复杂性文摘 NO：2003.09
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Complexity Digest 2003.09 March-02-2003
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
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1. Complex Systems: All Together Now, Nature
1.1 With 6 Degrees of
Separation, Computers Stay in Sync,
NYTimes
2.2 Promise Of
Intelligent Networks, BBC
2. Robustness in Social Processes, The Bulletin Of The
Santa Fe
Institute
2.1 Promiscuity and the
Evolution of Sexual Transmitted
Diseases, arXiv
3. Managing Risk In A Four-Digit Number Game, SIAM
Review
4. Knotty Calculations, Science News
4.1 Quantum Computing:
The Qubit Duet, Nature
4.2 Quantum Oscillations
In Two Coupled Charge Qubits, Nature
5. Photos Bolster Idea of Water, and Possibly Life, on
Mars,
NYTimes
6. Innovation in Natural, Experimental, and Applied
Evolution,
The Bulletin Of The Santa Fe
Institute
6.1 Exploring Scale: The
Advantages of Thinking Small, MIT
Sloan Management Review
7. From Swimming To Walking: A Single Basic Network For
Two
Different Behaviors, Biol.
Cybernetics
8. Animal Behaviour: How Self-Organization Evolves,
Nature
8.1 Goat Fish Act Like
Sheep, Nature Physics Portal
8.2 Unusual
Synchronization Of Red Sea Fish Energy
Expenditures, Ecology Letters
8.3 Swarm Intelligence:
An Interview with Eric Bonabeau, The
O'Reilly Network
8.4 Snooty Exchanges Are
Key to Mouse Society, Science
9. Genes May Draw Your Road Map, But You Still Chart
Your Course,
NYTimes
9.1 With Sheet Metal
Cutouts, the Tree of Life Emerged,
NYTimes
10. Breakthrough in Gene Therapy, health-news.co.uk
11. Molecular Biology: A Fix For RNA, Nature
11.1 Capturing Polo
Kinase, Science
12. Eye Movements Indicate Initial Attempts To Process What
Humans
Hear, ScienceDaily
13. Brain Scans Reflect Problem-Solving Skill, NYTimes
13.1 'Looking for
Spinoza': The Source of Emotion, NYTimes
13.2 Brain Imaging Of
Tongue-Twister Sentence Comprehension,
Brain & Languag
14. Neurobiology: Interneurons Take Charge, Nature
15. Giant Supramolecular Liquid Crystal Lattice, Science
16. Scientists Identify Blood Stem Cell, UPI
16.1 New Stem Cell
Reservoir Found in Blood, News in Science
16.2 Breast Cancer Tumour
"Stem Cells" Found,
health-news.co.uk
17. Molecular Self-Assembly Technique May Mimic How Cells
Assemble
Themselves, NSF Press Release
18. DNA Computer Sets Guinness Record, UPI Science News
18.1 DNA Molecule
Provides A Computing Machine With Both Data
And Fuel, PNAS
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
19.1 Crime: A Google for
Cops, Newsweek
19.2 UK Man Whose
Identity 'Stolen' Cleared in U.S. Probe,
ABCNews,Reuters
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
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1. Complex Systems: All Together Now, Nature
Excerpts: Neurons are activated at different times, (¡K), some of them
will
momentarily fall into sync with each other before drifting out of phase
again. (¡K), Hopfield fed the word 'one' into the network and tracked the
firing of the neurons until he spotted a group that moved into phase. He
then strengthened the coupling between these neurons. When the word 'one'
was presented a second time, this coupling was sufficient to prompt a burst
of synchronous and easily detectable firing when the neurons drifted into
phase.
Complex Systems: All Together Now, Steve Nadis, Nature 421, 780 - 782
(2003); doi:10.1038/421780a
Excerpts: Their model, (¡K), shows that synchronization can be achieved by
having processors occasionally and randomly check what some other processor
in the system is doing. Indeed, (¡K), it is not even necessary for every
processor to take part in the random checks. A system will still stay
synchronized even with a few layabouts.
The randomness of the checks is a key. In effect, it ensures that
synchronization is spread throughout the parallel system. (¡K)
But the system departs from human links in a significant way: it does not
have hubs (¡K).
With 6 Degrees of Separation, Computers Stay in Sync, Ian Austen, NYTimes,
03/02/27
Excerpts: Computer scientists at Intel are developing mesh networking
technologies that can automatically work out the best route for data as
demand changes or devices join and leave the system.
The researchers believe such automatic networking systems will be needed as
the numbers of devices that can communicate wirelessly proliferate.
(¡K) were working on so-called mesh network systems that can work out the
best way to link all the devices they are in contact with, and find the
ideal route for the data the devices are swapping.
