China's 10th Five Year Plan for Science and Technology
The Science and Technology Development Plan under the S&T and Education Development Program for the 10th FiveYear Plan period jointly prepared by the State Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology has recently made its official debut to the public. The Plan has proposed that during the 10th FiveYear Plan period, China's S&T activities will do something whilenot do something else and follow up the general trend while making breakthroughs in the major priorities, developing high technologies and realizing associatedindustrialization, improving the sustainable S&T innovation capacity and realizing the guiding policy of leapforward technological development.
The Plan has proposed the general objectives for China's S&T development in the 10th FiveYear Plan period as: preliminarily establish the national innovationsystem agreeable with the socialist market economy and natural development of science and technology; accelerate the improvement of China's industrial international competitiveness; promote the sustainable development of national economy; improve people's life quality; enhance the integrated national strength and safeguard the national security; greatly raise China's overall level of science and technology and independent innovation capacity; and improve the nation's S&T quality on a full fledged basis. In the meanwhile, it has clearly defined the six major targets for China's S&T development in the same period as follows: 1) Remarkable improvement of the industrial technical level and associated internationalcompetitiveness so as to make the technical levels of its major sectors such as agriculture, industry and service reach the level of developed nations in the mid1990s with some fields mounting to the world advanced level; 2) Breakthroughs in basic and strategic high tech studies; 3) Provide S&T support for the coordinated development of population, resources and environment; 4) Remarkable increase of the social input in S&T activities. By 2005, the weight of social R&D budget in GDP shall be raised to 1.5% or above; 5) Constant flow of S&T personnel to meet development needs; and 6) Steady improvement of S&T infrastructures.
Surrounding the urgent demands for the current national economic development and the strategic demands of the national medium and long term development, the Plan has made the two tiered strategic deployments, namely 'promoting the industrial technological upgrading' and 'improving the sustainable innovation capacity of science and technology', under which the industrial enterprises shall be made the mainstream for technical innovations focusing on the key technologies for the industrial development so as to promote the development of high tech industries and transform the traditional industries with high technologies, promoting the industrial technical upgrading and restructuring; and universities and research institutions shall be mobilized to play their due roles in strategic technical studies and original basic studies to improve the sustainable S&T innovation capacity and strive for the leadforward development in the key fields where China has relative superiority or China has to win its strategic position.
China's Advanced Ocean Navigation Simulation Technology
Entering the marine navigation simulation lab of Dalian Marine University, you may feel yourself in the driving cabin of a large ship. The scenesof sea, harbors, cities and sky will be vividly presented before your eyes against the sound of thundering roars. Equipped with multiple functions, the said large screen and wide vision ship simulator developed by Dalian Marine University has been technically assessed to have reached internationally advanced level.
It is briefed that the said marine navigation simulator that saw the completion of its construction at the end of last May is one of the priority projects under the National 211 Program as well as the hallmark research result of the University for the 9th FiveYear Plan period. Applied with the internationally latest hardware environment and image generation technologies, the system is able to simulate the ship piloting, collision avoidance, anchoring, harbor entering and exiting and marine navigation under different marine climate and conditions. Compared with the imported system, the new system has landed many unique innovations and saved the costs of RMB several millions. At present the students of Dalian Marine University has had their world most advanced marine navigation education in the new lab.
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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION |
ChinaFrench Studies on Human Cloning Legislation
Facing the controversial human cloning issue that has attracted the world attention, Chinese and French biologists, jurists, medical experts, sociologists and philosophers will jointly work on the possible legislation for such cloning. The multidisciplinary study jointly sponsored by the Department on Ethics, Laws and Social Issues of Chinese National Southern Genome Center and French Paris First University is scheduled to complete in three years. During the period, the scientists of both countries will meet once a year. Its first meeting is scheduled to be held at Fudan University late November this year, at which biotechnology and laws relating to human cloning will be discussed along with other legal, social and ethic issues.
