Complexity Digest 2003.51

Dec. 22, 2003

For individual e-mail subscriptions go to Subscriptions.
Previous issue 2003.50 | Next issue 2003.52

Content

  1. Sustainability and the Commons, Science
    1. The Struggle to Govern the Commons, Science
    2. Social Capital and the Collective Management of Resources, Science
    3. Understanding Conflict over Common Pool Resources, Science
    4. Challenge of Long-Term Climate Change, Science
    5. Science and Law in Environmental Policy, Science
  2. Values, Environmental Concern, And Behavior: A Study Into Household Energy Use, Env. & Behavior
  3. U.S. Multinationals And The Home Bias Puzzle: An Empirical Analysis, Global Finance J.
  4. The Effects Of Job Complexity And Autonomy On Work Groups, J. Organizational Behav.
  5. An Internet-Based Design Game As A Mediator Of Children's Environmental Visions, Env. & Behavior
  6. Signal Characteristics Of Spontaneous Facial Expressions In Solitary And Social Smiles, Biol. Psychol.
  7. Ancient Figurines Found From First Modern Humans?, National Geographic News
  8. The Queue Quotient, Atlantic Unbound
    1. Born Global, HBS Working Knowledge
    2. The Value of Personal Networks, MIT Sloan Management Review
  9. Review Basic Concepts: To Put It Simply..., Nature
  10. Warm-Blooded Plants?, Science News
  11. Geomorphology: Nature, Nurture And Landscape, Nature
    1. Large Complex Earthquakes in the Los Angeles Area, Science
  12. Geomorphology: Solitary Wave Behavior Of Sand Dunes, Nature
  13. First Flight: How Wright Brothers Changed World, National Geographic News
    1. The Kitty Hawk Flight, NPR Audio
  14. Researchers Use Brainwaves To Predict When We Are Going To Make Mistakes, Alphagalileo
  15. A First Glance At Global Genetic Networks, ScienceDaily
    1. Instant Stem Cells - Just Add Water, Natue Science update
  16. Virus Evolution: Epidemics-In-Waiting, Nature
    1. The Role Of Evolution In The Emergence Of Infectious Diseases, Nature
  17. A Short Description Of The Influence Of "Scale-Free" Networks In The 1 Sonata, For Piano, Michael Edward Edgerton
  18. Web Futures: Saddam Boosts Bush, CNNMoney/Reuters
    1. Rumsfeld: Saddam to Have POW Protections, Guardian
    2. Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, UNHCHR
    3. Expert Weighs in on Saddam's Interrogation, NPR Audio
    4. Interrogating Saddam, NPR Audio
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. U.S. Courts Reject Detention Policy in 2 Terror Cases, NYTimes
    2. In Debate on Antiterrorism, the Courts Assert Themselves, NYTimes
    3. The Padilla Decision, NYTimes
    4. Chief of Sept. 11 Panel Assesses Blame but Holds Off on Higher-Ups, NYTimes
    5. Boom, or Bust?, Nature
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements
    4. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test

  1. Sustainability and the Commons, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Earth from space, as seen from Apollo 17 in 1972

    Thirty-five years ago, Science published a remarkable essay by Garret Hardin entitled "Tragedy of the Commons."

    (...) accessible to many potential harvesters who can extract marginal personal benefits at a cost that is low because all other harvesters share it. (...)

    The big question in the end is not whether science can help. Plainly it could. Rather, it is whether scientific evidence can successfully overcome social, economic, and political resistance. That was Hardin's big question 35 years ago, and it is now ours.

    1. The Struggle to Govern the Commons, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Human institutions-ways of organizing activities-affect the resilience of the environment. Locally evolved institutional arrangements governed by stable communities and buffered from outside forces have sustained resources successfully for centuries, although they often fail when rapid change occurs. (...) Critical problems, such as transboundary pollution, tropical deforestation, and climate change, are at larger scales and involve nonlocal influences. Promising strategies for addressing these problems include dialogue among interested parties, officials, and scientists; complex, redundant, and layered institutions; a mix of institutional types; and designs that facilitate experimentation, learning, and change.

    2. Social Capital and the Collective Management of Resources, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Yet communities have shown (...) that they can collaborate for long-term resource management. The term social capital captures the idea that social bonds and norms are critical for sustainability. Where social capital is high in formalized groups, people have the confidence to invest in collective activities, knowing that others will do so too. Some 0.4 to 0.5 million groups have been established since the early 1990s for watershed, forest, irrigation, pest, wildlife, fishery, and microfinance management. These offer a route to sustainable management and governance of common resources.

