复杂性文摘 NO：2003.08
（说明：本网站决定从2003年起转载以英文工作的复杂性文摘--熵信息复杂性网站编辑部2003.1.15）
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Complexity Digest 2003.08 February-23-2003
Archive: http://www.comdig.org,
European Mirror: http://www.comdig.de
Asian Mirror: http://www.phil.pku.edu.cn/resguide/comdig/
(Chinese GB-Code)
"I think the next century will be the century of complexity." Stephen
Hawking, 2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Can You Create Child Prodigies, Or Are They Simply
Miracles Of
Nature?, Time asia
2. Live From the Future of Life, Time
2.1. Report From
"The Future Of Life" Conference,
KurzweilAI.net
3. With an Evolutionary Milestone, the Race for
Survival Began,
NYTimes
3.1. Networks And
History, Complexity
4. Complexity Theory And Models For Social Networks,
Complexity
5. Businesses Mobilize Production Through Markets,
Complexity
5.1. Too Many Pennies
From Heaven?, NYTimes
6. Cooperative Games Of Choosing Partners And Forming
Coalitions
In The Marketplace, Math. and
Comp. Model.
7. From Kissing Frogs To Demonic Possession, People Are
Led To
Believe They Experienced The
Improbable, ScienceDaily
8. Does the Red Queen Reign in the Kingdom of Digital
Organisms?,
arXiv
9. The Purr of the Qubit, Time
10. Better Than Hubble, Human Eye Can Self-Correct Some
Optical
Faults, Cornell Press Release
11. Buzzwords Of History, Revealed By Computer Scans,
Indicate New
Ways Of Searching The Web,
Cornell Press Release
11.1. Word 'Bursts' May
Reveal Online Trends, New Scientist
12. Design Of Metabolic Networks: Weak And Strong Robustness,
Bull. of Math. Biol.
12.1. Ecological Food
Webs: High-Quality Data Facilitate
Theoretical Unification, PNAS
12.2. Allometric Scaling
of Ant Foraging Trail Networks, SFI
Working Papers
12.3. Ecological
Community Description Using The Food Web,
Species Abundance, And Body Size, PNAS
13. Disease Evolution On Networks: The Role Of Contact
Structure,
Proc. Biol. Sc.
13.1. Decreased Chaos
After Exercise In Cardiac Output Time
Series Of Rats, Nonlin. Analysis: Real World Appl.
14. Epigenetics and Disease: Altered States, Nature
15. Bone Marrow Helps Bones To Repair Themselves,
Alphagalileo
16. Factors Influencing Decision Making, J. Exp Psych Lrng,
Mem, &
Cogn
16.1. Perception and
Causation: the Puzzle Unraveled, Analysis
17. Chromatin Structure: More Folding, More Complexity Than
Expected, ScienceDaily
17.1. Fruit Fly Memory
Mutants; Implications For Human
Diseases, ScienceDaily
18. Military Locks On To Firm's Concept, BusinessToday.com
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
19.1. Trying to Walk the
Line Between Fear and Ridicule,
NYTimes
19.2. High-density
Storage Of Nuclear Waste Heightens Terrorism
Risks, ScienceDaily
20. Links & Snippets
20.1. Other Publications
20.2. Webcast
Announcements
20.3. Conference
Announcements
20.3.1. Public Conference Calls
20.4. ComDig
Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test
20.5. Surfing Chaos
Expert Wanted for Film Documentary
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Can You Create Child Prodigies, Or Are They Simply Miracles Of Nature?,
Time asia
Excerpts: (¡K), children with an aptitude for numbers show six to seven
times more metabolic activity in the right side of their brains, an area
known to mediate pattern recognition and spatial awareness-key abilities
for math and music. Scans also showed heightened activity in the frontal
lobes, believed to play a crucial "executive" role in coordinating
thought
and improving concentration. This region of the brain is virtually inactive
in average children when doing the same tasks.
(¡K)also can switch very efficiently between the brain's left and right
hemispheres (¡K)
Can You Create Child Prodigies, Or Are They Simply Miracles Of Nature?,
Andrew Marshall, Time asia, 03/02/17
2. Live from the Future of Life, Time
Excerpt: Juan Enriquez, director of the Harvard Business School's life
science project, (¡K) genomics-based information would dominate the world
economy in the next 50 years, only those countries that understand these
developments and take advantage of them are going to be big winners. The
rest, he said, are going to fall by the wayside, economically and
otherwise. (¡K)
Predictions from the Future of Life conference for the year 2010: By then
we'll have sequenced the complete tree of life, possibly even breeds long
extinct, including the common ancestor of humans and chimps.
Live from the Future of Life, Frederic Golden, Time, 03/02/12
Excerpts: Larry Smarr, Director, California Institute of Telecommunications
and Information Technology, drew a comparison between the growth of the
Internet and the original evolution of multicellular life. (¡K) Shortly
after multicellular life started, "nervous systems evolved to further
improve intercellular communication."
Similarly, the Internet has hooked together what had been separate
computers that can now share information over long distances, he pointed
out. The growth of the Internet has many biological features and has been
developing like a multicellular organism, including a nervous system.
