Free Essay

Speed Accuracy Trade-Off

In: Philosophy and Psychology

Submitted By mikkosm14
Words 2350
Pages 10
Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff
Mikko Allen D. San Miguel
Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila

Abstract
In Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff, a low speed means higher accuracy and a high speed means lower accuracy. This principle is applied in terms of reading. It is predicted that when people read faster, they tend to be less accurate about what they read. This is tested by compelling subjects, to read faster. The subjects were asked to read faster than average, by increasing the target number of lines they were required to read. Also, they were asked to cross-out all the letter e’s that they see as they go through a reading material. Most of the results are consistent with the prediction. When subjects read faster, they committed more mistakes and when they read slower, they were able to commit less. However, other findings are inconsistent with this prediction. For example, even when the subjects were not required to read faster than average, they were still unable to gain a higher score in correctly crossing-out the letter e’s that they came across.
Introduction
Is a job done fast, a job done inaccurately or can a job be done both fast and accurate? Individuals attempt to perform well in both factors (Zimmerman, 2011). Everyone wants a job well done in a minimum amount of time. For example, it would be amazing if a repairman can fix a broken phone properly in less than the average time it usually takes; this is beneficial to both parties. The client saves more time than usual. Similarly, it gives the repairman more time to fix other things which means, more income. Most of the time, this is not possible. People tend to increase their response time (speed) at the cost of reducing accuracy, or decrease response time in order to increase accuracy (Proctor & Vu, 2003). In speed-accuracy tradeoff, a low speed means higher accuracy and a high speed means lower accuracy. For example, when doing printed assignments, reports, etc., students try to type faster, usually, it is impossible for them not to accidentally hit a key that they were not supposed to hit. This would then require them to go back to the part where they committed the typographical error. Because of this, they would now type carefully to avoid mistakes and this takes time. This usually is not a problem unless a task requires a limited amount of time to respond (Fairbrother, 2010). If a task or job requires a person to respond in a limited time, a person has no choice but to speed-up. This then leads to the decrease in accuracy. Sometimes, tasks require more accuracy than speed. For example, in reading, it is more important that the reader understood the book or text than, finishing it fast. Unless of course, let us say that a teacher requires his/her students to finish reading a text in a certain amount of time. It is possible for some students to actually understand the text even if they read it fast but most probably, students would sacrifice accuracy in order to finish the book or text in the limited amount of time. If the teacher now, decides to give a short test about the text s/he assigned the students to read, it is probable that the students would commit more error than if they were given more time. Still, this demonstrates that many tasks require individuals to choose between speed and accuracy. How much a person actually understands when reading a book or text may be dependent by how fast s/he reads it; the way a person reads a book or text may affect how much s/he understands about it. As said earlier, a person increases speed at the cost of accuracy. With that it could be said that, if a person reads a text faster, it is expected that s/he will be less accurate (or commit more mistakes) about it. However, this is still a hypothesis; it is still to be tested. An average person can read 250 words per minute or can read an average page in a book or a document in 1to 2 minutes (“Mindtools”, n.d.). There are some ways where a person can be required to read faster. An example to this is the previously stated situation where a student is required by a teacher to finish a book or text in a limited time. From this, we can again say that, a person can be compelled to read faster by setting a target and a time limit. As mentioned, a person can only read 250 words on average. If a person is then asked to read 250 words for only 30 seconds (two times faster than average), will s/he be accurate about what s/he read? This can be seen throughout the study.
Method
Participants
Six undergraduate subjects participated in this study. Subjects are second year psychology students from Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila. They belong to the same class, taking Experimental Psychology Lecture and Laboratory (PSY 221 & PSY 221.1, respectively) and consist of 2 males and 4 females; ages of 17-18 (17.7 mean age).
Procedures and Materials
The subjects are first given the instruction to cross out all the letter e’s that they come across while reading a material that is to be given to them; they are given 30 seconds to do so. Subjects are seated in between an experimenter and a timer. The reading material which is a cut-out article from a newspaper is given to the subjects by the experimenter. The subjects are free to start whenever they are ready; the timer is attentive to start timing upon the moment which the subjects started crossing-out letter e’s. The experimenter counted the lines covered by the subjects. That is, lines where the subjects have crossed out letter e’s. The first run of this procedure determined the baseline.
When the baseline was determined, a target was set for the second run; a new reading material was then given to the subjects. An additional 10% of the baseline was added to itself as the target. For example, if a subject was able to cover 14 lines at first, the target set for that subject to cover for the second run was 16; about 10% was added to the actual baseline. This was done to compel the subjects to read faster. In the experiment, two pens which are different in colour were used. Pen 1 was used by the subjects to cross out the letter e’s while pen 2 was used by experimenter to underline the target.