Promise Of Intelligent Networks, BBC News, 03/02/24
2. Robustness in Social Processes, The Bulletin Of The Santa Fe Institute
Excerpt: In a world of uncertainty, rapid change, and increasing
complexity, one might think that failure of social processes should prove
the rule rather than the exception. And yet both the past and the present
provide many examples of social processes that we instinctively label as
robust to failure, whether because of the agility with which they have
responded to changing circumstances, or because of their record of
surviving deliberate internal or external attack, or merely because they
have proved so long-lived.
Robustness in Social Processes, The Bulletin Of The Santa Fe Institute,
Volume 18 Number 1, Winter 2003
Abstract: We study the relation between different social behaviors and the
onset of epidemics in a model for the dynamics of sexual transmitted
diseases. The model considers the society as a system of individual
sexuated agents that can be organized in couples and interact with each
other. The different social behaviors are incorporated assigning what we
call a promiscuity value to each individual agent. The individual
promiscuity is taken from a distributions and represents the daily
probability of going out to look for a sexual partner, abandoning its
eventual mate. In terms of this parameter we find a threshold for the
epidemic which is much lower than the classical fully mixed model
prediction, i.e. $R_0$ (basic reproductive number) $= 1$. Different forms
for the distribution of the population promiscuity are considered showing
that the threshold is weakly sensitive to them. We study the homosexual and
the heterosexual case as well.
Promiscuity and the Evolution of Sexual Transmitted Diseases, Sebastian
Goncalves, Marcelo Kuperman, Marcelo Ferreira da Costa Gomes, 2003-02-27,
DOI: nlin.AO/0302060, arXiv
Contributed by Carlos Gershenson
3. Managing Risk In A Four-Digit Number Game, SIAM Review
Abstract: The four-digit number game is a popular game of chance played in
Southeast Asia. The players in this game choose a four-digit number and
place their bets on it. In this paper, we study the design of a control
mechanism for managing bets in this game. Our objective is to design a
control mechanism to decide whether bets should be accepted or rejected. We
propose a nonlinear optimization model for this problem and provide the
mathematical justification for the control mechanism used by several
operators in this region. (¡K) we show that our control mechanism can
accept more money per draw (¡K).
Managing Risk In A Four-Digit Number Game, C. P. Teo & S. M. Leong, SIAM
Review, Vol. 44, Number 4, pp: 601-615, 2003
Contributed by Pritha Das
4. Knotty Calculations, Science News
Excerpts: At the heart of the connection between computer science and
quantum physics is a knot invariant called the Jones polynomial, which
associates a given knot with an array of numbers. The Jones polynomial
involves a complex mathematical formula, and although calculating it is
easy for simple knots, it is enormously difficult for messy, tangled knots.
(¡K)
In the late 1980s, physicist Edward Witten, a major figure in string theory
(¡K), described a physical system that should calculate information about
the Jones polynomial during the course of its regularly scheduled
activities (¡K).
Knotty Calculations, A Quantum Version Of Braids Could Lay The Groundwork
For Tomorrow's Computers, Erica Klarreich, Science News, Vol. 163, No. 8,
p. 12, 03/02/22
Excerpts: Solid-state qubits (made, for example, from tiny samples of
superconducting material) are an attractive alternative, however, as they
could be more easily built into working devices, profiting from the highly
developed methods of nanotechnology. So far, solid-state qubits have lagged
behind in the race to build the first quantum computer, handicapped by
decoherence which implies the breakdown of the quantum information-storing
state within the qubit. But new designs have improved the quality of
individual qubits, and the next step, to connect qubits together, has now
been taken (¡K).
Quantum Computing: The Qubit Duet, Gianni Blatter, Nature 421, 796 - 797
(2003); doi:10.1038/421796a
Excerpts: A practical quantum computer, if built, would consist of a set of
coupled two-level quantum systems (qubits) . Among the variety of qubits
implemented, solid-state qubits are of particular interest because of their
potential suitability for integrated devices. A variety of qubits based on
Josephson junctions have been implemented; these exploit the coherence of
Cooper-pair tunnelling in the superconducting state. (¡K) Here we
demonstrate a Josephson circuit consisting of two coupled charge qubits.
Using a pulse technique, we coherently mix quantum states and observe
quantum oscillations, (¡K).
Editor's Note: The authors seem to assume that all quantum computers will
be based on qubits. Potential alternatives are discussed in Knotty
Calculations
Quantum Oscillations In Two Coupled Charge Qubits, Yu. A. Pashkin, T.
