News on China's scientific and technological development.

CPT showcases sunlight readable color display



CPT showcases sunlight readable color display
Posted on Friday, November 5th, 2010, 9:49 am by Brad Linder


CPT Colorful Sunlight Readable display

CPT is showing off a new display technology in Taiwan that will let you view a full color display in direct sunlight. Oh yeah, it’s also described as a low power display, although CPT isn’t giving a lot of specifics. Netbook News reports that the new CPT screens should use about half the power of a typical display, but there’s no word on what the company counts as “typical.”

By comparison, the Pixel Qi transflective display (and a similar solution from CPT), uses just about 0.5 Watts of power with the backlight turned off… or about 2.5 watts with the backlight on.

It sounds like this new CPT solution will likely use more power than that, but the difference is that when you cut the backlight on a transflective screen, the display effectively switches from color to black and white. That’s not the case with the new SunLight Viewable technology.

You can check out a demo video after the break. Unfortunately Netbook News encountered the screen at a trade show, so the video was shot indoors. I’m looking forward to seeing how this display looks in real sunlight.


[To see a hi-res video, make sure to select 720p in the bottom right-hand corner.]



CPT transflective display could give Pixel Qi a run for its money
Posted on Wednesday, June 9th, 2010, 9:10 am by Brad Linder


CPT transflective display

Pixel Qi has gotten a lot of attention lately for its display which combines some of the best elements of a E Ink and full color displays. Indoors, you can use the screen in full color mode and you’d have a hard time telling it apart from any other display. Outdoors, you can shut off the backlight, reduce the screen’s power consumption by about 500 percent, and easily see the screen in direct sunlight.

But Pixel Qi isn’t the only company working on this sort of technology. Netbook News spotted a transflective display from CPT that promises similar functionality. The company is demonstrating a 10.1 inch, 1366 x 768 pixel display with wide viewing angles that works with the backlight off.

The CPT screen doesn’t seem to be quite as energy efficient as Pixel Qi’s solution. Instead of drawing 5 times less power with the backlight off, it cuts energy consumption by 50 percent. That ain’t bad, but it could certainly be better.

Nicole Scott from Netbook News suggests that text doesn’t look quite as sharp with the backlight off.

Transflective displays aren’t entirely new. If I remember correctly, a number of early Windows Mobile and Palm PDAs used similar technology nearly 10 years ago. But it should be interesting to see how CPT’s solution scales to netbooks or tablets.

You can check out Nicole’s hands-on video after the break.


[To see a hi-res video, make sure to select 720p in the bottom right-hand corner.]



"Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd. (CPT) was established in 1971. In order to satisfy people’s need of visual desire, CPT is enthusiastically devoted to the development of the new display technologies and has fabricated various products which have amazing quality.

Based on strong and concrete core foundation in display technologies for many years, CPT has been very successful in the industry. Coupled with the superior technologies of wide viewing angle performance, faster response time for moving picture, and high color saturation, etc., CPT continuously develops new products, aggressively raises the quality of products as well as services. With the corporate philosophy of “CREATION, PERFECTION and TEAMWORK”, CPT is dedicated to offer full-sized product line and position itself as a leader for visual telecommunication products and the all-around innovator for optronic technology."

ZTE awarded "2010 IPTV Equipment Vendor of the Year" accolade

IPTV is an acronym for Internet Protocol TeleVision.


ZTE IPTV technology


The end-to-end IPTV solution provided by ZTE consists of the Head End, Content Delivery Network (CDN), Middleware, Conditional Access/Digital Rights Management (CA/DRM) System, Set-Top Box (STB), and Network Management System (NMS), as shown in Figure 1.


IPTV is a fast-growing worldwide market. [Disclosure: My mother is one of the subscribers on the IPTV chart. She watches KyLin IPTV (e.g. 40 channels of Mandarin television programs) in the U.S.]



"ZTE awarded "2010 IPTV Equipment Vendor of the Year" accolade
2010-09-29

29 September 2010, Shenzhen –ZTE Corporation, (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, has been recognized as the "Best Practice Award-2010 IPTV Equipment Vendor of the year", marking the second time it has received the accolade. It received the award based on research conducted by leading consulting company, Frost & Sullivan.

