That heavenly breeze returns once more, carrying with it the fragrance of hope and love. Hardened hearts begin to open, as softened ones prepare to blossom with all their splendour. It is as if the curtain of the Heavenly Kingdom begins to slowly be parted, permitting the inhabitants of the earth to glimpse the realms of purity and light.
The call of ‘Ayna Rajabiyyūn’ echoes from the Throne of Glory, inviting the servants to the Banquet of the King. With humbled hearts and outstretched hands, they respond with their entire beings:
‘Oh One in Whom I hope for every goodness
And am safe from His anger at every evil!’
These nightly winds bring with them a different feeling; gently caressing the children of Ādam, with the love of a mother waking her child, they murmur:
‘Has the time not come for those who believe, that their hearts become humbled at the remembrance of Allāh…?’ (57:16)
The days too display a different brilliance, tempting man to capture each one through ‘patience’ and join the caravan of lovers that is congregating.
Yes, the month of Rajab has arrived at last, perfumed in the `Oud of the Immaculately Perfect. As a herald of the Banquet to come, bearing glad tidings of forgiveness and mercy, it enchants the people of Reason, inviting to a kingdom that lies beyond Reason. All are invited to this magnificent reception. The only etiquette is to arrive empty handed.
‘Oh people! You are those who stand in need of Allāh and Allāh – He is the Self Sufficient, the Laudable’ (35:15)
No hopelessness is permitted beyond this position. The garments of despair, dejection and despondence must now be removed… to be forever left behind. This door is the threshold of absolute glory… yet open to all, dutiful and loathsome.
‘The doors of the kings are guarded by soldiers,
But Your door is open to all who ask’
Every soul is to be given to the measure of it’s pitcher. And no vessel will be returned unfilled.
The aroma of Lailatul Qadr captivates the hearts of the midnight strangers, as the drafts of Sahar raise their lowered whispers. A year they have awaited the coming of that blessed hour – the night in which absolute light descended upon absolute light – to journey the distance of a thousand months in a single night. That Night is the Gem of this fortress and Rajab is it’s gate.
So ‘where are the Rajabiyyūn?’
The time has come to conclude decisively. The chance to realise your furthest dreams now knocks upon your door. The deepest wishes of your heart… are just a decision away. The heavens have now opened, anticipating your answer. This is the month of Rajab.
Thus ‘enter it in peace, safe and secure’ (15:46)


The Ronald McDonald House of San Francisco, Inc. (RMH-SF) provides a safe haven for critically ill children and their families.
We believe in the importance of helping families stay together during the critical illness of a child. We offer a home away from home, home-cooked meals and supportive services for families while their children receive specialized medical treatment in San Francisco hospitals.
At Ronald McDonald House, family members draw strength and comfort from a caring community of staff, volunteers and families like themselves, coping with their child’s illness. We also take “the best of Ronald McDonald House” into the hospital, providing programs that help families get to know each other, volunteers and staff, building a support network to help them through this difficult time. We serve over 27,000 family members annually through these programs.
Our caring staff and volunteers have been helping families since opening our doors in 1989. Today, Ronald McDonald House of San Francisco operates two Ronald McDonald Houses – our original House on Scott Street, near Japantown, and our new House inside UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital at Mission Bay.
We would be honored to have you join us in fulfilling our mission and we would love to hear from you.


Title: Assessing the Environmental Impact of Industrial Activities: A Case Study
Industrial activities have played a pivotal role in shaping modern societal development, contributing to economic growth and prosperity. However, the unforeseen environmental consequences of these activities have become increasingly apparent over time. As such, it is crucial to conduct comprehensive assessments of the environmental impact associated with industrial processes to ensure sustainable development. This study aims to assess the environmental impact resulting from a specific industrial activity through the utilization of a case study approach.
To conduct this study, a case study approach encompassing various analytical methods was employed. The chosen industrial activity under scrutiny involves the production of chemical compounds known as XAD resins. XAD resins are widely used in various applications, such as water purification, air filtration, and pharmaceutical processes. Several potential environmental impacts associated with XAD resin production were identified, including air emissions, water pollution, and solid waste generation.
To gather relevant data, site visits were conducted to the manufacturing facility where XAD resins are produced. During these visits, data on process inputs, outputs, and emissions were collected. Additionally, interviews were conducted with both management and workers to understand the manufacturing process and associated environmental control measures. Secondary data, such as production records and environmental permits, were also reviewed to supplement the primary data gathered during the site visits.
Life cycle assessment (LCA):
To comprehensively evaluate the environmental impact of the XAD resin production process, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted. LCA is a widely accepted method for assessing the environmental impact of a product or process throughout its entire life cycle, including raw material extraction, manufacturing, use, and disposal stages. The LCA approach enables the identification of potential environmental hotspots and aids in the development of effective mitigation strategies.
In addition to the LCA, an input-output analysis was conducted. This analysis aimed to quantify the material and energy flows associated with XAD resin production. By tracking the inputs and outputs of the system, it was possible to identify potential areas of inefficiency or waste.
Environmental impact assessment:
To evaluate the environmental implications of the XAD resin production process, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) was conducted. The EIA focused on the potential impacts in various environmental categories, including air quality, water quality, soil contamination, and waste management. The results of this assessment were compared to local environmental standards and regulations to determine compliance levels.
Preliminary findings from the LCA reveal that the manufacturing process of XAD resins is energy-intensive, contributing to a significant carbon footprint. Additionally, the production of certain chemicals used during the manufacturing process has been found to have adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems. The input-output analysis identified opportunities for material and energy efficiency improvements, which would not only reduce environmental impacts but also enhance overall production efficiency.
Furthermore, the EIA identified deficiencies in the waste management practices of the facility, particularly related to hazardous waste disposal. This finding emphasizes the need for improved waste management strategies to minimize negative impacts on the environment and human health.
The preliminary results of this case study shed light on the significant environmental impacts associated with XAD resin production. The findings indicate the importance of implementing sustainable practices and addressing potential hotspots within the production process. By incorporating the LCA, input-output analysis, and EIA, a holistic understanding of the environmental implications surrounding industrial activities can be achieved, thereby facilitating the development of effective mitigation strategies and ensuring the long-term sustainability of industrial operations.


Symptoms of High Blood Sugar (Hyperglycemia)
Hyperglycemia (high blood sugar) occurs when your body doesn't have enough insulin or can't use insulin properly. High blood sugar is a major cause of diabetes complications.
Early symptoms of high blood sugar include:
- increased thirst
- frequent urination
- blurry vision
The best way to avoid hyperglycemia is to check your blood sugar often. Treating high blood sugar may involve exercising regularly or making changes to your diet or medication regimen. If left untreated, high blood sugar can turn into a diabetic emergency. Extremely high blood sugar levels can lead to Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) or Hyperosmolar Hyperglycemic State (HHS).
Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA)
Ketoacidosis (or DKA) occurs when blood sugars become elevated (over 249 mg/dl, or 13.9 mmol/l) over a period of time and the body begins to burn fat for energy, resulting in ketone bodies in the blood or urine (a phenomenon called ketosis). A variety of factors can cause hyperglycemia (high blood glucose), including failure to take medication or insulin, stress, dietary changes without medication adjustments, eating disorders, and illness or injury. This last cause is important, because if illness brings on DKA, it may slip by unnoticed since its symptoms can mimic the flu (aches, vomiting, etc.). In fact, people with type 1 diabetes are often seeking help for the flu-like symptoms of DKA when they first receive their diagnosis.
Symptoms of diabetic ketoacidosis may include:
- Fruity (acetone) breath
- Nausea and/or vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Dry, warm skin
- Breathing problems
- Excessive thirst
- Frequent urination
- In extreme cases, loss of consciousness
DKA is a medical emergency, and requires prompt and immediately treatment. A simple over-the-counter urine dipstick test can check for ketones (i.e., Ketostix); anyone who has blood glucose levels above 240 mg/dl (13.3 mmol/l) should test their urine for ketones. There is also at least one glucose meter on the market that tests blood ketone levels. It's normal to occasionally have trace amounts of ketones in the urine, but you should call your healthcare provider immediately if you experience moderate to heavy ketones. Treatment for DKA involves administering insulin to lower blood glucose levels and restoring fluid balance to the bloodstream with an intravenous (IV) saline drip. Electrolytes may also be given via IV.
Tomato Soup with Veggies Cracker Pizzas Salisbury Steak with Green Pepper Sauce Braised Pork Medallions with Apples Honeydew Soup Sweet Potato Pancakes Shrimp Pasta Spicy Peanut Butter Dip Citrus Sauteed Shrimp Beef and Pepper Fajitas
One of the "parents' business" items on our current trip to Virginia was a visit by a case nurse from an agency that is trying to get the Out-Laws additional personal and health assistance. While the old folk found her questions intrusive, they were reasonable follow-ons based on the OutLaws' current states of cognitive and physical health. One of the sets of questions was about their medications. A list of them was posted on the door to the den. The case nurse assumed...


