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Январь
2000 г.
Российская наука и мир
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январь февраль март апрель май июнь июль август сентябрь октябрь ноябрь декабрь

    Science / Vol.287, No.5450 Issue of 7 Jan 2000, p.27
    Science Under Siege
    Наука в осадном положении

When security outfits in three former Soviet countries stepped up their activities in 1999, scientists paid the price. The Cold War games kicked into high gear last July, when Russian ecologist Vladimir Soyfer was accused of mishandling classified documents on nuclear contamination. The Ukrainian KGB charged marine biologist Sergey Piontkovski with diverting Western grant money to foreign accounts. And Belarus got in on the act, reportedly imprisoning a researcher who studies lands blighted by Chernobyl. No matter the outcome of these cases, there's no sign that the attack dogs will be under tighter leash in 2000.

© 2000 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science

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    The Associated Press / Friday January 21 3:05 PM ET
    Talbott Says Putin's Goals Unclear
    • By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer
    Заместитель госсекретаря Строуб Талботт сказал, что администрация США собирается просить конгресс о сокращении финансирования в следующем году большинства программ для того, чтобы увеличить помощь мероприятиям по уменьшению ядерных запасов и стимулированию ученых оставаться в России. Примерно 75% помощи США будет направлено непосредственно для поддержки локальных проектов в обход Москвы и центрального правительства. Особое внимание будет уделено четырем регионам - Новгороду, Самаре, Томску и Сахалину.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Where Russia's acting president, Vladimir Putin, intends to lead the country "is a genuinely open question," and there isn't much the United States can do to affect the outcome, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott said Friday. Having championed U.S. support for Russia in his seven years as a high-ranking State Department official with close ties to President Clinton, Talbott said "we must use such influence as we have, even if it's at the margins, to encourage Russian democratization." But Talbott, in a speech at Oxford University, in England, said Putin has sent different signals to different audiences and all the United States and others can do at this point is to speculate about his maneuvers in the Russian parliament and where he intends to take the country. Talbott met last month with the new Russian leader, who was named by Boris Yeltsin as his acting successor three weeks ago. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is planning her own firsthand assessment of Russian politics on a trip to Moscow next weekend. This week, Putin's supporters in the Duma struck a power-sharing dealing with the communists.
The one theme Putin strikes consistently is a desire to see Russia regain its strength of national pride and its purpose, Talbott said. "No country can succeed without those ingredients," he said.
But, Talbott said, "it all depends on how Russia defines strength, how it defines security. Will it do so in today's terms or in yesterday's?" "This is the vexing question, not just about Mr. Putin but his country as a whole," he said. "It's a genuinely open question."
Albright on Tuesday hailed Putin, a former KGB intelligence chief, as "one of the leading eformers" in Russia and said he was "determined to move reform forward." Albright also said the Clinton administration was not "kind of starry-eyed" about Russia, "but also understands the importance of pushing and working with them and having it seen as being in our national interest."
This fiscal year, the administration is backing up its support with an estimated $1.1 billion in assistance, including $200 million in humanitarian food assistance. Last year, U.S. aid amounted to almost $1.9 billion, including $1.1 billion in food aid.
The administration is preparing to ask Congress to reduce most of the programs next year while increasing security assistance to help reduce nuclear stockpiles and induce scientists to remain in Russia.
About 75 percent of U.S. aid bypasses Moscow and the central government, going directly to local projects. Four areas are targeted for special U.S. attention - Novgorod, Samarga, Tomsk and Sakhalin.

Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

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    PRNewswire / Thursday January 27, 10:00 am Eastern Time
    JEVS Opens Doors for Russian Professionals Seeking Better Career Opportunities in Philadelphia Area

    В Филадельфии создана новая организация, которая помогает российским эмигрантам – ученым и специалистам высокого уровня адаптировться к новым условиям и найти работу, соответствующую их профессиональной подготовке.

