Complexity Digest 2003.26

30-Jun-2003

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Content

  1. Network Armies, Chief Executive
    1. A Higher Plane of Problem-Solving, Business 2.0
    2. Unleashing Killer Architecture: The Shape of Things to Come, CIO
  2. More Companies Pay Heed to Their 'Word of Mouse' Reputation, NYTimes
    1. Digital Divide And Purchase Intention: Why Demographic Psychology Matters, J. Economic Psychology
    2. Modeling Users' Preferences In Systems For Information Access, Int. J. Intelligent Systems
  3. Mind Share, BLOG SPACE: Public Storage For Wisdom, Ignorance, and Everything in Between, Wired
    1. Online Archives for Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications, CogPrints
    2. Self-Archive Unto Others as Ye Would Have Them Self-Archive Unto You, CogPrints
  4. Statistical Mechanics: A Possible Model for Market-based Electric Power Control, arXiv
  5. Emerging Out Of Nature Into History: The Plurality Of The Sciences, Phil. Tran. A
    1. Information, Knowledge And The Future Of Machines, Phil. Tran. A
    2. Parallel Universes, The Matrix, And Superintelligence, KurzweilAI.net
  6. Neuroengineering: Remote Control, Nature
  7. Savant for a Day, NYTimes
    1. Inhibited and Uninhibited Infants "Grown Up": Adult Amygdalar Response to Novelty, Science
  8. Somatosensory Basis Of Speech Production, Nature
    1. The Influence Of Visual Motion On Fast Reaching Movements To A Stationary Object, Nature
  9. What The Cerebellum Computes, Trends in Neurosc.
    1. Putting Smell On The Map, Trends in Neurosc.
  10. Molecular "Piggyback Ride" Carries Alzheimer's Protein Into Brain, URMC News
  11. Gene Tells Time for Bed, Nature.com
  12. New Law May Leave Many Rural Teachers Behind, NYTimes
  13. Desperately Seeking Similarity, Science
    1. Kin Selection in Cooperative Alliances of Carrion Crows, Science
    2. Morphs, Dispersal Behavior, Genetic Similarity, and the Evolution of Cooperation, Science
  14. Echolocation: Volume Control, Nature
    1. Study Shows How Dolphins Land Lunch, AFP/Animal Planet
    2. Automatic Gain Control In The Echolocation System Of Dolphins, Nature
  15. The Warped Side of Dark Matter, Science
    1. Dark Energy Tiptoes Toward the Spotlight, Science
    2. The Dark Age of the Universe, Science
    3. New Light on Dark Matter, Science
    4. Throwing Light on Dark Energy, Science
  16. Making Clouds Darker Sharpens Cloudy Climate Models, Science
  17. Senescence In A Bacterium With Asymmetric Division, Science
  18. A Tree of Fireflies, a Flock of Boson Clouds, Science Book Report
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Iranian Terror Group Planned Attacks, French Report Says, NYTimes
    2. By Fusing Images, Lehigh Professor Detects Concealed Weapons, ScienceDaily
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Coming and Ongoing Webcasts
    3. Conference Announcements & Call for Papers
    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test

  1. Network Armies, Chief Executive Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: (...) these forces are products of the Internet Age, united not by geography but by common cause and technology that lets them communicate freely and instantly. There's no leader, no command and control structure, just a potent ability to mobilize. (...) these organic groups, or 'accountability networks,' surround every company and can easily go undetected until an event-whether a mistaken order cancellation or a news report-kicks them into action. ...Though their specific issues may vary, these corporate critics are generally after what they would describe as socially responsible behavior...In an era when corporate brands and reputations can be shattered in a matter of days, staying on top of issues and potential land mines is crucial.

    1. A Higher Plane of Problem-Solving, Business 2.0 Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Altshuller's fundamental assertion is that innovation follows a finite set of patterns. Know those patterns and you can not only solve seemingly unsolvable problems but also predict the challenges you'll face next. Engineers love TRIZ because it treats creativity as a discipline to be mastered, not as right-brain hocus-pocus(...) (...) creative ideas reside in people's minds -- thanks to good genes, good luck, or both -- but are trapped by fear of rejection. Create a judgment-free environment, he reasoned, and you'll unleash a torrent. [That process is called "brainstorming", Ed.]

    2. Unleashing Killer Architecture: The Shape of Things to Come, CIO Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Whereas PCs made it possible to distribute both applications and data closer to their users, the next-generation architecture will distribute even smaller units of software over the Internet, not just to distant users but to destinations such as equipment on the factory floor and packages on store shelves. That capability will create a new class of information products and services that will interact with each other across organizational boundaries using sophisticated messaging and security protocols. Data processing will become even more tightly connected to business processes, designed to scale up or down quickly as conditions require, supported by new kinds of outsourcing relationships with hardware, software and communications vendors.

