Complexity Digest 2008.10

6-Mar-2008

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Content

  1. The Role Of Cultural Practices In The Emergence Of Modern Human Intelligence, Phil. Tran. Biol. Sc.
  2. Stock Exchange For ‘Grid' Computing?, Innovations-report
  3. Strict Ordering Slashes Tarmac Time, Nature
  4. Imitation and Cooperation in Different Helping Games, JASSS
    1. The Shared Reward Dilemma, J. Theor. Biol.
    2. Facultative Cheater Mutants Reveal The Genetic Complexity Of Cooperation In Social Amoebae, Nature
  5. The Digital Utility, Technology Review
  6. Knowledge Technologies, arXiv
  7. Neurons Use Chemical 'Chords' To Shape Signaling, ScienceDaily
  8. St. Jude Researchers Find Key Step In Programmed Cell Death, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital News
  9. Immune Systems Increasingly On Attack, Washington Post
    1. Cancer: Crossing Over To Drug Resistance, Nature
  10. Understanding the Web of Life: The Birds, the Bees, and Sex with Aliens, PLoS Biol
  11. The Evolutionary and Developmental Foundations of Mathematics, PLoS Biol
  12. Scaling Laws Of Marine Predator Search Behaviour, Nature
    1. Evidence for biological Levy flights stands, arXiv
  13. Biology Is Only Part Of The Story …, Phil. Tran. Biol. Sc.
  14. Key To Life Before Its Origin On Earth May Have Been Discovered, ScienceDaily
  15. Ubiquity of Biological Ice Nucleators in Snowfall, Science
  16. Quantum Wonderland, Science
    1. Quantum Critical Electron Systems: The Uncharted Sign Worlds, Science
    2. Quantum Information Matters, Science
    3. Atomic Physics: Insights Flow From Ultracold Atoms That Mimic Superconductors, Science
  17. Physics: Complexity in Fusion Plasmas, Science
  18. The New Art of War, Washington Post
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. The War On Terror In American Grand Strategy, Int. Affairs
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. The Role Of Cultural Practices In The Emergence Of Modern Human Intelligence, Phil. Tran. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Innate cognitive capacities are orchestrated by cultural practices to produce high-level cognitive processes. In human activities, examples of this phenomenon range from everyday inferences about space and time to the most sophisticated reasoning in scientific laboratories. A case is examined in which chimpanzees enter into cultural practices with humans (in experiments) in ways that appear to enable them to engage in symbol-mediated thought. (...) suggests that the chimpanzees' behaviour is actually mediated by non-symbolic representations. The possibility that non-human primates can engage in cultural practices (...) opens new avenues for thinking about the coevolution of human culture and human brains.

  2. Stock Exchange For ‘Grid' Computing?, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: You might soon be selling your spare computer power over the internet, or perhaps buying in extra resources to solve a tricky problem. In either case, network administration used to be a stumbling block - until European researchers developed a successful free-market approach to grid computing. As you read this, millions of computers all over the world are sleeping peacefully after a busy day at work. Computing power is going to waste simply because these machines do not have enough work to occupy them round the clock. (...)

  3. Strict Ordering Slashes Tarmac Time, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The optimal boarding sequence requires that each passenger be given a specific queueing position. A compromise would be to board in several groups with all members of each group having seats in widely separated rows. Another efficient option is to board window seats first.

    These block strategies can more than halve the boarding time compared with the worst-case patterns.

  4. Imitation and Cooperation in Different Helping Games, JASSS Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The relation between imitation and cooperation in evolutionary settings presents complex aspects. From one hand, in any environment where egoists are favored over cooperators by selection processes, imitation should lead to a further spreading of the former ones due to the combined processes of individual selection and replication of successful behaviors. On the other hand, if cooperators succeed in forming clusters of mutual helping individuals, imitation may have a positive effect on cooperation by further reproducing this locally dominant behavior.

