Complexity Digest 2011.01

2011/01/14

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Editor-in-Chief:Carlos Gershenson
Founding Editor: Gottfried Mayer

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Previous issue 2010.26 | Next issue 2011.02

Content

  1. New year, new science, Nature
    1. 2010: The year in which …, Nature
  2. Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books, Science
  3. BioLogistics and the Struggle for Efficiency: Concepts and Perspectives, arXiv
  4. Molecular computing: DNA as a logic operator, Nature
  5. Barry Schwartz: Using our practical wisdom, TED.com
    1. Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now, TED.com
  6. Communication: Mapping science, Nature
  7. Continuous-time model of structural balance, PNAS
  8. Modular Random Boolean Networks, arXiv
  9. An Agent-Based Approach to Self-Organized Production, arXiv
  10. The AHA! Experience: Creativity Through Emergent Binding in Neural Networks, Cognitive Science
  11. An Open-Source Microscopic Traffic Simulator, arXiv
  12. Environmental dynamics: Simplicity versus complexity, Nature
  13. Think the thought, walk the walk " Social priming reduces the Stroop effect, Cognition
  14. Selection in Scientific Networks, arXiv
    1. Percolate or die: Multi-percolation decides the struggle between competing innovations, arXiv
  15. Weighted argument systems: Basic definitions, algorithms, and complexity results, Artificial Intelligence
  16. Evidence of strategic periodicities in collective conflict dynamics, arXiv
  17. Suppression of Avian Influenza Transmission in Genetically Modified Chickens, Science
  18. Corruption kills, Nature
  19. Book Announcements
    1. Self-Organizing Systems, Springer
    2. Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference, W. W. Norton & Company
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Event Announcements
    3. Webcast Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. New year, new science, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The Eemian revealed
    GWAS prove their worth
    Stem cells: ready for study
    Genome-sequencing explosion
    That damned elusive Higgs
    Dark matter's moment of truth
    Hepatitis C treatment
    Another Earth
    Synthetic biology: think multicellular
    Last of the shuttles
    Solar-system explorers
    Superlaser flirts with fusion
    Probing home
    • Source: New year, new science, Richard Van Noorden , Heidi Ledford & Adam Mann, DOI: 10.1038/469012a, Nature 469, 12, 2011/01/02

    1. 2010: The year in which …, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Natural disasters pummelled Earth
      Ancient kissing cousins were found
      Doctors gained new weapons against HIV
      Scientists unveiled a synthetic genome
      Climate-change policy stalled
      Oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico
      Stem-cell research rode a roller coaster
      Japan's space agency had a hit and a miss
      Astronomers joined the dark side
      The budget crunch hit European science
      Arsenic-based life was discovered. Or not.
      A morality expert was accused of mischief

  2. Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: We constructed a corpus of digitized texts containing about 4% of all books ever printed. Analysis of this corpus enables us to investigate cultural trends quantitatively. We survey the vast terrain of ‘culturomics,’ focusing on linguistic and cultural phenomena that were reflected in the English language between 1800 and 2000. We show how this approach can provide insights about fields as diverse as lexicography, the evolution of grammar, collective memory, the adoption of technology, the pursuit of fame, censorship, and historical epidemiology. Culturomics extends the boundaries of rigorous quantitative inquiry to a wide array of new phenomena spanning the social sciences and the humanities.
    • Source: Quantitative Analysis of Culture Using Millions of Digitized Books, Jean-Baptiste Michel, Yuan Kui Shen, Aviva Presser Aiden, Adrian Veres, Matthew K. Gray, The Google Books Team, Joseph P. Pickett, Dale Hoiberg, Dan Clancy, Peter Norvig, Jon Orwant, Steven Pinker, Martin A. Nowak, and Erez Lieberman Aiden, DOI: 10.1126/science.1199644, Science Vol. 331 no. 6014 pp. 176-182, 2011/01/14

