Complexity Digest 2003.04

27-Jan-2003

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Content

  1. World Economic Forum, Summaries and Webcasts
    1. Divided We Stand???, Orgnet.com
  2. Creating a Culture of Ideas, Technology Review
    1. The Knowledge Economy and the Athenian Democratic Ideal, Harvard Business Review Article
    2. Time for a Radical New Look at Teams, European Business Forum
  3. IBM Aims To Get Smart About Artificial Intelligence, KurzweiAI.net
    1. Scientists Giddy About the Grid, Wired News
    2. Artificial Chemistry's Global Dynamic. Movements in the Lattice of Organisation, HC2002
    3. Research Centre Adds New Dimensions To Virtual Reality, Alphagalileo
  4. Self-Organization of Sorted Patterned Ground, Science
    1. On Patterned Ground, Science
  5. Aerial Imagery To Overcome Economic, Environmental Challenges, ScienceDaily
    1. Genetically Modified Crops Offer Hope For Endangered Wildlife, Proc. Biol. Sc.
  6. New Species Of Flying Dinosaur Found, The San Francisco Chronicle
    1. Wing-Assisted Incline Running and the Evolution of Flight, Science
  7. Contrasting Evolutionary Strategies In A Population Of Bottlenose Dolphins, Proc. Biol. Sc. Press Release
    1. Wild Female Baboons Bias Their Social Behaviour Towards Paternal Half-Sisters, Proc. Biol. Sc.
    2. Genetic Biases For Showy Males: Are Some Genetic Systems Especially Conducive To Sexual Selection?,, PNAS
    3. Calif. Penguins Swim In Mock Migration To Nowhere, Reuters
  8. Arctic Whales Dive For Science, New Scientist
  9. Establishing Mutual-Belief Among Cooperative Agents, Int. J. Pattern Recognition & Artificial Intell.
  10. Bone Marrow Generates New Neurons In Human Brains, ScienceDaily
  11. Telomeres And Cancer: A Tale With Many Endings, Current Opinion in Genetics & Development
  12. Immunology: Mobilizing The Army, Nature
  13. Ink-Jet Printing Creates Tubes Of Living Tissue, New Scientist
  14. 3-D RNA Folds and Molds Like a Key for a Specialized Work, NYTimes
    1. RNA Trades Bit Part for Starring Role in the Cell, Andrew Pollack, NYTimes
  15. Neuroscience: White Matter's the Matter, Science
  16. Hormesis: The Dose-Response Revolution, Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol.
  17. Getting a Closer Look at the Eye, Wired News
  18. Development: What Makes an Embryo Stick?, Science
    1. Secrets of Embryo Success Revealed, BBC news
    2. Secrets of Ageing Revealed, BBC news
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. U.N. Security Council Meeting on Combatting Terrorism
    2. Researchers Urged to Self-Censor Sensitive Data, Science
    3. Economic Statecraft in an Age of Global Terrorism, Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Brookings Institution Press
    4. Nanotechnology: The Potential For New WMD, Jane's
    5. Smallpox Vaccine Choice Raises Questions, AP/Newsday
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Papers
    2. Coming and Ongoing Webcasts
    3. Conference Announcements
      1. Public Conference Calls
    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test

  1. World Economic Forum, Summaries and Webcasts Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The 33rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum takes place during an extraordinary climate of global uncertainty and complexity. The past year witnessed the breakdown of trust in many sectors of society. Restoring confidence in the future is the most important leadership challenge today. Consequently, Building Trust, the theme of the Annual Meeting, is more timely than ever. For many corporate leaders, leadership today means coping with the hangover from the boom years, managing overcapacity, realizing the benefits from industry consolidation and adjusting to new corporate governance standards, while navigating a difficult economic climate.
    • Source: See also World Social Forum#ref_link http://www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/home.asp, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 03/01/23-28

    1. Divided We Stand???, Orgnet.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: ...) two books are linked if they were bought together at a major retailer on the web. I call these books -- purchased together -- 'buddy books'. A link was drawn if either book of a pair listed the other as a buddy. The data made public by the retailer shows just the 'best buddies' -- the strongest ties. Other patterns may emerge with investigation of weaker ties. The data was gathered January 2003. Using snowball sampling -- following the connections between books -- two distinct clusters emerge. There is only one book that spans both clusters. Lightly-connected books, with two links or less, were removed. None of the removed books played a key role in the network -- they were satellites, on the periphery of one of the clusters.
      Prof Klaus Schwab, host of the meeting, explains the world, its problems and opportunities using complexity principles using different terminology.

