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China Science & Technology Forum

The science of friction on graphene
Sliding on flexible graphene surfaces has been uncharted territory until now.

David L. Chandler | MIT News Office
November 23, 2016
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Graphene, a two-dimensional form of carbon in sheets just one atom in thick, has been the subject of widespread research, in large part because of its unique combination of strength, electrical conductivity, and chemical stability. But despite many years of study, some of graphene’s fundamental properties are still not well-understood, including the way it behaves when something slides along its surface.

Now, using powerful computer simulations, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have made significant strides in understanding that process, including why the friction varies as the object sliding on it moves forward, instead of remaining constant as it does with most other known materials.

The findings are presented this week in the journal Nature, in a paper by Ju Li, professor of nuclear science and engineering and of materials science and engineering at MIT, and seven others at MIT, the University of Pennsylvania, and universities in China and Germany.


--> The science of friction on graphene | MIT News


Paper
: Suzhi Li, Qunyang Li, Robert W. Carpick, Peter Gumbsch, Xin Z. Liu, Xiangdong Ding, Jun Sun & Ju Li, "The evolving quality of frictional contact with graphene", Nature (2016), DOI: 10.1038/nature20135
 
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World of viruses uncovered – not just unwanted house bugs
24 November 2016
Humans are surrounded by viruses in our daily lives

1445 viruses have been discovered in the most populous animals – those without backbones such as insects and worms – in a Nature paper that shows human diseases like influenza are derived from those present in invertebrates.

This re-writes the virology textbook by showing invertebrates carry far more viruses than we thought

A groundbreaking study of the virosphere of the most populous animals – those without backbones such as insects, spiders and worms and that live around our houses – has uncovered 1445 viruses, revealing people have only scratched the surface of the world of viruses – but it is likely that only a few cause disease.

The meta-genomics research, a collaboration between the University of Sydney and the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing, was made possible by new technology that also provides a powerful new way to determine what pathogens cause human diseases.

Professor Edward Holmes, from the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases & Biosecurity and the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, who led the Sydney component of the project said although the research revealed humans are surrounded by viruses in our daily lives, these did not transfer easily to humans.

“This groundbreaking study re-writes the virology text book by showing that invertebrates carry an extraordinary number of viruses – far more than we ever thought,” Professor Holmes said.

“We have discovered that most groups of viruses that infect vertebrates – including humans, such as those that cause well-known diseases like influenza – are in fact derived from those present in invertebrates,” said Professor Holmes, who is also based at the University’s multidisciplinary Charles Perkins Centre.

The study suggests these viruses have been associated with invertebrates for potentially billions of years, rather than millions of years as had been believed, and that invertebrates are the true hosts for many types of virus.

The paper, “Redefining the invertebrate RNA virosphere,” is published today in Nature.

“Viruses are the most common source of DNA and RNA on earth,” Professor Holmes said.

The findings suggest viruses from ribonucleic acid, known as RNA – whose principal role is generally to carry instructions from DNA – are likely to exist in every species of cellular life.

“It’s remarkable that invertebrates like insects carry so very many viruses – no one had thought to look before because most of them had not been associated with human-borne illnesses.”

Although insects such mosquitoes are well-known for their potential to transmit viruses like zika and dengue, Professor Holmes stressed that insects should not generally be feared because most viruses were not transferable to humans and invertebrates played an important role in the ecosystem.

Importantly, the same techniques used to discover these invertebrate viruses could also be used to determine the cause of novel human diseases, such as the controversial ‘Lyme-like disease’ that is claimed to occur following tick bites.

“Our study utilised new techniques in meta-genomics, which we are also using to provide insights into the causes of human-borne diseases,” said Professor Holmes, who is also a National Health and Medical Research Council Australia Fellow.

“The new, expensive technologies available to researchers which have allowed us to do this landmark project, provide the ultimate diagnostic tool.”

