China Science & Technology Forum

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兰州大学研究动态可控隐形衣：装甲车眼中变牛车_军事频道_凤凰网
（Detailed report in Chinese）

Experiments on Active Cloaking and Illusion for Laplace Equation


Qian Ma, Zhong Lei Mei*, Shou Kui Zhu, and Tian Yu Jin
School of Information Science and Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, People’s Republic of China

Tie Jun Cui†
Department of Radio Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, People’s Republic of China

Received 18 June 2013; revised 17 August 2013; published 22 October 2013

In recent years, invisibility cloaks have received a lot of attention and interest. These devices are generally classified into two types: passive and active. The design and realization of passive cloaks have been intensively studied using transformation optics and plasmonic approaches. However, active cloaks are still limited to theory and numerical simulations. Here, we present the first experiment on active cloaking and propose an active illusion for the Laplace equation. We make use of a resistor network to simulate a conducting medium. Then, we surround the central region with controlled sources to protect it from outside detection. We show that by dynamically changing the controlled sources, the protected region can be cloaked or disguised as different objects (illusion). Our measurement results agree very well with numerical simulations. Compared with the passive counterparts, the active cloaking and illusion devices do not need complicated metamaterials. They are flexible, in-line controllable, and adaptable to the environment. In addition to dc electricity, the proposed method can also be used for thermodynamics and other problems governed by the Laplace equation.

Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 173901 (2013): Experiments on Active Cloaking and Illusion for Laplace Equation

 

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Liquid Body Armour（TBS）：

今日热点视频汇总

 

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The Yaogan XIX remote-sensing satellite is launched on the back of a Long March 4C carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, Nov. 20, 2013. Successfully launched on Wednesday, the satellite will be used to conduct scientific experiments, carry out land surveys, monitor crop yields and aid in preventing and reducing natural disasters. The launch marked the 184th mission for the Long March rocket family. [Xinhua]

 

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The weather men:

credit: sina

 

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Tsinghua University identifies new tumor marker
11-17-2013 21:56 BJT

Tsinghua University identifies new tumor marker CCTV News - CNTV English

click the above link to watch the video reporting

Professor 罗永章 Luo Yongzhang of the School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University introduced the discovery during the press conference ( see the Tsinghua Univeristy link below)

Illustration of the structure of heat shock protein 90α (HSP-90α)
credit: cusabio.cn

Credit: Lung Cancer Answers | Lung Cancer
Scientists at China’s Tsinghua University have announced they have identified a protein that shows the presence of cancer, making it easier for doctors to make a diagnosis.

Researchers at Tsinghua University show that the protein, "H-S-P 90 alpha" is five times more prevalent in people with cancer than healthy people. The scientists discovered the elevated levels of the protein in lung cancer tumors and are continuing their research to determine if it can used as a marker to identify liver and stomach cancers.

Prior to the discovery, there were 31 tumor markers, all of which were discovered and identified by scientists in other countries.

Link to other reports:
Tsinghua University link:
罗永章研究组在国际上首次证明热休克蛋白90α为肿瘤标志物，自主研发定量检测产品已获准上市

Xinhua News link:
清华大学在国际上首次证明热休克蛋白90α为肿瘤标志物 自主研发定量检测产品已获准上市 - 新华健康 - 新华网





On another front:


Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 6 suppresses the migration and invasive growth of lung cancer cells through p53 and the inhibition of epithelial-mesenchymal transition

http://www.jbc.org/content/early/2013/09/10/jbc.M113.480285.abstract

Authors and affiliations:

• Xin-Wang Yuan, Dong-Mei Wang, Ying Hu, Yun-Neng Tang, Wei-Wei Shi, Xiao-Jie Guo and Jian-Guo Song

Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, CAS, China

Capsule
Background: The role of HNF6 in lung cancer growth and progression remains to be characterized.

Results: HNF6 upregulates p53 and inhibits EMT, cell migration and invasive growth in lung cancer cells.

Conclusion: HNF6 suppresses EMT and invasive growth of lung adenocarcinoma cells through p53.

Significance: HNF6 is potentially a molecular marker and target for diagnostic and therapeutic purpose for lung adenocarcinoma cancers.