  2. Creating a Culture of Ideas, Technology Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: I am especially concerned about early education, which can (and usually does) have a profoundly negative effect on creativity. In the race to understand what children learn, we are far too enthusiastic about celebrating their successes. What is more fascinating is what children do wrong. Even the concept of "wrong" should get some attention. Though the wind is not made by leaves flapping, as some children guess, the theory is sufficiently profound that it should not be dismissed out of hand. In fact, disassembling erroneous concepts is one of the best ways to find new ideas.

    1. The Knowledge Economy and the Athenian Democratic Ideal, Harvard Business Review Article Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Description: We live in a knowledge economy. The core assets of the modern business enterprise aren't its buildings, machinery, and real estate, but the intelligence, understanding, skills, and experience of its employees. Harnessing the capabilities and commitment of knowledge workers is arguably the central managerial challenge of our time. Unfortunately, it is a challenge that has not yet been met. Corporate ownership structures, governance systems, and incentive programs--despite the enlightened rhetoric of business leaders--remain firmly planted in the industrial age. (...) The Athenian model of organizational democracy offers a window into how sizable groups of people can, in an atmosphere of dignity and trust, successfully govern themselves without resorting to a stifling bureaucracy.

    2. Time for a Radical New Look at Teams, European Business Forum Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: "Teams are back in fashion. It is not that organisations have done without them, but the see-saw between motivating and developing the individual, on the one hand, and teams on the other, is swinging noticeably back towards the latter. One reason for this is that almost all organisations are becoming more projectdriven and therefore need people to be able to form and work well in ad hoc alliances. Another is the recognition that knowledge - increasingly a key competence for organisations - is stored largely in teams, rather than just in individuals."

  3. IBM Aims To Get Smart About Artificial Intelligence, KurzweiAI.net Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In the coming months, IBM will unveil technology that it believes will vastly improve the way computers access and use data by unifying the different schools of thought surrounding artificial intelligence. IBM's Unstructured Information Management Architecture (UIMA) is an XML-based data retrieval architecture that will expand and enhance the retrieval techniques underlying databases.

    1. Scientists Giddy About the Grid, Wired News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Users both big and small will be able to tap into the powers of supercomputers,(...). Astronomers are working on a kind of virtual universe that will offer access to all astronomy knowledge. And NASA is using the grid to blend supercomputer simulations of the various parts of a commercial airplane engine into one giant simulation.(...) With all the resources being thrown at grid computing, the day may come when scientists "will exchange information not by publication of papers, but by the instantaneous exchange of information (...).

    2. Artificial Chemistry's Global Dynamic. Movements in the Lattice of Organisation, HC2002 Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: As artificial life is the study of life as it could be, artificial chemistry can be seen as the study of chemistry as it could be. In such systems molecules interact to generate new molecules, possibly different from the original ones. Here, we will focus on a general theoretical approach to study artificial chemistries. In this approach we consider the set of all possible organisations (closed and self­maintaining sets) in an artificial chemistry. (...) this set generates a lattice. We consider the dynamical movement of a system in this lattice, under the influence of its inner dynamic and random noise. We notice that some organisations, while being algebraically closed, are not stable under the influence of random external noise. While others, while being algebraically self­maintaining, do not dynamically self­maintain all their elements. This leads to a definition of attractive organisations.

    3. Research Centre Adds New Dimensions To Virtual Reality, Alphagalileo Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The pioneering Virtual Engineering Centre (...) will enable researchers to study complex technological systems not just with their eyes and ears, but through an array of senses, including touch and smell (...) with a simulated environment, offering boundless opportunities in many fields such as industry and medicine. Powerful computer clusters connected by a broadband network, modern imaging and sensing technologies as well as sophisticated software replicate situations that are both multi-dimensional and multi-sensory. Goggles and special gloves ensure that researchers can explore their surroundings and experience feedback of pressure, weight and textural information.

  4. Self-Organization of Sorted Patterned Ground, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Striking circular, labyrinthine, polygonal, and striped patterns of stones and soil self-organize in many polar and high alpine environments. These forms emerge because freeze-thaw cycles drive an interplay between two feedback mechanisms. First, formation of ice lenses in freezing soil sorts stones and soil by displacing soil toward soil-rich domains and stones toward stone-rich domains. Second, stones are transported along the axis of elongate stone domains, which are squeezed and confined as freezing soil domains expand. In a numerical model implementing these feedbacks, circles, labyrinths, and islands form when sorting dominates; (...).

