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  • Oracle OpenWorld 2012 - Register Now - The Early Bird Gets the Reward

    - by Thanos
    Planning ahead is always a smart move, and it’s never been smarter than now. Register by July 13 for Oracle OpenWorld and save US$500 off the onsite fee. By acting now, you’ll guarantee yourself access to: 2,000-plus sessions Hundreds of demos Dozens of hands-on labs Daily keynote addresses Two vast Exhibition Halls What's more, you'll receive all this for hundreds of dollars less than if you register later. Get an inside line on the latest technology, learn how to optimize your existing systems, and ask questions directly to the strategists and developers responsible for the products you rely on every day to succeed at your company. If you’ve been to Oracle OpenWorld and are planning to attend again, it won’t pay to wait. And if this is your first time, here’s the opening you’ve been waiting for. Register today and save US$500 off the onsite fee. Discounts available to attendees completing registration by July 13, 2012, 11:00 p.m. (Pacific time). Discounts may not be combined with any other promotion, discount, reduced rate, or offer. Only one discount per attendee allowed. The Oracle OpenWorld and JavaOne Emerging Markets pass can be purchased at a discounted rate when attendees register and select countries within the EE, CIS & MEA regions from African Operations (except South Africa), Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Egypt, FYR Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kosoevo (formerly Republic of Yugoslavia), Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Oman, Palestine, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. Attendees from these countries will need to enter a  priority code as their discount code during the registration process, where they are prompted for a "Priority Code". Please contact your local A&C Manager or email us at partner.imc-AT-beehiveonline.oracle-DOT-com

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  • Why my autocomplete doesn't whant to be multiple ???

    - by Toni Michel Caubet
    please, give me a hand on this one; i'm trying to use autocomplete so user can enter tags by comma separated, example: 'autocomplete, jquery , next , last' ok, i had the autocomplete working by sending him an $array with all the tags of my website with the previous format aswell, this is my code: <? $a = new etiqueta(0, ''); $b = $a->autocomplete_etiquetas(); mostrar_notificacion('autocomplete_etiquetas_cargado?'); ?> <script type="text/javascript"> function cargar_autocomplete_etiquetas(){ $("#tags").autocomplete({ source: [<? echo $b; ?>] }); } </script> All i want it's user to select a tag, apply the ', ' and the autocomplete to be ready for next tag i'm trying with (i know they are diff id's, also diff inputs): <? $b = new ingrediente(0, ''); $c = $b->autocomplete_ingredientes(); ?> <script type="text/javascript"> function cargar_autocomplete_ingredientes(){ $("#ingredientes").autocomplete({ source: [<? echo $c; ?>], multiple: true, multipleSeparator: ", " }); } </script> But with out success.... 10€ via paypal if answered before 23h (its 21:50 now), it's not much, it's an incentive :P

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  • Expectations + Rewards = Innovation