Professor Holmes and his collaborators are conducting human studies using these new techniques to analyse Lyme-like disease and other clinical syndromes.


World of viruses uncovered in Nature - The University of Sydney


Paper: Mang Shi, Xian-Dan Lin, Jun-Hua Tian, Liang-Jun Chen, Xiao Chen, Ci-Xiu Li, Xin-Cheng Qin, Jun Li, Jian-Ping Cao, John-Sebastian Eden, Jan Buchmann, Wen Wang, Jianguo Xu, Edward C. Holmes & Yong-Zhen Zhang. "Redefining the invertebrate RNA virosphere". Nature (2016). DOI:10.1038/nature20167
 
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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...-google-home-the-linglong-dingdong/ar-AAkFuVT
China’s Answer to Amazon Echo and Google Home: The LingLong DingDong
Wired
Joshua D. Bateman11 hrs ago

The Amazon Echo is remarkably useful.Alexa, the digital personal assistant within the cylindrical black gadget, plays music, helps with recipes, and orders stuff online. One thing it cannot do, however, is speak Chinese.

The LingLong DingDong can.

The name may sound funny to you, but this gadget is no joke. It could introduce millions of people to the power of a voice-activated, cloud-based smart home speaker. And it could help introduce the Echo to China.

Companies likeAmazonandGooglewant their voice-enabled smart speakers front and center in your home. These clever devices are designed to be your primary interface to almost anything. Using nothing more than a wake word and a simple sentence, you can get the weather, set alarms or maintain a shopping list, and control your lights and locks. Whichever product and platform you choose becomes the focal point of your interaction with the internet. According to one report, China’s smart home market alone couldhit $22.8 billionby 2018. “We think that the voice is most natural way to connect,” says Charlie Liu, LingLong’s senior marketing manager. “You just need to say what you want. We think it is really a huge market.”

The DingDong, which costs the equivalent of $118, provides news, weather, and stock updates. It answers questions, manages schedules, provides directions, and plays music and audiobooks. It is the first product from Beijing LingLong Co., a $25 million joint venture between JD.com, China’s largest online retailer, and voice recognition powerhouse iFlytek.

The gadget weighs about 3 pounds and stands 9.5 inches tall. It is circular at the top and square on the bottom, and available in white, red, black, and purple. The shape symbolizes ti?nyuán dìf?ng—the notion that “heaven is round, Earth is square,” a concept that Liu says is central to LingLong’s design language. The colors also are imbued with meaning; white is associated with purity, and red with prosperity.

Three commands wake the device: DingDong DingDong, Xiaowei Xiaowei (a girl’s nickname), and BaiLing BaiLing (skylark). The DingDong comes in Mandarin and Cantonese versions (the engines required to understand the languages are too complex to include them both in one device). Most people speak Mandarin, and the myriad accents and dialects present a Herculean challenge. Still, the company claims the DingDong understands roughly 95 percent of the population.

If the DingDong sounds a lot like the Echo, that’s by design. Although work on the DingDong was well underway when the Echo arrived in 2014, engineers at LingLong took a long look at Amazon’s digital assistant. “Their launch influenced us a lot,” Liu says. No one at the company could get one, so they gleaned what they could from marketing materials and info online.

AAkFxs5.img
© Beijing LingLongBeijing LingLong
“It is a challenge to do on the R&D side,” says Lv Fang, head of sales and marketing. Even now, the product has a few kinks—some customers are having trouble connecting to Wi-Fi.

So far, customers primarily use the DingDong for music, drawing on a library of about 3 million songs. The limited feature set won’t change without far broader third-party support. “Echo is really great in this area,” Liu said. “[We have] 10 services like that, but Amazon announced that they have 4,000. It’s really a big gap.” To close that gap, the company recently made a voice service platform available to developers, and is offering tech support and other incentives to bring them aboard.

