China Science & Technology Forum

[armchairPrivate]

I just read this amazing medical feat. I don't know if this is the right thread, but I will post it here anyway.

Man whose hand was severed has it attached to his ANKLE for a month to keep it alive before being reattached | Mail Online

Man whose hand was severed has it attached to his ANKLE for a month to keep it alive before being reattached

Doctors have successfully reattached a man's severed hand after it was attached to his ankle for a month.

On November 10, Xiao Wei's right hand was severed due to an accident at work.

He said: 'I was just shocked and frozen at the spot, until co-workers unplugged the machine and retrieved my hand and took me to the hospital.'

A Chinese man who had his right hand severed in a work accident had it attached to his ankle for a month to keep it alive



Read more: Man whose hand was severed has it attached to his ANKLE for a month to keep it alive before being reattached | Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

[Devil Soul]

Severed hand kept alive on man's ankle

The procedure was carried out to keep Mr Wei's hand alive
Chinese doctors have saved a man's severed hand by grafting it to his ankle, it is reported.

Xiao Wei lost his right hand in an accident at work but could not have it reattached to his arm right away.

Instead, the hand was kept alive by stitching it to Mr Wei's left ankle and "borrowing" a blood supply from arteries in the leg.

A month later, surgeons were able to remove the hand and replant it back on his arm, according to Rex Features.

According to the report, Mr Wei's doctors from the Changsha region say he will need to undergo several other operations but they are hopeful that he will regain full function of his hand.

"His injury was severe. Besides ripping injuries, his arm was also flattened.

"We had to clear and treat his injuries before taking on the hand reattachment surgery."

The hand remained grafted onto the ankle for a month before surgeons could attempt reattaching it to Mr Wei's injured arm
Mr Cairian Healy of the Royal College of Surgeons in England said although procedures such as these were rare, they were not inconceivable.

"The Chinese are pretty experienced in microsurgery," he said.

"And the concept of saving a severed part of the body by attaching it to another part of the body to give it a blood supply is well recognised.

"The ankle is a hard place to graft though. Usually surgeons would go for the armpit because the blood supply is better."

He said there were many reasons why a surgeon might not want or be able to reattach a hand to its rightful home straightaway.

"The patient might not be fit enough for the surgery. It can take a skilled surgeon between eight and 15 hours to reattach a hand."

The vital factor is keeping the hand alive.

On ice, it may survive slightly longer, but Mr Healy said few surgeons would contemplate replanting a hand that had been detached for more than a few hours because the muscle inside it would be dead.

He said that, sadly, not all replantations are a success. Some patients do not like the end result and may later opt for amputation because of side-effects, such as pain and stiffness.
BBC News - Severed hand kept alive on man's ankle

 

[cirr]

The world's first large-scale graphene membrane production line goes online：

全球首条大规模石墨烯薄膜生产线实现量产-新华网

 

[armchairPrivate]

China’s Deep Sea Ambitions

• BY JEFFREY MARLOW
• 12.30.13
• 10:38 AM

The Jiaolong deep-sea submersible being lowered into the water before a test dive at the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean in 2012. Photo: Wang wensheng / Imaginechina via AP



Recently, China’s Jiaolong manned submersible became the world’s deepest-diving state-sponsored research vessel, with four trips to 7,000 meters depth. Around the same time, news broke of plans for a National Deep Sea Center, a $78 million facility that will operate the sea-going fleet and serve as a central base for oceanographic research and technology development. Months later, the center’s director, Liu Baohua, announced a nationwide search for oceanauts, men and women who will pilotJiaolong and its planned sister sub around the ocean’s depths.

It’s all part of China’s rhetorical, financial, and strategic return to the sea, a realm that it dominated several centuries ago. Chinese maritime strength reached its apex in the early 15th century, as admiral Zheng He crisscrossed the Indian Ocean with enormous fleets, returning with gifts (most famously a giraffe) for the Emperor. But a few years later, as political winds shifted, the Ming Dynasty ended the epic voyages, choosing instead to focus on other, more local, priorities. This abrupt 180 is frequently cited as a cautionary tale highlighting the dangers of isolationism, a poor strategic move that doomed the discoverers to become the discovered.