    3. Understanding Conflict over Common Pool Resources, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The management of common pool resources can be viewed as a problem of collective action and analyzed in terms of the costs and benefits of cooperation, institutional development, and monitoring, according to variables such as group size, composition, (...). However, resulting policy debates are often flawed because of the assumption that the actors involved share an understanding of the problem that is being discussed. They tend to ignore the fact that the assumptions, knowledge, and understandings that underlie the definition of resource problems are frequently uncertain and contested.

    4. Challenge of Long-Term Climate Change, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Climate policy needs to address the multidecadal to centennial time scale of climate change. Although the realization of short-term targets is an important first step, to be effective climate policies need to be conceived as long-term programs that will achieve a gradual transition to an essentially emission-free economy on the time scale of a century. This requires a considerably broader spectrum of policy measures than the primarily market-based instruments (...). A successful climate policy must consist of a dual approach focusing on both short-term targets and long-term goals.
      • Source: Challenge of Long-Term Climate Change, K. Hasselmann, M. Latif, G. Hooss, C. Azar, O. Edenhofer, C. C. Jaeger, O. M. Johannessen, C. Kemfert, M. Welp, A. Wokaun, Science Dec 12 2003: 1923-1925

    5. Science and Law in Environmental Policy, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Early environmental policy depended on science, with mixed results. Newer approaches continue to rely on science to identify problems and solve them, but use other mechanisms to set standards and legal obligations. Given the important role that science continues to play, however, several cautionary tales are in order concerning "scientific management," "good science," the lure of money, and the tension between objectivity and involvement in important issues of our time.

      " (...) Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty the primary issue in the debate..."

  2. Values, Environmental Concern, And Behavior: A Study Into Household Energy Use, Env. & Behavior Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: In this study, the role of values in the field of household energy use is investigated by using the concept of quality of life (QOL). Importance judgments on 22 QOL aspects could be summarized into seven clearly interpretable value dimensions. (...) home and transport energy use were especially related to sociodemographic variables like income and household size. These results show that it is relevant to distinguish between different measures of environmental impact and different types of environmental intent. Moreover, the results suggest that using only attitudinal variables, such as values, may be too limited to explain all types of environmental behavior

  3. U.S. Multinationals And The Home Bias Puzzle: An Empirical Analysis, Global Finance J. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: While international portfolio investment has become much more common among U.S. investors, prior research has shown that they continue to exhibit a home bias in equity holdings. Hence, to gain the potential benefits of international diversification, they must turn to U.S. multinationals (MNCs), among other alternatives. The literature, however, contains mixed evidence on this, (...) covering the period of January 31, 1995, through May 31, 2001. Various tests applied to dollar returns for major U.S. and international stock market indices show weak correlations and no long-term cointegrating relationships between the U.S. sets and the foreign indices (...).

  4. The Effects Of Job Complexity And Autonomy On Work Groups, J. Organizational Behav. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Increased job complexity and autonomy have often been associated with improved performance in work groups. This study examines the mediating effect of group cohesiveness. The moderating effects of individualism/collectivism on the relationship between job characteristics (both complexity and autonomy) and cohesiveness are also tested. The sample consists of 381 teams drawn from the Hong Kong and U.S. branches of an international bank. The findings indicate that an increase in job complexity and/or task autonomy will increase group cohesiveness, which subsequently translates to better performance.

  5. An Internet-Based Design Game As A Mediator Of Children's Environmental Visions, Env. & Behavior Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: This exploratory study examines howan Internet-assisted design game succeeds in bringing forth children's own visions for the environment where they live and their definitions of a good environment. Two connected concepts in environmental psychology, the theory of person-environment fit and the concept of affordances, are applied in the analysis of the results of the design process. The results indicate that children's design solutions are sensitive to the geographical context. The children generally enjoyed the Internet-based design game. The girls designed more affordances for simply being in peace, whereas the boys emphasized affordances for playing games.

  6. Signal Characteristics Of Spontaneous Facial Expressions In Solitary And Social Smiles, Biol. Psychol. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: The assumption that the smile is an evolved facial display suggests that there may be universal features of smiling in addition to the basic facial configuration. We show that smiles include not only a stable configuration of features, but also temporally consistent movement patterns. In spontaneous smiles from two social contexts, duration of lip corner movement during the onset phase was independent of social context and the presence of other facial movements, including dampening. (...) consistency in onset and offset phases suggests that portions of the smile display are relatively stereotyped and may be automatically produced.

  7. Ancient Figurines Found From First Modern Humans?, National Geographic News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Lionperson
    Ivory figurines like this "lionperson" found in Germany are among the oldest examples of figurative art known worldwide.

