Complexity Digest 2005.28 Archive: http://comdig.unam.mx "I think the next century will be the century of complexity." Stephen Hawking, 2000 _________________________________________________________________ 01. A Livable Shade Of Green, NY Times 01.01. Profit, Not Jobs, In Silicon Valley, NY Times 01.02. In Seeking Unocal, Chevron Ruffles An Asian Partner, NY Times 02. Africa Tackles Graft, With Billions In Aid In Play, NY Times 02.01. What Do Firms Disclose And Why? Enforcing Corporate Governance And Transparency In Central And Eastern Europe, Oxford Rev. Econ. Policy 02.02. A Theory Of Corporate Scandals: Why The USA And Europe Differ, Oxford Rev. Econ. Policy 03. New Type Of Research Journal Gaining Ground, Boston Globe 04. The Mental Universe, Nature 04.01. Dynamic Predictive Coding By The Retina, Nature 04.02. The Dream Of A Lifetime, Technology Review 05. U.S. Seeks To Keep Role On Internet, NY Times 05.01. The Next Wave In Computing Is Embedded, IST News 05.02. U.S. Dominance In Science And Engineering Slipping, AOL News 06. Complexity In Strongly Correlated Electronic Systems, Science 06.01. Nonlinear Dynamics: When Instability Makes Sense, Nature 07. Night Of The Crusher, The Waking Nightmare Of Sleep Paralysis Propels People Into A Spirit World, Science 07.01. Neuroscience: Deep In Thought, Nature 07.02. Dealing With ADHD As An Adult, NPR TOTN 08. Big Questions In Science, NPR TOTN 08.01. Teaching Qubits New Tricks, Science 09. Probing Question: Does My Dog Really Love Me?, Research Penn State 10. How Earth-Scale Engineering Can Save The Planet, Popular Mechanics 10.01. Trees, Vines And Nets -- Microbial Evolution Changes Its Face, ScienceDaily 10.02. 'Fires Wiped Out' Ancient Mammals, BBC 10.03. Conservation Biology: Is This Any Way To Save A Species?, Nature 10.04. Where Slugs May Safely Graze, Nature 11. Same Difference: Twins' Gene Regulation Isn't Identical, Science News 11.01. Are Humans Still Evolving?, Science 12. A Self-Organized Vortex Array Of Hydrodynamically Entrained Sperm Cells, Science 13. Birdbrains Could Teach Basal Ganglia Research A New Song, Trends in Neurosc. 14. Genetic Link Confirmed Between Polynesians And Indigenous Taiwanese, ScienceDaily 14.01. Mental Concerts: Musical Imagery And Auditory Cortex, Neuron 14.02. Music: The International Language?, New Scientist 14.03. Modelling the Dynamics of Youth Subcultures, JASSS 14.04. Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Lessons Learned Re-Implementing Axelrod's 'Evolutionary Approach to Norms', JASSS 15. Secret Worlds: The Universe Within, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory 16. Surf's Up, Down At The Swimming Pool, New Scientist 17. Nanotubes Inspire New Technique For Healing Broken Bones, EurekAlert 18. SFI Names New Leaders, Los Alamos Monitor 19. Complex Challenges: Global Terroist Networks 19.01. The Surprise We Expected, NY Times 19.02. Our Ally, Our Problem, NY Times 19.03. Pentagon Weighs Strategy Change To Deter Terror, NY Times 19.04. Washington's Deadly Bridge, NY Times 20. Links & Snippets 20.01. Other Publications 20.02. Webcast Announcements 20.03. Conference Announcements 20.04. Call for Papers _________________________________________________________________ 01. A Livable Shade Of Green , NY Times Excerpts: Newly released data show that Portland, America's environmental laboratory, has achieved stunning reductions in carbon emissions. It has reduced emissions below the levels of 1990, the benchmark for the Kyoto accord, while booming economically. What's more, officials in Portland insist that the campaign to cut carbon emissions has entailed no significant economic price, and on the contrary has brought the city huge benefits: less tax money spent on energy, more convenient transportation, a greener city, and expertise in energy efficiency that is helping local businesses win contracts worldwide. * A Livable Shade Of Green, Nicholas D. Kristof , 05/07/03, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 01.01. Profit, Not Jobs, In Silicon Valley , NY Times Excerpts: Changes in technology and business strategy are raising fundamental questions about the future of the nation's high technology heartland. Things are looking up at Wyse Technology, a venerable maker of computer terminals. Unless, that is, you happen to want to work for the company here in Silicon ... Responding to booming demand in Asia and in Europe, Wyse is adding new development teams in India and China and expanding... * Profit, Not Jobs, In Silicon Valley, John Markoff , Matt Richtel , 05/07/03, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 01.02. In Seeking Unocal, Chevron Ruffles An Asian Partner , NY Times Excerpts: China National Offshore Oil Corporation's bid for Unocal has forced Chevron into a takeover battle against its largest trading partner in China. Chevron's managers have gone into overdrive to portray Chinese government-backed offer for California-based Unocal as unfair competition and to close their deal for Unocal as quickly as possible; they have received support from many lawmakers in Washington, who have painted Chinese offer as threat to America's national security; * In Seeking Unocal, Chevron Ruffles An Asian Partner, Jad Mouawad , David Barboza , 05/07/05, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 02. Africa Tackles Graft, With Billions In Aid In Play , NY Times Excerpts: Increasingly, donors to African nations have watched their aid vanish into a sinkhole of fraud and waste. One of Dora Nkem Akunyili's lowest moments as a corruption fighter came about two years ago when her son told her not to visit his boarding school. Obumneme Akunyili, age 13, did not want anyone to know that she was his mother. * Africa Tackles Graft, With Billions In Aid In Play, Sharon Lafraniere , 05/07/06, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 02.01. What Do Firms Disclose And Why? Enforcing Corporate Governance And