Complexity Digest 2011.20
2011/10/14
Editor-in-Chief: Carlos Gershenson
Founding Editor: Gottfried Mayer
For individual e-mail subscriptions go to Subscriptions.
Previous issue 2011.19 | Next issue 2011.21
Content
- The second economy, McKinsey Quaterly
- 2011 Nobel Prize Announcements, nobelprize.org
- Complexity on the workbench, YouTube
- Swayed by Friends or by the Crowd?, HP Labs
- Christoph Adami: Finding life we can't imagine, TED.com
- Ian Ritchie: The day I turned down Tim Berners-Lee, TED.com
- Good Fences: The Importance of Setting Boundaries for Peaceful Coexistence, arXiv
- Common Organizing Mechanisms in Ecological and Socio-economic Networks, arXiv
- Signalling and the Evolution of Cooperative Foraging in Dynamic Environments, PLoS Comput Biol
- Ten Simple Rules for Getting Help from Online Scientific Communities, PLoS Comput Biol
- Distinguishing Anticipation from Causality: Anticipatory Bias in the Estimation of Information Flow, Phys. Rev. Lett.
- Relating Fisher information to order parameters, Phys. Rev. E
- Are Minds Computable?, arXiv
- Editorial survey: swarm intelligence for data mining, Machine Learning
- Schedule and complex motion of shuttle bus induced by periodic inflow of passengers, Physics Letters A
- Do countries with lower self-citation rate produce higher-impact papers? Or, does humility pay?, Interciencia
- Tumourâ€"host dynamics under radiotherapy, Chaos, Solitons & Fractals
- A Quantitative Theory of Solid Tumor Growth, Metabolic Rate and Vascularization, PLoS ONE
- Cooperative game in a two-lane traffic flow, arXiv
- Smart Swarms of Bacteria-Inspired Agents with Performance Adaptable Interactions, PLoS Comput Biol
- Dynamical modeling of collective behavior from pigeon flight data: flock cohesion and dispersion, arXiv
- Indications of marine bioinvasion from network theory, Eur. Phys. J. B
- Competition of individual and institutional punishments in spatial public goods games, arXiv
- A New Existence and Uniqueness Theorem for Continuous Games, The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics
- Book Announcements
- Principles of Evolution: From the Planck Epoch to Complex Multicellular Life, Springer
- Organic Computing - A Paradigm Shift for Complex Systems, Springer Basel
- Self-organising Software: From Natural to Artificial Adaptation, Springer
- Links & Snippets
- Other Publications
- Event Announcements
- Webcast Announcements
- Other Announcements
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Excerpt: I want to argue that something deep is going on with information technology, something that goes well beyond the use of computers, social media, and commerce on the Internet. Business processes that once took place among human beings are now being executed electronically. They are taking place in an unseen domain that is strictly digital. On the surface, this shift doesn’t seem particularly consequentialâ€"it’s almost something we take for granted. But I believe it is causing a revolution no less important and dramatic than that of the railroads. It is quietly creating a second economy, a digital one.
2011 Nobel Prize Announcements, nobelprize.org
Summaries: The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae" with one half to Saul Perlmutter and the other half jointly to Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess
The 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded to Dan Shechtman "for the discovery of quasicrystals". The 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was divided, one half jointly to Bruce A. Beutler and Jules A. Hoffmann "for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity" and the other half to Ralph M. Steinman "for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2011 is awarded to Tomas Tranströmer "because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality".
The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded jointly to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work".
The 2011 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel was awarded jointly to Thomas J. Sargent and Christopher A. Sims "for their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy"
Complexity on the workbench, YouTube
About this video: István Fehérvári explains complex systems and discusses how to use them in technical engineering. He also introduces a tool following this approach, which is available at http://frevotool.tk Learn more about the project at: http://meson.lakeside-labs.com
Swayed by Friends or by the Crowd?, HP Labs
Abstract: We have conducted three empirical studies of the effects of friend recommendations and general ratings on how online users make choices. These two components of social influence were investigated through user studies on Mechanical Turk. We find that for a user deciding between two choices an additional rating star has a much larger effect than an additional friend’s recommendation on the probability of selecting an item. Equally important, negative opinions from friends are more influential than positive opinions, and people exhibit more random behavior in their choices when the decision involves less cost and risk. Our results can be generalized across different demographics, implying that individuals trade off recommendations from friends and ratings in a similar fashion.