    - by D'Arcy Lussier
    “Innovation” is a heavy word. We regard those that embrace it as “Innovators”. We describe organizations as being “Innovative”. We hold those associated with the word in high regard, even though its dictionary definition is very simple: Introducing something new. What our culture has done is wrapped Innovation in white robes and a gold crown. Innovation is rarely just introducing something new. Innovations and innovators are typically associated with other terms: groundbreaking, genius, industry-changing, creative, leading. Being a true innovator and creating innovations are a big deal, and something companies try to strive for…or at least say they strive for. There’s huge value in being recognized as an innovator in an industry, since the idea is that innovation equates to increased profitability. IBM ran an ad a few years back that showed what their view of innovation is: “The point of innovation is to make actual money.” If the money aspect makes you feel uneasy, consider it another way: the point of innovation is to <insert payoff here>. Companies that innovate will be more successful. Non-profits that innovate can better serve their target clients. Governments that innovate can better provide services to their citizens. True innovation is not easy to come by though. As with anything in business, how well an organization will innovate is reliant on the employees it retains, the expectations placed on those employees, and the rewards available to them. In a previous blog post I talked about one formula: Right Employees + Happy Employees = Productive Employees I want to introduce a new one, that builds upon the previous one: Expectations + Rewards = Innovation  The level of innovation your organization will realize is directly associated with the expectations you place on your staff and the rewards you make available to them. Expectations We may feel uncomfortable with the idea of placing expectations on our staff, mainly because expectation has somewhat of a negative or cold connotation to it: “I expect you to act this way or else!” The problem is in the or-else part…we focus on the negative aspects of failing to meet expectations instead of looking at the positive side. “I expect you to act this way because it will produce <insert benefit here>”. Expectations should not be set to punish but instead be set to ensure quality. At a recent conference I spoke with some Microsoft employees who told me that you have five years from starting with the company to reach a “Senior” level. If you don’t, then you’re let go. The expectation Microsoft placed on their staff is that they should be working towards improving themselves, taking more responsibility, and thus ensure that there is a constant level of quality in the workforce. Rewards Let me be clear: a paycheck is not a reward. A paycheck is simply the employer’s responsibility in the employee/employer relationship. A paycheck will never be the key motivator to drive innovation. Offering employees something over and above their required compensation can spur them to greater performance and achievement. Working in the food service industry, this tactic was used again and again: whoever has the highest sales over lunch will receive a free lunch/gift certificate/entry into a draw/etc. There was something to strive for, to try beyond the baseline of what our serving jobs were. It was through this that innovative sales techniques would be tried and honed, with key servers being top sellers time and time again. At a code camp I spoke at, I was amazed to see that all the employees from one company receive $100 Visa gift cards as a thank you for taking time to speak. Again, offering something over and above that can give that extra push for employees. Rewards work. But what about the fairness angle? In the restaurant example I gave, there were servers that would never win the competition. They just weren’t good enough at selling and never seemed to get better. So should those that did work at performing better and produce more sales for the restaurant not get rewarded because those who weren’t working at performing better might get upset? Of course not! Organizations succeed because of their top performers and those that strive to join their ranks. The Expectation/Reward Graph While the Expectations + Rewards = Innovation formula may seem like a simple mathematics formula, there’s much more going under the hood. In fact there are three different outcomes that could occur based on what you put in as values for Expectations and Rewards. Consider the graph below and the descriptions that follow: Disgruntled – High Expectation, Low Reward I worked at a company where the mantra was “Company First, Because We Pay You”. Even today I still hear stories of how this sentiment continues to be perpetuated: They provide you a paycheck and a means to live, therefore you should always put them as your top priority. Of course, this is a huge imbalance in the expectation/reward equation. Why would anyone willingly meet high expectations of availability, workload, deadlines, etc. when there is no reward other than a paycheck to show for it? Remember: paychecks are not rewards! Instead, you see employees be disgruntled which not only affects the level of production but also the level of quality within an organization. It also means that you see higher turnover. Complacent – Low Expectation, Low Reward Complacency is a systemic problem that typically exists throughout all levels of an organization. With no real expectations or rewards, nobody needs to excel. In fact, those that do try to innovate, improve, or introduce new things into the organization might be shunned or pushed out by the rest of the staff who are just doing things the same way they’ve always done it. The bigger issue for the organization with low/low values is that at best they’ll never grow beyond their current size (and may shrink actually), and at worst will cease to exist. Entitled – Low Expectation, High Reward It’s one thing to say you have the best people and reward them as such, but its another thing to actually have the best people and reward them as such. Organizations with Entitled employees are the former: their organization provides them with all types of comforts, benefits, and perks. But there’s no requirement before the rewards are dolled out, and there’s no short-list of who receives the rewards. Everyone in the company is treated the same and is given equal share of the spoils. Entitlement is actually almost identical with Complacency with one notable difference: just try to introduce higher expectations into an entitled organization! Entitled employees have been spoiled for so long that they can’t fathom having rewards taken from them, or having to achieve specific levels of performance before attaining them. Those running the organization also buy in to the Entitled sentiment, feeling that they must persist the same level of comforts to appease their staff…even though the quality of the employee pool may be suspect. Innovative – High Expectation, High Reward Finally we have the Innovative organization which places high expectations but also provides high rewards. This organization gets it: if you truly want the best employees you need to apply equal doses of pressure and praise. Realize that I’m not suggesting crazy overtime or un-realistic working conditions. I do not agree with the “Glengary-Glenross” method of encouragement. But as anyone who follows sports can tell you, the teams that win are the ones where the coaches push their players to be their best; to achieve new levels of performance that they didn’t know they could receive. And the result for the players is more money, fame, and opportunity. It’s in this environment that organizations can focus on innovation – true innovation that builds the business and allows everyone involved to truly benefit. In Closing Organizations love to use the word “Innovation” and its derivatives, but very few actually do innovate. For many, the term has just become another marketing buzzword to lump in with all the other business terms that get overused. But for those organizations that truly get the value of innovation, they will be the ones surging forward while other companies simply fade into the background. And they will be the organizations that expect more from their employees, and give them their just rewards.

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  • How do I reward my developers for the little things they get right?

