Complexity Digest 2008.02

10-Jan-2008

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Content

  1. Free Journal-Ranking Tool Enters Citation Market - Database Offers On-The-Fly Results., Nature
    1. The Web Impact Of Open Access Social Science Research, Lib. & Info. Sc. Res.
    2. PISA Results Scoured for Secrets to Better Science Scores, Education Week
  2. Complexity Meets Development - A Felicitous Encounter On The Road Of Life, Interdis. Descrip. Complex Sys.
    1. Complexity Of Social Stability: A Model-To-Model Analysis Of Yugoslavia's Decline, Interdis. Descrip. Complex Sys.
  3. Neuroscience: Love Hangover, Nature
    1. The Genetics of Language, Technology Review
  4. Mathematical Tools For Forecasting Stock Market Work For Ecology Too, ScienceDaily
  5. Insect Attack May Have Finished Off Dinosaurs, Innovations-report
  6. Insects' 'Giant Leap' Reconstructed By Founder Of Sociobiology, ScienceDaily
    1. Two Explosive Evolutionary Events Shaped Early History Of Multicellular Life, ScienceDaily
  7. Walk Soft: Nerve Rewiring Restores Most Movement Post-Spinal Injury, Scientific American
  8. Sparse Optical Microstimulation In Barrel Cortex Drives Learned Behaviour In Freely Moving Mice, Nature
    1. Behavioural Report Of Single Neuron Stimulation In Somatosensory Cortex, Nature
  9. Brain Imaging Shows If You Are Thinking Of Familiar Object, ScienceDaily
  10. New Task: Malaria Drug Might Inhibit Some Cancers, Science News
    1. Down's Syndrome: Paradox Of A Tumour Repressor, Nature
  11. Medical Breakthrough For Organ Transplants And Cardiovascular Diseases By Flemish Researchers, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology news release
  12. Next Steps For Stem Cells - New Methods To Reprogram Adult Cells Could Create Novel Models Of Disease., Technology Review
  13. Small Lifestyle Changes Can Boost Longevity, U.S. News and World Report
    1. Author Comes to Natural Food's 'Defense', NPR-TOTN
  14. Scientists Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2, WIRED
    1. Biofuels on a Big Scale, Science Now
  15. Life At The Jolt: New Insights Into Fuel Cell That Uses Bacteria To Generate Electricity, Innovations-report
  16. Warp and Woof, Science
    1. Don't Alienate Yourself: SETI@Home Needs You!, EE Times
  17. Effects Of Acoustic Waves On Stick-Slip In Granular Media And Implications For Earthquakes, Nature
  18. Plumbing Carbon Nanotubes, PhysOrg.com
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Local Militants in Pakistan Add to Qaeda Threat, NY Times
    2. Oil At $100 Vs The 'War On Terror', Asia Times
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. Free Journal-Ranking Tool Enters Citation Market - Database Offers On-The-Fly Results., Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A new Internet database lets users generate on-the-fly citation statistics of published research papers for free. The tool also calculates papers' impact factors using a new algorithm similar to PageRank, the algorithm Google uses to rank web pages. The open-access database is collaborating with Elsevier, the giant Amsterdam-based science publisher, and its underlying data come from Scopus, a subscription abstracts database created by Elsevier in 2004.

    1. The Web Impact Of Open Access Social Science Research, Lib. & Info. Sc. Res. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: For a long time, Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) journal citations have been widely used for research performance monitoring of the sciences. For the social sciences, however, the Social Sciences Citation Index® (SSCI®) can sometimes be insufficient. Broader types of publications (e.g., books and non-ISI journals) and informal scholarly indicators may also be needed. This article investigates whether the Web can help to fill this gap. The authors analyzed 1530 citations (...). About 19% of the Web citations represented formal impact equivalent to journal citations, and 11% were more informal indicators of impact. (...)

    2. PISA Results Scoured for Secrets to Better Science Scores, Education Week Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: - Public posting of school test scores. Students in schools where student-achievement data are regularly made public in some way scored an average of 3.5 scale-score points higher than those in schools that do not make student-performance results public.