Although the DingDong can play any number of Chinese music, dramas, and the like, it was flummoxed by a request for Beyoncé when saying her name in English. It couldn’t provide a stock quote for JD.com because it is listed on the NASDAQ, not in China. And it can only provide one response per question or command. But the company plans to incorporate artificial intelligence to make DingDong smarter.

It also hopes to work with other companies to sharpen DingDong’s skills. Beyond creating a robust ecosystem of developers, LingLong is offering its technology to other smart speaker manufacturers. And it hopes to work with Amazon to introduce DingDong to Alexa—and vice-versa. “If they want to sell the Echo in China, maybe they will use our voice engine,” Fang says.

In fact, LingLong might be Jeff Bezos’s best chance to crack that market. “China is kind of a lost opportunity for these companies,” says Ashutosh Sharma, research director at Forrester. “China is very protective, it’s not as open as India is. The Chinese government also places a lot of requirements.” Alexa could work with DingDong to make inroads where Amazon alone cannot. So Alexa might one day speak Chinese after all.
 
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重大突破:破解沙子土壤化密码 沙漠有望变绿洲
点击:1230 作者:环球物理 来源:云创大数据 发布时间:2016-11-22 11:07:33


我国科学家经过多年研究发现,土壤颗粒间存在一种特定的约束,并将这一原创力学理论运用于沙漠生态恢复,沙漠实地试验取得成功,科研成果在中国科学院权威刊物《中国科学》和中国工程院院刊《工程》(英文)发表。

重庆交通大学力学教授易志坚科研团队首次发现并定义了土壤颗粒间存在万向约束,正是这种约束使土壤施以温和的力“抱住”植物根系,维持植物稳定,并且保水、保肥和透气。而沙颗粒间不具备这种约束,找到了万向约束,就找到了沙子向土壤转换的密码。

经过4年实验,科研团队研发出一种环保高效的万向约束引入方式——向沙中添加一种植物性纤维黏合剂经过改造,“一盘散沙”就能获得与自然土壤一样的生态-力学属性。易志坚说,这项技术可实现土壤沙化的逆过程,有望将沙漠“土壤化”,成为植物生长的理想载体。

今年以来,科研团队将“沙漠土壤化”生态恢复技术用于内蒙古阿拉善盟乌兰布和沙漠25亩试验地中。经施工改造后的沙体当即固定,并表现出持久的抗风蚀能力。试验地种植了玉米、小麦、糜子、瓜果蔬菜、向日葵、观赏草、乔木灌木等70多种植物,长势旺盛,开花结果。狐狸、獾、野猫、蛙类、鸟类和许多昆虫在两个足球场大的沙漠绿洲中安了家。

据专家测算,试验地作物种植与当地土壤中种植相比,浇水量相当,施肥量更少,农作物产量更高,沙地表面几个月就长出了藻类结皮。当地农民说,这种具有固沙和护种作用的藻类结皮在当地气候条件下要10年才能形成。

易志坚介绍,这项技术还具有成本低、易施工等特点,大规模改造成本约为每亩1500元至2700元。使用旋耕机操作,单台单日施工面积约30亩,一次改造后即可持续耕种,且后续种植对土质具有提升作用。

中国工程院院士钟志华在实地考察后表示,运用力学原理实现沙向土壤性能的逆转,目前国际上还没有公开报道先例。此项技术是治沙思路的重大创新,有望成为沙漠变绿洲的根本手段。中国农技推广学会理事李加纳认为,沙漠中作物生长达到优质土壤效果,是一次重大突破,对治理沙漠具有重要价值。