    Photograph by Hilde Jensen, University of Tübingen
    Humans have had a refined artistic bent for at least 33,000 years, according to the discovery of three deftly carved ivory figurines in a cave in southwestern Germany. The miniature statues include a horse, a diving waterfowl, and a half-man, half-lion.

    The figurines come from an ongoing excavation of Hohle Fels Cave in the Ach Valley and are dated to a time when some of the earliest known relatives of modern humans populated Europe, an era known as the Aurignacian.

  8. The Queue Quotient, Atlantic Unbound Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: "Most of us have never considered that kindergarten's most important lesson--that of lining up--is somehow related to our society's ability to self-govern. For [P.J.] O'Rourke, the mad dash for food in Safwan [Iraq] represented something more than hunger or desperation: 'Aid seekers in England would queue automatically by needs, disabled war vets and nursing mothers first. Americans would bring lawn chairs and sleeping bags, camp out the night before, and sell their places to the highest bidders. Japanese would text-message one another, creating virtual formations, getting in line to get in line. Germans would await commands from a local official, such as the undersupervisor of the town clock. Even Italians know how to line up, albeit in an ebullient wedge. The happier parts of the world have capacities for self-organization so fundamental and obvious that they appear to be the pillars of civilization...But here--on the road to Ur, in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley...nothing was supporting the roof.'"

    1. Born Global, HBS Working Knowledge Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: "More companies are being born global. In the '80s and the '90s, our focus was really more about how established successful companies adapted to the booming global environment. The game was being defined by giant American, European, and Japanese companies. But now we see new competitors come from smaller countries that, because their home markets are too small to support them, are moving immediately onto the global stage. We also see whole industries that are being born global, particularly the information-based, knowledge-intensive service economy...Another big change is that companies are finally recognizing that being global is not just about entering incremental overseas markets. It is also about accessing scarce resources. And the scarcest of all resources is the human resource, particularly management. So the assumption that 'all the smart, capable people were born within a ten-mile radius of our head office' is being eroded."

    2. The Value of Personal Networks, MIT Sloan Management Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: "What separates high-performing knowledge workers from their more-average peers? Superior ability is part of the answer, as is superior expertise. But...what really distinguishes high performers from the rest of the pack is their ability to maintain and leverage personal networks. The most effective knowledge workers create and tap large, diversified networks that are rich in experience and span all organizational boundaries. Contrary to the popular image of the networker...the building and use of such networks is rarely motivated by explicit political or career-driven motives...high performers are much more than "social butterflies," who tend to have numerous relationships that don't scratch below the surface. Effective knowledge workers focus on building deeper relationships that will be mutually beneficial over time...organizations should use tools and readily available human-resources practices to hire people who are likely to develop large, widespread networks. Once on board, people should be encouraged through incentives to maintain their networks. Such important work - and it is work, even if isn't usually visible - shouldn't be left strictly to chance."

  9. Review Basic Concepts: To Put It Simply..., Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Ideally, in a theory of concepts and in lexical semantics, the term 'basic' ought to cover the topmost level of abstraction (...). Or, at the other extreme - in a tradition that extends back to the philosopher David Hume - they have roots in our most direct access to unadorned sense impressions (a green splotch here and now in front of me). Unfortunately, 'basic concepts' sit comfortably at an intermediate level - they are neither too general nor too specific. Lunch is a basic concept, but so are bread, spoon and banana, (...).

  10. Warm-Blooded Plants?, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    HOT STUFF. The skunk cabbages in Japan melt snow and show the most-precise temperature regulation yet recorded in a plant.
    HOT STUFF. The skunk cabbages in Japan melt snow and show the most-precise temperature regulation yet recorded in a plant.
    (...) Ito and his Iwate colleagues (...) have been searching for the temperature sensor and other compounds that operate in the skunk cabbage's heat production. (...)

    "This sort of biological algorithm could be used as a new brain to control nonbiological devices, such as air conditioners," (...). The system used by a skunk cabbage, "which is a typical chaotic system, is totally different," he says. Ito's team has recently succeeded in operating an artificial heater with this algorithm. "I really think we can learn a lot from skunk cabbages," (...).

  11. Geomorphology: Nature, Nurture And Landscape, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Those studying erosion in mountain regions wrestle with factors such as what builds mountains, and how climate affects erosive forces. (...)

    The endless debate over the relative importance of nature and nurture in child development has its equivalent in geomorphology. In this case, the argument is about the roles of tectonics and climate in mountain erosion. Tectonics (nature) sets the initial conditions by raising Earth's surface and, where active, renewing topography. Climate (nurture) shapes the surface into its various forms through its effect on glaciers and rivers.

