China's New Incentives for Overseas Chinese Talents
Chinese Ministry of Personnel has recently published the Comments on Encouraging Senior Chinese Expertise Studying Abroad to Return and Serve for Their Motherland. The new policy is aiming at absorbing and encouraging those senior Chinese'e xpertise studying abroad to return and serve for their own country on a planned basis. The said incentives are as follows:
The state encourages domestic banks, insurance firms, stock markets and large state-owned enterprises to attract senior overseas Chinese expertise to serve for them on their own efforts. If the recruitment of senior overseas Chinese expertise by higher learning and research institutions is for the purpose of chairing their research projects which are rated the internationally advanced or domestically urgently needed, the projects will be, in accordance with relevant state regulations, financed by the state upon the approval of the projects.
The state will establish the competitive incentive mechanism taking into account the job-holder's competency, contribution and economic and social benefits created and offer the compensation package to senior overseas Chinese expertise who have returned from abroad according to their position and contribution.
During their terms of office, the senior overseas Chinese expertise will enjoy the medical care and insurance the same as those enjoyed by other employees in the institution. Their housing can be subsidized and they are allowed to rent or purchase the house according to relevant state policies. The institutions of the resources may also make housing arrangement matching with his or her position according to the state regulations. The rent or payment to possessing the house shall be the same as that applied to other employees in the institution. The recruited senior overseas Chinese expertise may retain their status of long term or permanent residence in the foreign countries(for instance, the Green Card).
UN-Supported Chinese Women E-Commerce
The so-called Women Into the New Network for Entrepreneurial Reinforcement (WINNER) project was formally kicked off recently in China. Aiming at promoting the equal footing of men and women, improving the competitiveness of women in small and medium enterprises in the economic globalization and making them aware of the latest information and communication technology and E-commerce, the project wasco-sponsored by UNIFEM and UNDE VNET/TIPS with the institutional financial support from Italian government.
WINNER was kicked off in August 1999. Started from last October, the project was extended to China and Zimbabwe. China has witnessed more and more women working for small and medium enterprises either in the capacity of managers or professionals. However, some of them are lack of the strength of applying modern information and communication technologies and e-commerce in their work. To improve the situation and enhance their involvement in IT era, UNIFEM and UNDEVENET/TIPS decided to launch a six-month WINNER I training in China so as to make it into WINNER II together with other countries in April 2001.
China's Internationally Advanced Neuronetwork Technology
CASSANN-II, a highly accurate dual weight synapsis neuron computer and HOPFIELD, a network based neuron computer developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences have passed recent technological checks, which marks China's internationally advanced level in the research and applications of semiconductor neuronetwork technologies.
CASSANN-II is a dual-weight, synapsis- based neurocomputer of 16-digit floating point able to realize a neuronetwork scale of 1024 neurons and 512K dual weight synapsis. The system has for the first time in the world used general model of dual weight synapsis structures. HOPFIELD computer, developed by Wang Shoujue, a CAS academician and others, has the merits of smaller size, faster speed ( maximum for 128 million conjunctions per second in a simulation environment) and direct results displaying.
It is reported that the said dedicated study has successfully upgraded the previous prototype CASSANDRA-I and made the improved model of extensive integration and smaller size (one 15th of the previous model). Applying the system in phonetic recognition and automation, Suzhou University has developed the tour guide robot of verbal functions for Suzhou based scenic spots, who are able to recognize phonetic signals, synthesize verbal languages and move around. The said technology has fine application perspectives for teaching and online simulation.
China's World Advanced Weather Modification
Optimized Weather Modification Technology for Henan Province has recently passed the national approval check. On the basis of 3-year studies, Chinese scientists have unveiled the physical structures and the evolution of stratus clouds and proposed the conditions, judgement indicators, identification methods and catalyzing operation indicators for stratus modification in addition to working on the numerical medium scale stratus forecast system and conducting the inventive studies of quantitative precipitation forecast, field conditions and implementation schemes. These efforts have filled up the blanks of operational cloud type applications both at home and abroad and improved both the theory and practices of weather modifications.
