Complexity Digest 2003.13

31-Mar-2003

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Content

  1. Abrupt Climate Change, Science
    1. How To Slake A Planet's Thirst, Nature
    2. The World's Forgotten Crisis, Nature
    3. Meteorology: Getting The Wind Up, Nature
  2. The Politics Of Publication, Nature
  3. Fractal Company Structures Mastering New Challenges, Alphagalileo
    1. The Pentagon's Venture Capitalists, business2.0
  4. The Evolution Of Altruistic Punishment, PNAS
    1. Do Cheaters Ever Prosper? Just Ask Them, NYTimes
  5. The Economic Impact Of War With Iraq -Asymmetric Risks, Computers & Security
  6. Binding Events in a Global Brain: Example Data, arXiv
    1. Small-Worlds: A Review Of Recent Books, Networks
    2. Networks Untangled, Nature
  7. Gambling on Dopamine, Science
  8. Fujitsu Labs Applies Neural Networks To Robot Learning, Silicon Strategies
  9. New Method For Ecological Monitoring Based On Self-Organising Mathematical Models, Ecol. Modelling
  10. Algorithmic Clustering of Music, arXiv
  11. Good Foragers Can Also Be Good At Detecting Predators, Alphagalileo & Proc. B
    1. Human Specific Loss Of Olfactory Receptor Genes, PNAS
  12. Engineers Create World's First Transparent Transistor, SpaceDaily
    1. Trapped Ions Make Logic Gates, PhysicsWeb
  13. Smart Dust, ComputerWorld
    1. The Next Big Thing (Is Practically Invisible), The Christian Science Monitor
    2. Nanotech Improves Disease Detection, UPI News
  14. Scientists Find Chemical That Attracts Sperm to Egg, CBC News
  15. Genetic Mechanism Of Disease Is Discovered, Science Daily
  16. Link Between Immune Response And Parasite Synchronization In Malaria, PNAS
  17. Wave-Induced Sediment Transport and Sandbar Migration, Science
    1. Sandbars in Motion, Science
  18. On Multitasking In Parallel Chemical Processors: Experimental Findings, Int. J. Bifur. & Chaos
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Emergency Response To An Anthrax Attack, PNAS
    2. Email Traffic Patterns Can Reveal Ringleaders, New Scientist
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Coming and Ongoing Webcasts
    3. Conference Announcements
      1. Public Conference Calls
    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test

  1. Abrupt Climate Change, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Large, abrupt, and widespread climate changes with major impacts have occurred repeatedly in the past, when the Earth system was forced across thresholds. Although abrupt climate changes can occur for many reasons, it is conceivable that human forcing of climate change is increasing the probability of large, abrupt events. (...) Unpredictability exhibited near climate thresholds in simple models shows that some uncertainty will always be associated with projections. In light of these uncertainties, policy-makers should consider expanding research into abrupt climate change, improving monitoring systems, and taking actions designed to enhance the adaptability and resilience of ecosystems and economies.
    • Source: Abrupt Climate Change, R. B. Alley, J. Marotzke, W. D. Nordhaus, J. T. Overpeck, D. M., Peteet, R. A. Pielke, Jr., R. T. Pierrehumbert, P. B. Rhines, T. F., Stocker, L. D. Talley, and J. M. Wallace, Science 2003 March 28; 299(5615): p. 2005-2010

    1. How To Slake A Planet's Thirst, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In the rich North, flush toilets are the largest single drain on domestic water supplies. (...) Meanwhile, irrigation for agriculture accounts for more than two-thirds of humanity's use of water. In many cases, the techniques used are much the same as when the farmers of Mesopotamia first diverted water from the Euphrates some 6,000 years ago (...), this can result in almost 60% of the diverted water being lost. (...). By using 'micro-irrigation', in which water is piped and fed onto crops through sealed systems, irrigation can be made 90% efficient.

    2. The World's Forgotten Crisis, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: If action isn't taken, millions of people will be condemned to a premature death. According to the World Water Development Report, (...), population growth, pollution and climate change are conspiring to exacerbate the situation. Over the next two decades, the average supply of water per person will drop by a third. Heightened hunger and disease will follow. Humanity's demands for water also threaten natural ecosystems, and may bring nations into conflicts that - although they may not lead to war - will test diplomats' skills to the limit.

    3. Meteorology: Getting The Wind Up, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) findings is that maximum wind speeds occur at an altitude of about 500 m. (...) Previously, in the absence of observations for wind speeds above 25 m s-1, levels of increasing drag with increasing wind speed were extrapolated to high wind speeds. But now it seems that above hurricane force - about 33 m s-1 - a layer of foam and bubbles from breaking waves develops that reduces drag and effectively lets the hurricane glide over the sea. In consequence, air-sea exchange in hurricanes will need to be reassessed.