    1. Large Complex Earthquakes in the Los Angeles Area, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Faults in complex tectonic environments interact in various ways, including triggered rupture of one fault by another, that may increase seismic hazard in the surrounding region. (...) We find that rupture of the Sierra Madre-Cucamonga thrust fault system is unlikely to trigger rupture of the San Andreas or San Jacinto strike-slip faults. However, a large northern San Jacinto fault earthquake could trigger a cascading rupture of the Sierra Madre-Cucamonga system, potentially causing a moment magnitude 7.5 to 7.8 earthquake on the edge of the Los Angeles metropolitan region.

  12. Geomorphology: Solitary Wave Behavior Of Sand Dunes, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Time series of the solitary-wave behaviour of two barchan sand dunes.
    Colliding dunes appear to traverse through one another and emerge unscathed.

    Barchan sand dunes are highly mobile, crescent-shaped dunes that occur in areas where sand is sparse and the wind is unidirectional. Here we show mathematically how two such loose-grained dunes are able to pass through one another while still preserving their shape. The crucial parameters for this solitary-wave behaviour, which is consistent with field observations, are the heights of the two colliding dunes.

  13. First Flight: How Wright Brothers Changed World, National Geographic News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    One hundred years ago today, a machine carrying a person made a brief and wobbly flight. As Wilbur Wright watched his brother Orville guide their flying machine into the air, the past and the future separated and the world started shrinking.
    Thursday, December 17, 1903, dawned windy and cold on North Carolina's Outer Banks. At Kill Devil Hills, the thermometer hovered around the freezing mark, and a 25-mile-per-hour (40-kilometer-per-hour) wind blowing out of the north made it feel even colder. Orville and Wilbur Wright had a few doubts about whether this was a good day to try to get their flying machine off the ground. They'd had one setback three days earlier when Wilbur lost control of the craft as he was trying to take off, damaging a wing.

    1. The Kitty Hawk Flight, NPR Audio Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A soaring moment in American history occurred 100 years ago today: The Wright Brothers made their first flights in Kitty Hawk, N.C. As NPR's Joe Palca reports, the basic principles they built into their Wright Flyer remain a part of every aircraft flying today.

  14. Researchers Use Brainwaves To Predict When We Are Going To Make Mistakes, Alphagalileo Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Now, by monitoring our brainwaves (...) has developed a way of predicting when we are about to make these mistakes. "It's the sort of mistakes you make especially when you're feeling tired or sleepy, like accidentally putting coffee on your cornflakes instead of milk. But you have to remember that these sorts of mistakes have also been implicated in the Chernobyl disaster and the three-mile island accident." The clue lies in a particular set of brainwaves, known as P300 waves. "We looked at P300 waves and we found that if they began to fall, we knew a mistake was likely to happen."

  15. A First Glance At Global Genetic Networks, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Although the regulatory details of individual gene groups varied, the researchers found common ground in the overall landscape of the expression data. The transcription programs exhibit properties typical of dynamically evolving "real-world" networks that are designed to perform in uncertain environments and maintain connections between elements independent of scale. These properties were originally identified in studies of social networks and the World Wide Web, but they aptly describe the real-world challenges of the cell. (...) nodes (i.e., genes and proteins) added at an early stage (much like highly conserved genes) are more likely to develop many connections, acting as a hub.

    1. Instant Stem Cells - Just Add Water, Natue Science update Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Cell membranes crack if they are overly parched.
      © SPL
      Researchers are honing a technique to create dried stem cells that can be revived just by adding water. The 'instant' cells might make mobile therapies for remote regions or the battlefield.

      Because some stem cells can make fresh bone, muscle or blood, doctors hope to use them to repair tissues. But, like transplant organs kept on ice, their shelf life will be limited (...).

      Several scientists are looking for a way to air-dry cells, comparable to the technique that turns grapes to raisins.

  16. Virus Evolution: Epidemics-In-Waiting, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Could the next SARS-like virus reach epidemic proportions? Quantifying the likely threat of emerging diseases isn't easy, but evolution is a crucial factor that may tip the balance in favour of such human parasites.

    One of the oldest tenets of evolutionary biology is that it is easier to change a little than a lot. We also know that evolutionary change is more easily selected for in a large population than in a small one.

    (...)certain parasites are specially poised to evolve so that they can cause epidemics.

    1. The Role Of Evolution In The Emergence Of Infectious Diseases, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: It is unclear when, where and how novel pathogens such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), monkeypox and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) will cross the barriers that separate their natural reservoirs from human populations and ignite the epidemic spread of novel infectious diseases. New pathogens are believed to emerge from animal reservoirs when ecological changes increase the pathogen's opportunities to enter the human population and to generate subsequent human-to-human transmission. (...) Here we show that, (...), the probability of pathogen evolution (...) can increase markedly.