Abstract
Epithelial-mesenchymal transition plays an important role in many patho-physiological processes, including cancer invasion and metastatic progression. Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 6 (HNF6) has been known to be an important factor for both physiological and pathological functions in liver and pancreas. However, its role in EMT and lung cancer progression remains unidentified. We observed that HNF6 level can be downregulated by TGF-β1 in human lung cancer cells. Knockdown of HNF6 induced EMT and increased cell migration. In contrast, ectopically expression of HNF6 inhibited cell migration and attenuated TGF-β1-induced EMT.
The data suggest that HNF6 plays a role in maintaining epithelial phenotype, which suppresses EMT. HNF6 also inhibits both colony formation and proliferation of lung cancer cells. It pronouncedly reduced the formation of tumor xenograft in nude mice. In addition, HNF6 can activate the promoter activity of p53 by directly binding to a specific region of its promoter, and therefore increase the protein level of tumor suppressor p53. p53 knockdown induced EMT and increased cell migration, whereas the opposite effect was generated by p53 overexpression. p53 knockdown also inhibited the effect of HNF6 on EMT and cell migration, indicating that p53 is required for HNF6's functions herein.
Moreover, there is a high positive correlation among the expression levels of HNF6, p53, and E-cadherin in human lung cancer cells and tissues. The data suggest that HNF6 inhibits EMT, cell migration, and invasive growth through a mechanism involving the transcriptional activation of p53.

 

[Fsjal]

More on invisible cloak by Chinese young scientists like this:

Link:
http://jgospel.net/news/tech/%E6%B5%99%E5%A4%A780%E5%BE%8C%E5%AD%B8%E7%94%9F%E7%99%BC%E6%98%8E%E9%9A%B1%E8%BA%AB%E8%A1%A3-%E5%A4%96%E5%BD%A2%E5%A6%82%E6%B5%B4%E5%B7%BE-%E5%9C%96._gc79258.aspx

Chinese_Stealth_Suit.jpg



When I started playing this game called Fallout 3, there was this suit called Chinese stealth armor. I was impressed and always wanted to know if such suits exist. Looks like it is.

 

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Science talent program eyes Nobel Prize

Global Times | 2013-10-31 1:23:01

By Yang Jingjie

China has unveiled the first group of talents selected for an ambitious program, which aims to financially support Chinese scientists' bids for the Nobel Prize, while boosting innovation and development in both natural and social sciences.

The National Special Support Program for High-level Talents, also dubbed the "Ten Thousand Talents Program," was launched in 2012, and aims to support 10,000 people in the fields of natural sciences, engineering, philosophy, social sciences and higher education over the next decade.

It is similar to the "Thousand Talents Program" launched in 2008, which recruits top overseas scientists and professionals to China.

The "Ten Thousand Talents Program" will have three tiers, including 100 "outstanding talents" who have the potential to become world-class scientists and win the Nobel Prize, 8,000 "leading talents" in various fields and 2,000 "young talents" who are under 35.

According to the People's Daily, the first batch selected for the program includes six "outstanding talents," 72 "leading talents" for scientific and technological innovation and 199 "young talents."

Despite the huge economic leap, Chinese nationals have yet to reap a Nobel Prize for natural sciences, which has triggered debate and reflection for years.

Asked about his thoughts on when Chinese scientists will win their first Nobel Prize, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang told a press conference in mid-October that there is still a lack of investment in basic research, despite the government's recent increase in such investment.

But he struck an optimistic note, saying, "we have the conditions [to win a Nobel Prize]," and "some day the Chinese will reach the world's peak."

Among the first batch of "outstanding talents" in the program, Xue Qikun, a physicist at Tsinghua University, and his team reported the first experimental observation of the quantum anomalous Hall effect.

The finding was acclaimed as "of Nobel class" by Chinese American Nobel Laureate of Physics Chen Ning Yang.

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the program will help "outstanding talents" set up their own lab and provide financial assistance to their research. The 8,000 "leading talents" will receive 1 million yuan ($164,292) each for research, training and team building.

Xue Lan, director of the China Institute for Science and Technology Policy at Tsinghua University, Wednesday applauded the new method, which is different from the complicated competitive project application mechanism currently in use.

According to the survey and research by Xue Lan, to get research funding to complete a project, researchers generally need to go through a lengthy process of application. This includes writing a proposal, several rounds of evaluation meetings, submitting an opening report, inspection, conclusion and post-project evaluation.

"Scientific research has its uncertainties … there is a need for a relatively longer period of stable funding and greater autonomy for researchers," Xue Lan told the Global Times. "In contrast, the new method shifts its subject of support to the people from the project, and gives more autonomy to the qualified researchers."