Yamamoto, O. Astafiev, Y. Nakamura, D. V. Averin, J. S. Tsai, Nature 421,
823 - 826 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01365
5. Photos Bolster Idea of Water, and Possibly Life, on Mars, NYTimes
Excerpts: NASA issues new theory and revised interpretation of earlier
observations, bolstering idea that Mars has more water than previously
thought and encouraging speculation about possibility of life on planet;
identifies melting snow deposits in photographs taken by Mars Odyssey
spacecraft as likely cause of many of planet's deep gullies; recent studies
by other scientists, showing that both Martian polar regions are capped
almost entirely with ice (¡K).
A new theory and a revised interpretation of earlier observations have
bolstered the idea (¡K).
Photos Bolster Idea of Water, and Possibly Life, on Mars, John Noble
Wilford, NYTimes, 03/02/20
6. Innovation in Natural, Experimental, and Applied Evolution, The Bulletin
Of The Santa Fe Institute
Excerpt: Evolutionary innovation involves the acquisition of novel
morphologies--behaviors or other attributes that open new niches, providing
access to new ways of making a living. These include the major evolutionary
transitions such as the origins of life and its major domains, the
development of photosynthesis and other energy-capture methods, eukaryotes,
and multicellularity. But it also includes the less sweeping innovations
that solve more circumscribed problems. Artificially directed evolution has
been applied with striking results to developing proteins, RNAs, viruses,
and bacteria for specific functions.
Innovation in Natural, Experimental, and Applied Evolution, The Bulletin Of
The Santa Fe Institute, Volume 18 Number 1, Winter 2003
Excerpts: When it comes to thinking about scale, the assumption of
corporate leaders since Henry Ford's day has been that bigger is better.
And in many situations, such thinking is inarguably correct because of the
cost efficiencies that size provides. But sometimes efficiencies can mask
opportunities.
In their research, the authors found that small-scale operations provide
significant advantages in four areas. They allow companies to locate hot
spots and tap into local knowledge networks; they make it possible to
respond more rapidly to customer needs and to trends in regional demand;
they enable companies to monitor potentially disruptive technologies; and
they help hold down labor costs while developing managerial talent. Using
case studies, the authors illustrate how companies in a wide variety of
industries have found the hidden benefits of small-scale approaches to
corporate needs. They conclude that executives who develop a deeper
understanding of scale and learn when it is better to think small can have
a potentially huge impact on their companies' long-term success.
Frits K. Pil is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh's
Katz Graduate School of Business and a research scientist at the
university's Learning, Research and Development Center. Matthias Holweg is
a Sloan Research Fellow at MIT's Center for Technology, Policy and
Industrial Development and a senior research fellow at the Lean Enterprise
Research Centre at Cardiff Business School in Wales. They can be reached at
and.
Exploring Scale: The Advantages of Thinking Small, Frits K. Pil, Matthias
Holweg, MIT Sloan Management Review, Reprint 4424; Winter 2003, Volume 44,
Number 2, pp. 33-39
7. From Swimming To Walking: A Single Basic Network For Two Different
Behaviors, Biol. Cybernetics
Abstract: In this paper we consider the hypothesis that the spinal
locomotor network controlling trunk movements has remained essentially
unchanged during the evolutionary transition from aquatic to terrestrial
locomotion. Two distinct inputs were identified which reproduced the main
features of the swimming and walking motor patterns in the newt. (¡K)a
nonuniform distribution of these stretch receptors along the trunk can
explain the discontinuities exhibited in the swimming pattern of the newt.
Thus, separate limb pattern generators can influence the original network
controlling axial movements (¡K) via a mechanical coupling between trunk
and limbs, which in turn influences the sensory signals sent back to the
network.
From Swimming To Walking: A Single Basic Network For Two Different
Behaviors, T. Bem, J. M. Cabelguen, O. Ekeberg, S. Grillner, Biol.
Cybernetics, Vol. 88 Issue 2, pp:79-90, Feb. 2003, DOI
10.1007/s00422-002-0340-3
Contributed by Pritha Das
8. Animal Behaviour: How Self-Organization Evolves, Nature
Excerpts: Self-organized systems can evolve by small parameter shifts that
produce large changes in outcome. Concepts from mathematical ecology show
how the way swarming bees dance helps to achieve unanimous decisions. (¡K)
Myerscough treats the scout bees dancing for alternative sites as
populations, and models their growth and extinction with the tools of
mathematical ecology. From this approach it is evident how a slight
difference in the way the dance-language 'recruitment' of other bees is
structured in foraging and house-hunting influences the outcome of each
process.
Animal Behaviour: How Self-Organization Evolves, P. Kirk Visscher, Nature
421, 799 - 800 (2003); doi:10.1038/421799a
Excerpts: The fish swim in groups of about a dozen. Every so often, all
drop to the sea floor and root about in the sand in search of worms and
shellfish. By truffling in concert, each fish may catch prey that evades
its fellows, the researchers suggest - prey burrow away when they sense
goatfish coming.
