The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of knowledge of results (KR) frequency and task complexity on motor skill acquisition. The task consisted of throwing a bocha ball to place it as close as possible to the target ball. 120 students ages 11 to 13 years were assigned to one of eight experimental groups according to knowledge of results frequency (25, 50, 75, and 100%) and task complexity (simple and complex). Subjects performed 90 trials in the acquisition phase and 10 trials in the transfer test. The results showed that knowledge of results given at a frequency of 25% resulted in an inferior absolute error than 50% and inferior variable error than 50, 75, and 100% frequencies, but no effect of task complexity was found.

The study examined how children of different ages integrate fundamental movement skills, such as running and throwing, and whether their developmental status was related to the combination of these skills. Thirty children were divided into three groups (G1 = 6-year-olds, G2 = 9-year-olds, and G3 = 12-year-olds) and filmed performing three tasks: running, overarm throwing, and the combined task. Patterns were identified and described, and the efficiency of integration was calculated (distance differences of the ball thrown in two tasks, overarm throwing and combined task). Differences in integration were related to age: the 6-year-olds were less efficient in combining the two skills than the 9- and 12-year-olds. These differences may be indicative of a phase of integrating fundamental movement skills in the developmental sequence. This developmental status, particularly throwing, seems to be related to the competence to integrate skills, which suggests that fundamental movement skills may be developmental modules.

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Public Safety is nowadays a priority, cornerstone and major concern for governments, majors and policy makers in current (and future) smart cities. Notwithstanding the foregoing, large advances in ICT technologies are foretold to revolutionize our society and enhance our feeling of safety (and hopefully, wellbeing). This chapter presents an introduction to three of the most promising technological pillars considered to be spearheads in this transformation: Internet of things, understood as the data capillarity through billions of sensors, Intelligent Video Analytics and Data Mining Intelligence, the latter two enabling smarter contextual awareness and prediction of potential threats leading to proactive prevention of them. The associated horizontal economic implications of this evolution and its impact into the societal and economic fabric are also tackled. Part of the results and analysis produced in this chapter are the outcome of the work carried out in the FP7 EU project SafeCity, one of the eight Use Cases of the FI Programme. The Safety Transformation in the Future Internet Domain 191 to reduce emergency response time and urban crime: for example, digital surveillance cameras have been placed in many critical areas and buildings throughout cities and call dispatchers have been created to distribute the emergency calls. Moreover, advanced technological capabilities facilitate urban public safety systems to become not just more interconnected and efficient, but also smarter and self-adaptive. Instead of merely responding to crimes and emergencies after a critical situation, novel smart systems emerge to analyse, anticipate and, actually, contribute to preventing them before occurring. After the terrorist attacks of March 2004 in Madrid, the city developed a new fully integrated Emergency Response Centre which, after an incoming emergency call, simultaneously alerts the required emergency agency (police, ambulance and/or fire brigade). The system can recognize if alerts relate to a single or multiple incidents, and assign the right resources based on the requirements coming from the ground. Furthermore, specialized video analytics systems are successfully installed for traffic surveillance purposes. These are CCTV-based systems capable of automatically detect illegal vehicles behaviour (e.g. cars stopped in forbidden areas, going in the opposite direction), restricted entries behaviour (e.g. bike entering in a forbidden road), stolen vehicles, etc. In addition, M2M communications, that is, intelligent communications by enabled devices without human intervention, are nowadays present in home and industrial security monitoring systems and alarms. Several Public Safety organizations and Public Administrations are using sensor networks to monitor environmental conditions or to be temporally deployed driven by an emergency situation. Other advanced technologies are focused on enhancing emergency notification mechanisms, fire and enforcement records management, surveillance, etc. As presented, outstanding capabiliti...

Reconhecidamente, o brincar contribui para o desenvolvimento das crianças sob uma série de aspectos, incluindo suas dimensões cognitivas, afetivas e motoras. Em linhas gerais, percebe-se uma crescente valorização das instituições escolares em relação aos elementos lúdicos da aprendizagem. Todavia, nos grandes centros urbanos como é o caso da cidade de São Paulo, os espaços escolares destinados ao brincar foram drasticamente influenciados pela estrutura arquitetônica das escolas. Diante da necessidade de ampliação do número de vagas, as concessões oferecidas à iniciativa privada contribuíram para uma reconfiguração dos espaços escolares, uma vez que escolas de pequeno porte, grande parte das vezes, adaptadas a partir de casas térreos ou sobrados passaram a compor o quadro das instituições.  O presente artigo teve por objetivo discutir esta problemática, com especial atenção aos possíveis desdobramentos que ela apresenta sobre o desenvolvimento infantil. Nele são apresentados diversos olhares, sejam eles da antropologia, educação, medicina, arquitetura entre outros, sobre a importância do brincar. Também foi agregado ao estudo o amparo legal associado às dimensões do brincar no contexto escolar. Finalmente, são apresentadas implicações para a atuação do poder público e para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas sobre o referido tema.