On the problems of the Philippine educational system: licensure exams and cash voucher systems

During lunchtime about a handful of us researchers of Manila Observatory gather at the CSD (Climate Studies Division) in the Solar building for informal one-hour chat while eating.  There are usually about ten of us.

One of the topics raised was the problems of Philippine education.  Some of our friends from the University of the Philippines talked about a teacher who does not teach: he only gives problem sets.  The students complained and the teacher left to take postdoctorate studies.  Some physics teachers are really good lecturers, like Dr. Danilo Yanga and Dr. Maricor Soriano.  Dr. Yanga though has a habit of smoking outside the classroom.  Dr. Soriano, on the other hand, makes very organized lectures despite her tremendous workload.  Dr. Saloma is an excellent scientist.  But his voice is low and it is difficult to keep awake during his class.  Dr. Saloma teaches best when he is given a class on the latest developments in physics–a series of short talks to inspire the next generation of physicists.

Randell Teodoro of the Solid Earth Division once told of that there was a time when their chair in the Department of Geodetic Engineering was not licensed geodetic engineer but a doctorate degree holder in another field.  He did not renew the contracts of part time teachers who only come to teach during their class time and leave afterward.  He wants his teachers to stay in school doing research after class hours.  Some faculty did not like it.  They protested.  But the guy remained as chair for three or four years.

Dr. Lagrosas remarked that he does not like the idea of licensure exams for teachers.  He thinks that those who take up education are only those who could not do real research.  The only requirement for teaching in high school should be you are a graduate in the subject you are going to teach.  He said that he once met in a conference physics teachers whose degrees are in Filipino or Physical Education.  The licensure exams should be scrapped.  The US is now lagging behind China and India (?) when US started to require licensure exams for teachers.  Philippines also required these licensure exams, and now Philippine students are now just ahead of those in Ethiopia.

I agree with him.  My father once told me that during his time in UP Los Banos, you cannot be a teacher unless you are the best in your field.  Now, in University of St. La Salle, for example, the cut off for entrance exam scores is high for accountancy and engineering, but very low for those who wish to enter the college of education.  Teaching is not anymore an attractive job in the Philippines.  I heard many teachers immigrated to the U.S. because they are paid higher there.   But I also heard that American students treat them with contempt.  My college teacher in Laser Physics, Dr. Minella Alarcon, who once was an exchange professor to the U.S., also deplored the quality of American students.  It is better to teach students at the Ateneo, she said.  But Ateneo gets the best students from all over the Philippines.  What is the average high school student in the Philippines?  If we are now compared next only to Ethiopia in educational rankings, this is bleak.

I don’t know how to find cure for this problem.  Was it Pope Leo XIII who said that the government should not be in education, because only the Church has the divine mandate to teach?  The government should not enter into an enterprise that the private sector can do.  In India most schools are private schools.  And many US universities lure Indian gradautes in graduate and postgraduate work.  Maybe the Philippine government can at least encourage private schools by giving them the same funding per child that it gives to public schools.  This is the cash voucher system.  Why should the government only support those who are in public schools?  Why should the government not support sectarian schools of Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims?  Good schools will have more students; bad schools will attract few.  This is the free market approach to the educational system.  I think this will work.

Art of Illusion: a free 3D modeling and rendering software

I am currently playing with the Art of Illusion software, a free software with GNU general public license  (c.f. Wikipedia).  The software was written in Java by an applied physicist Peter Eastman.  What makes me excited is that I can paint in 3D.  I can paint in 2D using perspective geometry and crayon pastel.  But painting in 3D is fun.  I have painted my first hourglass by following one of the tutorials.  Unbelievable.  It really looks like glass!  I have specified its refractive index and its scattering properties.  Unbelievable.  The light rays bend and reflect right.  I know how to compute these light rays using geometric algebra.  But this is geometric algebra come to life.  Unbelievable.  I can even cut and saw pieces of “wood” using boolean object operators such as union, intersection, and subtraction.  And there is the camera.  I can specify the focal length and camera speed.  And voila!  The pictures look as if taken by a real-world camera: focus on the object, the background blurs.