Report From "The Future Of Life" Conference, KurzweilAI.net, Feb. 20,
2003
3. With an Evolutionary Milestone, the Race for Survival Began, NYTimes
Excerpts: Their findings suggest that the earliest head appeared about 700
million years ago in a hydra-like organism that may have been a common
ancestor to species from snails to human beings.
In the picture emerging from these studies, the early head was simply a net
of nerve cells at the mouth of the organism.
Some scientists believe it was similar to the cluster of nerves present
around the oral opening in cnidarians - a family of stinging aquatic
creatures that includes the modern-day hydra, the sea anemone and the
jellyfish.
With an Evolutionary Milestone, the Race for Survival Began, NYT, Yudhijit
Bhattacharjee, NYTimes, 03/02/18
Abstract: Events and event structures compose the constituent elements of
history. In order to construct historical accounts of event sequences,
historians have to make cases. This article proposes a method for casing
historical events. We illustrate the analytic strategy by considering a
complex population of interrelated events that make up a narrative of
revolution, counter revolution, and revolution in a small village in China.
Implications for the methodology of historical social science are discussed
Networks And History, Peter Bearman, James Moody, Robert Faris, Complexity,
Volume 8, Issue 1, 2002. Pages: 61-71
4. Complexity Theory And Models For Social Networks, Complexity
Abstract: Much work in complexity theory employs agent-based models in
simulations of systems of multiple agents. Agent interaction follows some
standard types of network topologies. My aim is to assess how recent
advances in the statistical modeling of social networks may contribute to
agent-based modeling traditions, specifically, by providing structural
characterizations of a variety of network topologies. I illustrate the
points by reference to a computational model for the evolution of
cooperation among agents embedded in neighborhoods and by reference to
complex, real social networks defined by the ties of political support
between US Senators as revealed through ties of cosponsorship of legislation.
Complexity Theory And Models For Social Networks, John Skvoretz, Complexity
Volume 8, Issue 1, 2002. Pages: 47-55
5. Businesses Mobilize Production Through Markets, Complexity
Abstract: Business is modeled as interlocking social constructions that
emerge in mobilizing differentiated production flows amidst uncertainty.
The model is stochastic, nonlinear, and sited in a network ecology for
identities that have come to share a discourse which itself recognizes
embeddings in distinct levels of firm, market, and sector. Three
counterintuitive findings are emphasized: competitive markets can be viable
for increasing returns to scale; effects of substitutability/saturation are
opposite for different sorts of competititive markets; and markets orient
to flow uncertainty.
Businesses Mobilize Production Through Markets: Parametric Modeling Of
Path-Dependent Outcomes In Oriented Network Flows, Harrison C. White,
Complexity Volume 8, Issue 1, 2002. Pages:87-95
Excerpt: Taken together, Mr. Bush's proposals would radically transform the
way people invest in stocks, think about taxes and save. Critics and
supporters alike say this is simply the first installment in a plan to
overhaul the tax system from one that taxes income to one that taxes
consumption. (¡K)
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, warned bluntly last
week about a trend toward uncontrollable deficits and disparaged as
premature the White House arguments that the economy needs a fiscal stimulus.
Too Many Pennies From Heaven?, Edmund L. Andrews, NYTimes, 03/02/16
6. Cooperative Games Of Choosing Partners And Forming Coalitions In The
Marketplace, Math. and Comp. Model.
Abstract: Two games of interacting between a coalition of players in a
marketplace and the residual players acting there are discussed, along with
two approaches to fair imputation of gains of coalitions in cooperative
(¡K). In the first game, which is an antagonistic one, the residual
players
try to minimize the coalition's gain, whereas in the second game, which is
a noncooperative one, they try to maximize their own gain as a coalition. A
meaningful interpretation of possible relations between gains and Nash
equilibrium strategies in both games (¡K) is presented.
Cooperative Games Of Choosing Partners And Forming Coalitions In The
Marketplace, A. S. Belenky, Math. and Comp. Model., Vol. 36, Issues 11-13,
pp: 1279-1291, Dec. 2002, DOI: 10.1016/S0895-7177(02)00276-5
Contributed by Pritha Das
7. From Kissing Frogs To Demonic Possession, People Are Led To Believe They
Experienced The Improbable, ScienceDaily
Excerpts: During a recent study of memory recall and the use of suggestive
interviewing, UC Irvine cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus
successfully planted false memories in volunteers of several study groups
-- memories that included such unlikely events as kissing frogs, shaking
hands with Bugs Bunny at Disneyland, and witnessing a demonic possession.
Her success at planting these memories challenge the argument that
suggestive interviewing may reliably prompt real memories instead of
planting false ones. (¡K)
Loftus conducted her study by having volunteers conduct a set of actions
that mixed the common place (flipping a coin) with the unusual and even
bizarre (crushing a Hershey's kiss with a dental floss container). Later,
her research team asked volunteers to imagine additional actions they
performed that day, such as kissing a frog. At a future time, participants
were asked to recall their actions on that specific day[j1]. Ayanna Thomas,
a doctoral student in Loftus' research group, found that 15 percent of the
study's volunteers claimed they had actually performed some of the actions
they had only imagined.
