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IgorCarron

86 karma · joined August 24, 2007

I run a blog on compressive sensing and advanced matrix factorization (collaborative filtering, ...) at: http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com
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IgorCarron··on Commercial quantum computer leaves PC in the dust
Let me make a simple observation here:

In the Paper of Catherine McGeoch and her co-author Cong Wang, they write:

"...As a case in point, our second project compares the V5 hardware chip used in our first study to a V6 chip that became operational after the study was completed. V6 is three to five times faster than V5, and can solve problems as large as n = 502...."

In other words, during the time it took to set up the algorithm and perform the study, Moore's law had been able to enable a classical approach to go five times faster. I am a big supporter of anything that does quantum computing but one should never lose sight of Moore's law.

http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com/2013/05/randomized-thoughts...

IgorCarron··on Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn as Science Peer Review Systems
Let me take the counterpoint: If peer review was a rubber stamping process then most journals or conference would publish most papers. Just take the journals and conferences I mentioned earlier and you'll see that their rejection stats are above 60-70% if not more.

With regard to the paper you mentioned http://jrsm.rsmjournals.com/content/99/4/178.full

You need to go beyond the title of the paper. Please read the whole paper you are referencing and then please tell me how the following extract is running opposite to what I mentioned earlier:

" Opening up peer review ...The final step was, in my mind, to open up the whole process and conduct it in real time on the web in front of the eyes of anybody interested. Peer review would then be transformed from a black box into an open scientific discourse. Often I found the discourse around a study was a lot more interesting than the study itself. Now that I have left I am not sure if this system will be introduced...."

The simple fact is you understand peer review to mean how it is currently employed i.e. one time process used in the pre-publication stage (you do the review before the paper is published). That type of peer review is flawed as some bad papers still go through the process. What is proposed is having an on-going peer review so that over time, only the stronger papers stand. It really is not difficult to understand.

IgorCarron··on Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn as Science Peer Review Systems
The position you take on the rubber stamping part of peer review is simply not serious at best in many areas of science and engineering. Ask anybody around you that has published in good journals or conferences. Hence I did not address this statement because it simply is not true. Try sending papers to ICML, Siggraph, SODA, Nature, etc, I doubt the peer reviews are performing any sorts of rubber stamping.

But once they have gone through that process and they are published it is simply very difficult to root out bad work given new data.

You might be aware of post publication peer review, yet, this model is not in use except through accidental replication exercises that sometimes uncover problems that eventually yield corrigendae or retraction. Currently it is very adhoc.

If you understand how science work beyond press releases, you'll know that the fraud and abuses will always be in the system. Post publication peer review is the only way to rooting out bad work that has been published or is in the preprint stage (I consder that if your preprint is out on arxiv or some other medium, it is in effect published).

Right now, for published papers, it is left as an exercise for journals to acknowledge they let some dubious work through. There is simply no economic incentive for a speedy process. If you read retractionwath.com often you'll notice that the current system is simply not regulating itself.

Open post publication peer review is a way to perform that function. Looking back it is formalizing the process by which people used to trust or not older work. It is also blurring the lines between preprints and published work since they are now under the same scrutiny.

I agree it is also less convenient for the press or the science press to be comfortable with this situation (post publication peer review) but Science becomes robust when it is clearly capable of rooting out bad work through processes like this one.

IgorCarron··on Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn as Science Peer Review Systems
You are mistaken because you are, like many others, confusing peer review with "pre- publication peer review", the act of your peers judging a manuscript before publication as is currently implemented.

The peer review that is allowed by the system I mention actually enables post publication peer review. The review of papers that are already public (either in some preprint or in some published form).

Right now the only mechanism that is allowed in terms of feedback in the pre-publication peer review model, is writing to the journal for a corrigendum, or even a retraction. As witnessed in retractionwatch.com blog, few are enthusiastic about publishing corrections to papers that have gone through their inefficient pre-publication peer review process. Not only it is inefficient but it also directly yield examples such as the ones you, rightfully, point to.

IgorCarron··on Prismatic launches a full redesign and shares their awesome design process
from the outside it looks great. But still can't run in on Chrome/XP or on iOS4.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: What are other "Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas"?
other ideas expressed on Quora:

http://www.quora.com/Startup-Ideas/What-are-other-Frightenin...