The hailstone suppression and precipitation enhancement derived from the improved methodology may increase the precipitation by 15%-20% on stratus catalyzing, 20%-30% on drifting clouds and alleviate the hailstone damages by more than 70%.
It is briefed that the new weather modification approaches have achieved remarkable results. As shown by the field precipitation enhancement conducted on October 13, 1999, the precipitation enhanced by the air-born catalyzing over an areaof 60,000 square kilometers reached 100 million tons and produced the economic benefits of RMB 20 million. Last year some cities in Henan Province suffered droughts. During the period from April to May, researchers organized 11 air-born cloud catalyzing operations and enhanced precipitation of 300 million tons over an accumulated area of 200,000 square kilometers, which effectively alleviated the serous droughts there.
China's 3-D Auto Body Measuring System
The Institute of Sophisticated Instruments under Tianjin University and Nanjing-based Iveco Automobile Co. Ltd. have recently worked out their 3-D laser visual measuring system for Iveco blank auto body. This applauds the first birth of China's 3-D laser auto body measuring system applicable to the full-length automobile body, which has been tested with its performance indicators reaching the internationally advanced level.
Applied with numerous advanced techniques such as laser and CCD in its visual sensors, the system has made the accurate measurement of targets' 3-D coordinates possible with the help of triangle active and passive visual testing techniques. Its full range adjusting system is equipped with electronic theodolite of high accuracy, which gives the full range adjusting service for all the sensors in the system. All the sensors in the system are controlled by the high performance on-the-spot control gear. Operated by a single computer, the system needs only 7 minutes to complete the testing of a blank car body that would take 6 hours in the past.
The one-year trial application has shown the fine stability and flexibility of the system with practically designed software applicable to different auto types. Through raising its performance efficiency by nearly one hundred times, the system has demonstrated its strong economic perspectives by saving RMB 15 million from importing similar instruments.
China's Nanometer Plastics
Thanks to their one-decade studies and explorations, Chinese scientists have recently worked out a series of amazing nanometer plastics. The research team headed by Qi Zongneng, a research fellow of Chemistry Institute under Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed nanometer plastics with the help of straticulate compounding technique, which is capable of even distribution of natural clay minerals in polymers. On the basis of their painstaking efforts, they have developed aseries of nanometer plastics based on eurelon, polyethylene, polystyrene, epoxy and silastic with 5 invention patents and turned some of these nanometer plastics into industrialized production.
The testing results have shown the excellent physical properties, high intensity, fine thermal resistance and lower specific gravity of these nanometer plastics. In the meanwhile, thanks to the fact that the size of the nanometer particles is smaller than that of visible light waves, the nanometer plastics are able to show fine transparency and improved glossiness and the abrasion resistance of some products 27 times higher than that of copper and 7 times iron and steel. With its low oxygen penetration property, some nanometer plastics are proved able to automatically check and cut off burning fire. The successful development of plasticized polystyrene of super high nanometer molecules has provided a solution for processing the polyethylene of super high molecules.
Chinese Solution to Brain Cancer
A thorny medical issue spotting and identifying the molecular marks telling the attack and displacement of brain cancers has been solved by the researchers of Brain Surgery Section, No. 2 Hospital of Zhejiang Medical University.
Taking advantage of the internationally advanced molecule biological approaches, Dr. Shen Hong of Brain Surgery Section, No. 2 Hospital under Zhejiang Medical University has worked on the scientific analysis of the clinical treatment and pathological records of 100 and more cases of brain cancer patients for many years and eventually discovered the molecular marks of the attack and displacement of brain cancers. The mark telling the attack is stratiform mucoprotein and positive MMP2 and the one for displacement is the positive V6 of CD44. When the said two marks are discovered in patients' cancer tissues, cerebrospinal fluid and peripheral blood, the corresponding treatment can be defined. The patients of attack marks shall be applied with combined operation, actinotherapy and chemotherapy so as to prevent the regrowth of cancer; the patients with displacement marks shall be applied with whole body chemotherapy to prevent the spread of cancer cells.
It is reported that the result has passed the approval check of domestic brain experts and is the first of its kind in the country as is shown by the retrievalresults of international medical information archiving network.