视频:http://www.kunlunce.com/llyj/fl11111/2016-11-22/111326.html

现场实况



0e2c6e66fd61d2870facbda6c9bb5c1c.jpg


试验基地航拍图



cbd2b5f57954f3eb61e0a1b0a9f25758.jpg


“沙改土”过程



9466a6014650365abba1b0b76b9b6b96.jpg


基地内70余种植物长势良好


7a4faf835c4fd32ba860f2b0ac183342.jpg


基地内种植的玉米已经结果


38813cd3966406b8e8379bcd8660336f.jpg


观赏性很强的向日葵


90752aa7d7600a65112fba0899e35ced.jpg


种植的西瓜


6d525126567d10b09f94c153da61a473.jpg


实验基地里的青蛙
 
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重大突破:破解沙子土壤化密码 沙漠有望变绿洲
点击:1230 作者:环球物理 来源:云创大数据 发布时间:2016-11-22 11:07:33


我国科学家经过多年研究发现,土壤颗粒间存在一种特定的约束,并将这一原创力学理论运用于沙漠生态恢复,沙漠实地试验取得成功,科研成果在中国科学院权威刊物《中国科学》和中国工程院院刊《工程》(英文)发表。

重庆交通大学力学教授易志坚科研团队首次发现并定义了土壤颗粒间存在万向约束,正是这种约束使土壤施以温和的力“抱住”植物根系,维持植物稳定,并且保水、保肥和透气。而沙颗粒间不具备这种约束,找到了万向约束,就找到了沙子向土壤转换的密码。

经过4年实验,科研团队研发出一种环保高效的万向约束引入方式——向沙中添加一种植物性纤维黏合剂经过改造,“一盘散沙”就能获得与自然土壤一样的生态-力学属性。易志坚说,这项技术可实现土壤沙化的逆过程,有望将沙漠“土壤化”,成为植物生长的理想载体。

今年以来,科研团队将“沙漠土壤化”生态恢复技术用于内蒙古阿拉善盟乌兰布和沙漠25亩试验地中。经施工改造后的沙体当即固定,并表现出持久的抗风蚀能力。试验地种植了玉米、小麦、糜子、瓜果蔬菜、向日葵、观赏草、乔木灌木等70多种植物,长势旺盛,开花结果。狐狸、獾、野猫、蛙类、鸟类和许多昆虫在两个足球场大的沙漠绿洲中安了家。

据专家测算,试验地作物种植与当地土壤中种植相比,浇水量相当,施肥量更少,农作物产量更高,沙地表面几个月就长出了藻类结皮。当地农民说,这种具有固沙和护种作用的藻类结皮在当地气候条件下要10年才能形成。

易志坚介绍,这项技术还具有成本低、易施工等特点,大规模改造成本约为每亩1500元至2700元。使用旋耕机操作,单台单日施工面积约30亩,一次改造后即可持续耕种,且后续种植对土质具有提升作用。

中国工程院院士钟志华在实地考察后表示,运用力学原理实现沙向土壤性能的逆转,目前国际上还没有公开报道先例。此项技术是治沙思路的重大创新,有望成为沙漠变绿洲的根本手段。中国农技推广学会理事李加纳认为,沙漠中作物生长达到优质土壤效果,是一次重大突破,对治理沙漠具有重要价值。

视频:http://www.kunlunce.com/llyj/fl11111/2016-11-22/111326.html

现场实况



0e2c6e66fd61d2870facbda6c9bb5c1c.jpg


试验基地航拍图



cbd2b5f57954f3eb61e0a1b0a9f25758.jpg


“沙改土”过程



9466a6014650365abba1b0b76b9b6b96.jpg


基地内70余种植物长势良好


7a4faf835c4fd32ba860f2b0ac183342.jpg


基地内种植的玉米已经结果


38813cd3966406b8e8379bcd8660336f.jpg


观赏性很强的向日葵


90752aa7d7600a65112fba0899e35ced.jpg


种植的西瓜


6d525126567d10b09f94c153da61a473.jpg


实验基地里的青蛙

This is big, hopefully it will help to stop the desertification in China
Which will eventually providing more usable land mass for our future generations
 
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重大突破:破解沙子土壤化密码 沙漠有望变绿洲
点击:1230 作者:环球物理 来源:云创大数据 发布时间:2016-11-22 11:07:33
Actually I had been reading alot about Chinese anti-desertification technology and it is really impressive. The western media is still recycling the 90s news that the effort is useless and all the trees died.
 
