Before taking this class, everyone had a background in game theory, whether or not he or she realized it. It had a place in our history books, as they chronicled a half-century conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union– the Cold War. The Cold War is a genuine prisoner’s dilemma, where both sides […]

While all sports naturally have complex strategy to determine the victor, soccer specifically has a situation in which the game theory behind it is comparatively very easy to analyze, penalty kicks. These penalty shots are a one on one game, shooter against goal keeper; the shooter trying to guess which side the goalkeeper will not […]

Manufacturers of consumer electronics are developing great devices with new features at an alarming rate.  Unfortunately, advances in battery technology are struggling to keep up with these new power hungry gadgets.  Streaming video, 3d graphics, and wireless data connections can all drain a device’s battery in a few short hours.  Some electrical engineers are taking […]

Dr. Hughes, a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of CT, wrote in article in which he used the Prisoner’s Dilemma to explain Western society’s general practice of monogamy. He demonstrates the prisoner’s dilemma game and societal equilibria for three types of monogamy: patriarchal polygyny, loose patriarchal monogamy, and strict monogamy (the form of […]

The modern Republican Party can essentially be divided into several factions: social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, defense conservatives, paleoconservatives and libertarians (more at Wikipedia).  While not nearly as clear-cut as examples we have seen in lecture, this sort of arrangement naturally lends itself to conceptualizing by the network model.  To understand the nodes (party subgroups) and […]

The Office of Population Research at Princeton University explores historic, present and future trends in population growth, decline and control, which in turn has consequences for network structure and interaction, economic viability, social mobility, governmental regulation and environmental capacity. One of the most famous experiments conducted in this field is the Princeton European Fertility […]

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS128592+05-Dec-2007+BW20071205
http://www.csoresearch.com/news/articles/release_120507.pdf
The article linked above details an alliance formed between MonsterTrak and Career Services Offices, two powerful online career service providers. MonsterTrak has become widely adopted, however CSO still remains the industry leader in career services automation. The two companies will now be able to offer an improved product to their clients. Their pairing will allow […]

     Since its creation, the Internet has been a fast and easy way for people to communicate and share information.  Starting with basic networks whose nodes could be counted with your hands, the Internet has evolved into a gigantic web spaning the entire globe and linking billions of its inhabitants.  Similar to the Pony Express and telegram of the past, […]

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/2006-06-25-physics-of-ebay_x.htm
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9398
In class, we discussed how auctions on eBay are essentially second price sealed bid auctions. We also noted that in these types of auctions, bidding one’s true value is a dominant strategy. But some of the unique properties of eBay auctions - their fixed time limit and the fact that people can bid […]

Last Call: Analog Cell Phone Service Disappearing:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142119-c,cellphones/article.html
When one thinks of networks one usually thinks of a large cellular network. On February 18 analog cell phone service will be shut down permanently. AT&T and Verizon, the “biggest U.S. mobile operators” decided that there will be no more analog service offered […]