Yasuhiro Nakasone Dies in Japan

Yasuhiro Nakasone (中曽根 康弘 Nakasone Yasuhiro, May 27, 1918 – November 29, 2019) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 1982 to 1987. He was a member of the House of Representatives for more than 50 years. He was best known for pushing through the privatization of state-owned companies, and for helping to revitalize Japanese nationalism during and after his term as prime minister. He was the oldest living former state leader at the time of his death in 2019, aged 101.

Nakasone described his early childhood and youth as a happy one, and himself as a "quiet, easy-going child" nicknamed "Yat-chan". He attended a local primary school in Takasaki and was a poor student until the fourth grade, after which he excelled and was at the top of his class. He entered Shizuoka High School in 1935, where he excelled in history and literature, and learned to speak fluent French. In the autumn of 1938, Nakasone entered Tokyo Imperial University. During World War II, he was a commissioned officer and paymaster in the Imperial Japanese Navy. He later wrote of his return to Tokyo in August 1945 after Japan's surrender: "I stood vacantly amid the ruins of Tokyo, after discarding my officer's short sword and removing the epaulettes of my uniform. As I looked around me, I swore to resurrect my homeland from the ashes of defeat".

In 1947, he gave up a promising career in an elite government ministry to run for Parliament with the belief that in its postwar remorse, Japan was in danger of discarding its traditional values. He campaigned on a nationalist platform, arguing for an enlarged Self-Defence Force, to amend Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution (which outlawed war as a means to settling international disputes), and to revive Japanese patriotism, especially in reverence for the Emperor. He entered the Diet of Japan as a member of the House of Representatives for the Democratic Party. "As a freshman lawmaker in 1951, he delivered a 28-page letter to General MacArthur criticising the occupation, a brazen move. The General angrily threw the letter in [the] bin, Yasuhiro was later told. This stand established [Yasuhiro Nakasone's] credentials as a right-wing politician." He gained brief notoriety in 1952 for blaming Emperor Hirohito for Japan's defeat in the war. In 1955, at Nakasone's urging, the government granted the equivalent of $14,000,000 to the Agency for Industrial Science and Technology to begin nuclear power research. Nakasone rose through the LDP's ranks, becoming Minister of Science in 1959 under the government of Nobusuke Kishi, then Minister of Transport in 1967, Director General of the Japan Defense Agency from 1970 to 1971, Minister of International Trade and Industry in 1972 and Minister of Administration in 1981.

As the head of the Self-Defence Force, Nakasone argued for an increase in defence spending from less than 1% GDP to 3% of GDP. He was also in favour of Japan having tactical nuclear weapons. He was labelled "the weathervane" in 1972 because he switched his support from Takeo Fukuda to Kakuei Tanaka in the leadership election, ensuring Tanaka's victory. In turn, Tanaka would give his powerful support to Nakasone against Fukuda a decade later in the fight for the premiership.

Premiership

In 1982, Nakasone became prime minister. Along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Shintaro Abe, Nakasone improved Japanese relations with the USSR and the People's Republic of China. Nakasone was best known for his close relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, popularly called the "Ron-Yasu" friendship. Nakasone sought a more equal relationship with the United States, and said: "President Reagan is the pitcher and I'm the catcher. When the pitcher gives the signs, I'll co-operate unsparingly, but if he doesn't sometimes follow the catcher's signs, the game can't be won". Nakasone said Japan would be "America's unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the Pacific and that Japan would "keep complete control of the four straits that go through to Japanese islands, to prevent the passage of Soviet submarines". He was attacked by political opponents as a reactionary and a "dangerous militarist". Nakasone responded by saying: "A nation must shed any sense of ignominy and move forward seeking glory". However his attempt to amend Article 9 failed.

In 1984, Nakasone visited China on the twelfth anniversary of Japan's diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic, for which the Chinese government arranged tours of China for 3,000 Japanese youths. On the trip, Nakasone's son was privately accompanied by the daughter of Hu Yaobang, the-then General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. After the event, Hu was criticised by other members of the Chinese Communist Party for the extravagance and warmth of the event. Nakasone also visited President Corazon Aquino in a series of talks between the Philippines and Japan during a special state visit from 1986–87, to provide good economic and trade relations.