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Actually I had been reading alot about Chinese anti-desertification technology and it is really impressive. The western media is still recycling the 90s news that the effort is useless and all the trees died.

If this is a sustainable development, Imagine the business it can generate when we export our expertise to the Mid-East? Big $$$ projects, hahahahaha....
 
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重大突破:破解沙子土壤化密码 沙漠有望变绿洲
点击:1230 作者:环球物理 来源:云创大数据 发布时间:2016-11-22 11:07:33

种植的西瓜


6d525126567d10b09f94c153da61a473.jpg


实验基地里的青蛙
that frog is one of the most uplifting sight to behold in a healthy environment...when will the tech mass employ?
 
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Environmentally-friendly graphene textiles could enable wearable electronics

A new method for producing conductive cotton fabrics using graphene-based inks opens up new possibilities for flexible and wearable electronics, without the use of expensive and toxic processing steps.


Wearable, textiles-based electronics present new possibilities for flexible circuits, healthcare and environment monitoring, energy conversion, and many others. Now, researchers at the Cambridge Graphene Centre (CGC) at the University of Cambridge, working in collaboration with scientists at Jiangnan University, China, have devised a method for depositing graphene-based inks onto cotton to produce a conductive textile. The work, published in the journal Carbon, demonstrates a wearable motion sensor based on the conductive cotton.

Turning cotton fibres into functional electronic components can open to an entirely new set of applications from healthcare and wellbeing to the Internet of Things
Felice Torrisi

Cotton fabric is among the most widespread for use in clothing and textiles, as it is breathable and comfortable to wear, as well as being durable to washing. These properties also make it an excellent choice for textile electronics. A new process, developed by Dr Felice Torrisi at the CGC, and his collaborators, is a low-cost, sustainable and environmentally-friendly method for making conductive cotton textiles by impregnating them with a graphene-based conductive ink.

Based on Dr Torrisi’s work on the formulation of printable graphene inks for flexible electronics, the team created inks of chemically modified graphene flakes that are more adhesive to cotton fibres than unmodified graphene. Heat treatment after depositing the ink on the fabric improves the conductivity of the modified graphene. The adhesion of the modified graphene to the cotton fibre is similar to the way cotton holds coloured dyes, and allows the fabric to remain conductive after several washes.

Although numerous researchers around the world have developed wearable sensors, most of the current wearable technologies rely on rigid electronic components mounted on flexible materials such as plastic films or textiles. These offer limited compatibility with the skin in many circumstances, are damaged when washed and are uncomfortable to wear because they are not breathable.

“Other conductive inks are made from precious metals such as silver, which makes them very expensive to produce and not sustainable, whereas graphene is both cheap, environmentally-friendly, and chemically compatible with cotton,” explains Dr Torrisi.

Co-author Professor Chaoxia Wang of Jiangnan University adds: “This method will allow us to put electronic systems directly into clothes. It’s an incredible enabling technology for smart textiles.”

graphene2.jpg

Electron microscopy image of a conductive graphene/cotton fabric. Credit: Jiesheng Ren

The work done by Dr Torrisi and Prof Wang, together with students Tian Carey and Jiesheng Ren, opens a number of commercial opportunities for graphene-based inks, ranging from personal health technology, high-performance sportswear, military garments, wearable technology/computing and fashion.

“Turning cotton fibres into functional electronic components can open to an entirely new set of applications from healthcare and wellbeing to the Internet of Things,” says Dr Torrisi “Thanks to nanotechnology, in the future our clothes could incorporate these textile-based electronics and become interactive.”

