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The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, carried out in Macon, Alabama, from 1932 to 1972, is a notorious episode in the checkered history of medical experimentation. In one of the most economically disadvantaged parts of the U.S., researchers deceived a group of 399 black male syphilitics into participating in a study with no therapeutic value. These "volunteers" were not treated as patients, but rather as experimental subjects, or walking cadavers. ...more
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Insurance provides significant risk management to a broad public, and is an essential tool for promoting human welfare. By pooling large numbers of independent or low-correlated risks, insurance providers can minimize overall risk. The risk management is tailored to individual circumstances and reflects centuries of insurance industry experience with real risks and with moral hazard and selection bias issues. Probability theory and statist...more
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In this lecture, Professor Kagan continues to discuss the constitution of Athens. In particular, he explores the judicial workings of Athens. He describes in detail the effort of the Athenians to create a system of justice that would not only minimize tampering, in order to insure justice, but also maximize citizen participation. After this discussion, Professor Kagan comments on the role of women in Athens by looking at two types of sourc...more
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The discussion of Machiavelli's politics continues in the context of his most famous work, The Prince. A reformer of the moral Christian and classical concepts of goodness and evil, Machiavelli proposes his own definitions of virtue and vice, replacing the vocabulary associated with Plato and the biblical sources. He relates virtue, or virtu, to manliness, force, ambition and the desire to achieve success at all costs. Fortune, or fortuna,...more
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Understanding conformational relationships makes it easy to draw idealized chair structures for cyclohexane and to visualize axial-equatorial interconversion. After quantitative consideration of the conformational energies of ethane, propane, and butane, cyclohexane is used to illustrate the utility of molecular mechanics as an alternative to quantum mechanics for estimating such energies. To give useful accuracy this empirical scheme requ...more
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This lecture brings experiment to bear on the previous theoretical discussion of bonding by focusing on hybridization of the central atom in three XH3 molecules. Because independent electron pairs must not overlap, hybridization can be related to molecular structure by a simple equation. The "Umbrella Vibration" and the associated rehybridization of the central atom is used to illustrate how a competition between strong bonds and stable at...more
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Dominic Orr, CEO of Aruba Networks, reflects on sources of advice and guidance in his role as CEO. Orr highlights the importance of a rigorous board and advisors to challenge his thinking. However, Orr also speaks about his use of psychological counselors to help his executive team work together as effectively as possible. He suggests that this effort is vital because although there are many talented individuals in Silicon Valley, helping ...more
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The lecture focuses on the question of the metaphysical key to personal identity. What does it mean for a person that presently exists to be the very same person in the future? The first approach to answering this question is the "soul theory," that is, the key to being the same person is having the same soul. Difficulties with that approach are then discussed, independent of the question whether souls exist or not.
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Armen Berjikly, Founder and CEO of Experience Project, discusses how to build a start-up team, a task that he argues is critical for success. Berjikly suggests building a team of people with complementary skills by reaching out through personal networks and in some cases recruiters. On the other hand, he suggests that entrepreneurs avoid hiring from sites such as Craigslist or other sources where it is difficult to verify someone's skills.
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Nick Earl, General Manager of Electronic Arts Redwood Shores Studio, talks about how the General Manager's job is to run one of EA's six studios, which are the places where they actually build the product. The GM administers and manages the portfolio of products at the site. Each product is then run by an executive producer. The executive producers are entrepreneurs in their own right and the products are managed almost like independent v...more
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In the Apology, Socrates proposes a new kind of citizenship in opposition to the traditional one that was based on the poetic conception of Homer. Socrates' is a philosophical citizenship, relying on one's own powers of independent reason and judgment. The Crito, a dialogue taking place in Socrates' prison cell, is about civil obedience, piety, and the duty of every citizen to respect and live by the laws of the community.
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Verma talks about how Savi was approached by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA has a small business research innovation program which awards grants to newer companies, and while the money comes with the requisite governmental red tape, it also allows companies to retain ownership of the business.