Transparency In Central And Eastern Europe , Oxford Rev. Econ. Policy Excerpts: While specific corporate-governance rules are often controversial, most observers agree on the need to disclose who owns and controls a firm and what governance arrangements are in place. This paper examines such disclosure in a sample of 370 companies listed on stock exchanges in Central and Eastern Europe. The data show widespread non-disclosure of even the most basic elements of corporate-governance arrangements, despite existing regulation. The level of disclosure varies substantially across firms, and there is a strong country effect in what companies disclose. Overall, what is disclosed depends on the legal framework and practice in a given country, (...). * What Do Firms Disclose And Why? Enforcing Corporate Governance And Transparency In Central And Eastern Europe, E. BerglöF , A. Pajuste , Summer 2005, DOI: 10.1093/oxrep/gri011, Oxford Review of Economic Policy * Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ 02.02. A Theory Of Corporate Scandals: Why The USA And Europe Differ , Oxford Rev. Econ. Policy Excerpts: A wave of financial irregularity in the USA in 2001-2 culminated in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. A worldwide stockmarket bubble burst over this same period, with the actual market decline being proportionately more severe in Europe. Yet, no corresponding wave of financial scandals involving a similar level of companies occurred in Europe. Given the higher level of public and private enforcement in the USA for securities fraud, this contrast seems perplexing. This paper submits that different kinds of scandals characterize different systems of corporate governance. (...) * A Theory Of Corporate Scandals: Why The USA And Europe Differ, J. C. Coffee, Jr , Summer 2005, DOI: 10.1093/oxrep/gri012, Oxford Review of Economic Policy * Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01yahoo.com _________________________________________________________________ 03. New Type Of Research Journal Gaining Ground , Boston Globe Excerpts: Last month, a two-year-old scientific journal with a controversial new business model was named the top biology journal of 2004. The recognition was the first quantitative measure of the success of Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology -- and suggests that such free, readily accessible scientific journals are gaining on the traditional publications that have been the hallmark of scientific publishing for centuries. * New Type Of Research Journal Gaining Ground, Zara Herskovits , 05/07/11, Boston Globe _________________________________________________________________ 04. The Mental Universe , Nature Excerpts: The only reality is mind and observations, but observations are not of things. To see the Universe as it really is, we must abandon our tendency to conceptualize observations as things. (...) With Galileo Galilei, this changed. In establishing that the Earth goes around the Sun, Galileo not only succeeded in believing the unbelievable himself, but also convinced almost everyone else to do the same. (...), with the subsequent work of Isaac Newton, physics joined religion in seeking to explain our place in the Universe. * The Mental Universe, Richard Conn Henry , 05/07/07, DOI: 10.1038/436029a, Nature 436, 29 _________________________________________________________________ 04.01. Dynamic Predictive Coding By The Retina , Nature Excerpts: Retinal ganglion cells convey the visual image from the eye to the brain. They generally encode local differences in space and changes in time rather than the raw image intensity. This can be seen as a strategy of predictive coding, (...). Yet animals encounter many environments with visual statistics different from the average scene. Here we show that when this happens, the retina adjusts its processing dynamically. The spatio-temporal receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells change after a few seconds in a new environment. * Dynamic Predictive Coding By The Retina, Toshihiko Hosoya , Stephen A. Baccus , Markus Meister , 05/07/07, DOI: 10.1038/nature03689, Nature 436, 71-77 _________________________________________________________________ 04.02. The Dream Of A Lifetime , Technology Review Excerpts: You've likely heard stories about the birth of the PC: of Xerox PARC as the Mecca of computing; of its creation of the Alto, Ethernet, and the laser printer; of the Homebrew Computer Club, the MITS Altair, Bill Gates and the theft of his Micro-soft Basic; of Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, the founding of Apple, and the Jobs visit to PARC that inspired the Macintosh. * The Dream Of A Lifetime, Bill Joy , 05/08, Technology Review _________________________________________________________________ 05. U.S. Seeks To Keep Role On Internet , NY Times Excerpts: Amid appeals from several countries for a new international governing body for the Internet, the Bush administration has called for the United States to retain - and perhaps enhance - its long-standing role in Internet management. A statement published Thursday on the Web site of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (www.ntia.doc.gov), part of the Commerce Department, says the United States "intends to preserve the security and stability" (...) * U.S. Seeks To Keep Role On Internet, Victoria Shannon , 05/07/04, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 05.01. The Next Wave In Computing Is Embedded , IST News Excerpts: Research investment in embedded systems needs to grow according to a report (...) says, investment in pre-competitive research in 'embedded computing' technology, the electronics and software in everything from televisions and mobile phones to cars and planes, needs to grow over 40 per cent by 2010 to keep Europe in the forefront of the digital economy. Today, 90 per cent of all computing chips or microprocessors are 