Archive for May, 2008

six degrees of Kevin Bacon

http://oracleofbacon.org/
The Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person he or she knows and two steps away from each person that their first person knows, then everyone is an average of six steps away from each person on Earth. This phenomena was pioneered by […]

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Fraternity Homophyly and Segregation

Many students look to the Greek system at their schools in order to meet such desires because fraternities foster brotherhood, friendship, and help to meet new people and establish relationships. However, many fraternities are recognized or distinguished from others by a particular characteristic of its members. Prime examples are divisions by race, religion, ethnicity, sports, […]

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Global Warming Network Solution?

            A number of issues in the modern world have the capacity to severely change society, or even civilization as a whole. The threat of terrorism and nuclear warfare, severe overpopulation, and recent climate change are all extremely fragile subjects that modern man will be required to confront sooner than later in order to continue […]

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Hawk-Dove Game in Vehicle Choice

I’m no expert, but I know that when it comes to choosing a type of vehicle to drive, a lot of different factors are considered.  Safety and fuel efficiency are probably two of the largest deciding factors. 
 
Is it more economical to drive a gas-guzzling vehicle or purchase a brand new fuel-efficient car?  According to […]

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Can criminals use 6 degrees of separation to solve cold cases?

Recently officials in New York have developed a new method to solve cases that have stumped law enforcement for years.  Inmates in fifty-eight county jails across the state will receive playing cards with pictures of people who are missing in hopes of finding information about what happened to these people.  The story can be read […]

Posted in Topics: Education, General, Social Studies

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The Labor Market: One big auction?

In a NY Times article, Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel laureate and Stanford professor suggests that how much you get paid depends on the number of connections you have, rather than your technical skills. He argues that if labor markets are truly efficient, then there would not be such a significant gap in income between workers […]

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A Nash Equilibrium for a Tennis Team Lineup?

UIL allows questionable ’stacking’ in tennis
Game theory, the idea of choosing between strategies offering different payoffs considering the actions of other players, is a common phenomenon in our lives. We can hardly go through a day without witnessing its ubiquitous effects.
In a dual team tennis match with x players on each team, the […]

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Buzz Marketing in Social Networks

Marketing professionals have been interested in Word of Mouth communications and the spread of information about products and services since the early 1960’s.  More importantly, these professionals are concerned with the influence these communications have on the social networks in which they occur.  The evolution of Word of Mouth techniques has led to a new […]

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Shaq vs. Kobe: The NBA’s Version of Structural Balance

The idea of chemistry is often used to describe players’ interactions on and off the court in the world of sports.  In its context, it is in an organization’s best interest to bring in players who will find the best “chemistry” amongst themselves in order to win a championship.  In reality, promoting chemistry on sports […]

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Campus Information and Visitor Relations: Cornell’s Own Gatekeepers

As an employee of Campus Information and Visitor Relations here at Cornell University, I have noticed that the job that we students perform is, in reality, to act as gatekeepers for the university itself and provide a local bridge between people who wish to know more about the campus and the information they seek.  Our […]

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