In economic affairs, Nakasone's most notable policy was his privatisation initiative, which led to the breakup of Japan National Railways into the modern Japan Railways Group. This led to 80,000 redundancies, unheard of in Japan until that point. Nakasone wrote of his economic reforms: 

I was carrying out a kind of "improvement" of Japan's structure. For 110 years, ever since the Meiji restoration, Japan had been striving to catch up with America and Britain. In the 1970s we did catch up. Beyond that point the [state's] regulations only stand in the way of the growth of the economy. If government officials have too much power, the private sector of the economy will not grow. We had to change the system.

For the first time in Japan's post-war history, bureaucrats lost their leading role. In 1985, Nakasone appointed the former Governor of the Bank of Japan, Haruo Maekawa, to head a commission on Japan's economic future. In 1986, the Commission recommended that Japan should grow not through exports (which were angering Japan's trading partners) but from within. Nakasone advised the Japanese public to purchase foreign imports; in a well-publicised shopping trip, he bought an American tennis racket, an Italian tie and a French shirt. He said: "Japan is like a mah-jong player who always wins. Sooner or later the other players will decide that they do not want to play with him". The Japanese public were skeptical but the Commission created a good impression abroad, especially in America, where the Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs W. Allen Wallis called it a watershed in Japan's post-war economic policy.

Nakasone also became known for having a nationalist attitude and for wanting to stimulate ethnic pride amongst the Japanese. He was an adherent to the nihonjinron theory that claims Japan is incomparably different from the rest of the world. Influenced by Japanese philosopher Tetsuro Watsuji, Nakasone believed that Japan's "monsoon culture" inspired a special Japanese compassion, unlike the desert culture of the Middle East that produced the Judeo-Christian "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". In a speech in 1986, Nakasone said it was Japan's international mission to spread the monsoon culture abroad.

On August 15, 1985, the fortieth anniversary of Japan's surrender; Nakasone and his Cabinet visited the Yasukuni Shrine in full mourning dress. This had great symbolic significance as he visited the shrine in his official capacity and demonstrated that the Japanese government was reasserting its respect for the spirits of the ancestors killed in battle, including those who died in World War II. This was a controversial move and was criticised by the Chinese Communist Party newspaper, People's Daily. It was also attacked by opponents at home for violating the Constitution's separation of religion and state. Nakasone defended his actions by saying, "The true defence of Japan ... becomes possible only through the combination of liberty-loving peoples who are equal to each other ... The manner is desired to be based on self-determination of the race". He also said, "It is considered progressive to criticise pre-war Japan for its faults and defects, but I firmly oppose such a notion. A nation is still a nation whether it wins or loses a war".

Nakasone also sought educational reform, setting up a commission. Its report recommended that "a spirit of patriotism" should be inculcated in children, along with respect for elders and authority. This was not fully implemented and came under attack from the teachers' trade union. The commission also recommended that the national anthem should be taught and that the Rising Sun Flag should also be raised during entrance and graduation ceremonies. History textbooks were also reformed. In 1986, Nakasone dismissed his Education Minister, Masayuki Fujio, after he justified Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910.

Nakasone aroused controversy in September 1986 when he claimed that Americans were, on average, less intelligent than Japanese because: "the US has many immigrants, Puerto Ricans and Blacks, who bring the average level down". He then clarified his comments, stating that he meant to congratulate the U.S. on its economic success despite the presence of "problematic" minorities.

In 1987, he was forced to resign after he attempted to introduce a value added tax to reduce the burden of direct taxes in a policy designed to cut the budget deficit.

Later Political Life

Nakasone was replaced by Noboru Takeshita in 1987, and was implicated, along with other LDP lawmakers, in the Recruit scandal that broke the following year.

Although he remained in the Diet for another decade and a half, his influence gradually waned. In 2003, despite a fight, Nakasone was not given a place on the LDP's electoral list as the party, by then led by Jun'ichirō Koizumi, introduced an age limit of 73 years for candidates in the proportional representation blocks, ending his career as a member of the Diet.

                                   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuhiro_Nakasone

When Giant Galaxies Merge

Research team discovers three supermassive 

black holes at the core of one galaxy

'University of Göttingen – November 21, 2019 –- An international research team led by scientists from Göttingen and Potsdam proved for the first time that the galaxy NGC 6240 contains three supermassive black holes. The unique observations, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, show the black holes close to each other in the core of the galaxy. The study points to simultaneous merging processes during the formation of the largest galaxies in the universe.