Even fish in tanks two metres apart ape each other's behaviour, (¡K). They
keep in step by eye contact; if they can't see each other they don't
synchronize.
Goat Fish Act Like Sheep, John Whitfield, Nature Physics Portal, 03/02,
Synchronized swimming helps fish find food.
Abstract:The highly gregarious goat fish Parupeneus forskalii found in the
Red Sea at Eilat, Israel exhibit highly synchronous swimming and feeding
activity. Five fish were studied under controlled conditions and highly
resolved time-series of their energy expenditures were measured. All fish
demonstrated strong phase synchronization in that their activity levels,
although erratic in time and intensity, were collectively coordinated and
peaked simultaneously together. The synchronization of these wildly
varying, and possibly chaotic signals of energy expenditures, were
quantified using phase analysis. We suggest that, ecologically, this
collective synchronization is a strategy that increases food-catch.
Unusual Synchronization Of Red Sea Fish Energy Expenditures, Stone, L.,
DaiHai, H., Becker, K, Fishelson, L., Ecology Letters, 6, 83 - 86, (2003).
Excerpt: The most amazing thing about social insect colonies is that
there's no individual in charge. If you look at a single ant, you may have
the impression that it is behaving, if not randomly, at least not in
synchrony with the rest of the colony. You feel that it is doing its own
things without paying too much attention to what the others are doing.
But sometimes you also see "ant highways," that is, impressive columns
of
ants that can run over hundreds of feet.
Swarm Intelligence: An Interview with Eric Bonabeau, Derrick Story, The
O'Reilly Network, 03/02/21
Excerpts: (¡K) neuroscientists report a major step toward understanding
how
pheromone cues are processed in the brain. By recording the electric
chatter of neurons in the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) of mice as they
sniff another mouse, the researchers have discovered neurons that vary
their activity in response to the sex and genetic strain of the sniffee.
(¡K) AOB extracts important social information from pheromonal cues. (¡K)
For instance, one neuron in the brain of a mouse of the CBA strain grew six
times more active when the sniffed animal was a male BALBc mouse.
Snooty Exchanges Are Key to Mouse Society, Greg Miller, Science 2003 299: 1163
9. Genes May Draw Your Road Map, But You Still Chart Your Course, NYTimes
Excerpt: Meanwhile, most of us have to contend with a complex set of genes
that may or may not predispose us to ailments, ranging in seriousness from
superficial skin cancer to premature heart disease. And a genetic
predisposition is just that: it is not destiny, but rather a tendency that
can be encouraged or discouraged to express itself by how we live our lives.
Some experts estimate that about 30 percent of longevity is determined by
genes; the rest is up to us.
Genes May Draw Your Road Map, But You Still Chart Your Course, Jane E.
Brody, NYTimes, 03/02/25
Excerpts: So that's what it looks like, deoxyribonucleic acid, what Francis
Crick was boasting about when he walked into the Eagle pub in Cambridge,
England, half a century ago and told the lunch crowd that he and James
Watson had just discovered the secret of life.
The way the two deduced the molecule's beautifully intertwined structure -
(¡K)- is one of the great stories of science. The significance lies not
just in what they discovered but in how: by building one of the first
complex molecular models.
With Sheet Metal Cutouts, the Tree of Life Emerged, George Johnson,
NYTimes, 03/02/25, The way Watson and Crick deduced the molecule's
beautifully intertwined structure is one of the great stories of science.
10. Breakthrough in Gene Therapy, health-news.co.uk
Excerpts: UK scientists have discovered a new way of delivering gene
therapy that, is not only more effective than present techniques, but may
also be safer. Gene therapy is usually delivered using viruses, but this
carries the risk of infection of non-target tissue and dangerous immune
responses. The new technique, developed by scientists at Hammersmith
Hospitals NHS Trust, Imperial College London and the Medical Research
Council, uses a combination of ultrasound and microbubbles ¡V tiny gas
bubbles already used to improve ultrasound scans in the heart, liver and
many other areas.
Breakthrough in Gene Therapy, Rebecca Oppenheim, 2003-02-24, health-news.co.uk
Contributed by Nadia Gershenson
11. Molecular Biology: A Fix For RNA, Nature
Excerpts: (¡K) cells repair chemically or physically damaged DNA. But the
discovery that damaged RNA can also be repaired may come as a surprise.
What's more, some of the same enzymes are involved.
The 'central dogma' of biology states that DNA makes RNA makes protein, and
that this relationship governs the flow of genetic information in almost
all living organisms. Damage to any one of these molecules can subvert the
normal information flow. (¡K) repair of damaged RNA (and proteins) has
been
considered unlikely to even exist.
