Tag Archives: China

New Book Traces Black Panthers’ Evolution from Local Activists to Global Anti-Imperialists

By Guest PostFebruary 6, 2013Culture, Politicsafrican american culture, african americans, algeria, american, american black power, american jazz artists, anti colonial activist, anti colonial movement, anti imperialist movement, anti war activists, assassination, black activist, black against empire, black history, black panther movement, black panther party, black panthers, black power, bobby seale, business as usual, california legislature, China, civil rights movement, civil war, communist revolutionary, criminal charges, Cuba, evolution, folk heroes, frantz fanon, free huey, global anti imperialists, history, huey newton, jim crow segregations, joshua bloom, local activists, los angeles chapter, lowndes county, malcolm x, mao zedong, marcus garvey, martin luther king, mulford act, new york chapter, non violent activism, oakland, pan africanism, panther angela, peoples republic, political asylum, political genius, political power, politics of containment, poverty, president nixon, prisoners of war, revolutionary struggles, robert hill, robin kelley, rural alabama, scot brown, sociology, stokely carmichael, tom hayden, ucla, united states, university of california, us government, viet cong, vietnam war, voluntary manslaughter, waldo e martin, zhou enlai

History has long denied the political genius of the Black Panther Party. At worst, its members have been cast as unconscionable criminals. At best, such seminal figures as party founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale and early supporter Stokely Carmichael have been portrayed as outlaw folk heroes who, propelled by the progressive winds of the late 1960s, dared to take on the establishment.

But a UCLA graduate student in sociology who worked alongside former Panthers a decade ago as a community organizer in Oakland, Calif., didn’t buy the conventional wisdom. (more…)

Organic Ferroelectric Molecule Shows Promise for Memory Chips, Sensors

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2013Sciencebarium titanate, brittle materials, carbon based material, China, da wei fu, digital information, diisopropylammonium bromide, electrical field, energy storage, ferroelectric, future of hardware, gianluca giovannetti, hard, heart of computing, inorganic crystals, jiangyu li, low cost, massimo capone, memory, natural polarization, natural vibrations, negatively charged, nontoxic organic molecules, organic alternative, piezoelectric, positively charged, ren gen xiong, room temperature, seattle, sensing, silicon based semiconductors, southeast university, store energy, synthetic ferroelectrics, tiny crystals, titanium, toxicity, university of washington, yuanming liu

At the heart of computing are tiny crystals that transmit and store digital information’s ones and zeroes. Today these are hard and brittle materials. But cheap, flexible, nontoxic organic molecules may play a role in the future of hardware.

A team led by the University of Washington in Seattle and the Southeast University in China discovered a molecule that shows promise as an organic alternative to today’s silicon-based semiconductors. The findings, published this week in the journal Science, display properties that make it well suited to a wide range of applications in memory, sensing and low-cost energy storage. (more…)

Analysis of Greenland Ice Cores Adds to Historical Record and May Provide Glimpse into Climate’s Future

By Guest PostJanuary 30, 2013Environmentalpine research, Antarctica, Arctic, arctic sciences section, atmosphere, belgium, boulder, canada, change, China, climate, climate conditions, denmark, dorthe dahl-jensen, earth climate, eemian interglacial, eemian like, eemian period, france, future, future climate, Germany, global temperatures rise, greenland ice cores, greenland ice sheet, historical record, ice ages, ice sheet, Iceland, Japan, jim white, last interglacial period, national science foundation, neem, northern greenland, northern hemisphere, paleo climate models, sea-level rise, south korea, subsurface ice layers, Sweden, switzerland, the netherlands, united kingdom, united states, university of colorado, university of copenhagen, west antarctic

The International North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project results indicate that melting of Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea level rise than melting of the Greeland ice sheet some 100,000 years ago

A new study that provides surprising details on changes in Earth’s climate from more than 100,000 years ago indicates that the last interglacial–the period between “ice ages”–was warmer than previously thought and may be a good analog for future climate, as greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere and global temperatures rise.

The research findings also indicate that melting of the massive West Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea-level rise at that time than melting of the Greenland ice sheet. (more…)

Research by CU-Boulder Physicists Creates ‘Recipe Book’ for Building New Materials

By Guest PostJanuary 1, 2013Scienceamherst, bohdan senyuk, China, coffee cup, colloids, colorado boulder, continuously deformed, creation, ivan smalyukh, liquid crystal, liquid crystal displays, materials genome initiative, mathematical theorems, Pennsylvania, president barack obama, qingkun liu, randall kamien, recipe book, robert kusner, sailing he, tiny particle, tom lubensky, topology, university, university of massachusetts, White House, zhejiang university

By showing that tiny particles injected into a liquid crystal medium adhere to existing mathematical theorems, physicists at the University of Colorado Boulder have opened the door for the creation of a host of new materials with properties that do not exist in nature.