    - by Nat
    I am in a tech lead role and my developers get stuff right most of the time. How do I communicate to them thier value to me? (I.e. they have value because I do not have to go through and point out mistakes which means I do not have to watch them like a hawk which frees me to do more useful things). In summary For doing the mundane well on a day to day basis, it is good to recognise the developers effort verbally to them. An honest thankyou that mentions the specific behaviour and its positive repercussions to you personally will be well received, adjust the language to suite each individual. (Note that other developers within earshot may also respond to this by increasing their efforts in this specific activity.) Other things that should be done regularly are: Team drinks In many cultures this is an entirely worthy way of giving the team some time to socialise and relax. Be sure that you do not exclude people who do not drink or are not keen on pub culture. Shared meals are another option. Formal written (email) acknowledgment and praise to senior managers of the teams efforts and successes. (Note that acknowledging individuals alone may damage team spirit) Work the hours you expect your team to do. If they absolutely must work late for a deadline, be there in support Go to bat for the team. Refuse to let them be forced to work long periods of overtime without compensation. Protect them from level politics and stress. Give your team the best equipment you can afford. Good tools show respect and improve productivity. Small or large team rewards where appropriate can consist of many interesting activities/ items. If it allows the team to get together in a fun and even lightly competitive manner it will work (foosball table, go-karting, darts board, video game console etc). Don’t forget to listen to what the team wants, each team will have different ideas. Ensure they are getting a fair deal financially from the company. While different people may have different expectations of their pay, someone being paid unfairly will rot morale for the entire team

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  • Update Rule in Temporal difference

    - by Betamoo
    The update rule TD(0) Q-Learning: Q(t-1) = (1-alpha) * Q(t-1) + (alpha) * (Reward(t-1) + gamma* Max( Q(t) ) ) Then take either the current best action (to optimize) or a random action (to explorer) Where MaxNextQ is the maximum Q that can be got in the next state... But in TD(1) I think update rule will be: Q(t-2) = (1-alpha) * Q(t-2) + (alpha) * (Reward(t-2) + gamma * Reward(t-1) + gamma * gamma * Max( Q(t) ) ) My question: The term gamma * Reward(t-1) means that I will always take my best action at t-1 .. which I think will prevent exploring.. Can someone give me a hint? Thanks

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  • rewards the products qualify for

    - by Rod
    products purchased -------------------------- bana bana bana stra kiwi reward requirements table (related to a rewards table) reward id, products ---------------------- 1,bana 1,bana 1,bana 2,stra 2,bana 3,stra 4,cart 5,bana 5,bana 5,oliv Can you help me with sql to get rewards the products purchased qualifies for? In the case above the reward ids would be: 1 2 3 If there is a better design that would make the solution easier I welcome those as well. I'm using product names for the sake of easier explaining, I hope. (I'll replace with product ids later)

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  • Delphi: EInvalidOp in neural network class (TD-lambda)