After every run, a new reading material is provided for the subjects; these materials also have different targets. The subjects are still to cross out all the letter e’s that they come across. For the third run, the target was lowered by about 10% of the baseline; this is contrary to the second run. A target of 12 was set for a baseline of 14. However for the fourth run, a greater target was set by adding 15% to the baseline. For example, a target of 17 was set for a subject whose baseline was 14. Similar to the third run, the last run of this procedure has a lesser target. 15% was taken off the baseline; a target of 11 was set for a baseline of 14. The experimenter recorded the number of lines each subject was able to accomplish. The timer also, made sure that the subjects were only able to cross out letter e’s for 30 seconds.
The materials are then gathered after the experiment. From the start of the article to the target line, the letter e’s were encircled. A crossed-out and encircled letter e means that the subject was able to cross it out correctly while a simply encircled letter e means that the subject missed it. These were separately counted. If a subject was able to cross-out a letter which is not e, it is counted as missed. This process, determined information such as: (1) the number of e’s correctly crossed-out, (2) the number of e’s missed, (3) the total number of e’s, and (4) the percentage error.
Results
The baseline or the number of lines the subjects were able to accomplish at first, as well as the target number of lines is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Baseline and Targets
When the target is increased by either 10% or 15%, the number of lines that a subject should accomplish, also increases. It means that the subjects are compelled to read the material given to them faster. This is shown in Figure 1. Almost all the subjects’ baseline scores are roughly the same, except for subject 1 which score’s higher. The number of e’s crossed correctly by the subject can be seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Number of E's Crossed-Out Correctly
As can be seen in Figure 2, in most of the subjects, the number of e’s crossed-out correctly increased in both target where the baseline was increased by 10% and the other decreased by 10% (B+10% and B-10%). The increase in number of e’s crossed-out correctly in the baseline decreased by 10% (B-10%), was expected but not in the other (B+10%). This may be because of the increased number of lines. More lines to cover means, more e’s to cross-out. As expected, most of the subjects got lower number of e’s crossed-out correctly when the target was increased by 15% ( B+15%). Inexplicably, when the target was decreased by 15% (B-15%), the number of e’s crossed-out correctly also decreased in most of the subjects. This means that even the target was lower, still some of the subjects were unsuccessful at correctly crossing out the letter e’s. The number of e’s missed by the subjects is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Number of E's Missed
Figure 3 shows that in most of the subjects, the number of e’s missed increased when the target is increased by 10% (B+10%); this result was expected. It is also expected that if the target is decreased by 10% (B-10%), the number of e’s missed will also decrease. In most subjects, when the target was increased by 15% (B+15%) the number of e’s missed also increases. In contrast, when the target was decreased by 15% (B-15%), the number of e’s missed also decreased. Overall, results presented by Figure 3 were as expected. The percentage error is presented in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Percentage Error
The percentage error was determined by dividing the number of e’s missed by the sum of the number of e’s crossed-out correctly and the number of e’s missed or, the total number of e’s. A lower percentage error of course, is better because this means lower number of mistakes. As seen in Figure 4, when the target was increased by 10% (B+10%), the percentage error also increased; as the target was decreased by 10% (B-10%), most of subject’s percentage error also decreased, an expected result. When the target was increased by 15% (B+15%), the percentage error also increased compared to the baseline. Also, when the target was decreased by 15% (B-15%), the percentage error also decreased as predicted.
Discussion
Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff has long been studied. Prior studies suggest that when people favour accuracy, they perform a certain task slower and if they favour speed, they perform certain tasks faster hence, making them less accurate about it. Although, in some cases, people can be faster and still be accurate about the task which they are performing. Predictions then were derived from these studies. One of these is that when a person does a task faster, s/he is most likely to be less accurate (inaccurate) about it.
The aforesaid statement was applied in reading; which led to the prediction that if an individual reads faster, then s/he may be less accurate about it. This may also mean that when an individual reads slower, s/he will be more accurate about it; however, the some parts of the results are somehow inconsistent with this statement. When the subjects were required to read more lines faster (the target number of lines to be read, were increased by 10%), most of them were still able to correctly cross-out the letter e’s. This may be because of the number of lines. Moreover, when the subjects were less compelled to read faster (the target number of lines to be read were decreased by 15%), most of the subjects got lower number of correctly crossed-out letter e’s, compared to the baseline. Nevertheless, the rest of the results are consistent with the prediction. As predicted, when the subjects were required to read more lines faster (the target number of lines to be read, were increased by either 10%or 15%), most of them, committed more mistakes. In addition, when the subjects were less required to read faster (the target number of lines to be read were decreased by either 10 or 15%), most of the subjects were able to commit less mistakes. This further concludes that a person increases his/her reaction at a cost of reducing his/her accuracy.