      -Time on learning. Students scored 8.8 scale-score points higher, on average, for each additional hour of instruction per week. Across all the OECD countries, however, only 28.7 percent of students, on average, spend four or more hours a week in science class.

      - School science activities. For each additional unit on this scale, which includes activities such as science fairs and science clubs, student achievement scores rose by 2.9 scale-score points. (...)

  2. Complexity Meets Development - A Felicitous Encounter On The Road Of Life, Interdis. Descrip. Complex Sys. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: (...) Although many new ideas popped up after WW II, none proved satisfactory. These included alleged "silver bullets" (...). By happy coincidence, a new discipline called complexity began to emerge in the mid 1980's. Out of it has come a new kind of economics which is not only congruent with current thinking about development but also provides useful advice in the design and management of development programs, including those related to poverty. Meanwhile the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (USA) is trying a new approach (...) the one most compatible with a vision of Puerto Rican society as a complex system. (...)

    1. Complexity Of Social Stability: A Model-To-Model Analysis Of Yugoslavia's Decline, Interdis. Descrip. Complex Sys. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: In this paper a model-to-model analysis is described which compares a model of ethnic mobilisation with a model of hierarchy decline. Even though the two models are not concerned with the same or at least a similar target, they are related by empirical findings: e.g. the decline of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was predominantly driven by processes of ethnic mobilisation. This appears to be a more general pattern, not restricted to this specific example. Hence, both models can be regarded as describing two related aspects of one and the same social process. (...) Instead, in this paper a theoretical framework is elaborated (...).

  3. Neuroscience: Love Hangover, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In many species, males have developed strategies to safeguard their genetic material from dilution by that of competing males. Fruitflies achieve this by altering the behaviour of their partners.

    (...) in the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster a component of seminal fluid, known as sex peptide, leads to increased egg-laying by the mated female and behavioural changes that reduce the likelihood of her re-mating. How sex peptide triggers such a complex array of effects was unknown.

    1. The Genetics of Language, Technology Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Locating Language: The neural circuitry for speech and language is typically localized in the left hemisphere of the brain, along a region called the Sylvian fissure that stretches from Broca's area to Wernicke's. Researchers are searching for the genes that wire these regions and produce the uniquely human capacity for speech. Broca's area, highlighted above in green, is associated with speech and language output. Wernicke's area, highlighted in red, is associated with language comprehension. Credit: John MacNeill
      Researchers are beginning to crack the code that gives humans our way with words.(...)

      While behavioral genetics compares the genes of people with different abilities, evolutionary biology compares the genes of different species. Researchers use this data to determine what limits other species' communication skills and what expanded ours so dramatically that language became one of our defining characteristics. Geschwind's own forays into evolutionary bi ology have led him to look at DNA in the brains of chimpanzees, monkeys, and even songbirds. (...)


  4. Mathematical Tools For Forecasting Stock Market Work For Ecology Too, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Animal populations and the stock market are hard to forecast. Both are generated by complicated, interdependent systems. Unlike financial stocks, where trades are meticulously recorded, scientists began estimating animal populations only a few decades ago. But a new technique makes it possible to use the same tools some banks use to forecast the stock market and apply them to ecology. The newly developed "Dewdrop Regression" can forecast fish populations with 3% the data previously required through other methods, (...). Returning to academia and ecology, "I realized that even great ecologists were working with time series only a few tens of points long," Sugihara said. (...)

  5. Insect Attack May Have Finished Off Dinosaurs, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Asteroid impacts or massive volcanic flows might have occurred around the time dinosaurs became extinct, but a new book argues that the mightiest creatures the world has ever known may have been brought down by a tiny, much less dramatic force - biting, disease-carrying insects. An important contributor to the demise of the dinosaurs, experts say, could have been the rise and evolution of insects, especially the slow-but-overwhelming threat posed by new disease carriers. And the evidence for this emerging threat has been captured in almost lifelike-detail - many types of insects preserved in amber that date to the time when dinosaurs disappeared. (...)

