News on China's scientific and technological development.

SamuraiBlue said:

The US has an advantage with the US dollar being utilized as the main transaction currency for major commodity trades such as oil.
With every barrel of oil bought from OPEC nations it is purchased with US dollar whether it be PRC, Japan and or any other nation. So for the transaction to be completed the nation wanting purchase needs to exchange their own currency with US dollar creating a money flow of the US dollar in which FRB gains in two folds, one obtaining commission through the exchange and second the money flow generated in which they can invest on.
Another accompanying advantage is that any nation wanting to purchase oil would require to develop a large dollar reserve so their own currency would be able to balance out the flux in exchange and maintain a stable exchange rate.
This is the main reason why the US economy is big compared to other nation even though they have such a large trade deficit against various nations.

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WASHINGTON -- China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer, with a performance of 33.86 petaflops per second (Pflops/s), retained the title of the world's fastest system for the third consecutive time, according to a biannual Top500 list of supercomputers released Monday.
Tianhe-2, developed by China's National University of Defense Technology and deployed at the National Supercomputer Center in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, has held the title for China since June 2013.
The Chinese supercomputer is almost twice as fast as the next on the list, Titan of the US Department of Energy (DOE), which has a performance of 17.59 Pflop/s.
Tianhe-2 "features a number of Chinese-developed components, including the TH Express-2 interconnect network, front-end processors, operating system and software tools," the list said.
Sequoia, installed at the DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is still No. 3 system with a performance of 17.17 Pflop/s. Japan's K computer is No. 4 system with 10.51 Pflop/s, followed by Mira, installed at the DOE's Argonne National Laboratory, which has a performance of 8.59 Pflop/s.
"In fact, there was little change among the ranking of the world's top 10 supercomputers in the latest edition of the closely watched list," the organizers of the Top500 list said in a statement.
"The only new entry was at number 10 -- a 3.14 Pflop/s Cray XC30 installed at an undisclosed US government site," they said.
The United States has a total of 233 systems on the latest list, down from 265 six months ago. This is near its lowest share of 226 in the early 2000s.
Chinese mainland, No. 2 consumer of supercomputers, has 76 systems, up from 63 on the previous list. That means it has almost as many supercomputers as Britain, with 30; France, with 27; and Germany, with 23; combined.
Japan also increased its showing, up to 30 from 28 on the previous list.
According to the Top500 list, the total combined performance of all 500 systems has grown to 274 Pflop/s, compared to 250 Pflop/s six months ago and 223 Pflop/s one year ago.
However, the organizers said "the overall growth rate of all the systems is at a historical low" since the list was introduced in June 1993.
"Recent installations of very large systems -- up to June 2013 -- have counteracted the reduced growth rate at the bottom of the list," the statement said.
"But with few new systems at the top of the past few lists, the overall growth rate is now slowing."
It said the market for the very largest systems "might currently behave differently" from the market of mid-sized and smaller supercomputers.
From 1994 to 2008, the annual growth rate for No. 500 systems' performance was 90 percent, but it has only grown by 55 percent per year since 2008.
The Top500 list is considered one of the most authoritative rankings of the world's supercomputers. It is compiled on the basis of the machines' performance on the Linpack benchmark by experts from the United States and Germany.

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By
Yuliya Chernova
CONNECT

Chinese startup Lattice Power Corp. says it beat bigger and more well-known rivals around the world by creating a cheaper light-emitting diode technology, and has closed on $80 million in new equity funding to advance its production, the company’s Executive Chairman Sonny Wu told Venture Capital Dispatch.


“We are the only company in China that has systematically invested in research and development,” Mr. Wu said. “We solved a problem the Germans, the Koreans and the Americans can’t solve,” he said.

Lattice Power is making its LED chips using silicon as its substrate material. Everyone else, including companies such as Philips NVPHG +0.35% and others, use sapphire, or silicon carbide in the case of Cree Inc.CREE +5.01% Both materials are more expensive than silicon, according to Pallavi Madakasira, an analyst at research firm Lux Research Inc., who studies the LED industry.

Many large manufacturers have tried to make silicon-based LEDs, Ms. Madakasira said, but no product of note, with low prices and comparable performance, has so far come to market in large volumes. Mr. Wu said Lattice Power is the one to have overcome the challenges others faced.

To help the company advance, Asia Pacific Resources Development led the Series D equity financing, with GSR Ventures, where Mr. Wu is managing director, Mayfield Fund and Crescent HydePark participating. The equity round may go up to $100 million, Mr. Wu said. He added that Lattice Power has access to $1 billion in a line of credit from a regional Chinese bank. He declined to name the bank.

