Learning from Ebola: Lessons for Future Epidemics
Over a year after the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus that claimed more than 11,000 lives across three continents, a recent independent research study has concluded various public health policies to prevent the spread of similar epidemics in the future. The study, sponsored by the Harvard Global Health Institute and other research institutions, recommends […]
Black Friday and Cyber Monday Crowds
A well known event starting after a full Thanksgiving dinner is Black Friday and Cyber Monday where various stores advertise their biggest sales of the season for Christmas shopping. These days have cause anxiety in crowds trying to grab new technology deals and forced businesses to call in employees to work early mornings. The rush […]
Mizzou and the KKK
The past month has been a roller coaster ride for at least several university campuses across the nation. The University of Missouri, Yale University, and Ithaca College come to mind. What these three universities have in common is a student body that is sick of what they perceived as administrative indifference to alleged acts of […]
Starbucks’ Red Cup Controversy
Recently, Starbucks introduced a new 2015 red cup in celebration of the upcoming holiday season. However, this year the cup design was quite different; instead of the traditional pine tree, snowman or anything related to Christmas, Starbucks chose to design their cups in plain red. This change led to outrage by the general populace regarding […]
Information Cascades in Social Media
This article delves into the different instances where information cascades show up in social media. This article drew specifically from research done by a data scientist at Facebook, who found some interesting patterns on the way information is shared and spread. On Facebook, information is shared through the things that friends post and like that […]
Disease epidemic research
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/ksu-mg111815.php The spread of disease is one important application of networks over which the user has very little control. The only choice the user has in this case is whether or not to take preventative measures, as they can not choose whether or not they contract the disease like they can choose if they […]
What We Strive For
In the aftermath of the Paris attacks, social media (like with every other big event) explodes with information, whether accurate or not. In many ways, it becomes an information cascade, with people on Twitter retweeting photos or posts of “shocking news” as to who the real culprits behind wrongdoings are. Clearly, if we knew that […]
Netflix and not Chill
http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/15/technology/netflix/ http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/25/technology/netflix_stock/ Information cascades are present everywhere in the world. They apply to things that we would never expect. For example, the 2011 Netflix stock fall was caused by an information cascade. Thankfully, Netflix is still alive and kicking company today and the information cascade was thankfully stopped. The cascade began when Netflix raised their […]
Scottish Plagues and the Basic Reproductive Number
The National Library of Scotland will feature a new exhibition about famous epidemics in Scotland’s history that decimated their population. Plagues! will feature many documents from the library’s archives including letters, diaries, writer’s accounts, case studies, and media from those time periods. The exhibit will explore public beliefs and reactions when the country experienced outbreaks of typhus, cholera, smallpox, […]
Information Cascade through Yelp
With the increasing number of internet users, the social media is becoming more and more of a significant influence on our lives. Businesses especially take advantage of the social media so that they can increase profits through advertising or promoting their customer service and good reputation. With this purpose in mind, review sites, such as […]
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