Christoph Adami: Finding life we can't imagine, TED.com
About this talk: How do we search for alien life if it's nothing like the life that we know? At TEDxUIUC Christoph Adami shows how he uses his research into artificial life -- self-replicating computer programs -- to find a signature, a 'biomarker,' that is free of our preconceptions of what life is.
Ian Ritchie: The day I turned down Tim Berners-Lee, TED.com
About this talk: Imagine it's late 1990, and you've just met a nice young man named Tim Berners-Lee, who starts telling you about his proposed system called the World Wide Web. Ian Ritchie was there. And ... he didn't buy it. A short story about information, connectivity and learning from mistakes.
Good Fences: The Importance of Setting Boundaries for Peaceful Coexistence, arXiv
Excerpt: We consider the conditions of peace and violence among ethnic groups, testing a theory designed to predict the locations of violence and interventions that can promote peace. Characterizing the model's success in predicting peace requires examples where peace prevails despite diversity. Switzerland is recognized as a country of peace, stability and prosperity. This is surprising because of its linguistic and religious diversity that in other parts of the world lead to conflict and violence. Here we analyze how peaceful stability is maintained. Our analysis shows that peace does not depend on integrated coexistence, but rather on well defined topographical and political boundaries separating groups.
Common Organizing Mechanisms in Ecological and Socio-economic Networks, arXiv
Excerpt: Previous work has shown that species interacting in an ecosystem and actors transacting in an economic context may have notable similarities in behavior. However, the specific mechanism that may underlie similarities in nature and human systems has not been analyzed. Building on stochastic food-web models, we propose a parsimonious bipartite-cooperation model that reproduces the key features of mutualistic networks - degree distribution, nestedness and modularity -- for both ecological networks and socio-economic networks.
Signalling and the Evolution of Cooperative Foraging in Dynamic Environments, PLoS Comput Biol
Excerpt: (…) we examine a social foraging system where individuals evolve to signal to conspecifics when they locate a resource. We show that in some environments, cooperative signalling is sustained through a form of indirect reciprocation, as a signalling phenotype is more likely to be the beneficiary of a signal from a conspecific in the future. This effect naturally occurs as a result of the foraging dynamic and, depending on the environment, such as how resources are distributed and how difficult they are to track, will compensate for relatively large costs of signalling.
Ten Simple Rules for Getting Help from Online Scientific Communities, PLoS Comput Biol
Excerpts: Rule 1. Do Not Be Afraid to Ask a Question
Rule 2. State the Question Clearly
Rule 3. New to a Mailing List? Learn the Established Customs before Posting
Rule 4. Do Not Ask What Has Already Been Answered
Rule 5. Always Use a Good Title
Rule 6. Do Your Homework before Posting
Rule 7. Proofread your Post and Write in Correct English
Rule 8. Be Courteous to Other Forum Members
Rule 9. Remember That the Archive of Your Discussion Can Be Useful to Other People
Rule 10. Give Back to the Community
- Source: Ten Simple Rules for Getting Help from Online Scientific Communities, Giovanni M. Dall'Olio, Jacopo Marino, Michael Schubert, Kevin L. Keys, Melanie I. Stefan, Colin S. Gillespie, Pierre Poulain, Khader Shameer, Robert Sugar, Brandon M. Invergo, Lars J. Jensen, Jaume Bertranpetit, Hafid Laayouni, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002202, PLoS Comput Biol 7(9): e1002202., 2011/09/29
Distinguishing Anticipation from Causality: Anticipatory Bias in the Estimation of Information Flow, Phys. Rev. Lett.
Abstract: We report that transfer entropy estimates obtained from low-resolution and/or small data sets show net information flow away from a purely anticipatory element whereas transfer entropy calculated using exact distributions show the flow towards it. This means that for real-world data sets anticipatory elements can appear to be strongly driving the network dynamics even when there is no possibility of such an influence. Furthermore, we show that in the low-resolution limit there is no statistic that can distinguish anticipatory elements from causal ones.
Relating Fisher information to order parameters, Phys. Rev. E
Excerpt: The study highlights the generality of Fisher information as a measure that can be applied to a broad range of systems, particularly those where the determination of order parameters is cumbersome.
Are Minds Computable?, arXiv
Abstract: This essay explores the limits of Turing machines concerning the modeling of minds and suggests alternatives to go beyond those limits.
