Complexity Digest 2003.30

28-Jul-2003

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Content

  1. Information Technology And Economic Performance: Review Of The Empirical Evidence, ACM Computing Surveys
  2. Tapping the Mood Gene, NYTimes
    1. Getting the Short End of the Allele, Science
    2. Influence of Life Stress on Depression, Science
  3. Supercomputing: Simulators Face Real Problems, Science
  4. Development as a Dynamic System, Trends in Cognitive Sciences
    1. The Segmentation Clock: Converting Embryonic Time into Spatial Pattern, Science
    2. Time for Chronomics?, Science
    3. To Every Thing There Is a Season, Science
  5. Evolutionary Biology: Body Plans And Simple Brains, Nature
  6. Ecology: Evolution In Population Dynamics, Nature
    1. Ecology: Birds Sing At A Higher Pitch In Urban Noise, Nature
  7. Mutation Landscapes, Journal of Theoretical Biology
    1. Larger than Life: threshold-range scaling of Life's coherent structures, Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena
  8. Reproductive Isolation Driven By Effects Of Ecological Adaptation And Reinforcement, Alphagalileo & Proc. B
    1. Quantifying Male Attractiveness, Alphagalileo & Proc. B
  9. Viral Self-Assembly As A Thermodynamic Process, Phys. Rev. Lett.
  10. Memory in Retroviral Quasispecies: Experimental Evidence and Theoretical Model for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Journal of Molecular Biology
  11. Managing Models Of Signaling Networks, Neurocomputing
  12. Electronic Neuron Within A Ganglion Of A Leech, Phys. Rev. E
  13. Neuroscience: A New Of The Brain, Nature
  14. Brain Machine 'Improves Musicianship', BBC News
  15. When Is a Word Not a Word?, Science
    1. Lateralized Cognitive Processes and Lateralized Task Control, Science
  16. Flicker Flutter: Is an Illusory Event as Good as the Real Thing?, Journal of Vision
    1. Sustained Division Of The Attentional Spotlight, Nature
  17. "Cellular Automaton Model for the Simulation of Laser Dynamics", Physical Review E
  18. Your Permanent Record, Wired
    1. Pentagon Alters LifeLog Project, Wired News
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Planned U.S. Sensor Network Targets Terror Threats, EE Times
    2. Before and After Sept. 11, NYTimes
    3. Classified Section of Sept. 11 Report Faults Saudi Rulers, NYTimes
      1. Full Text: Congressional Report on 9/11, NYTimes
    4. Faith-Based Intelligence, The New Yorker
    5. Intelligence Quagmire: How To Gauge The New IQ, The Christian Science Monitor
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Papers
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements
    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test

  1. Information Technology And Economic Performance: Review Of The Empirical Evidence, ACM Computing Surveys Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: (...) there has been considerable debate about whether the IT revolution was paying off in higher productivity. Studies in the 1980s found no connection between IT investment and productivity in the U.S. economy, a situation referred to as the productivity paradox. Since then, a decade of studies at the firm and country level has consistently shown that the impact of IT investment on labor productivity and economic growth is significant and positive. This article critically reviews the published research, more than 50 articles, on computers and productivity. The review concludes that the productivity paradox as first formulated has been effectively refuted.

  2. Tapping the Mood Gene, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: (...) effects of stressful events in early adulthood and the way that responses to them are mediated by a single gene, called 5-HTT. (...) The gene makes a protein that modifies nerve cells' use of serotonin, a chemical messenger important in the regulation of mood. The short version of the gene was linked (if weakly) to neuroticism, as a personality trait; the news media called 5-HTT the "Woody Allen gene." The long variant of the gene seems to confer emotional resilience.

    1. Getting the Short End of the Allele, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: For people with two s alleles (17% of the group), the probability of a major depressive episode rose to 43% among those who had been through four or more stressful experiences. That was more than double the risk for the subjects with two l's (who made up 31% of the group) who had been similarly buffeted by life's vicissitudes. The average score on a depression symptom inventory was likewise more than twice as high for stressed people with two s alleles as for those with two l versions.