American Flags near Mc Rae.
100% Made in America!
The United States flag is a solid icon of American identity as well as national pride. Likewise called Old Glory, the United States flag has a colorful background and has undertaken lots of adjustments starting from the first main flag of 1777.
Today the flag consists of thirteen straight stripes, seven red alternating with six white stripes. The shades of the flag are symbolic as well: red symbolizes strength and also valor, white represents pureness and virtue and also blue represents vigilance, willpower as well as justice.
Over time, some have associated slightly different definitions to the three shades, for instance, the shade red representing the bloodshed spilled to protect our liberty, but the essence of the original definition has been rather consistent from 1782.
How did the American flag turn into what it is today?
It is so much more than the 3 shades or a “decoration”. Think of the places around the globe that the American flag has actually flown, consider the transformation it has actually undergone throughout the years on American land. It is really humbling to consider all that was given and given up to ensure that the American flag could fly openly across this nation.
The flag that began with only 13 stars grew to 50 with the addition of other states to the Union. The number of stars on the flag progressively rose to its existing number today wherein a brand-new star would be included in the blue field on the 4th of July after the date of each new state’s admission.
The variety of alternating horizontal red as well as white stripes has remained at thirteen except from 1795 to 1818 when fifteen stripes appeared on the flag to note the admission of Kentucky and also Vermont to the Union. In 1818, it was decided that including a stripe to the flag for each and every brand-new state would not happen as it will certainly make the flag look crowded and also it would make the flag unwieldy. It was agreed then that the flag would certainly go back to having just thirteen stripes to stand for the original colonies.
The American flag is a symbol not just of strength, valor, purity, innocence, vigilance, perseverance and justice; it is a sign of freedom. Freedom that has been combatted so hard for over the decades. Liberty that has cost this nation and also the families within so much, and yet it is still a beacon to those wishing they had the liberty that the nation has.
Folding up the American flag.
Traditional flag rules suggests that before an American flag is kept or raised, its handlers ought to two times fold it in half lengthwise; after that (from the end opposite the blue field) make a triangular fold, remaining to fold it in a triangular patter up until the other end is reached. This makes a triangular “pillow” of the flag with only heaven starred field revealing outside, and also it takes thirteen folds to produce: two lengthwise folds and also eleven triangular ones.
The flag isn’t really folded in this fashion because each of the folds has a special symbolic significance; the flag is folded in this manner due to the fact that it provides a sensible ceremonial touch that distinguishes folding a flag from folding an ordinary object such as a blanket, and since it results a visually pleasing, easy-to-handle form. This thirteen-fold treatment was an usual method long before the development of a ceremonial assignation of “suggesting” per of the steps.
An intricate flag folding ceremony including these meanings has actually from then on been designed for special events such as Memorial Day as well as Veterans Day. These meanings are “real” in the sense that they imply something to individuals who take part in the event, yet they are not the reason that a flag is folded in the typical thirteen-step manner.
This is America and its icon is the American Flag. This respectable icon has actually been targetted at, burned, spew upon as well as stomped on, and yet she rises repeatedly. Even though several Americans near Arkansas state happily fly the flag outside their homes and businesses every day, it is fitting that we, as a nation, have alloted one certain day yearly to honor our flag as well as to bear in mind that it represents the ideals and also values that we should make every effort to uphold. May God bless America and also those who protect her.
Mc Rae ZIP codes we serve: 72102


Our intervention stems back from the fact that computer knowledge is a major tool for a sustainable society. Therefore YCWL, understanding the acute gap in information and communication technology; and related skills that are required for individuals to get access and maintain jobs, especially so for our females who are mostly perceived as the slowest, lazy sets on the job market, is providing the opportunity for to eradicate such deficiency.
Our goal is to provide an opportunity for high school students and university girls to experience the use of computers for the first time and to improve on their skills in a more practical and fun environment.
Acknowledging the fact computer literacy is not the sole required ability for the challenging job market, our program is inclusive of Leadership Skills Development, Office Procedures, Resume & CV development; Youth Entrepreneurship among others at our refurbished Lab.
Youth in ICT graduates are incorporated in one of our programs of their choice as volunteer or ambassadors of YCWL projects in their community or Institution; this helps to provide hands-on learning environment.


When environmental scientist Jane Lubchenco served as administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from 2009 to 2013, the U.S. was experiencing the most extreme four years of weather in its history. With 770 major tornados, 70 Atlantic hurricanes, 6 major floods, 3 tsunamis, record-breaking snowfall, drought, heat waves and wildfires, climate change started to become part of the conversation. “I think that that extreme weather actually changed a lot of peoples’ opinions,” said Lubchenco, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University. Scientists then began looking at how human intervention in the climate system changes the likelihood of weather events. While some researchers say it’s difficult to connect the dots between extreme weather events and human fingerprints, Santer said it’s clear the fingerprints are there, increasing the intensity of such occurrences. “I think a lot of people have difficulty wrapping their minds around some of the language that scientists use to describe events like this,” Lubchenco said. “We're honoring Steve Schneider tonight and he was one of the champions of trying to find the right analogies to describe things.” “I think there is increasing evidence that the very, very large heat waves that we are seeing, we expect to be seeing more of those and lasting longer,” she said. “And I think the attribution for those is stronger.” When Santer was asked what he says to people who deny climate change because it’s cold outside, he replied, “That’s a phenomenon we climate scientists refer to as winter.” “There seems to be this incorrect expectation that as human-caused burning of fossil fuels has increased levels of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that we expect each year to be inexorably warmer than the previous year and we expect winter to go away,” Santer said. “That never was our expectation.” When Santer testified in front of Congress in 2010, he first heard the contrived narrative that global warming had stopped. Because the claim didn’t have any actual scientific evidence, Santer described it as “science by eminence of position.” Listen and Learn More Here.


Do you have children with cell phones? If you do, or if you are planning on giving them a cell phone soon, or wondering about whether or not you should get them a phone, here are some talking point ideas pulled from a lesson I have permission to share (with a few bracketed additions of my own).
Begin a discussion about cell phones by:
- Asking your [children] what they already know about cell phone safety. Get a baseline for what they have knowledge of, what they hear about or see at school.
- [In age-appropriate ways], ask them what their feelings and opinions are about cyber-bullying, harassment to send provocative photos [sexting is more common than we might want to think; be sure to be educated about the facts (including the fact that it can put your child in legal jeopardy to participate in sexting) and get educated about apps like Snapchat, especially if you have a teenager], and being contacted by people they don’t know. Let your child tell you what they do when they perceive something is dangerous or bad. Once you have a feel for where they stand, remind them how much you care about them and want to make sure that they are safe from any potential problems.
- Explain how you feel about cell phones and what your family wants to use them for (staying connected as a family, for use in emergencies, family support, and using technology to encourage dialogue, not replace it).
- Negotiate with your children what is an acceptable amount of time and money spent on mobile phones. Let your child know you will be monitoring your cell phone bill for acceptable use. The goal is to establish healthy media habits.
- Time spent on mobile phones, while useful and fun, is time not spent focusing on other important activities, such as studying, working, and improving mental and physical health.
- Discuss with them about the apps kids choose to download in order to help them learn to choose wisely. The apps should not violate your family’s personal media standards. Tell them you will be checking ratings for music, games, or app purchases.
- Let them know that you have investigated several programs that keep dangerous people from contacting teens on the phone, indecent websites from being accessed, and help filter any harmful material or websites. [And have conversations about how any information shared through technology needs to be assumed to not be private.] [Help your child understand that] there are people, even friends, who could try to do damage to their reputations [or who may inadvertently cause harm by sharing information when they shouldn’t]. Let them know that the reason you have decided to install different safety controls on their phone, or monitor periodically their cell phone usage is to continue fulfilling your obligation as their parent to keep them safe.
If you are an LDS parent, I would also add that one way to discourage unhealthy use of technology is to remind your children of why God has given us technology in the first place. All the other content in this post is more secular/non-denominational in nature but I firmly believe that when children are raised to consecrate some of their tech time to truly worthy causes, it can help keep the purpose of technology in perspective. See, for example, Elder Bednar’s warnings (video and full talk) and also his invitation to youth.
Here are a few videos that explore how to talk about cell phone use with children; how to draw boundaries about cell phone use; and parental controls that are available on the iPhone. There is also a video that can help parents know some tips for talking about hard things (like finding pornography on a cell phone or computer).
(Jeff Ford’s Five Cs are also very helpful…also found on the same YouTube channel or on our Pinterest page.)


SSRL angiogram, 5/1986
The first synchrotron radiation coronary angiogram recorded on a human subject occurred in May 1986 at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). The study is believed to have been the first synchrotron radiation imaging procedure performed on a human being. As of 2002, some 500 intravenous coronary angiograms had been recorded at SSRL, NSLS, DESY, and ESRF, all without complication. By 2010, the American Heart Association reports that over 600,000 such procedures are being performed annually in the United States. (In the angiogram, the following structures are identified: AO, ascending aorta; LV, left ventricle; IMA, internal mammary artery; LAD, left anterior descending coronary artery; RCA, right coronary artery.)
The team of experimenters present at the time of the first human coronary angiography procedure, conducted on SSRL beamline 4-2 in 1986; (left to right) Bill Thomlinson, John Otis, Bob Hofstadter, John Giacomini, Al Thompson, Herb Zeman, George Brown, and Ed Rubenstein.
Note: Some links on this page open pdf files, which require the free Acrobat Reader.
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Retired U.S. Navy sonar experts have helped create a novel portable device to detect, diagnose, and monitor strokes. The brain-imaging system uses a simple headset and laptop--and decades of submarine technology--to home in on brain activity that signifies trouble.
The headset is equipped with six highly sensitive accelerometers. Instead of peering out through the rounded bow of a submarine, they are oriented inward toward the brain.
The brain's machinations (veins expanding and contracting, aneurysms wobbling) each have their own unique vibrations that cause slight skull pulsations. The headset sensors measure these movements to look for irregular blood flow in much the same way submarines measure motion and generate signals that are processed, analyzed, and matched to objects.
Data on the type and location of brain vascular abnormalities is then rapidly sent to the PC.
"As sonar sorts out whales and other objects from vessels, the device sorts out cerebral abnormalities such as aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs, an abnormal connection between veins and arteries), ischemic strokes, and traumatic brain injury from normal variations in physiology," said Dr. Kieran J. Murphy, director of research and deputy chief of radiology at the University of Toronto and University Health Network in Toronto, in a release (PDF).
Murphy is presenting trial data on the device--developed by Mountain View, Calif.-based Jan Medical--at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 36th Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago this week.
In a pilot study at Johns Hopkins Hospital that involved 40 stroke patients and 30 normal controls, a prototype system correctly identified stroke in 97.3 percent of cases and correctly ruled it out in 98.8 percent of normal patients. It was also able to separate patients with specific stroke conditions or vascular abnormalities into unique categories like ischemia, hemorrhage, aneurysm, stenosis, and arteriovenous malformations, according to Jan Medical. Its founder and CEO, Paul Lovoi, named the company after his wife, Jan, who died from a stroke at age 55.
"The system is very simple in principle, yet it yields exceedingly rich data," Murphy said.
A stroke occurs when a blood clot blocks an artery or a blood vessel breaks, interrupting blood flow to part of the brain. With the sonar device, the initial diagnosis is said to take place within a couple of minutes--a selling point, researchers say, as time is widely understood to be of the essence in preventing permanent damage once a stroke has occurred.
Those working on the device say it's ideal for field emergency care and ambulances and on military battlefields and sports fields where CT scanners aren't readily available. They say they hope the technology can eventually be adapted for use in other areas of acute care, such as open heart surgery, where stroke is a concern.
Subsequent studies--and funding--will be needed before the device can hit the market.
Meanwhile, the last couple of years have seen several promising technological developments in the diagnosis and treatment of strokes. Among them, researchers in Italy developed awhose movements could help stroke survivors re-learn how to use their hands, arms, and even shoulders. Recent research has suggested that may help recovering stroke patients improve their motor function. And new promise to reduce the risk of stroke and heart disease.