Editorial survey: swarm intelligence for data mining, Machine Learning
Excerpt: This paper surveys the intersection of two fascinating and increasingly popular domains: swarm intelligence and data mining. Whereas data mining has been a popular academic topic for decades, swarm intelligence is a relatively new subfield of artificial intelligence which studies the emergent collective intelligence of groups of simple agents. It is based on social behavior that can be observed in nature, such as ant colonies, flocks of birds, fish schools and bee hives, where a number of individuals with limited capabilities are able to come to intelligent solutions for complex problems.
Schedule and complex motion of shuttle bus induced by periodic inflow of passengers, Physics Letters A
Abstract: We have studied the dynamic behavior of a bus in the shuttle bus transportation with a periodic inflow. A bus schedule is closely related to the dynamics. We present the modified circle map model for the dynamics of the shuttle bus. The motion of the shuttle bus depends on the loading parameter and the inflow period. The shuttle bus displays the periodic, quasi-periodic, and chaotic motions with varying both loading parameter and inflow rate.
Do countries with lower self-citation rate produce higher-impact papers? Or, does humility pay?, Interciencia
Abstract: Studying the 62 countries producing most papers reported in the SCImago data base in the period 1996-2008, it was found that countries with low per capita publication numbers show variable rates of self-citations and produce publications with lower citation impact. In contrast, countries with larger numbers of citations per paper have also high per capita publication numbers and their researchers appear to be humbler, showing lower rates of country and author self-citations. Notable exceptions are China, USA and Iran, which show abnormally high country self-citation rates, partially explained respectively by large populations, large total number of publications and language barriers. An increase of self-citation rates in almost all countries during the last decade, calls for exploring science policies that increase international scientific impact, such as more international cooperation, and science education with broader outlooks.
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Abstract: Tumourâ€"host interaction is modelled by the Lotkaâ€"Volterra equations. Qualitative analysis and simulations show that this model reproduces all known states of development for tumours. Radiotherapy effect is introduced into the model by means of the linear-quadratic model and the periodic Dirac delta function. The evolution of the system under the action of radiotherapy is simulated and parameter space is obtained, from which certain threshold of effectiveness values for the frequency and applied doses are derived. A two-dimensional logistic map is derived from the modified Lotkaâ€"Volterra model and used to simulate the effectiveness of radiotherapy in different regimens of tumour development. The results show the possibility of achieving a successful treatment in each individual case by employing the correct therapeutic strategy.
A Quantitative Theory of Solid Tumor Growth, Metabolic Rate and Vascularization, PLoS ONE
Excerpt: Here, we construct a quantitative, predictive theory of solid tumor growth, metabolic rate, vascularization and necrosis that integrates the relationships between these properties.
Cooperative game in a two-lane traffic flow, arXiv
Abstract: We use cellular automata model to study the cooperation between cyclists. In the two-lane model, cyclists can change lanes. Even there is someone on the back they will take a cooperative attitude. It means that they will be in a same lattice. Simulation carried out under the open borders. Simulation results show that the density in a certain area appeared surge. When the (or) is constant and (or) changes in isometric, the distance between the curves are getting closer. If and close to the limit 1 or 0, a dramatic change has been observed in density profile.
Smart Swarms of Bacteria-Inspired Agents with Performance Adaptable Interactions, PLoS Comput Biol
Excerpt: Many groups of organisms, from colonies of bacteria and social insects through schools of fish and flocks of birds to herds of mammals exhibit advanced collective navigation. Identifying the minimal features of biologically-inspired interacting agents that can lead to emergence of “intelligent” like collective navigation and decision making is fundamental to our understanding of collective behavior, and is of great interest in artificial intelligence and robotics. Previous models of collective behavior of agents, which relied on static interactions of repulsion, orientation (alignment), and attraction, have shown the emergence of collective swarming. Here we show the advantage of performance adaptable interactions for navigation of groups in complex terrains.
Dynamical modeling of collective behavior from pigeon flight data: flock cohesion and dispersion, arXiv
Excerpt: Several models of flocking have been promoted based on simulations with qualitatively naturalistic behavior. In this paper we provide the first direct application of computational modeling methods to infer flocking behavior from experimental field data. We show that this approach is able to infer general rules for interaction, or lack of interaction, among members of a flock or, more generally, any community. Using experimental field measurements of homing pigeons in flight we demonstrate the existence of a basic distance dependent attraction/repulsion relationship and show that this rule is sufficient to explain collective behavior observed in nature.