Molecular Biology: A Fix For RNA, Thomas J. Begley And Leona D. Samson,
Nature 421, 795 - 796 (2003); doi:10.1038/421795a
Excerpts: The interactions of kinases in signaling cascades and cell cycle
pathways are so complex that it can be difficult to identify the protein
binding domains that mediate these interactions. In a Perspective, Sillje
and Nigg discuss a new proteomic screen (Elia et al.) that identifies the
Polo-box binding domain of the mitotic kinase Plk1 as the domain that binds
to phosphorylated sites in docking proteins such as Cdc25.
Capturing Polo Kinase, Herman H. W. Sillje and Erich A. Nigg, Science 2003
299: 1190-1191
12. Eye Movements Indicate Initial Attempts To Process What Humans Hear,
ScienceDaily
Excerpts: By mapping eye movements in fractions of a second (¡K) humans
attempt to make sense of what they are hearing through visual cues long
before they have heard an entire idea. The finding offers insight into how
the mind uses vision to rapidly process information. Psycholinguists know
that as humans process language they make many split-second decisions about
the words they are hearing. But questions remain about how humans cope with
uncertainty at every stage (¡K).
¡§On the basis of one or two sounds, we saw the participants¡¦
eye
movements begin to shift. As soon as they identified a word, they began to
map it.¡¨
Eye Movements Indicate Initial Attempts To Process What Humans Hear,
ScienceDaily, 2003/02/21
Contributed by Atin Das
13. Brain Scans Reflect Problem-Solving Skill, NYTimes
Excerpt: The first large-sample imaging study to probe individual
differences in "general fluid intelligence" has been conducted by
researchers at Washington University, using functional magnetic resonance
imaging.
It shows how differences in the ability to reason and solve problems might
translate into differences in the firing of neurons.
Brain Scans Reflect Problem-Solving Skill, NYTimes, 03/02/17
Excerpt: But if emotion is just perception of the body, why isn't simple
awareness of the body's position and temperature (proprioception)
invariably accompanied by corresponding emotions? An emotion is a type of
feeling (fear or joy, for example), directed toward a particular external
object, with certain sorts of bodily expression. It is not simply reducible
to the bodily expressions alone (that's why we call them merely
''expressions''). Nothing in Damasio's book ever comes to grips with these
not-so-subtle, and well-known, objections to the theory he is promoting.
'Looking for Spinoza': The Source of Emotion, NYTimes, 03/02/23
Abstract: This study used fMRI to investigate the neural basis of the
tongue-twister effect in a sentence comprehension task. Participants
silently read sentences equated for the syntactic structure and the lexical
frequency of the constituent words, but differing in the proportion of
words that shared similar initial phonemes. The manipulation affected not
only the reading times and comprehension performance, but also the amount
of activation seen in a number of language-related cortical areas. The
effect was not restricted to cortical areas (¡K) but also extended to
areas
associated with other aspects of language processing associated with
phonological processing and storage.
Brain Imaging Of Tongue-Twister Sentence Comprehension: Twisting The Tongue
And The Brain, Timothy A. K., Patricia A. C, Marcel A. J., Brain and
Language, Vol. 84, Issue 2, pp:189-203 , Feb. 2003, DOI:
10.1016/S0093-934X(02)00506-0
Contributed by Atin Das
14. Neurobiology: Interneurons Take Charge, Nature
Excerpt: In particular, the new results1 show that the dynamics of
hippocampal networks are related to the diversity in the hippocampal
interneuron population. Pyramidal cells are relatively uniform in their
structure and behaviour. But interneurons form distinct classes, in terms
of their shape, the inputs to which they respond, the other neuron
populations they connect to, and the specific parts of neurons with which
they make contact. Klausberger et al. now show that morphologically
distinct classes of hippocampal interneurons also contribute differently to
network states.
Neurobiology: Interneurons Take Charge, Edvard I. Moser, Nature 421, 797 -
799 (2003); doi:10.1038/421797a
15. Giant Supramolecular Liquid Crystal Lattice, Science
Abstract: Self-organized supramolecular organic nanostructures have
potential applications that include molecular electronics, photonics, and
precursors for nanoporous catalysts. Accordingly, understanding how
self-assembly is controlled by molecular architecture will enable the
design of increasingly complex structures. We report a liquid crystal (LC)
phase with a tetragonal three-dimensional unit cell containing 30 globular
supramolecular dendrimers, each of which is self-assembled from 12 dendron
(tree-like) molecules, for the compounds described here. The present
structure is one of the most complex LC phases yet discovered. A model
explaining how spatial arrangement of self-assembled dendritic aggregates
depends on molecular architecture and temperature is proposed.
Giant Supramolecular Liquid Crystal Lattice, Goran Ungar, Yongsong Liu,
Xiangbing Zeng, Virgil Percec, Wook-Dong Cho
16. Scientists Identify Blood Stem Cell, UPI
Excerpts: Although monocytes were known to exist, "it was not known that
(there was a subtype) behaving like a stem cell" and capable of becoming
other cell types, Huberman said.