The findings show that researchers can create a “recipe book” to build new materials of sorts using topology, a major mathematical field that describes the properties that do not change when an object is stretched, bent or otherwise “continuously deformed.” Published online Dec. 23 in the journal Nature, the study also is the first to experimentally show that some of the most important topological theorems hold up in the real material world, said CU-Boulder physics department Assistant Professor Ivan Smalyukh, a study senior author. (more…)

Commentary: Lyle Goldstein: Sunshine Returns to the Korean Peninsula?

By Guest PostDecember 21, 2012Politicsamerican strategists, axis of evil, Beijing, blue house, China, china maritime studies, cold war, east asian nato, east asian security, inter korean tension, iraq war, Japan, korean peninsula, lee myung bak, lyle goldstein, military contingency, naval war college, new president, north korea, northeast asia, park geun hye, pivot to asia, President Bush, President Obama, pro american, pyongyang, recent missile test, relief, republic of korea, seoul, south korea, strategic reassurance, strategists in washington, sunshine policy, superpower, trilateral alliance, united states, US, us china relations, yalu river

On Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2012, Park Geun-hye was elected South Korea’s new president, making her the first woman to hold the title. It’s a victory some say signals the beginning of a new era for the tension-riddled region. Lyle Goldstein, International Relations program visiting faculty and associate professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute of the U.S. Naval War College, comments on what Park’s election means for the future of South Korea and the country’s relationship with the United States and China.

Park Geun-hye’s election will come as a major relief to many strategists in Washington, given her pro-American credentials. Her opponent was inclined to fully reinstate the “sunshine policy” of a decade ago, a disposition that would have no doubt entailed a more discriminating look at the newly invigorated U.S.-Republic of Korea alliance. Irrespective of which candidate came to occupy the Blue House, South Koreans seemed to be looking for more sunshine and less inter-Korean tension. (more…)

A Country of Two Tales

By Guest PostNovember 23, 2012Economy, PoliticsChina, confucius institute, country, delaware, Economy, gdp, global impact, gross domestic product, growth engine, iew, Japan, jastak burgess hall, jianguo chen, market, policy, soes, state capitalism, state owned enterprises, two tales, united states, university

Confucius Institute director addresses global impact of China’s economy

China’s economy has undergone astounding growth during the past 60 years, with its gross domestic product (GDP) climbing from just under $18 billion in 1949 to almost $6 trillion in 2011. Most of that growth has occurred since 1980, when the country’s economic reform began.

The result? China has emerged from being known as “the world’s most populous country” to the “growth engine for the world’s economy.”

But the double-digit growth that China witnessed every year from 2003 to 2011 has slowed, leading to much debate about the seriousness of the downturn and how it will reverberate across the globe. (more…)

Degraded Military Lands To Get Ecological Boost From CU-led Effort

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2012Environmentamerican west, arid ecosystem, arid land, atmospheric dust, bacteria, biocrusts, biological soil crust, boulder, central america, China, colorado, cyanobacteria, degraded, desert environment, dugway proving ground, erosion, extreme environment, ferran garcia pichel, fort bliss, fungi, general george patton, hawaii, inoculation, jayne belnap, lichens, metropolitan area, michael duniway, microbial communities, military activity, military exercises, military installation, military vehicles, modeling, mojave desert, mosses, new mexico, nichole barger, northwest utah, pollutant, polyacrylamide, probability, restore, sasha reed, soil erosion, soil fertility, soil surface, South Africa, south america, survival, texas, university, water retention, word war

Some arid lands in the American West degraded by military exercises that date back to General George Patton’s Word War II maneuvers in the Mojave Desert should get a boost from an innovative research project led by the University of Colorado Boulder.

Headed up by CU-Boulder Assistant Professor Nichole Barger, the research team is focused on developing methods to restore biological soil crusts — microbial communities primarily concentrated on soil surfaces critical to decreasing erosion and increasing water retention and soil fertility. Such biological soil crusts, known as “biocrusts,” can cover up to 70 percent of the ground in some arid ecosystems and are dominated by cyanobacteria, lichens, mosses, fungi and bacteria, she said. (more…)

Berkeley Lab Applies U.S. Tools and Technologies to Spur Low-Carbon Cities in China

By Guest PostNovember 16, 2012Environmentbenchmark, carbon dioxide, carbon emission, central government, China, china energy group, china today, chinese cities, chongqing, eco city, energy foundation, Environment, green, indicator, industrial activity, intensity, low carbon, low-carbon city, modern urbanites, nan zhou, ndrc, new energy city, province, reduce emission, renewable technology, san francisco, shanghai, urban environment

When eight cities and five provinces in China were asked by the central government to develop a plan to become “low carbon,” many had no idea what to do. Some planted trees. Others decided to build up a solar panel industry. One city even thought about building a lake to be more “green.” Local government leaders were at a loss as to how to reduce their carbon emissions.

In 2008, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) initiated a joint effort to address energy and environmental challenges facing urban centers in both countries. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s China Energy Group was tasked by DOE to identify and recommend best practices, tools and technologies. With nearly 25 years experience analyzing energy use in China, the China Energy Group has tailored a variety of resources to help local Chinese officials turn government mandates into practical how-to guides for understanding their energy usage and reducing their carbon dioxide emissions. (more…)