'embedded'. The sector is growing at 10 per cent per annum, (...). * The Next Wave In Computing Is Embedded, 2005/07/06, Information Society Technologies News * Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinyahoo.co.in _________________________________________________________________ 05.02. U.S. Dominance In Science And Engineering Slipping , AOL News Excerpts: New Study Says More Graduates Come from Europe, China and India More than half a century of U.S. dominance in science and engineering may be slipping as America's share of graduates in these fields falls relative to Europe and developing nations such as China and India, a study released on Friday says. The study, written by Richard Freeman at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Washington, warned that changes in the global science and engineering job market may require a long period of adjustment for U.S. workers. * U.S. Dominance In Science And Engineering Slipping, 05/07/08, AOL News _________________________________________________________________ 06. Complexity In Strongly Correlated Electronic Systems , Science Excerpts: The spontaneous emergence of electronic nanometer-scale structures (...), and the existence of many competing states, are properties often associated with complex matter where nonlinearities dominate, such as soft materials and biological systems. This electronic complexity could have potential consequences for applications of correlated electronic materials, because not only charge (semiconducting electronic), or charge and spin (spintronics) are of relevance, but in addition the lattice and orbital degrees of freedom are active, leading to giant responses to small perturbations. Moreover, several metallic and insulating phases compete, increasing the potential for novel behavior. * Complexity In Strongly Correlated Electronic Systems, Elbio Dagotto , 05/07/08, Science : 257-262 _________________________________________________________________ 06.01. Nonlinear Dynamics: When Instability Makes Sense , Nature Excerpts: Mathematical models that use instabilities to describe changes of weather patterns or spacecraft trajectories are well established. Could such principles apply to the sense of smell, and to other aspects of neural computation? (...) in mathematical models of the sense of smell, switching among unstable saddle states — and not stable-state dynamics — may be responsible for the generation of characteristic patterns of neural activity, (...). In creating their models, they have been inspired by experimental findings in the olfactory systems of zebrafish and locusts that exhibit reproducible odour-dependent patterns. * Nonlinear Dynamics: When Instability Makes Sense, Peter Ashwin , Marc Timme , 05/07/07, DOI: 10.1038/436036b, Nature 436, 36-37 _________________________________________________________________ 07. Night Of The Crusher, The Waking Nightmare Of Sleep Paralysis Propels People Into A Spirit World , Science Excerpts: The Nightmare, 1781, Henry Fuseli. Founders Society purchase, with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Bert L. Smokler and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman. Photograph ? 1997 The Detroit Institute of Arts Curiously, although the word nightmare originally described sleep paralysis, it now refers to a fearful or disturbing dream, (...). Several hundred years ago, the English referred to nighttime sensations of chest pressure from witches or other supernatural beings as the "mare," from the Anglo-Saxon merran, meaning to crush. The term eventually morphed into nightmare¡Xthe crusher who comes in the night. Sleep paralysis embodies a universal, biologically based explanation for pervasive beliefs in spirits and supernatural beings, even in the United States, Hufford argues. * Night Of The Crusher, The Waking Nightmare Of Sleep Paralysis Propels People Into A Spirit World, Bruce Bower , 05/07/09, Science news _________________________________________________________________ 07.01. Neuroscience: Deep In Thought , Nature Excerpts: Electrodes implanted in the brain could transform the lives of psychiatric patients. Alison Abbott watched an operation to release a man from his obsessive thoughts.(...) Surgeons are still not agreed about where best to strike with their electrodes. They realize that targeting one point will affect an entire circuit — and one modified circuit is likely to affect information flow through others. No one knows exactly how these various circuits, with their positive and negative feedback components, might weave through different anatomical structures. * Neuroscience: Deep In Thought, Alison Abbott , 05/07/07, DOI: 10.1038/436018a, Nature 436, 18-19 _________________________________________________________________ 07.02. Dealing With ADHD As An Adult , NPR TOTN Excerpts: These days, teachers and parents are on the lookout for attention deficit disorders in kids. But what happens if you're an adult with ADHD? These days, teachers and parents are on the lookout for attention deficit disorders in kids. But what happens if you're an adult with ADHD? Until recently, little information was available about adults who grew up with the disorder and continue to live with it. Distractibility and a tendency to make the same mistake repeatedly are just some of the challenges that people with ADHD face throughout their lives. * Dealing With ADHD As An Adult, 05/07/12, TOTN _________________________________________________________________ 08. Big Questions In Science , NPR TOTN Excerpts: What is the universe made of? How did life on Earth arise? How long can humans live... and how did cooperative behavior evolve? Joe Palca leads a discussion on the big questions facing science today. Editor's Note: See also the 125 questions in the special anniversar issue of Science "What Don't We Know?". * Big Questions In Science, 05/07/08, NPR TOTN _________________________________________________________________ 