Massive Galaxies like the Milky Way typically consist of hundreds of billions of stars and host a black hole with a mass of several million up to several 100 million solar masses at their centres. The galaxy known as NGC 6240 is known as an irregular galaxy due to its particular shape. Until now, astronomers have assumed that it was formed by the collision of two smaller galaxies and therefore contains two black holes in its core. These galactic ancestors moved towards each other at velocities of several 100 km/s and are still in the process of merging. The galaxy system which is around 300 million light years away from us -- close by cosmic standards -- has been studied in detail at all wavelengths, and has so far been regarded as a prototype for the interaction of galaxies.

"Through our observations with extremely high spatial resolution we were able to show that the interacting galaxy system NGC 6240 hosts not two -- as previously assumed -- but three supermassive black holes in its centre," reports Professor Wolfram Kollatschny from the University of Göttingen, the lead author of the study. Each of the three heavyweights has a mass of more than 90 million Suns. They are located in a region of space less than 3000 light-years across, i.e. in less than one hundredth of the total size of the galaxy. "Up until now, such a concentration of three supermassive black holes had never been discovered in the universe," adds Dr Peter Weilbacher of the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP). "The present case provides evidence of a simultaneous merging process of three galaxies along with their central black holes."

The discovery of this triple system is of fundamental importance for understanding the evolution of galaxies over time. Until now it has not been possible to explain how the largest and most massive galaxies, which we know from our cosmic environment in the "present time," were formed just by normal galaxy interaction and merging processes over the course of the previous 14 billion years approximately, ie the age of our universe. "If, however, simultaneous merging processes of several galaxies took place, then the largest galaxies with their central supermassive black holes were able to evolve much faster," Peter Weilbacher summarizes. "Our observations provide the first indication of this scenario."

For the unique high-precision observations of the galaxy NGC 6240 using the 8 metre VLT, a telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory in Chile, the 3D MUSE spectrograph was used in spatial high-resolution mode together with four artificially generated laser stars and an adaptive optics system. Thanks to the sophisticated technology, images are obtained with a sharpness similar to that of the Hubble Space Telescope but additionally contain a spectrum for each image pixel. These spectra were decisive in determining the motion and masses of the supermassive black holes in NGC 6240.

The scientists assume that the observed, imminent merging of the supermassive black holes in a few million years will also generate very strong gravitational waves. In the foreseeable future, signals of similar objects can be measured with the planned satellite-based gravitational wave detector LISA and further merging systems can be discovered.

                           https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191121121726.htm

Animal Embryos Evolved Before Animals

University of Bristol – November 27, 2019 -- A new study by an international team of researchers, led by scientists from the University of Bristol and Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, has discovered that animal-like embryos evolved long before the first animals appear in the fossil record.

Animals evolved from single-celled ancestors, before diversifying into 30 or 40 distinct anatomical designs. When and how animal ancestors made the transition from single-celled microbes to complex multicellular organisms has been the focus of intense debate.

Until now, this question could only be addressed by studying living animals and their relatives, but now the research team has found evidence that a key step in this major evolutionary transition occurred long before complex animals appear in the fossil record, in the fossilised embryos that resemble multicellular stages in the life cycle of single-celled relatives of animals.

The team discovered the fossils named Caveasphaera in 609 million-year old rocks in the Guizhou Province of South China. Individual Caveasphaera fossils are only about half a millimeter in diameter, but X-ray microscopy revealed that they were preserved all the way down to their component cells.

Kelly Vargas, from the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, said: “X-Ray tomographic microscopy works like a medical CT scanner, but allows us to see features that are less than a thousandth of a millimeter in size. We were able to sort the fossils into growth stages, reconstructing the embryology of Caveasphaera.”

Co-author Zongjun Yin, from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology in China, added: “Our results show that Caveasphaera sorted its cells during embryo development, in just the same way as living animals, including humans, but we have no evidence that these embryos developed into more complex organisms.”

Co-author Dr John Cunningham, also from University of Bristol, said: “Caveasphaera had a life cycle like the close living relatives of animals, which alternate between single-celled and multicellular stages. However, Caveasphaera goes one step further, reorganising those cells during embryology.”

Co-author Stefan Bengtson, from the Swedish Museum of Natural History, said “Caveasphaera is the earliest evidence of this most important step in the evolution of animals, which allowed them to develop distinct tissue layers and organs”.