Lattice Power, which is based in Nanchang, China, now has set its eyes on the U.S. to open a research-and-development center, as well as a manufacturing facility, Mr. Wu said. The site hasn’t been selected yet.

That, too, is unusual, since there are many more examples of U.S. technology developers, especially in the clean-technology industry, that come up with the technology in the U.S. and move to China to manufacture.

“We are leading the world with our technology, which is highly unusual for China,” Mr. Wu said, adding that many companies in China are copycats.

Lattice Power will be able to draw on the Chinese line of credit to create a business in the U.S., he said. Lattice Power named James Haworth, former Philips executive, to lead the company’s U.S. operations, Mr. Wu said.

The proof for Lattice Power’s claims haven’t yet been widely available, and the challenges the company and others like it face are great, according to Ms. Madakasira.

“Lattice Power has put out a lot of PR on how they’ve expanded capacities,” Ms. Madakasira said. But “we haven’t seen any product releases. We haven’t gotten our hands on any of it, nor do we know anyone who is using it.”

Mr. Wu said the company has been selling mostly in China. “All major lighting applications users in China use our products,” he said. Lattice Power had about $33 million in revenue last year and plans to double it this year, with another doubling of revenue in 2015, he said.

He said the company’s LED products are sold at prices that are 30% below those of one of the largest LED manufacturers, Cree, and that Lattice Power still has 40% gross margins even at those low prices.

The advantage of silicon may not be as large as some of its proponents claim, Ms. Madakasira said. Even though silicon is cheaper than other substrates, it’s much harder to use to make LEDs, by requiring an introduction of another material layer.

“Even if you did start off with silicon,” she said, “by the time you end up growing these buffer layers it negates the obvious cost benefits you get from a silicon.”

In addition, she said, the quality of the light coming off of silicon-based LEDs is lower than from sapphire. Lattice Power, however, said its current LEDs have 150 lumens per watt, which is competitive with products from other manufacturers.

Osram Licht AGOSR.XE +0.25%, Samsung Group and Toshiba Corp ., which purchased technology from U.S. startup Bridgelux, are some of the companies that have spoken about having internal development of silicon-substrate LEDs. None have released any substantial products based on the technology, Ms. Madakasira said.

That, she said, “speaks volumes either about the challenges of developing the technology or that the fundamental economic basis of it doesn’t make sense.”

The LED market totaled about $16.5 billion in 2012, according to Digitimes Research. It is likely to grow several-fold over the following decade, according to several research reports.

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FUZHOU - Jiaolong, China's first manned deep-sea submersible, on Friday embarked on a scientific expedition in the Pacific Ocean.

Its carrier, Xiangyanghong 09, set sail from Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province, for the submersible's first expedition mission in the 2014-2015 period.

It is scheduled for a voyage in the northwest Pacific Ocean, during which it will research cobalt-rich crusts and life forms inhabiting the bottom of the ocean.

A micro-sized remotely operated underwater vehicle called "Longzhu", or "Dragon Ball", will also be carried by Jiaolong for the mission.

The sub, named after a mythical dragon, reached 7,062 meters in the Pacific's Mariana Trench in a dive in June 2012.

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In the 1930s, 18-year-old Austrian biology student Hans Hass went diving off the southern coast of France for the first time.

Some 80 years later, the legendary diving pioneer remains an inspiration for underwater adventurers, most recently the Chinese.

The Jiaolong submersible won the 2014 Hans Hass Fifty Fathoms Award in Sanya, Hainan province, in June. The award is jointly given by the Historical Diving Society Hans Hass Award Committee and Swiss watchmaker Blancpain.

The submersible, independently developed in China, reached as deep as 7,062 meters in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean in 2012, setting a new record among Chinese divers.

The committee initiated a double prize for Cui Weicheng, deputy chief designer of Jiaolong, for his individual achievements, and the State Oceanic Administration for its support in building the submersible.

The award has been honoring individuals for excellence in underwater science and technology since 2003. Previous recipients include renowned film director and diving pioneer James Cameron and Stan Waterman, pioneering underwater film producer and photographer. This is the first time a Chinese project has won the award.

"Today, it is China that is leading the world in its commitment to manned deep ocean exploration," says Krov Menuhin, chairman of the award committee and advisory board member at the Historical Diving Society, an international non-profit organization that studies man's underwater activities and promotes public awareness of the ocean.

"And the far-sighted vision, the courage and the immense engagement to implement this program is in keeping with the pioneering spirit of Hans Hass. He entered the ocean with the same vision, courage and commitment," he says.

The winners received a framed cast bronze plaque, with an image of Hans Hass, designed by ocean artist Wyland. And Blancpain presented them Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe diving watches with specially engraved cases.