  2. The Politics Of Publication, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The decision about publication of a paper is the result of interaction between authors, editors and reviewers. Scientists are increasingly desperate to publish in a few top journals and are wasting time and energy manipulating their manuscripts and courting editors. As a result, the objective presentation of work, the accessibility of articles and the quality of research itself are being compromised. (...) Managers are stealing power from scientists and building an accountability culture that "aims at ever more perfect administrative control of institutional and professional life".

  3. Fractal Company Structures Mastering New Challenges, Alphagalileo Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Companies are markedly more efficient when they couple the fundamental principles of the fractal factory - adaptability, process-orientation and decentralisation - with innovative concepts such as customer-oriented service ranges, networks or e-business. The analysis shows more than 20 percent higher productivity for such companies. This productivity edge cannot be explained by structural differences and holds for companies of varying sizes as well as for companies with products of varying degrees of complexity. In general it can be said that the more complex the products manufactured, the more extensive the exploitation of the possibilities of fractal structures, network formation and value-added creation is.

    1. The Pentagon's Venture Capitalists, business2.0 Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      • Organic Air Vehicle, Miniature surveillance aircraft(…) portable planes that can be used by individual troops to detect ambushes or sniff for chemical weapons.
      • Unmanned Ground Combat Vehicle, Remote-controlled minitanks (...)
      • Exoskeletons for Human Performance Augmentation: Strength-enhancing body armor (…) enable soldiers to lug bigger weapons, carry more ammunition, and travel greater distances.
      • Babylon, Automatic speech translators: The Phraselator is a PDA that can translate English voice commands into Arabic, Pashto, and Persian.

  4. The Evolution Of Altruistic Punishment, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Both laboratory and field data suggest that people punish noncooperators even in one-shot interactions. Although such "altruistic punishment" may explain the high levels of cooperation in human societies, it creates an evolutionary puzzle: existing models suggest that altruistic cooperation among nonrelatives is evolutionarily stable only in small groups. (...) However, here we show that an important asymmetry between altruistic cooperation and altruistic punishment allows altruistic punishment to evolve in populations engaged in one-time, anonymous interactions. This process allows both altruistic punishment and altruistic cooperation to be maintained even when groups are large and other parameter values approximate conditions that characterize cultural evolution in the small-scale societies in which humans lived for most of our prehistory.

    1. Do Cheaters Ever Prosper? Just Ask Them, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: One lesson the game industry learned the hard way is that dedicated cheats will rewrite software to give themselves an advantage. (...) Designers of the new Star Wars game initially planned to let players communicate in strange languages that would be translated by other players' computers, he said. But the developers soon realized that cheats would find a way to break into the hidden dictionary, gaining the ability to speak the various languages and negotiate with aliens from other planets - a skill that would normally develop only over time.

  5. The Economic Impact Of War With Iraq -Asymmetric Risks, Computers & Security Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Concern about war between some Western countries and Iraq has mounted in recent weeks. War with Iraq may have important economic consequences as well as political and security-related consequences. First-order consequences might include increased oil prices and also higher defence expenditure at a time when it appears that tax revenues will be rising much more slowly than government spending. There will also be second order consequences. These will depend on the outcome of war and on whether war achieves its objective of bringing peace and stability to the region or, in fact, makes the region less stable.

  6. Binding Events in a Global Brain: Example Data, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: There is likeness of the Internet to human brains which has led to the metaphor of the world-wide computer network as a `Global Brain'. We consider conferences as 'binding events' in the Global Brain that can lead to metacognitive structures on a global scale. One of the critical factors for that phenomenon to happen (similar to the biological brain) are the time-scales characteristic for the information exchange. In an electronic newsletter- the Complexity Digest (ComDig) we include webcasting of audio (mp3) and video (asf) files from international conferences in the weekly ComDig issues. Here we present the time variation of the weekly rate of accesses to the conference files. From those empirical data it appears that the characteristic time-scales related to access of web-casting files is of the order of a few weeks. This is at least an order of magnitude shorter than the characteristic time-scales of peer reviewed publications and conference proceedings. We predict that this observation will have profound implications on the nature of future conference proceedings, presumably in electronic form.

    1. Small-Worlds: A Review Of Recent Books, Networks Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Small-worlds research and related fields study a set of network structures with well-defined properties. In particular, systems that appear to be well modeled by such networks include World Wide Web documents, Internet routers, the cellular metabolic network, ecological food webs, social networks, and many others. The two main structures being investigated are small-world networks and scale-free networks. Three recent books, including two just published this summer, describe the research being undertaken in this burgeoning field. We survey and review these books through a discussion of the field of small-worlds research with numerous examples and considerations of the future of the field.