So why the resurgence in sea-based activity? Dean Cheng is a Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and an expert on China’s technological ambitions. He points to the innocuously named “863 Program” as an underappreciated game changer that reconfigured the country’s relationship with technology across a number of disciplines.


In March of 1986 (hence the “863” title), four prominent engineers wrote to then-Chairman Deng Xiaoping, warning of impending doom for civil society’s scientific institutions. A long-standing focus on military might had neglected other aims of technological development, and if China didn’t redistribute its resources soon, it would be fated to watch the “new technological revolution” from the outside.

Xiaoping took the argument to heart, initiating research and exploration programs focused on seven key fields: biotechnology, space, information technology, lasers, automation, energy, and materials science.

Marine Technology was added to the roster in 1996, well coordinated with the country’s broadening regional influence and growing appetite for sea-based resources. “China has become much more dependent on the oceans and ocean-based trade for food and commerce,” notes Cheng. “They’d also like to know what’s off the coast; there are vast unexplored swaths of their seabed as well as deeper ocean reaches that could prove useful.”

And while Plan 863 indicates a formal commitment to oceanographic exploration, China’s movement has been measured and deliberate, similar to its spacefaring progress. With all the fanfare surrounding the country’s entry into manned spaceflight, it’s important to maintain historical perspective. In the decade since it became the third country to put a man in space, China has completed four flights; the bulk of the Space Race, from Gagarin to Armstrong, happened in less time.

It seems likely, then, that the oceanaut program will be a slow burning initiative, the leading edge of a larger oceanic strategy. Going forward, China will continue to consolidate its strategic interests and look to secure access to resources, whether in the form of deep ocean minerals or coastal fish. As Cheng explains, “there are relatively few sudden interests in Chinese politics. The broader set of research areas tend to be methodical in the development process – it’s been true for outer space and it’s true for inner space too.”

China's Deep Sea Ambitions - Wired Science

 

[shuttler]

Scientists create glow-in-the-dark pig using jellyfish genes

By Brett Wilkins
Jan 2, 2014 - 6 hours ago in Science

and here: 科学家对猪胚胎注射水母DNA 培育绿色荧光猪 --分子--新闻 --生物360 --中文生命科学界资讯站

Credit:eteknix.com

South China Agriculture University scientists were able to create the glow-in-the-dark pigs by injecting fluorescent protein from jellyfish DNA into pig embryos.

Credit：.impactlab.net

Green Pigs demonstrate success of reproductive science technique. Courtesy of UH Med on Vimeo.

Guangzhou - Chinese researchers have created transgenic glow-in-the-dark pigs using jellyfish DNA in a technique first developed by reproductive scientists at the University of Hawaii.

Researchers at South China Agricultural University (SCAU) in Guangzhou province announced late last month that 10 transgenic piglets were born in 2013. Utilizing a technique pioneered by scientists at the University of Hawaii (UH) at Manoa's John Burns School of Medicine, the Chinese team was able to quadruple the success rate at which plasmids carrying a fluorescent protein in jellyfish DNA were transferred to the embryonic piglets. The result: piglets that glow green under black light.

According to the researchers:

The... technique involves proprietary pmgenie-3 plasmids conferring active integration during cytoplasmic injection. This technique was also used to produce the world's first "glowing green rabbits" in Turkey earlier [in 2013]. Turkey is expected to announce results of similar research involving sheep in the new year.

The greenish glow indicates that fluorescent genetic material injected into the piglet embryos have become part of the animal's genetic makeup.