  6. Insects' 'Giant Leap' Reconstructed By Founder Of Sociobiology, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: (...) Wilson's article surveys recent evidence that the high level of social organization called "eusociality," found in some Hymenoptera (and rarely in other species), is a result of natural selection on nascent colonies of species possessing features that predispose them to colonial life. Wilson concludes that these features, principally progressive provisioning of larvae and behavioral flexibility that leads to division of labor, allow some species to evolve colonies that are maintained and defended because of their proximity to food sources. (...)

    1. Two Explosive Evolutionary Events Shaped Early History Of Multicellular Life, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Scientists have known for some time that most major groups of complex animals appeared in the fossils record during the Cambrian Explosion, a seemingly rapid evolutionary event that occurred 542 million years ago. Now Virginia Tech paleontologists, using rigorous analytical methods, have identified another explosive evolutionary event that occurred about 33 million years earlier among macroscopic life forms unrelated to the Cambrian animals. They dubbed this earlier event the "Avalon Explosion." The discovery suggests that more than one explosive evolutionary event may have taken place during the early evolution of animals. (...)

  7. Walk Soft: Nerve Rewiring Restores Most Movement Post-Spinal Injury, Scientific American Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    After Cutting The Cord: Scientists showed that intrinsic spine neurons can substitute for long nerve fibers (which connect directly to the brain) that are severed in spinal cord injury to restore waling ability.
    When nerves connecting the brain and spinal cord are severed, rerouting signals through local nerve cells can make movement possible again

    Often spinal cord injuries result in the severing of the long nerve fibers connecting the brain to the spinal cord, disrupting one's ability to walk, among other things. But even with the primary top-to-bottom signal highway rendered out of order, the nervous system can, over time, reroute itself, finding neural detours and side streets that restore movement, (...).


  8. Sparse Optical Microstimulation In Barrel Cortex Drives Learned Behaviour In Freely Moving Mice, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Electrical microstimulation can establish causal links between the activity of groups of neurons and perceptual and cognitive functions. However, the number and identities of neurons microstimulated, as well as the number of action potentials evoked, are difficult to ascertain. To address these issues we introduced the light-gated algal channel channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) specifically into a small fraction of layer 2/3 neurons of the mouse primary somatosensory cortex.

    1. Behavioural Report Of Single Neuron Stimulation In Somatosensory Cortex, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Understanding how neural activity in sensory cortices relates to perception is a central theme of neuroscience. Action potentials of sensory cortical neurons can be strongly correlated to properties of sensory stimuli and reflect the subjective judgements of an individual about stimuli. Microstimulation experiments have established a direct link from sensory activity to behaviour, suggesting that small neuronal populations can influence sensory decisions. However, microstimulation does not allow identification and quantification of the stimulated cellular elements.

  9. Brain Imaging Shows If You Are Thinking Of Familiar Object, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A team of Carnegie Mellon University computer scientists and cognitive neuroscientists, combining methods of machine learning and brain imaging, have found a way to identify where people's thoughts and perceptions of familiar objects originate in the brain by identifying the patterns of brain activity associated with the objects. (...) A dozen study participants enveloped in an MRI scanner were shown line drawings of 10 different objects -- five tools and five dwellings --one at a time and asked to think about their properties. Just and Mitchell's method was able to accurately determine which of the 10 drawings a participant was viewing (...).

  10. New Task: Malaria Drug Might Inhibit Some Cancers, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers in Tanzania distributed millions of doses of chloroquine to children as part of a 5-year malaria-prevention project. While the study yielded only mixed results against that disease, the researchers noticed a striking drop in cases of Burkitt's lymphoma, a blood cancer. (...)

    Enter chloroquine, which targets cancerous cells that make excess myc protein and stalls autophagy in those cells. In experiments on mice with a hyperactive myc gene - a model of Burkitt's lymphoma - animals given chloroquine survived 265 days on average, while mice without it lived 98 days.