    2. Networks Untangled, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Six Degrees and Linked differ in their focus, however. Barabasi tells a simple and convincing story: that networks in many systems arise through a rich-get-richer phenomenon, yielding many poorly connected nodes and a few hubs, or extremely well-connected nodes. These hubs affect properties of the network, such as susceptibility to computer-virus epidemics. (...), some individuals may be better connected than others, but who we know also depends on who our friends know, and where we live and work, and this leads to a network property called 'clustering'.
      • Source: Networks Untangled, Lada Adamic, Nature 422, 265 (2003); doi:10.1038/422265a reviews Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age, Duncan J. Watts, W. W. Norton/Heinemann: 2003.

  7. Gambling on Dopamine, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The gambler's ability to detect the slot where the ball has settled depends on point-to-point connections between nerve cells at multiple levels of the visual system. The accompanying changes in emotion, attention, learning, and action depend on neurons with a very different pattern of connectivity. Such neurons include midbrain dopamine neurons, which have cell bodies in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area of the midbrain, and highly divergent projections that connect with the frontal cortex, dorsal and ventral striatum, and other forebrain regions.

  8. Fujitsu Labs Applies Neural Networks To Robot Learning, Silicon Strategies Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Fujitsu Lab's technology is based on an architecture of Central Pattern Generator (CPG) networks, mimicking a function found in earthworms and lampreys, which mathematically simulates a neural oscillator, which mimics a function found in vertebrates providing a neurological 'pulse'. This advanced neural network features have been combined with a numerical perturbation (NP) method that quantifies the configuration and connection-weight status of the network. This combination, known as CPG/NP learning, has been optimized and applied to motion learning in the new technology.

  9. New Method For Ecological Monitoring Based On Self-Organising Mathematical Models, Ecol. Modelling Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: In many situations it is necessary to generate a multidimensional mathematical modelling of the parameters or observations defined on an irregular grid of observation data. We have developed original algorithms that include the methods of self-organisation for this purpose. Unlike regression analysis, the method of self-organisation is based on the purposeful search for optimum model complexity. The optimum model is found by the well-directed exhaustive search within a set of the model-pretenders. The methods that we have developed, were used for analysing the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. The three- and four-dimensional local polynomial models have been developed.

  10. Algorithmic Clustering of Music, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: We present a fully automatic method for music classification, based only on compression of strings that represent the music pieces. The method uses no background knowledge about music whatsoever: it is completely general and can, without change, be used in different areas like linguistic classification and genomics. It is based on an ideal theory of the information content in individual objects (Kolmogorov complexity), information distance, and a universal similarity metric. Experiments show that the method distinguishes reasonably well between various musical genres and can even cluster pieces by composer.

  11. Good Foragers Can Also Be Good At Detecting Predators, Alphagalileo & Proc. B Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Good Foragers Can Also Be Good At Detecting Predators, Proc. Biol. Sc. & Alphagalileo Abstract: Animals must look down to feed efficiently but must look up to detect predators efficiently: this creates a conflict between feeding and predator detection. We tested whether wild caught captive chaffinches that consistently feed at a higher rate do so at the expense of their speed in responding to a model sparrowhawk. Against predictions, chaffinches with higher peck rates responded more quickly. Our results are important because they imply that feeding rate can determine vigilance scanning patterns and that the best foragers can also be the best at detecting predators.

    1. Human Specific Loss Of Olfactory Receptor Genes, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Olfactory receptor (OR) genes constitute the basis for the sense of smell and are encoded by the largest mammalian gene superfamily of >1,000 genes. In humans, >60% of these are pseudogenes. In contrast, the mouse OR repertoire, although of roughly equal size, contains only 20% pseudogenes. We asked whether the high fraction of nonfunctional OR genes is specific to humans or is a common feature of all primates. (...) We found that humans have accumulated mutations that disrupt OR coding regions roughly 4-fold faster than any other species sampled. As a consequence, the fraction of OR pseudogenes in humans is almost twice as high as in the non-human primates, suggesting a human-specific process of OR gene disruption, likely due to a reduced chemosensory dependence relative to apes.

  12. Engineers Create World's First Transparent Transistor, SpaceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Transparent transistors might improve the quality of liquid crystal displays, which are a $10 billion to $15 billion industry, making the displays more clear and bright. Electronic devices might be built into window glass or the windshield of a vehicle, allowing a range of new functions or the transmission of visual information. Many electronic devices such as flat panel displays have glass that now serves no electronic purpose, but could accommodate new circuits or functions. (...) applications in consumer electronics, transportation, business and even the military, (...).

