Deconstructing Learning Games: Good vs. Bad Learning games have it rough. Non-learning games are designed around a single primary goal: player enjoyment. That can be challenging enough, but learning games have two primary goals: enjoyment plus learning. This can feel like a struggle. Often, it seems like learning and fun are diametrically opposed ideas, dooming learning games to be either boring or ineffective. The primary source of fun in a game is through the core mechanics- that is to say, the actions players repeatedly take while playing. Imagine a learning game with a fun mechanic such as jumping, and at the end of each level you must solve a multiplication problem to continue. By focusing on the relationship between core mechanics and learning, we can estimate the effectiveness of a learning game by identifying the linkages between them. Step 1: Make a diagram with a mechanics column on the left and learning on the right. Step 3: Consider the distribution of arrows between the columns.
New System Lets Humans Control Mouse Genes With Their Thoughts Scientists have been able to tinker with the genes of other organisms for some time now—that’s nothing new. But controlling genes in another animal using only your thoughts? Sounds a rather insane idea that wouldn’t be out of place in a Sci-Fi movie, but it turns out it’s now possible, thanks to a newly-developed mind-controlled system. As described in the journal Nature Communications, the system works by using brain waves from human participants to activate a light inside a mouse’s brain, which then switches on a particular set of genes. To create the system, scientists from ETH Zurich married up two different technologies that were already in existence. The researchers started off by inserting a gene from a species of bacteria that uses light as a source of energy into designer human kidney cells. Next, the researchers recorded the brain waves of eight volunteers while they were either meditating or concentrating. Read this next: Doubt Raised About Higgs Boson Discovery
It’s Not All Fun And Games: The Pros and Cons of Gamification at Work In the never-ending effort to motivate employees, companies are taking cues from video games–adding scoring, virtual badges, and other game-like elements to everyday work processes to make jobs more fun. Some proponents insist that one day every job will somehow be gamified, while detractors fear it’s just another management fad or worse, a sinister new form of corporate control. To weed through some of the hype, here are four pros and cons to gamifying the enterprise. The Good The most often cited reason companies try gamification is to improve employee motivation. Companies have found that gamification can help. In traditional workplaces, employees receive annual reviews that decide raises and promotions. In the gamified workplace, employees receive constant updates on their performance as they earn higher rankings and badges that get the attention of colleagues and supervisors. A vital benefit of gamifying business is that it helps companies identify their future stars and leaders.
Chronic Pot Smoking Associated With Reduced Gray Matter, But Increased Connections Another study has found that marijuana use is associated with changes in the brain. The study compared the brains of chronic users with non-users and discovered the former had less volume in a region that is involved in decision making and emotional processing. However, they also found that this region showed increased connections with other brain regions in users, suggesting that the brain could be re-wiring itself to make up for the shrinkage. “The changes in connectivity may be considered a way of compensating for the reduction in volume,” said study author Francesca Filbey. “This may explain why chronic users appear to be doing fine, even though an important region of their brain is smaller in terms of volume.” Studies investigating the potential effects of smoking pot on the brain often produce conflicting results, which is probably due to the use of different methodologies. The marijuana smokers were described as chronic users, consuming the drug three times a day on average.
Your Answer to Lackluster Customer and Employee Engagement: Add Fun. Gamification -- a hot buzzword these days -- is the business equivalent of mixing broccoli into mac and cheese. It’s a way of making predictable, boring workplace tasks more engaging for employees and customers. And it seems to be working. By taking business processes such as compliance training and turning them into a participatory, competitive games, employees tend to be more receptive to tasks that you need them to do anyways. Start recognizing the winners and doling out prizes and all of a sudden your staff is actually smiling at work. Related: Great at World of Warcraft? And if you make a game for your customers to play, the more time they are willing to spend on your website or app, the more they are going to read the content on your website and the more money they will spend with your brand, according to the infographic generated by Column Five Media on behalf of business-expense software provider Concur. Check it out -- and get your game on. Click to Enlarge+
Your Testicles Contain More Diverse Proteins Than Any Other Human Organ Almost twenty five years ago, an ambitious international research project was initiated whose goal was to identify and map all of our genes. It took thirteen years to complete the Human Genome Project (HGP), which eventually revealed that we have around 20,000 genes that contain instructions for the production of proteins, or protein coding genes. Proteins are essential components of all living things. They are some of the most structurally complex and functionally sophisticated molecules known to man, and they participate in virtually every process within cells. Although all cells in the body have the same DNA sequences, they don’t all express, or produce, the same proteins. The collection of proteins produced in our bodies is known as the proteome, and while thousands of different proteins have been identified over the years, a comprehensive atlas of the proteins produced in different areas of the body did not exist. [Via New Scientist, BBC News and The Human Protein Atlas]
Five Steps to Enterprise Gamification Gamification is a hot new trend in business. As with any emerging trend, the best practices are still emerging. Some businesses are taking a “chocolate covered broccoli” approach by simply adding points, badges, and leaderboards to their applications and calling them gamified. This article offers another approach. It outlines a road map to meaningful gamification via a five-step process called Player Centered Design. What is Gamification Gamification is the application of game design principles to non-game environments. The Buzz around Gamification Type “gamification” into Google Trends and you will see the term started piquing our collective interest in 2011 and has steadily trended upwards since. There have been several articles about Gamification in popular business journals. "…by 2014, 80% of current gamified applications will fail to meet business objectives…"tweet this Player Centered Design Step 1: Know Your Player Step 2: Identify Your Mission The next step is to define the mission.