References
Fairbrother, J.T. (2010). Fundamentals of Motor Behavior. Retrieved from http://www.humankinetics.com/excerpts/excerpts/the-speed-accuracy-trade-off.
Karsilar, H., Simen, P., Papadakis, S., & Balci, F. (2014). Speed Accuracy Trade-Off Under Response Deadlines. Front. Neurosci. 8:248. Doi: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00248
Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff. (n.d.). Psychology Dictionary. Retrieved from http://psychologydictionary.org/speed-accuracy-tradeoff/.
Speed Reading. (n.d.). Mind Tools. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/speedrd.html.
Toward a unified view of the speed-accuracy trade-off: behaviour, neurophysiology and modelling. (n.d.). Frontiers. Retrieved from http://journal.frontiersin.org/ResearchTopic/1647.
Zimmerman, M.E. (2011). Speed-Accuracy Tradeoff. Springer Link. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-0-387-79948-3_1247.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Project

...time(about ten miles)per hour per liquid .Leakage in pipes might pollute soil and contaminate ground water.  Initial cost of laying pipelines is high and very expensive.  If pipelines are damaged, it can cause soil pollutionand damage to environment.  Some solids,liquids & gases when transported cause damage to the pipeline.they may corrode material used for making pipeline. 2.What is tradeoff and examples of tradeoff. A trade-off (or tradeoff) is a situation that involves losing one quality or aspect of something in return for gaining another quality or aspect. It often implies a decision to be made with full comprehension of both the upside and downside of a particular choice; the term is also used in an evolutionary context, in which case the selection process acts as the "decision-maker". Examples of tradeoff is as follows  Trade-off between wage inflation and unemployment.  Hint categories include controls for rendering quality and overall time/quality trade-off in the rendering process.  Trade-off associated with selection for increased ability to resist parasitoid attack in drosophila melanogaster.  Mitigation banking is only suitable for systems which have been shown to be...