Actually, I am studying this software to propose designs for the renovation of the Manila Observatory chapel.  I have already measured the dimensions of the chapel and the altar.  I have already sketched what the altar wall should look like with three candlesticks each side.   But my notebook containing my measurements I left in Cavite, when I visited the home of my sister for the Feast of All Saints.  I was not able to work there, because I planned to rest  my eyes from the computer.  My eyes were already flickering for several days last week.  In short, I can’t work tonight.  Grrrr…  I asked my sister to bring my notebook tomorrow.  That may be just in time, since I plan to invite Fr. Ofrasio to come to visit the Observatory’s chapel tomorrow and ask for his suggestions.  He was not around in the Loyola House of Studies last week.  But he emailed me that I can visit him any day: he is free 10 am to noon and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s “Spirit of the Liturgy”: Circles and Epicycles, Exitus and Reditus

The older tradition starts from a different conceptual model.  Its image is not of an upward flying arrow, but a kind of cross-shaped movement, the two essential directions of which can be called exitus and reditus, departure and return.  This “paradigm” is common in the general history of religions as well as in Christian antiquity and the Middle Ages.  For Christian thinkers, the circle is seen as the great movement of the cosmos.  the nature religions and many non-Christian philosophies think of it as a movement of unceasing repetition.  On closer inspection, these two points of view are not as mutually exclusive as at first sight they seem.  For in the Christian view of the world, the many small circles of the lives of individuals are inscribed within the one circle of history as it moves from exitus to reditus.  The small circles carry within themselves the great rhythm of the whole, give it concrete forms that are ever new, and so provide it with the force of its movement.  And in the one great circle there are also the many circles of the lives of the different cultures and communities of human history, in which the drama of beginning, development, and end is played out.  In these circles, the mystery of beginning is repeated again and again, but they are also the scene of the end of time, of a final collapse, which may in its own way prepare the ground for a new beginning.  the totality of the small circles reflects the great circle.  The two–the great circle and small circles–are interconnected and interdependent.  And so worship is bound up with all three dimensions of the cross-shaped movement: the personal, the social, and the universal.

Before attempting to explain this in more detail, we must take note of the second, and in many respects more important, possibility lying hidden in the pattern of exitus and reditus.  First there is an idea that received perhaps its most impressive formulation in the work of the great philosopher of late antiquity Plotinus, though, in different forms, it is found in large parts of the non-Christian cults and religions.  the exodus by which non divine beings makes its appearance is seen, not as a going out, but as a falling down, a precipitation from the heights of the divine, and by the laws of falling it hurtles into ever greater depths, farther and farther into remoteness from God.  this means that non-divine being is itself, as such, fallen being,  Finitude is already a kind of sin, something negative, which has to be saved by being brought back into the infinite.  And so the journey back–the reditus–begins when the fall is arrested in the outer depths, so that now the arrow points upward,  In the end the “sin” of the finite, of not-being-God, disappears, and in that sense God becomes “all in all”.  The way of reditus means redemption, and redemption means liberation from finitude, which is the real burden of our existence…

–Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Spirit of the Liturgy, trans. by John Saward (Ignatius, San Francisco, 2000), pp. 29-31.

Notes and Comments:

1.  What Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) describes is an epicyclical model of a planetary orbit, which may be Ptolemaic or Copernican.  In the Copernican model, the orbit of the earth around the sun is composed of two circles: the deferent circle and the epicycle.  The deferent circle correspond to Ratzinger’s “one great circle” and the epicycles are the “small circles”.  (See Wikipedia entry on Newton’s Theorem on Revolving Orbits.  Our ArXiv paper on epicycles is cited in Ref. 5. for the well-known idea that any orbit can be decomposed as a sum of epicycles via Fourier series)

2.  I initially have difficulty imagining exitus and reditus as a cross-shaped movement.  If you look at the minute hand of a clock, exitus is going from 12:00 nn to 12:30 p.m., while reditus going from 12:30 to 1:00 p.m.  But if we look at the orbit of a planet as seen from the earth, the planet’s orbit would appear to form a loop.  This is called apparent retrogade motion.  A planet is in reditus before it enters the loop; the planet is in exitus after it exits the loop.  On the common point of reditus and exitus is a cross-shaped pattern.