Graphene is carbon in the form of single-atom-thick membranes, and is highly conductive. The group’s work is based on the dispersion of tiny graphene sheets, each less than one nanometre thick, in a water-based dispersion. The individual graphene sheets in suspension are chemically modified to adhere well to the cotton fibres during printing and deposition on the fabric, leading to a thin and uniform conducting network of many graphene sheets. This network of nanometre flakes is the secret to the high sensitivity to strain induced by motion. A simple graphene-coated smart cotton textile used as a wearable strain sensor has been shown to reliably detect up to 500 motion cycles, even after more than 10 washing cycles in normal washing machine.

The use of graphene and other related 2D materials (GRMs) inks to create electronic components and devices integrated into fabrics and innovative textiles is at the centre of new technical advances in the smart textiles industry. Dr Torrisi and colleagues at the CGC are also involved in the Graphene Flagship, an EC-funded, pan-European project dedicated to bringing graphene and GRM technologies to commercial applications.

Graphene and GRMs are changing the science and technology landscape with attractive physical properties for electronics, photonics, sensing, catalysis and energy storage. Graphene’s atomic thickness and excellent electrical and mechanical properties give excellent advantages, allowing deposition of extremely thin, flexible and conductive films on surfaces and – with this new method – also on textiles. This combined with the environmental compatibility of graphene and its strong adhesion to cotton make the graphene-cotton strain sensor ideal for wearable applications.

The research was supported by grants from the European Research Council’s Synergy Grant, the International Research Fellowship of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. The technology is being commercialised by Cambridge Enterprise, the University’s commercialisation arm.

Reference
Ren, J. et al. Environmentally-friendly conductive cotton fabric as flexible strain sensor based on hot press reduced graphene oxide. Carbon; 19 Oct 2016; DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2016.10.045


Environmentally-friendly graphene textiles could enable wearable electronics | University of Cambridge
 
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:-):enjoy:

Super-secure quantum communication line gets its 1st extension from Hefei to Wuhan

“量子保密通信京沪干线”将建设首条商业延伸线

2016年11月27日  来源:中国青年报

本报北京11月26日电 (中国青年报·中青在线记者 邱晨辉)作为国家量子保密通信骨干网,“量子保密通信京沪干线”将延伸至武汉,并建设该干线的首条商业延伸线。这是记者11月25日从中国航天科工集团获悉的消息。在近日举行的2016武汉·中国光谷激光技术与产业发展创新论坛上,该集团第四研究院与有关方面签署《量子保密通信“武合干线”项目框架协议》《武汉量子保密通信城域网项目合作框架性协议》。
  
根据协议,“武合干线”(武汉-合肥量子保密通信干线)是国家“量子保密通信京沪干线”项目的首条商业延伸线,将是我国量子保密通信骨干网的重要组成部分,是实现量子保密通信服务与长江中游城市群和建设武汉城市圈节点的基础工程。
  
协议还提到,“武汉量子保密通信城域网”将是首个采用量子-经典信道融合技术的商用城域网,将建设包括金融、政务、数据中心的量子保密通信城域网。项目前期以量子政务网为切入点,同时,整合和运营武汉市政府各部门数据资源,形成政务数据生态链,产生经济效益,带动武汉经济发展。
  
根据航天科工集团四院副院长伍晓峰的说法,该院还将以量子通信城际干线和城域网的建设运营为平台,以武汉为中心,分步拓展到武汉“8+1”城市圈和长江中游城市群等,建成中国第一个跨省市合作、技术先进、规模巨大的量子通信城域网集群。
  
来源:中国青年报 ( 2016年11月27日 03 版)
 
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China's 'missing girls' theory likely far overblown, study shows
Tue, 11/29/2016

LAWRENCE — It's common for media and academics to cite the statistic that China's one-child policy has led to anywhere from 30 million to 60 million "missing girls" that has created a gender imbalance in the world's most populous nation.

But a University of Kansas researcher is a co-author of a study that has found those numbers are likely overblown and that a large number of those girls aren't missing at all — it was more of an administrative story that had to do with how births are registered at local levels in China.

