A variety of mathematical models have been developed to help law enforcement find lawless hotspots that can develop once a crime has happened.
This is excellent research, and it seems to me that police and other agencies could benefit from using the data.
Researchers teamed up with the LAPD to model the math behind spikes in crime. Credit and Larger Version
View a video showing how math modeling is used to understand crime spikes.
What causes a crime wave and what measures should law enforcement use to reduce the spread of criminal offense? Researchers at UCLA and the University of California, Irvine, who are funded by the Human and Social Dynamics program at the National Science Foundation, say they may have an answer.
Bertozzi's conclusions come from research involving a system of mathematical equations that uses empirical evidence for how repeat offenders move and mix in society, as well as how they choose their targets. She and her colleagues report their findings this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The models "provide a useful framework in which to investigate the formation of crime patterns and the impact of alternative policing strategies on crime hotspot stability,"
This is an excellent portrayal of the new archetype of learning: student centered, team oriented and driven by real life problems or projects. This type of learning is at the far end of the Sutman scale.
Thanks to @teromakatero from my Plurk network for this link.
The Cause by Shavar Ross
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
While I'm not much a joiner, there are a few groups and activities that I believe deserve a multitude of participants.
If I do join a group, it's because the cause is educational and worthy in its mission. One of these is the ad hoc affiliation promoting the international blogging day, Ada Lovelace Day, Wednesday, March 24, 2010. It was initiated last year to recognize the aspirations and accomplishments of women in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
Last year was their founding year, and I joined. I selected a young programmer, Tamsin Bowles, to honor on Ada Lovelace Day 2009. Read my Ada Lovelace Day 2009 post.
I'd like to invite you, my readers, to join me and pledge to blog for the Ada Lovelace Day 2010. It's a very simple process:
Silver Links by Jimby K
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License
Are you using linkbacks, also known as trackbacks, to help track your blog posts?
Last year, I discussed an issue of concern among our professional learning network It's the issue of people not referencing someone else's work and calling it their own.
Many of you commented on this topic, so I've investigated some processes that can help the author minimize these problems.
While I discovered many blog authors who have trackback urls, I learned that Blogger doesn't. They do have a linkback procedure. Google Help refers to backlinks that you can set by going to the Settings on your Blogger dashboard, under Comments. There are many caveats, so I would recommend that you read the help reference thoroughly before you try to set up your back links in Blogger hosted blog posts.
If you are looking for linkbacks or trackbacks on other blogs, they may also be called pingbacks or, rarely, refbacks. I also look for these at the end of a blog post. I use these urls when I link the blogs in my post, so the author can actually see how their blog post was referenced.
Recently, I subscribed to the Huffington Post online, as many of my PLN were quoting their articles. I also signed up to receive email notifications, and that is how I found out about VOKLE.
While I enjoyed Huffington Post's Washington Bureau Chief, Dan Froomkin's, online live interview of Janine Wedel about her new book, Shadow Elite, I was even more impressed with the web application that they were using for this online event. Vokle has a smooth, crisp picture with a clean interface. The sounds are clear and full. There is a back channel that's easily viewed.
I learned there are some host safeguards for comments. You can see them before they go out, just in case there are any off topic participants. This is important to plan for ahead of time, because it's too late when they are there. I was in an online conference when someone arrived just to make off topic remarks and disrupt the session. It's very unsettling for both host and participants, so this is an excellent control feature.
I plan to use this new web application, VOKLE. How about you?
Wishing for a blog roll? Hoping to compile a list of blogs from friendly colleagues that you want to share with the world?
If you do, you know that it's always a work in progress. Sparking my action here, Amy Palko in Bye Bye Blogroll - Hello Links! explains how it quickly becomes a very long list on your blog page. You can organize them under one link where people can view and explore.
While you're at it, you can even provide a tiny blurb about each blog or website that you include in this link.
clipped from www.nsf.gov