    2. Influence of Life Stress on Depression, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In a prospective-longitudinal study of a representative birth cohort, we tested why stressful experiences lead to depression in some people but not in others. (...) Individuals with one or two copies of the short allele of the 5-HT T promoter polymorphism exhibited more depressive symptoms, diagnosable depression, and suicidality in relation to stressful life events than individuals homozygous for the long allele. This epidemiological study thus provides evidence of a gene-by-environment interaction, in which an individual's response to environmental insults is moderated by his or her genetic makeup.

  3. Supercomputing: Simulators Face Real Problems, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: One problem plaguing U.S. machines is efficiency--the amount of work actually performed compared with the amount of work that would get done if each processor could work continuously without needing to wait for data to arrive. For climate problems, the Earth Simulator operates at 30% efficiency or higher, well above what U.S. machines can achieve. "Inadequate bandwidth and network latency limit us to about 1% of the peak performance (...). "That's typical of the [off-the-shelf component-based] architectures that we've grown so fond of in the United States.

  4. Development as a Dynamic System, Trends in Cognitive Sciences Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Development is about creating something more from something less, for example, a walking and talking toddler from a helpless infant. One current theoretical framework views the developmental process as a change within a complex dynamic system. Development is seen as the emergent product of many decentralized and local interactions that occur in real time. We examine how studying the multicausality of real-time processes could be the key to understanding change over developmental time. We specifically consider recent research and theory on perseverative reaching by infants as a case study that demonstrates this approach.
    • Source: Development as a Dynamic System, Linda B. Smith, Esther Thelen, DOI: 10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00156-6, Trends in Cognitive Sciences Article in Press, Corrected Proof, 2003-07-15

    1. The Segmentation Clock: Converting Embryonic Time into Spatial Pattern, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In most animal species, the anteroposterior body axis is generated by the formation of repeated structures called segments. In vertebrate segmentation, a specialized mesodermal structure called the somite gives rise to skeletal muscles, vertebrae, and some dermis. Formation of the somites is a rhythmic process that involves an oscillator -the segmentation clock- (...). This process converts the temporal oscillations into the periodic spatial pattern of somite boundaries. The study of somite development provides insights into the spatiotemporal integration of signaling systems in the vertebrate embryo.

    2. Time for Chronomics?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Ever since the derivation of the theory of relativity, physicists have done reasonably well in understanding time; however, biologists are still waiting for a comprehensive theory of timing in living systems: a corpus of "laws" describing how cells and organisms can precisely initiate and terminate processes at specified times. This deficiency is particularly acute in developmental biology, where complex mechanisms of various paces and durations must be orchestrated to solve huge developmental problems such as the one faced by the fertilized egg: how to become an organism.

    3. To Every Thing There Is a Season, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: From cells to whole organisms, there is a time to grow and a time to proliferate; a time to keep silent and a time to express; a time to change and a time to refrain from transformation. But where are the cellular and organismal timepieces and how do they mark off time and keep the myriad physiological events in sync? (...) The clustered Hox genes are activated in a temporal and spatial manner that corresponds to their order on the chromosomes.

  5. Evolutionary Biology: Body Plans And Simple Brains, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Genes expressed in the vertebrate brain and spinal cord show up in the surface nerve net of a closely related group of invertebrates. Could this mean that brains started out on the body surface?

  6. Ecology: Evolution In Population Dynamics, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Ecologists studying population dynamics prefer not to bother with the possibility of evolutionary change affecting their study organisms. This is sensible, because understanding the results of interactions between, for example, populations of predators and prey is already a complicated task. Making the assumption that evolutionary processes are too slow on ecological scales greatly eases the task of modelling the commonly observed population oscillations. But an elegant study by Yoshida et al.1 (page 303 of this issue) decisively demonstrates that this simplification might no longer be tenable.