Despite the optimism shown on the new method, it seems the program has yet to work out several details. Several researchers, who were selected as "leading talents" in scientific and technological innovation, told the Global Times they haven't received any word on how they will be financially supported for their research.

Science talent program eyes Nobel Prize - CHINA - Globaltimes.cn

 

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Researchers create image of weak hydrogen bond using AFM
Oct 01, 2013 by Bob Yirka

AFM measurements of 8-hq assembled clusters on Cu(111). (A and B) Constant-height frequency shift images of typical molecule assembled clusters, and their corresponding structure models (C and D). Imaging parameters: V = 0 V, A = 100 p.m., Δz …more


(Phys.org) —Researchers at China's National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and Renmin University have used Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to create an image of the weak hydrogen bonds present in a molecule. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they used the non-contact form of AFM to capture an image of weak hydrogen bonds in a 8-hydroxyquinoline molecule (8hq).

Until recently, the most accurate images of molecules were obtained using scanning tunneling microscopy, recent advances with AFM, however (particularly the addition of a carbon monoxide molecule to the probe tip) have made it the method of choice for obtaining actual images of molecules and the bonds that hold them together. In this new effort, the research team has advanced the science of AFM by capturing an image of the weak hydrogen bonds present in a 8hq molecule. Understanding how hydrogen bonds work is a very important part of science—they are responsible, for example, for holding together strands of DNA.
Currently, there are two ways to capture images using AFM: contact, and non-contact imaging. With contact imaging, the tip of the mechanical probe is made to touch the surface of the material being analyzed. The amount of deflection of the probe tip as its dragged is used to create an image. In non-contact mode, the tip is brought near to the surface, but doesn't touch it. An image is created by measuring changes to the oscillating tip probe from weak forces emanating from the source.

The team in China used the non-contact form of AFM and chose 8hq as a test subject because it's a relatively flat molecule. The resulting image is the first created using AFM to show weak hydrogen bonds, and is important because there is still debate about the nature of hydrogen bonds. For many years it was considered to be purely an electrostatic interaction—new evidence has cast doubt on that idea, suggesting that it might be at least partially chemical. The new image doesn't clear up the debate, but does offer some intriguing possibilities for the future as it demonstrates that as AFM matures, it will offer more and more evidence of the true nature of molecules and how they interact.

ABSTRACT
We report a real-space visualization of the formation of hydrogen bonding in 8-hydroxyquiline (8-hq) molecular assemblies on a Cu(111) substrate using noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM). The atomically resolved molecular structures enable a precise determination of the characteristics of hydrogen bonding networks, including the bonding sites, orientations, and lengths. The observation of bond contrast was interpreted by ab initio density functional calculations, which indicated the electron density contribution from the hybridized electronic state of the hydrogen bond. Intermolecular coordination between the dehydrogenated 8-hq and Cu adatoms was also revealed by the submolecular resolution AFM characterization. The direct identification of local bonding configurations by NC-AFM would facilitate detailed investigations of intermolecular interactions in complex molecules with multiple active sites.

Read more at: Researchers create image of weak hydrogen bond using AFM


The report in Science here the link:

Real-Space Identification of Intermolecular Bonding with Atomic Force Microscopy

-Author and Affiliations:

Jun Zhang-1,*, Pengcheng Chen-1,*, Bingkai Yuan-1, Wei Ji-2,†, Zhihai Cheng-1,†, Xiaohui Qiu-1,†

1. Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
2. Department of Physics, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China.

Also:

This project is good for a link here:

Credit：news.sciencenet.cn
China tests deep-sea mobile workstation prototype

 

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Outfitting of “XiangYangHong 10” Marine Science Research Vessel：

 

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Fast, Furious, Refined: Smaller Black Holes Can Eat Plenty

Artist’s visualization of the environment around M101 ULX-1, showing a stellar-mass black hole (foreground) with accretion disk. Gas from the Wolf-Rayet star (background) feeds the black hole’s voracious appetite. (Credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA artwork by Lynette Cook.)

Link to source:
Fast, furious, refined: Smaller black holes can eat plenty

Nov. 27, 2013 — Observations of a black hole powering an energetic X-ray source in a galaxy some 22 million light-years away could change our thinking about how some black holes consume matter.