"It's just a marker to show we can take a gene that was not originally present in the animal and now exists in it," said Dr. Stefan Moisyadi, a bioscientist at the UH medical school's Institute for Biogenesis Research (IBR). Dr. Moisyadi insisted the genetically engineered pigs are not affected by the modification and will live as long as any other pigs.

But why engineer glow-in-the-dark pigs? The researchers said they want to introduce beneficial genes into larger animals to create better, cheaper medicines for humans.

"For patients who suffer from hemophilia and they need the blood-clotting enzymes in their blood, we can make those enzymes a lot cheaper in animals rather than in a factory that will cost millions of dollars to build," said Moisyadi.

Drs. Zhenfang Wu and Zicong Li of SCAU detailed their findings in an academic manuscript recently submitted to the peer-reviewed scientific journal Biology of Reproduction.

Read more: Scientists create glow-in-the-dark pig using jellyfish genes

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[shuttler]

China rolls out the world's largest Rectangular TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine)

News Link:我自主研发世界最大矩形盾构下线

Credit: louruyue.notbad.cn

我国自主研发制造的世界最大矩形盾构在郑州下线 - 中国中铁工程装备集团有限公司

 

[shuttler]

An update of the project here in a thread started by cirr:

Construction of world's largest radio telescope in good progress

 

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Spray bacteria on the desert to halt its spread

• 02 January 2014 by Hal Hodson

Living on the edge (Image: Qukai Shen/Panos)

Spray bacteria on the desert to halt its spread - environment - 02 January 2014 - New Scientist

AN ODD ally could stall the encroachment of deserts – bacteria. In northern China, the eastern edge of the Qubqi desert is a shifting wasteland of sand dunes. Most of the land is dusty and barren, but bacteria are giving some of it a new lease of life.

Desertification is a big problem for China. Overgrazing by livestock has destroyed much of the fragile layer of lichen, algae and mosses – the cryptobiotic crust – that binds the sand and soil to the ground. If left unchecked, creeping sands can slowly engulf vital infrastructure such as roads and railways. Farmland and even major cities can be swamped by dust storms that began in the desert.

Planting hardy grasses helps keep sand in place, but the wind can still whip away particles between the grasses. So Chunxiang Hu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences's Institute of Hydrobiology in Wuhan has developed an alternative approach. She coats planted dunes with a mixture of photosynthesising cyanobacteria that can thrive in the semi-arid environment.

Grown in nearby ponds, the cyanobacteria are trucked into the desert every few days and sprayed over the dunes, where they form sticky filaments that hold soil particles in place and prevent them from being blown away. Cyanobacteria get their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis, and as part of the chemical reactions involved, they absorb carbon from the atmosphere and provide the organic matter the soil needs to be productive.

Hu's long-running trial shows that after eight years, dunes treated with cyanobacteria developed a biological crust nearly 1 centimetre thick when on the shady side of dunes. On the sunny side, the crust was about half as thick. The topsoil improved where the crust developed, spurring plant growth.

The method is vital if semi-arid regions are going to rebound on a reasonable timescale, says Brian Whitton, an ecologist at Durham University, UK. "Unless you do something to help, you're probably talking centuries for it to recover naturally," he says.

Hu says the cyanobacteria are now being used to shore up the verges of roads and railways in northern China as well as the margins of oases and farmland. Her team plans to seed 133 square kilometres over the next five years

(Environmental Science and Technology, doi.org/qn9).

Artificially Accelerating the Reversal of Desertification: Cyanobacterial Inoculation Facilitates the Succession of Vegetation Communities - Environmental Science & Technology (ACS Publications)

Authors:

• Shubin Lan†, Qingyi Zhang†
  
  , Li Wu†‡, Yongding Liu†, Delu Zhang†§, and Chunxiang Hu†*

• † Key Laboratory of Algal Biology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430072, People’s Republic of China
  ‡ School of Resource and Environmental Engineering,Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070,People’s Republic of China
  § School of Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China
  
  
  Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, People’s Republic of China
  