Co-author Maoyan Zhu, also from Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, said he is not totally convinced that Caveasphaera is an animal.  He added: “Caveasphaera looks a lot like the embryos of some starfish and corals – we don’t find the adult stages simply because they are harder to fossilise

Co-author Dr Federica Marone from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland said “this study shows the amazing detail that can be preserved in the fossil record but also the power of X-ray microscopes in uncovering secrets preserved in stone without destroying the fossils.”

Co-author Professor Philip Donoghue, also from the University of Bristol’s School of Earth Sciences, said “Caveasphaera shows features that look both like microbial relatives of animals and early embryo stages of primitive animals. We’re still searching for more fossils that may help us to decide.

“Either way, fossils of Caveasphaera tell us that animal-like embryonic development evolved long before the oldest definitive animals appear in the fossil record.”

  

                       https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2019/november/animal-embryos.html

A Record-Setting Transistor

Engineering professor designs transistor that could enable cheaper, faster wireless communications

Article by Julie Stewart  Atkinson

November 25, 2019 -- Many of the technologies we rely on, from smartphones to wearable devices and more, utilize fast wireless communications. What might we accomplish if those devices transmitted information even faster?   

That’s what Yuping Zeng, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Delaware, aims to discover. She and a team of researchers recently created a high-electron mobility transistor, a device that amplifies and controls electrical current, using gallium nitride (GaN) with indium aluminum-nitride as the barrier on a silicon substrate. They described their results in the journal Applied Physics Express.

Among devices of its type, Zeng’s transistor has record-setting properties, including record low gate leakage current (a measure of current loss), a record high on/off current ratio (the magnitude of the difference of current transmitted between the on state and off state) and a record high current gain cutoff frequency (an indication of how much data can be transmitted with a wide range of frequencies).

Among devices of its type, Professor Yuping Zeng’s transistor has record-setting properties, including record low gate leakage current (a measure of current loss), a record high on/off current ratio (the magnitude of the difference of current transmitted between the on state and off state) and a record high current gain cutoff frequency (an indication of how much data can be transmitted with a wide range of frequencies).

This transistor could be useful for higher bandwidth wireless communication systems. For a given current, it can handle more voltage and would require less battery life than other devices of its type.

“We are making this high-speed transistor because we want to expand the bandwidth of wireless communications, and this will give us more information for a certain limited time,” said Zeng. “It can also be used for space applications because the gallium nitride transistor we used is radiation robust, and it is also wide bandgap material, so it can tolerate a lot of power.”

This transistor represents innovation in both material design and device application design. The transistors are made on a low-cost silicon substrate, “and this process can also be compatible with silicon Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) technology, which is the conventional technology used for semiconductors,” said Zeng.

The transistor described in the recent paper was just the first of many to come.

“We are trying to continue to break our own record, both for the low power application as well as for the high-speed application,” said Zeng. The team also plans to use their transistors to make power amplifiers that could be particularly useful for wireless communications as well as other internet-of-things.

Dennis Prather, Engineering Alumni Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was a co-author on the Applied Physics Express paper. "With the era of 5G upon us, it's very exciting to see Professor Zeng's record setting transistors as a leading contribution to this field,” he said. “Her research is world renowned and the ECE Department is very lucky to have her on its faculty.

Zeng’s group is also working on titanium oxide transistors which are transparent and could be used for backplane displays, competing with the technology for currently commercially used indium-gallium-zinc oxide (InGaZnO) transistors.

Dennis Prather, Engineering Alumni Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was a co-author on the Applied Physics Express paper.

"With the era of 5G upon us, it's very exciting to see Professor Zeng's record setting transistors as a leading contribution to this field,” he said. “Her research is world renowned and the ECE Department is very lucky to have her on its faculty. To this end, 5G is ushering in a wave of new technologies in nearly every aspect of mobile communications and wireless networks, to have UD's ECE department at the leading edge, with Professor Zeng's outstanding research, is truly a wonderful thing."

Several UD Delaware units helped Zeng’s group set their new record. The group fabricated their device in the UD Nanofabrication Facility. Postdoctoral scholar Peng Cui, the first author on the new Applied Physics Express paper, has received funding through the Horn Entrepreneurship Postdoctoral Innovation Fellow program and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

                https://www.udel.edu/udaily/2019/november/yuping-zeng-record-setting-transistor/

Overview of Hydrogen Fuel

Hydrogen fuel is a zero-emission fuel burned with oxygen. It can be used in fuel cells or internal combustion engines. It has begun to be used in commercial fuel cell vehicles such as passenger cars, and has been used in fuel cell buses for many years. It is also used as a fuel for spacecraft propulsion.

