Guided play and free play in an enriched environment: impact on motor development

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of guided play and free play in an enriched environment intervention programs using motor skill development in kindergarten children. Seventy-one children attending kindergarten classes were assigned to two experimental groups and one control group. Participants performed the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 before and after the intervention period. Results revealed that both boys and girls in the guided play group showed motor skill improvement, whereas no changes were observed in motor development in the boys and girls assigned to the free play in enriched environment group, nor in those in the control group. These findings indicate that the teacher’s role in the guided play intervention was crucial to help preschool children to improve their performance.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, UM (FCT R&D 317

Intervenção psicomotora em crianças de nível socioeconômico baixo

Visou-se identificar o perfil psicomotor de crianças de baixo nível socioeconômico e verificar o efeito nelas de um programa de intervenção psicomotora. Participaram do estudo seis crianças do sexo masculino, na faixa de 10 a 12 anos (11,5±0,92). Os participantes foram avaliados utilizando-se uma bateria psicomotora que avalia sete fatores psicomotores: tonicidade, equilibração, lateralização, noção do corpo, estruturação espaço-temporal, praxia global e fina; de acordo com o desempenho da criança, os fatores são pontuados de 1 a 4; o escore 1 refere-se ao perfil apráxico, 2 ao dispráxico, 3 ao eupráxico e 4 ao hiperpráxico. Com base nas dificuldades detectadas foi elaborado um programa de intervenção psicomotora, aplicado durante três meses, em 16 sessões de uma hora de duração, duas vezes por semana. Ao término da intervenção os participantes foram reavaliados. Pela avaliação inicial, o perfil dos participantes foi predominantemente eupráxico nos fatores equilibração, lateralização, noção do corpo, praxia global e praxia fina; nos fatores tonicidade e estruturação espaço-temporal o perfil foi predominantemente dispráxico. Após o programa de intervenção houve aumento estatisticamente significativo (pThis study aimed at outlining the psychomotor profile of socioeconomically disadvantaged children and at verifying the effect on them of an assessment-based psychomotor training program. Participants were six 10-to-12 year-old children (mean age 11.5±0.92), who were evaluated before and after the program by means of a psychomotor battery which assesses seven categories: tonus, equilibrium, lateralisation, body perception, time-space orientation, gross and fine praxis; scores range from 1 to 4, determining the following profiles: 1, apraxic; 2, dyspraxic; 3, eupraxic; 4, hyperpraxic. By drawing on children's difficulties, a psychomotor playing program was applied during 3 months, in 16 one-hour sessions, twice a week. The initial evaluation showed participants profile to be predominantly eupraxic in equilibrium, lateralisation, body perception, gross and fine praxis; profile was mostly dyspraxic as to tonus and time-space orientation. After the program, scores significantly improved in tonus, equilibration, time-space orientation, gross, and fine praxis (p<0.05), thus suggesting that the program applied was able to benefit psychomotor performance of low socioeconomic status children

The cusp plasma imaging detector (CuPID) cubesat observatory: instrumentation

The Cusp Plasma Imaging Detector (CuPID) CubeSat observatory is a 6U CubeSat designed to observe solar wind charge exchange in magnetospheric cusps to test competing theories of magnetic reconnection at the Earth's magnetopause. The CuPID is equipped with three instruments, namely, a wide field-of-view (4.6° × 4.6°) soft x-ray telescope, a micro-dosimeter suite, and an engineering magnetometer optimized for the science operation. The instrument suite has been tested and calibrated in relevant environments, demonstrating successful design. The testing and calibration of these instruments produced metrics and coefficients that will be used to create the CuPID mission's data product.NNX16AJ73G - NASAPublished versio

The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) on the SMILE Mission

The Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) mission. SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and is due for launch in 2025. SXI is a compact X-ray telescope with a wide field-of-view (FOV) capable of encompassing large portions of Earth’s magnetosphere from the vantage point of the SMILE orbit. SXI is sensitive to the soft X-rays produced by the Solar Wind Charge eXchange (SWCX) process produced when heavy ions of solar wind origin interact with neutral particles in Earth’s exosphere. SWCX provides a mechanism for boundary detection within the magnetosphere, such as the position of Earth’s magnetopause, because the solar wind heavy ions have a very low density in regions of closed magnetic field lines. The sensitivity of the SXI is such that it can potentially track movements of the magnetopause on timescales of a few minutes and the orbit of SMILE will enable such movements to be tracked for segments lasting many hours. SXI is led by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom (UK) with collaborating organisations on hardware, software and science support within the UK, Europe, China and the United States

The solar wind charge-exchange production factor for hydrogen

International audienceThe mean production factor, or broadband averaged cross-section, for solar wind charge-exchange (SWCX) with hydrogen producing emission in the ROSAT 1/4 keV (R12) band is (3.8 ± 0.2) x 10-20 count degree−2 cm4. The production factor is expected to be temporally variable, and that variation is roughly 15%. These values are derived from a comparison of the long-term (background) enhancements in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey with magnetohysdrodynamic simulations of the magnetosheath. This value is 1.8–4.5 times higher than values derived from limited atomic data, suggesting that those values may be missing a large number of faint lines. This production factor is important for deriving the exact amount of 1/4 keV band flux that is due to the Local Hot Bubble, for planning future observations in the 1/4 keV band, and for evaluating proposals for remote sensing of the magnetosheath. The same method cannot be applied to the 3/4 keV band as that band, being composed primarily of the oxygen lines, is far more sensitive to the detailed abundances and ionization balance in the solar wind. We also show, incidentally, that recent efforts to correlate XMM-Newton observing geometry with magnetosheath SWCX emission in the oxygen lines have been, quite literally, misguided. Simulations of the inner heliosphere show that broader efforts to correlate heliospheric SWCX with local solar wind parameters are unlikely to produce useful results

Wide field-of-view soft X-ray imaging for solar wind-magnetosphere interactions

Soft X-ray imagers can be used to study the mesoscale and macroscale density structures that occur whenever and wherever the solar wind encounters neutral atoms at comets, the Moon, and both magnetized and unmagnetized planets. Charge exchange between high charge state solar wind ions and exospheric neutrals results in the isotropic emission of soft X-ray photons with energies from 0.1 to 2.0 keV. At Earth, this process occurs primarily within the magnetosheath and cusps. Through providing a global view, wide field-of-view imaging can determine the significance of the various proposed solar wind-magnetosphere interaction mechanisms by evaluating their global extent and occurrence patterns. A summary of wide field-of-view (several to tens of degrees) soft X-ray imaging is provided including slumped micropore microchannel reflectors, simulated images, and recent flight results