Learning from our past for a healthier future
What’s happening today
The COVID-19 crisis caught the world largely unprepared.
The medical research community is working urgently to understand the coronavirus’s cellular mechanisms and search for effective therapies and vaccines while racing against the virus’s spread.
Though it’s nothing any of us wants to think about today, scientists estimate there could be over a million viruses in nature with potential to progress in a similar manner as SARS-CoV-21, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Therefore, epidemiologists assume the current viral threat won’t be our last.
While it takes roughly 10 years and upwards of $10–$100 million on average to discover one new material with specific properties, it can take up to $2.6 billion and more than 10 years for a new drug to reach market2. A third of this overall cost and time is attributed to the drug discovery phase in which researchers need to synthesize thousands of molecules to develop a single pre-clinical lead candidate3.
One way to more quickly generate treatments for emerging viruses like COVID-19 is identifying potential therapies from drugs already on the market, which have been tested and proven safe for humans — jumpstarting subsequent research to help enable more rapid clinical trials and regulatory review.
Solutions for the future
A combination of AI, analytics and data can potentially help with the rapid analysis of real-world medical evidence to suggest new candidates for drug repurposing and speed clinical trials.
The process can scale the systematic reuse of digitized medical data, including its aggregation, analyses and interpretation. The goal will be to help the medical community identify new patterns amid the medical records of millions of de-identified patients and generate insights about the epidemiology of infectious diseases and potential treatments for them.
In the context of COVID-19, researchers used these technologies with real-world evidence to suggest the use of two existing drugs, one approved for specific immunological and endocrine disorders, seen to be effective in reducing mortality of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and the second one in use for treating prostate cancer, found to protect against complications of COVID-19 after performing a widespread retrospective study in Spain4.
Developments at IBM Research
While many of these repurposing studies start as anecdotal observations or informed scientific hypotheses, real-world evidence can be systematically mined and brought to scale with the accelerated discovery cycle—allowing researchers to move beyond current correlation studies. In the future, these tools may reach widespread adoption across industries, effectively becoming one of the means of rapidly responding to global, life-threatening viruses.
Over the next five years, medical researchers can identify new opportunities for drug repurposing at a greater scale and prioritize them for clinical trials based on available evidence, helping to reduce time spent in the drug discovery process.
- Live Science, Why Scientists Are Rushing to Hunt Down 1.7 Million Unknown Viruses, February 23, 2018; https://www.livescience.com/61848-scientists-hunt-unknown-viruses.html
- PhRMA, https://www.phrma.org/en/Advocacy/Research-Development/Clinical-Trials
- DiMasi, J.A.; Grabowski, H.G.; Hansen, R.W., 2016. Innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: New estimates of R&D costs Journal of Health Economics. 2016. 47:20-33
- Pagano, F., Ragazzi, E. and Prayer-Galetti, T., 2020. Androgen-deprivation therapies (ADTs) for prostate cancer and risk of infection by SARS-CoV-2: a population-based study


Water primrose is an invasive non-native plant. Since 2009, the Environment Agency has coordinated the eradication of water primrose and progress has been made. Water primrose has the potential to profoundly damage wetlands and waterbodies, degrading the environment and our enjoyment of it. Early intervention is essential. Please read the poster below for more information and how to report sightings.


However the tack has at least changed slightly. The reason, says The Task Force On Shale, is that gas can provide a bridge to a low-carbon future. This is a something of a recurring meme these days from the fracking industry, and it has legs because it's a complicated argument to debunk. But debunked it needs to be.
First, what the Task Force got right. When burnt in a power station fracked gas gives off approximately half the carbon dioxide of coal. This is good, although not good enough to prevent dangerous climate change, which requires use to cut our carbon use by 90% or more. However The Task Force at least admits this and is only advocating shale as a bridge to cleaner and greener technologies.
Now here's the bad news, starting with the length of the bridge. Even if all the anti-fracking groups packed up and went home, and even if the British geology behaves and gives the frackers a clean run, shale gas will take time to develop. It is the fuel of the next decade, not this. New gas power stations will need to be built to burn it. They will have a lifetime of thirty years and there is no precedent for shutting down profitable stations early.
That means four more decades of carbon fuelled power in this country. This essentially 'business as usual' scenario, if followed worldwide, could, in a worst case scenario, see us committed to a global temperature rise of 4 degrees by 2050 according to the IPCC. This is a point that's easy to misunderstand - Emma Thompson recently came a bit of a cropper with it - so let's be clear: we won't see a temperature rise of 4 degrees by 2050, but we will have burnt enough fossil fuels to make such a catastrophic change in the climate inevitable by 2100, even if we don't burn another lump of coal or cylinder of gas in the second half of the century.
a 4 degrees rise could occur as early as the 2060s. This is scary as I might still be alive then, although two thirds of the world's plant and animal species probably won't be.
The Task Force would argue that a 'dash for gas' would avert a worst case scenario, but there's another factor they haven't considered. Whilst we might not be burning any more coal - in fact we definitely won't be burning any more coal if we don't build any more coal fired power stations, as the ones we have will be almost all retired by the end of the decade - but, in the absence of a global deal, there's no reason why other people won't burn our coal for us. That's what happened in America. Fracking reduced their domestic coal use, but coal mining actually increased. They just exported more.
So instead of replacing coal, fracking just adds another fossil fuel to the mix to be burnt alongside the black rocks. Dress it up any way you like, this is not good. The solution, as the divestment people will tell you, is to Leave It In The Ground. Fracking is only better than coal if the coal stays in the earth. At present there is no way the fracking industry, or its government supporters, can guarantee that.
The problems though don't stop there. Once of the biggest unknowns about fracking is the amount of the gas, methane, than leaks out, either during production or on the way to the power stations.
Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and this is only partly offset by its
shorter life in the atmosphere. Overall the IPCC considers methane to be thirty times more potent than carbon dioxide, so the leakage rate is very important. Industry funded studies show very low rates, but independent studies have produced leakage rates of 12% or more. As a rate of just 3.6% would be enough to wipe any gains from the cleaner combustion of methane, these figures are worrying.
Incidentally, it's very easy to get yourself confused on this issue to. Methane is much heavier than carbon dioxide, so 3% of a certain amount of methane weighs a lot more than 3% of the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. The House of Lords committee managed to confuse just about everyone by claiming Greenpeace had got this figure wrong, when it appears it that it was them who were confusing people.
Then there is the very real threat that fracking will up all the money the government has allocated to 'low carbon' energy, leaving solar, wind and energy conservation stranded.
All of this means that even if fracking was clean and safe, and even if there were hundreds of communities queueing up to welcome the rigs, its contribution to climate change would rule it out as a future energy source.
The Task Force would no doubt reply that I'm not being realistic, that the renewable alternatives just aren't there. But I would reply to them by asking: why aren't they there?
It is a funny sort of 'realism' that ignores the physics of the problem in favour of the economics and the politics.


As children head back to school, they may be expanding their minds but there is a good chance they’re also damaging their bodies. Back pain, historically an adult affliction, is now becoming common among school-aged children and studies show a direct correlation between backpacks and back pain in children.
In a recent study by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, 37% of the children studied reported back pain, with 82% of these kids believing their backpack either caused or worsened their pain. Of the children reporting back pain, 34% limited their activity due to the pain. The study also found children with lockers reported less back pain.
Separate studies have also found that girls suffer back pain more often and more intense than boys, and the onset of pain often correlates just prior to the onset of puberty.
“Probably most disturbing about these findings is the fact that back pain in children and adolescents is very likely a precursor to low back pain as an adult,” said Anthony Carey, founder and CEO of Function First, a company that helps people eliminate back pain, joint pain and chronic pain through a form of exercise called corrective exercise. “It also concerns us that back pain is limiting activity in children. Children need structured exercise programs just like adults. We need to look at the relationship of back pain in kids with the increase in childhood obesity and sedentary lifestyles,” added Carey.
The study findings identify two changes to address the problem: 1) increasing the availability of school lockers; and 2) lighter backpacks. Carey also points out that The American Physical Therapy Association, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the American Chiropractic Association provide backpack weight limit guidelines. Recommendations are based on the child’s weight and are as follows:
– A 60 lb. child can carry a maximum backpack weight of 5 lbs.
– 60-75 lbs. can carry 10 lbs.
– 100 lbs. can carry 15 lbs.
– 125 lbs. can carry 18 lbs.
– 150 lbs. can carry 20 lbs.
– 200 lbs. can carry 25 lbs.
Anthony Carey, M.A., CSCS, CES is the author of “The Pain-Free Program” and the founder and CEO of Function First, Inc. Function First provides a variety of corrective exercise products and services that provide pain relief for those with back pain, neck pain, joint pain and chronic pain. Carey, a continuing education provider for the American Council on Exercise, the National Strength and Conditioning Association, the American College of Sports Medicine, and the National Academy of Sports Medicine also trains health and fitness professionals in his methods of corrective exercise. For more information about Anthony Carey and Function First, please visit FunctionFirst