]As of 2018, the majority of hydrogen (∼95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming or partial oxidation of methane and coal gasification with only a small quantity by other routes such as biomass gasification or electrolysis of water.

Hydrogen is found in the first group and first period in the periodic table, i.e. it is the first element on the periodic table, making it the lightest element. Since the density of hydrogen is less than air, it rises in the atmosphere and is therefore rarely found in its pure form, H₂. In a flame of pure hydrogen gas, burning in air, the hydrogen (H₂) reacts with oxygen (O₂) to form water (H₂O) and releases energy. 

2H₂ (g) + O₂ (g) → 2H₂O (g) + energy

If carried out in atmospheric air instead of pure oxygen, as is usually the case, hydrogen combustion may yield small amounts of nitrogen oxides, along with the water vapor.

The energy released enables hydrogen to act as a fuel. In an electrochemical cell, that energy can be used with relatively high efficiency. If it is used simply for heat, the usual thermodynamics limits on the thermal efficiency apply.

Hydrogen is usually considered an energy carrier, like electricity, as it must be produced from a primary energy source such as solar energy, biomass, electricity (e.g. in the form of solar PV or via wind turbines), or hydrocarbons such as natural gas or coal.  Conventional hydrogen production using natural gas induces significant environmental impacts; as with the use of any hydrocarbon, carbon dioxide is emitted.

Production and Storage

Because pure hydrogen does not occur naturally on Earth in large quantities, it usually requires a primary energy input to produce on an industrial scale. Hydrogen fuel can be produced from methane or by electrolysis of water. As of 2018, the majority of hydrogen (∼95%) is produced from fossil fuels by steam reforming or partial oxidation of methane and coal gasification with only a small quantity by other routes such as biomass gasification or electrolysis of water.

Steam-methane reforming, the current leading technology for producing hydrogen in large quantities, extracts hydrogen from methane. However, this reaction releases fossil carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere which are greenhouse gases exogenous to the natural carbon cycle, and thus contribute to climate change. In electrolysis, electricity is run through water to separate the hydrogen and oxygen atoms. This method can use wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, fossil fuels, biomass, nuclear, and many other energy sources. Obtaining hydrogen from this process is being studied as a viable way to produce it domestically at a low cost.

Hydrogen fuel is hazardous because of the low ignition energy and high combustion energy of hydrogen, and because it tends to leak easily from tanks. Explosions at hydrogen filling stations have been reported. Hydrogen fueling stations generally receive deliveries of hydrogen by truck from hydrogen suppliers. An interruption at a hydrogen supply facility can shut down multiple hydrogen fueling stations.

Hydrogen as Energy

Hydrogen is locked up in enormous quantities in water, hydrocarbons, and other organic matter. One of the challenges of using hydrogen as a fuel comes from being able to efficiently extract hydrogen from these compounds. Now, steam reforming, which combines high-temperature steam with natural gas, accounts for the majority of the hydrogen produced. This method of hydrogen production occurs at temperatures between 700-1100°C, and has a resultant efficiency of between 60-75%. Hydrogen can also be produced from water through electrolysis, which is less carbon intensive if the electricity used to drive the reaction does not come from fossil-fuel power plants but rather renewable or nuclear energy instead. The efficiency of water electrolysis is between about 70-80%, with a goal set to reach 82-86% efficiency by 2030 using proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers. Once produced, hydrogen can be used in much the same way as natural gas - it can be delivered to fuel cells to generate electricity and heat, used in a combined cycle gas turbine to produce larger quantities of centrally produced electricity or burned to run a combustion engine; all methods producing no carbon or methane emissions. In each case hydrogen is combined with oxygen to form water. The heat in a hydrogen flame is a radiant emission from the newly formed water molecules. The water molecules are in an excited state on initial formation and then transition to a ground state; the transition releasing thermal radiation. When burning in air, the temperature is roughly 2000 °C (the same as natural gas). Historically, carbon has been the most practical carrier of energy, as hydrogen and carbon combined are more volumetrically dense, although hydrogen itself has three times the energy density per weight as methane or gasoline. Although hydrogen is the smallest element and thus has a slightly higher propensity to leak from venerable natural gas pipes such as those made from iron, leakage from plastic (polyethylene PE100) pipes is expected to be very low at about 0.001%.