08.01. Teaching Qubits New Tricks , Science Excerpts: A novel approach to storing information could give computers with near-magic powers a boost toward reality Quantum computers will shatter the encryption that makes Internet commerce safe, search databases at unthinkable speeds, and crank out ciphers that nature itself guarantees secure--if they can be built. For years, scientists thought that would never happen because the same laws of physics that make quantum computers so powerful seemed to make a practical prototype impossible. * Teaching Qubits New Tricks, Charles Seife , 05/07/08, Science : 238 _________________________________________________________________ 09. Probing Question: Does My Dog Really Love Me? , Research Penn State Excerpts: Pat Justis Parasite or pal? The idea that Fido's love could be easily transferred to the family next door may seem unsettling, considering the amount of time and emotion most people invest in their canine counterparts. However, Leslie Burgard, a certified pet dog trainer in State College, does not think the subject of puppy love is quite so simple. "Their loyalty is unconditional¡Xmuch like that between a parent and child," Burgard says. "For the most part, our dogs would go to bat for us, even on our worst and most intolerable day. * Probing Question: Does My Dog Really Love Me?, Sarah Etter , 05/07/05, Research Penn State _________________________________________________________________ 10. How Earth-Scale Engineering Can Save The Planet , Popular Mechanics Excerpts: John MacNeill Stationed between the Earth and sun at a point where the gravitational forces nearly cancel each other out, a 600,000-square-mile space "mirror" scatters sunlight with a mesh woven of fine metal wires. Maybe we can have our fossil fuels and burn 'em too. These scientists have come up with a plan to end global warming. One idea: A 600,000-square-mile space mirror * How Earth-Scale Engineering Can Save The Planet, Michael Behar , 05/08, Popular Mechanics _________________________________________________________________ 10.01. Trees, Vines And Nets -- Microbial Evolution Changes Its Face , ScienceDaily Excerpts: (...) researchers have changed our view of 4 billion years of microbial evolution. Christos Ouzounis and colleagues have gained intriguing quantitative insights into how gene families are transferred, not only 'vertically' through passage from one organism to its progeny, but also 'horizontally' through the exchange of genetic material between distantly related organisms. This new view of the tree of life could help us to better understand how disease-causing bacteria manage to stay one step ahead of us in our battle to tackle antibiotic resistance. (...) * Trees, Vines And Nets -- Microbial Evolution Changes Its Face, 2005/07/05, ScienceDaily & European Molecular Biology Laboratory * Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinyahoo.co.in _________________________________________________________________ 10.02. 'Fires Wiped Out' Ancient Mammals , BBC Excerpts: The first humans to arrive in Australia destroyed the pristine landscape, probably by lighting huge fires, the latest research suggests. The evidence, published in Science magazine, comes from ancient eggshells. These show birds changed their diets drastically when humans came on the scene, switching from grass to the type of plants that thrive on scrubland. The study supports others that have blamed humans for mass extinctions across the world 10-50,000 years ago. * 'Fires Wiped Out' Ancient Mammals, Helen Briggs , 05/07, BBC _________________________________________________________________ 10.03. Conservation Biology: Is This Any Way To Save A Species? , Nature Excerpts: But a scientific initiative to determine why the Aleutian population of Stellers has plunged over the past three decades is making them a wilderness legend for another reason. For some biologists, the Steller has become a symbol of how not to conduct complex ecosystems research. (...). Over the past four years, the US government has poured more than $120 million into Steller research (...). Yet this highly politicized programme has so far failed to resolve a key question whether fishing is responsible for the Steller's decline. * Conservation Biology: Is This Any Way To Save A Species?, Rex Dalton , 05/07/07, DOI: 10.1038/436014a, Nature 436, 14-16 _________________________________________________________________ 10.04. Where Slugs May Safely Graze , Nature Excerpts: Grazing animals mow meadows to useful effect. From the results of experiments on newly established grassland, one such grazer, the little-considered slug, evidently has a big and beneficial influence on plant diversity. Large mammalian grazers are allies of the conservation biologist. Sharp incisors, grinding molars and selectiveness in their choice of vegetation have made sheep, cattle and horses invaluable for grassland managers concerned with enhancing diversity or encouraging particular plant species. But what of invertebrate grazers? Grasslands support large populations of small herbivores, from aphids to grasshoppers (...). * Where Slugs May Safely Graze, Peter D. Moore , 05/07/07, DOI: 10.1038/436035a, Nature 436, 35-36 _________________________________________________________________ 11. Same Difference: Twins' Gene Regulation Isn't Identical , Science News Excerpts: Although identical twins have identical DNA, they often harbor clear-cut differences: slight variations in appearance or stark distinctions in disease susceptibility, for example. Scientists have suggested that the interplay between nature and nurture could explain such differences, but the mechanism has been poorly understood. A new study suggests that as identical twins go through life, environmental influences differently affect which genes are turned on and which are switched off. * Same Difference: Twins' Gene Regulation