Complexity Digest 2007.46

29-Nov-2007

PDF files of our annual editions are available at www.comdig.de/AnnualEditions.html

Aletter from Gottfried Mayer to our readers and friends is at http://www.comdig.de/GMLetter.html

For individual e-mail subscriptions go to Subscriptions.
Previous issue 2007.45 | Next issue 2007.47

Content

  1. A Working Brain Model, MIT Technology Review
    1. Theory of Mind Is Independent of Episodic Memory, Science
    2. Why You Remember Names And Ski Slopes: Researchers Discover Personal Trainer For Your Memory, Innovations-report
  2. Hold Your Horses: Impulsivity, Deep Brain Stimulation, and Medication in Parkinsonism, Science
    1. Probing Question: Why Can A Stroke Victim Remember Some Things And Not Others?, Research Penn State
  3. Social Comparison Affects Reward-Related Brain Activity in the Human Ventral Striatum, Science
    1. Money Motivates -- Especially When Your Colleague Gets Less, ScienceDaily
    2. Social Evaluation By Preverbal Infants, Nature
  4. An Antidepressant That Extends Lifespan In Adult Caenorhabditis Elegans, Nature
    1. Physiology: Still Pondering An Age-Old Question, Science
  5. Race To Mimic Human Embryonic Stem Cells - 'Personalized' Tissues Come A Step Closer., Nature
    1. After Stem-Cell Breakthrough, the Work Begins, NY Times
    2. Drug Firms Accused Of Biasing Doctors' Training - The Uneasy Link Between Industry And Education., Nature
  6. SARS: A Model Disease, Innovations-report
  7. Bioclocks Work By Controlling Chromosome Coiling, ScienceDaily
  8. Tadpole Slayer: Mystery epidemic imperils frogs, Science News
  9. Ecology: Managing Evolving Fish Stocks, Science
  10. Carbon Cycle: Marine Manipulations, Nature
  11. A Video That's Worth a Million Words, Science News
  12. Cheap Sensors Could Capture Your Every Move, NewScientist
  13. Inconsistencies Between Pangean Reconstructions and Basic Climate Controls, Science
  14. Bad Vibrations - The Ancient Craft Of Bridge Design Still Holds Surprises, Science News
  15. Emission of Coherent THz Radiation from Superconductors, Science
  16. High-Temperature Superconductivity: Schizophrenic Electrons, Nature
    1. Superconducting Pair Correlations in an Amorphous Insulating Nanohoneycomb Film, Science
  17. Physics: Better Computing with Photons, Science
  18. Militarized Patriotism: Why The U.S. Marketplace Of Ideas Failed Before The Iraq War, Security Studies
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. The ISI And The War On Terrorism, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism
    2. Path To Victory - Refashioning Institutions For The Challenges Of The 21st Century, National Review Online
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. A Working Brain Model, MIT Technology Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Brain power: This representation shows the connectivity of the 10,000 neurons and 30 million connections that make up a single neocortical column. (The different colors correspond to different levels of electrical activity.) Having created a biologically accurate computer model of a neocortical column scientists are now planning to model the entire human brain within just 10 years. Credit: BBP/EPFL
    A computer simulation could eventually allow neuroscience to be carried out in silico.

    An ambitious project to create an accurate computer model of the brain has reached an impressive milestone. Scientists in Switzerland working with IBM researchers have shown that their computer simulation of the neocortical column, arguably the most complex part of a mammal's brain, appears to behave like its biological counterpart. By demonstrating that their simulation is realistic, the researchers say, these results suggest that an entire mammal brain could be completely modeled within three years, and a human brain within the next decade.

    1. Theory of Mind Is Independent of Episodic Memory, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Contrary to current theory, two brain-injured patients who cannot remember their own past experiences can nevertheless infer the thoughts and beliefs of others.

      Theory of mind (ToM) to infer other people's current mental states and episodic memory of personal happenings have been assumed to be closely related. We report two participants with severely impaired episodic memory who perform indistinguishably from healthy controls on objective ToM tests. These results suggest that ToM can function independently of episodic memory.