Among IPTV vendors, ZTE ranked third in the world IPTV middleware market in terms of subscribers in 2010 H1, and was the leader in the IPTV middleware markets of Asia and China in 2010 H1.

With the development of the global broadband market, IPTV content and application has become more important. As one of the latest broadband applications, IPTV has attracted industry attention.

As Europe, Asia and North America begin to experiment and play TV programs through the IP transmission network, market growth in IPTV is likely to accelerate. The number of global IPTV subscribers is likely to increase to 62.1 million by the end of 2010, and is tipped to reach 267.9 million in 2014. The global IPTV market revenue is likely to grow to US$17.5 billion until 2010 and is forecast to increase to US$46.5 billion in 2014.

According to the research, by 2014 most of the new subscribers are expected to come from emerging markets, with China, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Thailand and Philippines tipped to account for 62.0 percent of additional subscribers between 2009 and 2014.

ZTE has great influence in some regional markets, such as Asia, South America and the Middle East. In the Asian IPTV middleware market in 2010 H1, ZTE was ranked No. 1 in terms of its financial position, investment level, and business prospects. In the China IPTV middleware market 2010 H1, ZTE was also ranked No. 1 by achieving the leading edge based on its long-term R&D effort and market performance.

On the basis of large-scale IPTV deployment with China Telecom, ZTE has cooperated with many other operators, such as VNPT, the largest operator in Vietnam; Telkom Indonesia, the largest operator in Indonesia; and CANTV, Venezuela's biggest operator.

"We are honored to win 'Best Practice Award-2010 IPTV Equipment Vendor of the year' again, We believe it is a significant milestone for ZTE's sustainable developments and a clear endorsement of our IPTV solutions by the industry." said Mr. Yu Yifang, Vice President of ZTE, general manager of service product line. "ZTE has been engaged in R&D and the industrial promotion of IPTV. ZTE has built the world's largest H.264 IPTV network and had 2.52 million subscribers as of June 2010."

ZTE also actively promotes IPTV application around the world. By the end of June 2010, ZTE's IPTV products have been sold to major IPTV markets in Asia, the Americas and Europe, with over 5 million users. The 2005–2010 compound growth rate of ZTE's IPTV products reached 60.0 percent, making ZTE the fastest growing mainstream IPTV system provider."

Chang'e II's high-resolution and three-dimensional Moon pictures



China publishes pictures of moon's Sinus Iridum sent back by Chang'e-2
13:08, November 08, 2010


This photo released on Nov. 8, 2010 shows a part of the moon's Sinus Iridum, which was transmitted by Chang'e-2 (i.e. China's second unmanned lunar probe). On Monday, Chinese State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence published pictures of the moon's Sinus Iridum that were sent back by Chang'e-2. (Xinhua)


This photo released on Nov. 8, 2010 shows the three-dimensional map of a part of the moon's Sinus Iridum, which was transmitted by Chang'e-2. (Xinhua)


This photo released on Nov. 8, 2010 shows a large part of the moon's Sinus Iridum in shadows, which was transmitted by Chang'e-2. (Xinhua)

(Note: The spatial resolution is 1.3 meters.)

NCKU SMART Team Achieved Breakthrough in Precision Gene Surgery


NCKU Banyan tree



"NCKU team makes ‘nano scissors’ breakthrough

* Publication Date：11/08/2010
* Source： Taiwan Today

A National Cheng Kung University research team has succeeded in using the world’s first “artificial targeting light activated nano scissors,” which it developed, and a custom-made photon device to carry out precision gene surgery that could be applied to cancer therapy in the future.

The team, lead by Shieh Dar-bin, head of the NCKU Medical College’s Institute of Oral Medicine, made the announcement Nov. 5.

Shieh said the team used ATLANS, currently in the clinical trial stage, to successfully switch off three types of drug resistance genes in cultivated cancer cells in laboratory mice.

According to Shieh, under the intracellular gene manipulation method, targeted genes are located, and then precise double-strand cuts are performed on the desired DNA sequences with the molecular-scale scissors.