    1. The Shared Reward Dilemma, J. Theor. Biol. Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: One of the most direct human mechanisms of promoting cooperation is rewarding it. We study the effect of sharing a reward among cooperators in the most stringent form of social dilemma, namely the prisoner's dilemma (PD). Specifically, for a group of players that collect payoffs by playing a pairwise PD game with their partners, we consider an external entity that distributes a fixed reward equally among all cooperators. (...) By appropriately tuning the amount to be shared a vast variety of scenarios arises, including the traditional ones in the study of cooperation as well as more complex situations where unexpected behavior can occur. (...)
      • Source: The Shared Reward Dilemma, J. A. Cuesta, R. Jiménez - raul.jimenezauc3m.es, H. Lugo, A. Sánchez, DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.11.022, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2008/03/21, online 2007/11/22
      • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

    2. Facultative Cheater Mutants Reveal The Genetic Complexity Of Cooperation In Social Amoebae, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Cooperation is central to many major transitions in evolution, including the emergence of eukaryotic cells, multicellularity and eusociality. Cooperation can be destroyed by the spread of cheater mutants that do not cooperate but gain the benefits of cooperation from others. However, cooperation can be preserved if cheaters are facultative, cheating others but cooperating among themselves. Several cheater mutants have been studied before, but no study has attempted a genome-scale investigation of the genetic opportunities for cheating.

  5. The Digital Utility, Technology Review Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Nicholas Carr's new book examines the implications of cloud computing.

    Carr persuasively argues that we're moving from the era of the personal computer to an age of utility computing--by which he means the expansion of grid computing, the distribution of computing and storage over the Internet, until it accounts for the bulk of what the human race does digitally. And he nicely marshals his historical analogies, detailing how electricity delivered over a grid supplanted the various power sources used during most of the 19th century.

  6. Knowledge Technologies, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Several technologies are emerging that provide new ways to capture, store, present and use knowledge. This book is the first to provide a comprehensive introduction to five of the most important of these technologies: Knowledge Engineering, Knowledge Based Engineering, Knowledge Webs, Ontologies and Semantic Webs. For each of these, answers are given to a number of key questions (What is it? How does it operate? How is a system developed? What can it be used for? What tools are available? What are the main issues?).

  7. Neurons Use Chemical 'Chords' To Shape Signaling, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Researchers have discovered that neurons can use two different neurotransmitters that target the same receptor on a receiving neuron to shape the transmission of a nerve impulse. Although the researchers' experiments identified the "co-release" of the two neurotransmitters only in specific types of neurons in the brain's auditory center, their finding may apply more broadly in the brain, they said. Thus, the finding may represent a new way in which the brain precisely modulates the nerve impulses that travel from neuron to neuron in its circuitry. (...)

  8. St. Jude Researchers Find Key Step In Programmed Cell Death, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The discovery provides insight into how certain proteins, including Hax1, work and how they control the process of apoptosis

    Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered a dance of proteins that protects certain cells from undergoing apoptosis, also known as programmed cell death. Understanding the fine points of apoptosis is important to researchers seeking ways to control this process.

    In a series of experiments, St. Jude researchers found that if any one of three molecules is missing, certain cells lose the ability to protect themselves from apoptosis.

  9. Immune Systems Increasingly On Attack, Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: First, asthma cases shot up, along with hay fever and other common allergic reactions, such as eczema. Then, pediatricians started seeing more children with food allergies. Now, experts are increasingly convinced that a suspected jump in lupus, multiple sclerosis and other afflictions caused by misfiring immune systems is real.

    Though the data are stronger for some diseases than others, and part of the increase may reflect better diagnoses, experts estimate that many allergies and immune-system diseases have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in the last few decades, depending on the ailment and country.

    1. Cancer: Crossing Over To Drug Resistance, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Certain cancers stem from mutations that prevent a cell from repairing its damaged DNA efficiently. But antitumour chemotherapy that exploits that repair defect can in turn be nullified by counter-mutation. (...)

      These groups have analysed the molecular basis for resistance to specific anticancer drugs in tumours that have defects in a process known as homologous recombination (HR), a particular pathway for DNA-damage repair. The drugs in question - two platinum analogues, cisplatin and carboplatin, and PARP inhibitors - exploit defective HR in these tumours.

  10. Understanding the Web of Life: The Birds, the Bees, and Sex with Aliens, PLoS Biol Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: It takes little more than a passing glance at the natural world to notice that complexity is the rule, rather than the exception. Describing this complexity and understanding its importance, however, is anything but simple. Ecologists have for a long time struggled to find consistent patterns in the structure of complex webs of interacting species from disparate ecosystems. However, recent empirical and theoretical breakthroughs have begun to shed light on the structure of the web of life that connects living things, and the vulnerability of this web to perturbations such as the introduction of invasive alien species.