3.  In mathematics, an arrow is described as a vector.

Manila Observatory’s Ionosphere Division: Accomplishment Report for 1994

I.  INSTRUMENTATION

1.  Digital Ionosonde (IPS-42) and Geophysical Netweork Terminals (DBD-43)

In Frebruary the Ionosonde and network Terminals were installed.  The use of these new instruments resulted in the complete digitizing of ionograms.  These ionograms are stored on digital data tapes instead of the usual use of films.

For the first six months of the year the ionosphere staff has undergone the in-house training program to familiarize themselves in the operation of these digital instrumentation.  this includes calibration, setup, initialization and familiarization of the operating and storgate software utitlities that run the sytem.  The system is new and quite complex so it took some time before the staff was agble to gain enough working knowldge of its operation.

The use of the digital ionosonde also required some modification on our antenna system.

2.  Trans-Equatorial or Oblique Ionosonde

On the second week of July Dr. Clark arrived with a new computer and new program for the operation of the ionosonde.  It required  orientation of the staff on the new program regarding resetting, calibration, systems checks, parameters input, etc.

3.  Ionospheric Tomography

Early in June the Computerized Ionospheric Tomography instruments were installed, one set here in Manila and one set in Baguio.  Orientation was conducted in the operation of these instruments.  This includes resetting of computers, operating system, optical disk operation and initialization, antenna positioning, etc.  In December a new tape drive of 2 Gigabytes capacity was brought in to as backup of the 1 Gigabytes optical disk.  Professor Tsai and Mr. Huang came here to install and orient the staff on its operation.

4.  Fluxgate Magnetometer

The computerized magnetometer was also installed in June.  The staff had been oriented on its operation particularly on calibration and data retrieval from the computer.  The installation of the sensor in the non-magnetic shed about 150 meters south of the building was done by the staff.

5.  Power Surge and Lightning Protection Devices

The problem of lightning strikes had been minimized this year by installing several protection devices.  Most of these were invented here by the staff.  Power line installations and circuits were upgraded and converted from 110 to 220 volts.  Additional earth grounding were nstalled.

II.  COMPUTERIZATION

The division has implemented full compuerization this year.  this has been accomplished by conducting weekly seminars and the acquisition of more computers.

1.  Ionogram Dumping.

Ionogram are dump from the Geophysical Network Terminal to a computer hard disk.  the procedure entails the setting up of data tapes on the Terminal and setting up the computer that receives the ionogram pictures.  this is a quite tedious process and requires about 6 hours to dump a month of ionogram pictures which are about 3,000 in all.  th dumping of ionograms to a computer is done so that scaling or analysis could be done very much faster than on the DBD-43.

2.  Scaling Program.

This program is developed here and is mouse oriented.  Scaling is easily done by pointng the mouse arrow and click to the particular parameter being scaled.  It is much faster and more user friendly than the original scaling program supplied by KEL, the manufacturer of the digital ionosonde.  The scalers has developed sufficient skill in the use of this software.  Our Taiwanese partners were impressed when they saw the program and requested a copy for their own use.  The data output is importable  using Lotus 123 Version 3.1 to convert it into spreadsheet format.

3.  Data Entry Module

This module was developed using Lotus 123 version 3.1 which is a multiple worksheet software.  It has 32 worksheets in cube, the first 31 is where the daily data are entered and the last contain the data entry, saving and retrieve macros.  This module makes data encoding easy by the automatic movement of the cursor to the next entry cell after every entry untill all the daily data are entered.  The worksheets are preformatted so that all entries are in the desired format.

4.  Ionospheric Data Module

this module has 49 pages, the first 31 for the daily data, the next 17 for monthly tabulation of 17 ionospheric parameters and the last contains the macros.  Once the daily data entered in this module by combining it with the Data Entry Module, the monthly data tabulations of the 17 ionospheric parameters can be generated less than a minute.  this same generated monthly tabulations were done manually by one person in about five days.  The power behind this module is its built in macros which includes the taublation, saving, retrieving, sorting, copying dates for all worksheets macros.  The monthly tabulations are then imprted into Lotus 123 for Windows for presentable printouts and for cutting stencils for publicaiton.  this has cut publication man-hours by about 80% and materials by about 60%.

