Be polite even though I'm super rich and busy? Sara Jane Ho puts China's very important people to a global test.?
By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / April 10, 2013
Chinese women have a chat near a plum tree at a public park in Beijing Sunday.
Andy Wong/AP
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How?s this for a Chinese start-up? Finishing school.
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Beijing Bureau Chief
Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.
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Sara Jane Ho, a well-groomed young woman from Hong Kong, has just launched what she calls Beijing?s first ?high end boutique finishing school? to teach China?s nouveau riche how to behave.
Good manners are not necessarily deeply instilled in your average Chinese citizen, and here I am being as polite as Ms. Ho teaches her students to be. But as she points out, only 50 years ago, people here ?were fighting to get to the front of the food ration line, for survival. They were not thinking of manners.?
Today, though, wealthy Chinese businesswomen, housewives, and ladies of leisure are anxious to learn the social skills of their Western counterparts. And for a cool $15,000 for a 12-day course, Ho will initiate them into the mysteries of foreign etiquette at her Institute Sarita.
She has the background ? both a business degree from Harvard and an etiquette diploma from the Institute Villa Pierrefeu, a Swiss finishing school ? and she covers all the bases.
One moment her clients, gathered in Ho?s plush offices in the Park Hyatt Residences in downtown Beijing, will be learning what ?black tie? means; the next moment they are practicing the correct pronunciation of ?Louis Vuitton? or being given the ?Introduction to Expensive Sports? course, which explains why they ought to enjoy horseback riding.
Predictably, perhaps, for women accustomed to eating even the grandest banquet with a simple pair of chopsticks, laying a Western table and learning how to handle knives and forks are especially puzzling skills. Nor does Ho make it easy: Her students have to remember such arcane details as the difference between the fork for extracting snails from their shells and the fork used to eat oysters.
But Ho says she also hopes to give etiquette a deeper meaning, to teach ?the philosophy behind the mechanics.?
?Good manners go along with good morals,? she preaches, with a nod to Confucius. ?Virtuous people do not commit murder ? and nor do they behave in obnoxious ways when they travel.?
In the end, she points out, good manners are the same the world over once you get past such questions of which hand you should hold your fork in. ?Good manners means respect for other people,? says Ho, and that is something that some of China?s new rich find even harder to learn than how to distinguish a Californian Chardonnay from a Bordeaux claret.
?I tell them [my clients] that they have to treat people as people no matter who they are speaking to,? she says. ?You are not above other people just because you are in a rush or have more money. But that takes a long time to learn.??
Contact: Mari N. Jensen mnjensen@email.arizona.edu 520-626-9635 University of Arizona
A new chemical process can transform waste sulfur into a lightweight plastic that may improve batteries for electric cars, reports a University of Arizona-led team. The new plastic has other potential uses, including optical uses.
The team has successfully used the new plastic to make lithium-sulfur batteries.
"We've developed a new, simple and useful chemical process to convert sulfur into a useful plastic," lead researcher Jeffrey Pyun said.
Next-generation lithium-sulfur, or Li-S, batteries will be better for electric and hybrid cars and for military uses because they are more efficient, lighter and cheaper than those currently used, said Pyun, a UA associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
The new plastic has great promise as something that can be produced easily and inexpensively on an industrial scale, he said.
The team's discovery could provide a new use for the sulfur left over when oil and natural gas are refined into cleaner-burning fuels.
Although there are some industrial uses for sulfur, the amount generated from refining fossil fuels far outstrips the current need for the element. Some oil refineries, such as those in Ft. McMurray in Alberta, are accumulating yellow mountains of waste sulfur.
"There's so much of it we don't know what to do with it," said Pyun. He calls the left-over sulfur "the garbage of transportation."
About one-half pound of sulfur is left over for every 19 gallons of gasoline produced from fossil fuels, calculated co-author Jared Griebel, a UA chemistry and biochemistry doctoral candidate.
The researchers have filed an international patent for their new chemical process and for the new polymeric electrode materials for Li-S batteries.
The international team's research article, "The Use of Elemental Sulfur as an Alternative Feedstock for Polymeric Materials," is scheduled for online publication in Nature Chemistry April 14. The National Research Foundation of Korea, the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the American Chemical Society and the University of Arizona funded the research.
Pyun and Griebel's co-authors are Woo Jin Chung, Adam G. Simmonds, Hyun Jun Ji, Philip T. Dirlam, Richard S. Glass and rpd Somogyi of the UA; Eui Tae Kim, Hyunsik Yoon, Jungjin Park, Yung-Eun Sung, and Kookheon Char of Seoul National University in Korea; Jeong Jae Wie, Ngoc A. Nguyen, Brett W. Guralnick and Michael E. Mackay of the University of Delaware in Newark; and Patrick Theato of the University of Hamburg in Germany.
