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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION |
EU SARS Delegation Visits China
At the invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, a European Union SARS Delegation visited Beijing from June 13 to 16, 2003. During its stay, the Delegation visited the Ministry of Health, the China Diseases Prevention and Control Center, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, and the Beijing Kexin Biotech Corporation. They were given detailed information about China's latest developments in SARS-related studies on vaccination development, epidemiology, pathogeny, pathology, diagnosis, clinical treatment, and prevention and control. The Delegation also discussed with Chinese counterparts SARS study strategies and the major fields and projects related to EU SARS research with which China will be involved. The Chinese expert steam, headed by Chen Zhu, Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discussed with their EU counterparts information on SARS research and the possible cooperation between China and the EU on this subject.
During the talks and visits, Dr. Michel Pletschette of the EU Research Department thought highly of the preventive measures taken by the Chinese Government in fighting against SARS. He was deeply impressed with the massive research activities thus far conducted by the Chinese institutes and scientists. In addition to the shared cooperation on communicable disease control, experts of both sides reached the basic intention of cooperative studies in eight areas: a development platform for SARS vaccinations, a medicine development platform, an animal model, the pathogen and animal host, evaluation of the testing agents, clinical treatment, population epidemiology, and clinical epidemiology. Both sides agreed to establish a joint mechanism to apply for EU SARS studies. Both sides believe that their cooperation on SARS constitutes an opportunity for long-term cooperation between China and the EU in the fields of life sciences and public health. Also, both sides should emphasize such mid- and long-term cooperation, focusing on the common demands of both sides. Both sides will develop eight cooperative initiatives by taking advantage of the International Workshop on SARS to be held on July 10-11, 2003 and another workshop of similar nature to be held at the end of July or in early September in Brussels.
China-Germany SARS Workshop
At the invitation of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, experts of the German Research Confederation, or DFG, visited Beijing and attended the China-Germany Workshop on SARS held June 1-5, 2003. The participants discussed issues such as the molecular biology of viruses, the pathogenic mutation, nosogenesis, the channels for the spread of the pathogeny, immunity mechanisms, vaccination development, early diagnosis and treatment of the SARS disease, and its prevention.
To strengthen the cooperation between the two sides and to more effectively fight against SARS, all members of the German Delegation were top-level experts in virology, immunity, and epidemiology in Germany. All their Chinese counterparts were the most active and well-established scientists who have been working at the front line to combat SARS.
The German side stated that they had been deeply impressed by the Chinese scientists' original understanding of, and accomplishments in, the SARS virus genetic sequencing, pathogenesis analysis, and structural biology method, as well as their rich clinical diagnosing experience and their uniquely combined traditional and western medicine treatment approach. Both sides have deepened their mutual understanding through these academic exchanges and have agreed on intent for cooperation on 12 projects.
China Participates in International Carbon Collection
At the invitation of the Department of Energy, USA, ministerial officials from 13 nation, including China and the European Union, were present at the first meeting of the “Leaders Forum on Carbon Collection” held June 23-25, 2003 in Washington D.C. Mr. Yang Jiechi, Chinese Ambassador in Washington D.C., signed the Charter on Carbon Collection Leaders Forum on behalf of the Chinese Government. Aimed at promoting cooperation among relevant countries in the field of carbon collection technologies, the Charter outlined the objectives, terms of reference, and organizing procedures for the Forum.
At the ministerial round-table meeting of the Forum, Mr. Yang pointed out that climate change is one of the major issues facing human society and it deserves the common concern of the international community. Technological advancement and international cooperation have constituted the major channels for addressing issues such as greenhouse gas emission reduction and global warming alleviation. He also added that in view of the existing energy structures and energy technology development status in the world, the development of carbon collection technology might possibly become another approach to addressing the issues of global warming.
China-Germany Joint S&T Committee Meeting
The 17th session of the China-Germany Intergovernmental Joint S&T Committee meeting was held on June 24-25, 2003 in Bonn, Germany. Both China and Germany shared the view that their S&T cooperation regarding research topics related to the 2008 Olympic Games to be held in Beijing should be further strengthened. Other important issues, such as sustainable development, were also discussed.