    1. On Patterned Ground, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The self-organization perspective of Kessler and Werner (1) paper brings up some interesting questions. If self-organized entities are widespread in Earth's most desolate environments, are the milder climes teeming with them unnoticed? Is self-organization as inevitable as gravity? Self-organization entails self-making and self-maintaining, and these are characteristics of living things. So where is the division? And do self-organized entities compete with each other for growing space and for the energy flows that sustain them? For instance, do sorted circles and polygons somehow fight it out for possession?

  5. Aerial Imagery To Overcome Economic, Environmental Challenges, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Today's wheat growers face many economic and environmental challenges, but arguably their greatest challenge is the efficient use of fertilizer. Growers need to apply nitrogen-based fertilizer in sufficient quantities to achieve the highest possible crop yields without over-applying - a situation that could lead to serious environmental effects. In wheat, a critical factor comes down to timing in order to determine how efficiently plants will use nitrogen fertilizer. To assist wheat growers, scientists at North Carolina State University recently developed (...) Remote sensing - a relatively new technology to today's modern agriculture that uses aerial photography and satellite imagery.

    1. Genetically Modified Crops Offer Hope For Endangered Wildlife, Proc. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: In the first piece of research into how genetically modified (GM) herbicide tolerant crops could be used to benefit the environment, (...) show that creative use of GM crops could bring back increasing numbers of endangered wildlife and birds such as skylarks and finches. The research is based on a new weed-management system for GM sugar beet, demonstrating that weeds can be retained for longer without affecting the crop yield. The weeds and associated insects provide vital food and habitats for the farmland birds and other wildlife, which have dramatically declined as a result of intensive farming systems.

  6. New Species Of Flying Dinosaur Found, The San Francisco Chronicle Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Fossils of a four-winged, feathered dinosaur that lived in trees and glided to earth to seize its prey have been unearthed in China, a find that American scientists say could revolutionize the long debate over the origin of flight in birds. Many key questions remain about just where these unique beasts fit along the evolutionary path from dinosaurs to modern birds, but scientists have never seen their like before and are already speculating about the aerodynamics of the dinosaurs' strange anatomy. (...)

    1. Wing-Assisted Incline Running and the Evolution of Flight, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Flapping wings of galliform birds are routinely used to produce aerodynamic forces oriented toward the substrate to enhance hindlimb traction. Here, I document this behavior in natural and laboratory settings. Adult birds fully capable of aerial flight preferentially employ wing-assisted incline running (WAIR), rather than flying, to reach elevated refuges (such as cliffs, trees, and boulders). (...) WAIR provides insight from behaviors observable in living birds into the possible role of incipient wings in feathered theropod dinosaurs and offers a previously unstudied explanation for the evolution of avian flight.

  7. Contrasting Evolutionary Strategies In A Population Of Bottlenose Dolphins, Proc. Biol. Sc. Press Release Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Male bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay form complex alliances to sexually coerce females. In one strategy, males form stable pairs or trios (primary alliances) with related males (...). In the second strategy - a large secondary 'super-alliance' of up to 14 males with highly labile primary alliances - males are not related. Participants in stable primary alliances may benefit because of relatedness, while the size of the super-alliance may allow individuals to hold their own in competition with dolphins engaging in the first strategy. These findings add a further layer of complexity to our understanding of dolphin social behaviour.

    1. Wild Female Baboons Bias Their Social Behaviour Towards Paternal Half-Sisters, Proc. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: In many primate species, adult females exhibit strong social bonds with maternal kin (animals to whom they are related through their mother). Much less is understood about their behaviour towards paternal kin. Similarly, little is known about how paternal kin might recognize each other in social systems where males interact very little with their offspring, which are usually sired with different females. Here we show that wild female baboons bias their affiliative behaviour towards paternal half-sisters in the same manner and to the same extent that they bias their behaviour towards maternal half-sisters.

    2. Genetic Biases For Showy Males: Are Some Genetic Systems Especially Conducive To Sexual Selection?,, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Male secondary sexual characters (conspicuous ornaments, signals, colors) are among nature's most striking features. Yet, it is unclear why certain groups of organisms are more likely than others to evolve these traits. One explanation for such taxonomic biases is that some genetic systems may be especially conducive to sexual selection(...) We also present empirical data showing that male secondary sexual characters are better developed in diploid than haplodiploid species (...). Thus, taxonomic biases for showy males may stem from differences in sex chromosome systems.