  11. The Evolutionary and Developmental Foundations of Mathematics, PLoS Biol Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Understanding the evolutionary precursors of human mathematical ability is a highly active area of research in psychology and biology with a rich and interesting history. At one time, numerical abilities, like language, tool use, and culture, were thought to be uniquely human. However, at the turn of the 20th century, scientists showed more interest in the numerical abilities of animals. The earliest research was focused on whether animals could count in any way that approximated the counting skills of humans

  12. Scaling Laws Of Marine Predator Search Behaviour, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Many free-ranging predators have to make foraging decisions with little, if any, knowledge of present resource distribution and availability. The optimal search strategy they should use to maximize encounter rates with prey in heterogeneous natural environments remains a largely unresolved issue in ecology. Levy walks are specialized random walks giving rise to fractal movement trajectories that may represent an optimal solution for searching complex landscapes. However, the adaptive significance of this putative strategy in response to natural prey distributions remains untested.
    • Source: Scaling Laws Of Marine Predator Search Behaviour, David W. Sims, Emily J. Southall, Nicolas E. Humphries, Graeme C. Hays, Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Jonathan W. Pitchford, Alex James, Mohammed Z. Ahmed, Andrew S. Brierley, Mark A. Hindell, David Morritt, Michael K. Musyl, David Righton, Emily L. C. Shepard, Victoria J. Wearmouth, Rory P. Wilson, Matthew J. Witt, Julian D. Metcalfe, DOI: 10.1038/nature06518, Nature 451, 1098-1102, 08/02/28

    1. Evidence for biological Levy flights stands, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Edwards et al. [Nature 449, 1044-1048 (2007)] revisited well-known studies reporting power-laws in the frequency distribution of flight duration of wandering albatrosses, and concluded that no Levy process could model recent observations with higher resolution. Here we show that this re-analysis suffers from a conceptual misunderstanding, and that the new albatross data remain consistent with a biological Levy flight.

  13. Biology Is Only Part Of The Story …, Phil. Tran. Biol. Sc. Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The origins and development of human cognition constitute one of the most interesting questions to which archaeology can contribute today. In this paper, we do so by presenting an overview of the evolution of artefact technology from the maker's point of view, and linking that development to some hypotheses on the evolution of human cognitive capacity. Our main hypothesis is that these data indicate that, in the first part of the trajectory, biological limits to cognitive capacity were a major constraint that limited technology, whereas, in the second part, this biological constraint seems to have been lifted and others have come in its place. (...)
    • Source: Biology Is Only Part Of The Story …, D. Read, S. van der Leeuw, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0002, Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 2008/02/21
    • Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinayahoo.co.in

  14. Key To Life Before Its Origin On Earth May Have Been Discovered, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: An important discovery has been made with respect to the mystery of "handedness" in biomolecules. Researchers (...) found that some of the possible abiotic precursors to the origin of life on Earth have been shown to carry "handedness" in a larger number than previously thought. (...) in studying the organic materials of a special group of meteorites that contain among a variety of compounds, amino acids that have identical counterparts in terrestrial biomolecules. These meteorites are fragments of asteroids that are about the same age as the solar system (roughly 4.5 billion years.) (...)

  15. Ubiquity of Biological Ice Nucleators in Snowfall, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Biogenic aerosols are ubiquitous in nuclei of ice particles that grow and form snowflakes, and thus may influence the precipitation cycle.

    Despite the integral role of ice nucleators (IN) in atmospheric processes leading to precipitation, their sources and distributions have not been well established. We examined IN in snowfall from mid- and high-latitude locations and found that the most active were biological in origin. Of the IN larger than 0.2 micrometer that were active at temperatures warmer than -7 deg C, 69 to 100% were biological, and a substantial fraction were bacteria.

  16. Quantum Wonderland, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The macroscopic or classical world is filled with the familiar and modeled with classical laws. Lowering the temperature sufficiently to enter the quantum world reveals that these species can interact in cooperative ways, giving rise to exotic phases of matter - quantum matter - not seen in the classical world.

    Here, things get interesting (and weird); solids, liquids, and electrons can flow without dissipation; exotic phases can emerge; fluctuations can be critical; and objects can be entangled and be in multiple places at once.