From Kissing Frogs To Demonic Possession, People Are Led To Believe They
Experienced The Improbable, Scinece Daily/UC Irvine, 03/02/17
Contributed by Dean LeBaron
8. Does the Red Queen Reign in the Kingdom of Digital Organisms? , arXiv
Abstract: In competition experiments between two RNA viruses of equal or
almost equal fitness, often both strains gain in fitness before one
eventually excludes the other. This observation has been linked to the Red
Queen effect, which describes a situation in which organisms have to
constantly adapt just to keep their status quo. I carried out experiments
with digital organisms (self-replicating computer programs) in order to
clarify how the competing strains' location in fitness space influences the
Red-Queen effect. I found that gains in fitness during competition were
prevalent for organisms that were taken from the base of a fitness peak,
but absent or rare for organisms that were taken from the top of a peak or
from a considerable distance away from the nearest peak. In the latter two
cases, either neutral drift and loss of the fittest mutants or the waiting
time to the first beneficial mutation were more important factors.
Moreover, I found that the Red-Queen dynamic in general led to faster
exclusion than the other two mechanisms.
Does the Red Queen Reign in the Kingdom of Digital Organisms?, Claus O.
Wilke, 2003-02-13, DOI: physics/0302046, arXiv
Contributed by Carlos Gershenson
9. The Purr of the Qubit, Time
Excerpt: Mathematicians have proved that a quantum computer with thousands
of calculating atoms could rapidly find the factors of numbers hundreds of
digits long - a problem that would take the best conventional
supercomputers billions of years. Since the codes used to protect corporate
and military secrets are based on factoring, this development is of more
than academic interest. Program a row of atoms to scan huge databases of
information, and the result could be, among other things, the ultimate
chess master, a quantum Deep Blue.
The Purr of the Qubit, George Johson, Time, 03/02/18
10. Better Than Hubble, Human Eye Can Self-Correct Some Optical Faults,
Cornell Press Release
Excerpt: (...) While the vision-impaired Hubble Space Telescope needed
optical doctoring from shuttle astronauts, vision researchers back on Earth
were wondering if the human eye was clever enough to fix itself.
Now a neurobiology study at Cornell University suggests that internal parts
of the eye indeed can compensate for less-than-perfect conditions in other
parts -- either developmentally (during the lifetime of one individual) or
genetically (over many generations). (...) Wavefront analysis is a recently
developed technique for "seeing," with computer-based mathematical
simulation, more precisely what the eye perceives. A beam of harmless laser
light shines through the eye's optics (the transparent cornea, which begins
to focus light, and the lens, which completes the focusing) toward the
retina, where millions of photoreceptor cones and rods line the rear
surface of the eye.
As the light rays are reflected back through the internal optics and exit
the eye, the wavefront analyzer measures and computes deviations from a
perfectly formed light beam or test pattern a short distance in front of
the eye. Light rays exiting an optically perfect eye should be perfectly
parallel, but irregularities in the thickness or shape of the cornea or a
less-than-perfect lens can cause the exiting light rays to become
nonparallel. A test pattern (produced by light passing though regularly
spaced lenslets to form a grid, something like the lines on graph paper)
should form a regular array of luminous points in an optically perfect eye,
but a distorted pattern can tell the wavefront analyzer a great deal about
irregularities in the cornea and lens.
The Cornell study, which was funded, in part, by Topcon Corp., and built
upon earlier research from Spanish colleagues, looked for ways the eye
might compensate internally for several kinds of optical faults. (...)
Better Than Hubble, Human Eye Can Self-Correct Some Optical Faults, Cornell
Study Reveals, Cornell Press Release, 2/17/03
Contributed by Mason A. Porter
11. Buzzwords Of History, Revealed By Computer Scans, Indicate New Ways Of
Searching The Web, Cornell Press Release
Excerpt: (...) Jon Kleinberg, a professor of computer science at Cornell
University, Ithaca, N.Y., has developed a method for a computer to find the
topics that dominate a discussion at a particular time by scanning large
collections of documents for sudden, rapid bursts of words. Among other
tests of the method, he scanned presidential State of the Union addresses
from 1790 to the present and created a list of words that eerily reflects
historical trends. The technique, he suggests, could have many "data
mining" applications, including searching the Web or studying trends in
society as reflected in Web pages. (...)
He devised a search algorithm that looks for "burstiness," measuring
not
just the number of times words appear, but the rate of increase in those
numbers over time. Programs based on his algorithm can scan text that
varies with time and flag the most "bursty" words. "The method is
motivated
by probability models used to analyze the behavior of communication
networks, where burstiness occurs in the traffic due to congestion and hot
spots," he explains. (...)
While we already know about these trends in American history, Kleinberg
points out, a computer doesn't, and it has found these ideas just by
scanning raw text. So such a technique should work just as well on
historical records in obscure situations where we have no idea what the
important terms or keywords are. It might even be used to screen e-mail
"chatter" by terrorists. Sociologists, Kleinberg adds, may find it
interesting to look for trends in personal Web logs popularly known as
"blogs." For searching the Web, Kleinberg suggests, such a technique
could
help zero in on what a searcher wants by recognizing the time context of
such material as news stories. For instance, he says, a person searching
for the word "sniper" today is likely to be looking for information
about
the recent attacks around the nation's capital -- but the same search
nearly four decades ago might have come from someone interested in the
Kennedy assassination. (...)