The findings indicate that this particular black hole, thought to be the engine behind the X-ray source's high-energy light output, is unexpectedly lightweight, and, despite the generous amount of dust and gas being fed to it by a massive stellar companion, it swallows this material in a surprisingly orderly fashion.

"It has elegant manners," says research team member Stephen Justham, of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Such lightweights, he explains, must devour matter at close to their theoretical limits of consumption to sustain the kind of energy output observed. "We thought that when small black holes were pushed to these limits, they would not be able to maintain such refined ways of consuming matter," Justham explains. "We expected them to display more complicated behavior when eating so quickly. Apparently we were wrong."

A Surprising Twist

X-ray sources give off high- and low-energy X-rays, which astronomers call hard and soft X-rays, respectively. In what might seem like a contradiction, larger black holes tend to produce more soft X-rays, while smaller black holes tend to produce relatively more hard X-rays. This source, called M101 ULX-1, is dominated by soft X-rays, so researchers expected to find a larger black hole as its energy source.

In a surprising twist, however, the new observations made at the Gemini Observatory, and published in the November 28th issue of the journal Nature, indicate that M101 ULX-1's black hole is on the small side, and astrophysicists don't understand why.

In theoretical models of how matter falls into black holes and radiates energy, the soft X-rays come primarily from the accretion disk (see illustration), while hard X-rays are typically generated by a high-energy "corona" around the disk. The models show that the corona's emission strength should increase as the rate of accretion gets closer to the theoretical limit of consumption. Interactions between the disk and corona are also expected to become more complex.

Based on the size of the black hole found in this work, the region around M101-ULX-1 should, theoretically, be dominated by hard X-rays and appear structurally more complicated. However, that isn't the case.

"Theories have been suggested which allow such low-mass black holes to eat this quickly and shine this brightly in X-rays. But those mechanisms leave signatures in the emitted X-ray spectrum, which this system does not display," says lead author Jifeng Liu, of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "Somehow this black hole, with a mass only 20-30 times the mass of our Sun, is able to eat at a rate near to its theoretical maximum while remaining relatively placid. It's amazing. Theory now needs to somehow explain what's going on."

An Intermediate-mass Black Hole Dilemma

The discovery also delivers a blow to astronomers hoping to find conclusive evidence for an "intermediate-mass" black hole in M101 ULX-1. Such black holes would have masses roughly between 100 and 1000 times the mass of the Sun, placing them between normal stellar-mass black holes and the monstrous supermassive black holes that reside in the centers of galaxies. So far these objects have been frustratingly elusive, with potential candidates but no broadly-accepted detection. Ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) have been one of the main proposed hiding places for intermediate-mass black holes, and M101 ULX-1 was one of the most promising-looking contenders.

"Astronomers hoping to study these objects will now have to focus on other locations for which indirect evidence of this class of black holes has been suggested, either in the even brighter 'hyper-luminous' X-ray sources or inside some dense clusters of stars," explains research team member Joel Bregman of the University of Michigan.

"Many scientists thought it was just a matter of time until we had evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole in M101 ULX-1," says Liu. But the new Gemini findings both take away some of that hope to solve an old puzzle and adds the fresh mystery of how this stellar-mass black hole can consume matter so calmly.

To determine the mass of the black hole, the researchers used the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph at the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i to measure the motion of the companion. This star, which feeds matter to the black hole, is of the Wolf-Rayet variety. Such stars emit strong stellar winds, from which the black hole can then draw in material. This study also revealed that the black hole in M101 ULX-1 can capture more material from that stellar wind than astronomers had anticipated.

M101 ULX-1 is ultra-luminous, shining a million times more brightly than the Sun in both X-rays (from the black hole accretion disk) and in the ultraviolet (from the companion star). Co-author Paul Crowther from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom adds, "Although this isn't the first Wolf-Rayet black hole binary ever discovered, at some 22 million light-years away, it does set a new distance record for such a system. The Wolf-Rayet star will have died in a small fraction of the time it has taken for light to reach us, so this system is now likely a double black hole binary."