5.  Magnetic Data Module.

This module has 4 worksheets: a) the first page is for the tabulation or entry of hourly millimeter readings from the magnetograms, the scale values and the baseline values; b) the second is for the nanoteslas above baseline; c) the third is for the absolute values, daily medians and monthly medians; d) the fourth page serves as buffer for calculations.  These four worksheets are linked by complex nesting @If formulas so that entries on the first sheet automatically calculates the values of the subsequent pages.  Manula work using a calulator for one and half days can now be done instantly.

6.  Data Retrieveing Modules

One module is the spread-F retrieving and the other is a generic module which utilizes formulas combined with macros to retrieve any parameter that is specified.  These modules are useful in searching the occurrences of a certain phenomenon like spread F, range spread, etc.

7.  Computer System and Softwares

Our present computers are three 386s and a 286 which are all equipped with a hard disk and one-plus a tape drive.  Installed in them are the lates version of Lotus 123 and Quattro Pro including those for Windows.  Our operating syustem is MS DOS 6.2 to take advantage with its doublespace capabilities.  Other word-processing and utitlities softwares are also installed.  One of them is the FX which is very useful in transfering files form one computer to another with a connecting cable through the printer port.  Another is compression utilities that can compress and ZIP several files so that it is much easier to handle.  This is very useful in hadling the ionogram files which are about three thousand a month.  Once ZIP wee can backup with tape cutting backup time by almost 80%.  This is also true in retrieving and handling of files.

III.  RESEARCH ACTIVITY

1.  Data-Gathering and Reduction.

The ionospheric data for 1994 were obtained from the ionograms produced by two different recorders– the old C-3 and the digital ionosonde (IPS-42).  The January data were taken from the C-3.  The digital ionosonde became operational from February until mid-August when it malfunctioned.  the data for the second half of August to December were again obtained from the C-3.

The scaling of the ionograms from the digital ionosonde was somewhat delayed due to lay of appropriate scaling program.  The scaling program was developed a couple of months after the new instrument was installed.  Although the program failitates the scaling of the ionogram, the staff have had to familiarize themselves with the new scaling procedure.

the scaled data include the months of January to Septuember.  Medians and quartiles were computed for the months of January to June.  Data for July to Septermber are still being encoded into the computer for processing.  The ionograms for the months of October to December are still in the scaling process.

2.  Database Build-Up

The database was expanded for research purposes.  The encoding ob back ionospheric data was stretched down to 1984.  the complete database encoded into the computer covered the periods from 1984 to June 1994.  Geomagnetic data for the same period was also encoded.

3.  Research.

The availability of more extensive database facilitated the research particularly on spread-F.  Efforst are being made to correlate the pattern of spread-F with sunspot activity.  Solar cycle 22 started in 1986 and expected to end in 1997 with the maximum suspot activity occuring in 1989.  With the availability of complete ionospheric data from 1986 to 1993, the computerized graphic print-outs of the pattern of spread-F during Solar Cycle 22 had been produced.  These graphic print-outs included the annual and seasonal variations of the spread-F.

IV.  MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRS

1.  Electrical circuits were upgraded for the change from 110 to 220 volts.  Suitable circuits were also provided for the new instruments–the IPS-42, Tomography, Magnetic.

2.  Antennas changes/modification to accommodate the IPS-42 operating specifications.

3.  Antenna reparirs due to damage during the last typhoon.

4.  Power surge protection devices installed incuding provisioin of additional earth grounding.

5.  Maintenance of C-3, IPS-42, and Oblique Ionosondes.

6.  Computer repairs including services to other divisions.

7.  Transfer of unused insturments to storeroom.

8.  Design and assisting in the construction of the large computer tables.

9.  Repair of VHF antenna feein cable damaged by lawn mower.

10.  Construction of post for Tomography antenna.

Northwest Pacific typhoons documented by the Philippine Jesuits, 1566–1900

Northwest Pacific typhoons documented by the Philippine Jesuits, 1566–1900

Ricardo García-Herrera

Departamento Física de la Tierra II, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid, Spain

Pedro Ribera

Departamento de Sistemas Físicos, Químicos y Naturales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Carretera de Utrera, Seville, Spain

