Is it Viral?
Finding the secret recipe for a viral video is extremely enticing as many of the popular YouTube celebrities earn millions off of advertising revenue. In a paper from Chapman University, researchers attempt to derive a mathematical calculation for the probability that a piece of content goes viral. Using Facebook networks as a research tool, the […]
The ‘Wired’ Universe of Organic Chemistry
Network theory shows promising insight into the future of organic chemistry and the ability to optimize reaction pathways in order to reduce costs. By considering molecules to be nodes and reactions the arrows connecting them, a complex network forms, giving rise to apparent trends that previously went unnoticed. With three distinct regions, including a core, […]
Low Fat Diet Cascade
Recently in class we have gone over the concept of an information cascade, which is where people make decisions based upon the consensus of the crowd rather than what they actually believe. A prime example of an information cascade is of two competing restaurants. If one restaurant is much busier than the other then more […]
Flesh Easting Disease Spreads in Syria
In Syria, a relatively new disease that eats human flesh has been spreading since 2013 due to an increase in dead bodies and the collapse of the Syrian Health Care system since the country’s civil war started. Called Leishmaniasis, the spread of this disease has been blamed on ISIS (or Daesh) for their contribution to the number […]
Chipotle Suffers From E. Coli Outbreak
Just recently, one of our favorite Tex-Mex restaurant, Chipotle, suffered from a dive in shares. Nine states have reported cases of E. Coli outbreaks linked to Chipotle restaurants. The restaurant has tracked the origin of the outbreak to restaurants in Washington and Oregon, and has taken precaution during the initial investigation by closing these locations. […]
Market Power and Regulation
Jean Tirole, a French economist focusing on industrial organization and microeconomics, won the 2014 Nobel Prize. Unlike many other Nobel winners, he is not a fan of free-market. When a market is dominated by a small number of firms, supracompetitive price will be charged on consumers. If these companies are left unregulated, there could be […]
Network Interactions in Fate/Zero
One of the most popular anime/manga in last decade (according to the list that the community recognizes as the standard for rankings–myanimelist.net) is Fate/Stay Night and the prequels and sequels in the same universe. In the story, seven people, known as Masters, complete for a magical artifact, the Holy Grail, that grants the victor any […]
Horse Racing Made Easy
This article discusses the strategy in actual horse racing. We know that it relatively simple to compute odds for a horse race between a couple of horses and a few bettors, but what happens when there are many more horses and many more bettors? What is a good strategy for the amateur gambler to win? […]
Tie Strength as a Function of Social Media Actions?
Researchers at the University of Illinois have come up with a system to categorize tie strength as a function of actions between friends on social media. They categorize the strength of ties via the following 7 characteristics: Intimacy, Intensity, Duration, Social Distance, Services, Emotional Support, and Structure. I’ll spare the details on how they gather information on […]
Patent Trolls
As we learned in class, patents are a good way to encourage companies to spend money on R&D. Without patents, drug companies would have no incentive to develop new treatments because their competitors could immediately produce a generic brand of the drug and sell it for much less than the cost of research. Patents allow […]
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