Énergie libre : un générateur d’électricité portable produisant de 5 à 15 kW fonctionnant à l’eau ! - Wikistrike Énergie libre : un générateur d’électricité portable produisant de 5 à 15 kW fonctionnant à l’eau ! Cette vidéo est un clip promotionnel de démonstration de la société canadienne GDS Technologie sur ses générateurs électriques fonctionnant à l'eau ! Ne me demandez pas comment cela fonctionne, je n'en ai aucune idée, la vidéo comme le site officiel de la compagnie ne donnant aucune explication sur le principe de fonctionnement. Surement un secret industriel qu'ils souhaitent de pas divulguer. Bien que le modèle présenté génère 3.000 watts, les générateurs à la vente sur le site offrent 5.000, 10.000, et 15.000 watts avec les prix suivants : GDS 5000 : 5.360 $CAD, soit environ 3.570 €. C'est bien trop cher à mon avis, mais nul doute que le prix baissera avec le temps et la concurrence. 15.000 watts, c'est une puissance biens suffisante pour une maison individuelle très confortable possédant même par exemple l'air conditionné et une piscine chauffée. À connaître ! Nota Bene : Source
Gamification, Video Games and Productivity I have a confession to make: I LOVE video games. Ever since I was a kid. Whether it was Commander Keen on my family’s first 386 computer or Final Fantasy VII on Playstation – I’ve always enjoyed playing video games. But little did I know, that playing video games actually makes you a better and more productive knowledge worker. I always thought that video games were “just for fun”. The theory goes, any activity in the world can be “gamified”, or given game-playing characteristics to create a perception of the activity to the people undertaking it. There are a number of reasons why – the mainstream adoption of video games, the idea of apps on mobile and portable devices, the widespread adoption of social media platforms (which often in turn are gaming platforms), and the old-fashioned reason: people just want to have fun. There is also a slightly darker side to the increasing popularity of gamification: all of us living today, are less disciplined than our ancestors were. Quick Summary Why?
New CT Reveals Inner Structures of Body in Exquisite Detail Computed tomography (CT) is an excellent noninvasive technique to investigate bones and soft tissue structures in a patient. Unfortunately, sometimes imaging can be difficult, as any movement from the patient can result in images that are unclear and need to be redone. This is especially difficult when dealing with patients who are young children, mentally impaired, suffering from motor disease, or are in pain. To ensure these images are clear, these challenging patients may require sedation, which is not desirable. General Electronics sought to facilitate treatment of these patients and improve the imaging process in general with the development of the Revolution CT. CTs use a series of X-ray scans to create ‘slices’ of the patient’s body, which are then stacked to make a complete 3D representation. Additionally, Revolution CT is able to complete the scan using up to 82% less ionizing radiation than traditional CT scanners, which is ideal in use with pediatric and oncology patients.
How to gamify your crowdfunding campaign like a Boss | Kick Start your journey Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics to engage users in solving problems. Gamification is used in applications and processes to improve user engagement, return on investment, data quality, timeliness, and learning- Wikipedia and our definition of crowdfunding: Crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, crowd-sourced fundraising) is the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. – Power of Crowdfunding So when we apply the definition of gamification to crowdfunding, we get more ways to engage audiences, contributors, and team members into solving our funding problem. “Gamification can potentially be applied to any industry and almost anything to create fun and engaging experiences, converting users into players.” - Gamification.org “Gamification is the process of using game thinking and game dynamics to engage audiences and solve problems.” – Gabe Zichermann 1.
Une éjection de masse coronale se dirige vers la Terre Une éruption solaire va frapper la Terre Un grand filament de plasma situé dans l'hémisphère nord du soleil a éclaté entre le 2 Septembre 2014 entre 13h et 16h UTC, générant ce qui pourrait être une éjection de masse coronale (CME) dirigée vers la Terre. Bien que l'analyse ne soit pas encore achevée, le SWPC averti qu'il peut y avoir des éléments dirigés vers la Terre. Le Modèle WSA-ENLIL suggère qu'ils atteindront le champ magnétique terrestre le 6 septembre vers 7 h UTC. Tag(s) : #Astronomie - Espace Gamification Engages Students with Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivators by Michelle Peterson Monday, August 11, 2014 On a planet where people spend 3 billion hours a week playing video and computer games, it's a good chance that using the tools that keep people engaged in games might work in a learning environment, too. Gamifying classes is also a good way to humanize the online, digital environment for students, according to Mark Relf, the state program coordinator for Rasmussen College, speaking to educators and allies at CompTIA's Academy Educator Conference in Phoenix. “Gamification is not anything anyone’s cornered the market on. These are techniques and tricks we can do within our classes to make the experience a little bit better,” Relf said. It’s like playing the license plate game on a long road trip: adding make-believe and goal setting to arduous tasks makes them more engaging. Finding Motivators in Gamification Simple changes to the grading system can also help. Instead of using letter grades, Relf uses “experience points” for his assignments.
12-Year-Old Receives First 3D Printed Vertebra Implant After a soccer injury revealed a malignant tumor on the spinal cord of a 12-year-old boy from China, he required extensive surgery at Peking University Third Hospital (PUTH). Doctors needed to remove second vertebra to prevent the cancer from spreading, and the bone required an implant afterward. The device used was created with a 3D printer, making the boy the first person ever to receive a vertebral implant crafted in this manner. While there are traditional, pre-fabricated devices that can be implanted into the vertebral column, one made with a 3D printer offers certain advantages. Unlike traditional 3D printers that extrude plastic, this implant was made out of a titanium powder; titanium is a common material to use in orthopedic implants. Following the 5-hour-long surgery, the boy was fitted with a halo that will immobilize his head and neck for the next three months as he recovers.