  ABSTRACT
  
  Desertification has been recognized as a global environmental problem, and one region experiencing ongoing desertification is the eastern edge of Qubqi Desert (Inner Mongolia). To investigate the facilitating effects of cyanobacterial inoculation technology on the desertification control along this steppe-desert transition region, artificial cyanobacterial crusts were constructed with two filamentous cyanobacteria 3 and 8 years ago combined with Salix planting. The results showed that no crusts formed after 3 years of fixation only with Salix planting, whereas after cyanobacterial inoculation, the crusts formed quickly and gradually succeed to moss crusts. During that course, topsoil environments were gradually improved, providing the necessary material basis for the regeneration of vascular plants. In this investigation, total 27 species of vascular plants had regenerated in the experimental region, mainly belonging to Asteraceae, Poaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Leguminosae. Using space time substitution, the dominant species along with the application of cyanobacterial inoculation technology succeeded from Agriophyllum squarrosum ultimately to Leymus chinensis. In addition, it was found that the shady side of the dunes is more conducive to crust development and succession of vegetation communities. Conclusively, our results indicate artificial cyanobacterial inoculation technology is an effective and desirable path for desertification control.

People have been trying to use bacteria in this way since the 1980s, says Matthew Bowker, a soil ecologist at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. His group is working on a similar method, but hasn't yet used it on a large scale.

Desertification is also a problem in the US, says Bowker, but the issue isn't yet big enough to prompt the country to pour money into projects like Hu's. That might change soon, though. "The western US is getting dusty. With dust come automobile accidents and health issues," he says. "These biological soil crusts are like the living skin of the soil," Bowker says, and they need protecting.

 

[shuttler]

The artificial sun in central China

​

Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak, also known as "artificial sun", has been designed by the Institute of Plasma Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Hefei, central China. Just like the real sun, the "artificial sun" can generate electricity and help to solve the present global energy crisis.

Fusion reactor achieves tenfold increase in plasma confinement time

Experimental design improved heat dissipation, reducing damage to reactor walls.
by Matthew Francis - Nov 19 2013, 3:30am

Fusion reactor achieves tenfold increase in plasma confinement time | Ars Technica
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The interior of the donut-shaped Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). Hydrogen plasma is confined in this chamber by strong magnetic fields, where it fuses into heavier nuclei.
Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Institute of Science

All photo credits: sina tech
.
The promise of fusion is immense. Its fuel is hydrogen plasma, made from the most abundant atom in the Universe, and the major byproduct is helium, an inert gas. In this era with the threat of climate change, clean alternative sources of energy are more necessary than ever. However, even after decades of research and enormous investments of money, scientists haven't succeeded in producing a working nuclear fusion plant. Nevertheless, many feel the potential payoff is worth continued investment.

For that reason, work is proceeding apace on the next generation of fusion reactors. Researchers at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) in Hefei, China, achieved a significant improvement in its confinement time and the density of the plasma it held. This step is necessary to maintain the appropriate conditions for fusion as well as to reduce the damage the hot plasma causes to the reactor walls. As described by J. Li and colleagues, the latest run at EAST achieved a plasma pulse lasting over 30 seconds, a record achievement that simultaneously demonstrated improvements in heat dispersal.

Nuclear fusion requires overcoming the electric repulsion between positively charged nuclei until the strong nuclear force exerts itself. In practice, that requires very high temperatures, which ensure that the nuclei are moving fast enough to collide rather than repel each other. While fusion is relatively easy on a small scale, researchers have yet to produce a reliable chain reaction that safely yields more energy than is required to sustain it.

Ultimately the problem is one of plasma confinement: holding the nuclei within a limited space at sufficiently high temperature. (Plasma is a gas consisting of free electrons and nuclei; at cooler temperatures, these particles recombine to make neutral atoms, another reason to keep things hot.) Hot gas expands rapidly, so energy is required to force the plasma back together.

