate of 16.3%. The budgets for individual
sectors such as basic studies, applied studies and
experimental development respectively went up to RMB 5.22
billion, RMB 17.59 billion and RMB 81.43 billion, or 11.8%,
15.8% and 16.8% higher than the previous year with their
respective portions of 5%, 16.9% and 78.1% in the nation's
total R and D expenditure.
The industrial R and D budget in the
year amounted to RMB 63 billion, or 17.3% up against the
previous year with a weight of 60.4% in the nation's total R
and D expenditure. The ones recorded by the state research
institutes and higher learning institutions are RMB 28.85
billion and RMB 10.23 billion respectively, or 11.7% and
33.4% higher than the previous year with a respective
portion of 27.6% and 9.8% in the nation's total R and D
budget pie.
It becomes apparent that
industries have become the stable investment mainstream in R
and D activities with expanded on-the-campus R and D
activities. Seven major sectors such as electronic and
telecommunication
equipment manufacturing, pharmaceutical industry,
special equipment manufacturing, traffic
and transport equipment manufacturing have witnessed
enhanced R and D input with the average ratio between R and
D expenditure and sale revenues exceeding 1%. In addition,
electronics and telecommunication equipment manufacturing
sector has recorded an impressive 1.6%.
The municipalities or provinces whose R
and D expenditures have exceeded RMB 5 billion are Beijing,
Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Shandong, Sichuan, Liaoning
and Shaan'xi with a total amount of RMB 71.3 billion, or
68.4% of the nation's total.
Clean Auto Action
for 10th Period
On November 12, 2002,
the Project of Research and Development of Key Clean Auto
Technologies and Associated Demonstration and Applications
passed the experts' assessment, which implies the full
fledged launch of China's clean auto action in the 10th
Five-Year period.(2001-2005) The Project will, on the
basis of clean auto demonstration projects in selected major
cities or regions, focus on the studies of clean
automobiles, standards, testing technology and relevant
policies as well as integrated applications. The
implementation of the project will promote the healthy
development of China's clean auto action, effectively
improving urban air quality, optimizing energy structures,
enhancing the innovation capacity of auto industries and
promoting sustainable economic development.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
China Deployed 3 ARGOs
On
November 16, 2002, No.2 Marine Institute under the Chinese
State Oceanic Bureau announced that China has successfully
deployed 3 ARGOs drifting buoys over the northwestern
Pacific Ocean. As is briefed by the ARGOs Data Receiving
Station under the Institute, it has so far received from
these drifting buoys the data and information on sea surface
temperature, salinity, longitude and latitude.
The deployment of the drifting buoys is
the core task of ARGO Global Marine Observation Program,
aiming at fast, accurate and extensive collection of
sectional information on sea water temperature and salinity
at the upper level of oceans for the purpose of improving
climate prediction accuracy and effectively preventing
global climate disasters that have become increasingly
serious. The Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology has
approved the establishment of the project for China's ARGO
Marine Observation Network Experiment.
It is reported that the deployed
drifting buoys can automatically descend to the depth of
1500 meters in 6 hours after its launch and then drift along
with the currents at the same depth. The drifting
buoys will automatically go up to the water surface in 10
days and transmit the data of sea temperature, salinity and
depth collected in the course of ascending to the data
center located in Toulousc， France through ARGOS
system. The latter may receive the date in a period of 14-26
hours after the transmission.
China's
Satellite Networking
China Resources II, a new
satellite recently launched by China entered its working
orbit at 22:53 on November 12, 2002 after its three-orbit
shifting and successfully networked with China's Resources
II that was launched two years ago. At present, the
satellite is working smoothly.
