"Istanbul Bilgi University, since its foundation, has taken clear and unequivocal positions throughout the democratization process of our country. That encompasses a long list of conferences held within our offices when no one wanted to host such conferences, as well as students accepted in classes when sartorial conditions were imposed almost everywhere else. We have been harshly criticized for most of our positions and deeds. We are still sometimes severely criticized, but we continue to abide by our values, which are universally and largely accepted, to safeguard our liberal and pluralistic stance."
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Istanbul Bilgi University, and its rector
I've written before about the culture of universities and the obstacles that face new ones. The 2012 game theory world congress was hosted by Istanbul Bilgi University, which turns out to be quite a new institution. Its Rector Remzi Sanver is a well known member of the game theory/social choice/economic design community, and his opening address refers to some of the difficulties he faces as the head of a new, secular university in Turkey.
"Istanbul Bilgi University, since its foundation, has taken clear and unequivocal positions throughout the democratization process of our country. That encompasses a long list of conferences held within our offices when no one wanted to host such conferences, as well as students accepted in classes when sartorial conditions were imposed almost everywhere else. We have been harshly criticized for most of our positions and deeds. We are still sometimes severely criticized, but we continue to abide by our values, which are universally and largely accepted, to safeguard our liberal and pluralistic stance."
"Istanbul Bilgi University, since its foundation, has taken clear and unequivocal positions throughout the democratization process of our country. That encompasses a long list of conferences held within our offices when no one wanted to host such conferences, as well as students accepted in classes when sartorial conditions were imposed almost everywhere else. We have been harshly criticized for most of our positions and deeds. We are still sometimes severely criticized, but we continue to abide by our values, which are universally and largely accepted, to safeguard our liberal and pluralistic stance."
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Older kidneys work fine (thank you for asking:)
Older Kidneys Work Fine for Transplants
"Using data from more than 50,000 living donor transplants from 1998 through 2003, researchers at the University of British Columbia concluded that the age of the donor made no difference to the eventual success of the transplant — except for recipients ages 18 to 39, who were more likely to succeed with a donor their own age. Patients in this group accounted for about a quarter of all the patients studied.
The scientists also analyzed lists of people waiting
for a kidney from a deceased donor and found that the probability of becoming
ineligible for donation within three years was high, varying from 21 percent to
66 percent, depending on age, blood group and severity of disease.
Waiting can be fatal, the authors contend, and an
offer of a kidney should not be rejected simply because of the donor’s age."
Friday, September 21, 2012
Same sex marriage in the different states of the European Union
In Europe as in the U.S. different states have different laws about same sex marriages, and some states don't recognize the same sex marriages performed in other states:
On Gay Marriage, Europe Strains to Square 27 Interests
"The European Commission, the guardian of European Union treaties, has been working on ways to make life easier for people who move across borders.
"But although for two years it has been studying ways to facilitate the free circulation of civil status documents, including birth, death and marriage certificates, the proposal is still awaiting action. And when it goes forward later this year, the plan may not cover marriage. “For now, I think it is important to take one step at a time,” Viviane Reding, the European justice commissioner, said in an e-mailed response to questions.
"Opponents of gay marriage argue that any attempt in Brussels to require countries to recognize same-sex marriage certificates issued in another member state would, in effect, require them to introduce gay marriage whether they wanted to or not.
“A general application of the rule of mutual recognition of civil status documents will result in a situation where the political and social choices of some member states would be imposed on all the others,” CARE for Europe, a Christian lobby group, argued in its submission to the commission, echoing numerous opponents.
"So for now, gay couples and families are fighting their own battles — often at considerable expense."
On Gay Marriage, Europe Strains to Square 27 Interests
"The European Commission, the guardian of European Union treaties, has been working on ways to make life easier for people who move across borders.
"But although for two years it has been studying ways to facilitate the free circulation of civil status documents, including birth, death and marriage certificates, the proposal is still awaiting action. And when it goes forward later this year, the plan may not cover marriage. “For now, I think it is important to take one step at a time,” Viviane Reding, the European justice commissioner, said in an e-mailed response to questions.
"Opponents of gay marriage argue that any attempt in Brussels to require countries to recognize same-sex marriage certificates issued in another member state would, in effect, require them to introduce gay marriage whether they wanted to or not.
“A general application of the rule of mutual recognition of civil status documents will result in a situation where the political and social choices of some member states would be imposed on all the others,” CARE for Europe, a Christian lobby group, argued in its submission to the commission, echoing numerous opponents.