Words: 484 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Paper #1

...Gabriela Casas Cognitive Psychology 3319 February 19, 2016 Target Article: Embodied Cognition: Davioli, C. C., Du, F., Montana, J., Garverick, S., & Abrams, R. A. (2010). When meaning matters, look but don’t touch: The effects of posture on reading. Memory & Cognition, 38(5), 555-562. 1. Research Question(s) Reading is an essential part of life and the with internet, humans have access to unlimited quantities of reading material. Much of the reading that we do occurs near the hands whether we read documents electronically or whether read via hard copies. There are individual functional preferences in consuming reading material, and there may also be advantages and disadvantages associated with these preferences, which may or may not in turn correlate to the perceived affect how much material is actually absorbed. Previous research has revealed that spatial processing is essential for successful reading, and is enhanced near the hands. Another critical aspect pertaining to reading involves semantic processing, which is related with vocabulary, knowledge, understanding of what a word means, and how to use words and meaning in context. Several studies have posed that hand actions affect what we see which may also contribute to language acquisition, comprehension, and communication. Research also reveals a direct manner in which visual processing is affected in relation to the spacing around the hands. The effect that hands have on our locus of visual...

Words: 2007 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Oil Spill Exploitation and Marine Pollution

...Amina Usman Sali Chem. 410 (oil spill control) Professor Linus Okoro February 2 2012 Deep Sea oil spill cleanup Techniques: Its applicability Trade – offs and Advantages (summary review paper). Efforts have been made largely to clean up oil spill. These factors include knowing the type of oil, its density, water temperature, volume of the spill, waves, speed etc. Techniques like low tech approaches which involves containment and skimming and burning: and high tech such as varying of sophisticated dispersants e.g. giant separators have been remedies used for oil spill cleanup. Oil spill have destroyed a number of marine and terrestrial wildlife species. A terrestrial animal that depends on seafood dies of hunger due to the destruction of marine food by oil spill. Some marine animal that live and breathe in water dies off because of the contamination of water. The first step to approach when handling oil spill cleanup is quick action. Once we find out there is a spill, speed and accuracy is important for cleanup process. Locating the source of oil spill, its size and thickness etc should follow. According to Larry Nies speed and accuracy can be achieved by using a method known as visual observation from the air, with still and photographing. This method is the cheapest but not the best, it has limitations like inability to see well due to atmospheric and sea conditions etc. A better method but expensive one is the use of airborne sensors. There are some short comes involved...

Words: 684 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Technology in Warehouse Management

...have gone from being a small facility to being hundreds of thousands of square feet and can house thousands of different products and items. This is where new advances in Warehouse Management Systems come into play. There are many picking and storage systems and software available in the market today. This has not always been the case when it comes to warehousing. In order for the efficiency of a warehouse to become better the warehouses have to grow around the new technologies that are being offered. Warehouse efficiency has been the main focus for management in today’s global market and the need to be able to move product through the warehouse as quickly as possible is more important than ever before. The need to increase of the accuracy and productivity of order pulling is greater than ever before and so the need for new technologies is greater than before. In this paper we will discuss the history of warehousing, the Warehouse Management System, the...

Words: 5567 - Pages: 23

Free Essay

What Is Strategy

...What is Strategy? – Michael E. Porter I. Operational effectiveness is not strategy So in the quest to beat competition managers focus on improving quality, speed and productivity all related to operational effectiveness. But in this way, they move further away from viable competitive positions which can only be achieved by an appropriate strategy. Positioning which was once the way to go about beating competition is now rejected, since its too static. Rivals can easily copy the market position and competitive advantage. However, that is not entirely true as hypercompetition is a self-inflicted wound. It is important to watch out for what your competitors are doing, but improving operational effectiveness alone is not enough, and that cannot be your only strategy. Operational effectiveness and strategy are both important for superior performance which is what a firm aims for. A company can beat rivals if it can stand out, establish a difference it can preserve. Basically a company can either provide greater value to customers or comparable value at low prices, or both. Delivering greater value means higher unit prices, greater efficiency means lower unit costs. Cost arises from performing activities and cost advantage comes from performing activities more efficiently than your competitors. This can be in the choice of the activity or how the activity is performed. So activities are what creates competitive advantage. Operational effectiveness means performing similar...