    - by user89818
    I have the following draft for a neural network class. This neural network should learn with TD-lambda. It is started by calling the getRating() function. But unfortunately, there is an EInvalidOp (invalid floading point operation) error after about 1000 iterations in the following lines: neuronsHidden[j] := neuronsHidden[j]+neuronsInput[t][i]*weightsInput[i][j]; // input -> hidden weightsHidden[j][k] := weightsHidden[j][k]+LEARNING_RATE_HIDDEN*tdError[k]*eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k]; // adjust hidden->output weights according to TD-lambda Why is this error? I can't find the mistake in my code :( Can you help me? Thank you very much in advance! unit uNeuronalesNetz; interface uses Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms, Dialogs, ExtCtrls, StdCtrls, Grids, Menus, Math; const NEURONS_INPUT = 43; // number of neurons in the input layer NEURONS_HIDDEN = 60; // number of neurons in the hidden layer NEURONS_OUTPUT = 1; // number of neurons in the output layer NEURONS_TOTAL = NEURONS_INPUT+NEURONS_HIDDEN+NEURONS_OUTPUT; // total number of neurons in the network MAX_TIMESTEPS = 42; // maximum number of timesteps possible (after 42 moves: board is full) LEARNING_RATE_INPUT = 0.25; // in ideal case: decrease gradually in course of training LEARNING_RATE_HIDDEN = 0.15; // in ideal case: decrease gradually in course of training GAMMA = 0.9; LAMBDA = 0.7; // decay parameter for eligibility traces type TFeatureVector = Array[1..43] of SmallInt; // definition of the array type TFeatureVector TArtificialNeuralNetwork = class // definition of the class TArtificialNeuralNetwork private // GENERAL SETTINGS START learningMode: Boolean; // does the network learn and change its weights? // GENERAL SETTINGS END // NETWORK CONFIGURATION START neuronsInput: Array[1..MAX_TIMESTEPS] of Array[1..NEURONS_INPUT] of Extended; // array of all input neurons (their values) for every timestep neuronsHidden: Array[1..NEURONS_HIDDEN] of Extended; // array of all hidden neurons (their values) neuronsOutput: Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // array of output neurons (their values) weightsInput: Array[1..NEURONS_INPUT] of Array[1..NEURONS_HIDDEN] of Extended; // array of weights: input->hidden weightsHidden: Array[1..NEURONS_HIDDEN] of Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // array of weights: hidden->output // NETWORK CONFIGURATION END // LEARNING SETTINGS START outputBefore: Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // the network's output value in the last timestep (the one before) eligibilityTraceHidden: Array[1..NEURONS_INPUT] of Array[1..NEURONS_HIDDEN] of Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // array of eligibility traces: hidden layer eligibilityTraceOutput: Array[1..NEURONS_TOTAL] of Array[1..NEURONS_TOTAL] of Extended; // array of eligibility traces: output layer reward: Array[1..MAX_TIMESTEPS] of Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // the reward value for all output neurons in every timestep tdError: Array[1..NEURONS_OUTPUT] of Extended; // the network's error value for every single output neuron t: Byte; // current timestep cyclesTrained: Integer; // number of cycles trained so far (learning rates could be decreased accordingly) last50errors: Array[1..50] of Extended; // LEARNING SETTINGS END public constructor Create; // create the network object and do the initialization procedure UpdateEligibilityTraces; // update the eligibility traces for the hidden and output layer procedure tdLearning; // learning algorithm: adjust the network's weights procedure ForwardPropagation; // propagate the input values through the network to the output layer function getRating(state: TFeatureVector; explorative: Boolean): Extended; // get the rating for a given state (feature vector) function HyperbolicTangent(x: Extended): Extended; // calculate the hyperbolic tangent [-1;1] procedure StartNewCycle; // start a new cycle with everything set to default except for the weights procedure setLearningMode(activated: Boolean=TRUE); // switch the learning mode on/off procedure setInputs(state: TFeatureVector); // transfer the given feature vector to the input layer (set input neurons' values) procedure setReward(currentReward: SmallInt); // set the reward for the current timestep (with learning then or without) procedure nextTimeStep; // increase timestep t function getCyclesTrained(): Integer; // get the number of cycles trained so far procedure Visualize(imgHidden: Pointer); // visualize the neural network's hidden layer end; implementation procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.UpdateEligibilityTraces; var i, j, k: Integer; begin // how worthy is a weight to be adjusted? for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k] := LAMBDA*eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k]+(neuronsOutput[k]*(1-neuronsOutput[k]))*neuronsHidden[j]; for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin eligibilityTraceHidden[i][j][k] := LAMBDA*eligibilityTraceHidden[i][j][k]+(neuronsOutput[k]*(1-neuronsOutput[k]))*weightsHidden[j][k]*neuronsHidden[j]*(1-neuronsHidden[j])*neuronsInput[t][i]; end; end; end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.setReward; VAR i: Integer; begin for i := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin // +1 = player A wins // 0 = draw // -1 = player B wins reward[t][i] := currentReward; end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.tdLearning; var i, j, k: Integer; begin if learningMode then begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin if reward[t][k] = 0 then begin tdError[k] := GAMMA*neuronsOutput[k]-outputBefore[k]; // network's error value when reward is 0 end else begin tdError[k] := reward[t][k]-outputBefore[k]; // network's error value in the final state (reward received) end; for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin weightsHidden[j][k] := weightsHidden[j][k]+LEARNING_RATE_HIDDEN*tdError[k]*eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k]; // adjust hidden->output weights according to TD-lambda for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin weightsInput[i][j] := weightsInput[i][j]+LEARNING_RATE_INPUT*tdError[k]*eligibilityTraceHidden[i][j][k]; // adjust input->hidden weights according to TD-lambda end; end; end; end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.ForwardPropagation; var i, j, k: Integer; begin for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin neuronsHidden[j] := 0; for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin neuronsHidden[j] := neuronsHidden[j]+neuronsInput[t][i]*weightsInput[i][j]; // input -> hidden end; neuronsHidden[j] := HyperbolicTangent(neuronsHidden[j]); // activation of hidden neuron j end; for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin neuronsOutput[k] := 0; for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin neuronsOutput[k] := neuronsOutput[k]+neuronsHidden[j]*weightsHidden[j][k]; // hidden -> output end; neuronsOutput[k] := HyperbolicTangent(neuronsOutput[k]); // activation of output neuron k end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.setLearningMode; begin learningMode := activated; end; constructor TArtificialNeuralNetwork.Create; var i, j, k: Integer; begin inherited Create; Randomize; // initialize random numbers generator learningMode := TRUE; cyclesTrained := -2; // only set to -2 because it will be increased twice in the beginning StartNewCycle; for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin weightsHidden[j][k] := abs(Random-0.5); // initialize weights: 0 <= random < 0.5 end; for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin weightsInput[i][j] := abs(Random-0.5); // initialize weights: 0 <= random < 0.5 end; end; for i := 1 to 50 do begin last50errors[i] := 0; end; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.nextTimeStep; begin t := t+1; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.StartNewCycle; var i, j, k, m: Integer; begin t := 1; // start in timestep 1 cyclesTrained := cyclesTrained+1; // increase the number of cycles trained so far for j := 1 to NEURONS_HIDDEN do begin neuronsHidden[j] := 0; for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin eligibilityTraceOutput[j][k] := 0; outputBefore[k] := 0; neuronsOutput[k] := 0; for m := 1 to MAX_TIMESTEPS do begin reward[m][k] := 0; end; end; for i := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_OUTPUT do begin eligibilityTraceHidden[i][j][k] := 0; end; end; end; end; function TArtificialNeuralNetwork.getCyclesTrained; begin result := cyclesTrained; end; procedure TArtificialNeuralNetwork.setInputs; var k: Integer; begin for k := 1 to NEURONS_INPUT do begin neuronsInput[t][k] := state[k]; end; end; function TArtificialNeuralNetwork.getRating; begin setInputs(state); ForwardPropagation; result := neuronsOutput[1]; if not explorative then begin tdLearning; // adjust the weights according to TD-lambda ForwardPropagation; // calculate the network's output again outputBefore[1] := neuronsOutput[1]; // set outputBefore which will then be used in the next timestep UpdateEligibilityTraces; // update the eligibility traces for the next timestep nextTimeStep; // go to the next timestep end; end; function TArtificialNeuralNetwork.HyperbolicTangent; begin if x > 5500 then // prevent overflow result := 1 else result := (Exp(2*x)-1)/(Exp(2*x)+1); end; end.