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- In an effort to assist recent Russian emigres in the Philadelphia area to access upwardly mobile and higher paying jobs, JEVS (the Jewish Employment and Vocational Service), a not-for-profit, nonsectarian social services agency, today announced the "Advisory Committee for Emigres" (ACE) program. Funded by a Community Initiative Grant of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, ACE's goal is to help fill Philadelphia's employment needs while helping emigres to further their careers in the United States through the use of mentor relationships and new career management tools. The announcement was made today at the ACE Mentor Kick-Off Celebration in Northeast Philadelphia.
Many of Philadelphia's recent Russian emigres are refugees who have been forced to leave their native homes due to anti-Semitism. Newly arrived scientists, engineers, doctors and other professionals often have difficulty continuing their careers due to their lack of experience with American business culture, English language deficiencies, and no knowledge of job seeking, employment application or interviewing processes.
ACE pairs its emigre participants with volunteer mentors who match their job and skill levels -- peers who know their respective fields and what it takes to become successful in the United States. ACE volunteers host group lectures, one-on-one consultations, networking opportunities, credential evaluation; and alert colleagues to relative job openings. Likewise, they offer local employers an opportunity to hire pre-screened, well-trained professionals.
"These emigres, who possess impressive professional credentials and invaluable experience abroad, are in need of immediate career guidance and advice," said Alex Shraybman, ACE's newly appointed program director. "The main mission of this unique partnership between JEVS, area professionals and Russian immigrants is to ensure that new Russian-Americans can maintain self-sufficiency from the minute they arrive in our area -- it's their shot at the American dream."
Mentor volunteers include professors, scientists in research labs and corporations, computer programmers, engineers, doctors, financial consultants and other highly skilled professionals. "Our volunteers are accomplished professionals from entities such as Rohm and Haas, Raytheon, and the U.S. Army Corps," added Shraybman. "They have elected to donate valuable time and expertise to help their colleagues develop successful job search campaigns and increase their marketability while learning about American culture very quickly."
"Emigres have established a terrific rapport of being hard workers with high-levels of training and education," said Shraybman. "By helping to integrate newly arrived professionals into the Philadelphia area workforce, ACE provides the business community with an additional labor pool of skilled workers who contribute to the economic development of Philadelphia."
"Mellon has hired 10 Russian emigres through JEVS to work in the Global Cash Management area," said Byron Hunter, vice president of human resources for Mellon's Philadelphia region. We are delighted to be able to provide invaluable career opportunities to individuals in need -- especially those who demonstrate such strong work ethics. Our Russian hires have become an integral part of the Mellon Bank family."
Mikhail Faykin, a programmer, moved to the United States from Russia two years ago. Since then, he has studied the English language while continuing his career in programming. "In Russia, I worked as a programmer and as an electrical engineer. I recently had a temporary position as a programmer in Northeast Philadelphia but when the project was completed, I was laid off," said Faykin. "I am hoping to find a new position as a computer programmer although it is difficult since my English is not perfect yet. I will continue to study hard."
Faykin is receiving guidance from mentor, Garry Stklovsky, an electrical engineer that left the Ukraine in 1975. "Michael is very goal oriented, responsible and determined to succeed," said Stklovsky. "The toughest part of continuing his career in the United States is communicating his level of experience in a different cultural environment. I am sure that the ACE program will help him to achieve his goals very quickly."
Viktor Listovnichiy, a chemist from Kiev, joined his son's family in America after his granddaughter became a victim of Chernobyl radiation. "The first six months after our arrival, were very tough," said Listovnichiy. "But if I did not leave Kiev, I would be dead. Now, through ACE, I am meeting more people within the Russian-American community and it gives me great hope of finding a job soon." In Russia, Listovnichiy attended the University of Kiev and acquired German as his second language. Now in America, he studies English and has trained as a client server specialist at the Chubb Institute and Unisys Corporation.
There are nearly 40,000 Russian emigres in the Philadelphia area, many of which are still seeking employment in order to avoid public assistance. ACE volunteers meet with program participants on an "as needed" basis and also offer guidance via phone or e-mail. Individuals interested in becoming ACE program participants or ACE mentors should call JEVS at (215) 854-1788.
JEVS, established in 1941, is a non-sectarian, nonprofit social service agency that benefits the Greater Philadelphia community by enhancing the employability and self-sufficiency of the people it serves through a broad range of education, training, health and rehabilitation programs. By addressing critical social and economic problems of its time, JEVS seeks to create an environment where those who can, work; each who will, achieves; and all who care, serve.