Buzzwords Of History, Revealed By Computer Scans, Indicate New Ways Of
Searching The Web, Cornell Press Release, 2/18/03
Relevant Web site: Jon Kleinberg's page
Contributed by Mason A. Porter
Excerpt: Searching for sudden "bursts" in the usage of particular
words
could be used to rapidly identify new trends and sort information more
efficiently, (¡K) .
While other popular search techniques simply count the number of words or
phrases in documents, Kleinberg's approach also takes into account the rate
at which the word usage increases. (¡K)
"The key is to find unexpected changes in the frequency of the appearance
of words," (¡K).
(¡K) identifying spikes in search terms can be used to track the spread of
news and rumours around the world.
Word 'Bursts' May Reveal Online Trends, Will Knight, New Scientist, 03/02/18
12. Design Of Metabolic Networks: Weak And Strong Robustness, Bull. of
Math. Biol.
Abstract: Starting from a limited set of reactions describing changes in
the carbon skeleton of biochemical compounds complete sets of metabolic
networks are constructed. The networks are characterized by the number and
types of participating reactions. Groups of networks are identified with
respect to their ability to perform a certain number of metabolic
conversions in an elementary way which are called the network's functions.
Evolutionary algorithms are applied to study the development of network
populations under constant and time dependent environmental conditions. It
is shown that the populations evolve toward clusters of networks performing
a common function and which are closely neighboured.
Stoichiometric Design Of Metabolic Networks: Multifunctionality, Clusters,
Optimization, Weak And Strong Robustness, O. Ebenhoh, R. Heinrich, Bull. of
Math. Biol., Vol. 65, Issue 2, pp:323-357, 2003/02/15, DOI:
10.1016/S0092-8240(03)00002-8
Contributed by Atin Das
Excerpts: Despite the enormous diversity and complexity of ecological
systems, when data for many individuals of many different species are
analyzed, there are emergent regularities in the statistical distributions
of numerical abundance, spatial dispersion, (¡K) now ecology is beginning
to understand the mechanistic processes that produce them. This conceptual
unification is being facilitated by two breakthroughs. First, intensive,
technology-assisted empirical studies are generating vast quantities of new
and better data. Second, theoretical advances are characterizing the
interrelationships among ecological phenomena and explaining them in terms
of first principles (¡K).
Ecological Food Webs: High-Quality Data Facilitate Theoretical Unification,
James H. Brown, James F. Gillooly, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2003 February
18; 100(4): p. 1467-1468
Abstract: The aggregation of individuals into colonies raises important
questions about scaling of structure and function. We model the metabolic
benefits and costs of two-dimensional, fractal-like foraging trails, such
as those used by ant colonies. The total area foraged by the colony and,
consequently, the resource flow to the nest and rate of colony metabolism,
increase non-linearly with the number of foragers (F) as F 2/3. Since the
cost of foraging increases linearly with F, the model predicts an optimal
number of foragers and, therefore, the total foraging area that maximizes
colony fitness or energy allocation to reproduction. The scaling of
foraging may influence the evolution of coloniality.
Allometric Scaling of Ant Foraging Trail Networks, Joseph Jun, John W.
Pepper, Van M. Savage, James F. Gillooly, James H. Brown, SFI Working
Papers 03-02-005
Excerpts: Measuring the numerical abundance and average body size of
individuals of each species in an ecological community's food web reveals
new patterns and illuminates old ones. (¡K) The trivariate description of
an ecological community by using the food web, average body sizes, and
numerical abundance includes many well studied bivariate and univariate
relationships based on subsets of these three variables. We are not aware
of any single community for which all of these relationships have been
analyzed simultaneously. Our approach demonstrates the connectedness of
ecological patterns traditionally treated as independent.
Ecological Community Description Using The Food Web, Species Abundance, And
Body Size, Joel E. Cohen, Tomas Jonsson, Stephen R. Carpenter, PNAS
2003;100 1781-1786
13. Disease Evolution On Networks: The Role Of Contact Structure, Proc.
Biol. Sc.
Abstract: Changes in human social patterns are likely to influence the
evolution of communicable diseases, which rely on contact between host
individuals to transmit and survive. We simulated the spread and evolution
of disease within computer-generated networks that describe two distinct
patterns of social contact between hosts. In local networks, individuals
belong to many social cliques whose members tend to have contact with each
other; in contrast, global networks do not contain such cliques. We find
that seases evolve to be highly infectious in local networks, but much less
so in global networks.
Disease Evolution On Networks: The Role Of Contact Structure, J. M. Read,
M. J. Keeling, Proc. Biol. Sc., 2003/02/19, DOI:10.1098/rspb.2002.2305
Contributed by Pritha Das
Abstract: The post-exercise period is associated with a profound decrease
in sympathetic activity and arterial pressure. In this study, we measured
cardiac output (CO) and systolic blood pressure (SBP) continuously for at
least 5 min in rats before (n=5) and after (n=4) exercise. The purpose of
this study was to determine if acute exercise produces post-exercise
changes in the low frequency power of CO (¡K). These results suggest that
the CO time series appear to be chaotic in nature and the decrease in LLE
after exercise, especially in relation to HR appears to be due to a
decrease in sympathetic activity.
Decreased Chaos After Exercise In Cardiac Output Time Series Of Rats: A
Preliminary Report, V. K. Yeragani, H. L. Collins, K. A. R. Rao, D. W.