Isn't Identical, Christen Brownlee , 05/07/09, Science news _________________________________________________________________ 11.01. Are Humans Still Evolving? , Science Excerpts: The goal of much of modern medicine and culture is effectively to stop evolution. Is that happening? The news made headlines around the world: Blonds were going extinct. According to CNN and other media, a World Health Organization (WHO) study concluded that the gene for blond hair, which was described as recessive to dominant genes for dark hair, would disappear in 200 years. * Are Humans Still Evolving?, Michael Balter , 05/07/08, Science : 234-237 _________________________________________________________________ 12. A Self-Organized Vortex Array Of Hydrodynamically Entrained Sperm Cells , Science Excerpts: Many patterns in biological systems depend on the exchange of chemical signals between cells. We report a spatiotemporal pattern mediated by hydrodynamic interactions. At planar surfaces, spermatozoa self-organized into dynamic vortices resembling quantized rotating waves. These vortices formed an array with local hexagonal order. Introducing an order parameter that quantifies cooperativity, we found that the array appeared only above a critical sperm density. Using a model, we estimated the hydrodynamic interaction force between spermatozoa to be ?0.03 piconewtons. * A Self-Organized Vortex Array Of Hydrodynamically Entrained Sperm Cells, Ingmar H. Riedel , Karsten Kruse , Jonathon Howard , 05/07/08, DOI: 10.1126/science.1110329, Science, Vol 309, Issue 5732, 300-303 _________________________________________________________________ 13. Birdbrains Could Teach Basal Ganglia Research A New Song , Trends in Neurosc. Excerpts: Recent advances in anatomical, physiological and histochemical characterization of avian basal ganglia neurons and circuitry have revealed remarkable similarities to mammalian basal ganglia. A modern revision of the avian anatomical nomenclature has now provided a common language for studying the function of the cortical-basal-ganglia-cortical loop, enabling neuroscientists to take advantage of the specialization of basal ganglia areas in various avian species. For instance, songbirds, which learn their vocal motor behavior using sensory feedback, have specialized a portion of their cortical-basal ganglia circuitry for song learning and production. (...) * Birdbrains Could Teach Basal Ganglia Research A New Song, A. J. Doupe , D. J. Perkel , A. Reiner , E. A. Stern stern@helix.mgh.harvard.edu , Jul. 2005, online 2005/06/01, DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2005.05.005, Trends in Neurosciences * Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinyahoo.co.in _________________________________________________________________ 14. Genetic Link Confirmed Between Polynesians And Indigenous Taiwanese , ScienceDaily Excerpts: According to folklore, Polynesians originated from a mythical homeland called Hawaiki. (...) provide the first direct evidence for the common ancestry of Polynesians and indigenous Taiwanese. Genetic techniques involving mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) have been used to try and determine whether there is a link between Polynesians and other Southeast Asian populations by estimating how much mtDNA different populations have in common. (...) These results indicate that Taiwanese aboriginal populations have been genetically isolated from mainland Chinese for 10,000 to 20,000 years, and that Polynesian migration probably originated from people identical to the aboriginal Taiwanese. (...) * Genetic Link Confirmed Between Polynesians And Indigenous Taiwanese, 2005/07/06, ScienceDaily & Public Library Of Science * Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinyahoo.co.in _________________________________________________________________ 14.01. Mental Concerts: Musical Imagery And Auditory Cortex , Neuron Abstract: Most people intuitively understand what it means to "hear a tune in your head." Converging evidence now indicates that auditory cortical areas can be recruited even in the absence of sound and that this corresponds to the phenomenological experience of imagining music. We discuss these findings as well as some methodological challenges. We also consider the role of core versus belt areas in musical imagery, the relation between auditory and motor systems during imagery of music performance, and practical implications of this research. * Mental Concerts: Musical Imagery And Auditory Cortex, R. J. Zatorre robert.zatorre@mcgill.ca , A. R. Halpern , Jul. 2005, online 2005/07/06, DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2005.06.013, Neuron * Contributed by Atin Das - dasatinyahoo.co.in _________________________________________________________________ 14.02. Music: The International Language? , New Scientist Excerpts: Not if you really listen, it seems. The music of different nationalities may simply be an extension of their distinct style of speech THE Proms, London's annual classical music festival, invariably concludes with Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance march, which concert-goers accompany with a lusty rendition of the anthem Land of Hope and Glory. It is a champagne-fuelled, teary-eyed orgy of patriotism. There seems to be something distinctly English about that tune. But why? * Music: The International Language?, Philip Ball , 05/07/09, New Scientist _________________________________________________________________ 14.03. Modelling the Dynamics of Youth Subcultures , JASSS Abstract: What are the dynamics behind youth subcultures such as punk, hippie, or hip-hop cultures? How does the global dynamics of these subcultures relate to the individual's search for a personal identity? We propose a simple dynamical model to address these questions and find that only a few assumptions of the individual's behaviour are necessary to regenerate known features of youth culture. * Modelling the Dynamics of Youth Subcultures, Petter Holme , Andreas Grönlund , 2005/06/30, JASSS 8(3) _________________________________________________________________ 14.04. Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Lessons Learned Re-Implementing Axelrod's 'Evolutionary Approach to Norms' , JASSS Abstract: In this paper we try to replicate the simulation results reported by Axelrod (1986) in an influential paper on the evolution of social norms. Our study shows that Axelrod's results are not as reliable as one would desire. We can obtain the opposite results by running the model for longer, by slightly modifying some of the parameters, or by changing some arbitrary assumptions in the model. This re-implementation exercise illustrates the importance of running stochastic simulations several times for many periods, exploring the parameter space adequately, complementing simulation with analytical work, and being aware of the scope of our simulation models. * Appearances Can Be Deceiving: Lessons Learned Re-Implementing Axelrod's 'Evolutionary Approach to Norms', Jose Manuel Galan , Luis R. Izquierdo , 2005/06/30, JASSS 8(3) _________________________________________________________________ 15. Secret Worlds: The Universe Within , National High Magnetic Field Laboratory Excerpts: View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons. * Secret Worlds: The Universe Within, Matthew J. Parry-Hill , Christopher A. Burdett , Michael W. Davidson , National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, 2005 _________________________________________________________________ 16. Surf's Up, Down At The Swimming Pool , New Scientist Excerpts: The powerful, curling waves that draw surfers to the beaches of Hawaii, California and Australia will soon be breaking inland, thanks to a novel shape-shifting rubber reef that can be fitted to the floor of a swimming pool. Wave machines, which make small, regularly shaped waves, already make pool games more fun. But until now, creating waves big enough for people to learn to surf on has been out of the question. * Surf's Up, Down At The Swimming Pool, Emma Young , 05/06/30, NewScientist _________________________________________________________________ 17. Nanotubes Inspire New Technique For Healing Broken Bones , EurekAlert Excerpts: Scientists have shown for the first time that carbon nanotubes make an ideal scaffold for the growth of bone tissue. The new technique could change the way doctors treat broken bones, allowing them to simply inject a solution of nanotubes into a fracture to promote healing.(...) Artificial bone scaffolds have (...) a number of drawbacks, including low strength and the potential for rejection in the body. "Compared with these scaffolds, the high mechanical strength, excellent flexibility and low density of carbon nanotubes make them ideal for the production of lightweight, high-strength materials such as bone," (...). * Nanotubes Inspire New Technique For Healing Broken Bones, 05/07/07, EurekAlert _________________________________________________________________ 18. SFI Names New Leaders , Los Alamos Monitor Excerpts: In a sweeping change the Santa Fe Institute has placed three new people in top offices, including a president and vice president who were closely associated with Los Alamos National Laboratory. Geoffrey West, until recently a theoretical physicist and Senior Fellow at the lab, was named president. The vice president is C. Chris Wood, previously leader of LANL's biological and quantum physics group. Bill Miller, a renowned financial manager and CEO of Legg Mason Capital Management, was elected chairman of SFI at a board meeting on May 15. * SFI Names New Leaders, Roger Snodgrass , 05/07/11, Los Alamos Monitor _________________________________________________________________ 19. Complex Challenges: Global Terroist Networks _________________________________________________________________ 19.01. The Surprise We Expected , NY Times Excerpts: London has been savagely woken from a pleasant dream. The mood of a city has never swung so sharply. On Wednesday there was no better place on earth. After the victory of the Olympic decision in Singapore, Londoners were celebrating the prospect of an explosion of new energy and creativity; those computer-generated images of futuristic wonderlands rising out of derelict quarters and poisoned industrial wastelands were actually going to be built. * The Surprise We Expected, Ian Mcewan , 05/07/08, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 19.02. Our Ally, Our Problem , NY Times Excerpts: As the shock waves from yesterday's terrorist attacks in London - which seem to be the work of jihadist militants - reverberate across the Atlantic, a grim truth should become increasingly clear: one of the greatest terrorist threats to the United States emanates not from domestic sleeper cells or, as is popularly imagined, from the graduates of Middle Eastern madrassas, but from some of the citizens of its closest ally, Britain. * Our Ally, Our Problem, Peter Bergen , 05/07/08, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 19.03. Pentagon Weighs Strategy Change To Deter Terror , NY Times Excerpts: The Pentagon's most senior planners are challenging the longstanding strategy that requires the armed forces to be prepared to fight two major wars at a time. Pentagon considers whether to shape military to mount one, rather than two major wars at same time, freeing more resources for anti-terrorism efforts; profound change is being considered during top-to-bottom review of Pentagon strategy, as ordered by Congress every four years;(...) * Pentagon Weighs Strategy Change To Deter Terror, Thom Shanker , Eric Schmitt , 05/07/05, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 19.04. Washington's Deadly Bridge , NY Times Excerpts: If the Bush administration and Congress are serious about