#China Stocks Extend Slide Amid Warning of Severe Trade Pressure Shanghai/Beijing: Chinese stock markets tumbled for a second straight day on Wednesday as investors crowded the exits,
fearing a government campaign to prop up share prices was faltering and unnerved by a steady stream of gloomy economic news. The Shanghai
and Shenzhen markets were down around 3 per cent in morning trade, taking their losses to more than 8 per cent since Monday's close,
despite a government-directed campaign by brokers, fund managers and regulators to stabilise prices. The sell off began late on Tuesday on speculation that the central bank was in no rush to inject more stimulus into the world's second-largest economy
which has been slowing markedly as investment and exports weaken. On Wednesday, the Commerce Ministry added to those concerns,
saying exports could continue falling in coming months, after an 8. 3 per cent plunge in July,
Domestic and global investors are growing anxious that China's economy will suffer a hard landing.
Their anxiety is heightened only by the prospect of an imminent rise in U s. interest rates, which would draw capital away from emerging markets like China."
"said Tim Condon, head of Asia research for ING BANK in Singapore. The economy is already under threat of deflation
and struggling to revive bricks-and-mortar investment. It is targeted officially to grow by 7 per cent this year,
but some economists estimate it may be growing at closer to half that. Combined exports and imports for the first seven months of 2015 fell 7. 2 per cent from the same period last year, compared with Beijing's full-year target of 6
per cent growth in total trade.""The possibility of exports to see year-on-year decline in some months could not be ruled out.
Testing Beijing's Resolve Investors sold stocks across the board on Wednesday, including in companies partly owned by the China Securities Finance Corp (CSFC),
the state margin lender tasked with buying stocks and propping up prices. The margin-lender is part of a"national team"of Chinese financial institutions assembled by Beijing to prop up prices.
The team was formed last month, after a long and stunning rally in Chinese markets ended in panic selling.
An index that tracks companies in which CSFC is a shareholder fell more than 4 per cent
revealing doubts about the team's ability to turn market sentiment around.""The government doesn't have enough money,
or willingness to buy shares now, "said Samuel Chien, partner of hedge fund manager Shanghai Boom Trend Investment management Co. The weak sentiment spread on Wednesday to the foreign exchange market,
where the yuan fell away from the official reference rate set by the central bank each morning.
The People's Bank of china (PBOC) devalued the currency on August 11, within a few days of the poor July export data and other official figures showing factory-gate prices continued their three-year slide in July, touching a six-year
low. In an attempt to calm rattled markets the PBOC later insisted the yuan had no reason to fall further,
but most economists believe there is political pressure to let it slowly slide, which will pressure China's export-reliant Asian neighbours.
The yuan has fallen 3 per cent against the dollar since the eve of the devaluation,
but that marks only a partial reversal of its gains over the past 12 months, especially against currencies of major trading partners Japan and the euro zone.
Bank of america Merrill lynch said on Wednesday the yuan could be allowed to depreciate to 6. 5 to the dollar by the end of this year and 6. 9 by end 2016
from around 6. 40 now. The devaluation last week triggered falls in other Asian currencies such as those of Australia, New zealand, Indonesia,
Singapore and Taiwan, fuelling fears of a currency war. On Wednesday, Vietnam devalued the dong for the third time this year as authorities sought to support a languid export sector facing fresh challenges from the Chinese devaluation n
#Foreign investors Sell Record Amount of Indian Shares in August Foreign investors sold a record amount of Indian shares in August,
offloading even more than in the midst of the global financial crisis, as turbulent markets in China led many funds to reduce their holdings in riskier emerging markets.
Foreign institutional investors sold a net Rs 16,877 crore ($2. 55 billion) in Indian shares in August, more than the previous monthly record of Rs 15,347 crore in October 2008
, according to data from National securities Depository Limited (NSDL. The sales helped push the Nifty down 6. 6 per cent in August, its worst monthly performance since November 2011.
Analysts said the sales were largely a result of the overweight positions in India by foreign investors,
who have been heavy buyers since 2012. Foreign investors had been net buyers as early as July when India was seen as benefitting from outflows from China.