    1. Trapped Ions Make Logic Gates, PhysicsWeb Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Quantum computing has moved another step forward as two independent research groups report the creation of logic gates using pairs of trapped ions. The scientists - based in the US and Austria - have demonstrated new techniques that involve the quantum control of "entangled" ions. The researchers believe that these logic gates could be scaled up to include many qubits in a large, workable quantum computer

  13. Smart Dust, ComputerWorld Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: "Smart dust" devices are tiny wireless microelectromechanical sensors (MEMS) that can detect everything from light to vibrations. Thanks to recent breakthroughs in silicon and fabrication techniques, these "motes" could eventually be the size of a grain of sand, though each would contain sensors, computing circuits, bidirectional wireless communications technology and a power supply. Motes would gather scads of data, run computations and communicate that information using two-way band radio between motes at distances approaching 1,000 feet.
    • Source: Smart Dust, Thomas Hoffman, ComputerWorld, 03/03/24

    1. The Next Big Thing (Is Practically Invisible), The Christian Science Monitor Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Physical, engineering, and biological sciences all are affected by nanotechnology. And the promised payoffs are staggering: The National Science Foundation (NSF) said in a recent report that nanotechnology has "the potential to enhance human performance, to bring sustainable development for materials, water, energy, and food, to protect against unknown bacteria and viruses, and even to diminish the reasons [for] breaking peace" by reducing the need to fight over resources. (...) consumers looking for payoffs should expect near-term gains in semiconductors, data storage, life sciences, and optics to name a few.
      • Source: The Next Big Thing (Is Practically Invisible),, Nanoparticles - objects on a scale of one-billionth of a meter - now turn up in everyday products from tennis balls to sunscreen., Kelly Hearn, The Christian Science Monitor, 03/03/24

    2. Nanotech Improves Disease Detection, UPI News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: For example, researchers are developing diagnostic tests for cancer and cardiovascular diseases. When a person is sick, markers -- genetic material or proteins -- for the disease appear in body fluids. If blood or urine samples from the sick person are mixed with a solution of synthetic nanostructures, they can be designed to emit light in the presence of specific disease markers, Nie explained. This kind of test would improve the accuracy of current tests -- which Nie said average about 50 percent -- dramatically.

  14. Scientists Find Chemical That Attracts Sperm to Egg, CBC News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Human sperm cells follow chemical attractants in a beeline path to the female egg, researchers have found. They say identifying the process could lead to advances in contraception and fertility treatments. In laboratory tests, researchers found human sperm have a receptor, or chemical sensor, that causes the cells to swim vigorously towards a natural attractant.

  15. Genetic Mechanism Of Disease Is Discovered, Science Daily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In the process of figuring out why an anti-cancer drug is effective in treating patients with a rare blood disorder known as hypereosinophilic syndrome, or HES, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shown that the condition may in fact be a form of cancer.(...) "Our research addresses the question of why patients with HES respond so well to imatinib," said Gary Gilliland, MD, PhD, of BWH, who is senior author of the paper with Stone. "We have shown that a small deletion of DNA in the blood cells of HES patients fuses two genes together, creating a novel cancer-causing gene that is inhibited by imatinib. This fusion explains the clinical response these patients have to imatinib, and demonstrates that HES is a form of cancer."

  16. Link Between Immune Response And Parasite Synchronization In Malaria, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Anti-malaria vaccines and drugs could be greatly improved if we knew which phases of Plasmodium falciparum development in red blood cells are major inducers and which are major targets of natural immune responses. (...) Here we explore the hypothesis that innate immune responses mediate synchronization between the replication cycles of parasites in different red blood cells which is reflected in periodic fevers. (...) To produce synchronization, the inducing and the target phase intervals must be developmentally distant from each other. We developed a computer program which prompts for information based on measurements of the numbers of erythrocytes in two replication cycle intervals chosen by the researcher, tests our model, and predicts the two phase intervals most critical to the synchronizing immune response.

  17. Wave-Induced Sediment Transport and Sandbar Migration, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Onshore sediment transport and sandbar migration are important to the morphological evolution of beaches but are not well understood. Here, a model that accounts for fluid accelerations in waves predicts the onshore sandbar migration observed on an ocean beach. In both the observations and the model, the location of the maximum acceleration-induced transport moves shoreward with the sandbar, resulting in feedback between waves and morphology that drives the bar shoreward until conditions change. A model (...) simulated both onshore and offshore bar migration observed over a 45-day period.

    1. Sandbars in Motion, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Below the apparently chaotic sea surface of surf zones, complex sandbar patterns with intricate structure are frequently observed (...). Increasing ability to monitor these morphodynamic patterns has so far met with modest success in explaining their complexity. Near-shore morphodynamic models are therefore restricted to short time scales (a few weeks or less) and energetic storm conditions. (...) Hoefel and Elgar (1) introduce a new transport mechanism based on flow acceleration within the waves that may help to extend the prediction time scales of these models.
      • Source: Sandbars in Motion, Marcel J. F. Stive, Ad J. H. M. Reniers, Science 2003 299: 1855-1856.

