Google Plus and the Network Cascade
The release of Google Plus as a social networking medium reveals several aspects of network cascade. First we consider the decision to create a Google Plus account. One is relativaly easy to create, especially since most of us already have a Google account that comes with our CMail. However, completely switching to Google Plus requires […]
Power Law Applications to Terrorist and Insurgent Activity
Original Article: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/333/6038/81.full.pdf Secondary Article (and Image source): http://www.economist.com/node/18483411 What if there is a way to predict the severity of wars? Or to predict future attacks? In 2011, Neil Johnson and several of his colleagues at the University of Miami may have found a pattern that could aid military officials in predicting future insurgent attacks […]
MODELLING EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY ON A NETWORK EXCHANGE GRAPH
http://www.africa-business.com/features/eac.html http://www.eac.int/ As the global economy continues to experience ups and downs, countries are toiling to come up with ways of addressing their individual concerns. One main way is through formation of integrated economic blocs/networks via which common currency, free trade and lower tariffs are applied. After all, the economic problems are globalized/networked. By doing […]
Information Cascades and the Recent Recession
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/papers/2008/11_origins_crisis_baily_litan/11_origins_crisis_baily_litan.pdf In this paper, entitled The Origins of the Financial Crisis, Martin Neil Baily, Robert E. Litan, and Matthew S. Johnson argue that the recent recession can be largely attributed to the rapid rise of lending to subprime borrowers, which came with expectations that housing prices would rise as they had been from the mid 1990s […]
Peer Pressure, Starting Even Earlier Than Previously Imagined
Peer pressure – the phrase that makes parents awfully afraid for their socially impressionable young children. We’ve all had those guest lecturers in high school come in to tell us about how “we are our own person” and how we shouldn’t succumb to the whims and pressures of others, whether it’s regarding alcohol, drugs, hazing […]
Google and Ardor Backlinks, the unofficial partnership
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/11/08/prweb8946635.DTL http://www.ardorbacklinks.com/ This article describes Google and the changes it makes in its page rank system. This is a topic that has been discussed in class extensively. The idea of page rank is one that not only Google uses, but that all search engines implement. In the article it is described that Google is now […]
Stopping Smoking with Social Networks
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa0706154#t=article In taking a look at the underlying social network of a population, we can see dramatic roles that it plays in the transmission of not only technology, but also health-related behaviors related to non-communicable diseases. A networks study on smoking by the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that smoking cessation is highly correlated […]
We Are But Impressionable Sheep
http://www.lamorindaweb.com/articles/teens-tweens/1482-teenfashion Due to their progression through evolution, human beings have taken on the persona of social creatures. Being social requires that one interact with people both of like and unlike minds. Within society, a person can be subjected to more than one influence. As a result, peer pressure, stigmas, fads, stereotypes, societal expectations and the […]
The Art of PageRank Sculpting
http://developer.practicalecommerce.com/articles/3095-SEO-PageRank-Sculpting-for-2011 Understanding the concept of PageRank is vital for businesses who wish to promote their store online. How it works is that every page Google indexes is given a certain rank based on the amount of inbound links it has. If that page is linked to another page, it passes its PageRank in lesser equal […]
Apple and its choice of products
Most people would agree that Apple has had several hits. For instance, the introduction of Apple computers, iPods,iPhones, iPads, and many more, has generally been a huge success for Apple. Looking closely at the Apple’s iPod collection, it started out with the iPod Classic. Ipod classic has attracted many around the world with its sleek […]
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