  3. BioLogistics and the Struggle for Efficiency: Concepts and Perspectives, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: The growth of world population, limitation of resources, economic problems and environmental issues force engineers to develop increasingly efficient solutions for logistic systems. Pure optimization for efficiency, however, has often led to technical solutions that are vulnerable to variations in supply and demand, and to perturbations. In contrast, nature already provides a large variety of efficient, flexible and robust logistic solutions. Can we utilize biological principles to design systems, which can flexibly adapt to hardly predictable, fluctuating conditions? We propose a bio-inspired "BioLogistics" approach to deduce dynamic organization processes and principles of adaptive self-control from biological systems, and to transfer them to man-made logistics (including nanologistics), using principles of modularity, self-assembly, self-organization, and decentralized coordination. Conversely, logistic models can help revealing the logic of biological processes at the systems level.

  4. Molecular computing: DNA as a logic operator, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Summary: Computers use transistor-based logic gates as the basis of their functions, but molecular logic gates would make them much faster. A report of DNA-based logic gates could be a first step towards molecular computing.
    Editor's Note: A major obstacle for molecular computing is how to build large circuits from basic components. Transistors can be isolated and their interactions can be carefully restricted. However, molecules tend to interact in ways difficult to predict with any other molecule nearby.

  5. Barry Schwartz: Using our practical wisdom, TED.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    About this talk:
    In an intimate talk, Barry Schwartz dives into the question "How do we do the right thing?" With help from collaborator Kenneth Sharpe, he shares stories that illustrate the difference between following the rules and truly choosing wisely.

    1. Amber Case: We are all cyborgs now, TED.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

      About this talk: Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. We now rely on "external brains" (cell phones and computers) to communicate, remember, even live out secondary lives. But will these machines ultimately connect or conquer us? Case offers surprising insight into our cyborg selves.

  6. Communication: Mapping science, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt:
    In the Atlas of Science, information scientist Katy Börner highlights examples that summarize the evolution of research and its interlocking communities in pictorial form. The book accompanies Börner's ambitious travelling exhibitions, Places & Spaces: Mapping Science, an ongoing programme of well-crafted visual presentations that have conveyed aspects of science to the public in libraries and museums since 2005 (http://scimaps.org).

  7. Continuous-time model of structural balance, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: It is not uncommon for certain social networks to divide into two opposing camps in response to stress. This happens, for example, in networks of political parties during winner-takes-all elections, in networks of companies competing to establish technical standards, and in networks of nations faced with mounting threats of war. A simple model for these two-sided separations is the dynamical system dX/dt = X^2, where X is a matrix of the friendliness or unfriendliness between pairs of nodes in the network. (...)

  8. Modular Random Boolean Networks, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Random Boolean networks (RBNs) have been a popular model of genetic regulatory networks for more than four decades. However, most RBN studies have been made with regular topologies, while real regulatory networks have been found to be modular. In this work, we extend classical RBNs to define modular RBNs. Statistical experiments and analytical results show that modularity has a strong effect on the properties of RBNs. In particular, modular RBNs are closer to criticality than regular RBNs.

  9. An Agent-Based Approach to Self-Organized Production, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The chapter describes the modeling of a material handling system with the production of individual units in a scheduled order. The units represent the agents in the model and are transported in the system which is abstracted as a directed graph. Since the hindrances of units on their path to the destination can lead to inefficiencies in the production, the blockages of units are to be reduced. Therefore, the units operate in the system by means of local interactions in the conveying elements and indirect interactions based on a measure of possible hindrances. If most of the units behave cooperatively ("socially"), the blockings in the system are reduced.

  10. The AHA! Experience: Creativity Through Emergent Binding in Neural Networks, Cognitive Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Many kinds of creativity result from combination of mental representations. This paper provides a computational account of how creative thinking can arise from combining neural patterns into ones that are potentially novel and useful. We defend the hypothesis that such combinations arise from mechanisms that bind together neural activity by a process of convolution, a mathematical operation that interweaves structures. We describe computer simulations that show the feasibility of using convolution to produce emergent patterns of neural activity that can support cognitive and emotional processes underlying human creativity.

