tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:/ideas Journal of Brief Ideas: Ideas from the last week 2020-11-19T06:20:36Z tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/790 2020-11-19T06:20:36Z 2021-01-15T04:32:16Z Test stored blood samples for COVID-19 antibodies https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4281531 Blood samples that were taken in Italy during the period September 2019 to March 2020 have been tested for COVID-19 antibodies, with as many as 10% of patients testing positive for COVID-19 in spite of those samples pre-dating widespread infection in the area. Some of the samples that tested positive dated back to earlier than the first reported case of COVID-19 worldwide. These findings have been predominantly interpreted to indicate that COVID-19 began circulating far sooner than previously thought, but it is also possible that the positive tests instead are the result of antibodies to a different pathogen with sufficient overlap to result in positive tests. This possibility could be tested by simply testing even older blood samples. Such samples could be sourced from long-term research projects such as the Framingham Heart Study, or alternately even from anti-doping agencies such as WADA, which retains athletes' blood samples for later re-testing. Stacey, Neil tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/787 2020-11-10T22:27:43Z 2021-01-10T02:06:01Z Statistical significance under low power: A Gettier case? https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4281536 Epistemologists and researchers alike are concerned with the conditions under which one can be said to possess knowledge. In philosophy there is a classic account of knowledge as being "Justified True Belief". Under this account, a person can only truly know something if they have a belief that is both justified and true (i.e. knowledge as JTB). For example: An individual S *knows* a proposition P, iff (if and only if): i) S believes that P, ii) P is true, and iii) S is *justified* in believing that P. So-called "Gettier cases" arise when an individual is justified in believing something to be true and yet would probably not be said to have knowledge because they only got the right answer as a result of ***luck***. I posit that some instances in classical (frequentist) statistics are analogous to Gettier cases: A researcher who performs a study with low power, in which the alternative hypothesis is true, AND who observes a significant p-value, could be considered to be "lucky", given the likelihood that they would've observed non-significant findings. Still, they have inferred from that the alternative hypothesis is true; despite the improbability of doing so. It is unclear whether or not this should be considered "knowledge", under JTB. Dunleavy, Daniel tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/783 2020-09-22T17:55:18Z 2021-02-24T18:29:34Z The Journal of Competitive Programming https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4047634 Competitive Programming (CP) or Sports Programming is solving well-defined problem statements abiding by time and memory constraints with the help of [sandboxed environments](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2126174/what-is-sandboxing) on computing machines, appropriate data structures, and algorithms. Many journals are related to algorithms and respective real-life uses, but not specific for CP. Currently, 19+ online coding platforms support 30+ programming languages. The top MNCs like [FAANG](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/faang-stocks.asp) also support CP and hire thousands of engineers proficient in CP. CP's scope is to test and improve analytical, mathematical, and problem-solving abilities and not necessarily the real-life problems. Much of the content related to CP present on the internet is redundant and scattered because of many websites, repositories, videos, and blogs managed by public and private communities, clubs, and organizations. All platforms are open for general discussions but lag an accepted peer-review process due to which a lot of content is either incomplete or incorrect. These scenarios make it difficult for someone who has developed a new algorithm and aims to publish it in a centralized peer-reviewed journal used and contributed to by everyone with open access. The author's rights and the credits for inventing new algorithms or new computing methods should be protected using a recognized journal whose scope is CP. Ahire, Deepak tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/782 2020-09-11T12:34:34Z 2021-02-08T04:20:56Z "I am the law!" - The empirical link between lawyer-lawmakers and legal cost/burden https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4047642 For better or worse, a large part of the politicians sitting in national/regional parliaments or similar positions of power are trained law professionals. As lawmakers, they have the unique opportunity to influence the amount of available work for their own profession (particularly if they don't intend to give up all legal practice when they are first elected). A hairdresser cannot mandate more haircuts, neither can a football club owner require people to go watch his team more often. But a lawyer-lawmaker has the opportunity to influence all kinds of policies in order to both (i) limit the competition within his profession (e.g. by requiring a notary to be present for various transactions, controlling the stringency of the bar exam etc.) and (ii) increase the demand for legal services (e.g. through regulations with high compliance costs, and generally increasing the number of regulations). It would be interesting to examine