Emiliano Hernández

Departamento Física de la Tierra II, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaria, Madrid, Spain

Luis Gimeno

Departamento de Física, Universidad de Vigo, Facultad de Ciencias de Ourense, Ourense, Spain

In recent years, the population and the value of properties in areas prone to tropical cyclone (TC) have increased dramatically. This has caused more attention to be placed on the characterization of TC climatologies and the identification of the role that factors such as the main teleconnection patterns may play in TC variability. Due to the timescales involved, the instrumental records have proven too short to provide a complete picture. Thus, documentary and other paleoclimatological techniques have been used to reconstruct TC occurrence. This has been done mostly for the Atlantic basin, whereas in the Pacific basin, fewer attempts have been made. The aim of this paper is to provide a high-resolution chronology of typhoons and intense storms occurring in the Philippine Islands and their vicinity for the period 1566–1900. The chronology is based upon the writings of the Spanish Jesuit Miguel Selga, who produced the original work at the beginning of the 20th century. The sources, reliability, and completeness of the chronology are examined critically. A total of 652 events are included, 524 of which are reported as typhoons, the rest being considered as tropical storms. For each of these classes, the landfall location and the track (when sufficient information is available) have been drawn. This chronology is an indispensable step toward a final and complete typhoon record in the western Pacific basin.

Received 5 April 2006; accepted 5 December 2006; published 22 March 2007.

Citation: García-Herrera, R., P. Ribera, E. Hernández, and L. Gimeno (2007), Northwest Pacific typhoons documented by the Philippine Jesuits, 1566–1900, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D06108, doi:10.1029/2006JD007370.

Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, Portugal: an Eyewitness Account by Dr. Jose Maria de Almeida Garrett

An Eyewitness Account by Dr. José Maria de Almeida Garrett, professor at the Faculty of Sciences of Coimbra, Portugal

It must have been 1:30 p.m when there arose, at the exact spot where the children were, a column of smoke, thin, fine and bluish, which extended up to perhaps two meters above their heads, and evaporated at that height. This phenomenon, perfectly visible to the naked eye, lasted for a few seconds. Not having noted how long it had lasted, I cannot say whether it was more or less than a minute. The smoke dissipated abruptly, and after some time, it came back to occur a second time, then a third time.

The sky, which had been overcast all day, suddenly cleared; the rain stopped and it looked as if the sun were about to fill with light the countryside that the wintery morning had made so gloomy. I was looking at the spot of the apparitions in a serene, if cold, expectation of something happening and with diminishing curiosity because a long time had passed without anything to excite my attention. The sun, a few moments before, had broken through the thick layer of clouds which hid it and now shone clearly and intensely.

Suddenly I heard the uproar of thousands of voices, and I saw the whole multitude spread out in that vast space at my feet…turn their backs to that spot where, until then, all their expectations had been focused, and look at the sun on the other side. I turned around, too, toward the point commanding their gaze and I could see the sun, like a very clear disc, with its sharp edge, which gleamed without hurting the sight. It could not be confused with the sun seen through a fog (there was no fog at that moment), for it was neither veiled nor dim. At Fatima, it kept its light and heat, and stood out clearly in the sky, with a sharp edge, like a large gaming table. The most astonishing thing was to be able to stare at the solar disc for a long time, brilliant with light and heat, without hurting the eyes or damaging the retina. [During this time], the sun’s disc did not remain immobile, it had a giddy motion, [but] not like the twinkling of a star in all its brilliance for it spun round upon itself in a mad whirl.

During the solar phenomenon, which I have just described, there were also changes of color in the atmosphere. Looking at the sun, I noticed that everything was becoming darkened. I looked first at the nearest objects and then extended my glance further afield as far as the horizon. I saw everything had assumed an amethyst color. Objects around me, the sky and the atmosphere, were of the same color. Everything both near and far had changed, taking on the color of old yellow damask. People looked as if they were suffering from jaundice and I recall a sensation of amusement at seeing them look so ugly and unattractive. My own hand was the same color.

Then, suddenly, one heard a clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling wildly, seemed all at once to loosen itself from the firmament and, blood red, advance threateningly upon the earth as if to crush us with its huge and fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was truly terrible.