  18. On Multitasking In Parallel Chemical Processors: Experimental Findings, Int. J. Bifur. & Chaos Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: A parallel chemical processor is a thin-layer of a reagent mixture which reacts to changes in its concentration - data configuration - in a predictable way to form a stationary pattern corresponding to the concentration of the reagent - result configuration. A computation in the chemical processor is implemented via the spreading and interaction of diffusive or phase waves. Namely, we study the possibility of designing a multitasking chemical processor that independently and simultaneously computes (...). We define a two-tasking chemical processor as two distinct reactant-substrate couples within a reaction-diffusion processor that solve separate tasks but share the same physical space.

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

    1. Emergency Response To An Anthrax Attack, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: We developed a mathematical model to compare various emergency responses in the event of an airborne anthrax attack. (...) Our results underscore the need for the extremely aggressive and timely use of oral antibiotics by all asymptomatics in the exposure region, distributed either preattack or by nonprofessionals postattack, and the creation of surge capacity for supportive hospital care via expanded training of nonemergency care workers at the local level and the use of federal and military resources and nationwide medical volunteers.

    2. Email Traffic Patterns Can Reveal Ringleaders, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: By looking for patterns in email traffic, a new technique can quickly identify online communities and the key people in them. The approach could mean terrorists or criminal gangs give themselves away, even if they are communicating in code or only discussing the weather. (...) "If the CIA or another intelligence agency has a lot of intercepted email from people suspected of being part of a criminal network, they could use the technique to figure out who the leaders of the network might be," (...)

