The Physical Review referee, G. S. Fulcher, found Lunn's paper to be unphysical and impossibly abstract, and he rejected it. Fulcher replaced Lunn as a member of Physical Review's editorial board early in 1922, and Lunn went on to withdraw bitterly from contact with most physicists...3. CRISPR and human babies (The Atlantic)
Sanjay looked at Jeff. For months, Google had been experiencing an increasing number of hardware failures. The problem was that, as Google grew, its computing infrastructure also expanded. Computer hardware rarely failed, until you had enough of it—then it failed all the time. Wires wore down, hard drives fell apart, motherboards overheated. Many machines never worked in the first place; some would unaccountably grow slower. Strange environmental factors came into play. When a supernova explodes, the blast wave creates high-energy particles that scatter in every direction; scientists believe there is a minute chance that one of the errant particles, known as a cosmic ray, can hit a computer chip on Earth, flipping a 0 to a 1.
Seeing Theory was created by Daniel Kunin while an undergraduate at Brown University. The goal of this website is to make statistics more accessible through interactive visualizations (designed using Mike Bostock’s JavaScript library D3.js).It starts from relatively basic concepts, touches on some intermediate-level topics (Basic Probability, Compound Probability, Probability Distributions, Frequentist Inference, Bayesian Inference, Regression Analysis)
What can we expect students to get out of an elementary course in differential equations? I reject the "bag of tricks" answer to this question. A course taught as a bag of tricks is devoid of educational value. One year later, the students will forget the tricks, most of which are useless anyway. The bag of tricks mentality is, in my opinion, a defeatist mentality, and the justifications I have heard of it, citing poor preparation of the students, their unwillingness to learn, and the possibility of assigning clever problem sets, are lazy ways out.2. A web clone of MS Paint (jspaint.ml)
Three years ago, Mirzakhani, 37, became the first woman to win the Fields Medal, the Nobel Prize of mathematics. News of the award, and the obvious symbolism (first woman, first Iranian, an immigrant from a Muslim country) sat uneasily with her. She was puzzled when she discovered that some people thought mathematics was not for women — it was not an idea that she or her friends encountered growing up in Iran — but she was not inclined, by personality, to tell others what to think.2. Similar operations using sed and awk
[...] defined confirmation bias as a bias toward a belief we already hold, while desirability bias is a bias toward a belief we want to be true.3. H/T John D. Cook
“Teachers should prepare the student for the student’s future, not for the teacher’s past.” — Richard Hamming4. This xkcd cartoon on survivorship bias
... will be distinct from others in the Purdue system, relying only on tuition and fundraising to cover operating expenses. No state appropriations will be utilized. It will operate primarily online, but has 15 locations across the United States, including an existing facility in Indianapolis, with potential for growth throughout the state. Indiana resident students will receive a yet-to-be-determined tuition discount.The deal has the potential to bring down tuition costs, enhance access, and provide Purdue's solid brand name. Here are some reactions to news:
Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, “I’ve always had great respect for Gov. Daniels, and I’m excited by this opportunity for a world-class university to expand its reach and help educate adult learners by acquiring a strong for-profit college. This is a first, and if successful, could help create a new model for what it means to be a land-grant institution.”2. However, questions are being raised (NPR).
The deal is eye-catching, but also part of a trend. Over the past decade dozens of nonprofit universities have contracted with private companies to expand their online offerings. For example, Arizona State University works with Pearson, and the University of Southern California with a company called 2U. Florida A&M and South Carolina State, both historically black institutions, have partnered with the University of Phoenix. In an atmosphere of ever-skinnier state budgets, these programs enable universities to reach a global market, cater to working adults, and potentially increase revenue without expensive capital investment.3. The faculty at Purdue is not happy (InsideHigherEd)
No faculty input was sought before the acquisition decision was made, and no assessment of its impact on Purdue’s academic quality was completed, according to the resolution. The resolution proceeded to fault a lack of transparency and a lack of an impact study on how the acquisition will affect faculty, curriculum, students and staff at Purdue. The resolution also wondered what will happen to faculty governance and academic freedom at Purdue’s newly acquired university. And it said previously Purdue’s administration has gone through University Senate structures -- which include faculty input -- when pursuing program restructuring or creation.4. An interview with the seller, Donald Graham, chairman of Graham Holdings.
[Q:] I see what Purdue gets from the arrangement—a jumpstart into providing online courses. But what does Graham Holdings get out of this deal?
Graham: [...] You asked about when Graham Holdings shareholders might be rewarded. The only way we would be rewarded, the only way we would get a growing stream of revenue, would be if Purdue continued over the years to add students. In other words if the university became a big success under Purdue's leadership, we'll be part of that success. But we will not be a participant in any profits. We're out of the for-profit education business here. We will be paid for our services, and the profits if any will go to Purdue, and hopefully back into the whole educational system.5. Some older links to universities, MOOCs and online education