They remain net buyers of 275.2 billion rupees this year.""If people are selling India it doesn't necessarily mean they are negative on India.
Data on Tuesday showed India's economy grew 7 per cent in the April-June quarter from a year earlier, much slower than expected,
and investors are concerned that Prime minister Narendra Modi's reform agenda will fall short. Meanwhile a delay in the recovery in earnings has led Macquarie, Barclays and Ambit to downgrade Indian shares over the last few days s
#Market Turbulence Rattles Small IPOS as Bigger Deals Loom A lukewarm response to two small initial public offerings (IPOS) this week has raised concerns about the impact of market turmoil ahead
of big-name debuts including Cafe Coffee Day and airline Indigo. Shares hit their lowest level in about a year last week,
Foreign investors-crucial in larger offerings-sold a record amount of shares in August, offloading even more than during the financial crisis.
Prabhat Dairy was forced to cut its $78 million IPO price band and extended the subscription period for investors by two days.
Just over a quarter of its book was covered on Tuesday evening. Sadbhav Infrastructure meanwhile, had received orders for only a fifth of its planned $74 million IPO in midafternoon trade on Wednesday.
It was subscribed 1. 34 times at the close. By contrast, power infrastructure services firm Power Mech and clinical research firm Syngene,
Investment bankers said retail investors were pulling back, while institutions were being pickier.""It will be tricky and more selective in the coming few months.
"said one investment banker with a foreign lender.""Big IPOS demand may not get hit as much, but valuations certainly will."
"Bankers and investors in India had hoped previously for a bumper year for IPOS, with 13 companies already having listed so far this year-the most since 2011."
"said a second senior Mumbai-based investment banker.""We have to be careful about what we take to market."
which runs the Indigo airline, is seeking a $400 million listing. Analysts warn more uncertainty is given in store the US Federal reserve is expected to raise interest rates as early as September,
raising the prospect of continued outflows from emerging markets. The Nifty is down 14.5 per cent
"said Kaustubh Kulkarni, head of investment banking at J p morgan India a
#Edible Oil Producers Fight Battle Against Cheap Palm oil Imports Dewas: Rajesh Agrawal had built two large oilseed crushing mills in central India,
betting on rising local consumption of edible oils. But now after 30 years of soaring demand and good business, his main mill is shut
Now with Malaysian palm oil prices near 6-1/2 year lows, imports could rise even more
"said Nitesh Shahra, president of the refinery division of Ruchi Soya, the country's biggest edible oil refiner."
unless we make oilseeds remunerative for farmers by increasing import duty, "he added. Massive imports have driven down Indian soybean prices by 20 per cent in four months, discouraging farmers from expanding oilseed area.
But despite this, local soyoil is still 50 per cent costlier than imported palm oil.""Oilseed cultivation is not profitable.
There is no guarantee of prices and yield,"said Mukesh Patel, who cultivates soybeans in Dewas, a district in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh."
"Next year I will switch to corn. It costs less and gives better returns, "he added.
"said Davish Jain, chairman of the Soybean Processors Association of India.""Our oilseed and edible oil production will not rise
"Government Push For Oilseeds The finance ministry is looking into requests for a hike in import duties on crude edible oils to 25 per cent from 7. 5 per cent,
India has said it plans to spend $1. 5 billion over three years to help farmers grow oil palm trees.
It has already been considering directly buying oilseeds from farmers and boosting state support for rapeseed, soybeans and peanuts.
But as of now, it is a Catch-22 for farmers and millers.""We can't sell edible oils at higher prices due to cheaper imports
and oilseed farmers are not ready to accept lower prices, "said the miller Agrawal l
#E-commerce Players Betting Big on Offline Presence Many e-commerce players have started foraying into physical retail space
and the trend is going to become more prominent in future as it provides an opportunity to reinforce the online brand and gauge the market,
experts say. In order to differentiate their brand from the clutter of online brands, some e-tailers are setting up shops offline.