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  • Set secondary receiver in PayPal Chained Payment after the initial transaction

    - by CJxD
    I'm running a service whereby customers seek the services of 'freelancers' through our web platform. The customer will make a 'bid' which is immediately taken from their accounts as security. Once the job is completed, the customer marks it as accepted and the bid gets distributed to the freelancer(s) as a reward. After initially storing these rewards in the accounts of the freelancers and relying on MassPay to sort out paying them later, I realised that your business needs to be turning over at least £5000/month before MassPay is switched on. Instead, I was referred to Delayed Chained Payments in PayPal's Adaptive Payments API. This allows the customer to pay the primary receiver (my business) before the payment is later triggered to be sent to the secondary receivers (the freelancers). However, at the time that the customer initiates this transaction, you must understand that nobody yet knows who will receive the reward. So, before I program this whole Adaptive Payments system, is it even possible to change or add the secondary receivers after the customer has paid? If not, what can I do?

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  • Pathfinding for fleeing

    - by Philipp
    As you know there are plenty of solutions when you wand to find the best path in a 2-dimensional environment which leads from point A to point B. But how do I calculate a path when an object is at point A, and wants to get away from point B, as fast and far as possible? A bit of background information: My game uses a 2d environment which isn't tile-based but has floating point accuracy. The movement is vector-based. The pathfinding is done by partitioning the game world into rectangles which are walkable or non-walkable and building a graph out of their corners. I already have pathfinding between points working by using Dijkstras algorithm. The use-case for the fleeing algorithm is that in certain situations, actors in my game should perceive another actor as a danger and flee from it. The trivial solution would be to just move the actor in a vector in the direction which is opposite from the threat until a "safe" distance was reached or the actor reaches a wall where it then covers in fear. The problem with this approach is that actors will be blocked by small obstacles they could easily get around. As long as moving along the wall wouldn't bring them closer to the threat they could do that, but it would look smarter when they would avoid obstacles in the first place: Another problem I see is with dead ends in the map geometry. In some situations a being must choose between a path which gets it faster away now but ends in a dead end where it would be trapped, or another path which would mean that it wouldn't get that far away from the danger at first (or even a bit closer) but on the other hand would have a much greater long-term reward in that it would eventually get them much further away. So the short-term reward of getting away fast must be somehow valued against the long-term reward of getting away far. There is also another rating problem for situations where an actor should accept to move closer to a minor threat to get away from a much larger threat. But completely ignoring all minor threats would be foolish, too (that's why the actor in this graphic goes out of its way to avoid the minor threat in the upper right area): Are there any standard solutions for this problem?