JEVS can be found on the web at www.jevs.org.
SOURCE: Jewish Employment and Vocational Service

Copyright 2000 PRNewswire

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    BUSINESS WIRE / Wednesday January 26, 3:01 pm Eastern Time
    Isonics Announces $2M Cooperative R&D Agreement With Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
    • Company Press Release

    Подписано соглашение о научно-производственном сотрудничестве между Лоуренсовской Национальной лабораторией в Беркли, корпорацией Isonics и электрохимическим заводом по разделению изотопов в Зеленогорске.

GOLDEN, Colo. (BUSINESS WIRE, Jan. 26, 2000) -- Isonics Corporation (OTCBB: ISON-news) announced that it has signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement withLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to study isotopically pure silicon for improved microelectronics. The 2 year effort is part of the Department of Energy's Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention Program (IPP Program) that is targeted to employ Soviet weapons related scientists in commercial activities.
The study is a collaborative project among Isonics, LBNL, and the Electrochemical Plant Isotope Separation Facility in Zelenegorsk, Russia. The study is being jointly sponsored by the Department of Energy who will provide $1,009,487 and Isonics, who will provide $1,114,475 "in-kind" contribution consisting of the manufacture of isotopically pure silane gas, polysilicon, and epitaxial wafers that will be used to perform fundamental experiments in solid-state physics as well as manufacture semiconductor devices. The DOE funding will be used to acquire silicon isotopes from Russia, and the remainder will fund basic research on silicon at LBNL. Isonics will also have rights to any intellectual property developed under the program.
Dr. Stephen Burden, Isonics' Vice President for Semiconductor Materials, commented, "This program is an integral part of Isonics' overall technology plan to provide the technical information which will speed the adoption of silicon-28 by the semiconductor industry. This program will allow an extensive study of the properties of isotopically pure silicon as well as pave the way to commercial production of silicon-28."
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will study the properties of highly enriched silicon-28, silicon-29, and silicon-30 isotopes including transport studies in isotope superlattices and magnetic resonance studies in silicon-29. Additionally, enriched silicon-30 will be studied for improvements in neutron transmutation doping (NTD) of silicon for power semiconductor applications. Professor Eugene Haller, Head of LBNL's Electronic Materials Program and Leader of the LBNL effort commented, "This collaborative IPP Project makes use of the special capabilities of a Russian isotope separation plant, a U.S. semiconductor firm, and a U.S. National Laboratory in an exceptionally unique way. The beneficiary of this project will ultimately be the U.S. semiconductor industry."
Isonics is a world leader in isotopically engineered materials and produces isotopically pure silicon-28 chemicals and wafers for the semiconductor industry. Isonics also markets and sells stable isotopes for the health care industry such as carbon-13 for diagnostic breath tests and drug design, and oxygen-18 for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. Stable isotopes can be thought of as ultra pure materials. This high degree of purification provides enhanced properties as compared to natural materials. Additional information may be obtained at www.isonics.com
Except for historical information contained herein, this document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual results or outcomes to be materially different from those anticipated and discussed herein.
Further, the Company operates in industries where securities values may be volatile and may be influenced by regulatory and other factors beyond the Company's control. Other important factors that the Company believes might cause such differences are discussed in the risk factors detailed in the Company's 10-KSB for the year ended April 30, 1999 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In assessing forward-looking statements contained herein, readers are urged to carefully read all cautionary statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

* * *

    The Christian Science Monitor / January 5, 2000
    Russia's growing health crisis
    • David R. Francis Senior economic correspondent for the Monitor

    В настоящий момент смертность в России превышает рождаемость на 700 000 человек в год. Некоторые эксперты говорят, что население России через 50 лет может снизиться до 80 миллионов человек.