this issue empirically, e.g. by comparing legislative outcomes in settings where more participating lawmakers have a potential personal business interests to outcomes where this is not the case. Some food for thought, though (to my knowledge) not linked directly to national legislation: Why do more than 80% of candidates pass all steps of the medical exam on the first attempt (https://www.usmle.org/performance-data/), while first-attempt pass rates for the bar exam are much lower (<50% in some states - https://lawschooli.com/bar-exam-pass-rate-by-state/). Is it harder to be a lawyer than to be a doctor? Or is the industry more interested/successful in limiting competition than the medical profession? Roesti, Matthias tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/777 2020-08-22T10:09:02Z 2020-08-23T06:00:28Z Excessive sitting time as predictor of COVID-19 severity https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3996048 A large body of recent research has identified that excessive time spent sitting down is a major risk factor for mortality from all causes and that it directly contributes to a range of health issues prevalent in first-world countries. Many of those health issues have also been identified as significant co-morbidities contributing to mortality in COVID-19 patients. One can infer that in aggregate, amount of time spent sitting will be a good predictor of COVID-19 mortality. This would be expected even in the absence of diagnosed co-morbidities because multiple of those risk factors are likely to be present at sub-clinical levels in individuals who sit excessively. It is further hypothesized that the direct contribution of sitting to conditions conducive to blood clots will have a synergistic effect with COVID-19’s mechanisms for coagulopathy, resulting in clot formation in excess of what would be expected by adding those two risk contributions. Stacey, Neil tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/776 2020-08-08T15:45:17Z 2021-03-09T03:53:44Z Breadth, Depth and Integration: The Three Dimensions of the Polymathy Construct https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3977159 At the core of the polymathy construct is the person's relationship with knowledge in three dimensions: depth, breadth and integration. Depth refers to expertise and to the cumulative penetration into certain subjects of interest (in which society circumscribes within domains). It entails [knowledge components](/ideas/ffab4037c166cc20b1aebfadb090f205) (epistemic, technical and practical) that one “samples” from society, and the knowledge and expertise that one “composes” from their unique experiences and turns into self-made knowledge (Gabora, 2016). When depth is absent, dilettancy should be used instead of polymathy. Breadth refers to the latitude (also extension or comprehensiveness) of knowledge and to its diversity. Latitude entails covering several domains (as currently organized by society) whereas diversity entails knowledge in unrelated domains. More (sub-)domains and less typical combinations increase one's breadth score. Thus, developing typical arrays of expertise, well-circumscribed within a single domain, underscores specialism, not polymathy. Integration refers to the capacity of developing connectedness and synergies among sufficiently profound and diverse ideas, activities, worldviews, styles, and modes of thinking or operation. Integration happens at the (i) ideational, (ii) personal, and (iii) societal levels: (i) involves trans-contextualism, and the synergistic command of different modes of thinking (e.g., analytic and intuitive); (ii) involves developing synergistic networks of enterprise (Gruber, 1988), or integrated activity sets (Dewey, 1934); (iii) involves creativity through integrative themes and informed, reflective and consequential actions (Bildung; [Michael Araki](/users/7e5ab981b273ead711a70ba889e65ff0)), or the examination, enlargement, and posterior enrichment of the world (Camus, 1942). Araki, Michael tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/775 2020-07-24T15:29:10Z 2020-07-26T06:00:57Z Dual-Role Actor- A Fresh Look At Bootlegger and Baptists Dynamics https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3960398 Bruce Yandle’s concept of Bootleggers and Baptists explains how seemingly opposing groups/individuals join forces for a single cause. The Bootleggers stand to gain from advocating the assumed policy position. The Baptists provide moral justification for the policy stance. It is always assumed that these seemingly impossible coalitions need to be comprised of two factions. However, why can’t a single group or individual be a Bootlegger and a Baptist? The individual or group assuming a “dual-actor” role in supporting a specific position. The idiomatic expression “it takes two to tango” is not a hard and fast rule for Bootleggers and Baptists coalition building dynamics. A single economic agent can possess multiple motives for their actions, opinions, or desires. The possibility of subordinate motives lurking the background provides some credence to this postulation. For example, an individual can donate to charity out of concern for the poor. Simultaneously, also want to donate to charity because it fosters a positive public image. Making the philanthropic citizen both a Bootlegger and Baptist. This alignment of opposing motives is analogous to a coalition being formed between the psychoanalytical ID and Superego. This can apply to individuals and the aggregate motives of the group. Clark, Peter tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/773 2020-07-21T03:24:19Z 2020-07-21T06:01:44Z Explanation for spheno-ethmoid contact on the organ-crowded