The reason steam methane reforming has traditionally been favoured over electrolysis is because whereas methane reforming directly uses natural gas, electrolysis requires electricity. As the cost of producing electricity (via wind turbines and solar PV) falls below the cost of natural gas, electrolysis becomes cheaper than SMR.

Uses of Hydrogen Fuel

Hydrogen fuel can provide motive power for liquid-propellant rockets, cars, trains, boats and airplanes, portable fuel cell applications or stationary fuel cell applications, which can power an electric motor. The problems of using hydrogen fuel in cars arise from the fact that hydrogen is difficult to store in either a high pressure tank or a cryogenic tank. 

Internal combustion engine conversions to hydrogen

Combustion engines in commercial vehicles have been converted to run on a hydrogen-diesel mix in the UK, where up to 70% of emissions have been reduced during normal driving conditions. This eliminates range anxiety as the vehicles can fill up on diesel. Minor modifications are needed to the engines, as well as the addition of hydrogen tanks at a compression of 350 bars. Trials are now underway to test the efficiency of the 100% conversion of a Volvo FH16 heavy-duty truck to use only hydrogen. The range is expected to be 300km/17kg; which means an efficiency better than a standard diesel engine (where the embodied energy of 1 gallon of gasoline is equal to 1 kilogram of hydrogen). 

At a low cost price for hydrogen (€5/kg), significant fuel savings could be made via such a conversion in Europe or the UK. A lower price would be needed to compete with gasoline in the US, as gasoline is not exposed to high taxes at the pump. 

Fuel cells

Using a fuel cell to power an electric motor is two to three times more efficient than using a combustion engine. This means that much greater fuel economy is available using hydrogen in a fuel cell.

                                            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_fuel

Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Landslide

Yesterday’s local Hong Kong elections produced a pro-democracy landslide.

“The result of Sunday's elections could force the central government in Beijing to rethink how to handle the unrest, which is now in its sixth month. The district councils have little power, but the vote became a referendum on public support for the protests.

"It's nothing short of a revolution. This is a landslide," said Willy Lam, a political expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "It's a sound repudiation of the Carrie Lam administration and shows the silent majority are behind the demands of the protesters."

 --CBS News

More at this link:  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hong-kong-elections-pro-democracy-side-wins-local-elections-landslide/

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

South China Morning Post: “The anti-establishment reverberations from almost six months of street protests swept through polling stations across Hong Kong on Sunday, as voters in record numbers roundly rejected pro-Beijing candidates in favour of pan-democrats.”

“The tsunami of disaffection among voters was clear across the board, as pan-democrats rode the wave to win big in poor and rich neighbourhoods, in both protest-prone and non-protest-afflicted districts and, in downtown areas as well as the suburbs.”

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3039151/hong-kong-elections-tsunami-disaffection-washes-over-city/

Computer Science Unsolved Problems

This article is a list of unsolved problems in computer science. A problem in computer science is considered unsolved when no solution is known, or when experts in the field disagree about proposed solutions.

Computational Complexity

• P versus NP problem
• What is the relationship between BQP and NP?
• NC = P problem
• NP = co-NP problem
• P = BPP problem
• P = PSPACE problem
• L = NL problem
• PH = PSPACE problem
• L = P problem
• L = RL problem
• Unique games conjecture
• Is the exponential time hypothesis true?
• Is the strong exponential time hypothesis (SETH) true?
• Do one-way functions exist?
• Is public-key cryptography possible?
• Log-rank conjecture

Polynomial versus Non-polynomial Time for Specific Algorithmic Problems

• Can integer factorization be done in polynomial time on a classical (non-quantum) computer?
• Can clustered planar drawings be found in polynomial time?
• Can the discrete logarithm be computed in polynomial time?
• Can the graph isomorphism problem be solved in polynomial time?
• Can leaf powers and k-leaf powers be recognized in polynomial time?
• Can parity games be solved in polynomial time?
• Can the rotation distance between two binary trees be computed in polynomial time?
• Can graphs of bounded clique-width be recognized in polynomial time?^[1]
• Can one find a simple closed quasigeodesic on a convex polyhedron in polynomial time?^[2]
• Can a simultaneous embedding with fixed edges for two given graphs be found in polynomial time?