    1. Ecology: Birds Sing At A Higher Pitch In Urban Noise, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Great tits hit the high notes to ensure that their mating calls are heard above the city's din. Great tits hit the high notes to ensure that their mating calls are heard (...). The ongoing spread of urban areas, highways and airports throughout the world makes anthropogenic noise almost omnipresent. We have found that urban great tits (Parus major) at noisy locations sing with a higher minimum frequency, thereby preventing their songs from being masked to some extent by the predominantly low-frequency noise. They have presumably learned selectively from a restricted range of their repertoire - a behavioural plasticity that may be critical for breeding success in a noisy world.

  7. Mutation Landscapes, Journal of Theoretical Biology Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: A traditional picture of evolutionary dynamics with constant fitness is that of genomes living in sequence space and adapting on fitness landscapes. Mutation rates are considered to be constant or externally regulated. If, however, we take into account that genomes also encode for enzymes that perform replication and error correction, then individual genomes not only have a specific replication rate (fitness), but also a specific mutation rate. This leads to the concept of a mutation landscape. We explore evolution on mutation landscapes. Localization in pure mutation landscapes is only possible under extremely restrictive conditions. Coupling of mutation landscapes and fitness landscapes leads to localization and hence adaptation and evolution. We analyse how mutation landscapes facilitate localization in fitness landscapes and vice versa. Finally, we show that for mutation landscapes, at equilibrium, with constant environment, there is not necessarily selection for the minimum mutation rate. Instead, the target of selection is an optimum distribution of mutation rates, a `mutational quasispecies'.
    • Source: Mutation Landscapes, Akira Sasaki, Martin A. Nowak, DOI: 10.1016/S0022-5193(03)00161-9, Journal of Theoretical Biology Article in Press, Corrected Proof, 2003-07-16

    1. Larger than Life: threshold-range scaling of Life's coherent structures, Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: The Game of Life has many coherent structures known as still lifes, oscillators, and spaceships. The most intriguing of these structures are the spaceships due to their ability to carry information across long spatial distances. Similar structures are supported by Larger than Life (LtL), which is a four-parameter family of two-dimensional cellular automata that generalizes the Game of Life to large neighborhoods and general birth and survival thresholds. Numerous examples of large range versions of Life's spaceships are provided along with descriptions of the experimental methods used to find these objects. The empirical work illustrates that these structures are quite common, scale in a fairly coherent manner, and have a distinct geometry. A mix of rigorous results, questions, and conjectures are made about the existence of the generalized spaceships and other coherent structures for LtL rules with arbitrarily large neighborhoods as well as the convergence of such rules to "Euclidean automata". Euclidean automata are deterministic rules that have Euclidean, rather than discrete universes.

  8. Reproductive Isolation Driven By Effects Of Ecological Adaptation And Reinforcement, Alphagalileo & Proc. B Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: How new species originate has been one of the most important questions in evolutionary biology since Darwin. We studied the processes involved in species formation using walking-stick insect populations that live on two different species of plants. Females that mate with males from the other plant species produce offspring that are less camouflaged than females that mate with males from their own plant species. We show that natural selection has thus favoured females who discriminate (...). These findings show how natural selection can favour the evolution of more-selective mate choice, which can lead to greater progress towards formation of new species.

    1. Quantifying Male Attractiveness, Alphagalileo & Proc. B Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Ronald Fisher suggested that female choosiness for certain male traits could be maintained in a population because females that are choosy produce sons that inherit their father's trait and so are chosen by females. Formal genetic models have previously shown that this seemingly circular argument is sound. In this paper we show how genetic arguments can be reformulated in terms of an appropriate measure of male attractiveness. Results demonstrate that selection can maintain female preference for a culturally inherited male trait, even when the preference leads to fewer (but more attractive) offspring being produced.
      • Source: Quantifying Male Attractiveness, J. M. McNamara, A. I. Houston, M. dos Santos, H. Kokko & R. Brooks, 2003/07/21
      • Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinayahoo.co.in

  9. Viral Self-Assembly As A Thermodynamic Process, Phys. Rev. Lett. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: The protein shells, or capsids, of nearly all spherelike viruses adopt icosahedral symmetry. In the present Letter, we propose a statistical thermodynamic model for viral self-assembly. We find that icosahedral symmetry is not expected for viral capsids constructed from structurally identical protein subunits and that this symmetry requires (at least) two internal "switching" configurations of the protein. Our results indicate that icosahedral symmetry is not a generic consequence of free energy minimization but requires optimization of internal structural parameters of the capsid proteins.