  2. More Companies Pay Heed to Their 'Word of Mouse' Reputation, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The potential financial implications of online reputations are substantial. "The more consumers come to trust the opinions posted on online forums, the less effective traditional advertising will become in influencing consumer behavior," Mr. Dellarocas said. Amazon.com, for example, has eliminated its entire budget for television and general-purpose print advertising, (...). In hopes of obtaining positive word of mouse, some companies send free products to prominent reviewers on such sites as Epinions.com, even if those reviewers have no official credentials

    1. Digital Divide And Purchase Intention: Why Demographic Psychology Matters, J. Economic Psychology Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: The author examines the issue of digital divide from a demographic perspective. The influence of gender, age, education, and income on the likelihood to purchase over the Internet is empirically examined. Hypotheses are framed in the context of psychological correlates of the demographic variables. Findings show that these variables significantly influence the likelihood to purchase over the Internet and can be used to profile, segment, and target markets and develop public policies to bridge the digital divide.

    2. Modeling Users' Preferences In Systems For Information Access, Int. J. Intelligent Systems Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: In this article, the idea of user preference playing a role in systems for information access is analyzed. In particular, two main categories of systems that provide access to information were considered: systems for the retrieval of stored information items and systems that offer a support to product brokering for online shopping in e-commerce. One of the common characteristics of such systems is that they constitute for a user a decision aid for identifying the preferred information items within a huge collection. In this study, the synergy between decision theory and some techniques for information access is outlined (...).

  3. Mind Share, BLOG SPACE: Public Storage For Wisdom, Ignorance, and Everything in Between, Wired Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: What happens when you start seeing the Web as a matrix of minds, not documents? Networks based on trust become an essential tool. You start evaluating the relevance of data based not on search query results but on personal testimonies. (...) You can research ideas or breaking news by querying the 10 people whose opinions on the topic you most value - what Cory Doctorow calls an "outboard brain." (...) Technorati lets you take any URL and automatically generate a list of bloggers who have commented on it.

    1. Online Archives for Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications, CogPrints Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Peer-reviewed journals used to perform two functions for research and researchers -- (1) peer review and (2) distribution -- and research libraries used to perform two more -- (3) archiving and (4) access provision. In the online age, journals will need only to provide the peer-review service. Authors will self-archive their papers, both before and after peer review, in their institutional Eprint Archives, which will all be interoperable with one another, providing open access to all peer-reviewed research output as if it were all in one global archive.

    2. Self-Archive Unto Others as Ye Would Have Them Self-Archive Unto You, CogPrints Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Scholars and scientists do research to create new knowledge so that other scholars and scientists can use it to create still more new knowledge and to apply it to improving people's lives. They are paid to do research, but not to report their research: That they do for free, because it is not royalty-revenue from their research papers but their "research impact" that pays their salaries, funds their further research, earns them prestige and prizes, etc. "Research impact" means how much of a contribution your research makes to further research: Do other researchers read, use, cite, and apply your findings? The more they do, the higher your research impact. One way to measure this is by counting how many researchers use and cite your work in their own research papers. To self-archive research is to deposit it in the researcher's own university "Eprint Archive". For even if universities keep on paying journals the exact same tolls they pay now for many years to come, self-archiving will free all the new knowledge that scholars and scientists create, so that all other scholars and scientists can already use it to create still more new knowledge and to apply it to improving people's lives.

  4. Statistical Mechanics: A Possible Model for Market-based Electric Power Control, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Statistical mechanics provides a useful analog for understanding the behavior of complex adaptive systems, including power markets and the power systems they intend to govern. Market-based control is founded on the conjecture that the regulation of complex systems based on price-mediated strategies (e.g., auctions, markets) results in an optimal allocation of resources and emergent optimal system control. This paper discusses the derivation and some illustrative applications of a first-principles model of market-based system dynamics based on strict analogies to statistical mechanics.

  5. Emerging Out Of Nature Into History: The Plurality Of The Sciences, Phil. Tran. A Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: The idea of a 'theory of everything' is inconsistent with a natural feature of biological evolution: the spontaneous emergence of composite entities with completely new properties. At successively higher levels of complexity, from elementary particles and chemical molecules, through unicellular and multicellular organisms, to self-aware human beings and their cultural institutions, we find systems obeying entirely novel principles. Furthermore, science nowadays usually arises in localized social contexts, where the 'logic of the situation' is continually being transformed by the emergence of cultural novelties such as unpredictable technological innovations.

    1. Information, Knowledge And The Future Of Machines, Phil. Tran. A Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: This wide-ranging survey considers the future of machines in terms of information, complexity and the growth of knowledge shared amongst agents. Mechanical and human agents are compared and contrasted, and it is argued that, for the foreseeable future, their roles will be complementary. The future development of machines is examined in terms of unions of human and machine agency evolving as part of economic activity. Limits to, and threats posed by, the continuing evolution of such a society of agency are considered.