It is
briefed that in the course of its three-orbit shifting,
Xi'an Satellite Measuring and Control Center employed a
transparent working mode called central control,
which realized the optimized distribution of measuring and
control resources and greatly improved the utilization of
these resources, solving the conflicts between satellite
management and real time measuring and control. Meanwhile, a
number of new technologies such as central satellite
telecommunication network, general platform for measuring
and control software and space vehicle control language have
found their further applications and verifications in the
said pairing efforts, which greatly enhanced China's
comprehensive measuring and control capability for its
intensive space vehicle launching activities.
It is reported that the successful
networking of the two Chinese resources satellites has
demonstrated the extreme high accuracy of the dual
satellites networking control scheme independently worked
out by the measuring and control center, which ensured the
terminal working interval between the two satellites and
realized the optimized distribution of ground observation
resources of the two satellites.
Breakthroughs
in Traditional Medicine Quality Control
Not long ago, Shenyang Pharmaceutical
University, Zhejiang University and Zhongnan University
jointly announced their breakthroughs in the innovative
fingerprint spectrum technology capable of improving Chinese
traditional medicine quality control. The finding, named
computer aided fingerprint spectrum technology for
quality similarity evaluation has found the solution
to the core technology in the construction of the standard
quality control system for Chinese traditional medicine
modernization.
It is briefed that the
technology has integrated the knowledge of different
disciplines and diversified technical means to perform the
evaluation on the stability of matter composition quality.
Like fingerprints that can be used to identify a person, the
core of the technology reflects the general characteristics
of traditional medicines instead of their individual
compositions through identifying the
fingerprints in traditional medicines. It
performs sample analysis from different angles and aspects
including plantation, collection, processing, storage and
distribution of medical herbs, raw materials, semi-finished
products, finished products, detecting quality variations or
defects through the intercomparison of similarity and
relativity and tracking down the full range quality line of
traditional medicines. The breakthrough has meant a solid
foundation for the eventual solution to the key scientific
issues related to traditional medicine quality evaluation
and the construction of a complete traditional medicine
quality evaluation system.
The New Generation
Simulator
The new generation
Galaxy high-performance and real time computer
based simulation system developed by the Computer Institute
of National Defense S and T University has recently passed
its technical verification checks. The verification panel
expressed that the results have made a major breakthrough in
high tech computer technology studies and that its overall
technical performance has reached the domestically advanced
level.
During its trial running period, the
new system was used to work on a number of real time
simulation experiments for major S and T projects such as
space carrier rockets, and played important roles in
optimizing designing, shortening research cycle, reducing
development costs and ensuring successful launching.
The new system is of numerous merits such as
strong expansion capacity, high simulation rate and stable
and reliable performance. The system can not only be used in
real time simulation experiments for sophisticated
technology projects such as space and aviation but also can
play valuable roles in meeting other regular simulation
needs in the fields like water resources management and
drivers training.
Full Solid Blue Light Laser
Device
The full solid blue light laser device
developed by Changchun Institute of Sophisticated
Instruments and Physics under the Chinese Academy of
Sciences has recently passed the verification check and been
approved for mass production. The proprietary and reliable
full solid blue light laser device is of a general
performance reaching the internationally advanced level.
It is reported that compared with the
traditional gas based blue light laser device such as argon,
the full solid blue light laser device is of numerous merits
such as the small size, the long life-span, high efficiency
and fine reliability. It is of broad application
perspectives in many fields such as optic holography,
semi-conductor chip testing, submarine telecommunication,
color printing, laser displaying, biomedicine and laser
spectrum. At present, the Institute has established the full
solid blue light laser device production line, the first of
its kind in China with an annual capacity for 500 and more
sets.
China's Heavy Water Reactor in Operation
Thanks to the hard work of both Chinese and
Canadian constructors for 53 months, China's first heavy
water nuclear power generator, No.1 power generation unit of
Phase III Qinshan Nuclear Power Project was put into
operation for grid transmission on November 19, 2002 in
Haiyan, Zhejiang Province.