  17. A Short Description Of The Influence Of "Scale-Free" Networks In The 1 Sonata, For Piano, Michael Edward Edgerton Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In part, this 1 sonata is influenced by a line of work known as "scale-free" networks.

    (...) these organizing principles have significant implications for creation (developing better drugs, defending the internet, halting the spread of epidemics, or even composing music). (...)

    6 hubs of different length and procedure were distributed over the 2 nd and 3 rd movements. Musically, the notion of an airport was utilized by diverting all traffic into a limited landing space, while the density of procedure and duration were varied considerably between the 6 differing occurrences.

  18. Web Futures: Saddam Boosts Bush, CNNMoney/Reuters Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Tradesports.com say 'futures' contracts for Bush's re-election soared to 70.7 percent. The odds on President Bush being re-elected next year posted their biggest daily gain Monday after the weekend capture of Saddam Hussein, according to an Irish-based online betting exchange.

    1. Rumsfeld: Saddam to Have POW Protections, Guardian Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Saddam was taken to an undisclosed location where, Rumsfeld said, ``he would be accorded the privileges as though he were a prisoner of war - not that he necessarily is one.''

      If it is found that Saddam was involved in the attacks against coalition troops, he might be placed in a different category, Rumsfeld said, (...).

      ``One need not worry that he'll be treated in a humane and professional way,'' governed by the Geneva Convention that spells out the treatment that prisoners must receive, the secretary said on CBS' ``60 Minutes.''

    2. Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, UNHCHR Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:

      Article 13: (...) Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity.

      Article 17: Every prisoner of war, when questioned on the subject, is bound to give only his surname, first names and rank, date of birth, and army, regimental, personal or serial number, or failing this, equivalent information. If he wilfully infringes this rule, he may render himself liable to a restriction of the privileges accorded to his rank or status. (...)

      No physical or mental torture, nor any other form of coercion, may be inflicted on prisoners of war to secure from them information of any kind whatever. Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted, or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind.

    3. Expert Weighs in on Saddam's Interrogation, NPR Audio Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Intelligence officials are trying to glean as much information from captured Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as they can. NPR's Michele Norris talks with Reuel Marc Gerecht of the American Enterprise Institute and formerly a Middle Eastern specialist for the Central Intelligence Agency.

    4. Interrogating Saddam, NPR Audio Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The CIA is questioning Saddam Hussein. NPR's Scott Simon talks interrogation nuts-and-bolts with former CIA counter terrorism specialist Phil Giraldi.

      "(...) you could make him adopt an uncomfortable position while you are questioning him, make him lean against a wall or you could make him get down to a push-up position or something like that." (...) "He might be stopped from going to the bathroom."
      Editor's Note: There seems to be a discrepancy between the U.S. Government's definition of "torture" and that of the Geneva convention.

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

    1. U.S. Courts Reject Detention Policy in 2 Terror Cases, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The twin blows to the underpinnings of the administration's elaborate legal strategy erected after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks make it all the more likely that the Supreme Court will have the final say on matters that the administration had argued did not belong in the courts in the first place.

      The Supreme Court agreed (...) to hear the case of the detainees at Guantánamo and is widely expected to rule as well on the issues raised in the case of Jose Padilla, the American declared an enemy combatant.

    2. In Debate on Antiterrorism, the Courts Assert Themselves, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The broad presidential powers invoked by the Bush administration after Sept. 11, 2001, to detain suspected terrorists outside the civilian court system is now being challenged by the federal courts, the very branch of the government the White House hoped to circumvent.

      The two separate appellate court rulings on Thursday swept away crucial parts of the administration's legal strategy to handle terrorist suspects outside the criminal justice system and incarcerate them indefinitely without access to lawyers or to the evidence against them.

    3. The Padilla Decision, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) that there are constitutional limits on the president's power to deny basic civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism - is one that protects the liberty of all Americans.

      The two-judge majority underscored that it was not denying the serious threat that Al Qaeda poses, nor the president's responsibility to protect the nation. (...) Rather, the decision correctly found that the president possesses no inherent constitutional authority as commander in chief to detain as enemy combatants American citizens seized on American soil, away from the zone of combat.

    4. Chief of Sept. 11 Panel Assesses Blame but Holds Off on Higher-Ups, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The chairman of the panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks said that the attacks could have been prevented had low- and mid-level government employees done their jobs. (...)