The process, Shieh explained, is controlled by specific photon energy.

The research findings were published in the September issue of Biomaterials, the leading international journal in the field of biomedical devices. The team is working on patent applications.

Su Wu-chou, director of NCKU Hospital’s Clinical Trial Center, noted that all cancers stem from changes caused by genes. He said practical application of the new ATLANS method to cancer treatment would focus on late stage cancer patients. More work is needed in order to apply the new technology to early stage patients, he added. (SB)"


NCKU campus



"NCKU SMART Team Achieved Breakthrough in Precision Gene Surgery through Photonic Manipulation of ATLANS
November 05, 2010 04:45 AM Eastern Time

TAINAN, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A cross-disciplinary Small Medicine and Advanced Research Translation (SMART) team led by Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh of Institute of Oral Medicine in Medical College at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Tainan, Taiwan, has announced a breakthrough in the precision in-cell gene scission at pre-designed sequence sites using Artificial Targeting Light Activated Nano Scissors (ATLANS) and a custom build photonic device.

The research achievement is supported under National Nano Science and Technology Program funded by National Science Council (NSC), Taiwan. This innovative discovery is recently accepted by internationally renowned journal Biomaterials and is currently under patent application.

The nano-enabled novel technology recognize, capture and perform double strand cutting of the desired DNA sequence like restriction endonuclease did but it is completely artificially synthesized and controlled by specific photon energy. In addition, the team successfully shut down target drug resistant gene STAT3 in cancer cell using ATLANS and created a new inspiration toward future cancer gene therapy.

NCKU President Michael Ming-Chiao Lai expressed in the press conference of the ATLANS, “There are many technical difficulties of making modifications to cell genes and treating various diseases. In the past, even though we can enter cells to destroy genes with virus or drugs, we cannot control the genes properly. The ATLANS developed by the research team led by Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh is an innovative method which can target specific genes in the cells and make modifications, thus it is a very significant breakthrough of the clinical research technology.”

Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh pointed out, “Many human diseases such as cancer or genetic diseases are caused by gene mutations. Cancer cell and infectious pathogen may develop drug resistance through activation of certain genes. Therefore, one of the major values of the Artificial Targeting Light Activated Nano Scissor is its ability to identify the target genes in the nucleus and optically-control the precise genetic cutting to block its pathogenic functions, thus reaching treatment effect.”

Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh explained, “The ATLANS is an innovative method and it is also the first time this method is applied for in-cell gene manipulation. This technology uses nanoparticles as a quencher to protect the cutter from non-specific activation at wrong sequence sites and also protect the entire TFO layer from being disrupted by the body before reaching the final destination. Once the genetic targets are locked on, the ATLANS will be activated as the proximity of the photo-cutter is no longer restricted by the particle surface plasma. This precision molecular dynamic control is required during the execution of gene cutting in the atomic level accuracy like a molecular ‘Nano Scissors.’”

With the Nano Scissors technology, Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh’s research team further developed a GeneErasor optical system, which functions to “erase” specific target gene in the culture cell. The gene eraser is anticipated to test-run early next year. The GeneErasor system is currently of blue-ray band. The team has successfully tested a second-generation system in test tube for near-infrared laser-scan activation that performs better tissue penetration for diseases in deep organ system.

Cross-disciplinary medical research has become a global trend. The innovations of the SMART research team led by Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh has set an excellent model of trans-disciplinary and cross-university clinical-oriented research integration and demonstrated advanced niches for medical innovations, integrating the knowledge and experience of organic chemistry, optoelectronic, nano-synthesis, biochemistry, molecular biology and genomic medicine scholars and experts and creating great achievements under the long-term support of Taiwan National Science and Technology Program for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, National Science Council, Taiwan.

Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh believed, “The success of the research achievement is due to the joint effort of the team. National Cheng Kung University has provided an excellent environment, allowing professors with different disciplines from College of Medicine, Center of Excellent for Clinical Trials and Research in Oncology Specialty, College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering, and College of Science to form a research team, find effective solutions to clinical issues and benefit future patients through the combination of medicine and clinic. The University is proposing a new concept to foster clinical and industrial translation of fundamental discovery and engineering power through a partnership network, the Center for Biomedical Excellent and Synergy in Taiwan (The BEST Center).”

