Feeling Unproductive at Work? A Video Game May Be the Best Solution

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

What if your company looked at the workflow coming in as an obstacle to be conquered rather than a task to be completed? The next paradigm shift in the business world may be turning the tedium of everyday work into a game or challenge that everyone is eager to participate in. 

The success of the corporate gaming craze has already begun to hit home, with Business News reporting that gamification can increase productivity by some 40%. How can you take advantage of games in order to generate better employee work efforts at the office?

Gaming as a Means of Testing

Taking on a new employee represents a major investment for the employer due to the time and resources needed to get them trained and up to speed on a new system. While there are few jobs out there that require you to fight one-on-one in a deathmatch or take down waves of attacking trolls, companies have figured out how to use video games as diagnostics and training tools for their new employees. 

CNN reports that institutions ranging from the Navy to IBM to NASA use video games to create simulations that require a participant to solve a problem or complete a diagnostic. How could your company benefit from combining testing and training with games? For starters, employees would be far more eager to show up for a workshop where they may be mentally challenged, or one where they can conquer their co-worker. When bringing in new employees, you could ensure better retention of company policies during training by keeping the content lively and engaging when presented in the form of a video game.

From One to the Other

Multi-tasking is one of the most valuable skills any worker can bring to a company, but not everyone can quickly go from one task to the next. A study by Psychology Today indicates that strategy games can help. When gamers make different choices commanding workers, powerful units, and economies, their brain improves at jumping from task to task. It's not just strategy games either. Mazes, memory games, and matching puzzles are very stimulating. 

Hidden object games from iWin, for example, require a gamer to look over different areas and use different clue-finding techniques to solve a visual puzzle. With a few games under their belt, employees can better make a decision when the best solution isn't immediately clear. This pays off when it comes to productivity for any company that has multiple deadlines per employee or per project. With gamification like strategy or hidden object games, employees can manage deadlines that conflict across time or space better than they could before, potentially resulting in projects that come in on time or ahead of schedule.

Snap Decisions

Fortune favors the bold, said Alexander the Great. It's a maxim that applies perfectly to the corporate world, even two thousand years later. Employees who have responsibility for making decisions can become more efficient at their job by—you guessed it—plugging into a console or PC in order to duke it out with their gun of choice. A first-person shooter title like Call of Duty has the potential to help a person make decisions at a faster pace due to the influence of having to pump the opposition full of lead before they return the favor. There's no compromise in the quality of these decisions, either. 

You don't have to worry that the first FPS-influenced conclusion you come to will be any worse than one you could mull over if you had more time to consider the various options. Employees need to make a bevy of snap decisions each day, ranging from the options that a marketing team uses to promote a product to a sales member who has to identify the best customers out there. With faster decisions comes less time wasted on second-guessing and scrutiny.

SEE ALSO: Game-Changing Reasons Why Parents Can Say Yes to Video Games

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*by andreascy*

20 Stories You Must Read This Weekend

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Hello guys, long time no hear!

We've been missing in action for a while because we're finishing up another project, which we'll be able to share with you all soon, but we finally were able to come up for air and share some News with you all. 

We hope you'll enjoy our selection so make sure to click the headlines below and read the full story. Only at THE OFFICIAL ANDREASCY - The essential of news, everyday.

1. Introducing node.js Tools for Visual Studio. Tried ‪nodejs‬? Gave up because you couldn’t use a grown-up IDE? Red Gate started the ball rolling with Visual Node, then worked intensively with Microsoft in Redmond to produce node.js tools for Visual Studio. The early results are just incredible.

2. What Does A Navy Do? Confused about what a Navy - a conglomeration of ships, submarines and aircraft - actually does? Here's a quick 101.

3. Front-end CSS Frameworks. This is a nice tool to compare CSS frameworks.

4. This is how you use Twitter: Nokia hits BlackBerry where it hurts. Ouch.

5. PCB Design and Assembly at Human Resources Head. Want to work as a freelance in the field of PCB Design & Assembly? Doesn't matter if you're already working, it's a chance to augment your income and enhance your knowledge. If it excites you, check out the details and apply.

6. Astronomers in Antarctica find neutrinos from outside our solar system. "The era of neutrino astronomy has begun."

7. Mozilla’s reliance on Google is increasing: 90% of 2012 revenue came from that one source. How is Mozilla such a successful nonprofit? Google.