"People think 30 million girls are missing from the population. That's the population of California, and they think they're just gone," said John Kennedy, associate professor of political science. "Most people are using a demographic explanation to say that abortion or infanticide are the reasons they don't show up in the census and that they don't exist. But we find there is a political explanation."

The 2010 Chinese census found the sex ratio at birth was 118 males for every 100 females. Globally the average is about 105 males to females. In 2015, Chinese state media announced all couples would be allowed to have two children, signaling the end of the controversial 35-year-old policy, but scholars and policymakers are examining how the ban could have lasting social influence in China on everything from elderly care to political stability.

Kennedy and co-author Shi Yaojiang, of Shaanxi Normal University in China, have analyzed statistics and found that a combination of late registration and unreported births explains a larger portion of the "missing girls" than previously reported in Chinese sex-ratio-at-birth statistics. Their findings are published this month in the journal China Quarterly.

The researchers believe local government officials informally worked with farmers and acknowledged that they couldn't fully enforce the one-child policy. Instead they made tacit agreements in allowing families to have extra children in exchange for social stability in their communities. The cadres, or local governments, would then under-report “out of plan” births that ultimately influenced the national population statistics.

"There is no coordination between cadres saying 'we're all in agreement,'" Kennedy said. "Actually it's just very local. The people who are implementing these policies work for the government in a sense. They are officials, but they are also villagers, and they have to live in the village where they are implementing policies."

Kennedy and his co-researcher's work began in 1996 when they interviewed a villager in the northern Shaanxi province and discovered that he had two daughters and a son. The farmer referred to the middle daughter as "the nonexistent one."

Kennedy said since the mid-1980s, villagers could legally have a second child if the firstborn was a girl.

"We noticed that qualitatively when we interviewed villagers and higher- and lower-level officials everybody had a tacit understanding that yes, millions of girls and some boys, too, were allowed to be unregistered, and then these children appear in the population statistics as older cohorts at junior high school age and marriage age," said Kennedy, whose research focuses on social policy and change in China.

To supplement the qualitative data, the researchers then examined Chinese population data by cohort, and they compared the number of children born in 1990 with the number of 20-year-old Chinese men and women in 2010. In that cohort, they discovered 4 million additional people, and of those there were approximately 1 million more women than men.

"If we go over a course of 25 years, it's possible there are about 25 million women in the statistics that weren't there at birth," Kennedy said.

Much media coverage has focused on potential social problems stemming from a "marriage squeeze" where men sizably outnumber women.

"If 30 million women are truly missing, then there's going to be more males than females of marriageable age as they start looking for wives. There is nothing more socially unstable than a bunch of testosterone with nowhere to go," Kennedy said.

However, he said their findings about under-reported births at the local level seem to explain why the marriage squeeze may not be as pronounced as previous scholars suggest.

Otherwise, their study provides more insight into how local villages and cadres operated. Diplomatically people have likely viewed the Chinese negatively, thinking villagers would be willing to kill their daughters to comply with the law, but Kennedy said this explanation about under-reported births would make more sense.

As the government has moved to end its one-child policy, some believed the Chinese government might view their research findings as a positive spin, Kennedy said, but for about 15 years it was too politically sensitive to publish, especially for his co-researchers who lived in China.



China's 'missing girls' theory likely far overblown, study shows | The University of Kansas


Journal Reference:
  1. Yaojiang Shi, John James Kennedy. Delayed Registration and Identifying the “Missing Girls” in China. The China Quarterly, 2016; 1 DOI: 10.1017/S0305741016001132
Abstract

In 2010, according to the sixth Chinese census, the sex ratio at birth (SRB) was 118 males for every 100 females. The global SRB average is about 105. Thus, the gap between 118 and 105 is made up of “missing girls.” Scholars present three main explanations for the skewed SRB statistic: sex-selective abortion, infanticide and delayed or late registration. Most studies take a demographic and cultural approach to explain the high SRB. However, we believe the story of the “missing girls” is also an administrative one and adopt the street-level bureaucrat theory of policy implementation to explain the pervasiveness of late registration in rural China. We use descriptive statistics derived from the 1990, 2000 and 2010 census data to identify the “missing girls.” We believe the combination of late registration and unreported births may point to a larger proportion of “missing girls” than previously reported from the SRB statistic.