PRACTICAL FUSION
Hydrogen is the simplest atom, consisting of one proton and one electron. In practice, D-T fusion reactors are common, and they use the deuterium (D) and tritium (T) isotopes of hydrogen (with one and two neutrons, respectively). The presence of those neutrons lowers the energy bar to fusion. Ramping the temperature up beyond the minimum required for fusion, by increasing the number of nuclei moving fast enough to overcome electric repulsion, also helps.

Fusion requires temperatures greater than 15 million degrees Celsius; many reactors top 100 million degrees. That's hot enough to melt anything solid, so confinement requires something other than a wall. Stars have a natural plasma confinement system in the form of gravity: their large mass ensures high pressure and temperature in the core. But that's obviously impractical for Earth-bound scientists.

Magnetic confinement is one possible solution, and the one used by the donut-shaped reactors known as tokamaks.(Other types of reactors and confinement exist as well.) Electrically charged particles like deuterium nuclei can be steered by magnetic fields, so sufficiently strong fields can both heat and contain plasma. As its name suggests, EAST utilizes superconducting magnets to increase the force it can exert, a method also practiced to contain the protons that circulate at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

When plasma is magnetically confined and heated beyond a certain limit, it transitions to a high-confinement mode, or H-mode. In this mode, the plasma itself spontaneously generates an "edge" that partly prevents particles from escaping, and it throttles turbulence in the hot material. This more than doubles the time plasma can be confined. The present study achieved more than 30 seconds of a sustained H-mode pulse, an improvement of 10 to 20 times beyond anything achieved at other reactors. Thirty seconds may not sound like much until you realize this is plasma at more than 100 million degrees, more than five times the core temperature of the Sun.

Additionally, the authors described enhancements to the walls of the EAST reactor. When energetic particles collide with the atoms in the reactor chamber, they can create unwanted byproducts, which in turn may interfere with the operation of the equipment. For that reason, the improvements to EAST were designed to dissipate the heat efficiently and to remove the helium "ash" produced by the fusion reactions.

EAST can be thought of as a pathfinder for the larger International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), slated to begin operation in 2020 with full fusion power tests in 2028. However, thanks largely to budgetary cuts across science, the United States' long-term financial contribution to ITER is in question, which could delay the start further. (The previous version of this post said the US had withdrawn from the project, which was an incorrect statement.)

Nevertheless, these results are necessary but incremental steps toward reliable nuclear fusion power. A tenfold increase in plasma confinement time is a significant accomplishment, and it came with an improvement in heat dissipation. The slow state of progress may or may not yield ultimate results, but the promise of clean abundant power could be a bit closer to reality.

Nature Physics, 2013. DOI: 10.1038/nphys2795 (About DOIs).
A long-pulse high-confinement plasma regime in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak

• J. Li, H. Y. Guo, B. N. Wan, X. Z. Gong, Y. F. Liang, G. S. Xu, K. F. Gan,
• J. S. Hu, H. Q. Wang, L. Wang, L. Zeng, Y. P. Zhao, P. Denner,
• G. L. Jackson, A. Loarte, R. Maingi, J. E. Menard, M. Rack & X. L. Zou
• Click on the link for details of the authors affiliated institutions. For China, it is conducted by scientists at Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China

 

[cirr]

Next stop, Mars: Chinese scientists eye red planet probe within four years

Tibetan Plateau scouted as potential proving ground for rover technology as country mulls probe to Red Planet in as few as four years


PUBLISHED : Thursday, 02 January, 2014, 10:00am
UPDATED : Friday, 03 January, 2014, 2:34am

Stephen Chenbinglin.chen@scmp.com

• 

The Long March-3B rocket carrying the Chang'e-3 lunar probe blasts off from the launch pad at Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. Photo: Reuters

Scientists across China are pushing forward with a project to send a probe to Mars, possibly in four years, but the research is being done largely out of the public eye.

The technological challenges involved are much greater than those posed by the soft landing of the Chang-e 3’s rover on the moon in December, specialists involved in the programme say.