Prof. Zhang Naigen, the Chinese cochair of the research team, Deputy Head of the Department on Ethics, Laws and Social Issues of National Southern Genome Center and Director of Intellectual Property Research Center of Fudan University expressed that both sides would have indepth and extensive cooperation on the studies of social and ethic aspects and legislative response strategy to human cloning and eventually propose the suggestions on human cloning legislation to the government of both countries.
Joint Nanometer Technology Studies
ChinaForeign Huaxingyu Joint Nanometer Technology Research Center was officially put into operation in Hunan Province on July 6, 2001. The scientists from China, US and UK will collaboratively work on nanometer technologies. It is briefed that the cooperative venture has attracted a total investment of USD 3 million, of which Hunan Huaxingyu Sensing Technology Co. Ltd. took 70% of the equity by making an investment of USD 2.1 million with its cash, facilities and estate properties, while three individual scientists from China, US and UK who are renowned for their achievements in the field of nanometer technology both at home and abroad took the rest of the equity with their technologies.
It is reported that mainly working on the applied nanometer technologies, the Center has defined six major topics for the first phase development, including transparent high conductivity electric film nanometer technology, optic thin film nanometer technology and new bionanometer grain technology for slow medicine releasing.
Fudan Alcatel Microelectronics
On June 22, 2001, Shanghai based Fudan University and France based Alcatel Company inked a cooperative agreement on the establishment of joint research and design lab on wireless microelectronic applications. According to the agreement, Alcatel will provide working stations and software for the microelectronics studies and chip design at Fudan University. In the meanwhile, it will provide scholarship to the undergraduates and teachers majoring in microelectronics at Fudan University. It is briefed that Alcatel has established an integrated circuit design center in Shanghai for the applied applications of microelectronics tailored to Chinese market.
New Carbon Bonding Arrangement Discovered
In the recent issue of the US based Sciences, a papercoauthored by the scientists from China and US announced their theoretical discovery of plane pentahedron coordinated carbon compound, filling up a blank in the studies of the multiple coordinated plane carbons.
As is briefed by Dr. Wang Zhixiang, the first author who obtained his post doctorate at the US based University of Georgia, the socalled coordinated number means the one bonding the core atom with other atoms. Carbon atom bonding has three traditional arrangement such as two coordinated pattern of acetylene, the triangle pattern of benzene ring and the tetrahedron pattern of methane.
Three decades ago, Prof. Hoffman of USA who was later a winner of the Noble Prize for Chemistry proposed a chemical puzzle on the possible existence of plane tetrahedron carbon. The said puzzle was eventually solved by the concerted efforts of a renowned quantum chemist, Prof. Schlaier of Georgia University and other chemists. They have not only confirmed such possibility through their theoretical calculations but also found the specific examples in their experiments. Later, Prof. Schlaier confirmed the rationality of plane hexahedron coordinated carbon compound.
In this collaborative studies, Prof. Schlaier worked together with Dr. Wang confirming the rationality of the plane pentahedron coordinated carbon, which filled a blank between tetrahedron and hexahedron coordinations. They have discovered three basic units of pentahedron coordinated carbons. By making these three basic units into single ring or multiple ring hydrocarbon, they produced new molecules and named them aromatic alkyl of super coordination.
Dr. Wang who used to work for the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences pointed out that the discovery has extended people's understanding of chemical bonding and enriched the contents of organic and inorganic chemistry and bridged the gap between the two. He predicted that such unusual compounds may turn out some new properties for new materials making.
China's High Speed Internet Experimental Network
China's high speed Internet experimental network, a major project under the support of the National Natural Science Foundation has recently applauded for its successful development and passing through the approval checks. This is China's first high speed computer based Internet experimental network that has been connected with the next generation Internet in the world. The said development marks China's major breakthroughs in the development of the next generation Internet network in the country.
Jointly developed by a number of interesting parties including Tsinghua University, Computer Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Peking University, Beijing Aviation and Space University and Beijing Post and Telecommunication University, the system is a 25—10 gigahertz high speed Internet experimental network with six interconnection knots applied with 200gigahertz optical intensive wave division multiplexing technology. The system has been connected to China Education and Research Network, China S&T Network, Internet2 and Asia Pacific high speed Internet, and made itself China's first Internet network having the access to Internet 2.
