Boston Globe Gubernatorial Endorsement – October 26, 2014
Three days ago, the Boston Globe editorial staff released an article endorsing a Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate for the first time in 20 years. This time, the typically liberal newspaper nominated Republican candidate Charlie Baker. Even though Baker has already been reported up in the polls by a widely reported 3 points as of October 24, […]
Google’s fight against SEO
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/238040 Since its inception, Google has been in a battle against websites that try to game their PageRank algorithm to appear higher in search results. PageRank is Google’s attempt at quantifying the importance of websites, so obviously, websites that game the algorithm would appear higher than their “true” importance would suggest, something Google doesn’t want. […]
Refine the Network, Revolutionize Medicine
Theranos is a company built on the idea that the current network for medical testing is too large and inefficient. The size problem lies not in the fact that the network is widespread, but more that the connections are not direct enough, thus increasing the margin for error. To better visualize the scenario, imagine this […]
The Asch Conformity Experiment
Links: http://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html In class we talked about how being in a network or social group affects individual decision making. We say that the person has the choice to make their own decisions and evaluate a situation alone or a person can abide by the groups majority decision and opinion even when it conflicts with their […]
Network Theory and Game Theory in Alliances
In a study by Matthew Jackson and Stephen Nei of Stanford Univeristy, the two men used network theory and game theory to analyze the stability of a network of countries that form a military coalition. They based their findings on networks that only consist of military links and networks that consist of both military and […]
Abstractions up for auctions
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/manchester-united-city-dad-auctions-4489708 While I am certain that this isn’t the first case of this, but something that isn’t a physical object has been put in monetary auction. In this case, it is this man’s son’s “future football love.” Depending on who wins the auction, he will raise the child to be a fan of the respective […]
Cascading Problem Sets
Those of us engineering have plenty of experience with the weekly problem sets that so frequently take over our lives, keeping us in Duffield atrium until the sun starts to rise in the morning. Typically we have 3 or 4 problem sets a week, and often they are graded based upon the correctness of each […]
Could Game Theory Be Used To Prevent Human Extinction?
Below is the link to an article titled “Could Game Theory Be Used To Prevent Human Extinction?” Even in an age where it seems every online article is titled with the purpose of generating clicks, one that mentions human extinction is sure to stand out. http://io9.com/could-game-theory-be-used-to-prevent-human-extinction-1649795888 The article begins by reviewing some basic game theory […]
Auctions in Social Media
Advertisements in social media have become increasingly prevalent in today’s society where people spend a large portion of their free time connecting with some type of social media. Companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are just a few of the larger companies that utilize their user’s online web activity to sell advertisements and […]
Information Cascades in holidays
http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2014-10-08/051930955676.shtml In China, there is a common phenomenon that people choose to follow others’ decision about plans in holidays. This article by Sina reveals several information cascades phenomena about holidays. It seems that people tend to choose a destination for holidays based on other people’s choices. For example, a lot of people choose to go […]
« go back — keep looking »