    2. Parallel Universes, The Matrix, And Superintelligence, KurzweilAI.net Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Physicists are converging on a "theory of everything," probing the 11th dimension, developing computers for the next generation of robots, and speculating about civilizations millions of years ahead of ours, says Dr. Michio Kaku, author of the best-sellers Hyperspace and Visions and co-founder of String Field Theory, in this interview by KurzweilAI.net Editor Amara D. Angelica.

  6. Neuroengineering: Remote Control, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Finally, neuroscientists (...) teamed up to tackle the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in the storage of memories. They aim to test whether silicon can replace parts of our brain. Their focus is a three-stage chain of regions within the hippocampus that signals are passed through during memory storage. The researchers want to see if they can build a microchip that can take signals from the first region and relay them to the final stage, bypassing the middle part of the chain.

  7. Savant for a Day, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: (...)turned to TMS, in an attempt, as he says, ''to enhance the brain by shutting off certain parts of it.'' ''In a way, savants are the great enigma of today's neurology,'' says Prof. Joy Hirsch, director of the Functional M.R.I. Research Center at Columbia University. ''They exist in all cultures and are a distinct type. Why? How? We don't know. Yet understanding the savant will help provide insight into the whole neurophysiological underpinning of human behavior. (...) he's asking a really fundamental question, which no one has yet answered.''

    1. Inhibited and Uninhibited Infants "Grown Up": Adult Amygdalar Response to Novelty, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Infants with an inhibited temperament tend to develop into children who avoid people, objects, and situations that are novel or unfamiliar, whereas uninhibited children spontaneously approach novel persons, objects, and situations. Behavioral and physiological features of these two temperamental categories are moderately stable from infancy into early adolescence and have been hypothesized to be due, in part, to variation in amygdalar responses to novelty. We found that adults who had been categorized in the second year of life as inhibited, compared with those previously categorized as uninhibited, showed greater functional MRI signal response within the amygdala to novel versus familiar faces.

  8. Somatosensory Basis Of Speech Production, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The hypothesis that speech goals are defined acoustically and maintained by auditory feedback is a central idea in speech production research. An alternative proposal is that speech production is organized in terms of control signals that subserve movements and associated vocal-tract configurations. Indeed, the capacity for intelligible speech by deaf speakers suggests that somatosensory inputs related to movement play a role in speech production-(...). Here we show that somatosensory information on its own is fundamental to the achievement of speech movements.

    1. The Influence Of Visual Motion On Fast Reaching Movements To A Stationary Object, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: One of the most important functions of vision is to direct actions to objects. However, every time that vision is used to guide an action, retinal motion signals are produced by the movement of the eye and head as the person looks at the object or by the motion of other objects in the scene. To reach for the object accurately, the visuomotor system must separate information about the position of the stationary target from background retinal motion signals (...) visuomotor system does not distinguish between these two information sources (...)

  9. What The Cerebellum Computes, Trends in Neurosc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Thus, our understanding of the cerebellum is ultimately best expressed in terms of the information processing (...). We review evidence that indicates how Pavlovian eyelid conditioning reveals cerebellar processing to be an example of feedforward control. Eyelid conditioning demonstrates a capacity for learning in the cerebellum that is error driven, associative and temporally specific - as is required for feedforward control. This computation-centered view is consistent with a variety of proposed functions of the cerebellum, including sensory-motor integration, motor coordination, motor learning and timing. Moreover, feedforward processing could be the common link between motor and non-motor functions of the cerebellum.
    • Source: What The Cerebellum Computes, T. Ohyama - tatsuya.ohyamaauth.tmc.edu, w. l. nores, m. murphy & m. d. mauk, DOI: 10.1016/S0166-2236(03)00054-7, Apr. 2003
    • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

    1. Putting Smell On The Map, Trends in Neurosc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: The vertebrate olfactory system must cope with a staggering developmental problem: how to connect millions of olfactory neurons expressing different odorant receptors to appropriate targets in the brain. Recent studies demonstrate remarkable plasticity in integrating novel olfactory sensory neurons into this circuitry.
      • Source: Putting Smell On The Map, L. B. Vosshall - leslieamail.rockefeller.edu, DOI: 10.1016/S0166-2236(03)00037-7, Apr. 2003
      • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

  10. Molecular "Piggyback Ride" Carries Alzheimer's Protein Into Brain, URMC News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The new findings center on amyloid beta, a tiny protein molecule that accumulates over time to form tell-tale plaques in the brain tissue of Alzheimer's patients. While various cells within the brain itself produce amyloid beta, that amount may be just the tip of the iceberg. Mounting evidence suggests that the bulk of amyloid beta is produced in cells throughout the body and gets circulated in the blood. The new study reveals for the first time how the protein gets from the blood into the brain, thwarting the brain's elaborate filtration mechanism that normally keeps away toxins. (...) "For more than a decade we've known that this protein wreaks havoc in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, but we haven't known how it gets there or how to prevent it from getting there. This study answers both of those basic questions, and opens an entirely new avenue for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease," said lead author Berislav Zlokovic, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Rochester Medical Center.(...) The blood-brain barrier blocks the passage of toxins while allowing the flow of oxygen, sugar, and other nutrients to brain cells. In the current study, Zlokovic and his colleagues found that amyloid beta protein molecules cannot flow through the blood-brain barrier unaided. Rather, they get through by riding piggyback on a much larger molecule, called RAGE, which is nontoxic and moves unfettered across the blood-brain barrier. Normally, RAGE is produced in small amounts by the cells that form the blood-brain barrier. But in mice that were genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's disease, Zlokovic found that RAGE was produced in huge amounts - eight times normal - and ferried an avalanche of amyloid beta into the brain.
    See also: ComDig 2000.50