IgorCarron··on Ask HN: hardware startups, where to begin?
it looks like there is indeed some potential:

http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/07/the-manufacturing-future.ht...

IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Idea for a blog: whydontwehaveityet
agreed.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Idea for a blog: whydontwehaveityet
Yes this is good thing, but I think the issue is trying to understand how the technologies are maturing. TR doesn't follow through on most of the technologies it features.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Idea for a blog: whydontwehaveityet
It's a very nice idea actually. I'd contribute to it. What happens in most cases is that that one of the party (researchers, PR, ....) has oversold the potential product in the first place. Another part of the story is that in the process of maturing, or increasing their technology readiness levels (TRL) some technologies just don't make it because they do not find a niche market to evolve in and grow.
IgorCarron··on Wall Street’s Math Wizards Forgot a Few Variables
Left standing ? I am not sure.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/09/ny-times-lehman-post-...

IgorCarron··on Ask HN: What do you do to make sense of your thoughts over time?
Thanks. Once again it looks like one cannot be sophisticatged neither in the thought collection mode nor in the eventual growth of certain ideas.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: What do you do to make sense of your thoughts over time?
Nice solution. But in that process you don't really have a history or version control of this document.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: What do you do to make sense of your thoughts over time?
This is what mindmapper like freemind allow you to do. I am very much interested in hearing about the next step. When one has one or several mindmaps, how do these grow old ? do we see a larger mindmap of the smaller ones, something else ?
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: What do you do to make sense of your thoughts over time?
I am of the opinion that good ideas are generally the sum of worthwhile but small ideas and that there is in fact the need for "coagulate" these together to have something worth it.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: What do you do to make sense of your thoughts over time?
It's a shame.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: What do you do to make sense of your thoughts over time?
Nice solution, writing the thought or blogging about it is definitely a good way to anchor it in one's memory for future reuse.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: What do you do to make sense of your thoughts over time?
once a month you go through that month's folder, once the folder has been viewed what do you do with it ? do you put in the drawer file cabinet never to be seen again ?
IgorCarron··on Netflix Prize Update: New Team in First Place (deadline tomorrow)
Shouldn't a new result above 10 pct reset the clock with a new one month period ?
IgorCarron··on Ion engine could one day power 39-day trips to Mars
For a fusion device to work you need energy in first. In other words, you need a fission device first.

Igor.

IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Does this app exist ?
Yes it definitely has a money making business ability.
IgorCarron··on Ion engine could one day power 39-day trips to Mars
Yep,you need to go for nuclear on this one. Not that we have never done just that ( the US has flown one reactor in space while the Russians have flown up to thirty) rather, I don't see this option being exercised anytime soon as part of any space exploration programs.

Igor.

IgorCarron··on TechCrunch: Skating on Thin Ice
Aren't the situations a little asymmetrical or are they ? How much does a disruption in Twitter service affect people and how much a disruption in Techcrunch affect the internet economy.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Should I get U.S. citizenship?
You first need to be naturalized and then you can apply for a U.S. passport, but I am sure you knew that.

At the very least, you owe it to yourself to have a passport. In the meantime, you should to be asking one from the Russians as you ought to be or are still a citizen of that country.

IgorCarron··on Not up to norm
Additional info can also be found here: http://igorcarron.googlepages.com/cs

There is also the blog that features everything that is happening there:

http://nuit-blanche.blogspot.com/search/label/CS

Cheers,

Igor.

IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Adding 2 + 2 on the Cloud ?
Ok. Thank you.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Adding 2 + 2 on the Cloud ?
Looks like http://aws.amazon.com/elasticmapreduce/ seems to be doing that. I need to go through the getting started page.

Thanks.

Igor.

IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Adding 2 + 2 on the Cloud ?
AMI ?
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: Adding 2 + 2 on the Cloud ?
It means I get to pay for their computations. The intent is to bill them later on that service and other services.
IgorCarron··on Ask HN: An E-book that is also a PDF reader ?
On your Kindle 2, can you read math formula from scientific papers ? can you read easily two columns papers ?

Igor.

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