Diffusion of Opinion during the Mask-Wearing Debate of Covid-19 Pandemic
From the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic this year, there have been several measures introduced to contain the disease, including a general recommendation from CDC for wearing masks starting in April 2020. Before this requirement is actually enforced in multiple states, there have been long debates over the usefulness of wearing masks, and each person […]
Applying the SIR Model of Epidemics to the Covid-19 Pandemic
Source: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.26.20114058v3.full.pdf While we are still living through the Covid-19 pandemic, understanding the characteristics of the disease is central to developing control strategies. As the pandemic progresses and more data is released, epidemiologists will be able to develop accurate and thorough models of the virus’s spread. In the meantime, containing the virus is crucial to […]
The Utility and Limitations of Uber Ratings in Reducing Asymmetric Information When you enter a vehicle of an unknown driver, you know little about them: from important knowledge such as how safe they will drive, or if they will get lost, to more trivial aspects, like what type of music they will play or if […]
Contagion, Vaccination, and An Updated SIR Model
On a recent episode of The Daily, a New York Times podcast hosted by Michael Barbaro, science and health reporter Donald G. McNeil Jr. discusses the implications of the U.S. emergency approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Barbaro and McNeil take a look at the timeline for vaccinating different groups of Americans, and even explore potential […]
Cascades As A Cause For WWI
YouTube Video Source: https://youtu.be/6FgaL0xIazk When people think about the causes of WWI, the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the chain reaction it caused comes to mind. Yet the causes of WWI are much more complex than just this single event. Some of these are touched on in the linked YouTube video, where additional background […]
Next Generation Diffusion
Source: https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ps5-and-xbox-series-scalpers-have-reportedly-made-over-28m-on-ebay/ With next generation gaming consoles being released last month, people have been scrambling to try and get a console before the holidays due to their low quantity in stores. This may be due to scalpers as Tom Ivan talks about in “PS5 and Xbox Series Scalpers have Reportedly made over $28m on […]
Network Diffusion of Starbucks Stores in Korea
In the past few decades, the chain Starbucks has spread rapidly around the world. In particular, Starbucks locations have spread especially fast in Korea – Starbucks Korea opened the 100th store only after 5 years of being introduced. The spread of Starbucks stores is considered as an exemplary social network showing the word-of-mouth effect, as […]
Epidemics and Viral Trends: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
When I think back to the year 2014, many things come to mind. I remember my little sister going to see Disney’s “Frozen” about three hundred times, I remember listening to OneRepublic’s “Counting Stars” every day on the bus to school, and of course, the seemingly endless “ALS Ice Bucket Challenge” posts on my social […]
Why people won’t switch from Apple products
https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-macbook-ecosystem-so-good-i-dont-want-iphone-2019-12 The first part of this article talks about Apple’s incredible business model. They mention that to successfully use any one specific product they make, it will only work if you have multiple products. For example, let’s say that you have an Apple iphone, but you have a macintosh windows computer. You won’t be able […]
How Clusters are Maintained when the Stakes are High: Antivaxxers
We have talked about cascades in the context of every node having to make a decision about something, which is often portrayed as a product. This product is not necessarily very good or very bad but rather seen as something that may be “worth it” or “not worth” depending on the connections to other nodes […]
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