Other Algorithmic Problems

• The dynamic optimality conjecture: do splay trees have a bounded competitive ratio?
• Is there a k-competitive online algorithm for the k-server problem?
• Can a depth-first search tree be constructed in NC?
• Can the fast Fourier transform be computed in o(n log n) time?
• What is the fastest algorithm for multiplication of two n-digit numbers?
• What is the lowest possible average-case time complexity of Shellsort with a deterministic, fixed gap sequence?
• Can 3SUM be solved in strongly sub-quadratic time, that is, in time O(n^2−ϵ) for some ϵ>0?
• Can the edit distance between two strings of length n be computed in strongly sub-quadratic time? (This is only possible if the strong exponential time hypothesis is false.)
• Can X + Y sorting be done in o(n² log n) time?
• What is the fastest algorithm for matrix multiplication?
• Can all-pairs shortest paths be computed in strongly sub-cubic time, that is, in time O(V^3−ϵ) for some ϵ>0?
• Can the Schwartz–Zippel lemma for polynomial identity testing be derandomized?
• Does linear programming admit a strongly polynomial-time algorithm? (This is problem #9 in Smale's list of problems.)
• How many queries are required for envy-free cake-cutting?
• What is the algorithm for the lookup table that consistently generates playable mazes in the 1982 Atari 2600 game Entombed merely from the values of the five pixels adjacent to the next ones to be generated?

Natural Language Processing Algorithms

• Is there any perfect syllabification algorithm in the English language?
• Is there any perfect stemming algorithm in the English language?
• Is there any perfect POS tagging algorithm in the English language?

Programming Language Theory

• POPLmark
• Barendregt–Geuvers–Klop conjecture

Other Problems

• Aanderaa–Karp–Rosenberg conjecture
• Generalized star height problem
• Separating words problem

                   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsolved_problems_in_computer_science

The Indian Giant Squirrel

The Indian giant squirrel, or Malabar giant squirrel, (Ratufa indica) is a large tree squirrel species in the genus Ratufa native to India. It is a large-bodied diurnal, arboreal, and mainly herbivorous squirrel found in South Asia.

                                                               Indian Giant Squirrel  

Description

R. indica has a conspicuous two-toned (and sometimes three-toned) color scheme. The colours involved can be creamy-beige, buff, tan, rust, brown, or even a dark seal brown. The underparts and the front legs are usually cream coloured, the head can be brown or beige, however there is a distinctive white spot between the ears Adult head and body length varies around 14 inches (36 cm) and the tail length is approximately 2 ft (0.61 m). Adult weight - 2 kg (4.41 lb). [This means that an average adult Indian giant squirrel is three feet long!]

Behavior

The Indian giant squirrel is an upper-canopy dwelling species, which rarely leaves the trees, and requires "tall profusely branched trees for the construction of nests." It travels from tree to tree with jumps of up to 6 m (20 ft). When in danger, the Ratufa indica often freezes or flattens itself against the tree trunk, instead of fleeing. Its main predators are the birds of prey and the leopard. The Giant Squirrel is mostly active in the early hours of the morning and in the evening, resting in the midday. They are typically solitary animals that only come together for breeding. The species is believed to play a substantial role in shaping the ecosystem of its habitat by engaging in seed dispersal. Diet includes fruit, flowers, nuts and tree bark. Some subspecies are omnivorous, also eating insects and bird eggs.

Distribution

The species is endemic to deciduous, mixed deciduous, and moist evergreen forests of peninsular India, reaching as far north as the Satpura hill range of Madhya Pradesh (approx. 22° N).

Family Life

The Indian Giant Squirrel lives alone or in pairs. They build large globular nests of twigs and leaves, placing them on thinner branches where large predators can't get to them. These nests become conspicuous in deciduous forests during the dry season. An individual may build several nests in a small area of forest which are used as sleeping quarters, with one being used as a nursery.

Reproduction

Captive breeding of the Malayan giant squirrel, a close relative has indicated births in March, April, September and December. The young weigh 74.5 g at birth and have a length of 27.3 cm. In Canara, the Indian Giant Squirrel has been spotted with young in March.

Recognition as a State Animal

Indian Giant Squirrel (Shekaru in Marathi) is the state animal of the state of Maharashtra in western India.