The brand will serve as the official time keeper for Jiaolong's future underwater expeditions. It also announced a collaboration with the State Oceanic Administration to launch projects to raise public consciousness of the ocean in China in the coming years. The details are still being discussed.

"We are very impressed with Jiaolong with its ability to constantly dive into new depths, especially its crew, whose courage, focus and action enabled them to reach new frontiers all the time," says Marc Junod, vice-president and head of sales at Blancpain.

The research and development of Jiaolong basically started from zero in 2002. None of the crew members had seen, let alone been in, a virtual submersible before.

Fu Wentao, one of the oceanauts of Jiaolong, shared his experience underwater, including encounters with curious creatures.

"Unlike the terrestrial creatures, those under the water are not cautious at all. They are actually very curious and will even swim toward us," Fu says.

Cui is planning to launch a project to develop a submersible that will be able to dive as deep as 11,000 meters with financial support from both the government and the private sector.

"The combination will fuel faster development in underwater science," Cui says. "The sea is vast and rich, but we have a lot of research to do before we can exploit it."

While funds for the financing of manned deep-ocean explorations in the West are drying up, China has just committed to a long-term project that will change the way everyone thinks about the sea, says Menuhin.

As the creator of the world's first modern diving wristwatch, Blancpain has long been a supporter of major manned deep-water explorations.

"We are not just getting involved today because it is trendy to protect the Ocean. Our philosophy is to help as many people as possible to learn about, and get familiar with, the underwater world. Because we believe that people can only respect and protect what they love. And they can only love what they know," says Junod.

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China's growing role in the Arctic will foster a win-win situation for all, said the head of the polar strategic research division under the Polar Research Institute of China.

"Infrastructure in the Arctic is weak, and it urgently needs Chinese labor and capital, while China can learn about advances in environmental protection and technologies during its engagement," said Zhang Xia, who is also deputy director of the China-Nordic Arctic Research Center.

Besides academic research, China should strengthen international cooperation in the area because it could become a geopolitical arena for scientific research and commerce, he said.

The US Geological Survey estimated that the polar north may hold up to 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil resources and 30 percent of its untapped natural gas supplies.

With climate change in the Arctic resulting in higher temperatures and a reduction in ocean ice coverage, the area has become increasingly accessible. That heightens the potential for oil and gas development and the establishment of a shorter northern sea transportation route.

The route is a shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along Russia's Arctic coast, from the Barents Sea along Siberia to the Far East. The route lies in Arctic waters, and parts of it are free of ice for only two months a year.

"Mining the area's energy resources is not realistic for China, given current technological and political difficulties, but the use of the route is much more practical," Zhang said, adding that the route can save thousands of kilometers in travel from China's northern coastal cities to Europe.

In August, a vessel from China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co made its maiden voyage on the route, saving nine days and nearly 5,200 km. The company has scheduled another journey this year.

The use of the route is expected to expand, with its yearly volume of cargo traffic estimated to eventually hit 40 million metric tons, about 10 times the volume of 2012, according to a report released by the Russian International Affairs Council last year.

As the world eyes the Arctic, China is also actively expanding its presence in the area.

In May of last year, the country gained admission as an official observer state of the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum.

In December, China opened the China-Nordic Arctic Research Center in Shanghai to provide a platform for academic cooperation. The first meeting was held in Iceland in early June.

"We plan to establish a scholar-exchange mechanism to strengthen the academic communication," Zhang said.

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China's sixth Arctic expedition will set off from Shanghai on July 11 to study the North Pole and how changes in the region's climate are affecting the world.

Sixty-five scientists will take part in the 76-day expedition, including three from the United States and one each from Germany, Russia and France. It will be China's sixth trip to the region since 1999.

"Exploring the Arctic Ocean is vital to understanding the link between climate change in the Arctic and increasing extreme weather events in China," said Wang Yong, head of the division of science programs of the Chinese Arctic and Antarctic Administration.

As the planet and Arctic temperatures get increasingly warmer, scientists from around the globe are trying to unravel the Arctic's role in global climate change.

Many scientists agree that the summer melting of the Arctic ice has serious consequences for Earth's climate. Li Yuefeng, climate expert from the National Climate Center, said precipitation in China may be affected by the summer climate in the Arctic.

"Only when we collect more atmosphere and ocean data about the region can scientists further explore how the Arctic climate is affecting China," Wang said.

In addition to studying the region's impact on climate change, there has been a surge of interest in the Arctic because of its rich natural resources. The US Geological Survey has estimated that the Arctic contains up to 30 percent of the world's undiscovered gas deposits and 13 percent of its undiscovered oil resources. There also is the possibility of a shorter commercial sea route during the summer.

Russia and other countries with an Arctic coastline are laying claims to the region's seafloor, which is said to contain one-fourth of the world's mineral resources. The untapped riches become more accessible because of the summer ice melt.