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Religious Thought And Behaviour As By-Products Of Brain Function, Pascal Boyer, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2003, 7:3119-124
      2. The Nature Of Cognitive Development, Scott P. Johnson, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2003, 7:3102-104
      3. Task Switching, Stephen Monsell, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2003, 7:3134-140, Subjects' responses are substantially slower and, usually, more error-prone immediately after a task switch. This 'switch cost' is reduced, but not eliminated, by an opportunity for preparation.
      4. New Dimensions In Color Perception, Donald I.A. MacLeod, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2003, 7:397-99
      5. The Impact Of The Certainty Context On The Process Of Choice, John Dickhaut, Kevin McCabe, Jennifer C. Nagode, Aldo Rustichini, Kip Smith, and Jose V. Pardo, PNAS 2003 100: 3536-3541
      6. Component Processes Underlying Choice, John T. Cacioppo, Howard S. Nusbaum, PNAS 2003;100 3016-3017
      7. Extending The Definition Of Entropy To Nonequilibrium, Steady States, David P. Ruelle, PNAS 2003;100 3054-3058
      8. Cost Minimization By Helpers In Cooperative Vertebrates, A. F. Russell, L. L. Sharpe, P. N. M. Brotherton, , T. H., Clutton-Brock, PNAS 2003;100 3333-3338
      9. Persistence And Brain Circuitry, Debra A. Gusnard, John M. Ollinger, Gordon L. Shulman, C. Robert, Cloninger, Joseph L. Price, David C. Van Essen, Marcus E. Raichle, PNAS 2003;100 3479-3484, These findings represent a fresh approach to linking normal individual differences in personality and behavior to specific neuronal structures and subsystems.
      10. Inbreeding and the Genetic Complexity of Human Hypertension, Igor Rudan, Nina Smolej-Narancic, Harry Campbell, Andrew Carothers, Alan Wright, Branka Janicijevic, and Pavao Rudan, Genetics 2003 March 1; 163(3): p. 1011-1021
      11. Functional Complexity Of Intermediate Filament Cytoskeletons: From, Structure To Assembly To Gene Ablation., Herrmann H, Hesse M, Reichenzeller M, Aebi U, and Magin TM, Int Rev Cytol 2003 223(): p. 83-175
      12. Molecular Computing Revisited: A Moore's Law?, Livstone MS, van Noort D, and Landweber LF, Trends Biotechnol 2003 Mar 21(3): p. 98-101
      13. Flux Qubit Completes the Hat Trick, John Clarke, Science 2003 299: 1850-1851
      14. Wingless Insects and Plucked Chickens, Richard H. Thomas, Science 2003 299: 1854-1855
      15. Hexapod Origins: Monophyletic or Paraphyletic?, Francesco Nardi, Giacomo Spinsanti, Jeffrey L. Boore, Antonio Carapelli, Romano Dallai, and Francesco Frati, Science 2003 299: 1887-1889.
      16. Role of EphA4 and EphrinB3 in Local Neuronal Circuits That Control Walking, Kullander, Klas, Butt, Simon J. B., Lebret, James M., Lundfald, Line, Restrepo, Carlos E., Rydstrom, Anna, Klein, Rudiger, Kiehn, Ole, Science 2003 299: 1889-1892
      17. Dynamin: The Endosymbiosis Ring Of Power?, Geoffrey I. McFadden, Stuart A. Ralph, PNAS published 25 March 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0831049100, Breast Cancer Stem Cells Revealed, John E. Dick,
      18. Meeting Halfway On The Bridge Between Protein Folding Theory And Experiment, Vijay S. Pande, PNAS published 25 March 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0830965100
      19. Analysis Of The Eye Developmental Pathway In Drosophila Using DNA Microarrays, Lydia Michaut, Susanne Flister, Martin Neeb, Kevin P. White, Ulrich Certa, Walter J. Gehring, PNAS published 24 March 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0630561100
      20. Context Sensitivity Of Activity-Dependent Increases In Cerebral Blood Flow, Kirsten Caesar, Lorenz Gold, Martin Lauritzen, PNAS published 24 March 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0635075100
      21. Effects of Age on Measures of Complex Working Memory Span in the Beagle Dog(Canis familiaris) Using Two Versions of a Spatial List Learning Paradigm, P. Dwight Tapp, Christina T. Siwak, Jimena Estrada, Daniel Holowachuk, Norton W. Milgram, Learn. Mem. 2003 March 1; 10(2): p. 148-160
      22. Sign of a Paleo Tongue?, Science 2003 March 28; 299(5615): p. 1977a
      23. Surveillance: Radiographic Imaging With Cosmic-Ray Muons, Konstantin N. Borozdin, Gary E. Hogan, Christopher Morris, William C. Priedhorsky, Alexander Saunders, Larry J. Schultz, Margaret E. Teasdale, Nature 422, 277 (2003); doi:10.1038/422277a
      24. SFI Working Papers
        1. Inferring Pattern and Disorder in Close-Packed Structures from X-ray Diffraction Studies, Part II: Structure and Intrinsic Computation in Zinc Sulphide, Dowman P. Varn, G. S. Canright, James P. Crutchfield, DOI: SFI-WP 03-03-022
        2. Learning Nash Equilibrium, Dean P. Foster, H. Peyton Young, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-007
        3. Robustness in Biological Systems - A Provisional Taxonomy, David C. Krakauer, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-008
        4. Principles and Parameters of Molecular Robustness, David C. Krakauer, Joshua B. Plotkin, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-009
        5. Economic Production as Chemistry, John Padgett, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-010
        6. Surveying Phylogenetic Footprints in Large Gene Clusters: Applications to Hox Cluster Duplications, Sonja Prohaska, Claudia Fried, Christoph Flamm, Günter Wagner, Peter F. Stadler, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-011
        7. Epigenetic vs. Genetic, a Story of the Evolution of the Germline, Michael Lachmann, Guy Sella, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-012
        8. Multinomial Choice with Social Interactions, William A. Brock, Steven N. Durlauf, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-013
