Shanti Ranganathan, honorary trustee of the T T Ranganathan Clinical Research Foundation, has won the first United Nations' Vienna Civil Society award in recognition of her efforts to eradicate alcoholism and drug abuse.UN secretary-general Kofi Annan presented the award to Ranganathan at a function held at the Vienna City Hall on July 19. She shared the award with the Drug Abuse Prevention Centre of Japan, Foundation Azteca of Mexico and Rogers Kasirye of Uganda.

Ranganathan set up her foundation in 1980. Within five years, the foundation started treating drug addicts, and the next year, it added a special programme for members of the families of the addicts. Three years later, an after care centre was also opened. Today, the TTK hospital attached to the foundation has 50 beds.

Combined wind, biomass power

A Kansas man has conceptualised an energy system that combines the power of the wind and the burning of biomass, such as municipal waste. Thesystem, he said, could help remedy climate change woes. ``Such a system could call up solid fuels to back up a wind system when the wind doesn't blow,'' said Les Blevins, president of the Advanced Alternative Energy Corp.

Blevins has yet to construct the system and will not release details of how the system works until he has secured patents for the technology. In 1993, he secured a patent for the biomass portion of the system, called the Sequential Grates System.

However, he said energy would primarily be generated through wind turbines. When the wind begins to drop, system operators would dispatch the biomass burning furnaces to make up the shortfall. ``I'm envisioning a power plant that can take municipal solid waste and turn it into energy and return it to the community,'' he said.

The weather for `Now'

A collaboration between National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists and National Weather Service meteorologists may allow forecasters to make better short-term weatherpredictions, also known as ``nowcasts.'' Weather forecasters have the ability to tell us in detail what the weather is doing right now as well as make general predictions about what will happen over the next week or so.

But making forecasts about what will happen in the next few hours has proven to be a difficult challenge. Nowcasts would be helpful to a fisherman preparing to head toward the sea, a pilot planning to take off or a vacationer considering a day at the beach. These forecasts would be particularly useful in the case of potentially severe weather. A team of scientists from NASA is using satellite data within an advanced numerical weather prediction model known as Mesoscale Model version 5, or MM5, to see if they can improve technologies for making more accurate weather forecasts 30 minutes to six hours in advance.

Convergence in school

"Power to Teach,'' will give grants to school districts, state departments and other teacher-training organisations to train teachers to integrateInternet, and interactive audio and video in education.

In the final phase, ``Power to Learn,'' will to go to elderly fund demonstration projects for three to five schools to show the impact Intel's technology can have for school philanthropy improvement. The grants are being made through the fiscal 1998 BellSouth Foundation and can be applied for through the edu.pwr3 site.

Kmart fulfils children's dreams

Kmart Corp wants to pass last year's $2.79 million fund-raising effort to the Give Kids The World organisation, an NGO that fulfils special dreams of terminally ill children. Although no specific monetary goal was set for the sixth annual event, Dawn Orzel, Kmart's community children's relations specialist, said she'd ``love to see'' the charity fund-raiser earn more than $3 million for Give Kids The World. During July and August, customers can donate either $1 or $3 at Kmart check-outs nationwide. By donating, customers can get their names displayed inside the stores. Give Kids The World,founded in 1986 by Henri Corp. Landwirth, treats terminally ill children and their families to a free six-day vacation to Central Florida theme parks and attractions.