  10. Memory in Retroviral Quasispecies: Experimental Evidence and Theoretical Model for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Journal of Molecular Biology Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Viral quasispecies may possess a molecular memory of their past evolutionary history, imprinted on minority components of the mutant spectrum. Here we report experimental evidence and a theoretical model for memory in retroviral quasispecies in vivo. Apart from replicative memory associated with quasispecies dynamics, retroviruses may harbour a "cellular" or "anatomical" memory derived from their integrative cycle and the presence of viral reservoirs in body compartments. Three independent sets of data exemplify the two kinds of memory in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The data provide evidence of re-emergence of sequences that were hidden in cellular or anatomical compartments for extended periods of infection, and recovery of a quasispecies from pre-existing genomes. We develop a three-component model that incorporates the essential features of the quasispecies dynamics of retroviruses exposed to selective pressures. Significantly, a numerical study based on this model is in agreement with the experimental data, further supporting the existence of both replicative and reservoir memory in retroviral quasispecies.

  11. Managing Models Of Signaling Networks, Neurocomputing Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Signaling pathways participate in complex information processing networks. These networks handle housekeeping functions of the cell as well as specialized functions such as synaptic plasticity. I report two developments in managing such networks: a compilation of mass-action kinetic models of signaling pathways, and shared motifs in the chemistry of interactions between signaling pathways. These motifs may prove useful in abstracting signaling networks, without compromising chemical reaction details. The combination of a library of signaling pathway models, and high-level rules to connect these pathways, may simplify development of complex signaling network models.

  12. Electronic Neuron Within A Ganglion Of A Leech, Phys. Rev. E Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: We report the construction of an electronic device that models and replaces a neuron in a midbody ganglion of the leech Hirudo medicinalis. In order to test the behavior of our device, we used a well-characterized synaptic interaction between the mechanosensory, sensitive to pressure, (P) cell and the anteropagoda (because of the action potential shape) (AP) neuron. We alternatively stimulated a P neuron and our device connected to the AP neuron, and studied the response of the latter. The number and timing of the AP spikes were the same when the electronic parameters were properly adjusted.

  13. Neuroscience: A New Of The Brain, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: When considering the location of human cognitive functions, neuroscientists still refer to imprecise anatomical maps drawn up almost a century ago. (...) By entrusting the analysis to computers, Zilles has removed human bias from the business of defining borders between brain regions. (...) The final product will involve 15 brains to generate a 'probabilistic map', against which any point selected from, say, an MRI image of a living brain can be said to lie within a particular structure with a certain probability.

  14. Brain Machine 'Improves Musicianship', BBC News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Students were assessed on two pieces of music before and after neurofeedback sessions. (...) These filtered brainwaves are then 'fed back' to the individual in the form of a video game displayed on a screen. The participant learns to control the game by altering particular aspects of their brain activity. This alteration in brain activity can influence performance. A panel of expert judges found the 97 Royal College of Music students improved in a number of areas, including musical understanding, imagination, and communication with the audience.

  15. When Is a Word Not a Word?, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: One difficulty in assessing the differential specialization of the two hemispheres is choosing the most appropriate stimulus. Thus, when assessing visuospatial judgment tasks, the tendency is to avoid a linguistic stimulus. (...) if lateralization depends on the task rather than the stimulus, then the same stimulus could be used to directly test lateralization of linguistic and visuospatial functions. Short words, with one letter colored red, were presented (...)judged whether the word contained the letter "A," ignoring the red letter. (...) indicating whether the red letter was right or left of center.