    1. Quantum Critical Electron Systems: The Uncharted Sign Worlds, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Phases of classical matter, such as solids and liquids, are ruled by emergence principles that are well understood. Although the same principles govern forms of quantum matter that have no secrets for physicists, such as the superfluids, having to deal with fermions and the associated Fermi sign problem shatters this analogy. This Perspective addresses the Fermion sign problem and describes experiments on metals undergoing quantum phase transitions exhibiting scale-invariant electronic behavior, a description of which is at odds with established quantum theory.

    2. Quantum Information Matters, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: At first glance, the relationship between quantum information and quantum matter seems tenuous. Information is not very material: It is more concept than thing. Quantum information is even more ethereal than classical information. Matter, by contrast, is solid stuff, reliable and down to earth. The word for matter comes from the Latin materia: "wood for building, construction materials." Quantum matter is particularly solid: Quantum mechanics guarantees the stability of the elementary particles and atoms that make up the building blocks of nature.

    3. Atomic Physics: Insights Flow From Ultracold Atoms That Mimic Superconductors, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Perhaps the grandest goal is to explain high-Tc superconductors, which carry electricity without resistance at temperatures as high as 164 K and have defied explanation for 20 years.

      The superconducting compounds contain planes of copper and oxygen atoms arranged in a square pattern. Electrons hop from copper to copper, avoiding each other because their charges repel but somehow pairing by interacting through their spins and magnetic fields. The mathematical formulation of this scheme, known as the Fermi-Hubbard model, is simple to describe but too complex to solve even with the best computers.

  17. Physics: Complexity in Fusion Plasmas, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The November 2007 report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that the changes in climate worldwide were most likely due to rising greenhouse gas emissions. Strategies are urgently needed to reduce these emissions, and there is a clear need for nonpolluting, environmentally safe alternatives to the burning of fossil fuels for electricity generation. One possibility is fusion energy, where the by-products of the thermonuclear reaction are helium and neutrons. Among the proposals for fusion energy, reactions in laser-compressed plasmas have garnered substantial attention and resources.

  18. The New Art of War, Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: If there were any doubts that the United States is preparing for war in space and cyberspace, testimony before the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee last week would have wiped them away.

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

    1. The War On Terror In American Grand Strategy, Int. Affairs Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The 9/11 attacks made the war on terror the central plank of American grand strategy. Yet despite its importance in shaping US policy choices, there has been considerable confusion over how the war on terror relates to foreign policy goals. This article attempts to locate the war on terror within American grand strategy and makes three claims. First, it argues that the Bush administration's approach to the war on terror rests on a false analogy between terrorism and fascism or communism. (...) Second, it suggests that the central purpose of the war on terror should be to de-legitimize terror as a tactic (...).