"So for now, gay couples and families are fighting their own battles — often at considerable expense."
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Forecasting school enrollment in Los Angeles
LA is looking ahead: Nation’s Second-Largest District Builds Enrollment Forecasting Platform
"Problem
Los Angeles (Calif.) Unified School District enrolls over 680,000 students, and the Budget Services and Financial Planning office uses enrollment forecasts on which to base resource allocations to schools. This process determines the number of teachers, textbooks, supplies, custodians, nurses, administrators and food service staff at each school campus. Enrollment forecasting has high stakes, but like every other district in the nation, LAUSD has made major financial cutbacks—$1.5 billion between 2008 and 2010. One program on the chopping block in 2009 was Roadshow, an in-person student-enrollment-forecasting review process that cost over $400,000 annually. So LAUSD needed to find a new, cost-effective forecasting review process.
"Solution
"The answer was an online program. In January 2010, LAUSD launched the Electronic School Forecasting System, known as E-CAST, an Internet-based platform that replaced Roadshow. The in-person review process had consumed 8,700 staff hours, 17,000 reimbursable travel miles for visits to schools and 52,000 paper data collection forms over the six-week review. “Back in 2006, it was pretty clear that it would be helpful to move this process online to make it more efficient without wasting time and expense in the field gathering data,” says Valerie Edwards, chief enrollment analysis coordinator at LAUSD."
...
************************
(LA's chief prognosticator is Valerie Edwards, with whom we had the pleasure of working on Boston Public Schools' school choice system...)
"Problem
Los Angeles (Calif.) Unified School District enrolls over 680,000 students, and the Budget Services and Financial Planning office uses enrollment forecasts on which to base resource allocations to schools. This process determines the number of teachers, textbooks, supplies, custodians, nurses, administrators and food service staff at each school campus. Enrollment forecasting has high stakes, but like every other district in the nation, LAUSD has made major financial cutbacks—$1.5 billion between 2008 and 2010. One program on the chopping block in 2009 was Roadshow, an in-person student-enrollment-forecasting review process that cost over $400,000 annually. So LAUSD needed to find a new, cost-effective forecasting review process.
"Solution
"The answer was an online program. In January 2010, LAUSD launched the Electronic School Forecasting System, known as E-CAST, an Internet-based platform that replaced Roadshow. The in-person review process had consumed 8,700 staff hours, 17,000 reimbursable travel miles for visits to schools and 52,000 paper data collection forms over the six-week review. “Back in 2006, it was pretty clear that it would be helpful to move this process online to make it more efficient without wasting time and expense in the field gathering data,” says Valerie Edwards, chief enrollment analysis coordinator at LAUSD."
...
"Looking Forward
"After tackling forecast enrollment, LAUSD is now discussing the possibility of adding a school-capacity assessment module to E-CAST to evaluate space and seating capacities. According to Edwards, space use varies in middle and high school classrooms more than elementary classrooms, where students spend the majority of their day with the same teacher.
“We want to use algorithms to figure out utilization and track classroom spaces electronically. LAUSD can use this information to make sure the district is effectively using space and to plan for maintenance and operations,” says Edwards.
It’s essential, as the district has over 13,000 buildings and about 8,000 projects, ranging from moving portable units to building new schools. If everything goes as planned, Edwards says the school-capacity assessment module should be operational in the 2013-2014 school year."
"After tackling forecast enrollment, LAUSD is now discussing the possibility of adding a school-capacity assessment module to E-CAST to evaluate space and seating capacities. According to Edwards, space use varies in middle and high school classrooms more than elementary classrooms, where students spend the majority of their day with the same teacher.
“We want to use algorithms to figure out utilization and track classroom spaces electronically. LAUSD can use this information to make sure the district is effectively using space and to plan for maintenance and operations,” says Edwards.
It’s essential, as the district has over 13,000 buildings and about 8,000 projects, ranging from moving portable units to building new schools. If everything goes as planned, Edwards says the school-capacity assessment module should be operational in the 2013-2014 school year."
************************
(LA's chief prognosticator is Valerie Edwards, with whom we had the pleasure of working on Boston Public Schools' school choice system...)
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The market for "zero day" software vulnerabilities
What can you do if you discover a brand new, never exploited ("zero day") vulnerability in a ubiquitous piece of software? Forbes is on the case: Shopping For Zero-Days: A Price List For Hackers' Secret Software Exploits
"A clever hacker today has to make tough choices. Find a previously unknown method for dismantling the defenses of a device like an iPhone or iPad, for instance, and you can report it to Apple and present it at a security conference to win fame and lucrative consulting gigs. Share it with HP’s Zero Day Initiative instead and earn as much as $10,000 for helping the firm shore up its security gear. Both options also allow Apple to fix its bugs and make the hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users more secure.