According to property consultant JLL India, Pepperfry is the latest to go'hybrid'.'The furniture portal recently leased a 1,
800 sq ft space at Linking Road, Santacruz. Moreover, Lenskart, an Indian eyewear brand that started online,
has opened lately up stores in retail malls. Besides, online travel firm Makemytrip has opened over a dozen stores."
According to experts, companies are realising that for a lot of product segments like apparel, spectacles and jewelry,
experts believe.""A significant share of our customers still prefer to buy offline and consider online website as a research tool.
The bigger ticket items are bought generally offline.""Therefore, in the race to provide a complete solution,
such phenomenon of online players going offline should stay, "said Vikas Bhasin, CFO, Pine Labs, an integrated payment solutions company."
"A larger portion of the Indian society is dominated middle class. This clientele is very skeptical about what,
how and where they spend. For this strong bastion of middle class milieu, offline models like retailer shops have mushroomed all over,
"said R P Yadav, CMD, Genius Consultants. Meanwhile, some experts believe that the'hybrid model'will sustain itself
while pureplay online retail will continue to stay.""We can neither call this trend a passing fad nor conclude by saying that it is something that is here to stay as there is a huge gap between the online
and offline models of e-commerce, "said Dinesh Gulati, Director, Indiamart. According to Tripti Lochan, CEO of VML, a leading digital marketing agency,"pureplay online retail will continue to live as not every e-commerce player has need either the
or the appetite to get into traditional retail.""""We are investing in technology to solve many complex online furniture shopping problems in an innovative way.
One of our apps is built specifically to help users visualise our sofas in their home with augment reality."
"In future, we will work on many such solutions, "said Rajiv Srivatsa, COO & cofounder, Urban Ladder r
#Dell to Acquire EMC in $67 Billion Record Tech Deal Computer maker Dell Inc said on Monday it had agreed to buy data storage company EMC Corp in a $67 billion record technology
and create an enterprise tech powerhouse. The acquisition will help privately held Dell diversify away from a stagnant personal-computer market
and storing data for enterprises.""Dell wants to become the old IBM Corp, a one-stop shop for corporate clients.
That model fell apart a couple of decades ago. Reviving it would be a stunning coup for Dell,
"said Erik Gordon, clinical assistant professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of business. The deal values EMC at $33. 15 a share.
and will also give EMC shareholders a special stock that tracks the share price in virtual software provider VMWARE Inc."The combination of Dell
and EMC creates an enterprise solutions powerhouse,""said Michael Dell, who will lead the combined company as chairman and chief executive.
and will recommend that shareholders do so as well. The merger agreement includes a'go-shop'provision that allows EMC to solicit bids from other parties
While IBM Corp, Cisco systems Inc and Hewlett-packard Co could theoretically be potential suitors for EMC,
which has a market capitalization of $53. 6 billion, the chances of them challenging Dell with a rival offer are slim,
people familiar with the matter have told Reuters. The deal will be financed through a combination of new equity from Dell's owners-founder and chief executive Michael Dell, its investment firm MSD Partners, private equity firm
Silver lake and Singapore state-owned investor Temasek Holdings-as well as the issuance of the tracking stock, new debt and cash on hand.
Lecture by Massimiliano Zecca In this video lecture, Massimiliano Zecca from the Healthcare Technology and Head of the Healthcare Technology group at Loughborough University discusses emotional robotics, musical robotics and wearable
He centers his research on robotic systems and technologies that assist those in need due to advanced age or illness.
His work also touches on how people perceive the interaction with these robots, rather than concentrating solely on advancing the technology.
This brought his attention to wearable sensors for humans, where the data collected is fed directly to robots for interpretation.
Zecca explores issues such as how people feel about interacting with the robot on an emotional level,
Download the PDF presentation here. Massimiliano Zecca holds a Ph d. in Biomedical Robotics from the Scuola Superiore Santnna
Pisa,(Italy), and currently teaches Healthcare Technology at Loughborough University (UK), where he also leads the Wearable Biorobotics research group.