The environment is more harsh, and communicating with controllers back on earth more complex. But a successful touchdown on the Martian surface would bring China on par with the American leader in space exploration, they say.

One of the specialists involved in the programme is Professor Dong Zhibao, a desert engineering specialist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The government asked Dong last year to lead a team of more than a dozen researchers to scout the Tibetan Plateau for areas that could simulate conditions found on Mars.

The goal was to build a research facility where experts could test out how Mars rover technology and equipment reacted to extreme conditions, he said.

“It is a very difficult job. We are required to enter hostile areas probably never visited by a human before,” Dong said. “We are also under time pressure. The study must be concluded before the launch of the first Martian probe, which is likely to be in 2018.”

Dong said the plateau was an ideal stand-in for Mars. “Tibet is very cold, very dry with very low air pressure. It also has very strong winds and frequent dust storms,” Dong said. “Generally speaking, it has a hostile environment more similar to Mars than some famous sites overseas, such as Chile in South America or the Antarctic.

Scientists say the Tibetan plateau provides an ideal substitute for the surface of Mars. Photo: Xinhua

After analysing remote-sensing satellite data about the Tibetan Plateau, Dong’s team pinned down eight possible sites.

“We must visit all of them to obtain first-hand data. Some unmanned stations will be set up to monitor changes to the environment. But getting there is a headache. None of the sites are near any roads, as terrain must be free of any trace of people to ensure the best possible simulation,” Dong said.

The sites’ terrain is uneven and littered with sand and small rocks, ideal for researchers to try out soft landing mechanics, robotic rover manoeuvres and eventually astronaut field training.

But the construction and maintenance cost of Tibetan facility would be steep, requiring new roads, airports and other supporting facilities. “The best location for science often needs the highest budget,” he said.

Although China’s lunar landing went off without a glitch, Mars presents a more complex challenge. The US programme had its first success in 1964, when Mariner 3 carried out a fly-by of the planet and sent back 21 images. Twelve years later, Viking 1 became the first craft from earth to land on the Martian surface.

“China does not want to start a space race with the US as the Soviet Union did. China’s strategy is to catch up quietly.”
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Scientist
But more than half of all Mars missions, by the US, the former Soviet Union, Russia and Japan, have failed, including China’s Yinghuo-1 probe, which could not escape the earth’s orbit when a rocket burn on the Russian spacecraft carrying it failed in 2011. It eventually fell back into the atmosphere and disintegrated.

Professor Cao Qixin, a robotics specialist with Fudan University in Shanghai who is helping design a Martian rover, is well aware of the past failures but calls the planet the “ultimate arena for technical competition”.

Cao said his team was working on fundamental design issues, such as wheel design, the automatic navigation system, and energy generation and conservation technology.

“The Mars rovers of the US have taught us some valuable lessons,” Cao said. “We have learned, for instance, the importance of developing technology to counter dust storms as rovers had often lost contact in bad weather,” he said.

The operations room at the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre. Photo: AP

The rover would also need a sophisticated navigation system to negotiate the terrain on its own, due to the communication lag the operations team back on earth would face. And in the event of any unforeseen problems, the rover would have to be able to find its way back to the lander in order to re-establish a signal with the team.

Professor Shang Haibin, whose team at the Beijing Institute of Technology is receiving government funding to plot trajectories from the earth to Mars, said one of their main obstacles was a lack of first-hand data on Mars’ gravitational field.

Before any landing mission, China would likely send a probe to orbit the planet to gather crucial information about the strength of the field, he said.

That launch was widely expected to take place in 2018, when the two planets were best aligned for a flight that would require the least amount of energy.

But Shang was optimistic on China’s chances for success. “In some areas, we are already on par with the US. I think it is quite realistic now to think about meeting them on Mars,” he said.

A senior scientist with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said the government would not officially announce any Mars expedition until much of the programme was well in place.