homeland security, they will get a chemical transportation law passed at once. The weakest point in America's defense against terrorism may be an inconspicuous little bridge a few blocks from the Capitol. Rail tanker cars filled with deadly chemicals pass over the bridge, at Second Street and E Street SW, on their journeys up and down the East Coast. * Washington's Deadly Bridge, 05/07/05, NYTimes _________________________________________________________________ 20. Links & Snippets _________________________________________________________________ 20.01. Other Publications - Inter-Organizational Learning and Collective Memory in Small Firms Clusters: an Agent-Based Approach, Francesca Borrelli , Cristina Ponsiglione , Luca Iandoli , Giuseppe Zollo , 2005/06/30, JASSS 8(3) - The Fate of Spatial Dilemmas with Different Fuzzy Measures of Success, Hugo Fort and Nicolás Pérez , 2005/06/30, JASSS 8(3) - Sociological Implications of Gift Exchange in Multiagent Systems, Shah Jamal Alam , Frank Hillebrandt , Michael Schillo , 2005/06/30, JASSS 8(3) - A Formal Model for the Fifth Discipline, Lourival Paulino da Silva , 2005/06/30, JASSS 8(3) - Classification Of Different Indian Songs Based On Fractal Analysis, A. Das , Pritha Das , 15:3, 2005, Complex Systems - Non-Linear Incidence And Stability Of Infectious Disease Models, A. Korobeinikov , P. K. Maini korobein@maths.ox.ac.uk , Jun. 2005, online 2005/03/18, Mathematical Medicine and Biology, DOI: 10.1093/imammb/dqi001 - Small World And Scale Free Model Of Transmission Of SARS, M. Small ensmall@polyu.edu.hk , C. K. Tse cktse@ieee.org , May 2005, International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, DOI: 10.1142/S0218127405012776 - Quantitative Characterization Of The Complexity Of Multichannel Human EEGs, P. E. Rapp per23@drexel.edu , C. J. Cellucci CellucciC@nmrc.navy.mil , T. A. A. Watanabe WatanabeT@nmrc.navy.mil , A. M. Albano aalbano@brynmawr.edu , May 2005, International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos, DOI: 10.1142/S0218127405012764 - How Experts And Novices Search The Web, D. Tabatabaia diana.tabatabai@mcgill.ca , B. M. Shoreb bruce.m.shore@mcgill.ca , Spring 2005, online 2005/06/10, Library & Information Science Research, DOI: 10.1016/j.lisr.2005.01.005 - The Vertebrate Social Behavior Network: Evolutionary Themes And Variations, J. L. Goodson jgoodson@ucsd.edu , Jun. 2005, online 2005/05/10, Hormones and Behavior, DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2005.02.003 - The Wayward Mind: An Intimate History Of The Unconscious, G. Claxton , Jan. 2005, Amazon - Regional Differences In R&D Intensity In The EU, 2005/07/08, Information Society Technologies News - Offering Flexible And Adaptable Mobile Learning, G. Bo , g.bo@giuntilabs.it , 2005/07/06, Information Society Technologies News - Review. Networks And Epidemic Models, M. J. Keeling , K. T. D. Eames , 2005/06/20, Interface, DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2005.0051 - An Ecological 'Footprint' Of Climate Change, G.-R. Walther , S. Berger , M. T. Sykes , 2005/06/28, Proceedings: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3119 - Brain Size, Innovative Propensity And Migratory Behaviour In Temperate Palaearctic Birds, D. Sol , L. Lefebvre , J. D. R.-Teijeiro , 2005/06/28, Proceedings: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2005.3099 - Eating Without Hands Or Tongue: Specialization, Elaboration And The Evolution Of Prey Processing Mechanisms In Cartilaginous Fishes, M. N. Dean , C. D. Wilga , A. P. Summers , 2005/07/05, Biology Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2005.0319 - Dieting Linked To Increased Wealth, Study Finds, 2005/07/07, ScienceDaily & Ohio State University - How Fish Hear And Make Sounds At Same Time, 2005/07/05, ScienceDaily & Cornell University - Invention: Thought-Controlled Voice Synthesizer, Barry Fox , 05/07/12, NewScientist, The device builds upon evidence that a specific region of the brain, known as Broca's Area, lights up when a person talks. It will use electrodes to detect this activity. - Army Finds Few Lapses in Health Care of Prisoners, Eric Schmitt , 05/07/08, NYTimes, An assessment has found no evidence of systemic problems in medical care of prisoners at American detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Cuba, officials said. - If It's a Muslim Problem, It Needs a Muslim Solution, Thomas L. Friedman , 05/07/08, NYTimes, It is essential that the Muslim world wake up to the fact that it has a jihadist death cult in its midst. - From Filmmaker in Los Angeles to Detainee in Iraq, Tim Golden , 05/07/06, NYTimes - The Big Tug of War Over Unocal, Steve Lohr , 05/07/06, NYTimes, As the lobbying heats up in Washington over Unocal, the battle lines in the takeover contest are now drawn clearly, if oddly, by its suitors. - A Deft Balance in Orchestrating China's Oil Offer, Joseph Kahn , 05/07/06, NYTimes, The chairman of the oil company bidding to buy Unocal must prove loyalty to Chinese leaders while persuading the U.S. that the deal is only about commerce. - Deterministic And Stochastic Elements Of Axonal Guidance, Susan Maskery , Troy Shinbrot , Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering; Volume 7, Page 187 - 221 - Structure And Mechanics Of Healing Myocardial Infarcts, Jeffrey W. Holmes , Thomas K. Borg , James W. Covell , Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering; Volume 7, Page 223 - 253 - Honey, We Shrank The Snow Lotus: Picking Big Plants Reduces Species' Height, 05/07/09, Science news, Years of harvesting the larger plants of a Himalayan wildflower used in traditional medicines may be driving the evolution of a stubbier plant form. - Growth Slumps: Melting Permafrost Shapes Alaskan Lakes, 05/07/09, Science news, A new model suggests that some fast-growing, egg-shaped lakes in Alaska expand when their permafrost banks melt and slump in tiny landslides. - More Junk Makes