He is a member of the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine in the East midlands,
and of the NIHR Leicester-Loughborough Diet, Lifestyle and Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit. Zecca M. IJARS Video Series:
Human-Robot Emotional and Musical Interactions online video. International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, 2015,12:
V3. DOI: 10.5772/6080 1
#Icelandic research institute unveils ethical robotics policy The Icelandic Institute of Intelligent Machines (IIIM) has become the first R&d centre in the world to adopt a policy that repudiates development of robotic technologies intended for military operations.
The IIIM new ethics policy has been agreed unanimously by its staff and Board of directors and came into force at the end of last month.
It aims for the peaceful use of artificial intelligence and draws a firm line against collaboration with any organisation ven partially funded by military means within the last five years. t is only fitting that a research centre in Iceland should field such a policy a nation without a standing army
and virtually no history of war in its 1100 years said Kristinn R. Thórisson, IIIM Managing director. ike any other technology,
AI can be abused at everyone expense, escalating the dangers associated with tensions between groups, governments, and nations.
It clear that the nonprofit IIIM has launched its policy not only to publicise its anti-military stance,
Many experts and various pressure groups, including the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots adamantly and publicly oppose autonomous weapons.
Last May, a meeting was organised at the UN to assess the ethical and sociological questions that arise from their development and deployment,
In July, the Future of Life Institute released an open document calling for a ban on autonomous weapons.
There are, as yet, no agreements or even proposals to ban autonomous weapons, but discussions in the UN are ongoing.
but the institute has made undoubtedly a brave decision in rejecting the billions of dollars of contracts thrown at the military weapons industries.
The moral, ethical and legal arguments against weapons that can make decisions about who to kill will rubble on.
#Watch flying machines weave a rope bridge you can walk on Using quadrocopters and some rope, researchers have woven together a bridge strong enough to walk across.
Made at the ETH Zurich Flying Machine Arena in Switzerland, the bridge joins two scaffolds,
and is the first full-scale load-bearing structure autonomously built by flying machines. The feat represents one more step in the field of robotic aerial construction 1, 2 Except for the metal scaffolding at either end of the structure,
the bridge itself consists exclusively of Dyneema rope, a tensile material with a low weight-to-strength ratio that makes it ideal for aerial construction.
Weighing just 7 grams per meter a 4 mm diameter Dyneema rope can sustain up to 1300 kg.
links and braids 3 and has a total rope length of about 120 m. How it works The project was developed at the Flying Machine Arena 4, a research and demonstration platform for aerial robotics.
The arena is equipped with a motion capture system that provides vehicle position and attitude measurements for the small custom quadrocopters.
An offboard computer runs the algorithms and sends commands out to the#ying machines via a customized wireless infrastructure.
all the connections and links of the bridge primary and bracing sections are without human intervention autonomously woven
and secured into place by the quadrocopters, which are equipped each with a motorized spool that allows them to control the tension of the rope.
and torques exerted on the quadrocopter by the rope during deployment, and takes this into account
in order to ensure that the quadrocopters behave as desired 5. The researchers then walk across the bridge to demonstrate its load-bearing ability.
Once the bridge itself is constructed, stabilizers are added to make it easier for a person to cross.
Because there are no sensors to detect the rope configuration, the locations of the narrow openings of the bridge must be measured and input to the system,
which then adapts the quadrocopterstrajectories in order to weave the stabilizers. The team also developed a series of computational tools to help identify
and design the kinds of novel structures that are buildable using flying robots. Using these tools
the researchers can simulate their designs, determine feasible construction sequences, and evaluate the structure before they begin building 6
Khazendar team used data on ice surface elevations and bedrock depths from instrumented aircraft participating in NASA Operation Icebridge,
Data on flow speeds came from spaceborne synthetic aperture radars operating since 1997. Khazendar noted his estimate of the remnant remaining life span was based on the likely scenario that a huge,
300 feet (700 meters) a year comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 75 mph.
the glaciers behind the collapsed part of the shelf accelerated as much as eightfold comparable to a car accelerating from 55 to 440 mph.
will react to a warming climate, said JPL glaciologist Eric Rignot, a coauthor of the paper.
the University of California, Irvine, and the University Center in Svalbard, Norway. NASA uses the vantage point of space to increase our understanding of our home planet,
improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA develops new ways to observe and study Earth interconnected natural systems with long-term data records.