      Mr. Kean, whose bipartisan 10-member panel is to issue a final report in May, said he was surprised that some midlevel officials at the F.B.I. and in federal immigration agencies had not been removed from their jobs, given errors before the Sept. 11 attacks that may have allowed the hijacking plot to go undetected.

    5. Boom, or Bust?, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Hundreds of millions of dollars are pouring into US biodefence research. You might expect scientists working on infectious diseases to be unequivocally delighted. But things aren't that simple (...)

      Some researchers fear that it will distort priorities in infectious-disease research, sucking money away from work to understand and counter natural disease outbreaks that ultimately pose a greater threat to public health. Experts in weapons proliferation, meanwhile, are concerned that the expansion of labs working on potential bioweapons agents will increase the risk of these pathogens getting into terrorists' hands.

      • Source: Boom, or Bust?, Erika Check, DOI: 10.1038/426598a, Nature 426, 598 - 601, 03/12/11

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. New York and Microsoft File Suits on E-Mail Spam, Saul Hansell, The New York state attorney general and Microsoft filed suits charging one of the nation's most prominent e-mail marketers with fraud.
      2. Change the Channel, Bob Herbert, Americans are the best-informed people in the history of the world. But we are experts at distancing ourselves from any real unpleasantness.
      3. Telling It Right, Paul Krugman, The message of this war seems to be that as long as you wave the flag convincingly enough, it doesn't matter whether you tell the truth.
      4. Learning to Break the Rules, Bruce Berkowitz, In the hunt for Saddam Hussein, intelligence analysts employed new strategies that were vital to the success of the mission.
      5. Model Mice: Blood reveals signs of pancreatic cancer, Science News, Vol. 164, No. 24, 03/12/13, ( Audible format). Mice that develop pancreatic cancer show signs of the disease long before malignant tumors arise, just as people with this type of cancer do.
      6. Slowing Puberty? Pesticide may hinder development in boys, Science News Vol. 164, No. 24, 03/12/13, ( Audible format).Long-term exposure to the pesticide endosulfan may delay the onset of puberty in boys.
      7. Worried to Death: Lifelong inhibitions hasten rodents' deaths, 03/12/13, Science News, Vol. 164, No. 24, ( Audible format).In rats with a fear of novel situations, an exaggerated hormonal response to minor types of stress adds up to a shorter life than that of bold rats.
      8. Signal Transduction: Molecular Monogamy , Drew End. Michael B. Yaffe - myaffeamit.edu, 03/12/11, Nature 426, 614 - 615, The interactions between cellular proteins must be highly specific, or cells will stop functioning. Some clever protein-manipulation experiments have revealed how this specificity has evolved in yeast. , DOI: 10.1038/426614a
      9. Links Between Erosion, Runoff Variability And Seismicity In The Taiwan Orogen, Simon J. Dadson, Niels Hovius, Hongey Chen, W. Brian Dade, Meng-Long Hsieh, Sean D. Willett, Jyr-Ching Hu, Ming-Jame Horng, Meng-Chiang Chen, Colin P. Stark, Dimitri Lague, Jiun-Chuan Lin, 03/12/11, Nature 426, 648 - 651 , DOI: 10.1038/nature02150
      10. Decoupling Of Erosion And Precipitation In The Himalayas, D. W. BURBANK, A. E. BLYTHE, J. PUTKONEN, B. PRATT-SITAULA, E. GABET, M. OSKIN, A. BARROS, T. P. OJHA, 03/12/11, Nature 426, 652 - 655, DOI: 10.1038/nature02187
      11. Visual Control Of Action But Not Perception Requires Analytical Processing Of Object Shape , TZVI GANEL, MELVYN A. GOODALE, 03/12/11, Nature 426, 664 - 667, DOI: 10.1038/nature02156
