Discovery of Material that can be magnetically or electrically polarized at the same time

Normally a material can be either magnetically or electrically polarized, but not both. Now researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen have studied a material that is simultaneously magnetically and electrically polarizable. This opens up new possibilities, for example, for sensors in technology of the future. “We have studied the rare, naturally …

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Breaking Predictions down into implied clauses and retrodiction

Gwern is a research assistant at the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence He has written a useful article about making predictions. A prediction can be broken up into 3 steps: 1. The specification * The first issue is simply formulating the prediction. The goal is to make a statement on an objective and easily checkable …

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Adiabatic Quantum Computer for speeding up Google pagerank and other papers

1. Arxiv – Adiabatic quantum algorithm for search engine ranking (6 pages) We propose an adiabatic quantum algorithm for generating a quantum pure state encoding of the PageRank vector, the most widely used tool in ranking the relative importance of internet pages. We present extensive numerical simulations which provide evidence that this algorithm prepares the …

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OECD energy statistics for August 2011

IEA reports energy usage in the OECD from January through August 2011 OECD Nuclear energy production was down 9% in August 2011 versus August 2010. Germany and Japan were way below their 2010 levels for nuclear generation because of shutdowns after the tsunami. China recorded an 11.35 percent year-on-year rise in power consumption to 379.7 …

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New Ferroelectric memory may produce Instant-On Computers

Ferroelectric materials– found in subway, ATM, fuel and other “smart cards”–may eliminate time-consuming booting and rebooting of computer operating systems by providing an “instant-on” capability. Besides reducing the waiting time for everyday computer users, the discovery could pave the way for memory devices that are lower power, higher speed, and more convenient to use. The …

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China Social Security System and its Social Security Fund

The social security system in China is based upon guidelines issued by the central government, although the specifics and administration of the system is managed at the local level. All over urban China social insurance is broken down into five distinct categories. These are: 1. Pension 2. Medical insurance 3. Unemployment insurance 4. Maternity insurance …

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China is considering investments of up to $1.5 trillion over five years in seven strategic industries

China is considering investments of up to $1.5 trillion over five years in seven strategic industries, sources said, a plan aimed at accelerating the country’s transition from the world’s supplier of cheap goods to a leading purveyor of high-value technologies. 1. Alternative fuel cars China’s vehicle fleet has turned to many other power sources, including …

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Any protein can be made from synthesized DNA on a chip

Harvard has a new protein array lab on a chip. The system could produce any desired protein from synthesized DNA placed on the chip. It is another step in making protein production and engineering and biotechnology in general faster and cheaper. Schematic representation of screening protein-protein interactions with NAPPA. (A) On each spot, a target …

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