The reason the monocyte stem cells went undetected is that in order for
them to behave like stem cells a substance called a growth factor must be
added to them. Growth factors direct the growth of cells and can determine
the type of tissue into which a stem cell can develop.
Scientists Identify Blood Stem Cell, Steve Mitchell, UPI, 03/02/24
Excerpts: A new type of stem cell in white blood cells has been discovered
by U.S. researchers, opening up potential alternatives to embryonic stem
cells for treatment of transplant patients. Adult stem cells are known to
lurk in the marrow of bones where blood is made. In this latest work, Dr
Eliezer Huberman, a molecular biologist at the Argonne National Laboratory
in Chicago, tried to identify blood cells that might be able to act like
stem cells. They studied adult monocytes, a type of white blood cell. Using
a series of growth factors, they were able to make the monocytes convert
into a range of different types: epithelial cells, neuronal cells, liver
cells, T lymphocytes and mature macrophages.
New Stem Cell Reservoir Found in Blood, 2003-02-25, News in Science
Contributed by Nadia Gershenson
Excerpts: US scientists believe they have discovered how to zone in on the
most dangerous breast cancer cells and aid the development of new, more
effective treatments. Researchers from the University of Michigan
Comprehensive Cancer Center have found that only a small minority of
neoplastic cells in human breast cancers are capable of producing new
malignant tumours. These cells have many of the properties of stem cells.
Although similar cells have been identified in human leukaemia, these are
the first to be found in solid tumours, said Dr Michael Clarke, who
directed the study.
Breast Cancer Tumour ¡§Stem Cells¡¨ Found, 2003-02-25,
health-news.co.uk
Contributed by Nadia Gershenson
17. Molecular Self-Assembly Technique May Mimic How Cells Assemble
Themselves, NSF Press Release
Excerpts: (¡K) created tree-like molecules that assemble themselves into
precisely structured building blocks of a quarter-million atoms. Such
building blocks may be precursors to designing nanostructures for molecular
electronics or photonics materials, which "steer" light in the same
way
computer chips steer electrons. (¡K)
The researchers start with tree-like organic molecules, called dendrons,
each of which is roughly cone-shaped. Twelve of the dendrons assemble
themselves into 8,500-atom spheres. Once assembled, the spheres become a
"liquid crystal," a material that flows like a liquid but has some
properties of a crystalline solid.
Molecular Self-Assembly Technique May Mimic How Cells Assemble Themselves,
NSF Press Release, NSF PR 03-22, 03/02/22
18. DNA Computer Sets Guinness Record, UPI Science News
Excerpt: The device's input, output and "software" are composed
of DNA
molecules, while the hardware is made of naturally occurring enzymes that
can manipulate DNA. When mixed together in a solution, the hardware and
software work together, with the enzyme regulating the input according to
rules encoded on the software molecule.
All computers need energy, and the research team's previous DNA computer
used a molecule called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, the biochemical
whose high-energy phosphate bonds are used by all cells as their standard fuel.
DNA Computer Sets Guinness Record, UPI Science News, From the Science &
Technology Desk, Published 2/24/2003 5:25 PM
Excerpts:Each computational step of the automaton consists of a reversible
software molecule/input molecule hybridization followed by an irreversible
software-directed cleavage of the input molecule, which drives the
computation forward by increasing entropy and releasing heat. (¡K) In the
previous automaton, software/input ligation consumed one software molecule
and two ATP molecules per step.(¡K). Our experiments demonstrate 3 x 1012
automata per £gl performing 6.6 x 1010 transitions per second per £gl
with
transition fidelity of 99.9%, dissipating about 5 x 10-9 W/£gl as heat at
ambient temperature.
DNA Molecule Provides A Computing Machine With Both Data And Fuel, Yaakov
Benenson, Rivka Adar, Tamar Paz-Elizur, Zvi Livneh, Ehud Shapiro, PNAS,
10.1073/pnas.0535624100, 03/02/24
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
Excerpts: Dubbed by its creator as "Google for law enforcement,"
Coplink is
really nothing more glamorous than computer code. It's based on an achingly
simple, but frustratingly elusive, premise: if the sundry databases used by
crimefighters could talk to one another, the importance of seemingly
inconsequential pieces of information would become more readily apparent.
Had Coplink been up and running during last fall's sniper investigation, it
would have quickly flagged investigators to the multiple times that police
had stopped John Muhammad and Lee Malvo near a shooting scene (¡K).
Crime: A Google for Cops, Seth Mnookin, Newsweek, March 3, 2003
Excerpt: U.S. officials have determined that 72-year-old Derek Bond, nabbed
in South Africa on suspicion of being an internationally wanted fugitive,
is in fact what he claims to be: a frightened British pensioner who was the
victim of identity theft.
