Article Abstract:
The US Department of Energy was prepared for a disruption in the supply of oil to the US as a result of the Gulf war through development of five computer scenarios by the DOE's Energy Information Administration. The Gulf war may have diverted attention from many serious issues facing the nation and its use of energy, however. The development of a National Energy Strategy was made more urgent by the outbreak of war. The strategy is seen by the administration as encompassing every major aspect of US energy use: power generation by conventional, nuclear and alternative means; independent power production, regulation and transmission access; fuel production and regulation; energy conservation and efficiency; research and development; and transportation. The politics involved in developing such a strategy and research being conducted in various energy areas are described.
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Article Abstract:
Supercomputers are entering a new era which may involve the gradual disappearance of the machines in favor of massively parallel processing (MPP) computing equipment or the re-shaping of how supercomputers are used. Supercomputers have seen a steady rise in the military, scientific, industrial and design industries, and they have been used to help produce better cars, pharmaceuticals and integrated circuits. Researchers hope that MPP will provide processing rates of 10 trillion floating-point operations per second, This teraflops speed would allow scientists to build models of phenomena that have never before been simulated. Japanese and US manufacturers are trying to develop software and hardware for supercomputers but the Japanese have had trouble providing accessibility to the machines.
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Article Abstract:
North American, European and Japanese defense firms must plan for the future now that military spending is expected to be reduced significantly. US Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney requested $78 billion to procure military systems in 1991; this figure is over nine percent below the 1990 budget for procurement. For research and development, Cheney requested over $38 billion, a decrease of 0.9 percent from the 1990 request. Actual reductions may be higher, due to proposals by the House and Senate for lower figures. The Senate has recommended $67.4 billion for procurement; the House recommended $63.95 billion for procurement. Defense firms are looking for nonmilitary contracts with the federal government.
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