The agency freely shares this unique knowledge and works with institutions around the world to gain new insights into how our planet is changing.
Publication: Ala Khazendar, et al. he evolving instability of the remnant Larsen B Ice shelf and its tributary glaciers, Earth and Planetary science Letters, Volume 419,1 June 2015, Pages 19910;
#New Polymer Gel Could Create Edible Devices for Ultra-Long Drug Delivery A team of scientists has developed a polymer gel that could allow for the development of long-acting devices that reside in the stomach,
Medical devices designed to reside in the stomach have a variety of applications, including prolonged drug delivery, electronic monitoring,
However, these devices, often created with nondegradable elastic polymers, bear an inherent risk of intestinal obstruction as a result of accidental fracture or migration.
Now, researchers at MIT Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have created a polymer gel that overcomes this safety concern
This polymer is ph-responsive: It is stable in the acidic stomach environment but dissolves in the small intestine near-neutral ph,
allowing for safe passage through the remainder of the gastrointestinal (GI TRACT. The material is also elastic,
allowing for the compression and folding of devices into easily ingestible capsules meaning this polymer can be used to create safe devices designed for extremely prolonged residence in the stomach. ne of the issues with any device in the GI TRACT is that there the potential for an obstruction,
which is a medical emergency potentially requiring surgical intervention, says Koch Institute research affiliate Giovanni Traverso,
also a gastroenterologist at MGH and an instructor at Harvard Medical school. material like this represents a real advance
because it is both safe and stable in the stomach environment. Traverso and Robert Langer, the David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT and a member of the Koch Institute, are the senior authors of a paper in the July 27 issue of Nature Materials that describes the application
of this new polymer gel for creating gastric devices. Shiyi Zhang, a postdoc at the Koch Institute, is the paper lead author.
Safely stretching Designing devices for the stomach is complicated a matter of sizes and shapes. The stomach naturally empties its contents in a matter of hours
so for devices to be retained, they must be wider than the pylorus the valve at the end of the stomach, about 1. 5 to 2 centimeters in diameter,
the researchers were interested in developing a polymer with elastic properties. n elastic device can be folded into something small,
But the size and shape of existing devices with elastic polymers have been limited by safety concerns,
as there is a greater risk for fracture if a device is too large or too complex.
Because of this, the researchers wanted their polymer to also be enteric or have a mechanism that would enable it to pass through the stomach unaltered before disintegrating in the intestines. o lower any possible risk of obstruction,
the researchers synthesized an elastic polymer and combined it in solution with a clinically utilized enteric polymer.
Adding hydrochloric acid and centrifuging the solution resulted in a flexible, yet resilient, polymer gel that exhibits both elastic and enteric properties.
The researchers used the gel polycaprolactone (PCL), a nontoxic, degradable polyester, to construct several device prototypes.
They first created ring-shaped devices by using the gel to link arcs of PCL in a circular mold.
In testing the capsules in pigs, the researchers found that the rings expanded into their original shape within 15 minutes of ingestion
the polymer gel dissolved, allowing for the safe passage of the small PCL pieces without obstruction.
and delivered through the esophagus with the assistance of an endoscope. These devices remained in the stomach for up to five days, after
Improving adherence The combined enteric and elastic properties of this polymer gel could significantly improve the design and adoption of gastric-resident devices.
ingestible electronics, which can diagnose and monitor a variety of conditions in the GI TRACT; or extended-release drug-delivery systems that could last for weeks
a professor of medical science and engineering at Brown University who was not involved with this study. his is a very smart approach.
With further work in adjusting the polymer composition or the design of the system they say that they could tailor devices to release drugs over a specific timeframe of up to weeks or months at a time.
MIT is negotiating an exclusive license agreement with Lyndra, an early-stage biotechnology company developing novel oral drug-delivery systems,
patientsadherence to long-term therapies for chronic illnesses is only 50 percent in developed countries, with lower rates of adherence in developing nations.
Medication nonadherence costs the U s. an estimated $100 billion every year, the bulk of which comes in the form of unnecessary hospitalizations.