“China does not want to start a space race with the US as the Soviet Union did. China’s strategy is to catch up quietly,” he said, declining to the named due to the corporation’s media policy.

“If China announced it was going to Mars immediately after the moon landing, the US might feel a threat and increase spending on its space projects.

“If there is a race between China and the US in space, it would be a turtle-rabbit race. The more arrogant the rabbit is, the better for the turtle.”

Next stop, Mars: Chinese scientists eye red planet probe within four years | South China Morning Post

 

[Beidou2020]

Wow a Mars rover already!
Great news!

 

[shuttler]

University unveils new air purifier technology
Updated: 2014-01-07 01:07
By WANG HONGYI in Shanghai ( China Daily)

University unveils new air purifier technology|Society|chinadaily.com.cn

A member of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University research team that invented a new air-purifying device demonstrates the machine. The device’s technology can prevent secondary pollution that existing air purifiers can create if not used properly. Du Xin / for China Daily


Innovation removes pollutants by electrostatic and catalytic processes

Chinese researchers have developed a new technology to clean up indoor air pollution that avoids secondary pollution that existing air purification products in the market can create if used improperly.

The new air purifier, developed by a research team from the School of Mechanical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, removes indoor pollutants from air through physical and chemical methods.

Professor Shangguan Wenfeng, who led the research project, said at a news conference on Monday that current air purifiers clean the air mainly by absorption and filtering, but this technique has problems.

“For example, the filter needs to be replaced regularly because it will easily reach the saturation point, which might lead to further pollution,” he said.

Also, while some machines cannot filter smaller pollutants well, the school’s new technology overcomes that shortcoming, he said.

The new technology removes indoor pollutants through high-voltage electrostatic and catalytic purification.

The electrostatics process the PM2.5 — airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers that can go deep into the lungs — and other air pollutants from outdoors.

During this process, volatile organic compounds and a small amount of ozone are produced. The second, catalysis module transforms these harmful organic compounds and ozone into harmless carbon dioxide and water.

A test was conducted during the news conference. Because Shanghai air quality was classified as “good” at the time, researchers made a smoggy indoor environment in a 30-square-meter room by lighting six cigarettes. The PM2.5 reading soon reached 700 micrograms per cubic meter, far exceeding the index limit level of 500.

When the machine was switched on, the particles in the room gradually disappeared, with the reading less than 100 within an hour.

Another innovation of the air purifier is that it allows air circulation between indoors and outdoors. Indoor air is circulated with outside air through a ventilation pipe at the bottom of the machine.

“Even in heavy smoggy weather, the indoor air will continue circulating and be cleaned. This technology is not available in existing machines on the market,” Shangguan said.

Yang Xin, an environmental expert at Fudan University, expressed optimism about the invention.

“In recent years, air cleaners have become more and more popular among residents. A well-designed air purifier will undoubtedly play an important role in improving air quality,” he said.

Poor air quality has been heatedly discussed by the public recently as smog enveloped many cities in autumn and winter. PM2.5 has become the country’s primary polluter and also the main source of indoor air pollution.

In Beijing, the average PM2.5 reading in 2013 was more than double the national standard, according to a Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau report earlier this month.

On average, heavy air pollution occurred every six or seven days in the city, said Zhang Dawei, director of the Beijing Environmental Monitoring Center.

Shanghai, a city whose air was once considered clean, saw its Air Quality Index reach nearly 500 on Dec 6. An index reading over 300 is considered “hazardous”, the highest in a six-tier rating system of air quality.

Persistent smog across the country has prompted a surge in sales of dust masks and air cleaners. Sales of air-cleaning machines in 2013 increased 420 percent year-on-year, according to JD.com, China’s e-commerce giant.

“So far, this technology is very developed, and it has already been awarded a patent. We are now looking for manufacturers to help bring this product to market,” Shangguan said.