Mr. Liu Yanhua, Chinese Minister of Science and Technology and head of the Chinese Delegation was present at the meeting and signed the summary report of the joint talks. Madame Edelgard Bulmahn, German Federal Minister of Education and Scientific Research met with Mr. Liu, her Chinese counterpart. They agreed that the S&T cooperation between the two countries has enjoyed an escalating and firm development. Recent years have witnessed solid advances in S&T cooperation between the two nations, both in terms of forms and fields. Both nations are moving toward steady development in the area of high technology. Both Mr. Liu and Madame Bulmahn are fully confident of future broad S&T cooperation.
Spatial SARS Statistics Model
On the basis of globally published case data involving confirmed SARS patients, the suspected SARS patients, and the resulting toll, a research team headed by Prof. Fang Zhaoben, expert on mathematics statistics at the University of Science and Technology of China, has established an epidemic diseases related spatial statistics model. In accordance with statistical studies on spatial epidemics, the research team predicts that the number of hospitalized SARS patients in the Beijing area may go down to 60 or fewer around July 10, 2003.
To better cope with the changes of the SARS viruses, the research team made the prediction by following the technical lines of spatial statistics and random process, time sequence analysis, and statistical data consolidation. The daily epidemic reports issued by both the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health of China have constituted the basic data support for their research. According to the data collected and consolidated before June 3, 2003, the team predicted that the hospitalized SARS patients in Beijing in mid and late June would be 900 in number. The actual number of hospitalized SARS patients in Beijing turned out to be 894 persons, basically in line with the predicted number.
The research team has also achieved other important progress such as the establishment of the Non-homogeneous Spatial Poisson Process model for SARS epidemics in northern China based on gathered SARS epidemic data from northern China, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Shanxi, as published between April 28 and May 28, 2003. The model has been finely tuned to be closer to the actual situation by taking into account the random elements such as possible extensive infectors. It also worked out the SARS spread control model based on the strict measures taken to cut off the spread channels in the Beijing area and has also proposed the relevant infection intensity functions and SARS congregation parameters. These basically are in accord with the facts. Applied with the Botzeman non-linear curve method, the team predicted that the death rate of SARS patients in Hong Kong would be 16.74%, Singapore 16.26%, the Mainland China 6.84%, and with a global average 9.504%.
A New Type of Robot-the SARS Fighter
The Institute of Automation attached to the Chinese Academy of Sciences recently made the debut of its advanced proprietary intelligent robot, which is expected to fulfill partial missions of doctors in SARS wards.
Unlike most of the domestic robots now available in the country, the new robot system is designed with multi-axis controlled server driven units for perception arithmetic, perception system and non-perception sensors. Named “Aimu,” the key technical elements possessed by the robot all come from the proprietary technologies of the research team that are converted from the findings under the National 863 Program. Thanks to the new structure and integrated design, the robot enjoys a greatly reduced weight and power consumption. This has effectively raised its performance level and payload to a maximum 30 kilos for goods transportation.
With a height of a half-meter and the consecutive working duration of 3 hours at full charge, the robot has a very flexible body and two deft “hands.” It is able to perform a fast walk at a speed of two meters per second. Possessing a video camera and a wireless image transmitting system, its head can send images showing the robot 's working environment to the operators for their monitoring.
The remotely controlled robot will be primarily used to carry goods in various dangerous environments, handle wastes in contaminated environments, or serve as security guards during the night for reporting abnormalities to monitoring offices.
Super Computer for Oil Prospecting
Dongfang Geophysical Prospecting Co. Ltd., a part of the China Petroleum Group, has recently inked a formal agreement with the Shuguang Corporation. According to the agreement, Dongfang will acquire the Dawning 4000L supercomputer manufactured by Shuguang and will use it in oil prospecting activities. The Dawning 4000L, able to present an amazing computation speed of 4.2 trillion times per second, is currently the largest of its kind in the nation.
It is reported that the supercomputer system acquired by Dongfang has 386 nodes and 772 CPUs, which have made it the largest and fastest computer in the nation. It has an extremely powerful processing capacity. The new system will be applied in processing the 3-D folding depth variations of seismological data.