See Also: Hierarchical group dynamics in pigeon flocks
Indications of marine bioinvasion from network theory, Eur. Phys. J. B
Excerpts: The transport of huge amounts of small aquatic organisms in the ballast tanks and at the hull of large cargo ships leads to ever increasing rates of marine bioinvasion. In this study, we apply a network theoretic approach to examine the introduction of invasive species into new ports by global shipping. (…) Our results reveal (…) that quick spread of invasive organisms between ports is likely. (…) Furthermore, from robustness analyses and the network’s percolation behaviour, we evaluate differences of onboard and in-port ballast water treatment, set them into context with previous studies and advise bioinvasion management strategies.
Competition of individual and institutional punishments in spatial public goods games, arXiv
Excerpts: We have studied the evolution of strategies in spatial public goods games where both individual (peer) and institutional (pool) punishments are present beside unconditional defector and cooperator strategies. (…) According to our numerical data peer punishers prevail and control the system behavior in a large segments of parameters while pool punishers can only survive in the limit of weak peer punishment when a rich variety of solutions is observed. Paradoxically, the two types of punishment may extinguish each other's impact resulting in the triumph of defectors. (…)
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Excerpt: This paper derives a general sufficient condition for existence and uniqueness [of a Nash equilibrium] in continuous games using a variant of the contraction mapping theorem applied to mappings from a subset of the real line on to itself.
Book Announcements
Principles of Evolution: From the Planck Epoch to Complex Multicellular Life, Springer
Summary: With contributions from a team of leading experts, this volume provides a comprehensive survey of recent achievements in our scientific understanding of evolution. The questions it asks concern the beginnings of the universe, the origin of life and the chances of its arising at all, the role of contingency, and the search for universal features in the plethora of evolutionary phenomena. Rather than oversimplified or premature answers, the chapters provide a clear picture of how these essential problems are being tackled, enabling the reader to understand current thinking and open questions. (...)
Organic Computing - A Paradigm Shift for Complex Systems, Springer Basel
Summary: Organic Computing has emerged as a challenging vision for future information processing systems. Its basis is the insight that we will increasingly be surrounded by and depend on large collections of autonomous systems, which are equipped with sensors and actuators, aware of their environment, communicating freely, and organising themselves in order to perform actions and services required by the users. These networks of intelligent systems surrounding us open fascinating application areas and at the same time bear the problem of their controllability. (...)
Self-organising Software: From Natural to Artificial Adaptation, Springer
Summary: Self-organisation, self-regulation, self-repair and self-maintenance are promising conceptual approaches for dealing with complex distributed interactive software and information-handling systems. Self-organising applications dynamically change their functionality and structure without direct user intervention, responding to changes in requirements and the environment. The editors developed this integrated book with three aims: to explain self-organisation concepts and principles, using clear definitions and a strong theoretical background; to examine how self-organising behaviour can be modelled, analysed and systematically engineered into agent behaviour; and to assess the types of problems that can be solved using self-organising multiagent systems.