Many know about Africa's severe health problems, but few are aware of a parallel tragedy building in Russia. Devastated by disease and alcoholism, mortality rates have risen dramatically since the fall of communism. Furthermore, very little is being done either by the Russian government or the world community. At the moment, deaths exceed births by about 700,000 a year. Some experts say Russia's population could drop to 80 million in 50 years from 150 million today. "The loss of life from this quiet crisis in Russia has been a catastrophe of historic proportions," says Nicholas Eberstadt, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "Mortality and disease will pose major obstacles to economic development ... for decades to come."
"If demography is said to be destiny, the destiny of Russia for the next 50 years or more is appalling," says Murray Feshbach, a research professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Washington.
These grim views are based on economic, health and demographic trends in Russia since the fall of communism, and no rapid way out of the disaster is easily visible. One hopes these views will serve as warnings. Will Russian politicians and citizens, seeing the flashing red lights of danger, change direction and break through the damaging fog of alcoholism, sexually transmitted diseases, sharing of drug needles, and corruption?
Already the breakup of the Soviet Union has greatly diminished Russia's might. "In barely a decade, Moscow has plummeted from the status of an imperial superpower to a condition of astonishing geopolitical weakness," notes Mr. Eberstadt in Policy Review, a Heritage Foundation publication.
Furthermore, Russia's gross domestic product halved in the 1990s. So far Russia hasn't adequately tackled its catastrophic health scene - nor does it appear to be a matter of public concern. While there are more than a dozen political parties fighting for votes this election season, none has chosen to make public health a major campaign issue. It wasn't mentioned much in the recent parliamentary elections. Nor are many Russian citizens, perhaps unused to participatory democracy, organizing a push for improved spending programs for health or demanding temperance measures.
The Soviet Union was infamous for its staggering vodka consumption. Contemporary Russia's thirst for vodka has gotten worse. Russian men on average are drinking about five bottles of vodka per week.
The World Health Organization (WHO) stipulates that eight liters of alcohol per capita is the upper limit for consumption before major health problems ensue. Russians - adults and children alike - consume 14 to 15 liters per capita per year. And Vodka output rose 65 percent in the first half of 1999. In effect, many Russians are drinking themselves to death.
More than 35,000 people died from accidental alcohol poisoning in 1996. In fact, daily headlines in Moscow during the winter includes body counts of the inebriated people who died of exposure. In the United States, which has almost twice the population, about 300 a year die from the same cause. Drinking is behind many of the violent and accidental deaths in Russia. According to Eberstadt, with the present pattern, a baby boy stands almost a 1 in 4 probability of dying from some sort of external trauma. That compares with about 1 in 30 in Britain. Russian women are twice as likely to die from alcohol poisoning or injury as American men. Alcohol abuse, Eberstadt figures, also plays a role in high rates of coronary disease and other fatal diseases.
Russians are also heavy tobacco users. Two-thirds of men and one-third of women smoke. Medical authorities say smoking accounts for 20 to 30 percent of deaths from heart disease and cancer. And Russian death rates from these diseases are twice those in the US.
Feshbach further sees a rapid spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis, AIDS, and other sexually- transmitted disease in Russia. One study predicts some 13 million Russians will be infected by HIV by 2005.
"This is getting close to Africa," Feshbach says. Eberstadt doesn't regard the AIDS problem as being so severe, but he does find the breakout of AIDS surprising in an industrial country with an educated population.
So what is to be done?
Teresa Ho, manager of the World Bank's health programs in Russia, says Feshbach's terrible predictions of diseases will come fully true only if nothing is done. And that's not entirely the case. Russia's health ministry itself is experimenting with more modern hospital practices to make more-efficient use of public-health funds and thus provide services to more people.
The World Bank is considering a $150 million loan for a program to deal with AIDS and tuberculosis. WHO, other UN organizations, the Soros Foundation, and the US and other nations are trying to help in modest ways.
Eberstadt emphasizes the need for a determination within the Russian public and political scene to pay more attention to the catastrophe. Public attitudes toward healthy behavior must change. A transition to a civil society under the rule of law "would have a positive and tangible effect on Russian health," he says. It could encourage business and reduce the poverty behind some of the health problems.
Mikhail Gorbachev took measures to restrain alcohol consumption during his 1980s presidency. Death rates declined. But the measure was a disaster from a political standpoint. No political leader has since dared to challenge Russia's drinking binge. "The leadership remains relatively silent," notes Ms. Ho. There is no organized campaign to spread "healthy life styles" among Russians. Without rapid policy measures, Russia's population will drop 45 percent in 50 years - the same period in which US population is expected to rise 45 percent, from 272 million to 393 million. Russia ranks 125th in average life expectancy among 188 nations studied by the UN. The ultimate effect of inaction is captured in a chilling question posed by Eberstadt: Will Russia be "too sick to matter" in world affairs? A Harvard University expert on Russia, Graham Allison, argues that the health crisis in Russia with its 30,000 nuclear weapons makes it even more important for the West to provide help to the troubled nation. "It is Russia's weakness that is the greater danger to America."