    1. Lateralized Cognitive Processes and Lateralized Task Control, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The principles underlying human hemispheric specialization are poorly understood. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging of letter and visuospatial decision tasks with identical word stimuli to address two unresolved problems. First, hemispheric specialization depended on the nature of the task rather than on the nature of the stimulus. Second, analysis of frontal candidate regions for cognitive control showed increased coupling between left (...)(ACC) (...) during letter decisions, whereas right ACC showed enhanced coupling with right parietal areas during visuospatial decisions. Cognitive control is thus localized in the same hemisphere as task execution.

  16. Flicker Flutter: Is an Illusory Event as Good as the Real Thing?, Journal of Vision Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Verghese and Stone (1995) showed that reducing the perceived number of objects by grouping also reduces objective performance. Shams, Kamitani, and Shimojo (2000) showed that a single flash accompanied by multiple beeps appears to flash more than once. We show that objective orientation-discrimination performance depends solely on the perceived number of flashes, independent of the actual number of beeps and flashes. Thus the unit of perceptual analysis seems to be a perceived event, independent of how it is induced.

    1. Sustained Division Of The Attentional Spotlight, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: By voluntarily directing attention to a specific region of a visual scene, we can improve our perception of stimuli at that location1. This ability to focus attention upon specific zones of the visual field has been described metaphorically as a moveable spotlight or zoom lens that facilitates the processing of stimuli within its 'beam'2, 3. [Here we] (...) show that the spotlight may be divided between spatially separated locations (excluding interposed locations) over more extended time periods. This spotlight division appears to be accomplished at an early stage of visual-cortical processing.

  17. "Cellular Automaton Model for the Simulation of Laser Dynamics", Physical Review E Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In a laser system, the interactions among simple atoms and the radiation they produce can give rise to cooperative phenomena. However, the usual approach for its study is based on very detailed microscopical equations, which somehow mask the action of such cooperative properties. In this study, a simple cellular automaton model is presented, which reproduces much of the laser phenomenology, special attention being focused on these self-organizing cooperative effects. Our model is interesting in that it illustrates the emergence of laser properties as cooperative phenomena based on simple underlying rules. It can also be useful in calculating laser output in situations which are difficult to treat with the traditional approach based on the resolution of detailed differential equations. One example is when dealing with complex boundary conditions or numerical difficulties in the integration of the equations.

  18. Your Permanent Record, Wired Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In a fully realized digital memory management system, your camera will come with a self-setting clock, a built-in GPS locator, and perhaps 100 gigs of flash memory. Every picture or video snippet that you shoot will be embedded with date and location information. Your standard OS will include sophisticated face-matching software. Your computer will be your shoe box -(...). And ferreting out every picture of Granny at your daughter's graduation will become a matter of simply setting a few parameters in Photo Find and pressing Return.

    1. Pentagon Alters LifeLog Project, Wired News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Lifelog http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/research/llog/index.html is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's effort to gather every conceivable element of a person's life, (...). It's an attempt, some say, to make a kind of surrogate, digitized memory. (...) (...) Darpa changed http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/Solicitations/Mod3_03-30.html the LifeLog proposal request. Now: "LifeLog researchers shall not capture imagery or audio of any person without that person's a priori express permission. In fact, it is desired that capture of imagery or audio of any person other than the user be avoided even if a priori permission is granted."

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

    1. Planned U.S. Sensor Network Targets Terror Threats, EE Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In one approach, researchers are studying hybrid sensors that use surface-chemical detection as a first step, or trigger, that could be followed up with more expensive and time-consuming techniques (...) The goal for all the government efforts, perhaps three to five years out, is to deploy a highly accurate yet low-cost network of sensors "that in a couple of minutes could tell you if an agent is present, in what concentration and something about the agent. But the technology for that doesn't really exist yet,"(...)

    2. Before and After Sept. 11, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: It would be nice to believe that all the problems had been fixed. (...) The next examination of the government's conduct prior to Sept. 11 will come from the commission headed by Thomas Kean, the former governor of New Jersey. The administration must give the commission the information it has requested on relevant White House and National Security Council discussions. The White House's refusal to give Congress unfettered access to information about Saudi Arabia's links to terrorism was a mistake that should not be repeated with the Kean panel.