Links & Snippets
Other Publications
- Threshold Extinction in Food Webs, Michele Bellingeri, 2011/10/11, arXiv:1110.2519
- Epidemic centrality and the underestimated epidemic impact on network peripheral nodes, Mile Sikic, Alen Lancic, Nino Antulov-Fantulin, Hrvoje Stefancic, 2011/10/12, arXiv:1110.2558
- Quantifying loopy network architectures, Eleni Katifori and Marcelo O. Magnasco, 2011/10/6, arXiv:1110.1412
- The Influence of Topology on Signal Propagation in Granular Force Networks, Danielle S. Bassett, Eli T. Owens, Karen E. Daniels, Mason A. Porter, 2011/10/9, arXiv:1110.1858
Event Announcements
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2nd International Business Complexity & the Global Leader Conference, Boston, MA, USA,
2011/10/17-19
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Third World Congress on Nature and Biologically Inspired Computing (NaBIC2011), Salamanca, Spain,
2011/10/19-21
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AMBIENT 2011: The First International Conference on Ambient Computing, Applications, Services and Technologies and
SIMUL 2011: The Third International Conference on Advances in System Simulation, Barcelona, Spain,
2011/10/23-28
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3rd International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence, Paris, France,
2011/10/24-26
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Second Australasian Workshop on Computation in Cyber-Physical Systems (CompCPS-2011), Sydney, Australia,
2011/10/28
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Complex Adaptive Systems:
Energy, Information, and Intelligence, AAAI Fall Symposium; Arlington, VA,
2011/11/4-6
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Workshop on Complex Systems as Computing Models
(WCSCM2011), Mexico City, Mexico,
2011/11/9-10
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The Dynamics of Disease, Workshop in Medical Systems Biology, Manchester, UK,
2011/11/28-12/02
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Network Frontier Workshop 2011, Evanston, IL, USA,
2011/12/01-02
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New England Complex Systems Institute Winter School, Cambridge, MA, USA,
2012/01/02-13
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41th Winter Meeting on Statistical Physics, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico,
2012/01/3-6
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VI Congreso Bienal Internacional Complejidad 2012, Havana, Cuba,
2012/01/10-13
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38th International Conference on Current Trends
in Theory and Practice of Computer Science, Špindlerův Mlýn, Czech Republic,
2012/01/21-27
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4th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence - ICAART 2012, Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal,
2012/02/6-8
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evostar - the main european events on evolutionary computation
eurogp, evocop, evobio, evomusart and evoapplications, Málaga, Spain,
2012/03/11-13
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IWSOS'12 (Sixth International Workshop on Self-Organizing Systems), Delft, The Netherlands,
2012/03/15-16
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5th International Nonlinear Science Conference 2012, Barcelona, Spain,
2011/03/15-17
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Collective Intelligence 2012, Cambridge, MA, USA,
2012/04/18-20
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ALife XIII: The Thirteenth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Lansig, Michigan, USA,
2012/08/19-22
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ECCS'12: European Conference on Complex Systems, Brussels, Belgium,
2012/09/3-7
Webcast Announcements
Lakeside Labs videos, ongoing. - FuturICT videos, ongoing.
- IFISC@uib.es seminars, ongoing.
- Complex Systems: The Challenge of Prediction, Yaneer Bar-Yam, NECSI and MIT/ESD Seminar, 2011/04/08
- Lakeside Research Days 2010.
- Smarter Cities NYC. Posted on 2009/10/05
- ASSYST Digital Library. Since 09/09
- Complex Systems Teleconferences. Since 09/09
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Symmetry Festival 2009, Budapest, Hungary, 09/08/1-4.
- International Workshop on Coping with Crises in Complex Socio-Economic Systems, Zurich, Switzerland, 09/06/8-12
- Memorial Service for Dr Gottfried Mayer, Founding Editor Complexity Digest, Taipei, Taiwan (1954-2009). Video [RM], 09/02/13
- Making Connections: In Memory and Celebration of the Life of Dr. Gottfried Mayer (1954-2009). Video [RM] [MPG], 09/02/13
- Eulogy for Gottfried Mayer by Dean LeBaron [WMV, 25 Mb], [RM, 10 Mb], 09/02/10
- Can Ants Solve Traffic Jams?, Danielle Parsons, Slatev.com, 08/07/22
- Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007
- World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 08/01/22-27
- TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
- Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
- Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006, Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
- 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
- Artificial Life X, 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington, IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
- 6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
- Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
- Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
- Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
- ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
- T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, The Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), Podcast
- 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
- Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC, 05/05/16-19
- 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
- 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
- From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
- Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
- International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
- Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
- CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
- Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
- Edge Videos
Other Announcements
- Call for papers: Special issue of JSSC on Complex Systems and Sports, 2011/12/31
- ASSYSTComplexity
One of the main goals of the ASSYST Coordination Action is to promote Complex Systems for Socially Intelligent ICT (COSI-ICT) and, more generally, Complex Systems (CS) Science in Europe and Worldwide. We do this by communicating widely with scientists, policy makers, and business people, and by showcasing success stories of CS applications. - Job openings in Complex Systems
- Modelling and Physics of Complex Systems, MSc & PhD Programme, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
- Research Positions in Complex Systems
The New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI) has openings for postdoctoral appointments, and scholarships for research supervision in the study of complex systems. - Call for Papers: Cliodynamics: The Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History
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Friends of Complexity Theory in Cuba, inlcudes Revista Pensando la Complejidad.
- DDLab, new release available! DDLab is a free set of tools for researching cellular automata, random Boolean networks, multi-value discrete dynamical networks, and beyond. See introductory video.
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