China returning to faster 350 kph high speed rail operation using improved trains

China has a new all domestic high speed train. It is the “China-standard” train G8041. It started operation on Harbin-Dalian line between Harbin, capital of China’s northernmost province of Heilongjiang, and the port city of Dalian in Liaoning province, August 15, 2016. The “China-standard” bullet trains, officially known as electric multiple unit (EMU) trains, have …

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China adjusts GDP match treatment of R and D to USA and other countries

China’s statistics authority altered the way quarterly GDP data are calculated, a move analysts have called a step toward meeting international standards and improving accuracy. Research and development (R&D) expenditures that can economically benefit companies will no longer be calculated as intermediate consumption, but as fixed capital formation, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced …

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First Commercial Machine will be pre-memristor version that is 320 Terabyte rack system

HPE will be releasing the initial version of “the machine” in 2016. It’s expected to be about the size of a server rack, with 320 terabytes of memory and more than 2,500 CPU cores. But one key Machine component will be missing: the memristor. Although HP previously showed off wafers containing memristors, a commercial offering …

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Directed energy combat lasers and microwave weapons brings the dawn of an entirely new era in defense

Lasers, microwaves and other directed energy weapons will be used more widely by the U.S. military. U.S. military, top armed forces officials described weapons that are in various stages of development and testing by the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Army, but said more work was needed to develop tactics for their use …

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Lightweight and quiet power to enable armored military exoskeletons

General Atomics is looking at a hybrid-electric power unit with a liquid piston engine that fits in the palm of the hand that will run at 10,000 RPMs. A lightweight and quiet power source is the key to the new powered military exoskeletons. LiquidPiston’s X Engine is a non-Wankel rotary embodiment of the company’s innovative …

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DARPA developing drop in retrofit to increase automation in existing airplanes

In the latest step in a decades-long process through which automation has taken on increasing responsibilities in the cockpit—allowing pilots to focus on flight tasks demanding their unique capabilities—DARPA has awarded three contracts for its Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) program. ALIAS envisions a tailorable, drop‐in, removable kit that would enable high levels of …

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Lithium ion capacitors and advanced thermoelectrics will expand the use of hybrid and electric cars

A lithium-ion capacitor (LIC) is a hybrid type of capacitor out of the family of the supercapacitors. Activated carbon is used as cathode. The anode of the LIC consists of carbon material which is pre-doped with lithium ion. A lithium-ion capacitor is a hybrid electrochemical energy storage device which combines the intercalation mechanism of a …

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3D printed metamaterial can cause energy gain

Hao Xin, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, has discovered synthetic materials which might one day be used to build microscopes with superlenses and even ‘shields’ which could render military equipment and people invisible to the naked eye. Xin uses metamaterial building blocks and 3D printing to create startling results. These metamaterials, which can …

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DARPA robot can learn tasks from Youtube video and a neural net can understand video 20 times faster than a human

A startup called Clarifai is offering a service that uses deep learning to understand video. The company says its software can rapidly analyze video clips to recognize 10,000 different objects or types of scene. In a demo given last week at a conference on deep learning, Clarifai’s cofounder and CEO Matthew Zeiler uploaded a clip …

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USA arming Ukraine likely to trigger Russia to sell thousands of surface to air missiles

The USA is moving towards sending weapons to Ukraine. Putin and the Russians may have intentionally shot down the Malaysian commercial jet. This would have been a warning that they could proliferate their missile technology to Al Qaeda or ISIS. The Russians may have shoulder launched missiles which can down commercial jets at cruising altitudes …

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China to get Russian Su-35s 4+ generation fighter starting in 2017 or 2018

China is likely to receive the first batch of Su-35 fighters from Russia between 2017 and 2018, if the contract can be signed this year, according to Kanwa Defense Review, a Chinese-language military magazine based in Canada. Russia has decided to sell only 24 Su-35 fighters to China. Since some of those fighters will be …

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