                                      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_giant_squirrel

Dangers of Sleep Deprivation

From Michigan State University

November 21, 2019 - EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University's Sleep and Learning Lab has conducted one of the largest sleep studies to date, revealing that sleep deprivation affects us much more than prior theories have suggested.

Published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, the research is not only one of the largest studies, but also the first to assess how sleep deprivation impacts placekeeping - or, the ability to complete a series of steps without losing one's place, despite potential interruptions. This study builds on prior research from MSU's sleep scientists to quantify the effect lack of sleep has on a person's ability to follow a procedure and maintain attention.

"Our research showed that sleep deprivation doubles the odds of making placekeeping errors and triples the number of lapses in attention, which is startling," Fenn said. "Sleep-deprived individuals need to exercise caution in absolutely everything that they do, and simply can't trust that they won't make costly errors. Oftentimes - like when behind the wheel of a car - these errors can have tragic consequences."

By sharing their findings on the separate effects sleep deprivation has on cognitive function, Fenn - and co-authors Michelle Stepan, MSU doctoral candidate and Erik Altmann, professor of psychology - hope that people will acknowledge how significantly their abilities are hindered because of a lack of sleep.

"Our findings debunk a common theory that suggests that attention is the only cognitive function affected by sleep deprivation," Stepan said. "Some sleep-deprived people might be able to hold it together under routine tasks, like a doctor taking a patient's vitals. But our results suggest that completing an activity that requires following multiple steps, such as a doctor completing a medical procedure, is much riskier under conditions of sleep deprivation."

The researchers recruited 138 people to participate in the overnight sleep assessment; 77 stayed awake all night and 61 went home to sleep. All participants took two separate cognitive tasks in the evening: one that measured reaction time to a stimulus; the other measured a participant's ability to maintain their place in a series of steps without omitting or repeating a step - even after sporadic interruptions. The participants then repeated both tasks in the morning to see how sleep-deprivation affected their performance.

"After being interrupted there was a 15% error rate in the evening and we saw that the error rate spiked to about 30% for the sleep-deprived group the following morning," Stepan said. "The rested participants' morning scores were similar to the night before.

"There are some tasks people can do on auto-pilot that may not be affected by a lack of sleep," Fenn said. "However, sleep deprivation causes widespread deficits across all facets of life."

                      https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/msu-sud112119.php

The Key to Photosynthesis

University of Sheffield. November 13, 2019 -- Scientists have solved the structure of one of the key components of photosynthesis, a discovery that could lead to photosynthesis being 'redesigned' to achieve higher yields and meet urgent food security needs.

The study, led by the University of Sheffield and published today in the journal Nature, reveals the structure of cytochrome b6f -- the protein complex that significantly influences plant growth via photosynthesis.

Photosynthesis is the foundation of life on Earth providing the food, oxygen and energy that sustains the biosphere and human civilisation.

Using a high-resolution structural model, the team found that the protein complex provides the electrical connection between the two light-powered chlorophyll-proteins (Photosystems I and II) found in the plant cell chloroplast that convert sunlight into chemical energy.

Lorna Malone, the first author of the study and a PhD student in the University of Sheffield's Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, said: "Our study provides important new insights into how cytochrome b6f utilises the electrical current passing through it to power up a 'proton battery'. This stored energy can then be then used to make ATP, the energy currency of living cells. Ultimately this reaction provides the energy that plants need to turn carbon dioxide into the carbohydrates and biomass that sustain the global food chain."

The high-resolution structural model, determined using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy, reveals new details of the additional role of cytochrome b6f as a sensor to tune photosynthetic efficiency in response to ever-changing environmental conditions. This response mechanism protects the plant from damage during exposure to harsh conditions such as drought or excess light.

Dr Matt Johnson, reader in Biochemistry at the University of Sheffield and one of the supervisors of the study added: "Cytochrome b6f is the beating heart of photosynthesis which plays a crucial role in regulating photosynthetic efficiency.

"Previous studies have shown that by manipulating the levels of this complex we can grow bigger and better plants. With the new insights we have obtained from our structure we can hope to rationally redesign photosynthesis in crop plants to achieve the higher yields we urgently need to sustain a projected global population of 9-10 billion by 2050."

The research was conducted in collaboration with the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology at the University of Leeds.

Researchers now aim to establish how cytochrome b6f is controlled by a myriad of regulatory proteins and how these regulators affect the function of this complex.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/11/191113153102.htm