http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/02/boarding
In class, we examined how varying patterns affect the flow of traffic through the network, particularly in Braess’ Paradox, where self-interested drivers intent on finding their best strategy in fact results in a worse situation overall for everyone involved. This article from Wired.com focuses on how to reduce the severe inefficiency of airplane boarding and […]

 Say we have a situation in which a seller is auctioning off one dollar to two buyers. The rule is that the both bidders must both pay their bids, but only the highest bidder will receive the dollar. Now, we assume that there is no collusion between the two buyers to slightly simplify the model.
To […]

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and its free counterpart, the GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) are encryption suites that allow users to securely over the internet. They can also be used for digital signing and trusted identification. To do this, they utilize a pair of keys, one private and one public. Information that is encrypted using the […]

In class we have talked about the power that comes from occupying certain locations in a network. Nodes with a lot of edges, or well connected nodes, have a lot of power. Furthermore, we have talked about how edges form. They can form randomly but they are more likely to form between […]

In the NYTimes today, Michelle Slatalla wrote an article entitled Building a Web of Influence. In it, Slatalla discusses the effects and benefits of social networking sites, particularly LinkedIn, which allows one to form contacts mostly for the sake of professional advancement. Among others, she discusses a couple things that are relevant to […]

There seems to be an increasing desire to study game theory with relevance to medicine. Increasing amounts of medical malpractice lawsuits, interactions between doctors and patients, and doctors and health managers, and so forth, can show this. These interactions of course are shaped by the various behaviors and psychology of doctors, patients, and […]

In this course we have discussed the importance of a network’s structure, and how a node’s position in that structure helps to determine the balance of power in that network.  This idea is demonstrated very well in the film The Battle of Algiers (1965).  In this film the French army is engaged in a guerilla-warfare […]

In class, we discussed the existence of Nash equilibria in Traffic Networks, where the individual travelers hope to pick the route from origin to destination with the lowest travel time. Travel time, however, is not a static factor, as increased congestion on a road results in slower driving speeds and therefore longer travel times. […]

dab97@cornell.edu
Above is a link to one part of a trio of articles recently published by the Cornell Daily Sun researching financial aid inequalities in the Ivy League and its effect on athletic programs. With athletic scholarships outlawed by the principles of the Ivy League conference, the process of recruiting prospective athletes is much different […]

http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=5065558
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/05/technology/05regulate.html
After today’s discussion of information networks and general breakdown of the internet, I was curious to look at the ongoing battle between the Internet giants Google, Yahoo and Microsoft. During this morning’s lecture we spent some time discussing how the internet was a type of directed network, which included some pages that […]