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0. Scientists Mobilize to Fight Cuts

House Budget Plan FY95 FY96 FY2000 (in Billions) 12 11 10 National Institues of Health 3 2.8 2.5 General Science 21 20.5 15.5 Space and Aeronautics 5 3 2 Energy 2 1.5 1.2 Environment and Natural Resources 1 1 .8 Agriculture 1 .5 .2 Commerce /*---------------------------------------------------------------------*/ S +

1. Gravity Probe-B

-To study einstein's gravity effects as predicted by theory of relativity. /*---------------------------------------------------------------------*/ S +

2. Catching the Atom Wave

-Matter Interferometers take quantum mechanics at its word, treating atoms like waves of light. They are coming into their own as tools for high-precision measurement of atomic properties. /*---------------------------------------------------------------------*/ S +

3. Light guides may help optical circuits turn the corner.

-Optical wires (waveguides) leak at sharp turns. In circuit - us GaAs Semiconductor Create regions of altered refractive index. -Oxide layers trap light within a waveguide. -Began w/ quantum well heterostructure (QWH) a layer of Al-Ga-As / GaAs / Al-GaAs -Oxide has much lower refractive index than original semiconductor. use oxide waveguide to turn light. /*---------------------------------------------------------------------*/ S +

4. Ebola virus sites

http://ichiban.objarts.com/ebola/ebola.html http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/ebola.html http://www.who.ch /*---------------------------------------------------------------------*/ S +

5. Classical Electrostatics in Biology and Chemistry

-A major revival in the use of classical electrostatics as an approach to the study of charged and polar molecules in aqueous solution has been made possible via fast numerical and computational methods to solve the poisson-boltzmann equation for solute molecules that have complex shapes and charge distributions. Graphical visualization of the calculated electrostatic potentials generated by proteins and nucleic acids has revealed insights into the role of electrostatic interactions in a wide range of biological phenomena. Classical electrostatics has also proved to be a successful quantitative tool yielding accurate descritions of electrical potentials, diffusion limited processes, pH-dependent properties of proteins, ionic strength-dependent phenomena, and the solvation free energies of organic molecules. /*---------------------------------------------------------------------*/ S +

6. Interlayer Tunneling Mechanism for High-Tc Superconductivity: Comparison w/ c Axis Infrared Experiments.

-Recent c axis-polarized infrared measurements int he hih-transition temperature (high- Tc) cuprate superconductor (La,Sr)2CuO4 can be interpreted on the basis that the entire condensation energy comes from the interlayer Josephson coupling. This gives the parameter-free determination of penetration depth lambda and coherence length epsilon for this superconductor that are in agreement w/ experiment. /*---------------------------------------------------------------------*/ S +

7. The Wake-Sleep Algorithm for Unsupervised Neural Networks.

-An unsupervised learning algorithm for a multilayer network of stochastic neurons is described. Bottom-up "recognition" connections convert the input into representations in successive hidden layers, and top-down "generative" connectdions reconstruct the representation in one layer from the representation in the layer above. In the "wake" phase , neurons are driven by recognition connections, and generative connections are adapted to increase the probability that they would reconstruct the correct activity vector in the layer below. In the "sleep" phase, neurons are driven by generative connections, and recognition connections are adapted to increae the probability that they would produce the correct activity vector in the layer above. /*---------------------------------------------------------------------*/ S +

8. "The Dressed-Atom Approach - Atoms in Electromagnetic Fields.

-Alfred Kastler - Technique of optical pumping (key in operation of maser/lasers) - --fin