  11. Gene Tells Time for Bed, Nature.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Whether you are a morning or an evening person could depend on a single gene, a study of extreme sleeping habits has revealed. Understanding the body clock's genetic basis may help people to make the most of their day.(...) Night owls and early birds tend to carry different versions of a gene called Per3, says Simon Archer of the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK. This difference may make their preferred sleep cycles longer or shorter than 24 hours.(...) Early risers generally have a longer version of Per3 than late sleepers, who tend to carry a truncated version, the researchers found. The gene is turned on in the brain's time-keeping centre, the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Its precise function is not known.
    • Source: Gene Tells Time for Bed, Michael Hopkin, Nature.com, 2003-06-20
    • Contributed by Nadia Gershenson - nadiaacomdig.com

  12. New Law May Leave Many Rural Teachers Behind, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: But a new federal law challenges his credentials, saying all teachers must have a separate college degree in the field of each major course they teach, or prove through an exam that they are "highly qualified" in that area of study. (...) The full impact of the law, known as No Child Left Behind, will depend on the flexibility given to rural states in applying its provisions, and so far the Bush administration has sent mixed signals. (...) "You can't teach what you don't know." Editor's Note: In the age of the Internet are teachers to be expected to be experts and resource of information in specific fields or rather facilitators and motivators of authentic learning? One can expect the answer to the last question to be affirmative if the teacher has learned how to learn. Good teachers should also be able to learn by teaching. What really counts is the outcome for the students.

  13. Desperately Seeking Similarity, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: After removing all spatial surrogates for kinship, male side-blotched lizards still actively chose to cooperate with phenotypically and genetically similar males. The unique twist of the study is that Sinervo and Clobert used complete genealogies to reject the hypothesis that associating individuals were kin, raising the possibility that similarity, in the absence of kinship, can favor cooperation. Male side-blotched lizards are polymorphic, occurring in three distinct color types (...). Genes correlated with throat color determine the method by which each type attempts to court and mate with females

    1. Kin Selection in Cooperative Alliances of Carrion Crows, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In most cooperative vertebrates, delayed natal dispersal is the mechanism that leads to the formation of kin societies. Under this condition, the possibility that kin-based cooperative breeding is an unselected consequence of dispersal patterns can never be ruled out because helpers can only help their relatives. Here we show that a population of carrion crows (Corvus corone corone) fully fits the central prediction of kin selection theory that cooperative breeding should arise among relatives. (...) indicating that crows actively choose to breed cooperatively with their relatives.

    2. Morphs, Dispersal Behavior, Genetic Similarity, and the Evolution of Cooperation, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Genetic similarity owing to kin relationship is often invoked to explain the evolution of social cooperation. In this study, male color morphs of side-blotched lizards settle nonrandomly with respect to genetic similarity. Blue morphs tend to settle in close proximity to other blue morphs with high genetic similarity. Blue neighbors have three times the average fitness of blue males lacking such neighbors. Conversely, genetically similar males depress fitness of the orange morph. Moreover, orange males are hyperdispersed with respect to genetic similarity. Pedigree and dispersal data show that genetically similar blue neighbors are not kin. Instead, conditions for the evolution of dispersal and cooperation are promoted by an emergent property of the morph locus that increases genetic similarity within morphs: genome-wide correlational selection links many traits to the morph locus, including settlement behavior.

  14. Echolocation: Volume Control, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: They found that, as the dolphins homed in on the hydrophone array, the amplitude of the sonar they emitted decreased by 6 decibels every time the distance was halved. That would ensure that the echoes do not increase in strength as the animals get closer to their target. There's more than one way to solve this problem: bats keep the amplitude of their sonar signals constant, but decrease the sensitivity of their hearing once they have emitted the signals, allowing the sensitivity to increase gradually with time.

    1. Study Shows How Dolphins Land Lunch, AFP/Animal Planet Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Operating in the dark, bats, submarines and dolphins have to rely on sound rather than vision, sending out high-frequency pings or "clicks" to locate their targets. But they all face a similar problem: as they get closer to the target, the echo comes back faster but also becomes progressively louder. This is because more energy is reflected back than before, rather than gets lost in the surrounding water or air. And if the echo gets too loud, it could become deafening.