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  • JAX Innovation Awards 2011

    - by Tori Wieldt
    The JAX Innovation Awards were presented tonight at the JAX Conference in San Jose, California, to reward those technologies, companies, organizations and individuals that make outstanding contributions to Java. The winners were:     •    Most Innovative Java Technology - JRebel    •    Most Innovative Java Company - Red Hat    •    Top Java Community Ambassador - Martin Odersky    •    Special Jury Award - Brian GoetzIn addition to being acknowledged best-in-class by peers from the Java community, winners received $2500 each. The JAXConf team took nominations from the community, had them reviewed by a panel of independent experts to create a shortlist, which was then voted on by the Java community."The java culture inspires innovation" said Sebastian Meyen, JAX Conference Chair, "and we are happy to reward that."  

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  • Player rewards in games where you normally have nothing to purchase

    - by PeterK
    In many games there are rewards such as gold coins, points, etc. When these rewards can be used to purchase in-game items, it motivates the player to keep playing. Let's say we have an online game, poker, Yatzy etc. What type of reward would keep the players playing if there are few in-game items available to buy, or none at all? What I am looking for is a reward system that entices the players to play more in a game environment where there isn't that much to purchase. For example, there isn't much to buy in a poker or Yatzy game with the gold you win. I guess having some titles that are added to the userid is one way, or maybe purchasing a logo for the id... A leaderboard is another. Any thoughts on this?

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  • Incentivizing Work with Development Teams

    - by MarkPearl
    Recently I saw someone on twitter asking about incentives and if anyone had past experience with incentivizing work. I promised to respond with some of the experiences I have had in the past so here goes... **Disclaimer** - these are my experiences with incentives, generally in software development - in some other industries this may not be applicable – this is also my thinking at this point in time, with more experience my opinion may change. Incentivize at the level that you want people to group at If you are wanting to promote a team mentality, incentivize teams. If you want to promote an individual mentality, incentivize individuals. There is nothing worse than mixing this up. Some organizations put a lot of effort in establishing teams and team mentalities but reward individuals. This has a counter effect on the resources they have put towards establishing a team mentality. In the software projects that I work with we want promote cross functional teams that collaborate. Personally, if I was on a team and knew that there was an opportunity to work on a critical component of the system, and that by doing so I would get a bigger bonus, then I would be hesitant to include other people in solving that problem. Thus, I would hinder the teams efforts in being cross functional and reduce collaboration levels. Does that mean everyone in the team should get an even share of an incentive? In most situations I would say yes - even though this may feel counter-intuitive. I have heard arguments put forward that if “person x contributed more than person Y then they should be rewarded more” – This may sound controversial but I would rather treat people how would you like them to perform, not where they currently are at. To add to this approach, if someone is free loading, you bet your bottom dollar that the team is going to make this a lot more transparent if they feel that individual is going to be rewarded at the same level that everyone else is. Bad incentives promote destructive work If you are going to incentivize people, pick you incentives very carefully. I had an experience once with a sales person who was told they would get a bonus provided that they met an ordering target with a particular supplier. What did this person do? They sold everything at cost for the next month or so. They reached the goal, but the company didn't gain anything from it. It was a bad incentive. Expect the same with development teams, if you incentivize zero bug levels, you will get zero code committed to the solution. If you incentivize lines of code, you will get many many lines of bad code. Is there such a thing as a good incentives? Monetary wise, I am not sure there is. I would much rather encourage organizations to pay their people what they are worth upfront. I would also advise against paying money to teams as an incentive or even a bonus or reward for reaching a milestone. Rather have a breakaway for the team that promotes team building as a reward if they reach a milestone than pay them more money. I would also advise against making the incentive the reason for them to reach the milestone. If this becomes the norm it promotes people to begin to only do their job if there is an incentive at the end of the line. This is not a behaviour one wants to encourage. If the team or individual is in the right mind-set, they should not work any harder than they are right now with normal pay.