Tuesday, August 25, 1987 began like any other day for Luis Felipe Vélez, president of the teachers union of Antioquia, Colombia’s most populous state. Shortly after 7 AM, Velez said goodbye to his wife and three young children and headed to the union’s office in downtown Medellín.
But as the thirty-three-year-old was about to enter the modest adobe-brick building, two assassins leapt out of a green Mazda 626 and opened fire, riddling his body with bullets. Velez died two hours later.
Word spread quickly among human rights activists, teachers, and Vélez’s colleagues in the Association of School Teachers of Antioquia, and by 5 PM a large crowd had gathered at the union office for a vigil.
Among the throng were Hector Abad Gomez and Leonardo Betancur, two well-known human rights leaders. As Gomez and Betancur entered the union office, two men jumped off a motorcycle and walked toward the crowd. One shot Gomez six times; the other chased Betancur into the office and killed him.
It was a bloody day in a bloody period. During the 1980s and ’90s, assassinations were an everyday reality for union and human rights activists in Colombia. And violence, while on the wane, continues to this day.
According to Colombia’s National Union School (ENS), more than 1,000 teacher union leaders were killed between 1977 and 2014 — the equivalent of 7,000 teacher union leaders being murdered in the US. The ENS has also documented over 14,000 incidents of violence against labor activists, ranging from assassinations to beatings, kidnappings, and torture. The perpetrators have only been brought to justice in 1 percent of the cases.
This campaign of intimidation and murder (in combination with neoliberal restructuring) has taken a toll on Colombia’s labor movement. Union membership is 4.4 percent of the national workforce today, down from 17 percent three decades ago.
As the movement has shrunk, public educators have become increasingly important. Teachers in Colombia now make up about half of the membership of the Central Union of Workers, Colombia’s main federation of unions.
And they have one more thing in common with teacher unionists in the US: they’re fighting neoliberal reforms tooth and nail.
Global Front Lines
This past December, during a long visit to Colombia to study Spanish and learn about the situation in the country, I walked into the same teachers union office where Vélez was assassinated. On the wall hung portraits of Vélez and the sixty-six other teacher union leaders in Antioquia murdered since 1977. Above the pictures, a wooden sign read (in Spanish): “Here we are and here we will be forever in the heat of the struggle in defense of human rights.”
Seeing the dozens of portraits of slain teachers was chilling, a stark contrast to the congratulatory plaques lining the office walls at my own union, the Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association.
I had been aware of the danger facing private-sector union activists in Colombia — especially those organizing against multinational sugar cane, banana, and mining companies — but the pictures drove home the importance of public-sector workers to the struggle for justice and human rights in Colombia. Elites in the country literally had them gunned down to try to weaken popular resistance.
While the situation outside Columbia is less dangerous, public-sector unionists across the world have emerged as a bulwark against efforts to eviscerate public services. From Chicago to Colombia, teachers have leveraged their position in society to fight the privatization and disinvestment national governments and international institutions are pushing.
Teachers and schools are in nearly every town and city in the world. Urban and rural teachers are in daily contact with impoverished and disenfranchised communities. And despite anti-union attacks and growing privatization, teacher unions remain among the largest in the world. (In the United States, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers have some 4.5 million members, making K-12 public education one of the country’s most unionized sectors.)
Educational International, the global federation of teacher unions, has launched an international campaign against the commodification of education. But much more is needed.
To be successful, teacher unions must take our struggle beyond the schoolhouse door and fight for more than just the rights of our members. We must struggle for a more genuine democracy, a more expansive social justice.
Colombian teachers, many of whom have given their lives, are on the front lines of this struggle.
Culture of Fear
Though separated by thousands of miles, my conversations with teachers and union activists in Colombia underlined the commonality of our struggles.
Teachers from Colombia and the US alike decry the growing emphasis on standardized testing, the tendency to blame teachers for not solving problems created by pervasive poverty, the top-down commands that devalue teaching as a profession, and the narrowing of the curriculum, which edges out all-important issues such as social justice and critical thinking. They object to corporate reforms that privilege private schools and defund public education — reforms that, at their heart, represent an attack on democratic rights.
“We are fighting privatization of our public schools,” said John Avila, a former social studies teacher and current head of research for Colombia’s Federation of Educators (FECODE) in Bogotá. “The neoliberal agenda . . . is strong in Colombia.”
Last spring, the federation led a fifteen-day national strike that focused on two issues — meager pay and a new teacher evaluation system that consisted of a single, written test. The union made gains on both, winning a 12 percent pay increase over three years and a more sophisticated evaluation system that does not include a written test.
Indeed, despite right-wing violence and a culture of fear, despite limits on organizing, despite the prohibition of agency fees, Colombian educators have persevered — roughly 70 percent of the country’s teachers are union members.
The pending peace accord between Colombia’s government and leftist guerrillas is raising hopes that teacher unions will be able to bring even more people into their ranks. As Carlos Lotero — longtime labor leader and now the director general of the National Union School — put it: “It’s a lot easier to organize for worker rights if leaders are not routinely murdered.”
Two decades ago, peace talks between the government and the guerillas led to the formation of the Patriotic Union, a left political party. But both the Patriotic Union and the peace process collapsed when the ruling oligarchy and paramilitaries launched a campaign against the nascent party. According to the House of Memory in Medellín, nearly five thousand members of the new party were “assassinated, disappeared, or massacred” between 1984 and 1997.
Today, the peace process enjoys much broader support and is attracting more international scrutiny. The negotiations began in 2012 in Havana, Cuba and a tentative pact was announced in September 2015. The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) continue to make progress on the details of a final peace agreement, although they did not complete the accord by the hoped-for deadline of March 23. Their intention is to have an agreement soon, followed by a referendum in October.
Every educator and teacher union leader I spoke with supported the peace process, in the hopes that it it will rein in paramilitary death squads and provide space for organizing and social transformation.
As the peace process in Colombia moves forward, the unions have developed a broad agenda to fight for worker rights. And because of Washington’s continued involvement in the country, Colombian union activists say the solidarity of US progressives and unions is essential.
Lotero spoke in particular about provisions in the US-Colombia free-trade agreement, which was signed in 2011. Because of pressure from the US and Colombian labor movements, the pact included a Labor Action Plan intended to safeguard worker rights. Now Colombian unions are fighting to make sure that language is put into practice.
Provisions of the Labor Action Plan include: establishing a ministry of labor, ending subcontracting designed to prevent unionization, opening an office of the International Labor Organization in Colombia, and changing legal codes to expand and enforce basic labor laws.
The plan also calls for measures to prosecute perpetrators of anti-labor violence and increase protection for activists, including government funding for bodyguards and armored cars. Intimidation is an ongoing concern. According to the US Department of Labor, “threats against labor leaders and activists have increased significantly, in the form of text messages, phone calls, letters, emails and other forms.”
But as I spoke with teachers and union leaders in Colombia, I was struck by their matter-of-fact perseverance — a persistence examined in a book that all union activists in Medellín seem to have read: Tirándole libros a las balas, or Throwing Books at Bullets. The book chronicles the history of violence against teachers in Antioquia from 1978 to 2008.
Fernando Ospina, president of the Antioquia teachers union, explained the title’s significance.
“Teacher unions have been targeted by violence and bullets,” Ospina said. “Our response has been with education, social research, and social justice. They shoot bullets. We throw books.”


Permanent brain damage from a stroke may be reversible thanks to a developing therapeutic technique, a USC-led study has found.
The novel approach combines transplanted human stem cells with a special protein that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already approved for clinical studies in new stroke patients.
"This USC-led animal study could pave the way for a potential breakthrough in how we treat people who have experienced a stroke," said Jim Koenig, a program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which funded the research. "If the therapy works in humans, it could markedly accelerate the recovery of these patients."
Berislav Zlokovic, senior author of the Aug. 22 Nature Medicine study, and his colleagues identified a protein that spurs neural stem cells to become functional neurons: 3K3A-APC, a variant of the human protein "activated protein C."
The created compound is being tested as a neuroprotectant. Researchers in a National Institutes of Health-funded Phase II clinical trial administer 3K3A-APC to patients who have very recently (within a few hours) suffered from an ischemic stroke, when a clot blocks blood from reaching the brain. About 87 percent of all strokes are ischemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, Zlokovic, director of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, said he and his colleagues are the first to use 3K3A-APC to produce neurons from human stem cells grafted into the stroke-damaged mouse brain.
"We showed that 3K3A-APC helps the grafted stem cells convert into neurons and make structural and functional connections with the host's nervous system," said Zlokovic, a scientific founder of ZZ Biotech, a company devoted to developing therapeutics using variants of activated protein C. "No one in the stroke field has ever shown this, so I believe this is going to be the gold standard for future studies."
Although other researchers have experimented with grafting stem cells into injured brain areas, they have met with limited success -- partially because transplanted stem cells diminish with time. The therapeutic compound stops that from happening.
Every year more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke, according to the CDC. These debilitating seizures reduce mobility in more than half of stroke survivors age 65 and older.
More than 70 percent of stroke survivors live with substantial neurological symptoms such as muscle weakness or paralysis, according to Yaoming Wang, co-lead author of the study and a senior research associate at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at the Keck School.
"The need for an efficacious, practical and late treatment of stroke remains unmet," Wang said. "Regenerative medicine with stem cells holds great promise for the treatment of stroke."
How combination therapy works
A week -- the equivalent of several months in humans -- after scientists induced a stroke in mice, the researchers placed human neural stem cells next to damaged brain tissue. Then they administered the immunosuppressant cyclosporine and four doses of 3K3A-APC or a placebo solution over a span of seven days.
The transplanted stem cells matured into neurons and other brain cells. Mice treated with the special compound had 16 times more human stem cell-derived neurons than those who were treated with the placebo.
"Functional deficit after five weeks of stroke were minimized, and the mice were almost back to normal in terms of motor and sensorimotor functions," Zlokovic said. "Synapses formed between transplanted cells and host cells, so there is functional activation and cooperation of transplanted cells in the host circuitry."
To test whether the injected stem cells caused the observed motor and sensorimotor improvements, USC researchers used an assassin toxin to exterminate neurons that developed from human stem cells. They found that these mice lost improvements in motor or sensory tests, suggesting the neurons that grew from implanted stem cells were necessary for recovery from stroke-induced disability.
The motor and sensory tests
Researchers tested motor functions by having mice walk forward on a rotating rod without falling off. They tested sensory and motor function by placing tape on the mouse's forepaw and observed how long it took the mice to remove the adhesive.
Rodents given human stem cells and treated with 3K3A-APC performed much better on these performance tests, said Zhen Zhao, co-lead author and an assistant professor of research physiology and biophysics at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute.
To test the brain's circuitry after the stroke, researchers labeled stem cells with an indicator of neuronal activity and then stimulated the paws of the mice with a mechanical vibration. They noted the injured area in 3K3A-APC-treated mice was activated much more than in mice treated with the placebo. Moreover, the response time was much closer to that of uninjured mice.
These results suggest that neurons which grew from the stem cells are functionally integrated into the host's brain circuitry.
The future of stem cell therapy
In June, Stanford University researchers drilled a hole into the skulls of people whose motor and sensory abilities had been compromised because of stroke. Then they injected stem cells harvested from the bone marrow of adult donors. Although the study involved only 18 patients, researchers noted meaningful recovery, such as the ability to walk again. Stanford researchers said the stem cells seemed to trigger a biochemical process that enhanced the brain's ability to regenerate neurons. The transplanted stem cells themselves did not become neurons.
In contrast, researchers in the USC-led study were able to stimulate transplanted stem cells to becoming neurons in a mouse study.
Zlokovic and his team now hope to pursue a new Phase II clinical trial to test whether their combination therapy that stimulated the growth of neurons in mice can be replicated in human stroke patients. If the trial succeeds, they plan to extend the neural stem cell grafts and 3K3A-APC treatment to other neurological conditions, such as spinal cord injuries.
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Adelson Medical Research Foundation, New York State Stem Cell Research Board, Novo Nordisk Foundation, Lundbeck Foundation, National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the ALS Association.