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. 'Doomsday Vault' Opens For Business, Michael Hopkin, 08/02/26, Nature. First seeds placed in Arctic repository as backup for world's crops., DOI: 10.1038/news.2008.623
      2. First Chapter Of Book Of Life Goes Live, Emma Marris, 08/02/26, Nature 451, 1038- (2008), DOI: 10.1038/4511038b
      3. Research Funding: Are Epigeneticists Ready for Big Science?, Elizabeth Pennisi, 08/02/29, Science : 1177. The National Institutes of Health's hefty boost of U.S. epigenomics efforts has Europe wondering where it fits in.
      4. Long-Range Order in Electronic Transport Through Disordered Metal Films, S. Aigner, L. Della Pietra, Y. Japha, O. Entin-Wohlman, T. David, R. Salem, R. Folman, J. Schmiedmayer, 08/02/29, Science : Vol. 319. no. 5867, pp. 1226 - 1229, DOI: 10.1126/science.1152458
      5. Deeply Inverted Electron-Hole Recombination in a Luminescent Antibody-Stilbene Complex, Erik W. Debler, Gunnar F. Kaufmann, Michael M. Meijler, Andreas Heine, Jenny M. Mee, Goran Pljevaljcic, Angel J. Di Bilio, Peter G. Schultz, David P. Millar, Kim D. Janda, Ian A. Wilson, Harry B. Gray, Richard A. Lerner, 08/02/29, Science: 1232-1235. The bright blue emission from a stilbene-antibody complex, a versatile biosensor, is not fluorescence, but arises from charge recombination between a stilbene anion and a cationic side chain.
      6. Local Positive Feedback Regulation Determines Cell Shape in Root Hair Cells, Seiji Takeda, Catherine Gapper, Hidetaka Kaya, Elizabeth Bell, Kazuyuki Kuchitsu, Liam Dolan, 08/02/29, Science : 1241-1244. Accumulation of an oxidase enzyme at one end of Arabidopsis root hair cells generates reactive oxygen species, which in turn trigger calcium entry and directional growth.
      7. Leading-Edge Vortex Improves Lift in Slow-Flying Bats, F. T. Muijres, L. C. Johansson, R. Barfield, M. Wolf, G. R. Spedding, and A. Hedenstr?m, 08/02/29, Science: 1250-1253. Flying bats generate high lift forces similar to those used by insects, creating a vortex of air that stays attached to the wing on the downward stroke.
      8. Membrane Proteins of the Endoplasmic Reticulum Induce High-Curvature Tubules, Junjie Hu, Yoko Shibata, Christiane Voss, Tom Shemesh, Zongli Li, Margaret Coughlin, Michael M. Kozlov, Tom A. Rapoport, William A. Prinz, 08/02/29, Science: 1247-1250. Integral membrane proteins from the endoplasmic reticulum induce the development of tubular structures in vitro by forming oligomers in the plane of the membrane.
      9. Synaptic Protein Degradation Underlies Destabilization of Retrieved Fear Memory, Sue-Hyun Lee, Jun-Hyeok Choi, Nuribalhae Lee, Hye-Ryeon Lee, Jae-Ick Kim, Nam-Kyung Yu, Sun-Lim Choi, Seung-Hee Lee, Hyoung Kim, Bong-Kiun Kaang, 08/02/29, Science : 1253-1256. Published online 7 February 2008 [DOI: 10.1126/science.1150541] (in Science Express Reports) Upon recollection, mouse memories of fearful situations become labile, as postsynaptic proteins are degraded by proteosomes and are then reconsolidated via protein synthesis.
      10. Hybrid Neurons in a MicroRNA Mutant Are Putative Evolutionary Intermediates in Insect CO2 Sensory Systems, Pelin Cayirlioglu, Ilona Grunwald Kadow, Xiaoli Zhan, Katsutomo Okamura, Greg S. B. Suh, Dorian Gunning, Eric C. Lai, S. Lawrence Zipursky, 08/02/29, Science : 1256-1260. Loss of a microRNA in Drosophila leads to misexpression of CO2-sensing neurons in the mouthparts, creating a possible evolutionary hybrid between the fruit fly and mosquito.
      11. Transgenic Inhibition of Synaptic Transmission Reveals Role of CA3 Output in Hippocampal Learning, Toshiaki Nakashiba, Jennie Z. Young, Thomas J. McHugh, Derek L. Buhl, and Susumu Tonegawa, 08/02/29, Science : 1260-1264. Science, Blockade of neural activity in the CA3 region of the hippocampus with a reversible, inducible transgenic method inhibits rapid learning but spares certain spatial tasks., DOI: 10.1126/science.1151120
      12. Popularity, Novelty and Attention, Fang Wu and Bernardo A. Huberman, 2007/12/31, arXiv, DOI: 0802.0483
      13. The Stength of Weak cooperation: A Case Study on Flickr, Christophe Prieur (LIAFA), Dominique Cardon, Jean-Samuel Beuscart, Nicolas Pissard, Pascal Pons (LIAFA), 2008/02/16, arXiv, DOI: 0802.2317
      14. Review. Evolving Intentions For Social Interaction: From Entrainment To Joint Action, G. Knoblich, N. Sebanz, 2008/02/21, Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0006
      15. Invasion Threshold in Heterogeneous Metapopulation Networks, Vittoria Colizza, Alessandro Vespignani, 2008/02/25, arXiv [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 148701 (2007)], DOI: 0802.3636
      16. On Logical Gates in Precipitating Medium: Cellular Automaton Model, Genaro Juarez Martinez, Andrew Adamatzky, Ben De Lacy Costello, 2008/02/26, arXiv, DOI: 0802.3891
      17. Future Battlegrounds For Conservation Under Global Change, T. M. Lee, W. Jetz, 2008/02/26, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1732
      18. Submarine Cable To Link US And Japan: 10,000km System Promises Capacity Of 7.68Tbps, I. Williams, 2008/02/28, vnunet.com
      19. Electronic Structure Of DNA Revealed For 1st Time, 2008/02/28, Innovations-report
      20. Evolution Of Aversion: Why Even Children Are Fearful Of Snakes, 2008/02/28, ScienceDaily & Association for Psychological Science
      21. Darwin Was Wrong About The Wild Origin Of The Chicken, 2008/02/29, Innovations-report
      22. Building Brains: Mammalian-like Neurogenesis In Fruit Flies, 2008/02/29, ScienceDaily & University of Basel
      23. Mathematical Classification Of Regulatory Logics For Compound Environmental Changes, R. J. Tanaka, H. Kimura - kimuraabmc.riken.jp, 2008/03/21, online 2007/11/24, Journal of Theoretical Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.11.023
      24. Alternative Approaches to the Empirical Validation of Agent-Based Models, Scott Moss, 2008/1/31, JASSS 11(1)
      25. ‘This Is Our City’: Branding Football And Local Embeddedness, T. Edensor - t.edensorammu.ac.uk, S. Millington - s.millingtonammu.ac.uk, Apr. 2008, online 2008/02/29, Global Networks, DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-0374.2008.00190.x

