5.10.2007
A Real Nice Algorithm
I just developed a real nice algorithm. It's incredibly simple. There's a series, arguments, a divisor (constant), and it can be derived a couple of different ways. Here's a hint: time is one of the elements. I'm trying to symbolically portray how the brain processes information - not for an academic paper, rather for a system function.
In the supply chain days, post-UPS: we once had a Operations Research professor at University of Michigan helping us out - Dr. Katta Murty. He would work on algorithms, say "Ah, I've developed a real nice algorithm!" then we would run down and get Indian food at an all-you can eat vegan Indian place. That was at the company's 1st office location. I also had another O.R. expert on my dissertation committee - Dr. Nabil Rageh, who was Egyptian - he was a manufacturing expert.
In the supply chain days, post-UPS: we once had a Operations Research professor at University of Michigan helping us out - Dr. Katta Murty. He would work on algorithms, say "Ah, I've developed a real nice algorithm!" then we would run down and get Indian food at an all-you can eat vegan Indian place. That was at the company's 1st office location. I also had another O.R. expert on my dissertation committee - Dr. Nabil Rageh, who was Egyptian - he was a manufacturing expert.
The Mechanics of Aging
Jacob Israel Avedon, photo by Richard Avedon
Why does aging occur? This question was recently asked in a descriptive piece in the New Yorker.
Aging really can be defined as molecular change (see article) mitigated by time. Others, for example, longevity researcher Aubrey DeGrey, posit a free-radical theory of human decline.
In something of a counterpoint, according to Dr. Ashford, a Stanford/VA scientist, "The problem is a species adaptation to an ecological niche with evolution occurring at all system levels of the organism including the social interactions between members of the species during the adaptation."
"Evolution and adaptation is ever continuing and may lead to a longer life for the organisms of the species, but it takes a long time. I think free-radicals are just part of life, carefully adapted into the living process, and you can’t just treat this molecular mechanism or any other one and expect to live forever. Look what happened to Roy Walford, the starvation for aging man, who ended up dying of leukemia at a younger age than his normal life-expectancy."
Labels: aging, alzheimers, free_radical