      12. Sweet Lurkers: Cryptic Fungi Protect Chocolate-Tree Leaves, 03/12/13, Science News, Vol. 164, No. 24, ( Audible format).A whole world of fungi thrives inside tree leaves without causing any harm, and researchers now say these residents may help fight disease.
      13. Ketones to the Rescue, 03/12/13, Science News, Vol. 164, No. 24, ( Audible format).Medical researchers are investigating a slew of possible applications for acids called ketones, which the body produces naturally when deprived of carbohydrates and protein.
      14. Genome Made Quickly From Scratch, 03/12/13, Science News, Vol. 164, No. 24, ( Audible format).Scientists have synthesized a viral genome in record time.
      15. Gains In Pain Research Past Failures Push Investigators To Be More Innovative In Their Treatment Approaches, Jill U. Adams, 03/12/15, The Scientist
      16. Trade Dilemma US balances free trade and protectionism as 2004 election looms , Stephen Evans, 03/12/15, BBC
      17. Carbon Nanotubes Show Drug Delivery Promise, 03/12/16, NewScientist.com
      18. Materials Retain Useful Properties At Nanoscale Researchers Find, 03/12/16, Nanotechweb.org
      19. Nanowire Sensors To Allow Instant Medical Tests, 03/12/16, KurzweilAI.net
      20. Separating the Killers From the Boys, By Joan Jacobs Brumberg, 03/12/18, NYTimes
      21. Understanding The Emotional Labor Process: A Control Theory Perspective, J. M. Diefendorff - jdiefenalsu.edu, R. H. Gosserand, 2003/11/17, Journal of Organizational Behavior, DOI: 10.1002/job.230
      22. Discharge Of Inferior Olive Cells During Reaching Errors And Perturbations, K. M. Horn - khornachw.edu, M. Pong, A. R. Gibson, 2003/12/03, Brain Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2003.10.021
      23. Autumn Colouration As A Signal Of Tree Condition, S. B. Hagen, S. Debeausse, N. G. Yoccoz, I. Folstad, 2003/12/15, Alphagalileo & Biology Letters
      24. Sex-Specific Response Of A Mosquito To Parasites And Crowding, M. Tseng, 2003/12/15, Alphagalileo & Biology Letters
      25. Lunar Orientation In A Beetle, M. Dacke, M. J. Byrne, C. H. Scholz, E. J. Warrant, 2003/12/15, Alphagalileo & Proceedings Biological Sciences
      26. Weak Compensation Of Harvest Despite Strong Density-Dependent Growth In Willow Ptarmigan, H. C. Pedersen, H. S. Steen, L. Kastdalen, H Brøseth, R. A. Ims, W. Svendsen, N. G. Yoccoz, 2003/12/15, Alphagalileo & Proceedings Biological Sciences
      27. Opals Manufactured By Beetles, B. Hottbarbara - hottaadmin.ox.ac.uk, 2003/12/16, Alphagalileo
      28. Champagne And Bubbles: Smaller Is Better, 2003/12/16, ScienceDaily & American Chemical Society
      29. Scientists Discover How Anthrax Creates Its Deadly Spores, 2003/12/17, ScienceDaily & Univ. Of Michigan Health Sys.
      30. Comparing Ecological Impacts Of Fishing Gears, 2003/12/18, ScienceDaily & Ecological Society Of America
      31. Community Structure Of Fishes Inhabiting Aquatic Refuges In A Threatened Karst Wetland And Its Implications For Ecosystem Management, R. M. Kobza, J. C. Trexler - trexlerjafiu.edu, W. F. Loftus, S. A. Perry, Apr. 2004, Biological Conservation, DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3800(03)00272-2
      32. Dendritic Branching Of Pyramidal Cells In The Visual Cortex Of The Nocturnal Owl Monkey: A Fractal Analysis, H. F. Jelinek, G. N. Elston, Dec. 2003, Fractals, DOI: 10.1142/S0218348x03002270
      33. Scaling In The Distribution Of Marks In High School, M. Gligor, M. Ignat, Dec. 2003, Fractals, DOI: 10.1142/S0218348x03002257
      34. Ana's Golden Fractal, J. L. Pe, Dec. 2003, Fractals, DOI: 10.1142/S0218348x03002269
      35. Power-Law Species-Area Relationships And Self-Similar Species Distributions Within Finite Areas, Sizling A. L., Storch D., Jan. 2004, Ecology Letters, DOI: 10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00549.x

