Americans Are Tired from Paying for Ukrainian Zelensky's Circus: U.S. Aid Cutoff Threatens Ukraine's Economic Stability.

"WASHINGTON -- The U.S. funding system for Ukrainian salaries and Kyiv government expenditures is expected to run out in the next month absent a fresh infusion of money from Congress, Ukrainian and American government officials said.

As a government shutdown loomed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sept. 24 that Ukraine would face a severe economic and political shock in the middle of the counteroffensive this fall if Congress cut off assistance to Kyiv.

The U.S. and other donor nations effectively pay the salaries of 150,000 civil servants in Ukraine and more than half a million teachers, professors and school workers, not to mention government expenses ranging from healthcare to housing subsidies.

The telephone call from the U.S. secretary of state was a plea for GOP lawmakers to include Ukraine funding in stopgap measures to keep the U.S. government open, according to their aides.

Six days later, Congress passed a funding bill without aid for Ukraine. Officials in Washington and Kyiv are now looking at what an expected drop in aid means for the country's ability to keep its government running and its economy afloat.

The Washington debate over economic aid to Ukraine has divided Congress, with some Republicans saying U.S. funds should support the American economy.

"I don't see alternatives -- U.S. funding is crucial for Ukraine's survival," said Bill Taylor, former ambassador to Ukraine and current vice president at the congressionally funded U.S. Institute of Peace.

On Tuesday, President Biden spoke with world leaders including the heads of state of the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Japan, Poland and Romania, the French foreign minister, and the secretary-general of NATO, to coordinate support for Ukraine.

"As President Biden made clear, we cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted," said John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council. "Time is not our friend."

Since the conflict began, most lawmakers and members of the public have focused on the hardware, including tanks, helicopters, advanced missile systems and millions of rounds of ammunition, all of which the U.S. is uniquely positioned to provide. 

Yet when Blinken visited Kyiv in September, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal began a meeting by thanking him for a little-known stream of civilian-budget aid paid via the World Bank. "All wages that are now paid in Ukraine in the public sector over the past year, including social and other programs, are funded through this," Shmyhal said.

In all, the World Bank's "Peace" program has sent Ukraine $23.4 billion, with $20.2 billion funded by the U.S. and $2 billion from the U.K.

Republicans who oppose all funding for Ukraine see federal dollars going to a foreign government as a symbol of not putting domestic priorities first. "We're paying for just about everything" in Ukraine, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said on X." [1]

1. World News: U.S. Aid Cutoff Threatens Ukraine's Economic Stability. Mauldin, William;
Walker, Marcus.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Oct 2023: A.8

Darbas su elektronais užtikrina fizikos Nobelio premiją --- Trys mokslininkai laimėjo šį prizą už tyrimus, tyrinėjančius elektronų elgesį per mažą laiko skalę

 

   „Nobelio fizikos premija skirta trims mokslininkams, kurių tyrimai rodo būdą sukurti itin trumpus šviesos impulsus, galinčius suteikti informacijos apie procesus atomų ir molekulių viduje.

 

     Nugalėtojai yra Pierre'as Agostini iš Ohajo valstijos universiteto, Ferencas Krauszas iš Maxo Plancko kvantinės optikos instituto ir Miuncheno Ludwigo Maximiliano universiteto bei Anne L'Huillier iš Lundo universiteto Švedijoje.

 

     Nobelio komitetas antradienį paminėjo trijų mokslininkų pasiekimus, padedančius ištirti elektronų elgseną atosekundžių skalėje.

 

     Vienoje sekundėje yra tiek pat atosekundžių, kiek sekundžių buvo nuo Visatos atsiradimo maždaug prieš 14 milijardų metų.

 

     Komiteto teigimu, laureatų darbas leido ištirti procesus šiuo laikotarpiu, kurie yra tokie greiti, kad anksčiau jų buvo neįmanoma sekti.