"Like other countries, China is also interested in the resources and the Northern Sea Route," Wang said, referring to the shipping lane from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean along the Russian Arctic coast.

Wang added that the route can help Chinese shipping companies reduce their transit times between China and Europe.

Zhai Jiugang, deputy head of the Ministry of Transport's Maritime Safety Administration, said the route can save Chinese cargo ships 5,186 kilometers and nine days from the traditional voyage to Europe.

During the expedition, Chinese scientists will collect information on climate change, consider future uses of the Northern Sea Route and explore the region's resources, Wang said.

An ongoing research project backed by the US Department of Energy has predicted that the Arctic could lose its summer sea ice cover by as early as 2016, 84 years ahead of conventional models' projections.

"As a latecomer, China is accelerating its pace in exploring the Arctic," said Wang, who added that a new icebreaker will be built as part of the coming 13th Five Year Plan (2016-20) to enhance the country's polar expedition capacity.

"Once the ship is built, the Arctic expedition can be conducted every year," he said.

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A two-seat, emission-free, GPS-based navigable electric networked vehicle had its first field test and demonstration in North China's port city Tianjin recently.
Produced by General Motors, the vehicle is a second-generation concept EN-V that can be driven normally or operated autonomously. The trial, which will last two weeks from June 19, is taking place in the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city.

Designed for urban environments, EN-Vs combine sensing technology, wireless communication and GPS-based navigation — all designed to alleviate traffic congestion and help avoid traffic jams through autonomous operation, without a driver.

Power for the motors is provided by lithium-ion batteries and the vehicles can travel at least 40 kilometers on a single charge, while dynamic stabilization technology gives the EN-V the ability to carry two passengers and light cargo.

According to Liu Yang, an insider at the Tianjin Eco-city, the operation of EN-Vs will lead the way to advanced transportation systems and help achieve the goal of building an environmentally friendly space in the Tianjin Eco-city.

"We are working to continue the field testing program over the coming two years, with a total 20 EN-Vs," Liu said.

Designs for the first EN-V　were unveiled at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, while the second-generation plans were revealed at the Beijing Motor Show in 2012.

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China is speeding up the development of unmanned ground vehicles, which will play an important role in future battlefields and civilian sectors, according to a senior expert.

"The UGVs can be used in a wide range of military and civilian fields," said Meng Hong, deputy director of the China North Vehicle Research Institute of China North Industries Group. "In fact, they have been extensively deployed by foreign militaries to handle tasks in hazardous environments."

Since starting in the mid-1990s, China's UGV development has made remarkable strides, but it still lags behind the United States, Germany and Israel, which outdistance their competitors, according to Meng.

"It will take at least five years for China to catch up with these UGV powers when it comes to cutting-edge technologies and expertise in the field such as system integration, environmental perception and decision-making mechanisms," she added.

China North Industries Group, one of the nation's major defense technology and equipment contractors, founded the country's first research center for the development of unmanned ground vehicles. The center is under Meng's institute, which has been largely involved in the development of China's lunar rovers - one of them, Yutu, operated on the moon for several months this year.

The research center was founded to better serve the military, police and civilian users' demands on such vehicles, as well as those of foreign buyers, said Yang Zhuo, deputy general manager of China North Industries Group.

Meng said that the United States has invented a series of UGVs and tested them in wars. Typical of them are the Foster-Miller TALON remotely operated vehicle series, which has performed around 20,000 explosive ordnance disposal missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and PackBot, also a major aide to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. They enable military personnel to investigate suspicious objects and other dangerous scenarios from a safe distance.

"We have developed our own military UGVs, but we still need some time to industrialize them," she said. "They can be used to conduct anti-terrorist tasks, border patrol, and explosive ordnance detection and disposal."

For civilian users, the institute is researching specialized UGV for extinguishing fires, patrolling and maintaining power grids, and police operations.

Meng said several countries have expressed interest in Chinese UGVs and are in contact with her institute.

A number of institutes in China North Industries Group have helped in the development of photoelectric, laser and information processing systems. Meng's institute has collaborated with Tsinghua University, National University of Defense Technology and Nanjing University of Science and Technology in researching advanced technology, she noted.

Wang Ya'nan, a defense technology expert in Beijing, said unmanned platforms will become indispensable for combat in the future because they are able to conduct many missions that are beyond human capability and reduce casualties.

"The unmanned aerial vehicles are now being widely used in the military and civilian sectors, but UGVs are still far beyond civilian users because of their technical complexity."

Yang from China North Industries Group said the new center will cooperate with its counterparts from Russia, Germany and Finland to boost development, urging it to tap into domestic and international markets as soon as possible.

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