Friday October 10 2008
“Honey has been found to be better at aiding burn recovery than standard treatments used by the NHS,” the Daily Mail reported. The newspaper said that scientists had pooled data from 19 trials involving more than 2,500 patients with various wounds. They found that mild to moderate burns took less time to heal when honey was applied than some widely used dressings.
This review was carried out by the Cochrane Collaboration and is a very thorough investigation of the existing research on the use of honey in treating wounds. It found that honey might improve healing times in some types of burn (thin burns which are mild to moderate, superficial and of partial thickness) compared with some conventional dressings. The researchers say this finding should be treated with caution, however, and that "Health services should invest in treatments that have been shown to work". Other supposed applications of honey proved to be less effective. For example, honey dressings used under compression bandages did not significantly increase leg ulcer healing after 12 weeks. The authors suggest that this practice should stop, and that there is insufficient evidence to guide clinical practice for other wound types.
Where did the story come from?
Dr Andrew Jull and colleagues from the Clinical Trials Research Unit at the University of Auckland in New Zealand carried out the systematic review. There were no external sources of support for the study. The study was published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, a publication of the Cochrane Collaboration.
What kind of scientific study was this?
This was a systematic review of trials, which aimed to determine whether honey increases the rate of healing in acute wounds (burns, lacerations and other traumatic wounds) and chronic wounds (venous ulcers, arterial ulcers, diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers and infected surgical wounds).
As background, the researchers note that honey is a sticky “supersaturated” sugar solution derived from nectar gathered and modified by the honeybee and used since ancient times as a remedy in wound care. Recent trials have evaluated the effects of using honey to help wound healing, but it was not known if it helps both new wounds, such as burns and lacerations, and long-term wounds, such as venous leg ulcers and pressure ulcers. How honey works is also unknown, although recent research has concentrated on the antibacterial activity of the many varieties of honey, rather than their effect on wound healing. One theory is one that Manuka honey (from New Zealand and Australia) has unique antibacterial activity independent of the effect of honey’s general peroxide (an anti-bacterial property) activity and its osmolarity (its thickness and stickiness).
The researchers first searched recognised literature databases for studies published before May 2008. The search included the Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register, a controlled trial register called CENTRAL, and several other electronic databases. This list of trials was supplemented with any studies listed in reference lists and any unpublished trials from the manufacturers of dressing products.
In order that only high-quality trials were included, the search was restricted to randomised and quasi randomised trials, those that had evaluated honey as a treatment for any sort of acute or chronic wound, and those where wound healing was the main outcome that was measured. Studies were included irrespective of where they were published, their date of publication or language.
What were the results of the study?
The search identified 19 trials with a total of 2,554 participants to be included in the review. Three trials evaluated the effect of honey on acute lacerations, abrasions or minor surgical wounds. Nine trials evaluated the effect of honey on burns. Two other trials evaluated the effect of honey on venous leg ulcers, and there was one trial each on pressure ulcers, infected post-operative wounds, and Fournier’s gangrene. Two trials recruited people with mixed groups of chronic or acute wounds.
In the trials of partial thickness burns, the researchers found that honey reduced healing time to healing by 4.68 days compared with some conventional dressings (95% CI -4.28 to -5.09 days).
In chronic wounds, honey dressings used under compression bandaging did not significantly increase healing in venous leg ulcers (RR 1.15, 95%CI 0.96 to 1.38).
There was insufficient evidence to determine the effect of honey compared with other treatments for burns or in other acute or chronic wound types.
What interpretations did the researchers draw from these results?
The researchers say that “honey may improve healing times in mild to moderate superficial and partial thickness burns compared with some conventional dressings”.
They also say that when honey dressings are used under compression bandaging, there is no significant increase in leg ulcer healing at 12 weeks, and there is insufficient evidence to guide clinical practice in other areas.
What does the NHS Knowledge Service make of this study?
The researchers acknowledge that the poor quality of most of the trial reports means the results should be interpreted with caution. The exception to their overall conclusion is for venous leg ulcers, where they are confident that honey dressings used under compression bandaging is not justifiable or worthwhile. There are other points to note about this review:
- The researchers report that all nine burns trials that were included originated from a single centre – the department of surgery at a medical college in Maharashtra, India, and up until 1999 have the same single author, Dr M Subrahmanyam. The researchers warn that this may have an impact on whether or the studies could be replicated, meaning that there may be specific details regarding how the honey dressings were applied in this centre that may not be repeatable in other centres.
- Some of the trials included were quasi-randomised, meaning that in some cases the participants were allocated to alternate groups based on the day of attendance at the hospital. This can affect the reliability of the findings from these trials as it is possible for bias to occur. For example, the investigators could have influenced who went into which group.
- The researchers had to use the outcomes reported in the trials, and these were usually the average (mean) time to healing. They say that this is not the most appropriate method of analysing this sort of ‘time to event’ data, and that survival analysis would have been more appropriate.
- Pooling of results for analysis can be a controversial area in systematic reviews, and these authors comment that two of their analyses had highly significant heterogeneity. This means that the trials were different enough from each other to suggest that combining the results may be problematic. They justify the pooling of results on clinical and methodological grounds, and said that to do otherwise would have breached the protocol that they had already decided upon.
This is a thorough review, which by its design will have identified the major trials of honey treatment for wounds. The researchers were particularly thorough in that they attempted to contact authors where data was missing. Several avenues for future research are identified by the researchers. Where there is still doubt about the effectiveness of honey as a dressing for thin burns, they welcome more well-designed randomised trials.


The elections are the main way how citizens can impact on the authorities. Whether it's worth to vote or not? It is our choices that decide how we live, which government we have, our economy, and our politics. Everyone should consciously and responsibly approach to this event. We should not think that our voices are not counted. If we want the state to respect its citizens, we must respect the state. Besides, you can also find the answer in these wise quotes about voting.
Wise Quotes on Voting to Tell You Why We Should Vote
Participation in elections is a measure of civic maturity, an independent political position, an important contribution to shaping the future.
In the conditions of modern democracies, elections are pivotal mechanism, the main form of manifestation of the sovereignty of the people, its political role as a source of power.
Every citizen of our country has the right to a better future, and it is possible to realize that right by voting.
Through the elections, we will show that we have the cooperation of government and society and thus can achieve a lot.
The main reason why we have to go to the elections is the desire to improve our lives, our society.