    1. Down's Syndrome: Paradox Of A Tumour Repressor, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Having three copies of chromosome 21 reduces the incidence of solid tumours in people with Down's syndrome. Studies in mice provide clues to why, and highlight a complex gene-function relationship. (...)

      This observation suggests a gene-dosage effect, in which the copy number of a particular gene correlates with the magnitude of its physiological effects. Consequently, the authors propose that the effect of three copies of chromosome 21 on tumour number is distinct from that of a typical tumour-suppressor gene, which affects tumour growth only by its presence or absence and not by its dosage.

  11. Medical Breakthrough For Organ Transplants And Cardiovascular Diseases By Flemish Researchers, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology news release Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: (...) have studied the role of the PHD1 oxygen meter. To do this, they used 'knock-out' mice that were unable to produce PHD1. They found that blocking an artery in these mice - thus obstructing the oxygen supply to the muscle - did not lead to the death of the surrounding muscular tissue. This was a very surprising result, since the muscle received too little oxygen to survive under normal circumstances.

  12. Next Steps For Stem Cells - New Methods To Reprogram Adult Cells Could Create Novel Models Of Disease., Technology Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The technique creates cells that are genetically matched to an individual, meaning that it's now possible to create novel cell models that capture all the genetic quirks of complex diseases. "Being able to have human cells with human disease in a dish accessible for testing is a real boon to technology and to science," (...).

    While animal models exist for many human diseases, they typically only incorporate certain aspects of the disease and can't capture the complexity of human biology. In addition, some disorders known to have a significant genetic component, such as autism, have proved difficult to model in animals.

  13. Small Lifestyle Changes Can Boost Longevity, U.S. News and World Report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Not smoking, exercising, moderate drinking, eating veggies could add 14 years, study says. (...)

    Researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council looked at 20,000 men and women, aged 45-79, who filled out a questionnaire about the four health behaviors. The participants, none of whom had known cancer or heart or circulatory disease, filled out the questionnaire between 1993 and 1997 and were followed until 2006.

    For each of the four healthy lifestyle behaviors, a participant received one point.

    1. Author Comes to Natural Food's 'Defense', NPR-TOTN Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Fortunately for everyone playing this game, scientists can find an antioxidant in just about any plant-based food they choose to study.

      Yet as a general rule it's a whole lot easier to slap a health claim on a box of sugary cereal than on a raw potato or a carrot, with the perverse result that the most healthful foods in the supermarket sit there quietly in the produce section, silent as stroke victims, while a few aisles over in Cereal the Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms are screaming their newfound "whole-grain goodness" to the rafters.


      Editor's Note: Food is a complex system in how it interacts with our body and much more than the sum of its nutrients.

  14. Scientists Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2, WIRED Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    Sandia researcher Rich Diver checks out the solar furnace which will be the initial source of concentrated solar heat for converting carbon dioxide to fuel. Eventually parabolic dishes will provide the thermal energy. Photo: Randy Montoya / Sandia National Laboratories
    Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico have found a way of using sunlight to recycle carbon dioxide and produce fuels like methanol or gasoline.

    "It's a heat engine," Stechel said. "But instead of doing mechanical work, it does chemical work."

    Lab experiments have shown that the process works, Stechel said. The researchers hope to finish a prototype by April.

    The prototype will be about the size and shape of a beer keg. It will contain 14 cobalt ferrite rings, each about one foot in diameter and turning at one revolution per minute.

    1. Biofuels on a Big Scale, Science Now Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Future fuel? Farmed switchgrass can be grown on millions of hectares of marginal land ill suited for agricultural crops. CREDIT: IMAGE COURTESY OF USDA-ARS
      On paper, making biofuels from switchgrass and other perennials that need not be replanted seems like a no-brainer. Use the sun's energy to grow the crop, and then convert it to liquid fuels to power our cars without the need for gasoline. But so far, experiments with these "cellulosic" crop-based fuels have only been conducted on small scales, leaving open the question of how feasible the strategy is. Now, the first large-scale study shows that switchgrass yields more than five times the energy needed to grow, harvest, and transport the grass and convert it to ethanol.