Director Wu-Chou Su of Center of Excellent for Clinical Trials and Research in Oncology Specialty is an outstanding clinical oncologist. He stated, “All cancer diseases arise from genetic mutations. The Artificial Targeting Light Activated Nano Scissor applied on cancer treatment initially focuses on late stage. We still need to put in more efforts to package ATLANS for effective tumor-targeting when entering human body. The ATLANS based therapy to modify tumor sensitivity to anti-cancer drugs and improve early disease intervention is still a challenging yet to be confronted.”

The members of the nanomedical research team led by Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh of Institute of Oral Medicine in NCKU Medical College include Director Wu-Chou Su of NCKU Center of Excellent for Clinical Trials and Research in Oncology Specialty; Dean Yonghua Tommy Tzeng of College of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Distinguished Professor Chen-Sheng Yeh of Chemical Department; and Professor Jih Ru Hwu of National Tsing Hua University Chemistry Department who synthesized the photocleaver compound. The doctoral student Tsung-Lin Tsai of NCKU Basic Medical Science Institute and the master student Tsung-Ju Li of NCKU Institute of Oral Medicine have put in significant efforts in this work.

Through the cooperation with Dr. Wah Chiu, the Director of National Center for Macromolecular Imaging at Baylor University in United States, the team has preliminarily analyzed the ultrastructure of ATLANS and begun the development of ATALANS-2 and also the advanced nonlinear optical system GeneErasor-3D, hoping to achieve major breakthroughs in the future."

15 story hotel built in 6 days.

I saw a lot of Pride hurt people bashing the building on the intertubes. By the way, if I ever get to buy my own house I would like all the materials they used to be used in construction for my home.

US loses status as a 'colossus of science' (or China is a science titan)



"US loses status as a 'colossus of science'
Nov 12, 2010


The NSF provides the bulk of US funding for physics.

The US is no longer a "colossus of science" according to a new report looking into the country’s scientific output. Written by information-services provider Thomson Reuters, it says that although the US still holds a "commanding" lead in terms of its research impact, its forerunner status is being eroded. The report blames this on a rapid rise in scientific publishing from countries in Asia and Europe.

The report, released yesterday, notes that the Asia-Pacific region has now overtaken the US in terms of published papers and spending on research. In 2008 the US invested $384bn while Asian countries invested $387bn in total, and while researchers in the US published around 310,000 papers in 2009, over 330,000 were published by scientists in the Asia-Pacific region.

In the physical sciences, the report notes that investment in physics and engineering in the US has "taken a back seat" compared to the biological science at a time when countries in Asia are increasing their spending on research in the physical sciences. "In physics, the trend for the US in terms of world share is distinctly downward," says the report.

Materials decline

The report also warns that while some counties, such as the UK, have maintained their share of the world’s scientific output while faced with growing global competition that fraction in the US has fallen. Indeed, the report highlights research into materials science as one particular area of decline. In 1994 the US published nearly a third of all papers in materials research but this has now reduced to 15%, while China now publishes 23% of papers, and the 27 nations that make up the European Union (EU) publish around 30%.

"Considering the recent rapid acceleration of physics output in China the data in the report is no surprise," says Werner Marx, an information scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany. "Europe is already beginning to match the US’s performance in terms of citation impact and the question now is how rapidly countries in Asia will catch up".

However, it is not all gloomy news. The report says that the current state of scientific research in the US remains strong, with "excellent academic institutions that are a magnet for the best minds worldwide" and that the US provides "significant" funding in research and development, which stood at 2.8% of Gross Domestic Product in 2009.

The Thomson Reuters report into the impact of US research comes days after the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization released its Science Report 2010. The report, which is published every five years, says that China is now "a hair's breadth" away from having more researchers than the US and the EU and that it now publishes more scientific articles than Japan.

