Joint Lab of Image Science Co-established By CAS and Matrox

Matrox, a Canadian company that is the largest supplier of image products in the world, signed an agreement with CAS-National Key Laboratory of Mode Identifying under the Institute of Automation to establish Joint Lab of Image Science in Beijing.

Institute of Automation, CAS is a major research Institution in China's information and automation areas. In particular, National Key Laboratory of Mode Identifying, which is attached to the Institute of Automation, is the main force in China's image-study area and has rich human and technical resources.

Matrox, the leader in world image industry, was established in 1976. With its headquarters in Canada, it has branches all over the world. The company has been always engaged in designing and manufacturing image products and their supportive chips.-9

UK and China Jointly Finishing Reconstruction of the Field Station of the Lijiang Alpine Botanical Garden

On September 25, 2002, the Field Station of the Lijiang Alpine Botanical Garden, which is situated at the southern foot of the Yulong Snow-capped Mountains, with an elevation of 3200 meters above sea level, was completed by the cooperation between UK and China. The newly appointed British Ambassador to China, leaders and experts from the Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden, Yunnan Province, Bureau of the International Cooperation, CAS, Kunming Institute of Botany, CAS, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and Lijiang Municipal Government attended the ceremony.
Yulong Snow-capped Mountains are not only a world famous scenic spot, but also rich in biological resources. This area owns so many species that it has become one of the 10 hot spots for global biodiversity research, and one of the 3 exceptional centers of seed plants in China. Thus, it is a rare place for research and protection of the botanical resources in our country. Besides the demonstration of the alpine plants on the Yulong Snow-capped Mountains at Lijiang, unusual plants from the northwest of Yunnan, the southwest of Sichuan, and the subalpine area of the southeastern Tibet will also be collected into the Garden, so as to build a special garden of azalea (Rhododendron), based on a collection of around 27000 subalpine plants of 2300 species within 5 years. Meanwhile, 20 kinds of Chinese azaleas collected from Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden will be returned to China. Within 10 to 15 years, the first botanic garden in Hengduan Mountains will come into being, with more than 4000 species of alpine and subalpine seed plants, and become a park for popular science demonstration as well as ecological tourism.

Sino-Australian Joint Lab on Soil Environmental Science Established

Under the agreement between Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences (RCEES), CAS, and The University of Adelaide, Australia, both sides decided to establish a joint lab on soil environmental science. The main interests of study will cover soil environment quality and food safety, soil-plant interaction & eco-recovery, as well as the impact of trace elements in the soil-plant system on human health. The opening ceremony for the establishment of the joint lab was held in RCEES-CAS on October 30, 2002. Ms. Cambell, the Counselor of S&T and Education of the Embassy of Australia to China, Prof. Cornish, deputy president of The University of Adelaide, and leaders from the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and RCEES attended the ceremony. -12

Sino-French Symposium on Molecular Informatics and Pharmaceutical Design held in Shanghai

From September 1 to 2, 2002 Sino-French Symposium on Molecular Informatics and Pharmaceutical Design was held in Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), CAS. This symposium was co-organized by SIOC, CNRS, and ITODYS of Paris VII University. More than 50 scientists from France and China attended the discussion. Dr. Biao JIANG, the executive deputy director of SIOC was the president of the organizing committee for this meeting. More than 20 presentations were arranged at this symposium. Scientists mainly discussed on such areas as chemoinformatics, bioinformatics, computer-aid (medicine and pesticide) drug design, computer-aid synthetic chemistry, as well as those areas closely related to the sustainable development of the national economy and the quality of people's lives.

Dr. Zhu CHEN, vice president of CAS attended the symposium and delivered a speech on the closing ceremony. The State Key Laboratory on Computer Chemistry and ITODYS of Paris VII University have had years' experience of cooperation on computer chemistry, theoretical chemistry and its application, and thus have made fruitful achievements in these areas.-13

2nd Sino-German Symposium on Microgravity Science Convened

From September 1 to 3, 2002 the Second Sino-German Symposium on Microgravity Science was held in Dunhuang, Gansu Province. This symposium was co-organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China National Space Administration, German Aerospace Center, and the State Key Laboratory on Microgravity, CAS. The presidents of this symposium were Prof. B. Feuerbacher from German Aerospace Center, and Prof. Wenrui HU, director of the State Key Laboratory on Microgravity. 21 German scientists who attended the symposium were from German Aerospace Center, University of Hamburg, Berlin Free University, University of Freiburg, Kayser-Threde Company, University of Bremen, Astrium Corporation, Max Planck Society(MPS), University of Akron，and the Friedrich- Alexander-University. One Japanese scientist from ISAS was also present. Chinese scientists from some CAS-institutes, Institute of Space Medico-engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technolgy, Chongqing University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, the Graduate School of CAS, also attended this symposium.

Dr H. Binnerbruck from German DLR, Prof. Wenrui HU, director of the State Key Laboratory on Microgravity, and Dr. W. Lork from Astrium Corporation respectively introduced the research on microgravity science, and the development of space experimental equipments on behalf of each side. -14