 

     „Dabar galime atverti duris į elektronų pasaulį“, – sakė Nobelio fizikos komiteto pirmininkė Eva Olsson ir pridūrė, kad fizika atosekundės lygmeniu suteikia mokslininkams galimybę suprasti elektronų, neigiamo krūvio subatominių dalelių, randamų visuose atomuose, valdomus mechanizmus.

 

     „Manau, kad tai yra naujausias dalykas ilgoje ir nepaprastoje žmonių sagoje, kurioje žmonės bando sukurti būdus, kaip nustatyti įvykius vis trumpesniam laikui“, – sakė Johnso Hopkinso universiteto fizikos ir astronomijos profesorius Peteris Armitage'as, kuris tyrime nedalyvavo.

 

     Jis pridūrė, kad tai yra laiko skalė, į kurią norite pažvelgti, kad suprastumėte, kaip atomai sudaro molekules, kaip elgiasi aplink atomus esantys elektronai ir fiziniai procesai, vykstantys bet kokiose cheminėse reakcijose.

 

     Pasak Roberto Rosnerio, Amerikos fizikos draugijos prezidento ir Čikagos universiteto astronomijos, astrofizikos ir fizikos profesoriaus, komitetas nusprendė apdovanoti darbą šioje mokslinių tyrimų srityje, nes tai atveria visiškai naujas studijų sritis.

 

     „Jie iš esmės sukūrė įrankį, leidžiantį pažvelgti į reiškinius ir laiko skales, kurių mes niekada anksčiau negalėjome ištirti“, – sakė darbe nedalyvavęs Rosneris.

 

     Pasak Matso Larssono, Nobelio fizikos komiteto nario, tyrimas gali būti pritaikytas elektronikos, chemijos ir medicinos srityse, padedant mokslininkams suprasti ir kontroliuoti, kaip elgiasi elektronai.

 

     Jis pridūrė, kad atosekundiniai elektronų impulsai gali būti naudojami medicininėje diagnostikoje, įskaitant vieną dieną padedant diagnozuoti ankstyvos stadijos vėžį, kad gydymas būtų geresnis.

 

     Armitage teigė, kad geresnis atominės ir molekulinės sąveikos bei mikroskopinių cheminių reakcijų supratimas naudojant šią naują tyrimų priemonę gali būti svarbus įvairiems sveikatos pramonės dalykams, pavyzdžiui, suprasti, kaip pasiekti „pritaikytas molekulines sąveikas, kuriant naujus vaistus“.

 

     Jis sakė, kad moksliniai tyrimai taip pat gali turėti kitų pritaikymų, įskaitant prisidėjimą prie superlaidininkų - medžiagų, galinčių praleisti elektros srovę be energijos nuostolių - kūrimo, superlaidininkų, kurie gali veikti aukštesnėje temperatūroje.

 

     Pasak Armitage, darbas taip pat galėtų padėti mokslininkams sukurti patobulintą energijos iš šviesos surinkimo metodą. Šis derliaus nuėmimo procesas – elektros energijos generavimas saulės spinduliuotę paverčiant elektra – žinomas kaip fotovoltinė energija. Jis bando pamėgdžioti, kaip augalai fotosintezės metu naudoja saulės šviesą maistui sintetinti.

 

     L'Huillier dėstė, kai paskambino vienas iš komiteto narių ir pranešė, kad ji yra viena iš laimėtojų.

 

     „Paskutinį mano paskaitos pusvalandį buvo sunku atlikti“, – sakė ji. – Moterų, kurios gauna šį prizą, nėra tiek daug, todėl tai labai, labai ypatinga.

 

     L'Huillier yra tik penktoji moteris, gavusi Nobelio fizikos premiją. Ji ir jos kolegos laureatai pasidalins 11 milijonų Švedijos kronų prizą, kuris atitinka 1 milijoną dolerių.

 

     Laikinai einantis Ohajo valstijos universiteto prezidento pareigas Peteris Mohleris antradienio rytą paskelbtame pareiškime pasveikino profesorių emeritą Agostini.