  11. An Open-Source Microscopic Traffic Simulator, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: We present the interactive Java-based open-source traffic simulator available at www.traffic-simulation.de. In contrast to most closed-source commercial simulators, the focus is on investigating fundamental issues of traffic dynamics rather than simulating specific road networks. This includes testing theories for the spatiotemporal evolution of traffic jams, comparing and testing different microscopic traffic models, modeling the effects of driving styles and traffic rules on the efficiency and stability of traffic flow, and investigating novel ITS technologies such as adaptive cruise control, inter-vehicle and vehicle-infrastructure communication.

  12. Environmental dynamics: Simplicity versus complexity, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Summary: Many scientists now use the power of computer models to advance their subjects. But there is a choice: to simplify complex systems or to include more detail. Modelling the intricate processes of sedimentary geology is a case in point.

  13. Think the thought, walk the walk " Social priming reduces the Stroop effect, Cognition Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: In the Stroop task, participants name the color of the ink that a color word is written in and ignore the meaning of the word. Naming the color of an incongruent color word (e.g., RED printed in blue) is slower than naming the color of a congruent color word (e.g., RED printed in red). This robust effect is known as the Stroop effect and it suggests that the intentional instruction " “do not read the word” " has limited influence on one’s behavior, as word reading is being executed via an automatic path. Herein is examined the influence of a non-intentional instruction " “do not read the word” " on the Stroop effect. Social concept priming tends to trigger automatic behavior that is in line with the primed concept. Here participants were primed with the social concept “dyslexia” before performing the Stroop task.

  14. Selection in Scientific Networks, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: One of the most interesting scientific challenges nowadays deals with the analysis and the understanding of complex networks' dynamics. A major issue is the definition of new frameworks for the exploration of the dynamics at play in real dynamic networks. Here, we focus on scientific communities by analyzing the "social part" of Science through a descriptive approach that aims at identifying the social determinants (e.g. goals and potential interactions among individuals) behind the emergence and the resilience of scientific communities.

    1. Percolate or die: Multi-percolation decides the struggle between competing innovations, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Competition is one of the most fundamental phenomena in physics, biology and economics. Recent studies of the competition between innovations have highlighted the influence of switching costs and interaction networks, but the problem is still puzzling. We introduce a model that reveals a novel multi-percolation process, which governs the struggle of innovations trying to penetrate a market. We find that innovations thrive as long as they percolate in a population, and one becomes dominant when it is the only one that percolates. Besides offering a theoretical framework to understand the diffusion of competing innovations in social networks, our results are also relevant to model other problems such as opinion formation, political polarization, survival of languages and the spread of health behavior.

  15. Weighted argument systems: Basic definitions, algorithms, and complexity results, Artificial Intelligence Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: We introduce and investigate a natural extension of Dung's well-known model of argument systems in which attacks are associated with a weight, indicating the relative strength of the attack. A key concept in our framework is the notion of an inconsistency budget, which characterises how much inconsistency we are prepared to tolerate: given an inconsistency budget β, we would be prepared to disregard attacks up to a total weight of β. The key advantage of this approach is that it permits a much finer grained level of analysis of argument systems than unweighted systems, and gives useful solutions when conventional (unweighted) argument systems have none.

  16. Evidence of strategic periodicities in collective conflict dynamics, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: We analyze the timescales of conflict decision-making in a primate society. We present evidence for multiple, periodic timescales associated with social decision-making and behavioral patterns. We demonstrate the existence of periodicities that are not directly coupled to environmental cycles or known ultraridian mechanisms. Among specific biological and socially-defined demographic classes, periodicities span timescales between hours and days, and many are not driven by exogenous or internal regularities. Our results indicate that they are instead driven by strategic responses to social interaction patterns.