    2. Automatic Gain Control In The Echolocation System Of Dolphins, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Accurate measurements of echolocation signals used by free-ranging dolphins in the wild can be difficult to obtain, because the echolocation beam pattern is relatively narrow. (...) It is also extremely difficult to determine the distance of a moving dolphin from the recording hydrophone in order to determine the source level (sound pressure level 1 m from the dolphin) of the signals. We have successfully overcome these problems by using a short-base-line array of four hydrophones arranged as a symmetrical star.

  15. The Warped Side of Dark Matter, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Weak gravitational lensing, a subtle distortion of all distant galaxies, promises the most direct way of mapping the universe we can't see Imagine flying over a mountain range on a moonless night. You know that peaks loom below, but you can't see them. Suddenly, specks of light pop into view: isolated country homes, dotting the hilly slopes. The lights outline part of the massive edifice, but your mind grasps that the darkness hides something far larger. Astronomers face a similar situation

    1. Dark Energy Tiptoes Toward the Spotlight, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Discovered less than a decade ago, a mysterious antigravity force suffuses the universe. (...) the blackest mystery in the shadiest realms of cosmology It's the biggest question in physics: What is the invisible stuff blowing the universe apart? A decade ago, the idea of "dark energy" was a historical footnote, something Einstein concocted to balance his equations and later regretted. (...) They now know that this mysterious "antigravity" force exists, yet nobody has a good explanation for what it might be or how it works.

    2. The Dark Age of the Universe, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The Dark Age is the period between the time when the cosmic microwave background was emitted and the time when the evolution of structure in the universe led to the gravitational collapse of objects, in which the first stars were formed. The period of reionization started with the ionizing light from the first stars, and it ended when all the atoms in the intergalactic medium had been reionized. (...) The Cold Dark Matter theory for structure formation predicts that the first sources formed much earlier.

    3. New Light on Dark Matter, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Dark matter, proposed decades ago as a speculative component of the universe, is now known to be the vital ingredient in the cosmos: six times more abundant than ordinary matter, (...), and the component that has controlled the growth of structure in the universe. Its nature remains a mystery, but assuming that it is composed of weakly interacting subatomic particles, is consistent with large-scale cosmic structure (...). We discuss how studies of the density, demography, history, and environment of smaller-scale structures may distinguish among these possibilities (...).

    4. Throwing Light on Dark Energy, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Supernova observations show that the expansion of the universe has been speeding up. This unexpected acceleration is ascribed to a dark energy that pervades space. Supernova data, combined with other observations, indicate that the universe is about 14 billion years old and is composed of about 30%matter and 70%dark energy. (...) whether the dark energy is a modern version of Einstein's cosmological constant or another form of dark energy that changes with time. Either conclusion is an enigma that points to gaps in our fundamental understanding of gravity.

  16. Making Clouds Darker Sharpens Cloudy Climate Models, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Clouds are the great uncertainty of climate prediction. If researchers could get them more or less right in their models, they could be more definite about how warm it could get this century. Plenty remains wrong with model clouds, but researchers are now fixing a crucial shortcoming. Measurements published in 1995 cast a shadow over climate models: They indicated that clouds absorb 40% more incoming solar energy, and let less pass through to warm the surface, than the models predicted.

  17. Senescence In A Bacterium With Asymmetric Division, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Senescence (or aging) is a deterioration of function with age manifested as a drop in survival and reproduction (1). A fundamental question about senescence has not been settled: Which organisms should be senescent, and which should be potentially immortal? We present evidence for senescence in a bacterium with asymmetric division, supporting the notion that asymmetry is the key condition for senescence to evolve (2). The molecular processes underlying senescence are genetically determined. Why then is senescence-which imposes a cost on the individual-not eliminated by natural selection? For most organisms, selection against senescence is weak.

  18. A Tree of Fireflies, a Flock of Boson Clouds, Science Book Report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Applied mathematician Steven Strogatz now gives us a compulsively readable guided tour of many such phenomena: some from the inanimate world (lasers, chemical pattern formation, and electrical systems), others from biology (including "brain waves" and circadian sleep-wake cycles). Strogatz's stories concern collections of things--neurons, bosons, fireflies, chemical reactants--that display periodic oscillations and whose elements have predictable phase relations, often synchrony in the strict sense (i.e., zero phase lags among components). Strogatz stresses the similarities among the behavior of these systems, as revealed by their mathematical descriptions.

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

    1. Iranian Terror Group Planned Attacks, French Report Says, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The organization, whose aim is to overthrow Tehran's Islamic Republic by force, has operated in France for more than two decades and has its headquarters and military wing in Iraq. It pays for its operations through complex fund-raising that may be legal. Its main financier used to be Iraq, which over time gave the group several hundreds of millions of dollars, the report said. It added that since the fall of the government of Saddam Hussein, militants of both its political and military wing "have fled the country (...).