    3. Calif. Penguins Swim In Mock Migration To Nowhere, Reuters Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The penguins at the San Francisco Zoo are swimming around in circles for hours at a time because they have been bamboozled by six new birds into performing a mock migration, officials said on Thursday. The marathon began late last month when the newcomers joined the colony, leaving the zoo's penguin keeper Jane Tollini scratching her head as to how the birds from an Ohio theme park, convinced the 46 others to start in with the frenzied swimming.

  8. Arctic Whales Dive For Science, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Ocean scientists have recruited wild arctic whales to their team to probe the waters deep beneath an Arctic island fjord for the first time. Sensors attached to the backs of the whales collected data as they dived deep beneath the fjord. The data was relayed back to the researchers via a satellite link each time the whales surfaced. The sensors revealed a previously unknown influx of warm North Atlantic water beneath the Storfjorden Svalbard Arctic fjord during the winter months.

  9. Establishing Mutual-Belief Among Cooperative Agents, Int. J. Pattern Recognition & Artificial Intell. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Mutual-belief is one important premise to ensure that cooperation among multiple agents goes smoothly. In this paper, we adapt a method based on the position-exchange principle (PEP) to reason about mutual-belief among agents. By reasoning about mutual-belief among agents, we can judge whether cooperation among agents can go on rationally or not. However, if there are malicious agents involved in cooperation, the profit of honesty agents will be injured. To make cooperation useful, agents should be able to reason about cheating behaviors of malicious agents during cooperation.

  10. Bone Marrow Generates New Neurons In Human Brains, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A new study strongly suggests that some cells from bone marrow can enter the human brain and generate new neurons and other types of brain cells. If researchers can find a way to control these cells and direct them to damaged areas of the brain, this finding may lead to new treatments for stroke, Parkinson's disease, and other neurological disorders. "This study shows that some kind of cell in bone marrow, most likely a stem cell, has the capacity to enter the brain and form neurons."

  11. Telomeres And Cancer: A Tale With Many Endings, Current Opinion in Genetics & Development Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Telomerase activity is necessary to maintain the integrity of telomeres, which in turn prevent chromosome ends from being processed and signaled as damaged DNA. That cancer cells rely on telomerase to maintain functional telomeres and to divide indefinitely has highlighted the potential for developing novel therapeutic approaches that target telomerase.

  12. Immunology: Mobilizing The Army, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Our bodies respond to injury and infection by mobilizing inflammatory cells, which, on reaching an afflicted area, kill microorganisms, eliminate any debris and regulate tissue repair. Neutrophils, which are generated in the bone marrow and circulate through the bloodstream, are the first such cells to arrive on the scene. Armed with potent protein-digesting enzymes and oxidants, neutrophils are consummate microbe killers. But if these cells accumulate and are activated in an uncontrolled way, they can cause excessive inflammation and injure the very tissues they are designed to protect.

  13. Ink-Jet Printing Creates Tubes Of Living Tissue, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Three-dimensional tubes of living tissue have been printed using modified desktop printers filled with suspensions of cells instead of ink. The work is a first step towards printing complex tissues or even entire organs.(...) The printers are adapted by washing out the ink cartridges and refilling them with suspensions of, say, cells. (...) To create 3D structures, Boland and Mironov used a "thermo-reversible" gel (...). The non-toxic, biodegradable gel is liquid below 20 ¢XC and solidifies above 32 ¢XC.

  14. 3-D RNA Folds and Molds Like a Key for a Specialized Work, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excertps: RNA is not only a tape, but a shape. Most scientists view RNA as a tape, a string of letters of the genetic code. The important thing is the information it holds. But it turns out that RNA can also fold into three-dimensional shapes that can bind to something like a protein by shape, as a key fits in a lock. That is important because proteins in a cell bind to one another by shape, and drugs often work by fitting into their target by shape.

    1. RNA Trades Bit Part for Starring Role in the Cell, Andrew Pollack, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In the family of genetic material, RNA has long been the poor cousin of DNA. DNA makes up the genes, the master instructions of life, while RNA merely conveys those instructions to other parts of the cell. But surprising new discoveries are showing that cells contain an army of RNA snippets that do much more than act as DNA's messenger. The discoveries are helping to refine the prevailing theories of genetics - or even upend them.