The black kite is a very common hawk that occurs widely throughout Australia, Africa and Asia. They are gregarious and opportunistic, with large flocks sometimes gathering around cattle yards, slaughterhouses and refuse dumps where they scavenge for scraps. Black kites will also rob nestlings, steal food from other birds, as well as prey on small birds and insects. They are excellent soarers, and occasionally cross the Tasman Sea to New Zealand.
The black kite is a medium-sized dark brown hawk with longish rectangular, harrier-like wings, with pale brown across the shoulders. It has a long distinctly forked tail, and the legs and feet are short and weak. The soft parts including eyes are yellow. They are commonly seen gliding, soaring, or quartering the ground in search for food. Their flight is very distinctive and buoyant, the tail is continually opening, closing and flexing with the air-currents and when gliding, the carpal joint is often well forward with the wingtips slightly drooped.
Voice: a high pitched quavering “kwee-err”; a staccato “keee-ki-ki-ki” including whistles and squeals.
Similar species: the black kite is similar to the much more common swamp harrier. Unlike the harrier, the black kite does not soar with its wings held in a shallow V, but has a more flattened profile. It also lacks the harrier’s distinctive pale rump and long legs.
Distribution and habitat
Widespread and common throughout southern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
New Zealand records
There are eight widely scattered records from both the North and South Islands: Renwick, Marlborough (1992-1994, and again 2000-15), Glentanner, Lake Pukaki (1994), Wanaka Airport (1996), various South Auckland localities (2001-2003), Pirinoa, Wairarapa (2002), Inglewood, Taranaki (2009), and near Mercer (2016-17). The single vagrant black kite seen near Renwick in 1992-94 is likely to be the same bird reported there in 2006. This bird was still present near Renwick in early 2015, having presumably been in the area some 23 years, roosting in a group of gums off the Waihopai Valley Road. This area of Marlborough has an open landscape and warm climate, similar to areas where these kites live overseas.
Behaviour and ecology
Black kites prefer open plains and countryside, in warm to dry, semi-arid to arid areas. They are typically gregarious, and are often seen in small to very large flocks. They are able to soar effortlessly to great heights. When walking, they appear to shuffle along on short legs with their tails held horizontally off the ground. In New Zealand, reports of the Renwick black kite indicate that the bird was quite sedentary. The decades-long presence of this bird shows that black kites can survive long-term in parts of the New Zealand landscape.
The black kite is a very opportunistic and successful hawk. Its diet is mainly carrion but it also includes human refuse, shellfish, fish, small mammals, reptiles, insects and birds. It will also steal food from other birds. In their native lands, they take advantage of rodent and insect plagues, as well as capturing small birds, mammals and insects fleeing from bush fires and agricultural burn-offs.
Cupper, J; Cupper, L. 1981. Hawks in focus, a study of Australia’s birds of prey. Jaclin Enterprises, Midura, Australia
Marchant, S.; Higgins, P.J. (eds). 1993. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds. Volume 2: raptors to Lapwings. Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Miskelly, C.M.; Crossland, A.C.; Sagar, P.M.; Saville, I.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Bell, E.A. 2017. Vagrant and extra-limital records accepted by the Birds New Zealand Records Appraisal Committee 2015-2016. Notornis 64: 57-67.
Olsen, P.; Crome, F.; Olsen, J. 1993. Birds of prey and ground birds of Australia. Angus and Robertson, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Olsen, P. 1995. Australian birds of prey; the biology and ecology of raptors. University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, Australia.
Hyde, N.H.S.; Bell, M.; Seaton, R. 2013 [updated 2017]. Black kite. In Miskelly, C.M. (ed.) New Zealand Birds Online. www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz
- Breeding season
- Egg laying dates