The research team said the retail price of the new air purifier would be competitive with similar machines on the market from big international brands like Blueair, Daikin, Philips and Siemens. The price is expected to be 3,000 yuan ($496) to 6,000 yuan depending on the size of the room it’s used for.

wanghongyi@chinadaily.com.cn

 

[cirr]

China Exclusive: China to build new icebreaker

01-05-2014 16:08 BJT

SHANGHAI, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- China plans to build a new icebreaker for polar expeditions as its veteran Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, remains stuck in Antarctica after rescuing passengers from a Russian vessel.

Qu Tanzhou, director of the State Oceanic Administration's Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration, told Xinhua on Sunday that designs for the vessel were in the process after gaining official approval.

"The new icebreaker will be shorter and be equipped with blades both at the bow and the stern, which will be able to open ice 1.5 meters thick," said Qu.

Designed mainly for field research instead of transporting supplies, the new icebreaker will also have a better power system, larger decks and laboratories. It will be a "mobile research station," said Qu.

Put into use in 1994, the Ukraine-built Xuelong was designed for transporting supplies to China's research stations in the Antarctic. It can break ice that is 1.2 meters thick.

Xueying 12, a helicopter on board Xuelong, on Thursday successfully evacuated all 52 passengers aboard the Russian vessel MV Akademik Shokalskiy that had been stranded since Christmas Eve. The passengers were transferred to Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis. The Australian icebreaker had been sent to rescue the Russian ship.

After rescuing the passengers, Xuelong became stuck because of floating ice.

Xuelong is 66.65 degrees south latitude and 144.42 degrees east longitude. It is surrounded by sheets of ice up to four meters thick and is about 21 km away from unfrozen waters, according to the State Oceanic Administration.

China has sent a team to rescue Xuelong. There is no immediate danger to personnel aboard Xuelong, which is well stocked with food supplies and has enough fuel.

Zhang Jiansong, a Xinhua reporter, is aboard Xuelong. She said the blizzard on Sunday left the deck extremely slippery and people could hardly walk on it.

"Despite that, the Xuelong crew stay positive and have carried on experiments on board as scheduled," she said.

The U.S. Coast Guard will send its icebreaker Polar Star to assist Xuelong and the Russian vessel, Australian Maritime Safety Authority said Saturday.

Qu said the planned expedition by Xuelong will be altered once it is out of trouble.

China Exclusive: China to build new icebreaker CCTV News - CNTV English

 

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The world's 1st commercial Femtosecond Graphene Fiber Laser debuts in China：

中国商用石墨烯飞秒光纤激光器问世 系全球首台|石墨|激光器_凤凰军事

 

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Drawings (3) of the 4th of our scientific station" 泰山 Taishan" in Antartica when completed

credit: Huanqiu

From left to right:
Green dot 长城站 Changcheng Station
Near center green dot：昆仑站 Kunlun Station
Red dot: 在建中泰山站 Taishan Station in construction
Green dot (far right): 中山站 Zhongshan Station
South most red dot:Victoria station ( not owned by China)

Illustrations Credit: Sina

Construction carries on in the new year:

Credit: Sohu,. Xinhuanet (唐志坚 摄 Tang Zhijian -photographer)

Credit: hycfw.com

Click on this link for a TV reporting:
中国南极泰山站建站施工-20131229中国新闻-凤凰视频-最具媒体品质的综合视频门户-凤凰网

Above TV reporting pf the news starts at 0:22 which said the construction team are braving against the hostile weather but still we are still progressing well finishing the foundation on an altitude of above 2,600 meters and working in all time low temperature of more than -35 deg C and also facing the constant brutal assaults of cold blizzards

The additon of Taishan Station which weighs 400 tons when completed, is an enhancement to the existing facilities with better construction materials and improved internal facilities for scientific equipment, living and life support, rescue and emergency, storage, repair and maintenance, communications. Each steel column is 9.8 meters tall and each can support 50 tons weight. A total of 8 columns have been erected.