Words: 1366 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

The Impact of the New Grading System Towards the Student of Uc Metc S.Y 2015-2016

...REVIEW 1 An output of the ff. topics * GNSS * GPS * GLONASS * QZSS * GALILEO * IRNSS Simon Nichole B. Gabutan GNSS or Global Navigation Satellite Systems The primary purpose of GNSSs is to provide positions. Different methods of positioning with GNSS exist with the achieved positioning accuracy varying from 10 meter to the millimeter level. Generally we distinguish between the usage of GNSS code observations and GNSS code and phase observations. GNSS positioning with code observations The basic principle of obtaining positions using GNSS is based on the observation of distances to the satellites. Satellite positions are broadcasted in navigation messages coded into the satellite signals, the time of transmission of the signal is also coded into the satellite signal. The difference between time of transmission and time of reception of the coded GNSS satellite signal gives the traveling time. The distance to a satellite can be obtained by multiplying the traveling time of the GNSS signal from the satellite to the users GNSS receiver by the speed of the GNSS signal (approximately 300,000 km/s). Examples of GNSS positioning with code observations are: Single point positioning  Differential positioning with code observations GPS or Global Positioning Systems GPS Operating Principles 1. Position Fixing The GPS receiver determines its position using three satellites to triangulate its 3D position. For this the receiver needs to know the: ...

Words: 2329 - Pages: 10

Free Essay

Factors Affecting Typhoon

...Factors Affecting Typhoon Table of Contents Introduction …………………………………………………………………… 1 Factors That Affects Typhoon …………………………………………… 2 Weather Forecasting …………………………………………………… 3 Station Model …………………………………………………... 4 ▪ Air Pressure …………………………………………………… 4 ▪ Temperature …………………………………………………… 5 ▪ Sky Cover …………………………………………………... 5 ▪ Wind Direction and Wind Speed …………………………... 5-6 ▪ Current Weather …………………………………………… 7 The Role of PAGASA in Weather Forecasting …………………………… 8 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………… 9 INTRODUCTION What is a typhoon? A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean between 180° and 100°E. This region is referred to as the northwest Pacific basin. For organizational purposes, the northern Pacific Ocean is divided into three regions: the eastern (North America to140°W), central (140°W to 180°), and western (180° to 100°E). A Typhoon is a name used in East Asia for a Hurricane. A typhoon is similar to a hurricane in levels of destructiveness. The word typhoon comes from the Chinese term “tai-fung” meaning great wind. Typhoons developed over large bodies of water and are moved by steering winds in the troposphere; if the conditions remain favorable, the tropical disturbance intensifies. On the other hand, if the conditions around the disturbance deteriorate or the tropical cyclone makes landfall...

Words: 1180 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Wac Teracog

...“TerraCog Global Positioning Systems” WAC II ASSIGNMENT I Submitted to: Prof. Danesh Gojar By: Vinod Dubey (FSB I - 60682) Date of Submission: 11th March, 2012 TerraCog Global Positioning Systems February, 2008 To, Mr. Richard Fiero, The President, TerraCog. Subject: Launch of ‘Aerial’ Dear Sir, This report is an analysis of options available regarding project Aerial and strategy regarding dealing with the emerging competition in the market. Executive Summary The redesigned version of Aerial which includes features like satellite imagery is planned to be launched in the coming holiday season. TerraCog is losing its market share to Posthaste’s BirdsI, a similar product already present in the market and is eager to hit the market with Aerial. But the cost of redesigned Aerial is high ($475) and it is not profitable to price Aerial below $475, which is $75 higher than BirdsI. Also at current set price of $475, company cannot expect sufficient sales due to price sensitive nature of the product. Thus company should delay the launch by six months and should come up with better technology at a lesser price. Contents Sr No | Topic | Page No | 1 | Executive Summary | 03 | 2 | Situational Analysis | 05 | 3 | Problem Statement | 06 | 4 | Options Available | 06 | 5 | Criteria for Evaluation | 06 | 6 | Evaluation of Options | 07 | 7 | Recommendation | 09 | 8 | Action Plan | 09 | Situation Analysis TerraCog specializes...