INTRODUCTION TO RECEIVERS
OLD FRIENDS AND NEW
Your first contact with radio probably was with a
RECEIVER in your living room at home. Most likely your
knowledge of what made the radio "tick" was limited.
But you could turn it on and twist the knobs to bring in
the ball game or dance band you wanted to hear.
While the home receiver is simple in design, and easy
to tune in comparison to the Navy types, both are essentially the same kind of gear. Each is designed to PICK UP
the electromagnetic wave sent out by a transmitter, and
finally reproduce the sounds in the earphones or loud
The comparison of the home and Navy receivers is
much like the relationship of the Piper Cub to the F7F
Tiger Cat. Both planes are designed to fly, only one is
made for slow leisurely flights, and the other is a fighter.
JOBS OF A RECEIVER
All receivers have five definite jobs to do-
Pick up signals|
Select the desired station
Amplify the weak signals
Demodulate or detect the carrier wave
Reproduce the audio signal
If any of the five are omitted, you do not have a receiver,
but just a collection of wires and vacuum tubes. But
when your gear does these jobs, in the order listed, you
have a radio receiver.
PICKING UP SIGNALS
The RECEIVING of the signal takes place in the ANTENNA.
The antenna may be a whip rising out of the top of your
car, a loop of wire built into a portable radio, or a strand
of wire strung between two masts on your ship.
The antenna and the magnetic field from a transmitter
act together to form an a.c. GENERATOR. Earlier in this
book you learned that if you have together a conductor
and a magnetic field and a relative motion exists between
the two, you have an a.c. generator which will induce a
Well, the antenna is the conductor, and the carrier
wave from the transmitter is the magnetic field. Thus,
when a radio wave from a transmitter CUTS ACROSS the
antenna, an emf will be induced in the antenna. The
induced emf is of exactly the same frequency and contains
the identical VARIATIONS that were present when the carrier wave left the transmitter's antenna.
The size of the emf induced in an antenna depends upon
the LENGTH of the antenna and the STRENGTH of the carrier wave.
When the carrier wave leaves the transmitter's antenna,
it is strong. As it travels, it gradually loses its strength,
eventually dying out completely. If your ship is near a
transmitter, the carrier strength-FIELD STRENGTH-is
great. But a thousand miles away, the same carrier
wave will be very weak.
In the last chapter of this manual you will learn that
factors other than distance influence the FIELD STRENGTH
of a carrier wave, but for the time being you can consider
distance as the only factor.
A carrier wave's FIELD STRENGTH is measured by the
emf, in microvolts, that is induced in an antenna one
meter (39.4 inches) long. For example-transmitter A
induces an emf of 100 microvolts in an antenna one meter
long. Transmitter B, which is nearer, induces an emf
of 1,000 microvolts in the same antenna. By comparison,
the field strength of the transmitter B is ten times that of
transmitter A. Thus, if the field strength of a certain
transmitter is 100 microvolts per meter, an antenna three
meters long will have an induced emf of 300 microvolts.
The minimum field strength necessary to produce good
reception depends upon the kind of receiver and the
amount of noise interference in the neighborhood of your
The sensitivity of a receiver is a measure of HOW WELL
it can amplify weak signals. The average home radio
can amplify the signals only a few hundred times, but
the receivers used aboard your ship are capable of amplifying a signal millions of times. Because of this great
amplification, a communications receiver can operate on
weaker signals than a home receiver.
A receiver that STARTS with a SMALL signal and FINISHES with a LARGE signal has HIGH SENSITIVITY.
It you are in an area of strong local interference, you
need strong signals to produce good reception. When the
local interference has a FIELD STRENGTH of 100 my. per
meter, you will need a signal strength of 500 to 1,000 my.
per meter to drown-out the noise. But the same receiver,
free from local interference, may give good reception
when signal strength is less than 10 mv. per meter.
Although it is difficult to state the exact minimum field
strength that is needed to operate a receiver satisfactorily,
many communication receivers under ideal conditions are
able to operate on a signal strength that is considerably
less than 1 mv. per meter.
GETTING YOUR STATION
You TUNE your receiver by adjusting the variable condensers until the RESONANT FREQUENCY of tank circuits
in the receiver is the same as the FREQUENCY of the station
you wish to hear. Figure 123 is a TUNING CIRCUIT,
Figure 123.-Tuning circuit.
Usually two or more stages of tuning are needed to separate the stations that are transmitting on neighboring
As shown in figure 124, the condensers are mounted
(ganged) on the same shaft so that both are tuned with
one twist of the knob. The greater the number of circuits used, the sharper will be the tuning. A receiver
that tunes SHARP is said to be SELECTIVE.
Some types of communication receivers may be more
selective receivers than others. A receiver used for
Figure 124.-Two-stage tuning.
C.W. code can be more selective than a voice receiver.
A communications voice receiver is designed to tune
more sharply than a common broadcast receiver that
you'll use to pick up Dinah Shore and Benny Goodman.
In general, communication receivers do not make good
instruments for receiving music. The reason why is
illustrated in figure 125.
Figure 125.-Band widths of various types of receivers.
Carrier waves from commercial broadcast stations
contain SIDE-BAND FREQUENCIES which extend five kc on
either side of the RESONANT FREQUENCY. That means, if
a station is transmitting on a frequency of 1,140 kc, the
complete carrier wave will contain frequencies from
1,135 to 1,145 kc. If a receiver tunes too sharply, the
higher side band frequencies will be lost. For this
reason, broadcast receivers can furnish high-fidelity reception only if they tune broad enough to include BOTH
Figure 125 shows the best TUNING CURVE for a broadcast receiver The top is broad and flat and the sides
are steep. Most cheap broadcast receivers have tuning
curves as shown by the broken lines. This design permits a lot of station interference resulting in low fidelity
The band width necessary for a satisfactory VOICE
COMMUNICATION may be narrower than for the broadcast bands. Clear and intelligible messages can be obtained on bands that extend only one kc on either side of
the resonant frequency. The voice may sound unnatural,
but it will get through.
Transmissions for c.w. code messages contain no side-bands-just the r.f wave alone. Therefore c.w, receivers can tune very sharply.
VERNIERS AND SPREADERS
The first time you try to tune a Navy receiver you
probably won't bring in a thing. You are accustomed to
using broad-tuning home receivers, and you'll have to
develop the touch-get that old safe-cracker's feel in
your finger-tips-before you'll be able to tune a shipboard receiver. A hair's breadth movement of the dial
can take you past a station without even hearing a good
And that brings up the tuning aids you'll find on communications receivers-VERNIERS, BAND-SPREADERS, TUNING EYES, AND TUNING METERS-all put on to help you
find the station you want.
The VERNIER DIAL is the most common device. Many
vernier dials have two or even three speeds. You use
the COARSE adjustment to bring in the station, then the
MEDIUM and FINE speeds to polish up the tuning.
Other receivers use a system of BAND-SPREADING. You
put a small variable condenser having about one-tenth
the capacity of the tuning condenser in parallel with the
tuning condenser, as shown in figure 126.
Figure 126.-Band spreaders.
When using BAND-SPREADING, you adjust the large tuning condenser to approximately the correct capacity and
then complete the tuning by adjusting the small variable
condenser. The small capacity of the band-spreader
condenser permits wide movement of the dial and gives
the appearance of spreading the station channel wide on
Some receivers have a SWITCHING ARRANGEMENT
which permits preliminary tuning to be broad, and the
final adjustment to be sharp.
Many receivers have TUNING EYES or TUNING METERS
to indicate the presence of automatic volume control
(A.V.C.) voltage, and this voltage appears only when a
station is tuned in. You'll hear more about this later.
R. F. AMPLIFICATION
Look back at figure 124. In addition to the tuning
circuits, you have TWO STAGES OF R.F. AMPLIFICATION.
The amplifier circuits are similar to those you learned
back in chapter 15. The tubes are PENTODES and the
stages are COUPLED together by r.f. transformers.
THE DETECTOR STAGE
The DETECTOR follows the last r.f. amplifier stage. It
is in this stage that the a.f. wave is separated from the
r.f. component of the carrier wave The r.f. component
is cast aside and the a.f. portion is sent on to the audio
stage for more amplification.
AUDIO FREQUENCY AMPLIFIERS
Most receivers have TWO a.f. amplifier stages. The
first is a voltage amplifier used to drive the output
POWER AMPLIFIER stage. It is in the POWER AMPLIFIER
that the power of the a.f. wave is stepped up to a strength
sufficient to operate the LOUD SPEAKER or EARPHONES.
There are a great number of receiver circuits being
used to do the five jobs listed back on page 172. But the
majority of Navy receivers fall into two classes-the
TUNED RADIO FREQUENCY, and the SUPERHETERODYNE.
Both receivers operate by having an emf induced in the
antenna and by transforming this signal to a sound from
the loudspeaker. But the WAY the two circuits perform
their duties between the antenna and loudspeaker is quite
TUNED RADIO FREQUENCY RECEIVER
The TUNED RADIO FREQUENCY receiver, T.R.F., is simpler in design than the superheterodyne.
Figure 127.-Block diagram of a T.R.F. receiver.
The block diagram in figure 127 divides the T.R.F.
receiver into its three major parts. The first part is the
r.f. sections, containing one, two, or even three, stages
of r.f. amplification. It is in these stages that the tuning
of the receiver takes place.
Following the r.f. amplifiers is the DETECTOR, in which
the a.f. component is separated from the r.f. portions of
the carrier wave.
The a.f. wave is sent on to the third part-the audio
frequency amplifier-where further amplification takes
place. The last step is completed when the audio signal
finally appears in the earphones (or loudspeaker) as a
Look back again at figure 127 and trace the progress
of the carrier wave through the receiver. In the beginning
Figure 128.-Block diagram of a superheterodyne.
the carrier wave induces a FEEBLE emf in the antenna. Each stage amplifies this feeble voltage until it
enters the detector with considerable strength. In the
detector the r.f. and a.f. components are separated. The
r.f. portion is carried to the ground, and the a.f. part
goes to the a.f. amplifier stage.
THE SUPERHETERODYNE RECEIVER
The SUPERHETERODYNE receiver contains all the major
units of the T.R.F.-with THREE ADDITIONS. In figure
128 the r.f. amplifier and detector of the T.R.F. have
been cut apart, and the three additional units (MIXER,
LOCAL OSCILLATOR, and INTERMEDIATE FREQUENCY AMPLIFIER) are inserted.
The operation of the r.f. detector, and a.f. stages is
exactly the same as in the R.T.F. receiver, but new units
change the basic operation of the circuit completely.
The object of placing the additional units in the circuit
is to produce a SINGLE CONSTANT RADIO FREQUENCY.
This constant frequency is called the INTERMEDIATE FREQUENCY. Here is the story-
The carrier wave from the r.f. amplifier is FED into the
vacuum tube of the MIXER STAGE. A second higher r.f.
is produced by a LOCAL OSCILLATOR, and fed into the
SAME vacuum tube. In this tube, the r.f. signal BEATS
against the local oscillator signal and produces a THIRD
frequency, the INTERMEDIATE FREQUENCY.
How does all this come about? The word BEAT is the
clue to the answer.
WHAT ARE BEATS?
Did you ever hear two persons playing musical instruments that were slightly out of tune with each other?
Certainly you have. DISCORDS were produced, and those
discords were BEAT NOTES.
Beat notes are produced when two wave motions of
slightly different frequency strike, or beat, against each
other. For example, suppose two notes, one of 1,200
cycles and the other of 1,500 cycles, BEAT against each
other. Part of the time the two will work against each
other, and part of the time they will work together. This
produces TWO NEW NOTES, in addition to the two original
notes. One equal to the sum of the original frequencies-
1,500 + 1,200 = 2,700 cycles
The other is equal to the difference between the original
1,500 - 1,200 = 300 cycles
The 2,700- and 300-cycle notes are BEAT NOTES. In the
same way, beat notes always appear when two unequal
frequencies are mixed together. One of the new pates is
equal to the SUM of the two frequencies and the other is
equal to their DIFFERENCE.
HOW THE INTERMEDIATE FREQUENCY IS PRODUCED
Now go back to the superheterodyne, in which you wish
to produce a SINGLE CONSTANT INTERMEDIATE FREQUENCY.
Suppose the I.F. desired is 500 kc. You could produce
it by mixing ANY two frequencies whose SUM or DIFFERENCE is equal to 500 kc. But in practice you would use
only the DIFFERENCE to produce the WANTED frequency.
Remember, ANY two frequencies whose DIFFERENCE
equals 500 kc. will do. Thus if the incoming CARRIER
WAVE is 2,200 kc., the OSCILLATOR frequency must be
2,700 kc. to produce an I.F. of 500 kc. Or you may use
any number of other combinations such as-
|Carrier ||Oscillator ||Difference
|Frequency ||Frequency ||(I.F.)
|2,400 kc. ||2,900 kc. ||500
|3,150 kcs. ||3,650 kc. ||500
|7,230 kcs. ||7,730 kc. ||500
And you could go on and fill the rest of this manual with
other combinations whose differences are equal to 500 kc.
Notice the oscillator frequency. It is 500 kc. MORE
than the incoming CARRIER WAVE.
2,900 - 2,400 = 500
3,650 - 3,150 = 500
Or turn it around-the oscillator frequency is equal to
the carrier frequency PLUS the intermediate frequency-
2,400 + 500 = 2,900
3,150 + 500 = 3,650
To sum it up-in a superheterodyne receiver the oscillator generates a frequency that is always the I.F.
HIGHER than the incoming carrier wave. The DIFFERENCE
between carrier and oscillator frequencies will always be the intermediate frequency.
The condenser that tunes the oscillator is connected, or
ganged, to the SAME shaft that tunes the r.f. sections of
the radio. And by turning a single knob, the oscillator
is automatically tuned to the I.F. HIGHER than the incoming r.f. carrier wave.
Since the I.F. signal is a COMBINATION of the local oscillator and the carrier wave signals, it will be MODULATED and have the same characteristics as the carrier,
only at a lower frequency.
Look back again at figure 128. The output from the
mixer stage is sent into the I.F AMPLIFIER, where the
voltage of the I.F. is still further strengthened. And
the output of the I.F. amplifier is sent into a detector
where the r.f. and a.f. components are separated, just as
they are in the T.R.F. receiver.
Sometimes you will hear the MIXER stage called the
FIRST DETECTOR and the other detector stage the SECOND
DETECTOR. Don't let it trouble you. The term FIRST
DETECTOR comes from the fact that the production of beat
notes is sometimes called HETERODYNE DETECTION.
WHY THE EXTRA PARTS
You may wonder why all the extra parts are added to
a T.R.F. receiver to form a SUPERHETERODYNE when the
T.R.F. does a good job. That is a sensible question.
The answer is-the superheterodyne does a BETTER job.
Increased SENSITIVITY and SELECTIVITY make the superheterodyne a much better receiver for the reception of
weak signals. That is reason enough.
Practically all Navy receivers are made to tune over
several BANDS of frequencies. The RBB/RBC receivers
have four bands; the RAK has six and the RAL has nine.
To change from one band to another, it is only necessary
to rotate a switch to the band you wish to use.
When you are operating near the TOP of one band,
you may find that you also receive the same station near
the BOTTOM Of the, upper band. EXPERIENCE will tell you
which setting gives the best results with your particular
Some receivers, especially the T.R.F. types, have TRIMMER controls that are adjusted each time you change
frequency bands. This is done by opening the TUNING
condensers to their widest mesh at the high end of the
frequency band, and then adjusting the trimmer controls
until the noise level is maximum.
This control is necessary because, in spite of the greatest care in manufacturing, coils have slight differences in
their windings. This causes variations in the resonant
frequencies of the several tuning stages. The trimmer
controls correct these variations.
The CALIBRATION of a receiver is only the RECORD of the
dial settings indicating where you can find a station of a
certain frequency. As an example, if you lived near
Chicago, you knew that WGN could be picked up by
setting the dial at 720. Maybe your receiver was a little
out Of adjustment and you got the station by setting the
dial at 710 or 730. You didn't write these numbers down,
you just remembered them. That is a rough example of
Most Navy receivers have several dials to be set for
each station you receive. To save time wasted in hunting
all over the band, and in trying to remember the proper
settings, you will RECORD the positions of ALL the dials
for EACH STATION you listen to. The resulting chart is
the calibration of your receiver.
To calibrate a receiver properly you must very carefully check the settings of the dial against known frequencies. Then, when you are instructed to listen to a
station transmitting on 2,120 kc, you can turn to the
chart and find the exact setting for each dial.
In addition to the TUNING knobs, all Navy receivers
have several other dials and controls to help you in
operating the set.
The VOLUME CONTROL is the most familiar. With it
you increase or decrease the volume of sound to the desired level. Your receiver at home has one of these
The r.f. GAIN CONTROL, sometimes called sensitivity
control, is closely related to the volume control. You
can raise and lower the output sound level with it, but
that is not its prime purpose. This gain control is
usually located in the first r.f amplifier stages. When a
very weak station is being received, this control is turned
all the way up; but if you are tuned to a strong station, the
control is turned DOWN to prevent OVERLOADING the r.f.
tubes. This is necessary since overloading causes SERIOUS DISTORTION in the signal.
AUTOMATIC VOLUME CONTROLS
The AUTOMATIC VOLUME CONTROL, AVC-sometimes
called AUTOMATIC SENSITIVITY CONTROL, ASC-serves to
keep the output volume at a constant level. This saves
you the job of continually turning the manual volume
control up and down each time the stations being received FADE and. REAPPEAR in strength.
Most AVC systems have two controls, an OFF-ON switch,
and an AVC LEVEL regulator. It is the usual practice
to turn the AVC off while tuning the receiver. When
the receiver has been tuned, the switch is turned ON, and
the LEVEL is adjusted for the desired operation.
The AVC system in most Navy receivers is too rapid
and pronounced to permit its use with voice reception.
So the AVC usually will be OFF when you are receiving
a voice message.
NOISE SUPPRESSORS AND OUTPUT LIMITERS
The high sensitivity of all communication receivers
causes them to pick up a lot of local interfering noise
and natural static. This is especially objectionable when
receiving code messages, because a crash of static may
cause you to miss several letters in a code group.
The NOISE SUPPRESSOR works much the same as a TONE
CONTROL in a home receiver. When this control is turned
for DEEP or BASS reception, much of the noise is FILTERED
OFF and is not permitted to reach the earphones. But
the noise suppressor also reduces the volume. So on
very weak, signals, it may be necessary to turn the switch
that cuts it out of the circuit.
The OUTPUT LIMITER prevents sudden crashes of static
from bursting your ear drums. There are several ways
this can be done, but all work as a safety POP-OFF valve.
When the output volume of sound reaches a certain level,
the output limiter goes into action and prevents the sound
from rising any higher.
Some receivers have circuits called SILENCERS, designed to keep the receiver silent when no signal is being
received. This is very useful when you are standing by
to receive a message.
Most output limiters and silencers have OFF-ON
switches, and an OUTPUT LEVEL adjustment. The specific
name used for these controls depends upon the particular
make of the set.
Many receivers use a meter to show the level of SOUND
OUTPUT. It is also useful as an aid in tuning the receiver,
especially where you are SEARCHING for a station that
is not on the calibration chart.
These meters are made to indicate the presence of a
station even when the sound is considerably below the
minimum level your ears can hear. Once the presence
of a station is indicated by the meter, the volume can be
brought up to audible level by turning up the sensitivity
Most output meters are calibrated in DECIBELS. A decibel is the SMALLEST difference in sound your ear can
detect, and ZERO decibels is the LOWEST level of sound your
ear can hear. For most references, ZERO decibels is
numerically equal to 6 milliwatts (0.006 watts).
The output meter is used by the Electronic Technician's
Mate when he is aligning, or tuning up, your receiver.
With this meter he will be able to tell whether a station
with a certain signal strength can be heard.
Some receivers have two other meters-one to indicate
the FILAMENT VOLTAGE, and the other the PLATE VOLTAGE.
A control accompanies each meter, so that if the voltages
are incorrect, you can correct them.
BEAT FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR
The BEAT FREQUENCY OSCILLATOR, B.F.O., is a part of
every communication receiver designed to receive C.W.
messages. When the receiver is being used to receive
I.C.W., modulated C.W., or voice messages, the B.F.O. is
always turned OFF.
With each B.F.O. is a TUNING control, sometimes
marked A.F. TUNING. With this control, you adjust the
PITCH of the audio note to the desired frequency.
The B.F.O. is usually connected to the detector tube in
the T.R.F. receiver and to the second detector in the
The frequency of the B.F.O. is about 1,000 cycles less
than the incoming carrier wave with the T.R.F., and
1,000 cycles less than the I.F. in the superheterodyne
receiver. For example, if the carrier frequency being
received by a T.R.F. is 4,720 kc., the B.F.O. will be tuned
to approximately 4,719 kc., so the BEAT note produced
4,720 - 4,719 = 1 kc. (1,000 cycles)
In a superheterodyne, if the I.F. is 500 kc., the B.F.O.
will be tuned to about 499 kc. This also will produce a
beat note of 1,000 cycles. By adjusting the B.F.O. you
can raise or lower the pitch of the beat note to a frequency
slightly above or below the 1,000 cycle note.
A four position switch usually accompanies the B.F.O.
tuning control. It is usually marked B.F.O.-ON, MOD-C.W., I.C.W., or VOICE. When using the receiver you will
turn this control to the position that matches the type of
message being received.
A CRYSTAL FILTER control is used in connection with
many B.F.O.'s. Its purpose is to prevent interfering
noises and notes from blotting out the tone of the C.W.
signal. The filter has two controls, an OFF-ON switch,
and a REJECTION control. Sometimes, the OFF position
of the switch is marked BROAD, and the ON position, SHARP.
The REJECTION CONTROL is adjusted for beat reception
each time the filter is turned on.
Don't be surprised to find controls other than those
just described. Almost every receiver has some special
knob all its own. You can find all this specialized information in the manufacturer's instruction books.