hominoid anterior cranial floor https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3953298 The anterior cranial floor is variably configured in primates. The [sphenoid and ethmoid bones contact each other](https://www.worldcat.org/title/mans-place-among-the-mammals/oclc/1463021) in strepsirrhines, orangutans, and modern humans, whereas a [horizontal plate of frontal bone](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3031137?seq=1) interrupts spheno-ethmoid contact in Old World monkeys, lesser apes, and, more variably, in New World monkeys and African great apes. Frontal contribution to the midline anterior cranial floor has been tied to [differential growth of the brain and orbits](https://www.worldcat.org/title/mans-place-among-the-mammals/oclc/1463021), [developmental competition for space](https://books.google.com/books/about/Trait%C3%A9_d_anatomie_humaine_Nouvelle_%C3%A9di.html?id=GiLocQAACAAJ), [upper facial prognathism](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1330010208), and [size of the supraorbital ridges](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6093349M/Evolution_emerging). In anthropoids, the jugum sphenoidale and cribriform plate scale isometrically with brain size but total anterior cranial floor length scales with negative allometry, leaving [insufficient room for frontal contribution to the midline at larger brain sizes](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248400904469). These allometric “spatial packing” limitations may explain secondarily-derived spheno-ethmoid contact in large-brained African apes, but the underlying scaling relationships need to be tested intraspecifically. Spheno-ethmoid contact in orangutans, on the other hand, may be the byproduct of crowding a [large](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248401905378?via%3Dihub), [projecting](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248410002034?via%3Dihub) temporal lobe and [dorsally-rotated cribriform plate](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1330010208) onto the endocranial surface. These ideas are consistent with the hypothesis that spheno-ethmoid contact at the level of the anterior cranial floor is not developmentally homologous in small- and large- brained primates. McCarthy, Robert tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/772 2020-07-17T17:33:45Z 2020-07-19T06:01:12Z Contagious yawning as a cure for hiccups https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3951203 [Numerous treatments](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1477559/) have been proposed for the relief of persistent or intractable hiccups, i.e., cases in which hiccups last for several days or up to two months or longer. Some of these treatments include [medication](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2314596/), [acupuncture](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16399541/), [vagus nerve stimulation](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15926725/), and even [rectal massages](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2299306/). Hiccups that fail to reach such extreme duration are far more common, yet remain irritating and famously lack a cure. Here, I propose (contagious) yawning as a candidate. In particular, I hypothesize that the extended stretching and lowering of the diaphragm during yawning, which cannot be replicated simply with deep breathing, could disrupt the spasmodic contractions of the diaphragm and inspiratory intercostal muscles that characterize [hiccups](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1477559/). This hypothesis is consistent with the longstanding [idea](https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674284135) (traced back to the time of Plato) that bouts of sneezing can stop hiccups, since sneezing is thought to be a derived feature of yawning. Sneezes and yawns have [similar motor patterns](https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674284135), including an initial long inspiration, tilting of the head, gaping of the jaw, and an exhalation. Unlike sneezing, however, yawning has the advantage of being reliably triggered through contagion by viewing, hearing, and/or thinking about yawns. Gallup, Andrew tag:beta.briefideas.org,2005:Idea/769 2020-06-13T20:02:30Z 2020-09-16T07:58:32Z O mimetismo em sala de aula, solução para ensino e aprendizagem https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3951201 Quando nos deitamos sobre a questão da aprendizagem damos com vários bloqueios, quer nos métodos ou sistemas que estão sendo usados salas de aulas pelo mundo. Teóricos buscam e desenvolvem implicitamente pesquisas e técnicas a cada novo momento social, nova temporalidade ou modernidade, ligados as alterações que suas sociedades sofrem e refletem diretamente em seus trabalhos de pesquisa, que é muito comum para todos os pesquisadores principalmente na área do ensino e aprendizagem. Os resultados dessas pesquisas pouco importam aonde foram feitas, se em uma escola pública do ensino fundamental ao ensino médio, como em uma universidade ou curso técnico e acabam demonstrando a necessidade de mudanças novas adaptações. Em nossa pesquisa também apareceu tudo isso que descoremos acima, mas o que nos chamou atenção é que "a mudança", sua ação e necessidade é em sua maioria das vezes deixada de lado Assim nós propomos uma análise histórico da mudança e as alterações e suas adaptações como parte da mudança no ensino e aprendizagem, que demos o nome de mimetismo, isto é, independente de onde venha a mudança o professor e alunos tem que se adaptar a ela e temos que facilitar isso, facilitar o mimetismo em sala de aula da Fonseca, Paulo Roberto