For Better Dads, 05/07/09, Science news, A new analysis links dutiful fatherhood in prairie voles to a stretch of DNA once dismissed as meaningless. - Radiation Dangerous Even at Lowest Doses, Jocelyn Kaiser , 05/07/08, Science : 233 _________________________________________________________________ 20.02. Webcast Announcements 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 Changing Habitats...Vanishing Species , Harvard University Science Center, 04/11/12 Symposium : Energy For The Future, Taipei, Taiwan, 05/04/08 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 World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 05/01/26-30 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7 Neurobiological Foundation For The Meaning Of Information, Kolkata, India, Conference Webcast, 04/11/22-25 ALife 9: Ninth International Conference on Artificial Life, Boston, MA, 04/09/12-15 The 4th Intl Workshop on Meta-synthesis and Complex System, Beijing, China, 04/07/22-23 Intl Conf on Complex Networks: Structure, Function and Processes, Kolkata, India, 04/06/27-30 From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20 ECC8 Experimental Chaos Conference, Florence, Italy, 04/06/14-17 Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28 International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21 Life, a Nobel Story, Brussels, Belgium, 04/04/28 Nonlinear Dynamics and Statistical Mechanics Days, Brussels, Belgium, 04/04/26-27 Science Education Forum for Chinese Language Culture, Panel Discussion, Taipei, Taiwan, 04/05/01 Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology, , Lausanne,Switzerland, 04/01/29-30 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 _________________________________________________________________ 20.03. Conference Announcements 2005 World Exposition "Nature's Wisdom", Aichi, Japan, 05/03/25-09/25 Summer Graduate Workshop In Computational Social Science Modeling And Complexity, Santa Fe, NM, 05/07/10-23 Sino-Japan Workshop on Meta-synthesis and Creativity Support System, Beijing, 05/07/11-13 First Summer School on Aspects of Complexity, Bertinoro (Forlì), Italy, 05/07/18-28 4th International Workshop on Computational Intelligence in Economics and Finance (CIEF'2005), Salt Lake City, 05/07/21-26 Epigenetic Robotics, Nara, Japan 05/07/22-24 5th Gathering on Biosemiotics, Urbino, Italy, 05/07/22-24 Soc for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences 15th Annual Intl Conf, Denver, CO, USA, 05/08/04-06 North American Computing and Philosophy conference, Corvallis, Oregon, USA, 05/08/04-06 2005 Intl Conf on Natural Computation (ICNC'05), Intl Conf on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (FSKD'05), Changsha, China, 05/08/27-29 Projected Perception. At the Edge of Natural and Artificial Reality and Abstraction, Bolzano, Italy, 05/09/01-03 Summer School on Econophysics and Complexity, Romania, 05/09/02-09 ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK, 05/09/05-09 4th Intl School "Topics in Nonlinear Dynamics: Synchronization of Dynamical Systems and Complex Networks", Florence, Italy, 05/09/08-10 Complexity, Science and Society Conf 2005, Liverpool, UK, 05/09/11-14 A General Overview On Complex Adaptive Systems, Santa Clara, CA, 05/09/15-16 Dynamics Of Socio-Economic Systems: A Physics Perspective, Physics Center Bad Honnef, Germany, 05/09/18-24 18th International Conference on Noise and Fluctuations (ICNF 2005), Salamanca, Spain, 05/09/19-23 Genomics in Context, University of Exeter, UK, 05/09/28-30 CSDS-2005 Intl Conf on CONTROL AND SYNCHRONIZATION OF DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS , Leon, Guanajuato, MEXICO, 05/10/04-07 Traffic and Granular Flow", Berlin, Germany, 05/10/10-12 Intl Congress of Nanotechnology 2005, San Francisco, USA, 05/10/31-11/04 Adaptive And Resilient Computing Security Workshop, Santa Fe, NM, 05/11/02-03 5th Intl Workshop on Meta-synthesis and Complex System, Kobe, 05/11/14-17 (MCS'05 is also as a symposium of the 1st World Congress of International Federation for Systems Research) European Conference on Complex Systems, Paris, France, 05/11/14-18 Econophysics Colloquium, Canberra (ANU), 05/11/14-18 3rd International Complexity Science and Educational Research Conference, Robert, Louisiana, 05/11/20-22, see also: Complicity: An International Journal of Complexity and Education, Inaugural issue - Free Online Access Systems Thinking and Complexity Science: Insights for Action, , 11th Ann ANZSYS Conf/Managing the Complex V Christchurch, New Zealand, 05/12/05-07 2005 International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Security (CIS'2005), Hong Kong, China, 05/12/15-19 3rd Biennial Seminar on the Philosophical, Methodological, and Epistemological Implications of Complexity Theory, Havana, Cuba, 06/01/09-12 The Second International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology , Senri Life Science Center, Osaka, Japan, 06/01/26-27 FRACTAL 2006 Complexity and Fractals in Nature, 9th Intl Multidisciplinary Conf, Vienna, Austria, 06/02/12-15 _________________________________________________________________ 20.04. Call for Papers IEEE Intelligent Systems, Special Issue on Self-Management through Self-Organization in Information Systems, , Submissions due 05/09/02 _________________________________________________________________ Complexity Digest is an independent publication available to organizations that may wish to repost ComDig (http://comdig.unam.mx/) to their own mailing lists. ComDig (http://comdig.unam.mx/) is published by the Computer Sciences Department (http://turing.iimas.unam.mx/En/index.html ), IIMAS (http://www.iimas.unam.mx/ ) and the C3 (http://c3.fisica.unam.mx/ ) at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (http://www.unam.mx ) and edited by Carlos Gershenson (http://turing.iimas.unam.mx/~cgg/ ). To unsubscribe from this list, please go to http://comdig.unam.mx/subscriptions.php