Weekly QuEST Discussion Topics and News, 5 Sept

1.)  The first topic has to do with the current debate on ISIS / ISIL – we want to wrap in a few extra points that came up last week – and integrate them into the ‘think piece’ – specifically the connection to things like Ferguson Mo and also Rik W brought up the mechanisms used in Bee Hives to keep them healthy (how they eliminate the old / sick / weak.  So I again want to discuss is there a common theme that is consistent with our think piece –  Fighting an Adaptable foe.  Specifically the common issues in fighting in cyber, fighting the war on cancer and the fight against terrorism – now adding the mechanisms nature uses to maintain healthy societies like beehives and also social unrest like Ferguson Mo.  Recall our interest in this topic started by an article in the area of the fight against cancer the basic idea — still in the experimental stages — is that cancer cells cannot turn into a lethal tumor without the cooperation of other cells nearby. That may be why autopsies repeatedly find that most people who die of causes other than cancer have at least some tiny tumors in their bodies that had gone unnoticed.  *** in fact confirms matt’s brothers observation – and the lung cancer observation – that found as many lung cancers in nonsmokers although clearly more smokers die from lung cancer *** According to current thinking, the tumors were kept in check, causing no harm. … It also may mean that cancers grow in part because normal cells surrounding them allowed them to escape. It also means that there might be a new way to think about treatment: cancer might be kept under control by preventing healthy cells around it from crumbling.  *** this is the provide security and safety strategy approach to asymmetric war ***…“Think of it as this kid in a bad neighborhood,” said Dr. Susan Love, a breast cancer surgeon and president of the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation. “You can take the kid out of the neighborhood and put him in a different environment and he will behave totally differently.” We also had to point of using insecticides attack pests in agriculture.

2.)   The second topic is we’ve recently had an open technical workshop on Sensing as a Service.  As part of that workshop we developed a list of actionable characteristics of SaaS solutions.  A discussion of where QuEST can impact these efforts would be interesting. 

3.)  The last topic, if we make it to it, is associated with our recent discussions on ‘big data’.  Over the last couple of weeks we’ve developed a  position of where/how QuEST fits with respect to big data efforts.  I would like to have a discussion on the walk-aways on big-data in general and specifically on QuEST and big data.  To have that discussion I would like to review ‘big data’ material we’ve reviewed over the last couple of years and pull it all together so people can catch up and comment.

Weekly QuEST Discussion Topics and News 5 Sept