    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, 08/01/22-27
      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. The 1st Conf on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-08), Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 08/03/01-03
      2. The 3rd Intl Nonlinear Sciences Conference (INSC), Tokyo, Japan, 08/03/13-15
      3. 19th European Meeting On Cybernetics And Systems Research, (EMCSR 2008), Vienna, Austria, 08/03/25-28
      4. 2nd KES Intl Symp on Agent and Multi-Agent Systems : Technologies and Applications, Incheon, Korea, 08/03/26-28
      5. Nexus for Change II, Bowling Green, OH, 08/03/29-04/01
      6. 2nd Applied Neuroscience Meeting, Monterrey, Mexico, 08/04/03-06
      7. Fumee 1 - 1St Futures Meeting - Understanding Anticipatory Systems, Rovereto (Italy), 08/04/10-12
      8. 1st Intl Conf on Social Entrepreneurship & Complexity, Garden City, NY, USA, 08/04/10-12
      9. Emergence In The Physical And Biological World: A Notion In Search Of Clarification, Erice (Italy), 08/04/12-16
      10. BIO_IT World Conf & Expo, Boston, MA, 08/04/28/30
      11. Chaos And Dynamics In Biological Networks, Cargese, Corsica, France, 08/05/05-09
      12. Brittle Fracture and Plastic Slip: from the Atomistic to the Engineering Scale, Udine, Italy, 08/05/26-30
      13. CHAOS2008 Chaotic Modeling and Simulation International Conference, Chania, Crete, Greece, 08/06/03-06
      14. International Conference on Chaos, Complexity & Conflict, Omaha, NE, 08/06/05-07
      15. 4th Organization Studies Summer Workshop: "Embracing Complexity: Advancing Ecological Understanding in Organization Studies", Pissouri, Cyprus, 08/06/05-07
      16. Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Tenth Annual... Applying Systems Biology, San Francisco, CA, 08/06/09-11
      17. 9th Intl Mathematica Symposium, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 08/06/20-24
      18. The 14th Intl Conf on Auditory Display (ICAD), Paris, France, 08/06/24-27
      19. 7th Intl Summer School and Conf "Let's Face Chaos through Nonlinear Dynamics", Maribor, Slovenia, 08/06/29-07/13
      20. The 12th World Multi-Conf on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      21. From Animals To Animats 10 - The 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'08), Osaka, Japan, 08/07/07-12
      22. Complex Systems and Social Simulations, CEU Summer University, Budapest, Hungary, 08/07/07-18
      23. 2008 Gordon Research Conf on Oscillations & Dynamic Instabilities in Chemical Systems, Waterville, ME, 08/07/13-18
      24. Nonlinear Fracture Mechanics Models, Udine, Italy, 08/07/14-18
      25. Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21
      26. 1st Intl Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics and Synchronization (INDS'08), Klagenfurt, Austria, 08/07/18-19
      27. Scratch@MIT,Cambridge, MA, 08/07/24-26
      28. 8th Intl Conf on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems, Brighton, UK, 08/07/31-08/02
      29. Intl Conf DEscribing COmplex Systems (DECOS), Zadar, Croatia, 08/09/03-07

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share

      1. 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


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