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Presentation Webcasts from Scientific Sessions 2003, American Heart Association
      2. EVOLVABILITY & INTERACTION: Evolutionary Substrates of Communication, Signaling, and Perception in the Dynamics of Social Complexity, London, UK, 03/10/08-10
      3. The Semantic Web and Language Technology - Its Potential and Practicalities, Bucharest, Romania, 03/07/28-08/08
      4. ECAL 2003, 7th European Conference on Artificial Life, Dortmund, Germany, 03/09/14-17
      5. IMA International Conference Bifurcation 2003, Univ. Southampton, UK, 27-30 July, 2003
      6. New Santa Fe Institute President About His Vision for SFI's Future Role, (Video, Santa Fe, NM, 03/06/04)
      7. SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 2003/06/01-04
      8. NAS Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge Domains, Video/Audio Report, 03/05/11
      9. Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected and Unknowable, The University of Texas Austin, Texas USA, 2003/04/10-12
      10. 13th Ann Intl Conf, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life Sciences, Boston, MA, USA, 2003/08/08-10
      11. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      12. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      13. Edge Videos

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

      1. The American Society for Cell Biology 43rd Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 03/12/13-17
      2. 2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social Insects, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 03/12/15-17
      3. 2nd WSEAS Intl Conf on Non-linear Analysis, Non-linear Systems and Chaos, Athens, Greece, 03/12/29-31
      4. Complex Physical, Biological and Social Systems, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 04/01/05-09
      5. 2nd Biennial Seminar on the Philosophical, Epistemological, and Methodological Implications of Complexity Theory, Havana, Cuba, 04/01/07-10
      6. 2004 Western Simulation MultiConference (WMC'04), San Diego, CA., USA, 04/01/18-24
      7. The Mathematica Gulf Conference, Muscat, Oman, 04/01/26
      8. 1st International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland, 04/01/29-30
      9. Physics of Socio-Economic Systems, 1st Intl Winter School 2004, Konstanz, Germany, 04/02/16-20
      10. Advances in Molecular Electronics: From molecular materials to single molecule devices, Dresden, Germany, 04/02/23
      11. Leadership in Rapidly Changing Business Environments -Learning and Adapting in Time, Cambridge, MA, 04/02/26-27
      12. 4th Intl ICSC Symposium Engineering Of Intelligent Systems (EIS 2004), Island of Madeira, Portugal, 04/02/29-03/02
      13. Conference on Longevity , Sydney, Australia, 04/03/05-07
      14. Arbeitskreis Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme Jahrestagung (AKSOE), Regensburg, Germany, 04/03/08-12
      15. Capital Science 2004, Washington, 04/03/20-21
      16. Fractal 2004, "Complexity and Fractals in Nature", 8th Intl Multidisciplinary Conf, Vancouver, Canada, 04/04/04-07
      17. 6th German Workshop on Artificial Life 2004 (GWAL-6), Bamberg, Germany, 04/04/14-16
      18. The 9th IEEE Intl Conf on Engineering of Complex Computer Systems, Florence, Italy, 04/04/14-16
      19. 2004 Advanced Simulation Technologies Conference (ASTC'04), Arlington, VA., USA, 04/04/18-22
      20. NKS (New Kind of Science) 2004 Conference and Minicourse, Boston, Massachusetts, 04/04/22-25
      21. Urban Vulnerability and Network Failure: Constructions and Experiences of Emergencies, Crises and Collapse, Manchester, UK, 04/04/29-30
      22. 5th International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2004), Boston, MA, USA, 04/05/16-21
      23. 3rd Intl Conf on Systems Thinking in Management (ICSTM 2004) "Transforming Organizations to Achieve Sustainable Success", Philadelphia, Pa, USA, 04/05/19-21
      24. 9th Annual Workshop on Economics and Heterogeneous Interaction Agents (WEHIA04),, Kyoto, Japan, 2004/05/27-29
      25. 13th International Symposium on HIV & Emerging Infectious Diseases, Toulon, France, 04/06/03-05
      26. ECC8 Experimental Chaos Conference, Florence, Italy, 04/06/14-17
      27. From Animals To Animats 8, 8th Intl Conf On The Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'04), Los Angeles, USA, 04/07/13-17
      28. 3rd Intl Conf Autonomous Agents & Multi-Agent Systems Conference (AAMAS 2004), New York City, 04/07/19-23
        1. 7th Intl Workshop on: Trust in Agent Societies , New York City, 04/07/19-20
      29. 8th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Orlando, Florida, USA, 04/07/18-21
      30. 2004 Summer Simulation MultiConference (SummerSim'04), San Jose Hyatt, San Jose, California, 04/07/25-29
      31. 6th International Mathematica Symposium (IMS 2004), Banff, Canada, 04/08/02-06
      32. ANTS 2004, 4th International Workshop on Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence, Brussels, Belgium, 04/09/05-08
      33. Dynamic Ontology, An Inquiry into Systems, Emergence, Levels of Reality, and Forms of Causality, Trento, Italy, 04/09/08-11
      34. 9th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems (ALIFE9), Boston, Massachusetts, 04/09/12-15
      35. The Verhulst 200 on Chaos, Brussels, BELGIUM, 04/09/16-18
      36. The 8th Intl Conf on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature (PPSN VIII), Birmingham, UK, 04/09/18-22
      37. XVII Brazilian Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Sao Luis, Maranhao - Brazil, 04/09/22-24
      38. TEDMED Conference , Charleston SC, 04/10/12-15
      39. Wolfram Technology Conference, Champaign, Illinois, 04/10/21-23

    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.

Also available in: Simple HTML format | TXT format | TXT format with links | Print