  15. Neuroscience: White Matter's the Matter, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Scientists have long known that connections somehow go awry in the brains of people with schizophrenia. Now advances in imaging and gene technology are allowing them to trace the axons that connect from neuron to neuron and make up the brain's white matter. (...) diffusion tensor technology, showing that the alignment of axons is askew in the frontal lobes of patients with schizophrenia. The new data comport with earlier observations from postmortem brains indicating that even though schizophrenia patients aren't short on brain cells, connecting fibers are sparse.

  16. Hormesis: The Dose-Response Revolution, Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Hormesis, a dose-response relationship phenomenon characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition, has been frequently observed in properly designed studies and is broadly generalizable as being independent of chemical/physical agent, biological model, and endpoint measured. This under-recognized and -appreciated concept has the potential to profoundly change toxicology and its related disciplines with respect to study design, animal model selection, endpoint selection, risk assessment methods, and numerous other aspects, including chemotherapeutics. This article indicates that as a result of hormesis, fundamental changes in the concept and conduct of toxicology and risk assessment should be made, including (a) the definition of toxicology, (b) the process of hazard (e.g., including study design, selection of biological model, dose number and distribution, endpoint measured, and temporal sequence) and risk assessment [e.g., concept of NOAEL (no observed adverse ! effect level), low dose modeling, recognition of beneficial as well as harmful responses] for all agents, and (c) the harmonization of cancer and noncancer risk assessment.
    • Source: Hormesis: The Dose-Response Revolution, Edward J. Calabrese - edwardcaschoolph.umass.edu, Linda A. Baldwin - lbaldwinaschoolph.umass.edu, Annu. Rev. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 2003. 43:175-197.

  17. Getting a Closer Look at the Eye, Wired News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Eye diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration often aren't discovered until a patient is well on his way to blindness. But a new imaging technology promises to deliver diagnoses at critical early stages. The technology, called adaptive optics, was originally developed for peering into outer space. It made headlines most recently for giving astronomers rare views of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. However, researchers studying the human eye are discovering the technology has applications in their field as well.

  18. Development: What Makes an Embryo Stick?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: How does an embryo know where and when to become attached to the lining of the uterus, which is accommodating for only a narrow window of time? Implantation of the embryo is a complex biological process that is species specific. In humans, successful implantation requires an orchestrated synchrony between an appropriately developed embryo and the hormonally primed receptive endometrium. In clinical medicine, the past two decades have seen a revolution in the treatment of infertility, yet embryo implantation still remains a major limiting factor in assisted reproductive therapies.

    1. Secrets of Embryo Success Revealed, BBC news Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Scientists may have found out what makes a human embryo stick to the wall of the womb and start developing. (...) Dr Roger Searle, director of anatomy and clinical skills at the University of Newcastle, UK,said: "It's a radical idea, which is gaining more support, that the embryo is actually communicating with the uterus. "It used to be thought that everything was down to the mother, but now it seems more likely that there is this dialogue going on."

    2. Secrets of Ageing Revealed, BBC news Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Scientists have found a way to measure the tiny mechanism within the body's cells which many believe may hold the key to the ageing process. (...) It is widely thought that the number of times a cell can divide - and thus reinvigorate tissue - is controlled by the length of a microscopic structure called a telomere. (...) Previously it has only been possible to establish an average telomere length from hundreds of thousands of cells. The new technique, called STELA, can measure telomere length in a single cell from any tissue sample.

  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. U.N. Security Council Meeting on Combatting Terrorism Next Article Bookmark and Share

    2. Researchers Urged to Self-Censor Sensitive Data, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Do it yourself--before the government does it to you. That's the advice U.S. bioscientists received last week at a workshop on developing guidelines to handle research findings that could threaten national security. The current debate over what kinds of biomedical research findings shouldn't be published began after the anthrax mail attacks in fall 2001. But it picked up steam after major scientific journals published papers containing data that critics said could aid terrorists. Science, (...) published a paper (...), showing how to assemble a working poliovirus from off-the-shelf chemicals.

    3. Economic Statecraft in an Age of Global Terrorism, Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Brookings Institution Press Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Policymakers will need all the tools at their disposal to craft an effective response to international terrorism and to protect and promote other U.S. interests in the coming decades. In this quest to shape the right strategies for the challenges ahead, economic instruments will play a central role.

    4. Nanotechnology: The Potential For New WMD, Jane's Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: While specialists agree that its widespread use by the military is some ways off, it is likely that it will be increasingly employed, especially as this new science develops. Under such monikers as "micromechanical engineering" and "microelectromechanical systems" (MEMS), the field of NT was born 30 years ago in nuclear weapons laboratories. Its present application has been to refine existing nuclear weapon designs. (...) Nanotechnology has the potential to create entirely new weapons. Fourth-generation nuclear weapons are new types of nuclear explosives that would use inertial confinement fusion (ICF) facilities.