Words: 1270 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Anti Piracy

...BMP3 Best Management Practice 3 Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and Arabian Sea Area INDIA MALDIVES Produced and supported by: IGP &I IMB BIMCO Somalia UKMTO EU NAVFOR BMP3 Best Management Practices to Deter Piracy off the Coast of Somalia and in the Arabian Sea Area (Version 3 – June 2010) Suggested Planning and Operational Practices for Ship Operators, and Masters of Ships Transiting the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea i First Printed June 2010 ISBN 978 1 85609 397 2 Terms of Use The advice and information given in this booklet (“Booklet”) is intended purely as guidance to be used at the user’s own risk. No warranties or representations are given nor is any duty of care or responsibility accepted by the Authors, their membership or employees of any person, firm, corporation or organisation (who or which has been in any way concerned with the furnishing of information or data, the compilation or any translation, publishing, supply of the Booklet) for the accuracy of any information or advice given in the Booklet or any omission from the Booklet or for any consequence whatsoever resulting directly or indirectly from compliance with, adoption of or reliance on guidance contained in the Booklet even if caused by a failure to exercise reasonable care on the part of any of the aforementioned parties. Printed & bound in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd. Glasgow Published in 2010 by Witherby Seamanship International Ltd, 4 Dunlop Square...

Words: 9889 - Pages: 40

Premium Essay

New Service Design

...Mr. Slack New Service Design “Healthy Portions” EMBA – Operations Management Table of Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Overview of Organization 3 2.1. Market Analysis 3 2.2. Current Services 4 2.3. Competitive Strategy 4 3. New Service Proposal 4 4. Competitive Analysis 5 5. Service Concept 7 6. Operations Strategy 8 6.1. Operational Fit 10 6.2. Trade Offs 10 7. Critical Success Factors 10 8. Conclusion 11 9. Appendix 12 Figure 1: Porters Five Forces Model 12 Figure 2: House of Quality 13 Figure 3: Strategy Canvas 14 Figure 4: Key Success Factors and Activity Map 14 Figure 5: Healthy Portions Conceptual Floor Plan 15 1. Introduction The health food industry is not new, but our restaurant service offering is. Understanding the needs and wishes of those with specific health challenges is becoming more important for the foodservice industry as a whole. With an increasing number of people dealing with serious health issues such as with diabetes, celiac, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure they will expect restaurants to offer solutions. There are hundreds of thousands of websites that provide tips on how to order healthy choices when dining out but should you really have to question the server about everything on a menu, or about how the food is prepared? However if you have diabetes, you need to concern yourself with what you are eating, how much you are eating and when you are eating during the day. Are...

Words: 3612 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Communication

...[pic] |The Importance of Good Communication | | | | | | |Communication is simply a method of sending a message from one person or group of persons to another. It is| | |of vital importance to a business because it involves all the persons and organizations connected with the | | |business - employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, creditors, debtors - and a whole range of people | | |outside - journalists, television reporters, tax authorities, local government and national government | | |officials, the European Union and, indeed, any person or organization throughout the world with which the | | |business has any contact. | | | | | |Good communication will ensure that all these persons and organizations understand the message sent. They | | |will also be more likely to respond favourably to the message if it appears to be reasonable and fair to | | |both the receiver and the business. ...

Words: 2362 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Supply Chain Management in the Textile Industry

...ISAHP 2007, Viña Del Mar, Chile, August 3-6, 2007 SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN THE TEXTILE INDUSTRY: A SUPPLIER SELECTION MODEL WITH THE ANALYTICAL HIERARCHY PROCESS Asli Koprulu 1 aslik@ipekyol.com Process Management Director Ipekyol Tekstil ve Tic. San. A.S. Kazım Orbay Cd. 43 Bomonti Sisli 34381 Istanbul Turkey M. Murat Albayrakoglu albayrak@bilgi.edu.tr Coordinator, Business Informatics Program Istanbul Bilgi University Kurtulus Deresi Cd. 47 Dolapdere 34440 Istanbul Turkey Keywords: Supply-chain management (SCM), apparel industry, vendor selection, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) Summary: The aim of this study is to emphasize the importance the vendor selection problem and its relation to the supply chain strategy and goals. First, the current conditions of the textile or apparel industry are analyzed and the key factors for a successful supply chain considering the globalization of the industry are discussed. An analytical hierarchy process (AHP) model that an apparel company can use for the selection of suppliers is presented and a supplier relationship management (SRM) strategy is created based on the results of the model. In addition, strategic priorities for the supplier selection problem are identified and weights are developed to select the right supplier that fits the company’s strategy. Finally, the outcome and the implications of the model for implementation are discussed. 1. Introduction In today’s world of globalization many apparel retailers are building...