"He certainly deserves an apology and an explanation," John Lewis, an
assistant U.S. attorney, told Reuters by telephone on Wednesday.
Officials said they expected him to be released shortly, ending a two-week
ordeal that saw the mild-mannered retiree from Bristol, southwest England,
detained as one of America's most wanted criminals.
UK Man Whose Identity 'Stolen' Cleared in U.S. Probe, Andrew Quinn,
ABCNews,Reuters, 03/02/26
20. Links & Snippets
20.1 Other Publications
SFI Working Papers
Phase Transition and Landscape Statistics of the Number Partitioning
Problem, Peter F. Stadler, Wim Hordijk, Jose F. Fontanari, DOI: SFI-WP
03-02-006
Allometric Scaling of Ant Foraging Trail Networks, Joseph Jun, John W.
Pepper, Van M. Savage, James F. Gillooly, James H. Brown, DOI: SFI-WP
03-02-005
Network Dynamics and Field Evolution: The Growth of Interorganizational
Collaboration in the Life Sciences, Walter W. Powell, Douglas R. White,
Kenneth W. Koput, Jason Owen-Smith, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-004
¡§If It Isn¡¦t Broken, Don¡¦t Fix It¡¨:
Extremal Search on a Technology
Landscape, Jose Lobo, Deborah Strumsky, DOI: SFI-WP 03-02-003
An Error Catastrophe in Cancer?, Ricard V. Sole, Thomas S. Deisboeck, DOI:
SFI-WP 03-02-002
Spin Glasses: Still Complex After All These Years?, Daniel L. Stein, DOI:
SFI-WP 03-01-001
New Gauze Promotes Natural Healing, Philip Ball, Biodegradable bandage made
from wound-healing proteins
A Global Representation Of The Protein Fold Space, Jingtong Hou, Gregory E.
Sims, Chao Zhang, and Sung-Hou Kim, PNAS published 26 February 2003,
10.1073/pnas.2628030100
Community Disassembly By An Invasive Species, Nathan J. Sanders, Nicholas
J. Gotelli, Nicole E. Heller, Deborah, M. Gordon, PNAS published 25
February 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0437913100
Origin And Evolution Of Circadian Clock Genes In Prokaryotes, Volodymyr
Dvornyk, Oxana Vinogradova, Eviatar Nevo, PNAS published 25 February 2003,
10.1073/pnas.0130099100
Phase Locking Between Human Primary And Secondary Somatosensory Cortices,
Cristina Simoes, Ole Jensen, Lauri Parkkonen, Riitta Hari, PNAS published
21 February 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0437944100
Mexican Hats And Pinwheels In Visual Cortex, Kukjin Kang, Michael Shelley,
and Haim Sompolinsky, PNAS published 24 February 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0138051100
Further Genetic Evidence For A Panic Disorder Syndrome Mapping To
Chromosome 13q, Steven P. Hamilton, Abby J. Fyer, Martina Durner, Gary A.
Heiman, Ada Baisre de Leon, Susan E. Hodge, James A. Knowles, Myrna M.
Weissman, PNAS published 25 February 2003, 10.1073/pnas.0335669100
Stochastic Gene Expression As A Many-Body Problem, Masaki Sasai and Peter
G. Wolynes, PNAS published 26 February 2003, 10.1073/pnas.2627987100
Kiss-And-Run, Fuse-Pinch-And-Linger, Fuse-And-Collapse: The Life And Times
Of A Neurosecretory Granule, Timothy A. Ryan, PNAS published 26 February
2003, 10.1073/pnas.0530260100
Regional Squabbling Scuttles an Iraqi Opposition Meeting, Judith Miller,
David Rohde, NYTimes, 03/02/25, An effort to showcase cooperation between
Turkey and the Kurdish parties in northern Iraq ended in chaos and
recriminations.
Neural Deficits In Children With Dyslexia Ameliorated By Behavioral
Remediation: Evidence From Functional MRI, Elise Temple, Gayle K. Deutsch,
Russell A. Poldrack, Steven L. Miller, Paula Tallal, Michael M. Merzenich,
and John D. E. Gabrieli, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA published 25 February
2003, 10.1073/pnas.0030098100
Science Panel Faults Bush Global Warming Research Plan, AP,
Siliconvalley.com, 03/02/26
Climate Modelling: Severe Summertime Flooding In Europe, Jens H.