    2. By Fusing Images, Lehigh Professor Detects Concealed Weapons, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) hopes to equip these soldiers and security guards with a device that can save them a few potentially life-saving seconds in the search for concealed weapons. (...) devised a system that combines a photo taken by an optical camera with a photo of the same subject taken by a millimeter-wave camera (MMW). The result is a composite photo that exposes much more than either photo reveals by itself. (...) have fused two photos of the same setting so that an alarm clock in the foreground and a man seated in the background are both in focus.
      View: "image fusion" with a striking set of three photos at http://www.ece.lehigh.edu/SPCRL/spcrl.htm

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. SFI Working Papers
        1. Universality in Syntactic Dependency Networks, Ramón Ferrer, Ricard V. Solé, and Reinhard Köhler, DOI: SFI-WP 03-06-042
        2. Molecular Phylogeny of Coronaviruses Including Human SARS-CoV, Lei Gao, Ji Qi, Haibin Wei, Yigang Sun, and Bailin Hao, DOI: SFI-WP 03-06-041
        3. Dominance Style, Social Power, and Conflict Management in Macaque Societies: A Conceptual Framework, Jessica C. Flack and Frans B. M. de Waal, DOI: SFI-WP 03-06-040
        4. Risk Management in Biological Evolution, Andreas Wagner, DOI: SFI-WP 03-06-039
        5. Lessons from a Genetic Network about the Causes of Dominance, Andreas Wagner, DOI: SFI-WP 03-06-038
        6. Asymmetric Sequence Divergence of Duplicate Genes, G. C. Conant and Andreas Wagner, DOI: SFI-WP 03-06-037
        7. Strategic Freedom, Constraint, and Symmetry in One-Period Markets with Cash and Credit Payment, D. Eric Smith and Martin Shubik, DOI: SFI-WP 03-05-036
        8. Structure, Clearinghouses and Symmetry, Martin Shubik and D. Eric Smith, DOI: SFI-WP 03-05-035
      2. BOA: Framework for Automated Builds, Natalia M. Ratnikova, 2003-06-14, DOI: cs.SE/0306080, arXiv
      3. The Best Trail Algorithm for Assisted Navigation of Web Sites, Richard Wheeldon, Mark Levene, 2003-06-22, DOI: cs.DS/0306122, arXiv
      4. Contextual Random Boolean Networks, Carlos Gershenson, Jan Broekaert, Diederik Aerts, 2003-06-11, arXiv
      5. Argument Maps Improve Critical Thinking, Twardy, Charles R., 2003-06-13, CogPrints
      6. Making Refactoring Decisions in Large-scale Java Systems: an Empirical Stance, Richard Wheeldon, Steve Counsell, 2003-06-16, arXiv
      7. Punctuated Equilibria and 1/f Noise in a Biological Coevolution Model with Individual-based Dynamics, Per Arne Rikvold, R.K.P. Zia, 2003-06-15, arXiv
      8. Swarming Dynamics of a Model for Biological Groups in Two Dimensions, C.M. Topaz, A.L. Bertozzi, 2003-06-17, arXiv
      9. A Method for Solving Distributed Service Allocation Problems, Jose M Vidal, 2003-06-20, arXiv
      10. Global Platform for Rich Media Conferencing and Collaboration, Harvey B. Newman, Philippe Galvez, Gregory Denis, David Collados, Kun Wei, David Adamczyk, 2003-06, arXiv
      11. Cooperation and Self-Regulation in a Model of Agents Playing Different Games, H. Fort, 2003-06-24, arXiv
      12. Self-organization of Hierarchical Structures in Non-locally Coupled Replicator Models, Hidetsugu Sakaguchi, 2003-06-30, Physics Letters A 313(3):188-191
      13. Quantum Communications And Beyond, J. G. Rarity, Phil. Tran. A: Math., Phys. & Eng. Sc., 2003/06/05, DOI: 10.1098/rsta.2003.1217
      14. Static And Dynamic Properties Of Small-World Connection Topologies Based On Transit-Stub Networks, C. Aguirre, F. Corbacho & R. Huerta, Complex Sys., Vol. 14, Issue 1, 2003
      15. Using Statistical Learning Theory To Rationalize System Model Identification And Validation Part I: Mathematical Foundations, A. A. Guergachi & G. G. Patry, Complex Sys., Vol. 14, Issue 1, 2003
      16. A Real-World Rational Agent: Unifying Old And New AI, P. F. M. J. Verschure & P. Althaus, Cognitive Sc., Vol. 27, Issue 4, pp:561-590, 2003/06/07, doi:10.1016/S0364-0213(03)00034-X
      17. The Transfer Of Abstract Principles Governing Complex Adaptive Systems, R. L. Goldstone & Y. Sakamoto, Cognitive Psychology, Vol. 46, Issue 4, pp: 414-466, Jun. 2003, doi:10.1016/S0010-0285(02)00519-4
      18. Heart Rate Variability During Sleep As A Function Of The Sleep Cycle, F. Versace, M. Mozzato, G. De Min Ton, C. Cavallero &  L.  Stegagno, Biol. Psychology,Vol. 63, Issue 2, pp:149-162, May 2003, doi:10.1016/S0301-0511(03)00052-8