Rodenbaugh, S. E. DiCarlo, Nonlin. Analysis: Real World Appl., Vol. 4,
Issue 4, pp: 307-316, Jun. 2003, DOI: 10.1016/S1468-1218(02)00023-8
Contributed by Pritha Das
Editor's Note: This seems to be in agreement with the report that people
are especially vulnerable to heart attach shortly after strenuous exercise.
14. Epigenetics and Disease: Altered States, Nature
Excerpts: The idea that epigenetics [changes in genome that leave DNA
sequence unchanged, Ed.] underpins many of the world's health scourges is
still highly speculative. (¡K)
Each of our cells carries the genes for making all the building blocks of
the body, but only some of them are active. Epigenetic modifications act
like switches, helping to control gene activity so that only those that are
required in a particular cell are actually turned on. They constitute a
'memory' of gene activity that can be passed on each time a cell divides,
ensuring that liver cells beget more liver cells, (¡K).
Epigenetics And Disease: Altered States, Carina Dennis, Nature 421, 686 -
688 (2003); doi:10.1038/421686a
15. Bone Marrow Helps Bones To Repair Themselves, Alphagalileo
Excerpts: Specially prepared titanium mesh and bone marrow cells have made
it possible to allow new bone cells to grow in bone fractures. Researchers
inserted a titanium mesh scaffold into a bone fracture in a rat. They
allowed bone marrow cells to grow on this and the bone marrow cells
stimulated new bone growth. In combination with bone marrow cells, titanium
mesh forms a good culture medium for new bone growth in the case of bone
damage. The researchers improved this bone growth by dynamically 'sowing'
the cells onto the mesh. In this technique the mesh lies on a turning plate.
Bone Marrow Helps Bones To Repair Themselves, N. Moerlie, Alphagalileo,
2003/02/14
Contributed by Atin Das
16. Factors Influencing Decision Making, J. Experi. Psych. Learning, Mem.,
& Cogn.
Abstract: Aspects of an experimental environment were manipulated in 3
experiments to examine the parameters under which the "take-the-best"
(TTB)
heuristic operates. Results indicated TTB use to be more prevalent when the
cost of information was high, when validities of the cues were known, and
when a deterministic environment was used. However, large individual
variability in strategy use was observed as well as a significant
proportion of behavior inconsistent with TTB, expecially its stopping rule.
The results demarcate some of the heuristic's boundary conditions and also
question the validity of TTB as a psychologically plausible and pervasive
model of behavior.
Factors Influencing "One-Reason" Decision Making, B. R. Newell, D. R.
Shanks, J. Experi. Psych. Learning, Mem., & Cogn., Vol. 29, Issue 1,
pp:53-65, Jan. 2003
Contributed by Atin Das
Excerpt: The problem with the causal theory is not that it fails to
articulate with sufficient detail the right kind of causal relation, or
that it relies on empirical rather than merely a priori considerations
about what perception really is. The problem, rather, is that it relies on
a much too simplistic account of the content of perceptual experience. Once
we enrich our account of perceptual content, we¡¦ll get a better
understanding of what¡¦s right in the causal theory, what¡¦s
wrong, and how
the causal theory needs to be amended to give a more illuminating account.
Perception and Causation: the Puzzle Unraveled, Alva No, forthcoming, Analysis
Contributed by Carlos Gershenson
17. Chromatin Structure: More Folding, More Complexity Than Expected,
ScienceDaily
Excerpts: New molecular technologies (¡K) are exposing unexpectedly high
levels of DNA folding and complex protein-rich assemblages within the
nucleus of cells that (¡K) "seriously challenge the textbook models.
What
we are seeing suggests that there may be machinery, not yet identified,
that controls the folding and the movements of enzymes that turn genes on
and off."
"The 'New' Nucleus: Mothership of the Human Genome." Chromatin is a
part of
a cell's nucleus that contains nucleic acids and proteins -- the genetic
material necessary for cell division. During mitosis, chromatin folds and
condenses. The level of folding, however, is much higher than previously
thought (¡K).
Chromatin Structure: More Folding, More Complexity Than Expected,
ScienceDaily, 2003/02/17
Contributed by Atin Das
Excerpts: By teaching fruit flies to avoid an odor and isolating mutant
flies that can't remember their lessons, researchers (¡K) have identified
dozens of genes required for long-term memory. In the same study, using DNA
chip technology, the scientists identified another large group of candidate
memory genes that are either switched on or off in the fly brain during
memory formation. The study is significant in part because many of the
fruit fly genes it uncovered have counterparts in (¡K) human learning and
memory, they may be important for understanding human memory deficit
disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.
Pavlov's Flies: Researchers Identify Fruit Fly Memory Mutants; Broad
Implications Seen For Treating Alzheimer's And Other Human Diseases,
ScienceDaily, 2003/02/19
Contributed by Atin Das
18. Military Locks On To Firm's Concept, BusinessToday.com
Excerpts: The biggest obstacle Bonabeau sees to the widespread adoption of
swarm intelligence is mindsets. ``Giving up direct and complete control -
not being able to always make sense of what the swarm does collectively -
these are very difficult things for people to accept,'' Bonabeau said.
Surprisingly, he said, the military seems more willing to accept, (¡K),
new
ways of looking at things than many parts of the business world.