根据 2010 年第六次人口普查, 中国性别出生比为118, 即出生 118 个男孩对应出生 100 个女孩。全球平均性别出生比约为105。因此, 118 和 105 之间的差距即为 “失踪女孩”。现有研究认为主要有三种原因导致这一结果: 性别选择流产, 杀婴和晚登记。多数研究利用人口统计学方法或从文化角度解释高性别比。然而, 我们认为 “失踪女孩”也与行政管理因素有关。我们采用政策实施的街头官僚理论来解释中国农村极为常见的晚登记现象, 并且使用描述性统计数据以及来自 1990, 2000 和 2010 的普查数据组成的反向生存表来识别 “失踪女孩”。相比与之前的研究, 我们认为晚登记和未登记将可能从更大比例上解释 “失踪女孩”。​
 
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Smart 'robot fish' invented to explore underwater world
(People's Daily Online) 17:07, December 01, 2016

FOREIGN201612011708000065177903114.jpg

A robot fish inspects a pipeline. (Chinanews.com/Liu Yutao)

A team at Lanzhou Petrochemical Polytechnic has invented a smart "robot fish" that can explore underwater realms, Chinanews.com reported on Nov. 30.

The robotic fish utilizes many advanced technologies, including mechanical electronics, sensors and artificial intelligence. It can be used for pipeline detection, hydrology, water quality monitoring, underwater rescue and more. The robot has won a number of prizes for its sophisticated craftsmanship and advanced technology.

According to Hong Zirong, supervisor of the team that built the robot, the majority of water pollution and logging problems are caused by pipeline ruptures or leakage. Research indicates that current pipeline detection technology has poor accuracy. This situation inspired Professor Hong and his students to develop a new technology that, unlike earlier technology, is able to examine pipelines from the inside.

The robot fish has high detection accuracy and sensitivity, but costs under 100,000 RMB. It can be controlled via both computer and mobile phone.


FOREIGN201612011708000412987578291.jpg

A student controls the robot fish with a mobile phone. (Chinanews.com/Liu Yutao)

Ding Jiahui, one of the team's members, said that their professor's encouragement was very empowering. Gao Bo, head of the college, pointed out that the vocational education has overcome many of the shortcomings of traditional undergraduate education. Once the students enter the school, teachers guide them to grasp professional skills with a worker's attitude. Colleges then get feedback about students' post-graduation performance two to three years out, which supports a chain of quality education.

The college plans to introduce more technical teachers in the future to facilitate an environment of innovation and entrepreneurship, said Gao.
 
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How Rice Forms Resistant Starch
Good news for Asia’s rice-loving diabetics: scientists may have found a way to increase rice’s content of resistant-starch.

Asian Scientist Newsroom | November 21, 2016 | In the Lab

AsianScientist (Nov. 21, 2016) - Researchers in China have identified a genetic mutation that increases the production of resistant starch in rice. Their results have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Resistant starch refers to starch and starch degradation products that escape from digestion in the small intestine of healthy individuals. Foods high in resistant starch could potentially protect against infection, diarrhea, inflammatory bowel disease and even diabetes, but the global average intake of resistant starch is dramatically lower than the levels recommended for beneficial health. Hot cooked rice, for example, typically contains less than three percent resistant starch.

Improving the amounts and properties of resistant starch is an important goal for rice breeding, but strategies to increase resistant starch production in rice are limited due to a lack of knowledge of its molecular basis.


--> How Rice Forms Resistant Starch | Asian Scientist Magazine | Science, Technology and Medicine News Updates From Asia

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