        9. Complexity and Empirical Economics, Steven N. Durlauf, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-014
        10. The Topology of the Possible, Walter Fontana, DOI: SFI-WP 03-03-017
        11. Perspective: Evolution and Detection of Genetic Robustness, J. Arjan G.M. de Visser, et al., DOI: SFI-WP 03-03-016
        12. Towards a Unity of the Human Behavioral Sciences, Herbert Gintis, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-015
        13. Communication and Coordination, John H. Miller, Scott Moser, DOI: SFI-WP 03-03-019
        14. Groups, Social Influences and Inequality: A Memberships Theory Perspective on Poverty Traps, Steven N. Durlauf, DOI: SFI-WP 03-03-020
      25. Science News Online (also available in Audible format)
        1. Original Kin: Six-Legged Bugs May Have Evolved Twice, Insects may have evolved independently from other six-legged land bugs and may be more closely related to crustaceans than to their fellow so-called hexapods.
        2. No Rest For The Waking: Brain Cells For Alertness Fire Without Cues, The brain cells that keep people awake fire spontaneously and continuously on their own, suggesting that sleep depends on signals from other brain regions that quiet these neurons.
        3. A Tale Of The Tapeworm: Parasite Ploy Suggests Drug-Delivery Tactic, A chemical used by tapeworms to slow intestinal pulsations may help people absorb drugs more efficiently.
        4. Techno Crow: Do Birds Build Up Better Tool Designs?, Researchers surveying tool use by New Caledonian crows propose that the birds may be the first animals besides people shown to ratchet up the sophistication of their technology by sharing design improvements.
        5. More Than A Kick, Nicotine ramps up activity throughout the body, making the drug a suspect in many tobacco-related ailments.
        6. Discovery Of Bitter-Taste Gene Is Sweet, Scientists have found that variations in a gene explain why people differ in their ability to taste bitterness.
        7. Ants Lurk For Bees, But Bees See Ambush, A tropical ant has perfected the un-antlike behavior of hunting by ambush, but its prey, a sweat bee, has developed some tricks of its own.
        8. Was T. Rex Just A Big Freeloader?, A new study suggests that an ecosystem like today's African savanna could provide sufficient carrion to nourish a scavenger the size of a Tyrannosaurus rex.
      26. Age-Related Differences In Brain Activation During Emotional Face Processing, F. M. Gunning-Dixon, R. C. Gur, A. C. Perkins, L. Schroeder, T. Turner, B. I. Turetsky, R. M. Chan, J. W. Loughead, D. C. Alsop, J. Maldjian & R. E. Gur, Neurobiol. of Aging, Vol. 24, Issue 2, pp:285-295, Mar.-Apr. 2003, doi:10.1016/S0197-4580(02)00099-4
      27. Facial Nerve Axotomy In Aged And Young Adult Rats: Analysis Of The Glial Response, S. D. Hurley & P. D. Coleman, Neurobiol. of Aging, Vol. 24, Issue 2, pp:511-518, Mar.-Apr. 2003, doi:10.1016/S0197-4580(02)00097-0
      28. Variability In Memory Performance In Aged Healthy Individuals: An fMRI Study, G. Grön, D. Bittner, B. Schmitz, A. P. Wunderlich, R. Tomczakc & M. W. Riepe, Neurobiol. of Aging, Vol. 24, Issue 2, pp:453-462, Mar.-Apr. 2003, doi:10.1016/S0197-4580(02)00128-8
      29. From Individual Control To Majority Rule: Extending Transactional Models Of Reproductive Skew In Animal Societies, H. K. Reeve & R. L. Jeanne, Proc. Biol. Sc. & Alphagalileo, 2003/03/24
      30. The Limits To Cost-Free Signalling Of Need Between Relatives, B. O. Brilot & R. A. Johnstone, Proc. Biol. Sc. & Alphagalileo, 2003/03/24
      31. How Immigration Is Improving The UK Labour Market, A. Hinds, Alphagalileo, 2003/03/24
      32. Age-related Changes In The Brain's White Matter Affect Cognitive Function In Old Age, ScienceDaily, 2003/03/24
      33. Inspired By Nature, Cornell Chemist Finds Way To Make biodegradable Plastic That Imitates Bacteria, ScienceDaily, 2003/03/24
      34. OHSU Researchers Discover New Brain Region Involved In Alcoholism, ScienceDaily, 2003/03/26
      35. Surprise! Lightning Has Big Effect On Atmospheric Chemistry, ScienceDaily, 2003/03/20
      36. A Neuro-socio-cognitive Model of Self-awareness with an Emphasis on Inner Speech, Morin, Alain, 2002, CogPrints
      37. Visuo-vestibular Interaction in the Reconstruction of Travelled Trajectories., Bertin, R.J.V., Berthoz, A., 2002, CogPrints
      38. Towards Modelling The Internet Topology - The Interactive Growth Model, Shi Zhou, Raul J. Mondragon, 2003-03-26, arXiv
      39. Expansion Exponents for Nonequilibrium Systems, V. I. Yukalov, 2003-03-19, arXiv
      40. Towards a Theory of Consciousness: Proposal for the Resolution of the Homunculus Fallacy with Predictions, Andras Lorincz, Gabor Szirtes, 2003-03-21, arXiv
      41. Non-Linear Biological Responses To Disturbance: Consequences On Population Dynamics, J. Laakso, V. Kaitala & E. Ranta, Ecol. Modelling, Vol. 162, Issues 1-2, pp: 247-258, 2003/04/15, doi:10.1016/S0304-3800(02)00385-X
      42. On-Line Emission And Economic Load Dispatch Using Adaptive Hopfield Neural Network, S. Balakrishnan, P. S. Kannan, C. Aravindan & P. Subathra, Appl. Soft Comp., Vol. 2, Issue 4, pp:297-305, Feb. 2003, doi:10.1016/S1568-4946(02)00062-5
      43. Intelligent Optimal Control With Dynamic Neural Networks, Y. Becerikli, A. F. Konar & T. Samad, Neural Networks, Vol. 16, Issue 2, pp:251-259, 2003/02/14, doi:10.1016/S0893-6080(02)00232-0
      44. On Motion Detection Through A Multi-Layer Neural Network Architecture, A. F. Caballero, J. Mira, M. A. Fernández & A. E. Delgado, Neural Networks, Vol. 16, Issue 2, pp:205-222, 2003/02/14, doi:10.1016/S0893-6080(02)00233-2
      45. Isotropic Sequence Order Learning, B. Porr, F. Wörgötter, Neural Computation, Vol. 15, No 4, pp:831-864, Apr. 2003,  DOI: 10.1162/08997660360581921