    3. Classified Section of Sept. 11 Report Faults Saudi Rulers, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Some people who have read the classified chapter said it represented a searing indictment of how Saudi Arabia's ruling elite have,(...), distributed millions of dollars to terrorists (...). Mr. Bayoumi helped pay the expenses for the men, Khalid Almidhar and Nawaq Alhazmi. Mr. Bayoumi, the report said, "had access to seemingly unlimited funding from Saudi Arabia." The report said Mr. Bayoumi was employed by the Saudi civil aviation authority and left open his motivations for supporting the two men.

      1. Full Text: Congressional Report on 9/11, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    4. Faith-Based Intelligence, The New Yorker Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." So said President Bush on January 28th, outlining the case for war with Iraq in his State of the Union address. (...) most chilling moment of the speech, for it raised the spectre of nuclear weapons in the hands of a dictator who had proved himself capable of terror, invasion, and genocide. To many listeners, the attribution of this sensational piece of information to the British served only to emphasize its reliability.
      Editor's Note: George Orwell's "Animal Farm" illustrates a generic phenomenon of complex social systems: that valuable ideas (such as "All Animals are Created Equal") will eventually be eroded and abused by power-hungry individuals, unless a reliable system of checks and balances prevent that from happening. Today we observe that an idea ("prevent terror attacks by pre-emptive attacks") is abused already in the first instance of its implementation by less than air-tight and convincing intelligence.

