News on China's scientific and technological development.

BEIJING - A cloud computing industry alliance was set up Wednesday in Beijing to promote the development and innovation of information technology.

The alliance, China's first of its kind, was jointly established by Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Center for International Economic and Technological Cooperation under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The alliance aims to introduce advanced ideas, technologies and experience of cloud computing from overseas in order to boost the industry in China, said an alliance statement.

It will also boost domestic and international cooperation of cloud computing by integrating resources from government, enterprises, universities, research institutes and capital market, it said.

"Cloud computing marks the trend of the information industry," said Sun Jiaguang, president of the alliance and dean of Tsinghua University's School of Information Science and Technology.

Sun said cloud computing serves as "a nerve center between Internet of Things and the mobile Internet" and concerns the future of the economy.

The alliance strives to become an influential cross-sector, interdisciplinary social group to promote China's industrial upgrading and economic restructuring, he added.

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t2contra said:

Tin-based stanene could conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency

Stanene – 2D Tin to be the Next Super Material?


Released November 22, 2013
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According to a news release from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2-D tin could be the next super material. Researchers posit that 2-D tin could be the world’s first material to conduct electricity with 100 efficiency at the temperatures that computer chips work.

The new material is called “stanene.”

“Stanene could increase the speed and lower the power needs of future generations of computer chips, if our prediction is confirmed by experiments that are underway in several laboratories around the world,” noted team leader Shoucheng Zhang, a physics professor at Stanford and the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, in a statement.

For the last ten years, researchers have been computing and predicting the electronic features of a special class of materials called topological insulators, which conduct electricity only on their outsides edges or surface and not via their interiors. When this special class of materials is just one atom thick, its edges conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency.

“The magic of topological insulators is that by their very nature, they force electrons to move in defined lanes without any speed limit, like the German autobahn,” Zhang posited. “As long as they’re on the freeway – the edges or surfaces – the electrons will travel without resistance.”

The researchers previously predicted that mercury telluride and several combinations of bismuth, antimony, selenium and tellurium should be topological insulators. Though several experiments confirmed their prediction, none of those materials is a perfect conductor of electricity at room temperature.

“We knew we should be looking at elements in the lower-right portion of the periodic table,” said Yong Xu, who is now at Tsinghua University. “All previous topological insulators have involved the heavy and electron-rich elements located there.”

Their computations suggested that a single layer of tin would be a topological insulator at and above room temperature, and that adding fluorine atoms to the tin would bring its operating range to at least 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

According to Zhang, stanene wiring should notably lower the power appetite and heat generation of microprocessors.

“Eventually, we can imagine stanene being used for many more circuit structures, including replacing silicon in the hearts of transistors,” Zhang noted. “Someday we might even call this area Tin Valley rather than Silicon Valley.”

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Preux said:

I am failing to see how this is China's scientific and technological development. SLAC is in Menlo Park and 6000 miles from China.

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Earlier this year, visiting scientist Yong Xu, who is now at Tsinghua University in Beijing, collaborated with Zhang’s group to consider the properties of a single layer of pure tin.

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BEIJING - A leading information technology company on Wednesday unveiled China's first cloud computer, a major breakthrough for Chinese cloud computing.

The computer developed by the Unisplendour Corporation Limited of Tsinghua University, has a dynamically scalable function in computing power and storage capacity in accordance with customer requirements, according to a statement from the company.

The number of the computer's CPU can be expanded to 65,535 and its storage space can reach up to 85 PB bytes, with a throughput of 1.2 GB bytes per second, according to the statement.

It differs from personal computers and supercomputers in terms of distributed architecture and combines virtualization technology of cloud computing and computing resources with lower cost.

The computer's software consist of virtualization, big data and automatically-deployed modules, all with independent intellectual property rights, the statement said.

The computer's completely open nature allows high compatibility with various general hardware and industry application software, it added.

Cloud computing generally refers to services, including software and storage, accessed by users through the Internet.

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LHASA - Pondo Water Control Project, the largest water control project in Southwest China's Tibet autonomous region, started generating electricity on Tuesday.

Its first generating unit, with an annual electricity generation capacity of 150 million kilowatt hours, was put into operation at 11:50 am Tuesday, said Tang Quanyong, deputy head of the project administration bureau.

The other three generating units are expected to start operations in June 2014, said Tang.

The four generating units will be able to generate a total of 599 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually upon completion, which will relieve the tight power supply in the regional capital of Lhasa, he said.

The project will also improve Lhasa's irrigation and flood prevention capabilities, he said.

Dubbed "Tibet's Three Gorges Dam," the massive project's construction started in July 2009 with an investment of 4.57 billion yuan (748 million U.S. dollars). It is expected to be completed in 2016.