Copyright 2000 The Christian Science Publishing Society

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    Electronic Telegraph / Monday, 3 January 2000
    Russia and China 'are developing super-fast missile'
    Россия и Китай разрабатывают сверхбыструю ракету
    • By Tim Butcher, Defence Correspondent

A LONG-RANGE missile fast enough to catch any combat fighter in the world is being developed jointly by Russia and China, according to British Aerospace.
BAe, one of the two rival companies bidding for a $700 million contract to equip the Eurofighter with its own advanced air-to-air missiles, said the missile could be in production as early as 2005. It has a "ram jet" propulsion system, giving a range of 50 miles and a speed of Mach 3.
Such performance would mean RAF pilots would be highly vulnerable if flying against an enemy equipped with the system. Russia has no qualms about exporting weapons to nations such as Serbia or Iraq. Based on the Russian AA-12 Adder missile, the new missile is in a relatively advanced stage of production, having been unveiled at an experimental stage at an air show last year.
According to BAe, it has already undergone preliminary flight tests and could be in production within five years. This is at least three years ahead of any possible "ram jet" missile being built for the RAF. Unlike traditional air-to-air missiles, which have thrust for only six seconds, the "ram jet" blasts the missile along for up to a minute.
"Ram jet" technology is the next great leap forward in missile design and although Russian experts have long been suspected of having the know-how, they have lacked funds since the end of the Cold War. China has stepped in to cover the development costs, according to sources at Matra BAe Systems, one of the two main rivals for a contract to equip Eurofighter with the next generation of air-to-air missiles.
The Eurofighter, which comes into service with the RAF in three years' time, will be equipped initially with an existing air-to-air missile known as AMRAAM. Although AMRAAM is very advanced by today's standards there is evidence that some modern Russian fighters have the speed to outfly it. Matra BAe Systems has designed a "ram jet" missile called Meteor as their bid for the contract, which is expected to be awarded late next month.
Raytheon, an American firm, is offering a modernised version of the AMRAAM with a double pulse rocket capable of greater range.

Продолжение дайджеста за ЯНВАРЬ 2000 года (часть 2)

январь февраль март апрель май июнь июль август сентябрь октябрь ноябрь декабрь

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