  17. Suppression of Avian Influenza Transmission in Genetically Modified Chickens, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Infection of chickens with avian influenza virus poses a global threat to both poultry production and human health that is not adequately controlled by vaccination or by biosecurity measures. A novel alternative strategy is to develop chickens that are genetically resistant to infection. We generated transgenic chickens expressing a short-hairpin RNA designed to function as a decoy that inhibits and blocks influenza virus polymerase and hence interferes with virus propagation. Susceptibility to primary challenge with highly pathogenic avian influenza virus and onward transmission dynamics were determined. Although the transgenic birds succumbed to the initial experimental challenge, onward transmission to both transgenic and nontransgenic birds was prevented.

  18. Corruption kills, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Summary: On the anniversary of Haiti's devastating quake, Nicholas Ambraseys and Roger Bilham calculate that 83% of all deaths from building collapse in earthquakes over the past 30 years occurred in countries that are anomalously corrupt.
    • Source: Corruption kills, Nicholas Ambraseys & Roger Bilham, DOI: 10.1038/469153a, Nature 69, 153"155, 2011/01/12

  19. Book Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Self-Organizing Systems, Springer Next Article Bookmark and Share

      About: This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Self-Organizing Systems, IWSOS 2011, held in Karlsruhe, Germany, in February 2011. The 9 revised full papers presented together with 1 invited paper were carefully selected from 25 initial submissions. It was the 5th workshop in a series of multidisciplinary events dedicated to self-organization in networked systems with main focus on communication and computer networks. The papers address theoretical aspects of self-organization as well as applications in communication and computer networks and robot networks.
      • Source: Self-Organizing Systems, Bettstetter, Christian; Gershenson, Carlos (Eds.), DOI: 978-3-642-19166-4, Springer, 2011/03/08

    2. Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference, W. W. Norton & Company Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Review:
      In a methodical and devastatingly effective manner, Fine eviscerates the recent trend in attributing society’s gender-based differences to biology. The sheer girth of her analysis is staggering as she addresses everything from scientific studies going back more than a century to the latest assertions of “Mars and Venus” author John Gray. Fine pivots from studies on gender-based clothing and toys to a discussion of education, and reviews recent Caldecott Award-winning children’s books, noting that one gender is consistently described as “beautiful, frightened, worthy, sweet, weak and scared.” (Guess which one.) Fine also explains how experiments are manipulated to provide desirable results and how results are presented without necessary caveats (such as the fact that men were not part of the study). This is social science at its hard-working best as Fine uses solid references to refute the notion that biology trumps pervasive stereotyping, and offers a sterling rebuttal to agenda research and the lure of pseudo-science. --Colleen Mondor

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Equation-Free Multiscale Computational Analysis of Individual-Based Epidemic Dynamics on Networks, Constantinos Siettos, 2010/12/19, arXiv:1012.4194
      2. Is gene duplication a viable explanation for the origination of biological information and complexity?, Joseph Esfandiar Hannon Bozorgmehr, 2010/12/22, Complexity Early View, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20365
      3. A definition of information, the arrow of information, and its relationship to life, Stirling A. Colgate1, Hans Ziock, 2010/12/28, Complexity Early View, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20364
      4. Project Dynamics and Emergent Complexity, Christopher M. Schlick, 2011/01/04, arXiv:1101.0754

