Evaluation of Reaction Time on Karate Athletes UKM Syiah Kuala University

The purpose of the study. Reaction time is a determining factor in sports, especially in martial arts. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the reaction time of UKM Karate athletes at Syiah Kuala University. Materials and methods. The approach in this study uses a quantitative approach. The sampling technique used purposive sampling, which means this technique is used to achieve certain goals. The samples in this study were athletes from UKM karate at Syiah Kuala University. The data collection technique was carried out by using the whole body reaction test to measure the reaction time of the athlete's arms and legs. Results. results of the research in the form of a whole body reaction test, the results using the formula for the average value and the total percentage can be concluded: (1) The arm reaction time test with the total average value for male athletes is 0.169 seconds and female athletes are 0.173, and the highest percentage is in the very good category, amounting to 87% for male and female athletes, 75% in the very good category and (2) the limb reaction time test has an average value of 0.269 seconds for male athletes and female athletes of 0.361 seconds, with the highest percentage value amounted to 100% in the good category for male athletes and for female athletes it was in the sufficient category with a percentage of 50%. Conclusions. the analysis show that most athletes have been able to maintain and increase reaction time well, to be able to improve and maintain it, regular and continuous training is needed

Influence of high temperatures and solar radiation on accidents on road transport in the summer

Introduction. During the hot season, there is a positive relationship between the number of accidents per thousand registered vehicles and the air temperature. At the same time, an increase in the temperature and intensity of solar radiation helps to reduce the braking distance of cars. Consequently, the likely reasons for the increase in the number of accidents is a decrease in the level of driving skills. The purpose of the work is to determine the most significant causes of road accidents in the summer, the degree of their impact on accidents in conditions of high temperature and solar radiation, as well as the impact of climate installations on the increase in accidents. Materials and methods. In order to identify the causes of the increase in accidents, an expert method was used, which consisted in a survey of 28 professional drivers with at least three years of experience. To assess the significance of factors, the reasons for the increase in accidents were ranked according to a four-point system, where the number “1” corresponded to the lowest significance, and the number “4” – the highest. It was also necessary to indicate the increase in the adverse effect as a percentage in certain conditions, compared with comfortable conditions.Results. It is revealed that the main reasons for the increase in the number of accidents committed in the summer are: an increase in traffic speed, an increase in the frequency of maneuvering vehicles, an increase in the number of incorrect decisions and an increase in the reaction time of drivers. The direct effect of solar radiation, along with the effect of high temperatures that go beyond the comfort zone, is the cause of accidents. The use of climate systems leads to redistribution of importance among the reasons for the increase in the number of accidents – increases the number of accidents by increasing the speed and frequency of maneuvering, while reducing the rate of road accidents occurring in bad judgement and increase reaction time of drivers.Practical importance. The research provides a basis for developing measures to reduce accidents on the road in warm weather

Human Factor in Navigation: Overview of Cognitive Load Measurement during Simulated Navigational Tasks

This paper is intended to give an overview of the experiments to evaluate the cognitive load of the officer on watch (OOW) during a collision avoidance maneuver in a full-mission simulator. The main goal is to investigate the possibilities of recording the biometric parameters of an OOW during a simulated collision avoidance maneuver. Potentially dangerous navigation errors known as human erroneous action (HEA) are induced by excessive cognitive load. Despite modern navigational aids on the ship’s bridge, investigators of maritime incidents typically link the reason for incidents at sea with human factors, including high cognitive load. During the experimental tasks on the bridge, the biometric parameters of the OOW are recorded. Statistical tools are used to visualize the data and evaluate the cognitive load of the OOW. Biometric peaks of the OOW typically occur either during the collision avoidance maneuver or when the OOW has been exposed to disturbing factors that increase reaction time and cause potentially dangerous navigation. Assessing the cognitive load of OOWs in the simulator is challenging for several reasons: e.g., the environmental conditions of the simulator, the type of task to be simulated, and even the type of sensor used. After careful study of the available literature, an original experimental design using non-invasive biometric sensors is proposed.

Perception of Unfamiliar English Phonemes by Native Mandarin Speakers

In second language acquisition, speech sounds, or phonemes, not present in a learner’s native language often pose an extra challenge for speech production. When hearing one of these unfamiliar phonemes, the learner either maps it to a similar native phoneme, perceives it as a completely foreign sound, or does not perceive it as speech at all. In the first case, the learner is unable to perceive a difference between the unfamiliar phoneme and the native phoneme to which it is mapped. This mapping difficulty potentially creates problems for the learner during word recognition. The present research investigated the extent to which English phonemes absent from the Mandarin phonological inventory impact processing of native Mandarin speakers in an auditory lexical decision task. Results of this research will expand the understanding of second language perception, especially within the context of auditory lexical decision tasks. A list of ten phonemes—/ɪ/, /æ/, /ʊ/, /ɛ/, /v/, /z/, /ʒ/, /ɵ/, /ð/, /ʤ/—present in the English phonological inventory but absent from that of Mandarin were identified as unfamiliar to native Mandarin speakers. Data from the Massive Auditory Lexical Decision (MALD) database, in which participants decided whether recorded utterances were English words or made-up words, were utilized. The effects of the proportion of unfamiliar phonemes, proportion of unfamiliar vowels, and proportion of unfamiliar consonants on reaction time, representative of processing difficulty, were then calculated using statistical techniques. It was found that the proportion of all unfamiliar phonemes in an utterance had no significant effect on the reaction time of the native Mandarin speakers. However, when the list of unfamiliar phonemes was divided into vowels and consonants, a greater proportion of unfamiliar vowels was noticed to increase reaction time, while a greater proportion of unfamiliar consonants was found to decrease reaction time. Further research in this area is required to determine a concrete explanation for these results. Interestingly, when the same analysis was performed on the data of native English speakers, similar results were observed. This may reflect a common language processing mechanism in second language learners and native speakers.

Modification of Used Palm Oil: Preliminary Study of its Potentiality as Polyurethane Foam Precursors

Polyol was successfully synthesized from used palm oil (UPO) via epoxidation and ring opening reaction. The mole ratio of UPO: formic acid: hydrogen peroxide was 0.3: 8: 1.5. The reaction had been continuously stirred at 400 rpm at 65°C with varied reaction time for 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, and 4.0 h. The chemical structure of modified used palm oil (MUPO) or polyol was confirmed by 1H-NMR. OH number of polyols increased with an increase reaction time. Moreover, the preliminary study for the preparation of MUPO-based polyurethane (PU) foam was performed. A new MUPO-based PU foam was successfully prepared and theirs foam behaviors were investigated.