      19. How Might Individual Honeybees Measure Massive Volumes?, N. R. Franks & A. Dornhaus, Alphagalileo & Biol. Lett., 2003/06/23
      20. Rapid Movements Of Living Biomolecules Visualised, N. Moerlie, Alphagalileo, 2003/06/24
      21. Trouble Is Brewing, D. Stilwell, Alphagalileo, 2003/06/24
      22. Berkeley Lab Physicist Challenges Speed Of Gravity Claim, ScienceDaily & Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., 2003/06/19
      23. New Way To Make Realistic Shadows For Computer Images, Animation, ScienceDaily & Ohio State Univ., 2003/06/23
      24. Researchers Discover Birds Protect Trees In Neotropics By Eating Insects, ScienceDaily & Univ.  Of Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, 2003/06/24
      25. UCI Researcher Pinpoints Cause Of Inherited Auditory Neuropathy, ScienceDaily & Univ. Of California - Irvine, 2003/06/26
      26. A Multiphase Model Describing Vascular Tumour Growth, C. J. W. Breward, H. M. Byrne & C. E. Lewis, Bull. Math. Biol., Vol. 65, Issue 4, pp: 609-640, Jul. 2003, doi:10.1016/S0092-8240(03)00027-2
      27. Attitudes Towards The Euro By National Identity And Relative National Status, K. M. Pesti & E. Kirchler, J. Economic Psychology, Vol. 24, Issue 3, pp: 293-299, Jun. 2003, doi:10.1016/S0167-4870(02)00195-2
      28. Iraqi Saboteurs' Goal: Disrupt the Occupation, Michael R. Gordon, NYTimes, 03/06/28
      29. Pentagon Delays Releasing 5 Syrians Hurt in U.S. Raid, Douglas Jehl, Eric Schmitt, NYTimes, 03/06/28
      30. Pitting Fuel Economy Against Safety, Danny Hakim, NYTimes, 03/06/28
      31. Calculating the Irrational in Economics, Stephen J. Dubner, NYTimes, 03/06/28, The field of behavior economics blends psychology, economics and neuroscience to argue that emotion plays a huge role in how people make economic decisions.
      32. "Saddam's Bombs? We'll Find Them", opinion by Kenneth Pollack; The New York Times (6/20/03)
      33. "Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Future of the U.S. Military, ", Brookings Iraq Memo #17, Michael O'Hanlon (6/19/03)
      34. "Building the New Iraq: The Role of Intervening Forces", Daniel Byman; Survival (Summer 2003)
      35. "Democracy in Iraq?", Daniel Byman and Kenneth Pollack; The Washington Quarterly (Summer 2003)
      36. "'Road Map' Flaws Exposed", opinion by Shibley Telhami; Los Angeles Times (6/15/03)
      37. "Give Iran an Alternative to Nukes", opinion by Flynt Leverett; Los Angeles Times (6/15/03)
      38. Modeling the SARS Epidemic, Chris Dye and Nigel Gay, Science Jun 20 2003: 1884-1885
      39. Transmission Dynamics and Control of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, Marc Lipsitch, Ted Cohen, Ben Cooper, James M. Robins, Stefan Ma, Lyn James, Gowri Gopalakrishna, Suok Kai Chew, Chorh Chuan Tan, Matthew H. Samore, David Fisman, and Megan Murray, Science Jun 20 2003: 1966-1970.
      40. Psychiatric Drugs: Excited by Glutamate, Constance Holden, Science Jun 20 2003: 1866-1868.
      41. Solid Hints of a Strange State, Robert F. Service, Science Jun 20 2003: 1871
      42. Cosmology: Beyond The Inflationary Border, Steven Gratton And Paul Steinhardt, Nature 423, 817 - 818 (19 June 2003); doi:10.1038/423817a
      43. Cell Cycle: Degradation Ensures Integrity, Anatoliy Li And J. Julian Blow, Nature 423, 818 - 819 (19 June 2003); doi:10.1038/423818b
      44. Regulation Of Flowering Time By Light Quality, Pablo D. Cerdan And Joanne Chory, Nature 423, 881 - 885 (19 June 2003); doi:10.1038/nature01636

    2. Coming and Ongoing Webcasts Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Edge Videos
        1. Einstein And Poincaré, Peter Galison, 03/06/
        2. Genome Changes Everything, Matt Ridley, 03/06/
        3. A United Biology, E.O. Wilson, 03/05/28
        4. In The Matrix, Martin Rees, 03/05/19
        5. Who Cares About Fireflies? Steven Strogatz, 03/05/12
      2. World Economic Forum Extraordinary Annual Meeting, Jordan, 03/06/21-23
      3. SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 2003/06/01-04
      4. NAS Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge Domains, Video/Audio Report, 03/05/11
      5. Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected and Unknowable, The University of Texas Austin, Texas USA, 2003/04/10-12
      6. New Trends In Industrial Partnership And Innovation Management At European Research Laboratories, CERN, Geneva, 2003/03/19 (with webcast)
        1. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      7. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998