 

     „Nobelio premija yra mokslo laimėjimų viršūnė“, – sakė Mohleris. „Visi mes Ohajo valstijoje švenčiame šį Pierre'o tyrimų ir mokslo gyvenimo pripažinimą.“ [1]

 

1. U.S. News: Work on Electrons Earns Physics Nobel --- Three scientists win prize for research exploring behavior at a tiny time scale. Woodward, Aylin.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Oct 2023: A.3.

Work on Electrons Earns Physics Nobel --- Three scientists win prize for research exploring behavior at a tiny time scale

"The Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three scientists whose research demonstrates a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can provide information about processes inside atoms and molecules.

The winners are Pierre Agostini of Ohio State University, Ferenc Krausz of the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Anne L'Huillier of Lund University in Sweden.

The Nobel committee on Tuesday celebrated the three scientists' achievements, which help explore the behavior of electrons at the time scale of attoseconds.

There are the same number of attoseconds in one second as there have been seconds since the birth of the universe roughly 14 billion years ago. 

The laureates' work has enabled the investigation of processes at this time scale, which are so rapid that they were previously impossible to follow, according to the committee.

"We can now open the door to the world of electrons," said Eva Olsson, chair of the Nobel committee for physics, adding that physics at the attosecond level gives researchers the opportunity to understand mechanisms governed by electrons, negatively charged subatomic particles that are found in all atoms.

Before this work, electrons' blistering speeds made them challenging to study, and it was almost impossible to identify the subatomic particles' behavior at a single moment in time.

"I see this as kind of the latest in what is a long and remarkable saga of human beings trying to develop ways of timing events to shorter and shorter time scales," said Peter Armitage, a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University who wasn't involved in the research.

This is the time scale you want to look at to understand how atoms form molecules, how electrons around atoms behave and the physical processes that are happening in any chemical reaction, he added.

The committee chose to award work in this field of research because it opens up entire new areas of study, according to Robert Rosner, president of the American Physical Society and professor of astronomy, astrophysics and physics at the University of Chicago.

"They've basically created a tool that allows you to look at phenomena and time scales that we've never been able to explore before," said Rosner, who wasn't involved in the work.

The research could have potential applications in the fields of electronics, chemistry and medicine, helping scientists understand and control how electrons behave, according to Mats Larsson, a member of the Nobel committee for physics.

Attosecond pulses of electrons might be used in medical diagnostics, he added, including one day assisting with diagnosing early-stage cancer for improved treatment.

Armitage said an improved understanding of atomic and molecular interactions and microscopic chemical reactions using this new research tool could be important for various things in the health industry, like understanding how to achieve "tailored molecular interactions for making new drugs."

The research may have other applications too, he said, including contributing to the development of superconductors -- materials that can conduct electric currents without any energy loss -- that can operate at higher temperatures.

The work could also help scientists develop an improved method of harvesting energy from light, according to Armitage. This harvesting process -- generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into electricity -- is known as photovoltaics. It tries to emulate how plants use sunlight to synthesize food during photosynthesis.

L'Huillier was teaching when one of the committee members called and informed her she was one of the winning laureates.

"The last half-hour of my lecture was difficult to do," she said. "There are not so many women who get this prize, so it's very, very special."

L'Huillier is only the fifth woman to win a Nobel Prize in physics. She and her fellow laureates will share the 11 million Swedish kronor prize, the equivalent of $1 million.

Acting Ohio State University President Peter Mohler congratulated Agostini, an emeritus professor, in a statement Tuesday morning.

"The Nobel Prize is the pinnacle of scientific achievement," Mohler said. "All of us at Ohio State celebrate this recognition of Pierre's lifetime of research and scholarship."" [1]

1. U.S. News: Work on Electrons Earns Physics Nobel --- Three scientists win prize for research exploring behavior at a tiny time scale. Woodward, Aylin.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 04 Oct 2023: A.3.