    5. Smallpox Vaccine Choice Raises Questions, AP/Newsday Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Across the country, doctors, nurses and public health officials are making some hard choices about whether to get the smallpox shot for the good of the country. In the coming weeks, health care workers will be deciding whether to volunteer to be vaccinated so they can be ready to respond to a smallpox bioterrorist attack. The first shots will be given Friday in Connecticut, the first state ready with the vaccine. (...) Worries about the vaccine's fierce side effects and the threat that it may even sicken people near those vaccinated has prompted a number of nurses to refuse. (...)

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Science: Fickle Evolution: Winged, to Wingless, to Winged, Carol Kaesuk Yoon, NYTimes, 03/01/21, Researchers have reported evidence that wingless stick insects have re-evolved wings at least four times in the history of the group.
      2. New York Region: 11-Digit Local Dialing Starts in New York City on Feb. 1, Lydia Polgreen, NYTimes, 03/01/21, New Yorkers will have to start using an area code when calling a local telephone number, even if it is in the same area code.
      3. Health: Babies Pick Up Emotional Clues From TV, Experts Find, Erica Goode, NYTimes, 03/01/21, Even young babies can be influenced by emotional messages delivered through a television screen.
      4. Business: Doubling Up of Taxation Isn't Limited to Dividends, Daniel Altman, NYTimes, 03/01/21, Corporate dividends are not the only kind of income that is taxed twice. Other taxes create a double, triple or even quintuple burden.
      5. Disordered Mind And Brain, P. C. Fletcher,Brain 2003 February 1; 126(2): p. 510-511, book report on: Disordered Mind And Brain, Peter F. Liddle, 2001. London: Gaskell Publications Dept, Price ¢FG40. pp. 320. ISBN 190124265X.
      6. Rewarding Work Through the Tax Code: The Power and Potential of the Earned Income Tax Credit in 27 Cities and Rural Areas, Alan Berube; Brookings Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, (January 2003)
      7. Least Effort And The Origins Of Scaling In Human Language, Ramon Ferrer i Cancho, Ricard V. Sole, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA published 22 January 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0335980100
      8. International: Refusal by French and Germans to Back U.S. on Iraq Has Undercut Powell's Position, Steven R. Weisman, NYTimes, 03/01/24, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell is described by associates as having less leverage to stop military action in an administration dominated by hawks and less inclination to try.
      9. Modular Organization Of Cellular Networks, Alexander W. Rives and Timothy Galitski, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA published 21 January 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0237338100
      10. Expression And Assembly Of A Fully Active Antibody In Algae, Stephen P. Mayfield, Scott E. Franklin, Richard A. Lerner, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2003 January 21; 100(2): p. 438-442
      11. Genetic Diversity, Asymmetrical Aggression, And Recognition In A Widespread Invasive Species, Neil D. Tsutsui, Andrew V. Suarez, Richard K. Grosberg, PNAS published 21 January 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0234412100
      12. A Review Of Electrophysiology In Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: I. Qualitative And Quantitative Electroencephalography, Robert J. Barry, Adam R. Clarke, Stuart J. Johnstone, Clinical Neurophysiology, 2003, 114:2171-183,
      13. A Review Of Electrophysiology In Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: II. Event-Related Potentials, Robert J. Barry, Stuart J. Johnstone, Adam R. Clarke, Clinical Neurophysiology, 2003, 114:2184-198
      14. Dipstick Gives Rapid Plague Diagnosis, NewScientist.com News Service, New Scientist, 1/17/03
      15. Spatiotemporal Coherent Control of Lattice Vibrational Waves, T. Feurer, Joshua C. Vaughan,Keith A. Nelson, p. 374
      16. Contributions of the Visual Ventral Pathway to Long-Range Apparent Motion, Yan Zhuo, Tian Gang Zhou, Heng Yi Rao, Jiong Jiong Wang, Ming Meng, Ming Chen, Cheng Zhou, and Lin Chen, Science 2003 299: 417