World Advanced Plasma Viruses Sterilization
Aplasma viruses sterilization technology applied with methylene blue chemical means was put into operation at four Shanghaibased hospitals. Extensive experimental data have shown that the said approach is able to completely sterilize the AIDS and hepatitis C viruses in the plasma with relevant activity indicators reaching internationally acknowledged standard without changing the immunity of the plasma protein.
On the basis of the animal experiment, Shanghai Blood Center worked together with 4 municipal hospitals on virus free blood transfusion of 117,000 units. The analysis of the patients who have received the transfusion in the treatment of their liver and kidney diseases or in their surgical operations has shown that the treated plasma saw no differences in clinic effects and patients endurance against the contracting groups, clinically proving the toxicant and byeffect free nature of the treated plasma.
The development and application of this new technology has made China a country enjoying clinic application of methylene blue chemical means in addition to Germany.
Quality Data for China's Solar Eclipse Observation
After a week and more strained total solar eclipse observations in Zambia, the expedition team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences returned to China on June 23, 2001 with abundant quality observational data. Prof. Tang Keyun, head of the Chinese team, a space physicist, briefed that the preliminary data analysis has shown that the instruments had worked perfectly and produced reliable data during the observations. As is shown by the data recorded, the quality of the data collected by the observation is better than the gravity data collected in total solar eclipse observation at Mohe, though the further scientific conclusion has to be made on the basis of thorough analysis of all the data collected.
In 1997, Prof. Tang and other Chinese scientists observed two“abnormal gravity valleys” when watching the total solar eclipse at Mohe. The said discovery is the second of its kind after the first one observed by the Indian scientists in 1995 in India, though it has constituted the double abnormal gravity valleys observed for the first time in the world. The discovery has attracted great attention of the earth and gravity physics communities both at home and abroad for they believed that the said discovery may relate to major scientific issues on the nature of gravity.
Post doctorate Innovation Base
Shanghaibased Postdoctorate High Tech Innovation Base inaugurated its official opening recently. Jointly created by Shanghai Postdoctorate Association and Shanghai High Tech Results Spinoff Service Center, the innovation base will provide the socalled 'green channel' for the industrialization of the postdoctorate research results. Through the said base the supports such as funds, information and policy can be obtained to assist the industrialization of S&T results and a close link with market and capital will be forged so as toaccelerate the pace of industrialization. The new base will be open to those interested both at home and abroad in S&T personnel training, consultation, brokerage service and technical service.
There are now 100 and more mobile postdoctorate stations and 24 industrial postdoctorate working stations in Shanghai with a postdoctorate population of 1,900, covering extensive disciplines such as machinery, new materials, laser, space, information, biomedicine, radio and TV broadcasting, banking, petrochemical and automobiles.
China's Mad Ox Lab
Through fourmonth intensive preparation efforts, China's first mad ox testing lab was recently established and put into official operation in Beijing. The Lab is composed of a number of sections respectively on tissue pathology and immune cell chemistry. It is briefed that the Lab will be mainly working on the examination of possible mad ox diseases in imported and exported animals and associated testing techniques.
It is also briefed that up to date China has found no mad ox diseases on its territories under its strict watch of the said diseases.
Air Conditioner Water Heater
Recently the socalled household airconditionerwaterheater developed by China Science and Technology University passed the experts' approval checks.
The project team headed by Prof. Li Jie, Dept. of Thermal Sciences and Energy Engineering, China Science and Technology University has successfully developed this energy efficient integrated system for both air conditioning and water heating through their long painstaking efforts. Applied with the working principle of
heat released in the course of refrigerating, the system has taken full advantage of energy to render four operating modes for cooling with water heating, cooling, heating and water heating. The energy efficiency has led to greatly reduced
operational costs. Experts believed that the results was of innovative designs with reliable technology, ranking in the internationally advanced.
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