The project is located in Pondo Township of Lhunzhub County and sits more than 4,000 meters above sea level. The project is about 63 kilometers away from Lhasa.

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China is developing a manned submersible suitable for depths of 4,500 meters and the project is expected to be completed by 2016.

"The key parts of the submersible, including the vehicle's pressure hull made of titanium alloy and batteries, will be designed and manufactured by China independently," said Hu Zhen, a senior engineer with China Shipbuilding Industry Corp who is in charge of the program.

He said 90 percent of the submersible's components will be made in China, adding Chinese scientists have been studying the key technologies such as materials and batteries for nearly three years.

"We hope a mother ship will also be designed and manufactured for the new submersible to guarantee its future operations," Hu said.

As China's second manned submersible, he said the new one will be easier and more comfortable for the crew to operate with five windows for observing the ocean depths.

Although the submersible program was inaugurated by the Ministry of Science and Technology, no further details, such as the investment, were released so far.

Liu Feng, director of the National Deep Sea Center, said 4,500 meters is a good choice, because studies show most deep-sea mineral resources were about 4,000 meters below sea level.

Jiaolong, the first 7,000-meter manned submersible, made a record dive to a depth of 7,062 meters last year, marking China's capacity in exploring most of the country's sea floor.

"If you use a 7,000-meter submersible to conduct missions of depth below 5,000 meters, it is not cost-effective," Liu said, adding Jiaolong is just a start for the country's deep-sea manned submersible programs.

"We need manned submersibles with designed depths of 1,000, 3,000, 4,000, 7,000 meters and 11,000 meters to meet various demands," Liu said.

Liu added the National Deep Sea Center is drawing a deep-sea technology development plan to show the direction of the country's deep-sea equipment development and research, such as the series of manned submersibles, in the coming 10 to 20 years.

"Humans have a strong desire to explore the unknown, which makes 11,000-meter submersible possible in the coming future," Liu said.

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China is accelerating its efforts to tap vast metal deposits on the ocean floor, with manned submersible Jiaolong scheduled to dive in the country's two contract areas in the northwest Pacific and the southwest Indian Ocean next year.
"We will acquire geological data, conduct a mineral resource survey and assess biodiversity in these regions during the two missions, preparing for future exploration and mining," Liu Feng, director of the National Deep Sea Center, said in an exclusive interview.

He said Xiangyanghong 09, the mother ship of Jiaolong, will start a 40-day journey to the northwest Pacific in May and then to the southwest Indian Ocean in November for 40 or 50 days.

The China Ocean Mineral Resources Research and Development Association won exclusive rights to explore for cobalt crusts in the western Pacific in July and also a polymetallic sulphide contract in the southwest Indian Ocean in 2011.

Cobalt crusts are rich in iron and hydroxide deposits containing significant concentrations of cobalt, titanium, nickel, platinum, molybdenum, tellurium, cerium and other metals and rare earth elements.

Polymetallic sulphides contain base metals that include copper, lead and zinc, as well as gold and silver.

"As we promised in the contracts, we will conduct research and surveys there and report our analysis and observation data to the International Seabed Authority," Liu said.

Jiaolong dived in the northwest Pacific in September and recorded "great achievements" in deep-sea bio-diversity and deposit distribution, Liu said.

During the dives this year, scientists observed that large sea creatures live at different depths and areas, which means mining in deep-sea area will not cause large-scale extinction of species.

"The observation will help the International Seabed Authority in drawing up rules and regulations for future exploration and mining," Liu said, adding that China is not exploring deep-sea areas for itself, but for the world.

Wang Chunsheng, a professor at the Second Institute of Oceanography who attended the dive project in the Pacific, said clarifying the bio-environment will help protect bio-diversity in the ocean depths and assess the potential environmental impacts during future mining.

Zhou Huaiyang, a professor at Tongji University's School of Ocean and Earth Science, took Jiaolong on a dive in the South China Sea in June and said he never thought that deep-sea creatures were so active. He said he saw many for the first time in his life.

Liu said, "The dive project in the northwest Pacific next year will achieve a more comprehensive survey and research in the contract areas."

Although a latecomer to deep-sea exploration, China has achieved great success after the International Seabed Authority authorized its exploration of polymetallic nodules in the northeast Pacific in 2001.

China is authorized to explore the international seabed for three major types of minerals — polymetallic nodules, polymetallic sulphide deposits and cobalt crusts.

The National Deep Sea Center, home of Jiaolong, started port construction in early November. This is expected to be finished by the end of 2014. Investment reached about 500 million yuan ($81 million). "Deep-sea technologies and equipment are entering a booming age of development," Liu said.

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