      17. Moving Stadium Dents Team Performance, Switching to a plush new home cuts the home advantage enjoyed by a sports team by a quarter which might just cost the championship
      18. US Officials Urge Biologists To Vet Publications For Bioterror Risk, Erika Check, Nature 421, 197 (2003); doi:10.1038/421197a
      19. Loss And Recovery Of Wings In Stick Insects, Michael F. Whiting - michael_whitingabyu.edu, Sven Bradler, Taylor Maxwell, Nature 421, 264 - 267 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01313
      20. Speciation Along Environmental Gradients, Michael Doebeli - doebeliazoology.ubc.ca, Ulf Dieckmann, Nature 421, 259 - 264 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01274.
      21. Parasitology:A Game of Cat and Mouth, Sarah K. Volkman, Daniel L. Hartl, Science 2003 299: 353-354
      22. Selective Pressures on Genomes in Molecular Evolution, Charles Ofria, Christoph Adami, Travis C. Collier, 2003-01-15, DOI: quant-ph/0301075, arXiv
      23. Deterministic and Stochastic Influences on Japan and US Stock and Foreign Exchange Markets. A Fokker-Planck Approach, K. Ivanova, M. Ausloos and H. Takayasu. arXiv. 2003-01-09
      24. Nonextensive Statistical Mechanics and Economics, Constantino Tsallis, Celia Anteneodo, Lisa Borland and Roberto Osorio. arXiv. 2003-01-09
      25. Power Market Dynamics: The Statistical Mechanics of Transaction-based Control, David P. Chassin. arXiv. 2003-01-09
      26. The Construction of Large Number Representations in Adults, Hilary Barth, Nancy Kanwisher, Elizabeth Spelke, 2003-01, DOI: 10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00178-6, Cognition 86(3):201-221
      27. Selective Pressures on Genomes in Molecular Evolution, Charles Ofria, Christoph Adami, Travis C. Collier, 2003-01-15, DOI: quant-ph/0301075, arXiv
      28. Evolutionary Coherence Of The Mammalian Amygdala, Barton, Aggleton & Grenyer, Proc. Biol. Sc., 2003/01/21, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2002.2276
      29. Sample Complexity For Function Learning Tasks Through Linear Neural Networks, A. H. Aguirre - hernandaaeecs.tulane.edu, C. Koutsougeras & B. Buckles, Int. J. Artificial Intell. Tools, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp:499-511, Dec. 2002, doi:10.1142/S0218213002001015
      30. Pose Estimation In Automated Visual Inspection Using ANN, S. Hati - subhasaizr.a-star.edu.sg, & S. Sengupta, , Int. J. of Neural Sys., Vol. 12, No. 6, pp:483-496, Dec. 2002, doi:10.1142/S0129065702001291
      31. Medical Image Compression Using JPEG-2000 And JPEG: A Comparison Study, O. T. Hui - thohammu.edu.my, C. Koutsougeras & B. Buckles, Int. J. Artificial Intell. Tools, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp:499-511, Dec. 2002, doi:10.1142/S0218213002001015
      32. Packet Transport On Scale-Free Networks, B. Tadic & G. J. Rodgers, Adv. in Complex Sys., Vol. 5, No. 4, pp:445-456, Dec. 2002, doi:10.1142/S021952590200064X
      33. Singing Concrete, O. Maksimenko - textmasterainformnauka.ru, Alphagalileo,2003/01/17
      34. Researchers Find Link Between Improved Memory And The Use Of Neurofeedback, T. Stephenson - at.stephensonaic.ac.uk, Alphagalileo, 2003/01/22
      35. Night Blindness May Explain Fear Of The Dark, E. Dickinson - edickinsonabmj.com, Night Blindness May Explain Fear Of The Dark, E. Dickinson,
      36. Research Project Promises Faster, Cheaper And More Reliable Microchips, ScienceDaily, 2003/01/20
      37. Scientists Find Geochemical Fingerprint Of World Trade Center Collapse, ScienceDaily, 2003/01/21
      38. Earth Likely Spared From One Form Of Cosmic Doom, ScienceDaily, 2003/01/22
      39. The Periodic Predator-Prey Lotka-Volterra Model With Impulsive Effect, S. Tang - tsyamath08.math.ac.cn, & L. Chen, J. of Mech. in Med. & Biol., Vol. 2, Nos. 3 & 4, pp:267-296 , Dec. 2002, doi:10.1142/S021951940200040X
      40. Incremental Learning In Biological And Machine Learning Systems, S. K. Chalup - chalupacs.newcastle.edu.au, Int. J. of Neural Sys., Vol. 12, No. 6, pp: 447-465, Dec. 2002, doi:10.1142/S0129065702001308
      41. Decision Making Using Hybrid Rough Sets And Neural Networks, Y. Hassan - y_fouadaintlab.toin.ac.jp, E. Tazaki, S. Egawa & K. Suyama, Int. J. of Neural Sys., Vol. 12, No. 6, pp:435-446, Dec. 2002, doi:10.1142/S012906570200131X

