China's S&T Papers Increased in Number Rating the Sixth Place in the World
On December 10, 2002, the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China announced that China's international S&T papers have applauded for an upgraded position to the 6th place ahead of Italy and Canada in the world, following its overtaking Russia in 1999.
As shown by the statistics, the total number of S&T papers authored by the Chinese scientists published internationally in 2001 saw an increase at a large margin. Altogether three internationally renowned S&T paper retrieving systems such as Science Citation Index (SCI), Index to Scientific and Technological Proceedings (ISTP) and Engineering Index (EI) collected 64,526 Chinese S&T papers in the year, landing a growth of 29.9% against 2000, or a growth 24.7% higher than that of the world S&T papers development. As a result, China's weight reached 4.4% of the world total, or 0.8% up against the previous year, which made China advance to the 6th place following the U.S., Japan, UK, Germany and France.
In 2001, Chinese papers collected by SCI that mainly reflects the progress on basic studies reached 35,685 in number, or 17% up than the previous year, maintaining China's 8th place in the world. EI dedicated to engineering studies collected 18,578 Chinese papers, or 41% more than those of 2000, though China has remained in its 3rd place after the U.S. and Japan as it did in the previous year. As shown by the statistics published by ISTP, China enjoyed a large increased collection up to 10, 263, or 4,247 more than those in 2000, advancing its place from the 8th to the 6th in the world.
In the meantime, China witnessed the enhanced influence of its international S&T papers. In 2001, the number of citation went up from 15,733 papers in 2000 to 18,358 papers with an increased frequency from 31,354 times to 38,827 times, landing the respective growth of 16.7% and 23.8%.
Attracting More Overseas Chinese Students
Hou Jianliang, Vice Minister of the Personnel expressed recently that the Chinese Ministry of Personnel would strengthen its efforts in three major aspects to encourage and attract more overseas Chinese students to serve their motherland.
China will further improve its policy environment. The Chinese Ministry of Personnel has published the policies on encouraging overseas high caliber Chinese students to return and serve the country in different forms. The Ministry will further work out and perfect detailed measures to address living and working conditions of those returned experts, creating fine policy environment for their businesses in China.
China will construct business platforms to improve and promote the construction of industrial parks for the returned, strengthening the guidance and supporting role of both central and local authorities in the construction of industrial parks, enriching and expanding the service functions of these parks, further optimizing the business environment for the returned and creating broad arena for their business undertakings in China.
In addition, China will upgrade its information channels through strengthening the cooperation between different regions, governmental agencies and social organizations by returned overseas students, and through enhancing the communications with overseas Chinese students. China will also tap up its online information resources and construct overseas Chinese students database, facilitating communications between mainland China and the foreign countries, and providing services for overseas Chinese students who are planning to return to China to work, open their businesses or provide various services for their motherland in different forms and at different levels.
It is briefed that since China opened its door to the outside world in reform, Chinese students who pursued their studies abroad have reached 460,000 and more in number. So far 150,000 of them have returned. There are now 60 and odd industrial parks in the country dedicated to returned overseas Chinese students for running their pilot businesses. In these parks stationed nearly 4000 enterprises created by nearly 10,000 returned Chinese.
Service Invention Becomes Investments and Equities
Wang Jingchuan, Chief of the Chinese State Intellectual Property Office recently disclosed that his Office would work on regulations for service invention and relevant by-laws in the new year, so as to make clear about distribution of patented technologies among its participators when such technologies are taken as major production elements. In addition, China will regulate the patent technology transfer activities, establishing the mechanism for patent interest and incentive distribution for enterprises and governmental agencies and the whole society, and encouraging creating patent based businesses with relevant policies and measures. Wang also expressed that the Chinese government would support high tech projects of fine market perspectives to apply for patent both at home and abroad and support them to obtain bank loans with their patents as deposit. In the meantime, higher learning and research institutions are encouraged to transfer their high tech projects to industries by sharing the benefits from intellectual properties. Returned overseas Chinese students are also encouraged to make their investment in domestic businesses with their patents as equities. Chinese authorities will further explore approaches to making service invention an investment or equity while encouraging non-service inventors to join in businesses with their patents.