Cognitive Neuroscience is a branch of Neuroscience, which is concerned with the scientific studies of neural network and its mechanisms underlying cognition. It has a special focus on the neural network and their connections within the brain which are involved in mental processes.
Sometimes Cognitive Neuroscience overlaps with cognitive psychology. The method used in Cognitive Neuroscience includes the experimental procedures from cognitive psychology, psychophysics, affective Neuroscience, functional neuroimaging, behavioural genetics, and cognitive genomics.
Cognitive Neuroscience combines the computational neuroscience modelling and cognitive psychology to give birth to new theories about the brain. It is an emerging field of Neuroscience in which we are trying to control the functioning of our brain by studying the behaviour of the brain.


Program 3: The Jupiter Mission
LIVE: October 12, 1995, 14:30-17:00 Eastern
This live program will join the KAO in flight, somewhere over Florida or the Gulf of Mexico. The Kuiper will have left NASA Ames that morning, to be on station for observations of Jupiter and its moons, which can be studied even during the daytime. Live video uplinks will include the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta, Georgia, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Booneville Middle School in Mississippi and Kalani High School in Hawaii. Each site will feature live on-camera interactions with the astronomers, crew, teacher and student on board the KAO, demonstrations of hands-on activities relating to the KAO mission, and on-line collaborations over the Internet with the other live sites. The Air and Space Museum, for example, will use paper airplanes to show some of the aeronautical principles involved in flying the KAO in the stratosphere. Students around the country will record data on Jupiter and its moons, track the KAO and plot its path, and see the human dimension of research.
The KAO will land in Houston, at Ellington Air Force Base, just before 17:00 Eastern.
Please note the date (and see Rowan-Robinson's poem, Cosmic Landscape, page 3): "This Columbus Day, discover a whole new Universe."
The Jupiter Mission
Student Learning Objectives
This unit prepares students to gather data from what they see and hear during the electronic field trip. After completing these activities, students will be able to
Summary These activities are designed to accompany the KAO daytime observing mission. Working with these activity pages, students can make predictions about what the KAO will observe and record observations as they are relayed from the plane. activity 3A shows students how images are digitally created, and how large images are built up from a composite of smaller images. Through this activity students are introduced to the different apparent sizes of the varied objects being observed. Activities 3B and 3C prepare students to make observations of Jupiter and its moons.
When things go wrong...
Editor's note: this is why we have a Contingency Announcement.
Juan Rivera--Airborne Telescope Operator
Off the ground at 06:55 Z (Ed. note: "Zulu" or aeronautical time = U.T.)
On board tonight we have a total of 13 people: 3 Flight Crew, 5 Scientists, 1 Mission Director, 2 Computer Operators, 1 Tracker Operator, 1 Telescope Operator (Me)
07:09 Z We're passing through 26,000 feet already. I've shut off the flow of liquid nitrogen which is used to pre-cool the telescope cavity. We do this for several reasons: First of all the nitrogen boils off to a very cold, dry gas which displaces the moist air in the cavity. We want the atmosphere in there to be free of any water vapor so it won't fog up the optics and freeze there. Also, we cool the cavity with a huge portable air conditioner and the liquid nitrogen so that it will be cold when we open the aperture door and expose the optics to the ambient temperature at altitude. The mirror started out...Oops...Gotta run!!!
07:49 Z Hmm... Well I spent the last 20 minutes or so attempting to repair a problem with our oscillating secondary mirror. It has been very unreliable lately. Tonight when I turned it on, it blew the main fuse in one of the power supplies that power it. All I could really do in flight was to re-seat all the circuit boards and hope that the problem was being caused by an intermittent connection. Last time this happened I was a hero because I was able to save the mission.
This time I was not so lucky. We are now headed back home and the mission has been aborted. Last time this happened I found two wires that had been pulled out of the back of a connector on the rear of the chassis. The only problem was that neither wire had anything to do with the problem! It was like trying to find out why your car wouldn't start and finding a loose wire that went to the tail lights. It's nice that I found it, but... Anyway, by the time the two broken wires were fixed the problem had...mysteriously gone away. It's very very difficult to fix a problem that won't stay bad. We call those "intermittents". Maybe this time the OSM will stay bad. We call that "inoperative", or "inop" for short.
08:09 Z Time to bag this and secure all the loose equipment and prepare
for landing. More next time...


This chapter details an overview of the meat goat industry in the United States and the different production
systems where meat goat can be utilized. The chapter then describes the necessary planning steps needed to help create a sustainable meat goat operation.
This chapter describes several different breeds of meat goat that are being used in the U.S. for meat goat production.
Each breed's attributes and potential weaknesses are discussed. Breeds discussed are Spanish, Boer, Kiko, Savanna, Tennessee Fainting Goats (mytonic), Pygmy, and Nubians.
This chapter describes the economically beneficial traits of meat goats and discusses how to measure and compare the different animals of the herd. Also included are detailed descriptions and illustrations of proper and improper udder structure.
This chapter discusses how to prepare for the birth of the kids and the kidding process. Also detailed illustrations are shown about normal and abnormal birthing presentations and how to assist in the kidding process.
This chapter describes the common diseases that affect goats and the available vaccination programs for goats. Also discussed are the different internal and external parasites that affect goats and the preventative programs used to prevent problems in the goat herd.
This chapter describes how to develop a marketing plan for a meat goat operation. Also discussed is the price differences in the seasonal pattern of goat prices and the holiday schedule that influences that seasonal pattern.
This chapter describes the different methods of predator control that can be used in a meat goat operation. Options discussed are guardian animals such as dogs, donkeys and llamas, trapping and lethal methods of removing predators.
This chapter goes over the general herd management practices that are not discussed in other chapters. Topics covered this chapter are ear tagging, castrating, hoof trimming, disbudding, tatooing, and body condition scoring. Also included is a general herd maintenance calendar.