Pyun wanted to apply his expertise as a chemist to energy-related research. He knew about the world's glut of elemental sulfur at fossil fuel refineries -- so he focused on how chemistry could use the cheap sulfur to satisfy the need for good Li-S batteries.
He and his colleagues tried something new: transforming liquid sulfur into a useful plastic that eventually could be produced easily on an industrial scale.
Sulfur poses technical challenges. It doesn't easily form the stable long chains of molecules, known as polymers, needed make a moldable plastic, and most materials don't dissolve in sulfur.
Pyun and his colleagues identified the chemicals most likely to polymerize sulfur and girded themselves for the long process of testing those chemicals one by one by one. More than 20 chemicals were on the list.
They got lucky.
"The first one worked and nothing else thereafter," Pyun said.
Even though the first experiment worked, the scientists needed to try the other chemicals on their list to see if others worked better and to understand more about working with liquid sulfur.
They've dubbed their process "inverse vulcanization" because it requires mostly sulfur with a small amount of an additive. Vulcanization is the chemical process that makes rubber more durable by adding a small amount of sulfur to rubber.
The new plastic performs better in batteries than elemental sulfur, Pyun said, because batteries with cathodes made of elemental sulfur can be used and recharged only a limited number of times before they fail.
The new plastic has electrochemical properties superior to those of the elemental sulfur now used in Li-S batteries, the researchers report. The team's batteries exhibited high specific capacity (823 mAh/g at 100 cycles) and enhanced capacity retention.
Several companies have expressed interest in the new plastic and the new battery, Pyun said.
The team's next step is comparing properties of the new plastic to existing plastics and exploring other practical applications such as photonics for the new plastic.
Related Web sites:
Jeffrey Pyun
http://www.cbc.arizona.edu/facultyprofile?fid_call=Pyun
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Mari N. Jensen mnjensen@email.arizona.edu 520-626-9635 University of Arizona
A new chemical process can transform waste sulfur into a lightweight plastic that may improve batteries for electric cars, reports a University of Arizona-led team. The new plastic has other potential uses, including optical uses.
The team has successfully used the new plastic to make lithium-sulfur batteries.
"We've developed a new, simple and useful chemical process to convert sulfur into a useful plastic," lead researcher Jeffrey Pyun said.
Next-generation lithium-sulfur, or Li-S, batteries will be better for electric and hybrid cars and for military uses because they are more efficient, lighter and cheaper than those currently used, said Pyun, a UA associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
The new plastic has great promise as something that can be produced easily and inexpensively on an industrial scale, he said.
The team's discovery could provide a new use for the sulfur left over when oil and natural gas are refined into cleaner-burning fuels.
Although there are some industrial uses for sulfur, the amount generated from refining fossil fuels far outstrips the current need for the element. Some oil refineries, such as those in Ft. McMurray in Alberta, are accumulating yellow mountains of waste sulfur.
"There's so much of it we don't know what to do with it," said Pyun. He calls the left-over sulfur "the garbage of transportation."
About one-half pound of sulfur is left over for every 19 gallons of gasoline produced from fossil fuels, calculated co-author Jared Griebel, a UA chemistry and biochemistry doctoral candidate.
The researchers have filed an international patent for their new chemical process and for the new polymeric electrode materials for Li-S batteries.
The international team's research article, "The Use of Elemental Sulfur as an Alternative Feedstock for Polymeric Materials," is scheduled for online publication in Nature Chemistry April 14. The National Research Foundation of Korea, the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, the American Chemical Society and the University of Arizona funded the research.
Pyun and Griebel's co-authors are Woo Jin Chung, Adam G. Simmonds, Hyun Jun Ji, Philip T. Dirlam, Richard S. Glass and rpd Somogyi of the UA; Eui Tae Kim, Hyunsik Yoon, Jungjin Park, Yung-Eun Sung, and Kookheon Char of Seoul National University in Korea; Jeong Jae Wie, Ngoc A. Nguyen, Brett W. Guralnick and Michael E. Mackay of the University of Delaware in Newark; and Patrick Theato of the University of Hamburg in Germany.
Pyun wanted to apply his expertise as a chemist to energy-related research. He knew about the world's glut of elemental sulfur at fossil fuel refineries -- so he focused on how chemistry could use the cheap sulfur to satisfy the need for good Li-S batteries.
He and his colleagues tried something new: transforming liquid sulfur into a useful plastic that eventually could be produced easily on an industrial scale.
Sulfur poses technical challenges. It doesn't easily form the stable long chains of molecules, known as polymers, needed make a moldable plastic, and most materials don't dissolve in sulfur.