All the phenomena which I have described were observed by me in a calm and serene state of mind without any emotional disturbance. It is for others to interpret and explain them. Finally, I must declare that never, before or after October 13 [1917], have I observed similar atmospheric or solar phenomena.

Professor Almeida Garrett’s full account may be found in Novos Documentos de Fatima (Loyala editions, San Paulo, 1984)

Note: Thanks to Fr. Z for the post.

How to remove the power transistor from the FM-CW radar transmitter

Yesterday, Akihiro Ikeda of Kyushu university taught me how to remove the power transistor from the FM-CW radar transmitter (Tx).  The transmitter was busted when lightning hit the Observatory’s premises.  The receiver Rx has a surge absorber, but it may not be enough.  Akihiro took the transmitter for repair to Japan.  When he went back here together with Dr. Shinohara, they were asked by customs to pay 30 percent of the repair cost.  He paid Php 3,000.  Dr. Shinohara left last Monday morning.  Akihiro left today.  He left me his screwdriver set and some tools.

These are the steps on how to remove the power transistor from the FM-CW radar transmitter:

A.  Pull the Plugs in the TX

1. Turn off the FM-CW radar transmitter and receiver.  The power switches light red when on; they are at the upper right hand corner of the Tx and Rx boxes when they are lying down (normal position)
2. Below the Tx power switch is connector pointing to the right to the Rx.  Pull this connector.  There are three slits in the connector.  Each slit is 1 mm thick and 3 mm long.   They are arranged in a triangle.  In this way you won’t make a mistake on how to plug or unplug it.
3. On the left side of the power switch are three connectors from right to left: IN, OUT, 10 MHz CLK, and I/O.
4. For the IN connector, push it slightly, twist counterclockwise, then pull.  Notice that the IN port is marked gold, which should connect with the gold in the Receiver’s Tx port.
5. For the OUT connector, twist counterclockwise the cylindrical nearest the Tx casing.  Twist until the OUT connector is removed.
6. For the 10 MHz CLK, do the same as for the IN connector in step 4.
7. For the I/O connector, remove the screws on the two sides of the  connector.  After this pull the I/O connector.  You will notice that the connector is a series of pins.

B.  Remove the upper panel

1. Remove the Tx from the table and transfer it to the floor (or a clean table).
2. Remove the screws on the upper panel (square) one by one clockwise or counterclockwise.  Do not remove screws at random.  The screws can be found at the upper edge of the panel.  Collect the screws in a single place.
3. Remove the upper panel.

C.  Remove the Power Transistor

1. Let the Tx box stand with the radiator on top.   The radiator is a matrix of small rods for dissipating heat inside the Tx.  They can be found outside the Tx.
2. Remove the screws around the radiator, except the last two screws, just enough to hold the radiator.
3. Lay the Tx box again with its open part upwards.   Remove the last two screws.  The radiator can now be pushed or tilted slightly inside.  At the back of the radiator is the power transistor circuit panel.
4. There is a wire on top of the power transistor circuit panel.  The wire is connected via a nut and bolt.  Twist the nut counterclockwise using a long nose.  Twist until the nut is removed.
5. Beneath the upper wire to the left side of the circuit panel is sliding lock connector.  If it is lock, the slider was slided upwards.  To unlock, slide the slider downwards, then pull the connector.
6. Beneath the slider lock connector is another connector.  Simply pull this connector.
7. The power transistor is now free.  Remove it from the Tx.  Wrap the power transistor with bubble wrap and put the whole thing inside a box.  Send this box to Kyushu University.
8. Put the upper panel back.  Place the screws but not tightly.  After all the screws are in place, tighten the screws.
9. Put the Tx box on the table where it was before.