Too often in business, (¡K), ``A manager would rather live with a problem
he can't solve than a solution he doesn't understand.''
Military Locks On To Firm's Concept, Tom Walsh, BusinessToday.com, 03/02/18
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
Excerpts: After setting off considerable anxiety and a run on emergency
supplies by formally putting the United States on high alert for a
terrorist strike and urging Americans to equip their own home emergency
kits, Mr. Ridge pulled way back today (¡K).
But Mr. Ridge's color-coding of terror threats and his recent advice to buy
duct tape and plastic sheeting quickly became fodder for parody and
ridicule.(¡K)
Not making clear what is celebrity gossip and what are real emergencies in
television news broadcasts "really is like crying wolf," Mrs. Bush
said (¡K).
Trying to Walk the Line Between Fear and Ridicule, Richard W. Stevenson,
NYTimes, 03/02/15, News Analysis.
Editor's Note: It seems there is a simple rule emerging for terrorist
agents: "Chatter on cell phones and e-mail about big coming events around
Muslim holidays and strike only on days when the color code is below
orange!"
Excerpts: A space-saving method for storing spent nuclear fuel has
dramatically heightened the risk of a catastrophic radiation release in the
event of a terrorist attack (¡K). Terrorists targeting the high-density
storage systems used at nuclear power plants throughout the nation could
cause contamination problems "significantly worse than those from
Chernobyl," the study found.
Strapped for long-term storage options, the nation's 103 nuclear power
plants routinely pack four to five times the number of spent fuel rods into
water-cooled tanks than the tanks were designed to hold, the authors
reported. This high-density configuration is safe when cooled by water, but
would likely cause a fire (¡K).
High-density Storage Of Nuclear Waste Heightens Terrorism Risks; Study
Finds Attack On Spent Fuel Could Unleash Contamination Worse Than
Chernobyl, ScienceDaily, 2003/02/14
Contributed by Atin Das
20. Links & Snippets
20.1 Other Publications
Robotics Put New Face On The Future, Sci-Fi Depictions Still A Long Way
Off, Eric Schmidt, The Denver Post , 03/02/17
Washington: F.B.I. and C.I.A. Set for a Major Consolidation in
Counterterror, Eric Lichtblau, NYTimes, 03/02/15, In a major organizational
shift, the entire counterterrorism sections of the F.B.I. and the C.I.A.
will move into a single complex as a way of better coordinating the
analysis and tracking of information, the White House said today.
Dong G, Wu Q. Related Articles, Links, The Comparison Between Approximate
Entropy And Complexity In The Study Of Sleep EEG, Zhongguo Yi Liao Qi Xie
Za Zhi. 1999 Nov;23(6):311-5, 336. Chinese, PMID: 12583078 [PubMed - in
process]
A Complexity Reduction Algorithm For Analysis And Annotation Of Large
Genomic Sequences, Genome Res. 2003 Feb;13(2):313-22., Chuang TJ, Lin WC,
Lee HC, Wang CW, Hsiao KL, Wang ZH, Shieh D, Lin SC, Ch'ang LY, PMID: 12566410
Aging And The Time And Frequency Structure Of Force Output Variability,
Vaillancourt DE, Newell KM, J Appl Physiol. 2003 Mar;94(3):903-12, PMID:
12571125
Nonlinear Dynamic Analysis Of Heart Rate Variability In Patients With
Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy, Li YQ, Gao F, Geng Q, Deng QK, Di Yi Jun Yi
Da Xue Xue Bao. 2003 Feb;23(2):133-7, PMID: 12581961
Lung Sensors: Complex Functions Require Complex Structures, Winfried L.
Neuhuber, Am. J. Respir. Cell Mol. Biol. 2003 March 1; 28(3): p. 265-266
New Arrival Date For Earliest Australians,Emma Young,12:58 18 February 03
Molecular Secret Of Special Forces Toughness, NewScientist.com news
service, 11:06 18 February 03
Cash Machine "Pressure Signature" Could Thwart Thieves, Will Knight,
18:24
17 February 03
Matchmaking And Species Marriage: A Game-Theory Model Of Community
Assembly, Maria Uriarte and Hudson Kern Reeve, PNAS 2003;100 1787-1792
Photoexcited Breathers in Conjugated Polyenes: An Excited-State Molecular
Dynamics Study, S. Tretiak, A. Saxena, R. L. Martin, A. R. Bishop, PNAS
published 19 February 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0530132100
Contrast Tuning in Auditory Cortex, Barbour, Dennis L., Wang, Xiaoqin,
Science 2003 299: 1073-1075
Genomics: Tinker, Tailor: Can Venter Stitch Together a Genome From
Scratch?, Carl Zimmer, Science 2003 299: 1006-1007
DNA Duplex-Quadruplex Exchange As the Basis For a Nanomolecular Machine,
Patrizia Alberti, Jean-Louis Mergny, PNAS 2003;100 1569-1573
Assembly of Core Helices and Rapid Tertiary Folding of A Small Bacterial
Group I Ribozyme, Prashanth Rangan, Benoit Masquida, Eric Westhof, Sarah A.