    2. Why You Remember Names And Ski Slopes: Researchers Discover Personal Trainer For Your Memory, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: When you meet your boss's husband, Harvey, at the office holiday party, then bump into him an hour later over the onion dip, will you remember his name? (...) Yes, thanks to a nifty protein in your brain called kalirin-7. Researchers (...) have discovered the brain protein kalirin is critical for helping you learn and remember what you learned. Previous studies by other researchers found that kalirin levels are reduced in brains of people with diseases like Alzheimer's and schizophrenia. Thus, the discovery of kalirin's role in learning offers new insight into the pathophysiology of these disorders. (...)

  2. Hold Your Horses: Impulsivity, Deep Brain Stimulation, and Medication in Parkinsonism, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus markedly improves the motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but causes cognitive side effects such as impulsivity. We showed that DBS selectively interferes with the normal ability to slow down when faced with decision conflict. While on DBS, patients actually sped up their decisions under high-conflict conditions. This form of impulsivity was not affected by dopaminergic medication status. Instead, medication impaired patients' ability to learn from negative decision outcomes.

    1. Probing Question: Why Can A Stroke Victim Remember Some Things And Not Others?, Research Penn State Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: (...) damage caused by a stroke depends on what vessel is occluded and what territory is affected. "That middle cerebral artery is the common artery on the hemisphere of the brain. If the whole territory on the brain is damaged, it can lead to weakness and paralysis, as well as language dysfunction if it's on the left side," he says. "But some small branches of that artery may lead to language impairment rather than weakness."
      Courtesy Penn State Neurosurgery A CT scan showing a large stroke in the right middle cerebral artery territory.

  3. Social Comparison Affects Reward-Related Brain Activity in the Human Ventral Striatum, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Whether social comparison affects individual well-being is of central importance for understanding behavior in any social environment. Traditional economic theories focus on the role of absolute rewards, whereas behavioral evidence suggests that social comparisons influence well-being and decisions. We investigated the impact of social comparisons on reward-related brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). While being scanned in two adjacent MRI scanners, pairs of subjects had to simultaneously perform a simple estimation task that entailed monetary rewards for correct answers.

    1. Money Motivates -- Especially When Your Colleague Gets Less, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: The feelings an individual has on receiving his paycheque depend critically on how much his colleague earns. Hard evidence for this comes from an experiment conducted by economists and brain scientists at the University of Bonn. They tested male subjects in pairs, asking them to perform a simple task and promising payment for success. Using magnetic resonance tomographs, the researchers examined the volunteers' brain activity throughout the activities. Participants who got more money than their co-players showed much stronger activation in the brain's "reward centre" than occurred when both players received the same amount. (...)

    2. Social Evaluation By Preverbal Infants, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The capacity to evaluate other people is essential for navigating the social world. Humans must be able to assess the actions and intentions of the people around them, and make accurate decisions about who is friend and who is foe, who is an appropriate social partner and who is not. Indeed, all social animals benefit from the capacity to identify individual conspecifics that may help them, and to distinguish these individuals from others that may harm them.

  4. An Antidepressant That Extends Lifespan In Adult Caenorhabditis Elegans, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The mechanisms that determine the lifespan of an organism are still largely a mystery. One goal of ageing research is to find drugs that would increase lifespan and vitality when given to an adult animal. To this end, we tested 88,000 chemicals for the ability to extend the lifespan of adult Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes. Here we report that a drug used as an antidepressant in humans increases C. elegans lifespan. In humans, this drug blocks neural signalling by the neurotransmitter serotonin.

    1. Physiology: Still Pondering An Age-Old Question, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Why do we age? Exactly 50 years ago, the visionary evolutionary biologist George C. Williams proposed the "antagonistic pleiotropy" theory of aging--aging evolves because natural selection favors genes that confer benefits early in life, even though those genes may prove detrimental to an organism later in life (1). In other words, aging evolves as an inevitable consequence of trade-offs. Williams's landmark 1957 paper offered a possible genetic explanation for why organisms experience a decline in physiological function with advancing age.

  5. Race To Mimic Human Embryonic Stem Cells - 'Personalized' Tissues Come A Step Closer., Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Two much-anticipated scientific firsts announced this week bring the dream of regenerative medicine a step closer. The production of cloned primate embryonic stem cells and the reprogramming of adult human cells both represent important milestones in the quest to produce 'pluripotent' cells, which can develop into almost any of the body's roughly 200 cell types.