Birds seen in Manila Observatory

There are many fascinating birds that I found here at the Manila Observatory:

1. Little Egret–If I am not mistaken, this is “tagak” in Filipino.  I did not see this inside Manila Observatory, but several meters outside its premises, in the water falls near the San Jose Major Seminary.  Beneath the falls is a little creek and there I saw the little egret.  It was a brief apparition: a white bird with slender neck walking in the waters.  This part of the Ateneo de Manila facing Marikina valley is still an untouched forests.
2. Black-Naped Oriole–Every afternoon at 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., these birds go return to rest here at the Observatory’s trees.  I usually see them flying towards the group of mango trees between the Ionosphere building and the Ateneo Grade School.  These are my favorite birds–golden as the sun, black as the clouds, swift  as the wind.  Hookooo, hookoo!  They call me.  And out of my building I ran.
3. Long Tailed Shrike–These are my friend’s favorite birds.  They are common at the Observatory.  “Cute, cute!” she always describes them.  They usually perch on the trees, looking out to the ground for some worm or insect.  My friend once passed one, a foot away from the praying mantis.  Krrrr! the bird warned.  It still looked intently at the mantis.  My friends stepped aside, walked away, and laughed.
4. Zebra pigeon–They usually hunt walking on the ground in pairs or threes.  It is difficult to see them from a distance: they can be mistaken for sandy ground or stone.

My bird lore I learned from my friend who entered the convent last 7 Oct 2009.

There are still some birds whose names that I don’t know:

1. Black bird with large white circles on its both wings.  I see it on top of a tree.  Sometimes I see it on the ground.  It tends to be solitary.
2. Birds with blue and silver plumage.  They usually roost on the white cords connecting the Ionosphere building’s antenna and the ground.  I usually see about ten of these birds at any time.
3. A large black bird, size of chicken, but with more elongated body.  I saw it on top of the mango tree once, but that was from afar.  My guess is it is a crow.

The FM-CW radar is back at the Ionosphere Building

Yesterday, Ikeda-san and Dr. Shinohara arrived from Kyushu University to set up their FM-CW radar that was damaged by lightning months ago.  They arrived at about 7 p.m.  It is a good thing that I was there to welcome them.

Ikeda brought with him some little black metal clips for connecting the white cord of the antenna that was broken by typhoon Horakot.

I told them that I read some old files by Fr. Victor Badillo, S.J., stating that their ionosondes are also very sensitive to lightning strikes.  They nodded their heads.

I also told them that I found a Manual on Ionogram Scaling published in 1986 in Radio Research Laboratory in Japan.  I planned to reduce their graphs into tables for ionospheric parameters at a given time: fmin, foE, h’E and h’Es, type of Es, fbEs, foF1, h’F, h’F2, foF2, fxIand M factor.  Dr. Shinohara said he does know how to do it.  He told me that I must teach Ikeda when I mastered the ionogram reduction.  He told me that in NICT (National Institute for Computer (?) Technology) in Japan where he worked before there is only one man in charged with the ionogram reduction and he is retired.  The institute cannot anymore find a man who can replace him.

Ikeda thanked me for editing his paper on FM-CW radar applications.  He made me and Fr. Dan as co-authors.

At about 9:00 p.m. they left.  They are staying in a room here inside the Ateneo de Manila University campus.

Manual of Ionogram Scaling

I visited Fr. Badillo two weeks ago and ask him how to interpret ionograms.  He told me that there is in the Ionosphere building a green clear book on how to do this.  I found the book:

N. Wakai, H. Ohyama, and T. Koizumi, Manual of Ionogram Scaling, rev. ed. (Radio Research Laboratory, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Japan).  119 pages.

Preface

“URSI HANDBOOK OF INOGRAM INTERPRETATION AND REDUCTION, Second Edition, November 1972″ (Report UAG-23) and “REVISION OF CHAPTERS 1 – 4 OF URSI HANDBOOK, 1978″ (Report UAG-23A) are being widely utilized by geophysicists and engineers as the best guidbooks for the fundamental understanding of the ionosphere as well as for the scaling of ionograms.  There is such an aspect, however, that their contents, being described too much in details, can not be necessarily suitable for beginners.  At the same time, there is a demand for a simplified handbook which can be utilized for the short-term training of the ionogram scalers, as a matter of fact.  This manual was compiled to cope with this purpose.

Even the experienced scalers are apt to be confused frequently, when they face at complicated ionograms in the procedure of scaling.  The ionograms, however, whose interpretations seems to be difficult, could be easily scaled, if the deformation of traces from fundamental patterns would be mastered.

