Student Space Missions – Facilitating Pathways to Success for Next Generation Professionals in Space

The Undergraduate Student Instrumentation Project (USIP) was a NASA program created to engage undergraduate students in rigorous scientific research for the purposes of innovation and developing the next generation of professionals in space research. It is now run by the University of Houston using local resources. This student-led project, based on the 5E instructional model, is executed by the students from initial ideation of research objectives to the design, testing, and deployment of scientific payloads. The 5E Instructional model places the student at the center of knowledge building, while instructors facilitate interaction with content and guide the inquiry process. Since 2013, this project has been not only an effective vehicle for delivering STEM education but is also effective in increasing classroom engagement and interest in space. Space research is inherently interdisciplinary and crosscuts Geoscience, Engineering, and Technology. The project is designed to integrate engineering, technology, physics, material science, and earth and atmospheric sciences as an important opportunity for the students to gain access to cross-disciplinary experiential research. In addition to classroom engagement, the students build their own payloads and ground instruments. This project increases students’ command of essential skills such as teamwork, collaboration, problem solving, technology, communication, innovation, and leadership. For the faculty, the project was an extended exercise in professional development, learning how to implement project level inquiry-based education on this scale. For the students, this formative experience continues to encourage the development of a much broader range of technical skills than is typically offered within an undergraduate degree. Furthermore, the extensive time and energy that students commit to this project promotes a strong sense of personal and professional responsibility and emphasizes the necessity of coherent teamwork. Not only do students make valuable connections with each other during this process, but also to the broader space science community. They often work with professionals from outside of the USIP structure, and regularly attend and present at conferences and student competitions throughout the project. This paper will present a web-based scaffolding used to simulate the traditional face to face 5E experience during COVID. Student projects have included subjects ranging from atmospheric trace gas chemistry, LiDAR study of snow and sand avalanche dynamics, auroral electron precipitation, gravity wave modulation of the hydroxyl layer, search for stratospheric microplastics, and monitoring auroral radio emissions, among others. This program is a for-credit course of two to three years duration. Copyright © 2021 by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF). All rights reserved.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.

OBJECTIVES: The disease COVID-19 produces serious complications that can lead to cardiorespiratory arrest. Quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can improve patient prognosis. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of the specialty of Anesthesiology in the management of CPR during the pandemic. METHODS: A survey was carried out with Google Forms consisting of 19 questions. The access link to the questionnaire was sent by email by the Spanish Society of Anesthesia (SEDAR) to all its members. RESULTS: 225 responses were obtained. The regions with the highest participation were: Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia. 68.6%% of the participants work in public hospitals. 32% of the participants habitually work in intensive care units (ICU), however, 62.1% have attended critical COVID-19 in the ICU and 72.6% have anesthetized them in the operating room. 26,3% have attended some cardiac arrest, 16,8% of the participants admitted to lead the manoeuvres, 16,8% detailed that it had been another department, and 66,2% was part of the team, but did not lead the assistance. Most of the CPR was performed in supine, only 5% was done in prone position. 54.6% of participants had not taken any course of Advance Life Support (ALS) in the last 2 years. 97.7% of respondents think that Anesthesia should lead the in-hospital CPR. CONCLUSION: The specialty of Anesthesiology has actively participated in the care of the critically ill patient and in the management of CPR during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, training and/or updating in ALS is required.

Older adults in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: effects on health, income and work

The goal of this study is to characterize the population of older adults in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic with regard to health, socioeconomic conditions, gender inequality, adherence to social distancing and feelings of sadness or depression. It is a cross-sectional study carried out with Brazilian older adults who responded to an online health survey (N = 9,173), using a "virtual snowball" sampling method. Data were collected online via a self-administered questionnaire. Prevalence and confidence interval estimates were performed and verified for independence using Pearson's chi-square test. During the pandemic there was a fall in household income among almost half of older adults. Extreme social distancing was practiced by 30.9% (95%CI: 27.8;34.1) and 12.2% (95%CI: 10.1;14.7) did not adhere to it. Older adults who were not working before the pandemic adhered in greater numbers to extreme social distancing measures. Most of them presented comorbidities associated with a higher risk of developing the severe form of COVID-19. Feelings of loneliness, distress and sadness were frequent among older adults, especially women. The COVID-19 pandemic widened the inequality gap by affecting the most vulnerable older people. Strategies to mitigate loneliness and social distancing should consider social vulnerability and the marked difference between men and women in terms of household composition and socioeconomic and working conditions. The development of representative surveys of Brazilian older adults is recommended, investigating the impact of the pandemic on this population.

ConVid - Behavior Survey by the Internet during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: conception and application methodology

The ConVid - Behavior Survey was conducted in Brazil from April 24 to May 24, 2020, aiming to investigate changes in lifestyles and health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we present the conception and methodology of the research. We used a cross-sectional study using an Internet questionnaire, with questions validated in previous health surveys. The sampling method "virtual snowball" was used, as well as post-stratification procedures. The results related to chronic non-communicable diseases and pre-pandemic lifestyles were compared with estimates from the 2013 Brazilian National Health Survey and 2019 Surveillance of Risk and Protective Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey. The total sample was 45,161 people. After data weighing, the sample distributions of demographic variables were similar to population variables. Only people with a low schooling level were underrepresented. The comparison with the previous results showed similarity in most estimates: recommended consumption of fruits and vegetables (22.1%), recommended physical activity (35.2%), tobacco smoking habit (12.3%), frequent and abusive alcohol consumption (6.7%), obesity (21.2%), self-reported prevalence of hypertension (18.6%), diabetes (7.1%), and heart disease (4.4%). The online survey made it possible to know the population's health conditions during the pandemic. The similarity of the indicators with those obtained in traditional research allowed the validation of the mean estimates. Studies are needed to investigate how the endogenous effects of virtual social networks can be considered when estimating variance.