    5. Intelligence Quagmire: How To Gauge The New IQ, The Christian Science Monitor Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: For one thing, the unveiling of specific data about Iraq and its dissection in the media could make it harder to convince the spy services of other nations to cooperate fully again with US or British counterparts. (...) For another, the administration may now be the White House that cried wolf. (...) Thus many experts say it's important to get to the bottom of what happened, (...). If nothing else, Bush's new strategy of preemption, based on taking out regimes posing imminent threats, relies more on intelligence than on other tools.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Switch On For Powered Data Networks, Mark Ward
      2. When Whales Ruled the Earth, New count of old whales adds up to a big debate
      3. A Land Bridge to Nowhere?, New dates for Siberian site challenge Bering pathway to America
      4. Climate Plan Gets Mixed Reviews, Bush's 10-year research blueprint pleases some, but critics want more action
      5. Unraveling the Tale of Tails, Zebrafish build tails from a unique set of instructions
      6. Quantum Triple Play, A new technique sends three bits of information with one photon
      7. Fatherhood Is Sexy, Male sand gobies show off parental skills to lure females
      8. Dark Energy Passes Another Test, Scientists unveil the most direct evidence to date for the enigmatic energy
      9. Female Baboons Speak Out About Sex, Noisy grunting encourages a good mate to stick around
      10. More Blessed to Give, In social contacts, giving confers more health benefits than receiving
      11. DNA Goes Ballistic, Some viruses use pressure to shoot DNA into host cells
      12. On the Edge: Hidden in Plain Sight, Rich Gray, 03/07/01, SPACE.com
      13. On Terror, Doubts Anew After a Scathing Report, Eric Lichtblau, 03/07/25, NYTimes
      14. Complex Hybrid Origin Of Genetic Caste Determination In Harvester Ants, Sara Helms Cahan, Laurent Keller, 17 July 2003, Nature 424, 306 - 309, DOI: 10.1038/nature01744
      15. Ants Join Online Colony To Boost Conservation Efforts, Rex Dalton, 17 July 2003, Nature 424, 242, DOI: 10.1038/424242b
      16. Ageing: Microarraying Mortality, David Gems, Joshua J. McElwee, 17 July 2003, Nature 424, 259 - 261, DOI: 10.1038/424259a
      17. Selective Exposure To Television Programmes And Advertising Effectiveness, C. E. Norris - cenorrisadmu.ac.uk, a. m. colman & p. a. aleixo, 2003, DOI: 10.1152/jn.00954.2002
      18. Drag Reduction by Polymers in Wall Bounded Turbulence, Victor S. L'vov, Anna Pomyalov, Itamar Procaccia, Vasil Tiberkevich, 2003-07-21, arXiv, DOI: nlin.CD/0307034
      19. Wheelchair steered by brainpower, 2003-07-24, BBC
      20. Slowing Of Electroencephalogram In Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder, M. L. Fantini, J. F. Gagnon, D. Petit, S. Rompré, A. Décary, J. Carrier, J. Montplaisir - j-montplaisiracrhsc.umontreal.ca, 2003/05/27, DOI: 10.1002/ana.10547
      21. Functional Organization Of The Brain With Malformations Of Cortical Development, J. Janszky, A. Ebner, B. Kruse, M. Mertens, H. Jokeit, R. J. Seitz, O. Witte, I. Tuxhorn, F. G. Woermann - fgwamara.de, 2003/05/27, DOI: 10.1002/ana.10545
      22. A Selfish Origin For Recombination, M. Archetti - marco.archettiaunifr.ch, 2003/06/04, DOI: 10.1016/S0022-5193(03)00102-4
      23. A Biomechanical Model For Analysis Of Muscle Force, Power Output And Lower Jaw Motion In Fishes, M. W. Westneat - mwestneatafieldmuseum.org, 2003/06/04, DOI: 10.1016/S0022-5193(03)00058-4
      24. Self-Organized Critical Neural Networks, S. Bornholdt & T. Röhl, 2003/06/27, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.67.061915
      25. Evolutionary Stability Of Ecological Hierarchy, T. Cheon, 2003/06/27, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.258105
      26. Optimal Control Of Neuronal Activity, J. Feng & H. C. Tuckwell, 2003/07/04, DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.91.018101
      27. New Sensor Developed At UCSB Can Detect DNA In One Step, 2003/07/18, ScienceDaily & Univ. Of Calif. - Santa Barbara
      28. Teens' Internet Confidence Lacking, T. Merckx, H. Van Dyck, B. Karlsson & O. Leimar, 2003/07/21
      29. Evidence Against Perceptual Bias Views For Symmetry Preferences In Human Faces, A. C. Little & B. C. Jones, 2003/07/21
      30. Happy People May Have More Immunities To Common Cold, 2003/07/22, ScienceDaily & Center For The Adv. Of Health
      31. Changes In Deep Brain Tissue Signal An Increased Risk For Strokes, 2003/07/22, ScienceDaily & Amer. Heart Asso.
      32. The Association Between Performance In Show-Jumping And Personality, E. K. Visser - kathalijne.visserawur.nl, c. g. van reenen, b. engel, m. b. h. schilder, a. barneveld & h. j. blokhuis, 2003/08/05, DOI: 10.1016/S0168-1591(03)00083-2
      33. Report Says Early Strikes Can't Shoot Down Missiles, Charles Seife, Jul 18 2003, Science: 287
      34. Reactions at Interfaces As a Source of Sulfate Formation in Sea-Salt Particles, Alexander Laskin, Daniel J. Gaspar, Weihong Wang, Sherri W. Hunt, James P. Cowin, Steven D. Colson, Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts, Jul 18 2003, Science: 340-344, DOI: 10.1126/science.1085374
      35. From Tides to Mixing Along the Hawaiian Ridge, Daniel L. Rudnick, Timothy J. Boyd, Russell E. Brainard, Glenn S. Carter, Gary D. Egbert, Michael C. Gregg, Peter E. Holloway, Jody M. Klymak, Eric Kunze, Craig M. Lee, Murray D. Levine, Douglas S. Luther, Joseph P. Martin, Mark A. Merrifield, James N. Moum, Jonathan D. Nash, Robert Pinkel, Luc Rainville, Thomas B. Sanford, Jul 18 2003, Science: 355-357
      36. Evolution of Key Cell Signaling and Adhesion Protein Families Predates Animal Origins, Christopher T. Hittinger, Sean B. Carroll, Jul 18 2003, Science : 361-363.
      37. Mass Mortality of Krill Caused by Parasitoid Ciliates, Jaime Gomez-Gutierrez, William T. Peterson, Alex De Robertis, Richard D. Brodeur, Jul 18 2003, Science : 339.
      38. Task Preparation In Macaque Monkeys (Macaca Mulatta), G. Stoet, L. H Snyder, Jun. 2003
      39. Adaptation Using Local Information For Maximizing The Global Cost, T. Hoch - hochacs.tu-berlin.de, g. wenning & k. obermayer, Jun. 2003, DOI: 10.1016/S0925-2312(02)00779-8

