Getting null in Database retrieval

Hi I have the below code
1)

<%-- 
    Document   : SelectUsers
    Created on : Oct 25, 2012, 4:56:40 PM
    Author     : u0138039
--%>

<%@page contentType="text/html" pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<%@include file="DBCon.jsp" %>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
        
    </head>
    <body><form name="Reports" method="post" action="DropDown.jsp"><table><tr><td>
        Select user:<select name="user" id="user">
            
            <option value="">Select User</option>
            <%
            try{
                ps=con.prepareStatement("Select Distinct Specialist from scope1");
                rs=ps.executeQuery();
                while(rs.next()){
              %>
                <option value="<%String user1=rs.getString(1); out.println(user1);%>"><%out.println(user1);%></option>
                <%
            }
            out.println("<select>");
            }
            catch(Exception e)
                                       {
                out.println(e);
            }
            %>
            
        </select></td>
        <td>
        Select Type:<select name="type" id="type">
            <option value="">Select Type</option>
            <option value="'Updates','Multibases','DAIS','Acds','Legis','LegAll'">All</option>
            <%
            try{
                ps=con.prepareStatement("Select Distinct type from scope1");
                rs=ps.executeQuery();
                while(rs.next()){
        %>
                <option value="<%String type1=rs.getString(1); out.println(type1);%>"><%out.println(type1);%></option>
                <%
            }
            out.println("<Select>");
            }
            catch(Exception e)
                                       {
                out.println(e);
            }
            %>
                            </select></td>
                            <td><input type="submit" value="Generate" id="sub1" name="sub1"></td></tr>
        </table> </form>   </body>
</html>

and to retrieve the data i use the below jsp

<%-- 
    Document   : Reports
    Created on : Oct 25, 2012, 4:53:23 PM
    Author     : u0138039
--%>

<%@page contentType="text/html" pageEncoding="UTF-8"%>
<%@include file="DBCon.jsp" %>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
        <title>JSP Page</title>
    </head>
    <body><table>
        <%
        
        String a=request.getParameter("type");
        String b=request.getParameter("user");
        //out.println(a);
        //out.println(b);
        try{
            //ps=con.prepareStatement("Select * from Scope1");
            ps1=con.prepareStatement("SELECT SUM(Update_Count) FROM Scope1 where type ='"+a+"' and Specialist='"+b+"'");
            //ps1=con.prepareStatement("SELECT SUM(Update_Count) FROM Scope1 where type IN ('Updates','Multibases','DAIS','Acds','Legis','LegAll') and Specialist='"+b+"'");
            rs1=ps1.executeQuery();
            while(rs1.next())
            {
            %>
            <tr><td><%=a%>:<%=rs1.getString(1)%></td></tr>
            <%
            }
        }
        catch(Exception e)
        {
            out.println(e);
}
%>
   </table> </body>
</html>

the values are taken correctly(when i print before executing a query). but once i execute the query it is showing null. please let me know how do i get the values correctly.
2)
also when i use the below code it is showing nothing but a blank page

when i run the above codes in oracle they are working fine(by replacing the a and b with the values from database) but they are not working in jsp.

Thanks