This manual has been compiled in terms of ionospheric parameters, laying empahsis on the most fundamental matters.  Consequently the repetition of some parts is inevitable.  As for the composition  of contents, attentiaon has been paid to the following points:

1. The philosophy of interpretation and the scaling practice are generally based on the so-called “Ionogram Handbook” (URSI Handbook of Ionogram interpretation and Reduction, Second Edition, 1972, Report UAG-23) including the Revised Edition of the same (Report UAG-23A).
2. Examples of ionograms are selected mainly out of those from midlatitude stations.  This manual, however, is expected to be useful for those who work at high or low latitude stations.
3. The idealized patterns of ionogram are showen systematically in diagrams (not in glossy prints).
4. The explanations corresponding to the diagrams are minimized for simplifying the contents.
5. Ther relevant knowledge necessary for understanding is also mentioned in the explanations of each parameter.

This manual has been compiled after exhaustive discussions made by the research staffs from the Ionospheric Radio Prediction Section of the Radio Wave Division as well as from the Radio Wave Observatories, Radio Research Laboratories.

We earnestly hope that this manual will be fully utilized not only by the scaling specialists but also ionospheric physicists and telecommunication engineers.

March, 1985

N. Wakai, H. Ohyama and T. Koizumi

Radio Research Laboratories

Preface for Revised Edition

The Manual of Ionogram Scaling was published in March 1985 and distributed to the users at ionospheric sounding stations over the world as well as to the members of the INAG.

Since then a fairly large number of requests for the Manual and encouragement for the revised iedition including comments and advices to the Manual reached the authors.  The comments by Drs. R. W. Smith and A. S. Rodger of U. K. are particularly valuable, being based on thorough and careful examination over the whole pages of the Manual.

We held several times the meeting for refining the Manula during the passage of one year.  Ther revised edition thus completed includes the following modification in the text, while the compositon is basically same as the first one:

1. Some figures are re-drawn for avoiding misinterpretation.
2. Local rules are entirely replaced by international ones.
3. Additional informations such as multiple and mixed reflections and the spread-F are incorporated.
4. Descriptions on the particle E layer are modified.

Radio Research Laboratory has authorized to publish the revised edition of the Manula and distribute it to the users as in the case of the first edition.

Again we hope that this Manual will be used as a training text for ionogram scalers and give some help to engineers or physicists who work with ionograms.

July, 1986.

N. Wakai, H. Ohyama and T. Koizumi

Radio Research Laboratory

Explanation

This manual contains about 160 examples of the ionograms which are usually observed in the middle latitude region.  In order to  facilitate user’s understanding, the frequency axis of ionograms is indicated by the linear scale, and hence the lograithmic scale is applied only for the reduction of the M factor.

The compilation is made in the following order:

1. Simplified model ionogram.
2. Definition on all qualifying and descriptinve letters used for the ionogram scaling.
3. Accuracy rules for Individual Measurements.
4. All ionospheric parameters to be reduced in conformity with the URSI Ionogram Handbook are explained one by one in the following order: fmin, foE, h’E and h’Es, type of Es, fbEs, foF1, h’F, h’F2, foF2, fxIand M factor.

These ionospheric parameters are made up of the following contents:

1. The form of description for each parameter has been unified, i.e. on the first page, the definition of parameter, scaling accuracy, indication of scaled value, and notices for scaling are put in order, together with concrete examples.  Concerning the Es reflection in particular, the distiinction of traces, classification of types and decision of fbEs are incorporated.
2. The pages following the first page of each parameter should be used inpairs, i.e., 4 examples of typical observation are illustrated on the left page and explanations correspondng to such examples are given on the right page.  By way of reference, the correct value to be scaled is indicated on the right margin of each ionogram.
3. The description in the explanation on the right pages are divided into 3 parts.  As for the “Observation”, the appearance conditions of trace are described briefly, and as for the “Interpretation” it is explained how to interpret the traces appearing in the ionogram and moreover how to obtain the scaled values which seem to be most adequate for the parameters.  Finally as for the “Comment”, the comments or reference items concerning the interpretaion, such as the way of distinguishing the confusing leters or traces, are indicated partially by means of diagrams, and in addition the origin of quatation from ioinogram handbooks referred to is also indicated clearly.