China's Natural Forest Protection
It is reported from the State Forestry Administration that since the full-fledged implementation of natural forest resources protection project in 2000, China has witnessed remarkable achievements attained from the project.
It is briefed that the project covers an extensive area over 734 counties in 17 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, targeting the major national forested areas in the upper reaches of Yangtze River, upper and middle reaches of Yellow River, the Northeast section and Inner Mongolia. In the last 4 years of the implementation, the central government has made a huge investment as much as RMB 28.69 billion. As a result, 13 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities over the upper reaches of Yangtze River and the upper and middle reaches of Yellow River have entirely ceased the commercial felling of the natural timber resources and the timber production was reduced to the desired quota. The timber output volume of the major state owned forestry farms in Northeast China and Inner Mongolia has been reduced from 18.54 million m3 in 1997 to the current 12.13 million m3. The project has led to the effective protection of 1.413 billion mu of the forested area and the public afforestation of 123 million mu(1mu=0.0667ha.) on a cumulative basis.
At present, some local ecological environment has seen remarkable improvement within the project area and the tendency of ecological environmental deterioration of the reaches of Yangtze River and Yellow River has been basically curbed. As shown by the analysis results produced by four ecological benefits positioning and monitoring stations located in Ganzi, Aba, Liangshan Mount. and Panzhihua in Sichuan Province, the live timber volume has increased by 23.94 million m3 and 200 million tons of mud and sand been detained in the course of the implementation. The project has protected and improved the living habitat of wild animals and plants and rare Northeast Chinese tigers make their appearance again after their long disappearance. The population of wild animals under the national first rate protection such as pandas and golden monkeys in the southwest forested areas are growing year by year.
China's Ark II 32-Digit Built-in Microprocessor
Following last year when China changed its history of having no cores for its microprocessors with the birth of Ark I microprocessor, Ark-II, a 32-digit built-in microprocessor with the more powerful performance made its appearance on December 18, 2002.
As is briefed by Beijing Ark Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Ark-II is a 2 cm2 chip housing the major components such as CPU, a net card, a sound card and a smart card, fully compatible against other overseas manufactured top products in the field. When compared with its predecessor Ark-I, Ark-II has an improved main frequency from 166MHZ to 400 MHZ but greatly reduced power consumption by 3/4. With the strong market competitiveness, Ark-II has been ready for mass production.
At present Shenzhou Digital Group and Beijing Orient Electronics Corp. have made the Ark series microprocessor the heart of their network computers. It is reported that Zhongguancun S&T Park has decided to establish an industrial chains including R&D, applications, design, packaging and testing centering on the Ark series microprocessors.
New Human Genes Discovered
Shenzhen Institute of Blood Transfusion has for the first time in the world discovered 3 new gene samples among Chinese population. The further genetic sequencing has revealed that they are all new genes. The three new HLA genes have been officially named by HLA Nomination Committee under the World Health Organization.
In the meantime, WHO has acknowledged the names for these three genes as SZ-1, SZ-2 and SZ-3. Of the three new HLA genes, two were discovered from healthy persons and the other from a patient with congenital propyl deficiency. It is briefed that the new discovery may help to improve the survival rate of China's bone marrow and organ transplanting.
The World First Protein Chip Certified
The Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences recently announced that hepatitis C protein chip developed by its scientists has been granted with new drug certificate for biological products Class One by the Chinese State Drug Supervision Bureau. It is reported that this is not only the first of its kind in China but also the first protein chip with new drug certificate granted by governmental drug authorities in the world.
The two-inch sized protein chip has been put into production by Shenzhen Yishengtang Biological Industries Co. Ltd.. It is briefed that the chip may tell the result with only two microlitres of serum or plasma (or one tenth of a drop of blood) in one hour at a cost about RMB 100. The successful development of the chip will effectively reduce the time and cost for preventing such diseases.