Opalescent Teeth Genes Cloned
Thanks to their arduous explorations, the scientists of Shanghai Life Science Institute under Chinese Academy of Sciences and Basic Medical Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences have recently successfully cloned the genes of genetic opalescent tooth II disease which has brought the hope for diagnosing and treating such a disease. The result has marked a major progress in China's efforts in cloning the genes triggering human genetic diseases. Two papers on the result by Chinese researchers were published in Natural Genetics on Feb.1st, 2001.
As briefed by Zhao Guoping, Deputy Dean, Shanghai Life Science Institute, who is involved in the said studies, the genetic opalescent tooth is a common genetic stomatological disease with an attack rate at one seven thousandth. The patients suffering from the disease is prone to the falling of their teeth crowns as the result of mineralized defect, which will lead to serious wear and tear and substantially affect life quality. Up to date, there has been no effective medicine to treat the disease.
Dawning 3000
Dawning 3000, a super server developed by the Computation Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently passed the experts' verification check. Being a super parallel computer system for general applications, Dawning 3000 ranks the super server of the best performance in the country. The computer system is composed of ten 2-meter high cabinets with a total weight of 5 tons and a power consumption of 25 KW. Equipped with 280 CPUs, the system is able to render a maximum calculation speed at 403.2 billion times per second. With a 16.8 GB internal memory and 363 GB hard disk, the server offers powerful natural functions. 16 CPUs can be used on a parallel basis to realize 8 billion website visits while 8 CPUs may handle 70 million e-mails. It will take only 15 minutes for 64 CPUs to prepare the monthly climate forecast.
China Expects Breakthroughs in Carrier Rockets
As disclosed by Wang Liheng, General Manager, China Space Science and Technology Group, during the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2001-2005), the Group will expect major breakthroughs in key technologies of large non-toxicant and non-pollution carrier rockets in addition to its continued efforts for the manned space project development.
Wang said that during the 9th Five-Year Plan period, China had witnessed remarkable improvement of the carrying capacity and success launching rate of China-made carrier rockets. For instance, the geostationary payload capacity of Long-March rockets have upgraded to 5.1 tons from its previous 2.6 tons with the success launching rate reaching 92%. China's satellite development has realized the transition from experiment oriented to application oriented and will further turn to commercialization. The performance, quality and reliability of the new rocket models have seen remarkable improvement. The arms development has applauded major breakthroughs with the new generation, long-distance, ground-to-ground missiles successfully launched. In addition, the manned space technologies have also seen major breakthroughs. During the 10th Five-Year Plan period, the Group will continue to improve the adaptability of its rockets and take an active part in international competition and develop mini-satellite technologies so as to meet the needs of national economy and defense modernization.
Cockroach Treating AIDS
Li Shunan, Dean of the Pharmacology Department of Yunnan Medical School has recently discovered that a kind of chemical in cockroach has the treatment effect similar to AZT. Li and others have extracted alfatoxin and other chemicals from cockroaches and tested their effects on AIDS. The experimental results have shown that the compound containing amino acid and polysaccha is of the effects on killing AIDS viruses with little side effect.
The minority ethnic groups inhabiting over Yunnan Province of China have long used cockroaches to treat external wounds which has drawn the attention of medical researchers to the treatment effects of cockroaches extracts. Li has also discovered that the compound is of effect on heart disease.
Century's Old Genetic Breeding Puzzle Solved
On the basis of his 15-year hard work, Prof. Wu Zhongxian of Chinese Agriculture University has proposed the concept on analyzing the hybrid advantages in association with genetic capacity rather than with matching capacity, which has provided an answer to the century-old puzzle.
The so-called hybrid genetic capacity proposed by Prof. Wu Zhongxian is a new genetic parameter with its values ranging from 0 to 1. When the hybrid is made on several consecutive generations, the hybrid genetic capacity gets improved accordingly. When the improvement approaches 1, all the hybrid generations thereafter will present a same property, which means they have become a new species. The authoritative experts believes that Prof. Wu's new inventive theory on hybrid genetic capacity has theoretically united the analytical approaches of two major areas of breeding sciences: pure breeding and hybrid breeding and is of great importance to guide the production of hybrid animals and plants.
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