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  • Drive

    - by erikanollwebb
    Picking up where we left off, let's summarize.  People have both intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation, and whether reward works depends a bit on what you are rewarding.  Rewards don't decreased intrinsic motivation provided you know what you are getting and why, and when you reward high performance.  But as anyone who has watched the great animation of Dan Pink's TED talk knows, even that doesn't tell the whole story.  Although people may not be less intrinsically motivated by rewards, the impact of rewards on actual performance is a really odd questions.  Larger rewards don't necessarily lead to better performance and in fact, some times lead to worse performance.  Pink argues that people are driven and engaged when they have autonomy, mastery and purpose.  If they can self-direct and can be good at what they do and have a sense of purpose for what they are doing, they show the highest engagement.   (Personally, I would add progress to the list.  My experience is that if you have autonomy, mastery and a sense of purpose but don't get a feeling that you are making any progress day to day, your level of engagement will drop rapidly.) So Pink is arguing if we could set up work so that people have a sense of purpose in what they do, have some autonomy and the ability to build mastery, you'll have better companies.  And that's probably true in a lot of ways, but there's a problem.  Sometimes, you have things you need to do but maybe you don't really want to do.  Or that you don't really see the point of.  Or that doesn't have a lot of value to you at the end of the day.  Then what does a company do?  Let me give you an example.  I've worked on some customer relationship management (CRM) tools over the years and done user research with sales people to try and understand their world.  And there's a funny thing about sales tools in CRM.  Sometimes what the company wants a sales person to do is at odds with what a sales person thinks is useful to them.  For example, companies would like to know who a sales person talked to at the company and the person level.  They'd like to know what they talked about, when, and whether the deals closed.  Those metrics would help you build a better sales force and understand what works and what does not.  But sales people see that as busy work that doesn't add any value to their ability to sell.  So you have a sales person who has a lot of autonomy, they like to do things that improve their ability to sell and they usually feel a sense of purpose--the group is trying to make a quota!  That quota will help the company succeed!  But then you have tasks that they don't think fit into that equation.  The company would like to know more about what makes them successful and get metrics on what they do and frankly, have a record of what they do in case they leave, but the sales person thinks it's a waste of time to put all that information into a sales application. They have drive, just not for all the things the company would like.   You could punish them for not entering the information, or you could try to reward them for doing it, but you still have an imperfect model of engagement.  Ideally, you'd like them to want to do it.  If they want to do it, if they are motivated to do it, then the company wins.  If *something* about it is rewarding to them, then they are more engaged and more likely to do it.  So the question becomes, how do you create that interest to do something?

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  • Apache Custom Log Format

    - by Shishant
    Hello, I am trying to write a reward system wherein users will be given reward points if they download complete files, So what should be my log format. After searching alot this is what I understand its my first time and havent done custom logs before. First of all which file should I edit for custom logs because this thing I cant find. I am using ubuntu server with default apache, php5 and mysql installation # I use this commands and they work fine nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf /etc/init.d/apache2 restart I think this is what I need to do for my purpose LogLevel notice LogFormat "%f %u %x %o" rewards CustomLog /var/www/logs/rewards_log rewards This is as it is command or there is something missing? and is there any particular location where I need to add this? and one more thing %o is for filesize that was sent and is it possible to log only files from a particular directory? or for files with size more than 10mb. Thank You.

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  • How to avoid being fooled

    - by Dacav
    I'm a big fan of the OpenSource development model, and I think that sharing information, knowledge and ideas is the best way of working in software development. Still I think that being hired for proprietary software development must not be demonized. Of course, as there's a no reward in terms of sharing there must be a bigger reward in terms of money (i.e. I surrender all my rights for cash). It may happen that one gets hired piecework, for a single project: in this case one is more vulnerable to dishonest employers. This didn't happen to me personally, but some friends of mine had bad experiences, and lost a lot of time without being fairly retributed. Of course a contract should protect both parts. But contracts can be very generic in the specification. Software is not anything but a palpable good! Besides I don't think that contracts can distinguish between a well written software and a poorly written one. Note also that, in this (nasty) spirit, it's also likely that the employer cannot trust the employee! So also the employer should be protected by a dishonest employee). My question is the following: Which is, in your opinion, a good way of avoiding this kind of situation from the technical perspective?

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  • Apache Custom Log Format to track complete file downloads

    - by Shishant
    Hello, I am trying to write a reward system wherein users will be given reward points if they download complete files, So what should be my log format. After searching alot this is what I understand its my first time and havent done custom logs before. First of all which file should I edit for custom logs because this thing I cant find. I am using ubuntu server with default apache, php5 and mysql installation # I use this commands and they work fine nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf /etc/init.d/apache2 restart I think this is what I need to do for my purpose LogLevel notice LogFormat "%f %u %x %o" rewards CustomLog /var/www/logs/rewards_log rewards This is as it is command or there is something missing? and is there any particular location where I need to add this? and one more thing %o is for filesize that was sent and is it possible to log only files from a particular directory? or for files with size more than 10mb. Thank You.

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  • How do I create two mutual producer/consumers with internal state in Haskell?

    - by Keith
    I've got an agent that takes in states and returns actions, while keeping an internal representation of the utility of state/action pairs. I've also got an environment that takes in actions and returns state/reward pairs. I need to be able to set the agent up with a start state and then continuously go from agent -(action)- environment -(state, reward)- agent -(action)-... However, the internal states (which need to be updated every iteration) need to stay private (that is, within the agent or the environment). This means that I can't simply call environment as a function within the agent using state and action as arguments. I'm somewhat of a Haskell noobie, so I'm not even sure if this is possible.

