Space plasma research

Temperature and density analysis in the Automated Analysis Program (for the global empirical model) were modified to use flow velocities produced by the flow velocity analysis. Revisions were started to construct an interactive version of the technique for temperature and density analysis used in the automated analysis program. A sutdy of ion and electron heating at high altitudes in the outer plasmasphere was initiated. Also the analysis of the electron gun experiments on SCATHA were extended to include eclipse operations in order to test a hypothesis that there are interactions between the 50 to 100 eV beam and spacecraft generated photoelectrons. The MASSCOMP software to be used in taking and displaying data in the two-ion plasma experiment was tested and is now working satisfactorily. Papers published during the report period are listed

Magnetospheric research

Research concerning the magnetosphere is discussed in terms of satellite data analysis, instrument studies and developments, solar terrestrial studies, meetings, and consultants

Plasma and magnetospheric research

Several programs and variations have been developed to determine statistical means of different plasma parameters when binned in different variables. These parameters include temperature, densities and spacecraft potentials for any of the ion species, as well as ratios of these variables for any other ion species to the corresponding variable for H(+). The variables for binning include L, radial distance, and geomagnetic latitude; and separate statistics are automatically run for local morning and local evening data. These programs all run from output files from the plasma parameter thin sheath analysis program. A variant program also bins for magnetic activity, using either Kp or Dst, which requires an additional magnetic activity input file. These programs can be run either interactively or in batch mode, using file listings generated by a DIRECTORY command. In addition to printed output, these programs generate output files which can be used to plot the results. Programs to plot these averaged data are under development

Plasma and magnetospheric research

Research developments in the following areas are discussed: (1) an ion trajectory computer code which plots the paths of ions ejected from the polar cusp ionosphere; (2) the response of plasmaspheric ion temperatures to geomagnetic activity; (3) spacecraft sheath effects; (4) plasma flow; (5) neutral gas temperatures; and (6) instrument fabrication, modification, and maintenance

Investigation of low energy space plasma

A statistical study of 1982 data for occurrences of equatorially trapped plasma has been extended. The previous survey, which utilized only the MSFC summary fiche, has been supplemented with the GSFC summary fiche, which has had the effect of substantially improving the late 1982 coverage. It was found that in the post midnight region (1 - 3 LT), the trapped plasma is limited to + or - 5 degrees magnetic latitude, while in the early afternoon (13-15 LT), latitude ranges as high as + or 30 degrees are found. This survey has provided a link to earlier ATS-6 and ISEE studies of pancake distributions. Although the most energetic, and most anisotopic plasmas are trapped within a few degrees of the equator, the results of these equatorial interactions extend substantially along the magnetic field line in the afternoon and dusk region and these high latitude extensions were previously studied by the Huntsville group. Results of this study were incorporated into a revision of the equatorial ion paper, which has been resubmitted and accepted for publication

Topological partition relations to the form omega^*-> (Y)^1_2

Theorem: The topological partition relation omega^{*}-> (Y)^{1}_{2} (a) fails for every space Y with |Y| >= 2^c ; (b) holds for Y discrete if and only if |Y| <= c; (c) holds for certain non-discrete P-spaces Y ; (d) fails for Y= omega cup {p} with p in omega^{*} ; (e) fails for Y infinite and countably compact

Effects of physical fitness on attention, memory and decision making in children.

The aim of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship between level of fitness and the information processing components of attention, memory and decision making in children. Based on existing evidence from studies on adults, it was predicted that higher-fit children would perform better on attention, memory and decision making tasks than their low-fit counterparts. It was predicted that higher-fit subjects would perform better than their lower-fit counterparts on: i) attention (dual task-tracking and discrete simple reaction time tasks), ii) memory (numeric vigilance and probed memory tasks), iii) decision making (discrete-6 choice reaction time tasks, and iv) executive function (Tower of Hanoi). Forty-seven male children from a local middle school were selected for the study. Based upon a cycle ergometer test, the top twenty receiving the highest fitness scores and the twenty with the lowest scores were selected to complete the cognitive tests. Subjects were required to perform six cognitive tests on a computer. Fitness level (higher-fit and lower-fit) was the main independent variable while the dependent variables were VO² max, fat percentage, resting heart rate and the measures from the cognitive tests. First, a fitness level ANOVA with predicted VO² max indicated that the groups did differ on the level of fitness. A group x memory capacity (8, 10) with repeated measures on memory length and a group x duration (80,100) with repeated measures on time were computed. The remaining dependent variables were analyzed by a fitness group ANOVA. The fitness level did not differentiate the subjects on attention, memory or decision making. There was a trend for the higher-fit to perform better than the lower-fit on simple and choice movement times, memory capacity and duration tests. Thus, the effects of aerobic fitness level on attention and memory capacity displayed a trend for higher-fit children to be slightly better than lower-fit children; however, these differences were not significant. Further studies need to continue to explore whether aerobic fitness levels have an impact on the components of children's information processing