    2. Event Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Echelles et modélisations multi-niveaux, Rochebrune, France, 2011/01/16-23
      2. International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Beppu, Oita, Japan, 2011/01/27-29
      3. 3rd International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence (ICAART 2011), Rome, Italy, 2011/01/28-30
      4. IWSOS 2011, Fifth International Workshop on Self-Organizing Systems , Karlsruhe, Germany, 2011/02/23-25
      5. 2011 Complexity Conference, Evanston, IL, USA, 2011/03/6-7
      6. Natural Computing Winter School, Hakodate, Japan, 2011/03/15-16
      7. ImagineNano, Bilbao, Spain, 2011/04/11-14
      8. IEEE Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence - SSCI 2011, Paris, France, 2011/04/11-15
      9. EVOSTAR 2011, Torino, Italy, 2011/04/27-29
      10. Science Beyond Fiction: European Future Technologies Conference and Exhibition, Budapest, Hungary, 2011/05/4-6
      11. 1st European Conference of Microbiology and Immunology, Budapest, Hungary, 2011/05/12-14
      12. Advances in Applied Physics and Materials Science Congress, Antalya, Turkey, 2011/05/12-15
      13. Chaos, Complexity and Transport (CCT'11), Marseilles, France, 2011/05/23-27
      14. Workshop on Information and Decision in Social Networks, Cambridge, MA, USA, 2011/05/31-06/01
      15. 7th Annual International Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems, Athens, Greece, 2011/06/13-16
      16. International Conference on Swarm Intelligence (ICSI 2011), Cergy, France, 2011/06/14-15
      17. International Workshop on Coping with Crises in Complex Socio-Economic Systems, Zurich, 2011/06/20-25
      18. International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS 2011), Boston, MA, USA, 2011/06/26-07/01
      19. Origins 2011 ISSOL and Bioastronomy Joint International Conference, Montpellier, France, 2011/07/3-8
      20. The International Conference on High Performance Computing & Simulation (HPCS 2011), Istanbul, Turkey, 2011/07/4-8
      21. Lipari School on the Game Theoretic Approach to Computational Complex Systems, Lipari Island, Italy, 2011/07/9-16
      22. GECCO 2011: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 2011/07/12-16
      23. IJCAI 2011, the 22nd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Barcelona, Spain, 2011/07/16-22
      24. 29th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Washington, DC, USA, 2011/07/24-28
      25. The 7th International Conference on Intelligent Environments - IE'11, Nottingham, UK, 2011/07/25-26
      26. Third International Workshop on nonlinear Dynamics and Synchronization -- INDS'11 Sixteenth International Symposium on Theoretical Electrical Engineering -- ISTET'11, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria, 2011/07/25-27
      27. International Workshop on Game Theory and Society: Models of Social Interaction in Sociological Research, Zurich, 2011/07/27-30
      28. ECAL 11: European Conference on Artificial Life, Paris, France, 2011/08/8-12
      29. European Conference on Complex Systems 2011, Vienna, Austria, 2011/09/12-16
      30. The 15th WOSC INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS on CYBERNETICS and SYSTEMS, Nanjing, China, 2011/09/15-18
      31. ICCCI 2011 3rd International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence: Technologies and Applications, Gdynia, Poland, 2011/09/21-23
      32. World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, 2011/09/26-30

    3. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Lakeside Research Days 2010.
      2. Smarter Cities NYC. Posted on 2009/10/05
      3. ASSYST Digital Library. Since 09/09
      4. Complex Systems Teleconferences. Since 09/09
      5. Symmetry Festival 2009, Budapest, Hungary, 09/08/1-4.
      6. International Workshop on Coping with Crises in Complex Socio-Economic Systems, Zurich, Switzerland, 09/06/8-12
      7. Memorial Service for Dr Gottfried Mayer, Founding Editor Complexity Digest, Taipei, Taiwan (1954-2009). Video [RM], 09/02/13
      8. Making Connections: In Memory and Celebration of the Life of Dr. Gottfried Mayer (1954-2009). Video [RM] [MPG], 09/02/13
      9. Eulogy for Gottfried Mayer by Dean LeBaron [WMV, 25 Mb], [RM, 10 Mb], 09/02/10
      10. Can Ants Solve Traffic Jams?, Danielle Parsons, Slatev.com, 08/07/22
      11. Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007
      12. World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 08/01/22-27
      13. TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
      14. Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
      15. Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006, Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
      16. 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
      17. Artificial Life X, 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington, IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
      18. 6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
      19. Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
      20. Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
      21. Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
      22. ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
      23. T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, The Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), Podcast
      24. 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
      25. Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC, 05/05/16-19
      26. 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
      27. 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
      28. From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
      29. Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
      30. International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
      31. Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
      32. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      33. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      34. Edge Videos

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share


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