    1. After Stem-Cell Breakthrough, the Work Begins, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      William Duke
      There are two ways that stem cells can lead to treatments for diseases. Making replacement tissues for ailing organs is the direct way. But many scientists say the biggest impact of the new cells will be on the indirect way: using the cells to learn about diseases and then applying that knowledge to develop conventional drugs.

      Using the new technique, scientists could take a skin cell from a person with a certain disease and generate stem cells.

    2. Drug Firms Accused Of Biasing Doctors' Training - The Uneasy Link Between Industry And Education., Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Can the pharmaceutical industry be trusted to fund doctors' compulsory education without introducing bias? The issue is dividing Congress, academics and drugs companies. Now, preliminary data have emerged suggesting that industry-sponsored courses skew training material in favour of commercial interests.

      Pharmaceutical firms spend over US$1 billion a year to fund more than half of the continuing medical education (CME) courses that qualified physicians are required to take in the United States.

  6. SARS: A Model Disease, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A new model to predict the spread of emerging diseases has been developed by researchers in the US, Italy, and France. The model (...) could give healthcare professionals advance warning of the path an emerging disease might take and so might improve emergency responses and control. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) spread rapidly in 2002-2003, revealing just how vulnerable we might be to emerging diseases and how global transportation is critical to the spread of an epidemic. (...) have developed a predictive model of the spread of emerging diseases based on actual travel and census data for more than three thousand urban areas in 220 countries. (...)
    • Source: SARS: A Model Disease, Innovations-report, 2007/11/22
    • Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinayahoo.co.in

  7. Bioclocks Work By Controlling Chromosome Coiling, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: There is a new twist on the question of how biological clocks work. In recent years, scientists have discovered that biological clocks help organize a dizzying array of biochemical processes in the body. Despite a number of hypotheses, exactly how the microscopic pacemakers in every cell in the body exert such a widespread influence has remained a mystery. Now, a new study provides direct evidence that biological clocks can influence the activity of a large number of different genes in an ingenious fashion, simply by causing chromosomes to coil more tightly during the day and to relax at night. (...)

  8. Tadpole Slayer: Mystery epidemic imperils frogs, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    SICK TADPOLE. The organs of this river frog tadpole are riddled with tiny killer protozoa (inset). D. Stevenson/Univ. Georgia; (inset) K
    From Alaska to Florida, a novel and yet-unnamed protozoan is knocking off tadpoles. Species vulnerable to "the beast" belong to the genus Rana, which includes leopard frogs, green frogs, and bullfrogs, says ecologist John C. Maerz.

    His team at the University of Georgia in Athens stumbled across mass die-offs of southern leopard frog tadpoles in nearby ponds last year. Dissection showed the animals' innards peppered with spherical, one-celled parasites. Genetic testing confirmed these are loosely related to Perkinsus, a disease-causing organism that affects marine shellfish.

  9. Ecology: Managing Evolving Fish Stocks, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Darwinian evolution is the driving process of innovation and adaptation across the world's biota. Acting on top of natural selection, human-induced selection pressures can also cause rapid evolution. Sometimes such evolution has undesirable consequences, one example being the spreading resistance to antibiotics and pesticides, which causes suffering and billion-dollar losses annually (1). A comparable anthropogenic selection pressure originates from fishing, which has become the main source of mortality in many fish stocks, and may exceed natural mortality by more than 400% (2).
    • Source: Ecology: Managing Evolving Fish Stocks, Christian Jorgensen, Katja Enberg, Erin S. Dunlop, Robert Arlinghaus, David S. Boukal, Keith Brander, Bruno Ernande, Anna Gardmark, Fiona Johnston, Shuichi Matsumura, Heidi Pardoe, Kristina Raab, Alexandra Silva, Anssi Vainikka, Ulf Dieckmann, Mikko Heino, Adriaan D. Rijnsdorp, DOI: 10.1126/science.1148089, Science : Vol. 318. no. 5854, pp. 1247 - 1248, 07/11/23

  10. Carbon Cycle: Marine Manipulations, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The effect of increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide on carbon uptake in and export from the upper ocean is one of the big questions in environmental science. But it can be tackled experimentally.

    Marine phytoplankton are major players in the carbon cycle, accounting for about 50% of the global biological uptake of carbon dioxide.