With a total
investment of USD 2.88 billion, the Phase III Qinshan
Nuclear Power Project is one of the priorities listed under
the Chinese national plan for the 9th Five-Year
period(1996-2000) as well as the largest joint construction
effort between China and Canada. The project has employed
the Canada-made CANDU-6 heavy water nuclear reactors with a
total installed capacity of 728 megawatts for the two
generation units and a designed working life of 40 years
under a designed annual volume for 85%.
The
generation unit has only used 25% of its designed capacity
in the current operation and will expect the full load
commercial operation at the end of the year after the
completion of testing running at 50% and 100% platforms. At
present, No.2 generation unit is at the peak of its
integrated testing that has so far enjoyed smooth running
and will see its grid operation in next August. When
reaching their full load commercial operations, the two
generation units will produce an annual volume approaching
10 billion kwh.
China's First 50KWBattery
Powered Bus Engine
The 50 kw fuel battery
powered bus engine developed by the Institute of Physics and
Chemistry under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently
passed its testing checks by the experts panel organized by
the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.
The standard working testing results published by
the Auto Institute of Tsinghua University have shown that
the engine has recorded a hydrogen utilization rate as high
as 97%, battery power generation 57% and the engine
efficiency larger than 42%. All these indicators have
approached the internationally advanced level.
It is briefed that the bus engine is fully
automatically controlled with improved battery power and
performance stability. The engine's detecting system is able
to tell the electric pressure variations of each battery at
millisecond level and of the functions predicting,
controlling and automatically fixing the common failures
that may occur in batteries with fine performance of its key
components.
NEWS
BRIEFS
China's 19th Antarctic Expedition
On November 20, 2002, the Chinese Antarctic
Expedition team launched its 19th trip for the pole aboard
Xuelong Polar Expedition Ship. In the coming four and more
months, the team will carry out 23 scientific investigations
such as understanding the summer and winter environmental
conditions of China's Great Wall Station and Zhongshan
Station in the polar region, investigations on south-ocean
marine and biological resources and earth chemistry of
surviving origin and sea ice observations.
The
team will during the trip launch its first investigation on
Amery Ice Shelf and is planning to obtain an ice core of
300m at the Shelf along with the investigations of glacier
surface sections of the Shelf. Meanwhile, the team will make
physical and marine observations at the rims of the Shelf.
It is briefed that Amery Ice Shelf is one of the three major
shelves in the Antarctic region and nearly 20% ice stream of
the ice caps in the southeast pole flows into the sea
through Amery Ice Shelf. As a result, the variations of
Amery Ice Shelf bear direct links with the Antarctic ice
cover balance process and associated implications on the sea
level changes. At the same time, Amery Ice Shelf is deemed
as a most sensitive indicator showing the changes of the
Antarctic ice cover.
China's Nanometer Patents
Increase Fast
As is shown by the survey
results produced by UK based Thomson Derwent on the basis of
nanometer technology patent applications filed by different
countries as of today since 2000, the United States has
ranked the first place with Japan in the second and China
the third. The survey also shows that China has witnessed a
steady growth of its invention patents during the period of
1997-1998 with an accelerated pace in 1999-2000. As far as
the institutional ratings of invention patent applicants in
China are concerned, Fudan University sits in the first
place with Tsinghua University in the second followed by
Jilin University.
Being Part of Cancer
Decoding
Not long ago, the international
community formally kicked off a major research project
called International Genetic Differentiation Charts
Project after its human genome project. The Project
will try to find decoding means for human race.
As is disclosed by relevant authorities of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese scientists will be part
of this project and work on partial tasks under the project.
It is briefed that an individual person may have most of his
or her genome letter sequencing identical with others.
However, there are little differences which find their
expressions in few DNA locations with differed spelling.
Such genetic differentiation is called mononucleotide
polymorphism. The international genetic differentiation
charts project will mainly work on this mononucleotide
polymorphism, trying to identify all mononucleotide
polymorphism inherited in human genome, and working out a
shortcut to locate diseases causing genes.
|