Christensen, Ole B. Christensen, Nature 421, 805 - 806 (2003);
doi:10.1038/421805a
New Ages For Human Occupation And Climatic Change At Lake Mungo, Australia,
James M. Bowler, Harvey Johnston, Jon M. Olley, John R. Prescott, Richard
G. Roberts, Wilfred Shawcross, Nigel A. Spooner, Nature 421, 837 - 840
(2003); Doi:10.1038/Nature01383
Dolly's Death Leaves Researchers Woolly On Clone Ageing Issue, Jim Giles,
Jonathan Knight, Nature 421, 776 (2003); Doi:10.1038/421776a
The Complete Folding Pathway Of A Protein From Nanoseconds To Microseconds,
Ugo Mayor, Nicholas R. Guydosh, Christopher M. Johnson, J. Gunter
Grossmann, Satoshi Sato, Gouri S. Jas, Stefan M. V. Freund, Darwin O. V.
Alonso, Valerie Daggett, Alan R. Fersht, Nature 421, 863 - 867 (2003);
Doi:10.1038/Nature01428
A Mode Hypothesis For Finger Interaction During Multi-Finger
Force-Production Tasks, F. Danion, G. Schoner, M. Latash, S. Li, J. P.
Scholz & V. M. Zatsiorsky, Biol. Cybernetics, Vol. 88 Issue 2, pp:91-98,
Feb. 2003, DOI: 10.1007/s00422-002-0336-z
Mathematics Reflecting Sensorimotor Organization, G. McCollum, Biol.
Cybernetics, Vol. 88 Issue 2, pp:108-128, Feb. 2003, DOI:
10.1007/s00422-002-0344-z
Sex Differences In Semantic Language Processing: A Functional MRI Study, L.
C. Baxter, A. J. Saykin, L. A. Flashman, S. C. Johnson, S. J. Guerin, D. R.
Babcock & H. A. Wishart, Brain & Language, Vol. 84, Issue 2, pp:264-272,
Feb. 2003, DOI: 10.1016/S0093-934X(02)00549-7
A Faster Single-Term Divisible Electronic Cash: Zcash, M. Zhong, Electr.
Comm. Res. & Appl., Vol. 1, Issues 3-4, pp:331-338, Aut.-Winter 2002,
DOI:
10.1016/S1567-4223(02)00024-8
A Personalized Recommendation Procedure For Internet Shopping Support, J.
K. Kim, Y. H. Cho, W. J. Kim, J. R. Kim & J. H. Suh, Electr. Comm. Res.
&
Appl., Vol. 1, Issues 3-4, pp: 301-313, Aut.-Winter 2002, DOI:
10.1016/S1567-4223(02)00022-4
vCOM: Electronic Commerce In A Collaborative Virtual World, X. Shen, T.
Radakrishnan and N. D. Georganas, Electr. Comm. Res. & Appl., Vol. 1,
Issues 3-4, pp: 281-300, Aut.-Winter 2002, DOI: 10.1016/S1567-4223(02)00021-2
An MPEG-4 Renderer For High Quality Video Composition And Texture Mapping,
Q. L. Nguyen-Phuc & C. M. Sorolla, J. VLSI Signal Processing, 33 (3):
255-265, Mar. 2003
OHSU Researchers Discover Brain Cell Mechanism Possibly Linked To Mental
Retardation, ScienceDaily, 2003/02/20
Has Your Computer Talked Back To You Lately? New Software Translation Tool
Can Communicate, ScienceDaily, 2003/02/24
Artificial Skin Gets A Grip, J. Aslett, Alphagalileo, 2003/02/21
Rubbish Reveal Even Secret Things, H. Haivala,Alphagalileo, 2003/02/24
People In The Middle Ages Were Fashion Conscious Too, H. Haivala,
Alphagalileo, 2003/02/24
Mobile Phones Could Be Allowed In Some Parts Of Hospitals, E. Dickinson,
Alphagalileo, 2003/02/26
Phase Structures of Resource Allocation Games, Robert Savit, Sven A.
Brueckner, H. Van Dyke Parunak, John Sauter, 2003-02-24, DOI:
nlin.AO/0302053, arXiv
Scars on Quantum Networks Ignore the Lyapunov Exponent, Holger Schanz ,
Tsampikos Kottos, 2003-02-24, arXiv
Slow Feature Analysis Yields a Rich Repertoire of Complex Cell Properties,
Berkes, Pietro , Wiskott, Laurenz, 2003, CogPrints
20.2 Coming and Ongoing Webcasts
Television & Children's Media Policy: Where Do We Go From Here?, Annenberg
Public Policy Center at U. Penn, Washinghton, DC, 03/02/28, c-span,
(clip12657), 1:35
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
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
2003 O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, Santa Clara, CA, 03/04/22-25
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
47th Meeting of the Intl Soc for the System Sciences: Conscious Evolution
Of Humanity: Using Systems Thinking To Construct Agoras Of The Global
Village, Iraklion, Crete, Greec, 03/07/07-11
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.
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