       


    3. Conference Announcements & Call for Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1.  2nd EXYSTENCE Thematic Institute on "Discrete and Computational Aspects of Complex Systems", Lyon, France, 03/06/15-07/04
      2. Computational and Mathematical Approaches to Homeland Security, Public Health Policy and Control: Challenges Posed by Emerging and Reemerging Diseases, Los Alamos, NM, 03/06/30-07/03
      3. 5th Intl Conf "Symmetry in Nonlinear Mathematical Physics", Kiev, Ukraine, 2003/06/23-29, Mirror
      4. NKS 2003 Conference & Minicourse, Boston, MA, 03/06/27-29
      5. Exystence Thematic Institute - Algorithms And Challenges In Hard Combinatorial Problems - Trieste, Italy, 03/07/01-31, Turin, Italy, 03/10/01-30
      6. UQÀM Summer Institute in Cognitive Sciences 2003: Categorization In Cognitive Sciences, Montreal, 2003/06/30-07/11
      7. 9th International Conference on Auditory Display, Boston, MA, 2003/07/07-09, Wkshp on Assistive Technologies for the Blind, 2003/07/07-09
      8. 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, 2003/07/07-11
      9. 2nd International School Topics In Nonlinear Dynamics, Siena (Italy), 2003/07/09-11
      10. 2003 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2003), Chicago, IL,2003/07/12-16
      11. 2nd Intl Joint Conf on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems (AAMAS-2003), Melbourne, Australia, 2003/07/14-18
        1. 4th Workshop on Multi-Agent Based Simulation, Melbourne, Australia, 2003/07/14
      12. 7th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2003), Orlando, Florida, 2003/07/27-30
      13. BIFURCATIONS 2003, Southampton, UK, 03/07/28-30
      14. Intl Conf on Socio Political Informatics and Cybernetics: SPIC '03, Orlando, Fl, USA, 2003/07/31-08/02
      15. 13th Annual International Conference, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life Sciences,Boston, MA, USA, 2003/08/08-10
      16. Thematic Institute "Networks and Risks", Budapest, Hungary, 03/08/25 - 09/27
      17. Conference on Growing Networks and Graphs in Statistical Physics, Finance, Biology and Social Systems, Rome, 03/09/01-05
      18. Call for Papers on Dynamical Hierarchies, Special Issue of Artificial Life, Deadline: 2003/09/05
      19. 7th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL-2003), Dortmund, Germany, 2003/09/14-17
      20. A Dual International Conference on Ethics, Complexity & Organisations & Creativity, London, UK, 2003/09/17-18
      21. 1st German Conference on Multiagent System Technologies (MATES'03), Erfurt, Germany, 2003/09/22-25
      22. Dynamics Days 2003, XXIII Annual Conference, 4 Decades of Chaos 1963-2003, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 03/09/24-27
      23. Improving The NHS Through The Lens Of Complexity, U Exeter, UK, 03/09/24-26
      24. Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT, Cambridge, MA, 2003/09/24-25
      25. Intl School Mathematical Aspects of Quantum Chaos II Quantum Chaos on Hyperbolic Manifolds, Schloss Reisensburg (Günzburg, Germany), 03/10/04-11
      26. 2003 IEEE/WIC Intl Joint Conf. Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, Beijing, China, 2003/10/13-17
      27. American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) 2003 Conference (H.v.Foerster), Vienna, Austria , 2003/11/10-15
      28. Trends And Perspectives In Extensive And Non-Extensive Statistical Mechanics, In Honour Of The 60th Birthday Of Constantino Tsallis, Angra Dos Reis, Brazil, 2003/11/19-21
      29. ICDM '03: The Third IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, Melbourne, Florida, USA, 2003/11/19-22
      30. 3rd International Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex System, Guangzhou, China, 2003/11/29-30
      31. 2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social Insects, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 2003/12/15-17
      32. 1st International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 04/01/29-30
      33. 4th Intl ICSC Symposium Engineering Of Intelligent Systems (EIS 2004), Island of Madeira, Portugal, 04/02/29-03/02
      34. Fractal 2004, "Complexity and Fractals in Nature", 8th Intl Multidisciplinary Conf , Vancouver, Canada, 2004/04/04-07
      35. Urban Vulnerability and Network Failure: Constructions and Experiences of Emergencies, Crises and Collapse, Manchester, UK, 04/04/29-30
      36. Fifth International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2004), Boston, MA, USA, 2004/05/16-21
      37. 13th International Symposium on HIV & Emerging Infectious Diseases, Toulon, France, 04/06/03-05

    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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