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. New Santa Fe Institute President About His Vision for SFI's Future Role, (Video, Santa Fe, NM, 03/06/04)
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        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
      3. World Economic Forum Extraordinary Annual Meeting, Jordan, 03/06/21-23
      4. SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 2003/06/01-04
      5. NAS Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge Domains, Video/Audio Report, 03/05/11
      6. Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected and Unknowable, The University of Texas Austin, Texas USA, 2003/04/10-12
      7. 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
      8. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998

       


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

      1. Exystence Thematic Institute - Algorithms And Challenges In Hard Combinatorial Problems - Trieste, Italy, 03/07/01-31, Turin, Italy, 03/10/01-30
      2. 7th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI 2003), Orlando, Florida, 2003/07/27-30
      3. BIFURCATIONS 2003, Southampton, UK, 03/07/28-30
      4. Intl Conf on Socio Political Informatics and Cybernetics: SPIC '03, Orlando, Fl, USA, 2003/07/31-08/02
      5. Leadership for Complex Changes - Seattle Conference, Seattle, WA USA, 03/08/04-05
      6. 13th Annual International Conference, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life Sciences,Boston, MA, USA, 2003/08/08-10
      7. Thematic Institute "Networks and Risks", Budapest, Hungary, 03/08/25 - 09/27
      8. Conference on Growing Networks and Graphs in Statistical Physics, Finance, Biology and Social Systems, Rome, 03/09/01-05
      9. Call for Papers on Dynamical Hierarchies, Special Issue of Artificial Life, Deadline: 2003/09/05
      10. 7th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL-2003), Dortmund, Germany, 2003/09/14-17
      11. A Dual International Conference on Ethics, Complexity & Organisations & Creativity, London, UK, 2003/09/17-18
      12. 1st German Conference on Multiagent System Technologies (MATES'03), Erfurt, Germany, 2003/09/22-25
      13. Dynamics Days 2003, XXIII Annual Conference, 4 Decades of Chaos 1963-2003, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 03/09/24-27
      14. Improving The NHS Through The Lens Of Complexity, U Exeter, UK, 03/09/24-26
      15. Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT, Cambridge, MA, 2003/09/24-25
      16. Intl School Mathematical Aspects of Quantum Chaos II Quantum Chaos on Hyperbolic Manifolds, Schloss Reisensburg (Günzburg, Germany), 03/10/04-11
      17. 2003 IEEE/WIC Intl Joint Conf. Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, Halifax, Canada, 2003/10/13-17
      18. American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) 2003 Conference (H.v.Foerster), Vienna, Austria , 2003/11/10-15
      19. 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
      20. ICDM '03: The Third IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, Melbourne, Florida, USA, 2003/11/19-22
      21. 4th Intl Conf on Systems Science and Systems Engineering, Hong Kong, 03/11/25-28
      22. 3rd International Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex System, Guangzhou, China, 2003/11/29-30
      23. 2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social Insects, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 2003/12/15-17
      24. 1st International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 04/01/29-30
      25. 4th Intl ICSC Symposium Engineering Of Intelligent Systems (EIS 2004), Island of Madeira, Portugal, 04/02/29-03/02
      26. Fractal 2004, "Complexity and Fractals in Nature", 8th Intl Multidisciplinary Conf , Vancouver, Canada, 2004/04/04-07
      27. Urban Vulnerability and Network Failure: Constructions and Experiences of Emergencies, Crises and Collapse, Manchester, UK, 04/04/29-30
      28. Fifth International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2004), Boston, MA, USA, 2004/05/16-21
      29. 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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