The researchers also say that single-administration delivery systems for the radical treatment of malaria
and other infections could significantly benefit from these technologies. In a March 2015 commentary piece in Nature, Traverso and Langer wrote that the GI TRACT is an area rife with opportunity for prolonged drug delivery in tackling this global health problem.
With this new material which can be used to create extended-release systems via swallowable ills,
they envision an emerging field of orally delivered devices that can maximize adherence and therapeutic efficacy.
The paper other authors include Andrew Bellinger, Dean Glettig, Ross Barman, Young-Ah Lee, Cody Cleveland, Veronica Montgomery,
and Landon Nash and Duncan Maitland from Texas A&m University. This research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National institutes of health,
and the Alexander Von humboldt Foundation e
#MIT Physicists Create a Superfluid in a Record-High Magnetic field Physicists from MIT have created a superfluid gas, the so-called Bose-Einstein condensate, for the first time in an extremely high magnetic field.
The magnetic field is a synthetic magnetic field, generated using laser beams, and is 100 times stronger than that of the world strongest magnets.
Within this magnetic field, the researchers could keep a gas superfluid for a tenth of a second just long enough for the team to observe it.
The researchers report their results this week in the journal Nature Physics. A superfluid is a phase of matter that only certain liquids
Superfluids are thought to flow endlessly, without losing energy, similar to electrons in a superconductor. Observing the behavior of superfluids
therefore may help scientists improve the quality of superconducting magnets and sensors, and develop energy-efficient methods for transporting electricity.
But superfluids are temperamental, and can disappear in a flash if atoms cannot be kept cold or confined.
to create and maintain a superfluid gas long enough to observe it at ultrahigh synthetic magnetic fields. oing to extremes is the way to make discoveries,
the John D. Macarthur Professor of Physics at MIT. e use ultracold atoms to map out
Ketterle team members include graduate students Colin Kennedy, William Cody Burton, and Woo Chang Chung. A superfluid with loops The team first used a combination of laser cooling and evaporative cooling methods,
The electric field of the laser beams creates what known as a periodic potential landscape, similar to an egg carton,
When charged particles are exposed to magnetic fields, their trajectories are bent into circular orbits, causing them to loop around and around.
The higher the magnetic field, the tighter a particle orbit becomes. However, to confine electrons to the microscopic scale of a crystalline material,
a magnetic field 100 times stronger than that of the strongest magnets in the world would be required.
their trajectories are unaffected normally by magnetic fields. Instead, the MIT group came up with a technique to generate a synthetic
ultrahigh magnetic field, using laser beams to push atoms around in tiny orbits, similar to the orbits of electrons under a real magnetic field.
On a flat lattice, atoms can easily move around from site to site. However, in a tilted lattice, the atoms would have to work against gravity.
In this scenario, atoms could only move with the help of laser beams. ow the laser beams could be used to make neutral atoms move around like electrons in a strong magnetic field
added Kennedy. Using laser beams, the group could make the atoms orbit, or loop around, in a radius as small as two lattice squares, similar to how particles would move in an extremely high magnetic field. nce we had the idea,
we were excited really about it, because of its simplicity. All we had to do was take two suitable laser beams
Kennedy says. ew perspectives to known physics After developing the tilting technique to simulate a high magnetic field,
which could make them lose their superfluid properties. t a complicated experiment, with a lot of laser beams, electronics,
and keep them cold some of it was painstaking work. In the end, the researchers were able to keep the superfluid gas stable for a tenth of a second.
During that time, the team took time-of-flight pictures of the distribution of atoms to capture the topology
Those images also reveal the structure of the magnetic field something that been known, but never directly visualized until now. he main accomplishment is that we were able to verify
Ketterle says. f we can get synthetic magnetic fields under even better control, our laboratory could do years of research on this topic.
For the expert, what it opens up is a new window into the quantum world,
where materials with new properties can be studied. Going forward, the team plans to carry out similar experiments
including quantum Hall physics and topological insulators. e are adding new perspectives to physics, Ketterle says. e are touching on the unknown,
This research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Air force Office for Scientific research, and the Army Research Office f
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011