  11. A Video That's Worth a Million Words, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Moving this sphere around produces a Moebius transformation of the image. Turning the sphere upside down turns the image inside out. Arnold and Rogness
    Award-winning video reveals the simplicity and beauty of an abstract mathematical tool (...)

    Now imagine moving the sphere while continuing to shine the light from its top. The "slide projection system" will change the image on the plane, producing a Moebius transformation of the image. Move the sphere a bit to the left, and the projected square will move the left. Move the sphere up, and the square will expand. Rotate the sphere around its vertical axis, and the square will also rotate.


  12. Cheap Sensors Could Capture Your Every Move, NewScientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Their new motion capture sensors works even while a person is driving or skiing (see video, top right). It could make computer animation or movie effects more lifelike, the researchers say, and perhaps even help doctors analyse movements of patients going through physical therapy. (...)

    Several sensors measuring about 2.5 centimetres on each side are attached to a person's legs and arms. The sensors detect movement in two different ways: accelerometers and gyroscopes measure motion, but ultrasonic beeps are also emitted.

  13. Inconsistencies Between Pangean Reconstructions and Basic Climate Controls, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The supercontinent Pangea dominated our planet from the Permian into the Jurassic. Paleomagnetic reconstructions have been used to estimate the latitudinal position of Pangea during this 100-million-year period. Atmospheric circulation, recorded by eolian sandstones in the southwestern United States, shows a broad sweep of northeasterly winds over their northernmost extent, curving to become northwesterly in the south: This evidence is consistent with paleomagnetic reconstructions of the region straddling the equator in the Early Permian but is at odds with its northward movement to about 20 deg N by the Early Jurassic.

  14. Bad Vibrations - The Ancient Craft Of Bridge Design Still Holds Surprises, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In the early 1990s, a combination of lab tests and field measurements suggested that moderate winds can cause rain to trickle in rivulets down the cables, which typically have a smooth plastic coating. The resulting change in the cable's profile can affect the way it reacts to wind, creating an aerodynamic instability that sets the cable vibrating at some resonant frequency, somewhat like a guitar string.

  15. Emission of Coherent THz Radiation from Superconductors, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Designing layers of a high-temperature superconductor to act like a laser cavity allows generation of continuous-wave terahertz radiation needed for spectrometry and imaging.

    Compact solid-state sources of terahertz (THz) radiation are being sought for sensing, imaging, and spectroscopy applications across the physical and biological sciences. We demonstrate that coherent continuous-wave THz radiation of sizable power can be extracted from intrinsic Josephson junctions in the layered high-temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8. In analogy to a laser cavity, the excitation of an electromagnetic cavity resonance inside the sample generates a macroscopic coherent state in which a large number of junctions are synchronized to oscillate in phase.

  16. High-Temperature Superconductivity: Schizophrenic Electrons, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In simple metals, conduction electrons undergo well-understood phase transitions: they can become superconducting or ferromagnetic, or acquire periodic modulations of their spin and charge density. But just over 20 years ago, high-temperature superconductors were discovered, a class of materials in which the conduction electrons behave almost entirely outside these traditional models of order. Or do they? (...) measurements of a classic high-temperature superconductor, (...), that hint at the presence of order in the form of a periodic density wave of conduction electrons.

    1. Superconducting Pair Correlations in an Amorphous Insulating Nanohoneycomb Film, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The Cooper pairing mechanism that binds single electrons to form pairs in metals allows electrons to circumvent the exclusion principle and condense into a single superconducting or zero-resistance state. We present results from an amorphous bismuth film system patterned with a nanohoneycomb array of holes, which undergoes a thickness-tuned insulator-superconductor transition. The insulating films exhibit activated resistances and magnetoresistance oscillations dictated by the superconducting flux quantum h/2e. This 2e period is direct evidence indicating that Cooper pairing is also responsible for electrically insulating behavior.

  17. Physics: Better Computing with Photons, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The polarization of photons in a light beam acts as an ideal quantum mechanical two-level system that can be easily controlled and measured. For example, we can assign logical bit values of 0 and 1 to horizontal and vertical polarizations, respectively. Diagonal and elliptical polarizations, which are superpositions of the vertical and horizontal polarizations, then represent qubit states. Photons are also robust; when they travel through free space, their polarization is stable. Optics therefore represents an ideal way to transmit quantum information over large distances.