Words: 5207 - Pages: 21

Free Essay

Biomechanics

...BIOMECHANICS The term biomechanics means the study of the structure and function of biological systems using the methods of mechanics. Biomechanics studies the process of kinematics and used in the study of sports actions, such as the motion of throwing a baseball. Why do some golfers slice the ball? How can workers avoid developing low back pain? What cues can a physical education teacher provide to help students learn the underhand volleyball serve? Why do some elderly individuals tend to fall? We have all admired the fluid, graceful movements of highly skilled performers in various sports. We have also observed the awkward first steps of a young child, the slow progress of an injured person with a walking cast, and the hesitant, uneven gait of an elderly person using a cane. Virtually every activity class includes a student who seems to acquire new skills with utmost ease and a student who trips when executing a jump or misses the ball when attempting to catch, strike, or serve. What enables some individuals to execute complex movements so easily, while others appear to have difficulty with relatively simple movement skills? Although the answers to these questions may be rooted in physiological, psychological, or sociological issues, the problems identified are all biomechanical in nature. This book will provide a foundation for identifying, analyzing, and solving problems related to the biomechanics of human movement. Definition of Biomechanics The term biomechanics combines...

Words: 7545 - Pages: 31

Free Essay

Kamikaze Bombings in World War 2

...rationale of suicide warfare, in order to better understand this type of fanatic threat that the free world is facing once again. Kamikaze pilots - Japan's last weapon Kamikaze, which means "Divine Wind" in Japanese, was Japan's last attempt to balance the ever increasing technological and material advantage of the American forces advancing to Japan. The Kamikaze attack tactic was suggested on October 19, 1944, by vice-Admiral Onishi of the Japanese Navy, when he was assigned to command the air attacks against the huge American invasion fleet off the Philippines, and then realized that he had less than 100 operational aircraft for this task. There was no way to sink or even severely damage the American fleet in any conventional tactic, so the Admiral needed a force multiplier, a way to get a significantly greater striking power from a given force. The solution was obvious. Guided weapons provide dramatically greater accuracy and lethality than unguided weapons, producing much greater damage per weapon unit and per sortie. Such weapons already existed and were operational for over a year then, but not in Japan. The German Air Force successfully used large radio-guided Fritz-X bombs against battleships and cruisers since September 1943, but...

Words: 2437 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Defdsfd

...Chapter 3 Research Design Introduction In this chapter you will learn about: • • • • • The building blocks of intelligence – which includes secondary as well as primary data. The applications for qualitative and quantitative research. How to match the research design to the research method. Things to look out for when choosing a quantitative research method. How a company used a range of different research designs to launch and track the success of a new product. Sources of market intelligence – secondary and primary data Every day companies make decisions without market research. In fact, the number of business decisions that are underpinned by formal market research is probably very small. This is not necessarily the result of cavalier management, taking decisions without due care and attention; it is most likely because the investment in market research is not judged to be necessary. There are four sources that management can turn to for intelligence that will help their business decisions. Before spending time and money on market research, managers will scan the quality of infor39 mation that sits underneath their noses in the company. This could be factual (such as sales figures, number of enquiries, lists of prospective customers etc) or it could be opinion (such as the views of the sales force). If these sources are considered reliable, there will be no need to look externally for the data. The internal sources could be considered suspect because they are biased...

Words: 6163 - Pages: 25