"But any hacker who happens to know one Bangkok-based security researcher who goes by the handle “the Grugq”–or someone like him–has a third option: arrange a deal through the pseudonymous exploit broker to hand the exploit information over to a government agency, don’t ask too many questions, and get paid a quarter of a million dollars–minus the Grugq’s 15% commission."
...
"The Grugq is hardly alone in his industry. Small firms like Vupen, Endgame and Netragard buy and sell exploits, as do major defense contractors like Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.
"Netragard’s founder Adriel Desautels says he’s been in the exploit-selling game for a decade, and describes how the market has “exploded” in just the last year. He says there are now “more buyers, deeper pockets,” that the time for a purchase has accelerated from months to weeks, and he’s being approached by sellers with around 12 to 14 zero-day exploits every month compared to just four to six a few years ago."
***********
And here's a related article about a French firm, Vupen (which describes itself as follows: "As the leading source of advanced vulnerability research, VUPEN provides government-grade exploits specifically designed for the Intelligence community and national security agencies to help them achieve their offensive cyber security and lawful intercept missions using extremely sophisticated codes created in-house by VUPEN.).")
HT: Duncan Gilchrist
"A clever hacker today has to make tough choices. Find a previously unknown method for dismantling the defenses of a device like an iPhone or iPad, for instance, and you can report it to Apple and present it at a security conference to win fame and lucrative consulting gigs. Share it with HP’s Zero Day Initiative instead and earn as much as $10,000 for helping the firm shore up its security gear. Both options also allow Apple to fix its bugs and make the hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users more secure.
"But any hacker who happens to know one Bangkok-based security researcher who goes by the handle “the Grugq”–or someone like him–has a third option: arrange a deal through the pseudonymous exploit broker to hand the exploit information over to a government agency, don’t ask too many questions, and get paid a quarter of a million dollars–minus the Grugq’s 15% commission."
...
"The Grugq is hardly alone in his industry. Small firms like Vupen, Endgame and Netragard buy and sell exploits, as do major defense contractors like Northrop Grumman and Raytheon.
"Netragard’s founder Adriel Desautels says he’s been in the exploit-selling game for a decade, and describes how the market has “exploded” in just the last year. He says there are now “more buyers, deeper pockets,” that the time for a purchase has accelerated from months to weeks, and he’s being approached by sellers with around 12 to 14 zero-day exploits every month compared to just four to six a few years ago."
***********
And here's a related article about a French firm, Vupen (which describes itself as follows: "As the leading source of advanced vulnerability research, VUPEN provides government-grade exploits specifically designed for the Intelligence community and national security agencies to help them achieve their offensive cyber security and lawful intercept missions using extremely sophisticated codes created in-house by VUPEN.).")
HT: Duncan Gilchrist
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Cramton on the Medicare auction
Market design can be frustrating: Peter reports from the front line.
Medicare auction gets failing grade at Congressional hearing
Medicare auction gets failing grade at Congressional hearing
Market design course at Stanford (Econ 285, Autumn 2012)
Muriel Niederle and I will be teaching an introduction to market design this quarter (the first quarter of a three quarter graduate sequence whose other quarters will be taught by Paul Milgrom and Fuhito Kojima).
The first class session is on Monday September 24.
This will be the first course I've taught at Stanford since 1978 (when I taught a course on Axiomatic Models of Bargaining, while on leave from the University of Illinois), and it will likely resemble the market design course I taught last Fall at Harvard. You can find the web page for that course, which includes the slides I lectured from here. (Since this will be followed by a quarter taught by Paul Milgrom, we plan to spend less time on auctions than when I taught at Harvard, and more time on matching markets: see the course description below.)
We think the class might be interesting not only to economists but also to operations researchers and computer scientists...
The first class session is on Monday September 24.
This will be the first course I've taught at Stanford since 1978 (when I taught a course on Axiomatic Models of Bargaining, while on leave from the University of Illinois), and it will likely resemble the market design course I taught last Fall at Harvard. You can find the web page for that course, which includes the slides I lectured from here. (Since this will be followed by a quarter taught by Paul Milgrom, we plan to spend less time on auctions than when I taught at Harvard, and more time on matching markets: see the course description below.)
We think the class might be interesting not only to economists but also to operations researchers and computer scientists...
ECON 285 - 01 Market Design
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