Pyun and his colleagues identified the chemicals most likely to polymerize sulfur and girded themselves for the long process of testing those chemicals one by one by one. More than 20 chemicals were on the list.
They got lucky.
"The first one worked and nothing else thereafter," Pyun said.
Even though the first experiment worked, the scientists needed to try the other chemicals on their list to see if others worked better and to understand more about working with liquid sulfur.
They've dubbed their process "inverse vulcanization" because it requires mostly sulfur with a small amount of an additive. Vulcanization is the chemical process that makes rubber more durable by adding a small amount of sulfur to rubber.
The new plastic performs better in batteries than elemental sulfur, Pyun said, because batteries with cathodes made of elemental sulfur can be used and recharged only a limited number of times before they fail.
The new plastic has electrochemical properties superior to those of the elemental sulfur now used in Li-S batteries, the researchers report. The team's batteries exhibited high specific capacity (823 mAh/g at 100 cycles) and enhanced capacity retention.
Several companies have expressed interest in the new plastic and the new battery, Pyun said.
The team's next step is comparing properties of the new plastic to existing plastics and exploring other practical applications such as photonics for the new plastic.
Related Web sites:
Jeffrey Pyun
http://www.cbc.arizona.edu/facultyprofile?fid_call=Pyun
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
(Reuters) - Qatar is in talks to buy some or all of Milan's newly built Porta Nuova business district as Italy's economic crisis squeezes its U.S. developer, several sources have told Reuters.
Texas-based Hines declined comment on any move to cut its stake in the 34-acre project, planned during the last boom; no immediate comment was available from the Gulf emirate, which has made major investments in European real estate in recent years.
But three sources, one with direct knowledge of talks, spoke of discussions on selling Qatar at least part of a development that has so far cost some 1.8 billion euros ($2.4 billion) and has transformed the skyline of Italy's commercial capital with a series of towers a mile north of the historic centre.
A fourth property sector source said other investors had looked at Porta Nuova but that no formal sale process was under way for the estate of offices and high-end apartments, which has been likened to the larger Canary Wharf in London's docklands.
Work started in 2007, months before the global financial crunch, and office lettings and apartment sales are now behind projections as the Italian economy stagnates and lags even other European states, two sources with knowledge of the project said.
"The timing has been bad and Hines is keen to cut its exposure or get out at the right price," one of them added.
With the final stage due for completion next year, Hines has said about half the 370 apartments have been sold for an average of 1.5 million euros and 55 percent of the 130,000 square meters of offices are let - to Italian bank Unicredit .
The bank is among lenders to the project and now occupies its eponymous Unicredit Tower, Italy's tallest building.
Milan's property market reflects Italy's economy, however; data from consultant CBRE show a drop of 28 percent in the amount of office space being newly taken up in the city last year compared to five years earlier in 2007; the vacancy rate rose from 7.4 percent to 11.6 percent over the same period.
Luxury Milan home prices have fallen by about 8 percent in that time and, for all its glamour as an international hub for the fashion and design industries, the northern city of 1.4 million has not seen the non-European rich lining up to deposit their cash in its real estate in the way that London has.
As well as Italian money, investors in Porta Nuova include the U.S. teacher's pension fund TIAA-CREF. About two thirds of funding was from lenders including Commerzbank's Eurohypo and Banca Popolare di Milano .
QATARI LOGIC
Qatar's major deals in Europe include Harrod's department store in London and the British capital's new Shard, the tallest building in western Europe; an investment in Milan could make sense for firms linked to its sovereign wealth fund, notably Qatar Holding and real estate specialist Qatari Diar.
Neither unit was immediately available for comment but Qatar and Hines have worked together before. Qatari Diar invested in a $700-million project that Hines developed in Washington in 2011.
The 3.5 billion euros which Qatar spent on European real estate in the 12 months to mid-August 2012 was the equivalent of six weeks' revenue from the country's liquefied natural gas exports, according to Reuters calculations.
Porta Nuova would fit with the Gulf state's track record of investing in well-appointed office blocks. According to Thomson Reuters data, it owns about 29 percent of Songbird Estates , the majority owner of Canary Wharf Group, which controls the London financial district of the same name.
One of the sources who said projections had been missed at Porta Nuova blamed Hines's effort to charge the same rents as in the fashionable heart of Milan - about 500 euros per square meter - and compared that to Canary Wharf's typical 35-percent discount on the City of London, about five km miles away.
"The Porta Nuova offices are the highest quality in Milan but companies are reluctant to move from the historic centre without an incentive," the source said. "It's like Canary Wharf charging the same rents as the City." ($1 = 0.7618 euros)
(Additional reporting by Claudia Cristoferi in Milan; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)
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Public release date: 14-Apr-2013
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