N E U R O N - Neurolab Online Project

UPDATE # 26 - May 29, 1998

PART 1: Chats, photofest and more to come.
PART 2: Survey's on its way-please respond.
PART 3: Cage Clean-up, Not too bad in good company!
PART 4: Subscribing & unsubscribing: how to do it!

CHATS, PHOTOFEST AND MORE TO COME

If you missed them, be sure to "participate" in the NeurOn portion, at
least, of the marathon QuestChats we called: Countdown to Space Day
webchats. Visit the archives at:
 http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/chats/archive.html

Our turnout did not match our registrations, but those who did attend came
prepared with good questions and showed a great deal of enthusiasm for our
NASA experts. I think both student and expert alike enjoyed the time - I
know I did!

Today I joined a group of those from the Ames Research Center that had
been at the Kennedy Space Center for the launch (and for some of them,
much, much more time than that!) It was a nostalgic, fun photofest where
each shared pictures taken and the stories behind the pictures were
rehashed. Some of those stories still promise to be told online at the
NeurOn site! There is something really special about being included in
this team of hard working, yet fun loving folks, and I'm looking forward
to seeing many of them on our up-coming projects.

There will probably be just one more Updates after this one, so I want to
encourage you to make some preparations to stay in touch by joining the
discuss list (if you're not on it yet and also the Updates lists from
Space Team Online. The easiest way to join the lists mentioned is to go to
http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/space/sub-sto-intro.html and subscribe online.
Plan to join us in the fall in our Challenge Project, a featured event of
STO.

SURVEY'S ON ITS WAY - PLEASE RESPOND

I know that most of you are busy packing up classrooms and doing those
last minute goodies that finish off the academic year with pizzazz, so I'm
reluctant to ask you do one more thing. But please do take a moment when
you receive it to respond to our survey. The purpose of the survey is
pretty straight forward: we need to understand how we're doing, what we
can do better, and whether we can justify continuing this type of project
in the future. 

If it's easier for you to do it online, you can find the survey at: 
	http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/survey/

It's just 12 easy questions and would be a great service to ensure that we
can continue to bring quality projects to the classroom via the WWW.
Thanks!

CAGE CLEAN-UP, NOT TOO BAD IN GOOD COMPANY!
by Linda Conrad

May 26, l998
On May 19th in a meeting of the Payloads Group, Chris Maese admonished his
team not to forget to close out their projects before moving on to
whatever their next jobs would be. If I had any dreams of being the
exception and escaping without participating in the clean-up of the RAHF
cages, Stephanie (our high school friend from Canada) reminded me during
our chat with Cecilia Wigley  last week with her, "Have the waste trays
been cleaned out yet?"  How could I really leave the Habitat issue in
midair?

So, I scheduled a time to go back to the HiBay and work with Kerry, not on
the waste trays yet, but first on the cleanup of the RAHF cages! Believe
it or not, the scientists are not quite done with the waste trays. There's
apparently some information they can still garner from the rat leavings -
kind of like archaeology - but smellier!

On the table there were about a dozen cages carefully sealed in plastic
bags. Kerry looked through these to find one that could be cleaned without
waiting for science to disconnect the sensor wiring required in one of the
experiments. He selected one of the cages that had housed a dam (mother
rat) with her neonates (baby rats) and moved it to the table.

As he opened the bag I braced myself for the nasty smell - but, it wasn't
all that  bad! If you look really closely at the picture, you'll see one
of the reasons. Besides being pretty dry, each cage was packed with a cut
up OdorEater (you know, the liners people put in shoes to keep them from
getting smelly). The first task was to remove the lixit metal tubes that
carry water into the cage. Apparently there are some rubber washers that
wouldn't be able to withstand the heat of the washing process.

I think I counted somewhere between 8-10 screws that needed to be removed,
and then it took some tapping with the mallet and pushing from the end,
but the lixit unit finally lifted out. Kerry then began to loosen any
larger waste particles away from the corners of the cage, and followed up
vacuuming up the loose material using a commercial grade vacuum cleaner.
Oh, and don't forget the paperwork! Each step needed to be documented for
each separate cage. Then of course someone from Quality Assurance  has to
check the whole process and make sure it's all going as planned, and then
affixing the official stamp (He carried a rubber stamp in his pocket!)

Speaking of paperwork, Kerry had already discovered a flaw in the
procedures that described the "how-to's" of the next step: The paperwork
stated that the water would heat to the desired 200 degrees in about 1/2
hour, though it warned that the temperature gauge on the Ultra-sonic bath
was unreliable. It had been 2 1/2 hours since Kerry had turned the heat
on, and the water was still not at optimal temperature! He had to check it
periodically with a long thermometer. Finally the correct temperature was
achieved and the cage was placed into the water.

The vat into which the cage was lowered was about 20 inches deep. There
was a metallic mesh hammock-like insert that suspended the cage about 4-5
inches above the bottom, and then had about 10 more inches of water that
covered the cage completely. Bubbles and the coloration of the water was
due to Joy detergent in the vat, but the major player in the cleaning of
the cage is the almost imperceptible vibration you could see as the cage
was bombarded by ultrasonic waves. I placed my fingers on the edge, and it
felt almost like the vibration you feel when you get a slight shock.

It did the job, and in about 20 minutes, Kerry lifted the cage out of the
water, and placed it into the "rinse cycle." This was just a vat of cold
water partially meant to begin the removal of the soap, but even more, to
cool off the cage so that Kerry could handle it for the rest of the
rinsing process. Today, would not be a good day to get many cages done.
The water had been turned off in the building, so the chance and timing to
complete the rinse process was unknown. At least I got to see one...

And what Kerry pulled out of the rinse water was incredible! It really was
clean! There were tanks of water in the lab that held some water, so Kerry
then sprayed off the cage in the sink to ensure that the soapy residue was
all gone.

Now it was time for the cage to join the others drying on the shelf. Job's
done - on one RAHF cage anyway - many to go. During the wait between the
wash and rinse, Kerry had gotten another cage ready to place in the bath.
So as Kerry kept busy, I got a chance to interview him for his bio which
is now online at  http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/neuron/team/brown.html

Now, guess what's next.....

SUBSCRIBING & UNSUBSCRIBING: HOW TO DO IT!

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