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  • How to keep balance / Unlock items / achievement rules

    - by Mark Knol
    I'm working on an engine for a game, too learn javascript and just because its fun. I'm a flashdeveloper, I know how to build websites. Now making games is a different challenge, javascript is a challenge, but I'd love to learn how to structure code and what patterns are common. I dont mind if the game ever finish, I'm mostly interested in the programming part of it. I dont have a particular endresult in mind, so I'll see where it takes me. I currently have a system where you can buy items. The items cost a specified amount of gold, silver, diamonds etc. When you have selected and bought the item, it takes time before getting rewarded. When time is over, you are getting rewarded with other properties (gold, energy, diamonds). For example, you can buy an apple for 50gold, It takes a minute, you get rewarded with 75energy. Or if you take a run, it cost 50energy, it takes 5minutes, reward is 25gold and 25silver. These definitions is what i call actions. Currently I already have a system where this already works and I can define as much actions with as much properties as I want. The definitions I have kinda looks like this: {id:101, category:544, onInit:{gold:-75}, onComplete:{energy:75}, time:2000, name:"Apple", locked: false} {id:102, category:544, onInit:{gold:-135}, onComplete:{energy:145}, time:2000, name:"Banana", locked: false} {id:106, category:302, onInit:{energy:-50, power: -25}, onComplete:{gold:100, diamonds:2}, time:10000, name:"Run", locked: false} {id:107, category:302, onInit:{energy:-70, silver: -55}, onComplete:{gold:100}, time:10000, name:"Dance", locked: false} {id:108, category:302, onInit:{energy:-230, power: -355}, onComplete:{gold:70, silver:70}, time:10000, name:"Fitness", locked: false} Now, I would love to add a system where I can lock/unlock the actions using achievement rules. Lets say, if you buy 10 apples, you unlock a new action, like bananas which cost more, and reward more. In the future I maybe want to restrict achievements and actions to levels. I am kinda stuck how to structure this. I have 2 questions: Which patterns are used to define achievements? How/where are they defined? Should it be part of the action, or should it be a separate controller? Is it a good idea to register all completed actions to it? I think I want multiple types of achievement rules, Id love to hear some ideas how to develop it. How do you create/find a good balance, so the user does not get stuck or can cheat by repeat a pattern of actions to get too much rewards. I know there is not a simple answer and i'm lacking of a good game-concept, but I wonder if anyone created such a game and how you dealed and played with it.

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  • Preventing Problems in SQL Server

    It is never a good idea to let your users be the ones to tell you of database server outages. It is far better to be able to spot potential problems by being alerted for the most relevant conditions on your servers at the best threshold. This will take time and patience, but the reward will be an alerting system which allows you to deal more effectively with issues before they involve system down-time

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  • Great Source For Finding Keywords

    Keyword search is a little time consuming, but you will find the greatest reward when you catch on. Here is a little information to give you better success with your online business adventure.

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  • Boosting my GA with Neural Networks and/or Reinforcement Learning

    - by AlexT
    As I have mentioned in previous questions I am writing a maze solving application to help me learn about more theoretical CS subjects, after some trouble I've got a Genetic Algorithm working that can evolve a set of rules (handled by boolean values) in order to find a good solution through a maze. That being said, the GA alone is okay, but I'd like to beef it up with a Neural Network, even though I have no real working knowledge of Neural Networks (no formal theoretical CS education). After doing a bit of reading on the subject I found that a Neural Network could be used to train a genome in order to improve results. Let's say I have a genome (group of genes), such as 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0... How could I use a Neural Network (I'm assuming MLP?) to train and improve my genome? In addition to this as I know nothing about Neural Networks I've been looking into implementing some form of Reinforcement Learning, using my maze matrix (2 dimensional array), although I'm a bit stuck on what the following algorithm wants from me: (from http://people.revoledu.com/kardi/tutorial/ReinforcementLearning/Q-Learning-Algorithm.htm) 1. Set parameter , and environment reward matrix R 2. Initialize matrix Q as zero matrix 3. For each episode: * Select random initial state * Do while not reach goal state o Select one among all possible actions for the current state o Using this possible action, consider to go to the next state o Get maximum Q value of this next state based on all possible actions o Compute o Set the next state as the current state End Do End For The big problem for me is implementing a reward matrix R and what a Q matrix exactly is, and getting the Q value. I use a multi-dimensional array for my maze and enum states for every move. How would this be used in a Q-Learning algorithm? If someone could help out by explaining what I would need to do to implement the following, preferably in Java although C# would be nice too, possibly with some source code examples it'd be appreciated.

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