China's New Cancer Killer
The project for the industrialized production of the new anti-cancer blood porphyrin raw materials and medicinal injection was recently put into operation in Chongqing. It is briefed that the new drug, nicknamed as optic missile is of a unique affinity with malignant tumors. When getting into human body through venous injection, the drug will travel to the tissues of malignant tumors through blood circulation system, congregating and staying there.
Afterwards, laser lights at certain wavelength will be shone at the target tumor and cause optic reaction of blood porphyrin which would produce a mono-oxygen able to directly kill tumor tissues without any damage to normal tissues.
The new drug can be used to treat cancers in lung, stomach, liver and external parts of body with its cost lower than the conventional cancer drugs by half. The phase III clinic testing has shown that blood porphyrin may produce an effective curing rate as high as 97.8% on shallow cancers and nearly 80% on inner cancers. In the meantime, the new drug can be applied to cancer diagnosis.
Progress on Optic Storage
Chinese S&T researchers have recently worked out the so-called multi-wavelength and multi-medium storage technology, which constitutes a key innovation on the qhysical format of optic storage technique. The new technology is able to greatly increase the storage volume and data transmission rate on the basis of the original technology without changing the size of the recording medium and is a new solution to the next generation optic storage technique after DVD technique. The new product is a match against the so-called blue DVD developed by overseas manufacturers. It is briefed that China will, on the basis of the development, create its proprietary optic disc format and standards tailored to China's own needs, which will help the Chinese optic storage industry fundamentally change the confinement imposed by the foreign monopoly groups.
China's Circulator II into Operation
On December 1, 2002, Unit A of China Circulator II, a major national scientific project was completed of its construction and put into operation. Being a major collaborative project between China and Germany, HL-2A constructed by the Southwest Institute of Physics can be used to conduct physical studies of trapping improvement under high parameter plasma condition and cutting edge nuclear fusion topics and associated engineering technologies in its unique closed large divertor structures. Its objective is in accordance with the direction of the world-advanced study on nuclear fusion. The development will contribute to the progress of the world advanced Tokmak and the international nuclear fusion studies.
China's National Standards for Open Digital Programming
China published its national standards for open digital programmed systems on December 3, 2002 and the new standards will come into effect on January 1st, 2003. The development will lead to the breakthrough in the so-called digital programming bottleneck restricting China's manufacturing industry. Experts believe that the proprietary standards will not only constitute the threshold for getting into China's digital programming market but also provide an open platform for secondary development of manufacturers under a set of regulations and standards.
The State Economic and Trade Commission started to organize the development of the new generation platform for open digital programmed system in June 2000. Thanks to the two-year efforts, the national standards named the Outlines for Open Digital Programmed System was formulated. So far the hardware platform and Linux and Windows NT operating system based software applied to the said technical standards have found applications and some of their products been used by machine tools and mechanic products on a trial basis.
The World Leading Position on Metal Corrosion
Jinweishi QD anti-penetration solvent developed by Beijing Jiufang Tonghui Material Protection Technology Co. Ltd. has recently passed the experts' verification. Experts believe that the proprietary product is extremely good at salt fog resistance and possesses fine capacity for water, especially sea water displacement. With its numerous merits such as high flashing point, low viscosity, super thin filming and fine lubricating, the product is of the internationally advanced level, which has filled up the domestic blank for high performance anti-penetration protection solvent that is of broad application perspectives.
China Patent Application Booms
As of November, 2002, the Chinese Patent Office has registered 1.59 million patent applications on a cumulative basis.
During the period from January to November this year, China's domestic patent applications reached 184,744 pieces, or 18.6% up against those of the same period of last year with remarkably increased application of 22.6% for invention. In view of the distribution of these applications, the nation's eastern region recorded higher than those in the west with strong ascending tendency for the old industrial bases in northeast China. Guangdong Province has taken the lead among the provinces enjoying the largest share of patent applications by securing a growth of 20.8% for its 31,621 pieces of applications.
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