Nicknamed the “oil-prospecting pioneer,” Dongfang is the largest seismological data processing center in the country. It is also an international engineering center for oil-gas prospecting-related computer software. Before the acquisition, the processing center attached to the company possessed a computation capacity of 574.4 billion times/second. The application of the new Dawning computer system will upgrade the data processing capacity of the Center to an unprecedented new status.
Stubble-Based Rice Growing
Thanks to their one-decade long concerted efforts, the researchers of the Yangzhou Municipal Institute of Agriculture and the Agriculture School of Yangzhou University have finally developed a process of growing rice among wheat stubble. This gives a package solution to the four major difficult problems in farming: stalk burning, soil erosion, land fertility degradation, and the slow increase of farmers' income. The process should produce fine economic returns, ecological benefits, and social benefits.
The technique of growing rice among wheat stubble is a process in which the processed rice seeds are directly sown over the wheat field at the mid or late stage of wheat grouting. Through this method, rice seedlings can share a limited growth period with wheat. When it is to harvest the wheat, people will leave the wheat stubble at a height of 30cm. The remaining unwanted stalks are scattered or buried in the furrows. The wheat stubble and stalks will naturally decompose in the soil during the rice growth stage. This helps to realize the paddy rice growing system without ploughing, soil preparation, seedling culture, and transplanting.
The new growing process has shown three different stages for rice growth: slow rice seedling growth in the early stage with yellow and thin appearance; explosive growth in the mid phase, that replaces the transplanted seedlings; and strong stalk and well developed rice in the late stage. This agrees with the typical growth patterns of high yield and super high yield rice. The process has numerous merits, such as full and even seedling growth, natural stalk decomposition in fields, weed suppression, efficient water and fertilizer applications, and pest and disease resistance. Governmental agencies, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Environmental Protection Agency, have listed the new growing process as a backup project under their respective initiatives, including the Harvest Program, the Torch Program and the priority environmental protection technology project for nationwide diffusion.
Two SARS-Related Marine Projects
The Institute of Oceanography, a part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently kicked off two SARS-related projects: “sorting out the virus-resistant indicating elements in marine animals and plants” and “screening out marine living creatures resistant to corona viruses.” These two projects will primarily work on selection, for specific purposes, 100 study objects from marine animals and plants, collection of raw extracts through a solution extraction process, distilling components through solution distribution, screening out elements of strongly resistant viruses, immunity enhancement based on extraction and grouping, and determining specific screening involving animal corona viruses, herpes viruses, and flu viruses.
Based on its current SARS study, the Institute will soon start the study, collection, consolidation, and screening of the viruses' resistant activity of marine living creatures. The Institute is expecting to categorize the marine biological resources of the viruses' resistance and immunity enhancement, and elements or components of with the same effects. The projects will strive to determine at least one or two indicating compounds with strong SARS resistance activity.
622 New Insects Discovered
During their 7-year long investigations and studies, the Henan Entomological Expedition Team, made up of more than 80 entomologists, has discovered 622 new insect species that have never before been described.
Henan Province is physically located in the transitional belt between the north and south in terms of its climate and biological distribution of rich species resources. For many reasons, the Province had almost nothing recorded for its entomological background when the People's Republic of China was founded. In the 1990s, scientists in the province had only recorded 3800 insect species. To achieve an improved understanding of insect species in the province, the Henan Entomology Society, co-sponsoring with other institutions, created an expedition for extensive investigation and research concerning the entomological resources in the province. The expedition attracted the participation of more than 80 entomologists from the State Forestry Administration, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Forestry, and 17 other provinces and municipalities, along with 3 foreign scholars from Japan, Denmark and Slovenia.
In the course of the 7-year investigation, experts have traveled more than 20,000 kilometers and collected 230,000 insect specimens. This has brought the total number of insect varieties in the province from 3850 to 7387, ranking the province first in the nation. The expedition resulted in the identification of 4355 insect species and the discovery of 622 new entomological varieties.
Comments or inquiries on editorial matters or Newsletter content should be directed to:Mr. Cheng Jiayi, Department of International Cooperation, MOST 15B, Fuxing Road Beijing 100862, PR China Tel: (8610)68512650 Fax: (8610) 68512594
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