"Studying objects like M101 ULX-1 in distant galaxies gives us a vastly larger sampling of the diversity of objects in our universe," says Bregman. "It's absolutely amazing that we have the technology to observe a star orbiting a black hole in another galaxy this far away."

you can find the publication in Nature here:

Puzzling accretion onto a black hole in the ultraluminous X-ray source M 101 ULX-1
Published online 27 November 2013

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v503/n7477/full/nature12762.html

Authors and Affiliations

1. Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, 100012 Beijing, China
   • Ji-Feng Liu,; Yu Bai & Stephen Justham
2. Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, 500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 40185, USA
   • Joel N. Bregman
3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH, UK
   • Paul Crowther

 

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Finger-sized artificial heart developed at HKU

Link: Finger-sized artificial heart developed at HKU - Headlines, features, photo and videos from ecns.cn|china|news|chinanews|ecns|cns

港大造出全球首个人造心脏 5年内可望临床应用
缺乏器官捐赠，加上细胞疗法尚未成熟，令心脏病成为香港第三号杀手。由香港大学牵头的研究团队研究出数项专利技术，可以一个万能干细胞大量提炼出80个心肌细胞，5年内可望临床应用，帮助病人修复坏死的心肌细胞。团队更成功造出世上首个体积如手指头大小的人类人造心脏作药物测试，并已测试30至50种有毒性的药物，期望明年可测试3000以至更多种药物。[查看全文
港大造出全球首个人造心脏 5年内可望临床应用-中新网
www.chinanews.com/ga/2013/11-29/5561495.shtml]

]2013-11-29 16:25Ecns.cnWeb Editor: Si Huan

(Photo source: Ta Kung Pao)

(ECNS) – A research team at the University of Hong Kong has succeeded in extracting 80 cardiac muscle cells from an embryonic stem cell, and developed the world's first finger-sized artificial heart, according to Ta Kung Pao.

Professor Li Ronald Adolphus, director of the university's research center on stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, said it may take five years before the cardiac muscle cells are put into clinical application, but the artificial heart has been used for testing toxic drugs.

The artificial heart cannot be transplanted to human beings yet, but it contains human cells and can be used to test whether a drug is toxic to the human heart, Li said.

"The team has tested about 30 to 50 kinds of toxic drugs with the heart, and we expect to test thousands of drugs with it next year."

The research focused on extracting heart muscle cells to help repair the dead cells in cardiac patients.

Heart disease is the No. 3 killer in Hong Kong.

 

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Chinese scientists upbeat on development of invisibility cloak

Chinese scientists upbeat on development of invisibility cloak | South China Morning Post

 

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China unveils first domestic cloud computer

Last Updated: 2013-12-11 21:32 | Xinhua

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（that's 89128960GB） 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.

China unveils first domestic cloud computer--China Economic Net

 

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A fine piece of 3D-printing technology that's widely applicable in heavy industries such as nuclear power generation、shipbuilding、petrochemical etc：

南方风机股份有限公司控股子公司对外投资进展公告

南方风机股份有限公司（以下简称“公司”）于 2012 年 8 月 24 日召开的第二
届董事会第八次会议审议通过了《关于控股子公司<重型金属构件电熔精密成型技
术产业化项目可行性分析报告>及对其投资的议案》，该事项的相关公告已于 2012
年 8 月 25 日发布在中国证监会创业板指定披露媒体。该项目总投资为 16,760 万元，
由控股子公司——佛山市南方增材精密重工有限公司（以下简称“南方增材”）承
建，项目所需投资资金由南方增材自筹。

近日，该项目一期生产基地建设和设备部件采购工作已完成，电熔精密成型成
套工程专用设备的安装调试工作已开始，并将于 2014 年 2 月底完成，随后将进入
试生产状态。项目一期的生产能力具体如下：
（1）钢结构车间：长 280 米×宽 50 米，面积 15400 平方米；
（2）加工设备尺寸：长 28 米×宽 23 米×高 9.5 米；
（3）生长材料：中碳钢、低合金钢、不锈钢等；
（4）适用工件参数如下：
¾ 工件直径：φ2100mm～φ6000mm；
¾ 工件生长厚度：≤800mm；
¾ 工件生长长度：≤10000mm；
¾ 工件生长最大重量：≤300 吨。

上述设备安装调试完成后，公司将拥有目前全球最大型电熔精密成型（重型金
属“3D 打印”）成套工程专用设备，具备生产最大直径为 6 米，重量达 300 吨的重型
金属构件的能力。公司董事会将继续关注项目进展情况，并按照相关规则要求及时披
露进展情况。

特此公告。
南方风机股份有限公司
董事会
二○一三年十一月七日


链接：南风股份(300004)：南风股份：控股子公司对外投资进展公告_和讯网