  15. Life At The Jolt: New Insights Into Fuel Cell That Uses Bacteria To Generate Electricity, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Researchers at the Biodesign Institute are using the tiniest organisms on the planet 'bacteria' as a viable option to make electricity. In a new study (...) have gained critical insights that may lead to commercialization of a promising microbial fuel cell (MFC) technology. "We can use any kind of waste, such as sewage or pig manure, and the microbial fuel cell will generate electrical energy," said (...). Unlike conventional fuel cells that rely on hydrogen gas as a fuel source, the microbial fuel cell can handle a variety of water-based organic fuels. (...)

  16. Warp and Woof, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: (...) a clear night is actually ablaze with specks of light. For a long time, we thought those isolated stars were the whole story. But researchers now realize that they are embedded in a filamentary structure of matter both dark and visible, called the cosmic web. In this issue, a News feature and three Perspectives bring us up to date on just what we know about the cosmic web and what we still want to know.
    • Source: Warp and Woof, David Voss, Robert Coontz, DOI: 10.1126/science.319.5859.46, Science : Vol. 319. no. 5859, p. 46, 08/01/04

    1. Don't Alienate Yourself: SETI@Home Needs You!, EE Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) needs you--your computer, that is. SETI is drowning in radio signals from other worlds, thanks to the recent addition of seven new receivers to the world's largest radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Now, with 40-times more radio frequency (RF) coverage, plus the ability to detect the polarization of RF signals, there will be 500-times more data streaming in--finally giving it the ability to detect other intelligent civilizations, according to SETI, a quest that has so far gone begging since 1978.

  17. Effects Of Acoustic Waves On Stick-Slip In Granular Media And Implications For Earthquakes, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: It remains unknown how the small strains induced by seismic waves can trigger earthquakes at large distances, in some cases thousands of kilometres from the triggering earthquake, with failure often occurring long after the waves have passed. (...) To understand the physics of dynamic triggering better, as well as the influence of dynamic stressing on earthquake recurrence, we have conducted laboratory studies of stick-slip in granular media with and without applied acoustic vibration. Glass beads were used to simulate granular fault zone material, (...).

  18. Plumbing Carbon Nanotubes, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Scientists have determined how to connect carbon nanotubes together like water pipes, a feat that may lead to a whole new group of bottom-up-engineered nanostructures and devices. (...)

    "Our method could allow longer carbon nanotubes to be created, and even nanotubes with multiple branches,"(...)

    (...) first split a single carbon nanotube by bridging it across two electrodes and applying a high current. This caused the middle section of the nanotube to become gradually narrower until it eventually split, resulting in two nanotubes with equal diameters and closed, or capped, ends.


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

    1. Local Militants in Pakistan Add to Qaeda Threat, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: "Al Qaeda right now seems to have turned its face toward Pakistan and attacks on the Pakistani government and Pakistani people," Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told reporters in Washington on Dec. 21.

      The expansion of Pakistan's own militants, with their fortified links to Al Qaeda, presents a deeply troubling development for the Bush administration and its efforts to stabilize this volatile nuclear-armed country.

    2. Oil At $100 Vs The 'War On Terror', Asia Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The choice - as deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage would reportedly inform Pakistan's intelligence director after the September 11 attacks - was simple: Join the fight against al-Qaeda or "be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age". The price of a barrel of crude oil was, then, still under $20.