About the author

Michael Banks is news editor of Physics World"

Taiwan soon to have largest IC wafer capacity of any country



"Taiwan soon to have largest IC wafer capacity of any country
2010/11/12 20:52:24



Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) Taiwan is expected to replace Japan in 2011 as the country with the world's biggest IC wafer capacity, following aggressive moves to expand manufacturing capacity in the industry, IC Insights said Friday.

The semiconductor market researcher said in a report that as of mid-2010, Taiwan's monthly production capacity had hit 2.66 million 8-inch equivalent wafers, compared with Japan's 2.71 million units.

"As of mid-2010, there was virtually no gap between fab capacity levels in Taiwan and Japan," IC Insights wrote.

As recently as 2006, Japan's capacity was 25 percent greater than Taiwan's, according to the market researcher.

Looking ahead, Taiwan's monthly wafer capacity is expected to grow to 3 million 8-inch equivalent units to top Japan's estimated 2.78 million units in 2011, and the gap should widen further by 2015.

By that time, IC Insights said, Taiwan should have a monthly capacity of 4.08 million 8-inch equivalent units, or a 25 percent global share, compared with Japan's 3.10 million units, representing 18 percent of the world's total.

IC Insights said that over the past two decades, Taiwan, which is home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) , has transformed itself into a primary source of advanced chip manufacturing services.

Both have moved to increase their capacity this year. TSMC raised its 2010 capital expenditure to US$5.9 billion from the previous US$4.8 billion in the second quarter, while UMC's spending was raised to US$1.8 billion, from US$1.2 billion to US$1.5 billion.

TSMC and UMC are the world's top two contract chip makers.

"When it comes to IC fabrication, Taiwan is no longer considered merely a second source for capacity. It is now the only source of fab capacity for many companies," the report said.

(By Jackson Chang and Frances Huang)"

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese supercomputer was ranked the world's fastest machine in the TOP500 list issued Sunday by U.S. and European researchers. The following are highlights of the list:

The Chinese Tianhe-1A system is the new No. 1 on the TOP500 and clearly in the lead with 2.57 petaflop/s performance.

The Jaguar system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory slipped to the No. 2 spot with 1.75 petaflop/s Linpack performance.

No. 3 is also a Chinese system called Nebulae, built from a Dawning TC3600 Blade system with Intel X5650 processors and NVIDIA Tesla C2050 GPUs.

There are seven petaflop/s systems in the TOP10.

The U.S. tops in petaflop/s with three systems performing at the petaflop/s level.

The two Chinese systems and the new Japanese Tsubame 2.0 system at No. 4 are all using NVIDIA GPUs to accelerate computation and a total of 28 systems on the list are using GPU technology.

China keeps increasing its number of systems to 41 and is now clearly the No. 2 country, as a user of high performance computing, ahead of Japan, France, Germany, and UK.

The most powerful system in Europe is a Bull system at the French Atomic and Alternative Energies Commission at No. 6.

Intel dominates the high-end processor market, with 79.6 percent of all systems and over 90 percent of quad-core based systems.

Intel's Westmere processors increased their presence in the list with 56 systems, compared with seven in the last list.

Quad-core processors are used in 73 percent of the systems, while 19 percent of the systems use processors with six or more cores.

Seagull 300 succeeds in maiden flight


A Seagull 300 multi-functional light amphibious plane is seen during its test flight in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei Province, on Nov. 10, 2010. The Seagull 300 plane, which is developed and manufactured by Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), succeeded in its first test flight on Wednesday. The four- or six-seat plane is designed for a variety of landing surfaces, such as water, grass, asphalt, and concrete. (Xinhua/Wang Min)



"Seagull 300 succeeds in maiden flight
16:33, November 11, 2010


The Seagull 300 lands on the runway on Nov. 11, 2010.

China's Seagull 300 light multi-functional amphibious plane made a successful maiden flight in Shijiazhuang, capital city of north China’s Hebei Province on Nov. 11, 2010.

The Seagull 300, the first of its kind in China to have independent intellectual property rights, is developed by Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

It required only 12 months to finish the work from design to maiden flight, setting a new record in China. The success of the maiden flight means the project will switch to testing for flight navigability.

By People's Daily Online"