  18. Militarized Patriotism: Why The U.S. Marketplace Of Ideas Failed Before The Iraq War, Security Studies Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The marketplace of ideas (...) is supposed to fairly reliably vet foreign policies through open, wide-ranging debate. (...) U.S. marketplace of ideas failed during the 2002-03 debate over going to war in Iraq. Examinations of this market failure have emphasized executive powers and public fear after 9/11 as the main reasons threat inflation succeeded; I show neither explains this case. The majority opposition was silenced throughout early 2002 and ultimately defeated in a struggle over the Iraq War Resolution by pressures to be patriotic. I contend that this silencing patriotism should not be considered ordinary patriotism for a democracy as it is anti-democratic. (...)

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

    1. The ISI And The War On Terrorism, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Pakistan's Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence [ISI] plays an ambiguous role in the War on Terrorism. An important ally for Western intelligence with whom it has very close links, the ISI also has a long history of involvement in supporting and promoting terrorism in the name of Pakistan's geostrategic interests. This article explores the nature of the ISI and its aims and objectives in the post-9/11 era. It argues that the focus of the ISI's actions are to shore up Pakistan's ruling elite and to destabilize Pakistan's enemies by the promotion of Sunni Islamism at home and of pan-Islamist jihad abroad. (...)
      • Source: The ISI And The War On Terrorism, S. Gregory, DOI: 10.1080/10576100701670862, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Dec. 2007
      • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

    2. Path To Victory - Refashioning Institutions For The Challenges Of The 21st Century, National Review Online Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Today's emerging threats create a new array of problems - problems considerably more complex and less predictable than during the bipolar period of the Cold War. In the 21st century, the lines between nation-states and non-state entities, secular and religious groups, and sectarian factions can blur. Unlike the Cold War, these enemies are not a part of any formal pact, alliance or axis. They do not possess traditional armies, navies or air forces capable of winning even a single battle against the most formidable fighting force the world has ever seen - the United States military.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Shape and Temperature Memory of Nanocomposites with Broadened Glass Transition, Pierre Miaudet, Alain Derr?, Maryse Maugey, C?cile Zakri, Patrick M. Piccione, Rabi Inoubli, Philippe Poulin, 07/11/23, Science : 1294-1296. Fibers made from polyvinyl alcohol and carbon nanotubes store large stresses needed to recover their shape after deformation and reheating, as needed for actuators.
      2. Coloration Using Higher Order Optical Interference In The Wing Pattern Of The Madagascan Sunset Moth, S. Yoshioka, T. Nakano, Y. Nozue, S. Kinoshita, 2007/11/13, Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2007.1218
      3. Ultrasonic Signalling By A Bornean Frog, V. S. Arch, T. U. Grafe, P. M. Narins, 2007/11/20, Biological Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0494
      4. Lateralization Of Visual Learning In The Honeybee, P. Letzkus, N. Boeddeker, J. T. Wood, S.-W. Zhang, M. V. Srinivasan, 2007/11/20, Biological Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0466
      5. Memory Can Be Manipulated By Photos, 2007/11/21, ScienceDaily
      6. Google Used As Password Cracker: Hashed Passwords Fall Prey To Search Engine, C. James, 2007/11/23, vnunet.com
      7. Salk Scientists Identify Key Nerve Navigation Pathway: A Mutation Named Magellan Steers Nerve Cells Off Course, 2007/11/23, Innovations-report
      8. Is The Beauty Of A Sculpture In The Brain Of The Beholder?, 2007/11/24, ScienceDaily
      9. Mapping The Selective Brain, 2007/11/24, ScienceDaily
      10. Attractors Of Fourth-Order Chua's Circuit And Chaos Control, X. Liu - carolineapku.edu.cn, J. Wang, L. Huang, Aug. 2007, International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, DOI: 10.1142/S0218127407018701
      11. An Evaluation Of Biomechanical Measures Of Bowling Action Legality In Cricket, R. E. D. Ferdinands, U. G. Kersting, Sep. 2007, Sports Biomechanics, DOI: 10.1080/14763140701489884