8. Kawasaki built a time machine and stole a bike from the future. Take our money. Take it all.

9. GetGoing Nabbed Me Better JetBlue Airfare Than JetBlue. Would you pick a random travel destination if it meant a very budget-friendly price?

10. Coupling Transport and Solid Mechanics Models for Better Puffed Rice. Thermal and mechanical effects in the production of puffed rice are studied by a group who recently presented at the COMSOL Conference 2013 in Boston last month.

11. Winamp is shutting down on 20th December 2013. R.I.P Winamp. End of an era.

12. Natural Gas Sets Off a Distributed-Energy Boom. Different gas-fueled technologies - fuel cells, microturbines, reciprocating engines, and turbines - are now competing for a spot in the basements of businesses.

13. Google's big health care play: Helpouts is all about video consultations with your doctor. And Google Glass will be a great tool as well.

14. Learn to Set a Formal or Informal Table for Your Thanksgiving Meal. Just in case you need a little refresher before Thanksgiving.

15. Troubles, what troubles? BlackBerry and Porsche Design launch the P’9982, a souped-up, ultra-premium Z10. BlackBerry's new sales strategy: Target the rich.

16. The actual probability of Earth going to hell in the next few decades. Pretty good... which is very bad.

17. My Biggest Interview Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them). If nerves take over every time you have an interview, you'll want to read this.

18. 26 Pictures Of Low-Income Entrepreneurs Who Work Extremely Hard. Inspiring.

19. Monitor and Control Your Environment with Ninja Sphere. Monitor all of your devices, your pets and even your energy use with NinjaBlock a futuristic environmental controller. 

20. Biologist finds possible new species in his own nose. Sometimes, great discoveries are to be found right under your own nose... literally!

As always, we’d love to hear what you think. If we’ve missed your favorite off this list, let us know in the comments below and we’ll take a look at it. If it’s any good, we’ll add it in. 

Have a great weekend! 👋

*by andreascy*

The Future of Navy : Titanium Ships

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Participants at a workshop exploring the use of titanium structure for ships found that it is not only possible to construct a ship hull from titanium, it could be cost effective. 

An Office of Naval Research (ONR)-funded project will produce a full-size ship hull section made entirely with marine grade titanium using a welding innovation that could help bring titanium into future Navy ship construction, officials announced April 3. 

The contractor team building this section recently completed the industry's longest friction-stir titanium alloy welds and aims to complete the ship hull section this summer. Friction-stir welds more than 17 feet long joined the titanium alloy plates for the section's deck. 

"This fast, effective friction-stir weld technique is now an affordable manufacturing process that takes advantage of titanium's properties," said Kelly Cooper, the program officer managing the project for ONR's Sea Warfare and Weapons Department. 

Titanium metal and its alloys are desirable materials for ship hulls and other structures because of their high strength, light weight and corrosion-resistance. 

If constructed in titanium, Navy ships would have lighter weight for the same size-allowing for a bigger payload-and virtually no corrosion. But because titanium costs up to nine times more than steel and is technically difficult and expensive to manufacture into marine vessel hulls, it has been avoided by the shipbuilding industry. But perhaps not for much longer.

More on :

http://www.marinelink.com/news/business-titanium-case343678.aspx

http://www.navy.mil/swf/index.asp

https://www.facebook.com/USNavy

http://www.navy.mil/local/onr

Read also :

Why are marine engineers turning to titanium for corrosion resistant?

*by andreascy*

US Army tests AHW (Advanced Hypersonic Weapon) over the Pacific

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

On 17 November 2011, the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command conducted the first test flight of the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) concept, a new weapon capable of traveling five times the speed of sound. 

At 6:30 a.m. EST (1:30 a.m. Hawaii-Aleutian Time) the test vehicle was launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii to the Reagan Test Site, US Army Kwajalein Atoll. The objective of the test was to collect data on hypersonic boost-glide technologies and test range performance for long-range atmospheric flight. Mission emphasis was on aerodynamics; navigation, guidance, and control; and thermal protection technologies.

During the 17 November 2011 test, a 3-stage booster system launched the AHW glide vehicle and successfully deployed it on the desired flight trajectory. The vehicle flew a non-ballistic glide trajectory at hypersonic speed to the planned impact location at the Reagan Test Site. Space, air, sea, and ground platforms collected vehicle performance data during all phases of flight. The data collected was to be used by the Department of Defense to model and develop future hypersonic boost-glide capabilities.

Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) is to provide a transformational capability on the order of 6,000 KM [3200 NM] range with 35 minute time-of-flight and < 10 meter accuracy. U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (SMDC/ARSTRAT) is working on the Advanced Hypersonic Weapon-Technology Demonstration with the US Air Force Space and Missile Center. The two services are deliberating how certain AHW technologies might fit into the Air Force's Prompt Global Strike program, which aims to field a next-generation weapon capable of striking fleeting targets around the globe faster than today's munitions.

The Department of Defense Quadrennial Defense Review Report of 2006 highlights the need for ''prompt and high-volume global strike'' capability to deter aggression and provide a broader range of conventional options to the President, if deterrence fails. In March 2006, the Commander, U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), testified before the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces of the Committee on Armed Services that in situations where U.S. general purpose forces are not in a position to respond rapidly to dangerous threats to the United States, the President may require USSTRATCOM to interdict such fleeting targets at global range. The Department of Defense is conducting an analysis of alternatives for prompt global strike capabilities in the near, mid, and long term.

One alternative option for prompt, conventional long-range strike is to employ advanced technologies such as hypersonic vehicles that can travel thousands of miles in the upper atmosphere in under 60 minutes. The Senate Armed Services Committee recommended an increase of $20.0 million in PE 63308A to support a flight test demonstration program for the AHW. The FY2007 budget request included $11.8 million in PE 63308A, for Army Missile Defense Systems Integration, but included no funding for Advanced Hypersonic Weapon (AHW) risk reduction efforts. 

The committee was aware that hypersonic research is being conducted throughout the Department for efforts that go beyond prompt global strike. The committee recommended that the Secretary of Defense establish a joint technology office to coordinate, integrate, and manage hypersonic research. Activities related to the development of the AHW should be consistent with the approach adopted by this new joint technology office for hypersonic development so that the AHW could be considered by the Department as a candidate for a joint technology capability demonstration.

As of 2006 Defense Department hypersonics research programs were not integrated or even coordinated, either internally or with NASA efforts, especially since the cancellation of the X-43A project. Some Navy hypersonics research programs, conducted with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), were completed in fiscal year 2007, yet a transition path had not been identified. Further, it was not clear how the Navy RATTLRS program complemented parallel approaches to high-speed strike missions.

DARPA planned to initiate a new hypersonics effort in fiscal year 2007 for a ''transatmospheric'' vehicle to ''further mature, integrate and flight demonstrate propulsion technologies developed by the high speed reusable demonstration and Falcon programs. DARPA programs also lacked a clear transition path or tangible service transition support. Finally, the Air Force plans to conduct a first-flight demonstration of the X-51A Scramjet in fiscal year 2009, yet the Office of the Air Force Director of Test and Evaluation (T&E), which conducts annual surveys on future T&E requirements, indicates that no program office has reported a need for hypersonics testing facilities. The Army has indicated similar concern with insufficient links between hypersonics research efforts and service requirements.

Hypersonic technologies have the potential to enable the development of new military capabilities in time of a critical strike, as demonstrated by the Air Force X-51 program.

The high speed / hypersonic cruise missile can support various levels of capability across the reach and responsiveness trade space. This trade space may be organized into supersonic and hypersonic speed regimes and medium to long range. The high-speed / hypersonic missile would be launched at subsonic speeds and at altitudes between 30,000 and 40,000 ft. Targeting information would be provided to the launch aircraft where the data would be uploaded to the weapon. 

After launch, the missile will accelerate to cruise conditions shown above. In-flight guidance would rely upon integrated GPS/INS and possibly passive sensing. For both missiles, descent would occur rapidly into the target area for either a direct or a submunition attack. If using a submunition payload, the missile would decelerate to transonic or subsonic speeds prior to autonomous submunition deployment. If using a direct attack (unitary warhead) payload, the missile would use GPS and/or an active terminal sensing, allowing for impact velocities ranging from 1,000 to 4,000 feet per second.

The Hypersonic Cruise Missile is a full capability weapon system demonstration including air launched weapon with Mach 3-6+ cruise up to 1000nm, on-board sensor employment for guidance and target acquisition, and terminal engagement of fixed targets. Includes additional ground test series of tailored lethality and penetrating warheads. This demonstration will build on the flight test experience of RATTLRS, HyFly, and X-51A and integrate other munition, connectivity, and sensor technologies into a weaponized flight demonstration.

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*by andreascy*