       


    2. Coming and Ongoing Webcasts Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Autonomous Agents, Stuart Kauffman, FRIAM Group sponsored Applied Complexity Lecture Series at the Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 03/03/13
      2. New Trends In Industrial Partnership And Innovation Management At European Research Laboratories, CERN, Geneva, 03/03/19 (with webcast)
        1. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      3. "New Frontiers of Neuroscience" Symposium, Taipei, Taiwan, 03/03/07
      4. Television & Children's Media Policy: Where Do We Go From Here?, Washinghton, DC, 03/02/28, c-span, (clip12657), 1:35
      5. INSC 2003, International Nonlinear Sciences Conference, Vienna, Austria, 03/02/07-09
      6. World Economic Forum Meeting "Building Trust", Davos, Switzerland, 03/01/23-28
      7. 2002 Financial Management Conference, 02/10/16-19
      8. Artificial Life Conference (A-Life 8), Sydney, Australia, 02/12/09-13
      9. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998

       


    3. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Design and Product Complexity Meeting, Open Univ, Milton Keynes, UK, 03/04/07
      2. Explorations of Complexity - A Science of Qualities: A Conversation with Brian Goodwin, Open Univ, Milton Keynes, UK, 03/04/07
      3. Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected, U. of Texas at Austin, Texas, 03/04/10-12
      4. 7th Annual Swarm Researchers and Users Meeting (SwarmFest2003), Notre Dame, IN, 03/04/13-14
      5. Agent-Based Simulation 4, Montpellier, France, 03/04/28-30
      6. 2003 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, Santa Clara, CA, 03/04/22-25
      7. Managing Complex Organizations in a Complex World, Cambridge, MA, 03/05/01-02
      8. NAS Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge Domains, The Beckman Center, Irvine, CA, 03/05/09-11
      9. The Opening of Systems Theory, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, DK, 03/05/23-25
      10. SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 03/06/01-04
      11. 21st ICDE World Conf on Open Learning and Distance Education, Hong Kong, 03/06/01-05
      12. Summer School on Nonlinear Phenomena In Computational Chemical Physics, Barcelona, Spain, 03/06/09-14
      13. 17th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS 2003), San Diego, California, 03/06/10-13
      14. One-Week Intensive Course: Complex Physical, Biological and Social Systems, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 03/06/16-20
      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. 47th Meeting of the Intl Soc for the System Sciences: Conscious Evolution Of Humanity: Using Systems Thinking To Construct Agoras Of The Global Village, Iraklion, Crete, Greec, 03/07/07-11
      18. 9th International Conference on Auditory Display, Boston, MA, 03/07/07-09, Wkshp on Assistive Technologies for the Blind, 03/07/06
      19. 2003 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2003), Chicago, IL,03/07/12-16
      20. 2nd Intl Joint Conf on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS-2003), Melbourne, Australia, 03/07/14-18
      21. 7th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2003), Orlando, Florida, 03/07/27-30
      22. Intl Conf on Socio Political Informatics and Cybernetics: SPIC '03, Orlando, Fl, USA, 03/07/31-08/02
      23. 13th Annual International Conference, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life Sciences,Boston, MA, USA, 03/08/08-10
      24. 1st German Conference on Multiagent System Technologies (MATES'03), Erfurt, Germany, 03/09/22-25
      25. 7th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL-2003), Dortmund, Germany, 03/09/14-17
      26. 2003 IEEE/WIC Intl Joint Conf. Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, Beijing, China, 03/10/13-17
      27. ICDM '03: The Third IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, Melbourne, Florida, USA, 03/11/19-22
      28. 3rd International Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex System, Guangzhou, China, 03/11/29-30
      29. 2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social Insects, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 03/12/15-17
      30. Fifth International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2004), Boston, MA, USA, 04/05/16-21

       


      1. Public Conference Calls Next Article Bookmark and Share

        1. Complexity And Medical Practice, Pat Rush & Bob Lindberg, PlexusCalls, 03/01/10, Audio File Available Now, mp3
        2. John Holland in Conversation, PlexusCalls, - Audio File Available Now, mp3
        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
        4. Brenda Zimmerman in Conversation, PlexusCalls, Audio File Available Now, mp3
        5. The Complexity of Entrepreneurship: A Launchcyte Story, Tom Petzinger, PlexusCalls, 02/11/22, Audio File Available Now, mp3
        6. A Practical and Appreciative Approach to Complex and Chronic Challenges, Keith McCandless, PlexusCalls, Jan 2003, Audio File Available Now, mp3

         


    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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