Woodson, PNAS 2003;100 1574-1579
DNA Unzipped Under A Constant Force Exhibits Multiple Metastable,
Intermediates, Claudia Danilowicz, Vincent W. Coljee, Cedric Bouzigues,
David K. Lubensky, David R. Nelson, Mara Prentiss, PNAS 2003;100 1694-1699
Communication Between Neocortex And Hippocampus During Sleep In Rodents,
Anton Sirota, Jozsef Csicsvari, Derek Buhl, and Gyorgy Buzsaki, PNAS
2003;100 2065-2069
Changes in Consciousness, Conceptual Memory, and Quantitative
Electroencephalographical Measures During Recovery from Sevoflurane- and
Remifentanil-Based Anesthesia, Andrew Ronald Gordon Muncaster, James
Wallace Sleigh, Murray Williams, Anesth Analg 2003 March 1; 96(3): p. 720-725
Insights Into mRNA Transport In Neurons, Fabrice Roegiers, PNAS published
10 February 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0630376100
Seeds Of Understanding Of Plant Diversity, H. C. Muller-Landau, PNAS
published 10 February 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0438004100
Human Behaviour: Adult Persistence Of Head-Turning Asymmetry, Onur
Gunturkun, Nature 421, 711 (2003); doi:10.1038/421711a
Thermohaline Circulation: The Current Climate, Stefan Rahmstorf, Nature
421, 699 (2003); doi:10.1038/421699a, Heat and freshwater fluxes at the
ocean's surface play a key role in forming ocean currents, which in turn
have a major effect on climate.
Molecular Motors: A Magnificent Machine, Richard B. Vallee And Peter Hook,
Nature 421, 701 (2003); doi:10.1038/421701a, Electron-microscope studies of
the motor protein dynein reveal fascinating details of the movements of its
various structural regions. The protein displays a degree of gymnastic
ability that is rarely seen.
Quantum Gravity: The Quantum Of Area?, John Baez, Nature 421, 702 (2003);
doi:10.1038/421702a, What is the smallest unit of area? To find out,
theorists have been wrestling with the notion of quantum black holes. Two
independent analyses now seem to lead to the same answer.
Inflammation: Border Crossings, Ann Ager, Nature 421, 703 (2003);
doi:10.1038/421703a, When inflammatory cells leave blood vessels to repair
injured tissues, they are helped on their way by the endothelial cells
lining the vessels. The invagination and expulsion of endothelial membrane
may be the key.
The Effect Of Aggressiveness On The Population Dynamics Of A Territorial
Bird, F. Mougeot, S. M. Redpath, F. Leckie, P. J. Hudson, Nature 421, 737 -
739 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01395
Strong Universality in Forced and Decaying Turbulence. Victor S. L'vov,
Ruben Pasmanter, Anna Pomyalov, Itamar Procaccia. arXiv. 2003-02-18
Scale-free Network on Euclidean Space Optimized by Rewiring of Links. S. S.
Manna, A. Kabakcioglu. arXiv. 2003-02-12
Variability In Memory Performance In Aged Healthy Individuals: An fMRI
Study, G. Gron, D. Bittner, B. Schmitz, A. P. Wunderlich, R. Tomczak &
M.
W. Riep, Neurobiol. of Aging, Vol. 24, Issue 3, pp:453-462, May-Jun. 2003,
DOI: 10.1016/S0197-4580(02)00128-8
Auditory Registration Without Learning, S. M. Sheffert & R. M. Shiffrin, J.
Experi. Psych. Learning, Mem., & Cogn., Vol. 29, Issue 1, pp: 10-21,
2003/02/13
Nonterminal Complexity Of Programmed Grammars, H. Fernau, Theor. Comp. Sc.,
Vol. 296, Issue 2, pp:225-251, 2003/03/08, DOI: 10.1016/S0304-3975(02)00656-4
The Method to Compare Nucleotide Sequences Based on the Minimum Entropy
Principle, M. G. Sadovsky, Bull. of Math. Biol., Vol. 65, Issue 2, pp:
309-322, Mar. 2003, DOI: 10.1016/S0092-8240(02)00107-6
Los Alamos Makes First Map Of Ice On Mars, ScienceDaily, 2003/02/17, A
color map is available
Does Morality Have A Biological Basis? An Empirical Test Of The Factors
Governing Moral Sentiments Relating To Incest, D. Lieberman, J. Tooby & L.