    2. Coming and Ongoing Webcasts Next Article Bookmark and Share


      1.2002 Financial Management Conference, 02/10/16-19

      2.The Center for Business Innovation Bi-Monthly Web Cast , 03/01/15, TOPIC: CBI Future Scan Version 6.0, WHO: David McIntosh, Director of the CBI Network

      3.. Artificial Life Conference (A-Life 8) , Sydney, Australia, 02/12/09-13

      4..Universes, Edge Video, 02/11

      5..Novel Properties of Nano-Materials Symposium , Natl Taiwan Normal Univ, 02/12/13-14

      6..Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary Ongoing Since February 1998

    3. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share


      1., Davos, Switzerland, 03/01/23-28

      2.      INSC 2003, International Nonlinear Sciences Conference Research and Applications in the Life Sciences Vienna, Austria, 03/02/07-09

      4.2003 AAAS Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, 03/02/13-18

      5.Complexity Science In Practice: Understanding & Acting To Improve Health and Health Care, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota USA, 03/03/21-22

      6.Fourth International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning (IDEAL'03) , Hong Kong, 03/03/21-23

      7.2003 AAAI Spring Symposium Series, Computational Synthesis: From Basic Building Blocks To High Level Functionality, Stanford, 03/03/24-27

      8.Jahrestagung 2003 des AKSOE (Physics of Socio-Economical Systems) ,Dresden, Germany, 03/03/24-28

      9.Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected , U. of Texas at Austin, Texas, 03/04/10-12

      10.7th Annual Swarm Researchers and Users Meeting (SwarmFest2003) ,Notre Dame, IN, 03/04/13-14

      11.Agent-Based Simulation 4, Montpellier, France, 03/04/28-30

      12.SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise , Santa Fe, NM, 03/06/01-04

      13.21st ICDE World Conf on Open Learning and Distance Education , Hong Kong, 03/06/01-05

      14.17th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS 2003) , San Diego, California, 03/06/10-13

      15.2003 Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SCSC '03) , Montreal, Canada, 03/06/20-24

      16.5th Intl Conf "Symmetry in Nonlinear Mathematical Physics" , Kiev, Ukraine, 03/06/23-29, Mirror

      17.9th International Conference on Auditory Display , Boston, MA, 03/07/07-09, Wkshp on Assistive Technologies for the Blind, 03/07/06

      18.2003 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2003) , Chicago, IL,03/07/12-16

      19.2nd Intl Joint Conf on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS-2003), Melbourne, Australia, 03/07/14-18

      20.7th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2003) , Orlando, Florida, 03/07/27-30

      21.13th Annual International Conference, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life Sciences, Boston, MA, USA, 03/08/08-10

      22.1st German Conference on Multiagent System Technologies (MATES'03) , Erfurt, Germany, 03/09/22-25

      23.2003 IEEE/WIC Intl Joint Conf. Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, Beijing, China, 03/10/13-17

      25.ICDM '03: The Third IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, Melbourne, Florida, USA, 03/11/19-22

      26.3rd International Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex System, Guangzhou, China, 03/11/29-30

      27.2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social Insects ,Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 03/12/15-17

      1. Public Conference Calls Next Article Bookmark and Share


        1. PlexusCalls - Pat Rush & Bob Lindberg in health concern conversation with Keith McCandless and Linda Rusch, 03/01/10, Audio File Available Now , mp3 (28mb)

        PlexusCalls - John Holland in Conversation - Audio File Available Now , mp3 (28mb)

        3. Are Disease and Aging Information/Complexity Loss Syndromes? , PlexusCalls, 02/11/08, 1 - 2 pm EST (To learn more about Ary Goldberger's work and HeartSongs , Music of the Heart. ) Audio File Available Now , mp3 (27mb)

        4. Brenda Zimmerman in Conversation - Audio File Available Now , mp3 (24mb)

        5. The Complexity of Entrepreneurship: A Launchcyte Story , PlexusCalls, 02/11/22, 1 - 2 pm EST

    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test Bookmark and Share

      We are in the process of upgrading the Complexity Digest archives to a format with improved search capabilities. Also, we will finally be able to adequately publish the valuable feedback and comments from our knowledgable readers. You are cordially invited to become a beta tester of our new ComDig2 archive .

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