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. 7th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 07/10/28-11/02
      2. Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007
      3. World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 07/01/24-28
      4. TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
      5. Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
      6. Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006, Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
      7. 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
      8. Artificial Life X, 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington, IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
      9. 6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
      10. Ralph Abraham on Complexity Digest, , Calcutta, India, 05/12/27
      11. An Afternoon with Michael Crichton, Washington, 05/11/06
      12. Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
      13. Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
      14. Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
      15. ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
      16. T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, The Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), Podcast
      17. North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity 2005 Conference, Virtual Conference Network, St. Pete's Beach, Florida, 05/06/09-11
      18. Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC, 05/05/16-19
      19. Nonlinearity, Fluctuations, and Complexity, with a celebration of the 65th birthday of Gregoire Nicolis. , Complexity Session, Universite' Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, 05/03/16
      20. 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
      21. From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
      22. Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
      23. International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
      24. Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
      25. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      26. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      27. Edge Videos

    3. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Australia New Zealand Systems Conference 2007 "Systemic development: Local solutions in a global environment", Auckland, New Zealand, 07/12/02-05
      2. Expanding Secondary Use of Health Data: An NSF Biomedical Informatics Workshop, Corbett, Oregon, 07/12/04-05
      3. The 3rd Indian Intl Conf on Artificial Intelligence (IICAI-07), Pune, INDIA, 07/12/17-19
      4. Winter School 2008: Chemical Discrimination and Localization using Biologically Based Olfactory Processing, San Diego, CA, 08/01/10-12
      5. The 1st Conf on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-08), Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 08/03/01-03
      6. The 3rd Intl Nonlinear Sciences Conference (INSC), Tokyo, Japan, 08/03/13-15
      7. 19th European Meeting On Cybernetics And Systems Research, (EMCSR 2008), Vienna, Austria, 08/03/25-28
      8. 2nd KES Intl Symp on Agent and Multi-Agent Systems : Technologies and Applications, Incheon, Korea, 08/03/26-28
      9. 1st Intl Conf on Social Entrepreneurship & Complexity, Garden City, NY, USA, 08/04/10-12
      10. Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Tenth Annual... Applying Systems Biology, San Francisco, CA, 08/06/09-11
      11. The 12th World Multi-Conf on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      12. From Animals To Animats 10 - The 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'08), Osaka, Japan, 08/07/07-12
      13. Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share

      1. " Wolfram Research is Now the Official Math Brain Trust for the Hit CBS Series NUMB3RS. 07/10/05
      2. A short notice from Dean LeBaron

        Dear ComDig Readers,

        Our editor, Dr. Gottfried Mayer, is affectionately esteemed by many of you -- as readers, you know he devotes himself unselfishly to widening our knowledge of complexity science. He was recently diagnosed with advanced colon cancer and given a timetable of a very few years. Knowing Gottfried, you can imagine that, in addition to the customary processes of chemotherapy, he would explore other frontier therapies, especially those arising out of interdisciplinary applications of complexity. These are expensive ... if he can find them.

        Many of you have sent your good wishes and indicated your desire to assist. With Gottfried's permission, I am posting this note with information, below, about how to send contributions to him. Please indicate the source since Gottfried will want to express his warm gratitude.

        I know that Gottfried, the good scientist that he is, will explain from time to time what he is doing and what the results are ... and we will follow his progress with great interest and hope.

        Dean LeBaron
        Publisher, Complexity Digest

        Bank Information:

        If your contribution is made by check:
        Please mail the check, payable to "Gottfried Mayer", to:
        Manufacturers & Traders Trust
        2080 Western Avenue
        20 Mall
        Guilderland, NY 12084 USA
        (on the back of the check, please write: "For Deposit Only: Account # 983 338 3814")

        If your contribution is made by wire:
        Manufacturers & Traders Trust
        2080 Western Avenue
        20 Mall

        Guilderland, NY 12084 USA
        SWIFT Code# MANTUS33
        UID: 209 791
        ABA routing # 022 00 00 46 [for US wire transfers]
        Account # 983 338 3814
        Ref. Gottfried Mayer

      3. Intl Master of Science in Methods For Management Of Complex Systems - Academic Year 2007-2008, Institute for Advanced Study, Pavia, Italy, 08/01/01
      4. News notes on Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) for July 2007 are now available on-line, 07/08/04
      5. National Humanities Center Launches Humanities/Sciences Website, 07/04, As part of its ongoing "Autonomy, Singularity, Creativity: The Human & The Humanities" project (ASC), the National Humanities Center makes public a new website for the initiative which significantly expands the potential pool of humanists and scientists engaged in the exploration and examination of topics surrounding the question of human being.

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