Cosmides, Proc. Biol. Sc. & Alphagalileo, 2003/02/19
Unexpected Discontinuities In Life-History Evolution Under Size-Dependent
Mortality, B. Taborsky, U. Dieckmann & M Heino, Proc. Biol. Sc. &
Alphagalileo, 2003/02/19
20.2 Coming and Ongoing Webcasts
INSC 2003, International Nonlinear Sciences Conference, Conference Webcast
World Economic Forum Meeting "Building Trust", Davos, Switzerland,
03/01/23-28
2002 Financial Management Conference, 02/10/16-19
The Center for Business Innovation Bi-Monthly Web Cast, 03/01/15, TOPIC:
CBI Future Scan Version 6.0, WHO: David McIntosh, Director of the CBI Network
Artificial Life Conference (A-Life 8), Sydney, Australia, 02/12/09-13
Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
20.3 Conference Announcements
GGF7 - The 7th Global Grid Forum, "Grids Around the World", Tokyo, JP,
03/03/04-07
Complexity Science In Practice: Understanding & Acting To Improve Health
and Health Care, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Minnesota USA, 03/03/21-22
Fourth International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and
Automated Learning (IDEAL'03), Hong Kong, 03/03/21-23
2003 AAAI Spring Symposium Series, Computational Synthesis: From Basic
Building Blocks To High Level Functionality, Stanford, 03/03/24-27
Jahrestagung 2003 des AKSOE (Physics of Socio-Economical Systems), Dresden,
Germany, 03/03/24-28
Design and Product Complexity Meeting, Open Univ, Milton Keynes, UK, 03/04/07
Explorations of Complexity - A Science of Qualities: A Conversation with
Brian Goodwin, Open Univ, Milton Keynes, UK, 03/04/07
Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected, U. of
Texas at Austin, Texas, 03/04/10-12
7th Annual Swarm Researchers and Users Meeting (SwarmFest2003), Notre Dame,
IN, 03/04/13-14
Agent-Based Simulation 4, Montpellier, France, 03/04/28-30
NAS Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge Domains, The Beckman Center,
Irvine, CA, 03/05/09-11
The Opening of Systems Theory, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, DK,
02/05/23-25
SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 03/06/01-04
21st ICDE World Conf on Open Learning and Distance Education, Hong Kong,
03/06/01-05
17th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS 2003), San
Diego, California, 03/06/10-13
2003 Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SCSC '03), Montreal, Canada,
03/06/20-24
5th Intl Conf "Symmetry in Nonlinear Mathematical Physics", Kiev,
Ukraine,
03/06/23-29, Mirror
9th International Conference on Auditory Display, Boston, MA, 03/07/07-09,
Wkshp on Assistive Technologies for the Blind, 03/07/06
2003 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2003), Chicago,
IL,03/07/12-16
2nd Intl Joint Conf on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
(AAMAS-2003), Melbourne, Australia, 03/07/14-18
7th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI
2003), Orlando, Florida, 03/07/27-30
13th Annual International Conference, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life
Sciences,Boston, MA, USA, 03/08/08-10
1st German Conference on Multiagent System Technologies (MATES'03), Erfurt,
Germany, 03/09/22-25
7th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL-2003), Dortmund, Germany,
03/09/14-17
2003 IEEE/WIC Intl Joint Conf. Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent
Technology, Beijing, China, 03/10/13-17
ICDM '03: The Third IEEE International Conference on Data Mining,
Melbourne, Florida, USA, 03/11/19-22
3rd International Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex System, Guangzhou,
China, 03/11/29-30
2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social
Insects, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 03/12/15-17
20.3.1 Public Conference Calls
Complexity And Medical Practice, Pat Rush & Bob Lindberg, PlexusCalls,
03/01/10, Audio File Available Now, mp3
John Holland in Conversation, PlexusCalls, - Audio File Available Now, mp3
Are Disease and Aging Information/Complexity Loss Syndromes?, PlexusCalls,
02/11/08, 1 - 2 pm EST (To learn more about Ary Goldberger¡¦s work
and
HeartSongs, Music of the Heart.) Audio File Available Now, mp3
Brenda Zimmerman in Conversation, PlexusCalls, Audio File Available Now, mp3
The Complexity of Entrepreneurship: A Launchcyte Story, Tom Petzinger,
PlexusCalls, 02/11/22, Audio File Available Now, mp3
A Practical and Appreciative Approach to Complex and Chronic Challenges,
Keith McCandless, PlexusCalls, Jan 2003, Audio File Available Now, mp3
20.4 ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test
We are in the process of upgrading the Complexity Digest archives to a
format with improved search capabilities. Also, we will finally be able to
adequately publish the valuable feedback and comments from our knowledgable
readers. You are cordially invited to become a beta tester of our new
ComDig2 archive.
20.5 Surfing Chaos Expert Wanted for Film Documentary
"I would like to find someone who can explain to us laypeople a little bit
of Chaos theory as applied to breaking waves.
What I'm after is this:
I will have a semi-scientific section in my surf documentary where a
scientist or meteorologist explains the origin of surf: how high winds in
open ocean create swells which organize and travel until they hit a
coastline, then they break. Pretty simple stuff, but the science of swell
prediction has become very refined in the last ten years, (¡K).
To this debate I wish to add that while predicting swells may have become
precise and orderly, once a wave breaks and water turns to spray and foam,
randomness and chaos ensue. What aim to say, somewhat
metaphorically, is that while science and human knowledge continue defining
and mapping everything, there is still the unknown, the unexpected, the
chaotic. It is exactly in between these two forces that surfers strive to
put themselves.
I hope I am not completely off base on the science. I
seem to remember that physicists studied surf and chaos and I hope I can
find someone who can explain, very basically, what the process is and is
also willing to do so on camera so I can use it in my documentary." (¡K)
I am also looking for a marine geologist or an expert on coastal erosion or
sand flow. My project will be focusing on a plan to build marinas up and
down the coast of Baja.
Contributed by Chris Figler, (323) 422-2269
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Complexity Digest <http://www.comdig.org/>
is an independent publication
available to organizations that may wish to repost ComDig to their own
mailing lists. ComDig
is published by Dean LeBaron <http://www.deanlebaron.com/index.html>
and
edited by Gottfried J. Mayer
<http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/x/gxm21/>
. For individual e-mail
subscriptions send requests to: subscriptions@comdig.org