      From that day to this, from the edge of the $20-barrel of oil to the edge of the $100 barrel, the "war on terror" would be the organizing principle for the Bush administration as it shook off "the constraints", "took off the gloves", loosed the Central Intelligence Agency, and sent the US military into action; as it went, in short, for the Stone Age jugular.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. NEWS: Untangling the Celestial Strings, Adrian Cho, 08/01/04, Science : 47-49. In an effort that weaves together astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology, scientists are mapping the filamentary framework that gives shape to the cosmos.
      2. Science and the Next U.S. President, Jeffrey Mervis, 08/01/04, Science 319 (5859), 22 How do the candidates view science? Sometimes it's hard to tell from the campaign trail, but they have offered opinions on topics from evolution to global warming., DOI: 10.1126/science.319.5859.22
      3. Twinkle, Twinkle: Dark Matter May Have Lit Up First Stars, 08/01/05, ScienceNews, The earliest stars in the universe might have been fueled by dark matter instead of nuclear fusion.
      4. Reading the Repeats: Cells transcribe telomere DNA, 08/01/05, ScienceNews, Scientists have discovered that human cells make RNA transcripts of telomeres, the repetitive DNA at the ends of chromosomes, a finding that could have implications for understanding aging and cancer.
      5. Not So Spineless, 08/01/05, ScienceNews, Looking for personalities in animals, even among spiders and insects, could add new twists to ideas about evolution and explain some odd animal behavior.
      6. Copy Number Variation May Stem From Replication Misstep, 2008/01/03, Innovations-report
      7. US To Issue Wireless Passports: Privacy Groups Raise Fears Over ID Theft, I. Thomson, 2008/01/04, vnunet.com
      8. Nasa Hitches Ride On Google Jet: 10-Hour Flight To Study Quadrantids Meteor Shower, I. Thomson, 2008/01/04, vnunet.com
      9. Learning To Forgive May Improve Well-Being, 2008/01/04, ScienceDaily
      10. A New Focus In The Science Of Networks: Towards Methods For Design, Y. Wan, S. Roy, A. Saberi, 2008/12/11, Proceedings A: Math., Phy. & Engg. Sc., DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2007.0050
      11. On The Theory Of Advective Effects On Biological Dynamics In The Sea. III. The Role Of Turbulence In Biological–Physical Interactions, L. Goodman, A. R. Robinson, 2008/12/18, Proceedings A: Math., Phy. & Engg. Sc., DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2007.0251
      12. Organic Chua's Circuit, L. Fortuna - lfortunaadiees.unict.it, M. Frasca - mfrascaadiees.unict.it, E. Umana, M La Rosa - manuela.la-rosaast.com, Donata Nicolosi - donata.nicolosiast.com, G. Sicurella - giovanni.sicurellaast.com, Sep. 2007, International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, DOI: 10.1142/S0218127407018841

    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. Evolution and Physics Concepts, Models and Applications, Bad Honnef, Germany, 08/01/21-23
      2. The 1st Conf on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-08), Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 08/03/01-03
      3. The 3rd Intl Nonlinear Sciences Conference (INSC), Tokyo, Japan, 08/03/13-15
      4. 19th European Meeting On Cybernetics And Systems Research, (EMCSR 2008), Vienna, Austria, 08/03/25-28
      5. 2nd KES Intl Symp on Agent and Multi-Agent Systems : Technologies and Applications, Incheon, Korea, 08/03/26-28
      6. Nexus for Change II, Bowling Green, OH, 08/03/29-04/01
      7. 2nd Applied Neuroscience Meeting, Monterrey, Mexico, 08/04/03-06
      8. Fumee 1 - 1St Futures Meeting - Understanding Anticipatory Systems, Rovereto (Italy), 08/04/10-12
      9. 1st Intl Conf on Social Entrepreneurship & Complexity, Garden City, NY, USA, 08/04/10-12
      10. CHAOS2008 Chaotic Modeling and Simulation International Conference, Chania, Crete, Greece, 08/06/03-06
      11. International Conference on Chaos, Complexity & Conflict, Omaha, NE, 08/06/05-07
      12. Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Tenth Annual... Applying Systems Biology, San Francisco, CA, 08/06/09-11
      13. 9th Intl Mathematica Symposium, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 08/06/20-24
      14. The 14th Intl Conf on Auditory Display (ICAD), Paris, France, 08/06/24-27
      15. The 12th World Multi-Conf on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      16. From Animals To Animats 10 - The 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'08), Osaka, Japan, 08/07/07-12
      17. Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21
      18. 1st Intl Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics and Synchronization (INDS'08), Klagenfurt, Austria, 08/07/18-19
      19. 8th Intl Conf on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems, Brighton, UK, 08/07/31-08/02

    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.

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