复杂性文摘 NO：2003.22
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Complexity Digest 2003.22 June-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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Ongoing: Complexity Digest Virtual Conference Network
SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 2003/06/01-04
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1. Global Collaboration on SARS Bears Fruit, NYTimes
2. The Cost Of Complexity And The Use Of Grids, Grid
Today
2.1. Untraceable Email
Cluster Bombs: On Agent-Based
Distributed Denial of Service, arXiv
3. Working Remotely, Robots in Place, Wired
3.1. Video-Game Killing
Builds Visual Skills, Researchers
Report, NYTimes
4. Pentagon Explores a New Frontier in the World of
Virtual
Intelligence, NYTimes
4.1. This Palm Reads Your
Mind By Elliot Borin, Wired
5. Software Systems as Complex Networks, arXiv
6. Copied Citations Give Impact Factors A Boost, Nature
6.1. Scientific Literacy:
Clear As Mud, Nature
7. Speculative Behavior And Asset Price Dynamics,
Nonlin. Dyn.,
Psycho. & Life Sc.
8. A Complexity Theory Model In Science Education
Problem
Solving, Nonlin. Dyn., Psycho.
& Life Sc.
8.1. Community Dynamics
In A University Environment, Nonlin.
Dyn., Psycho. & Life Sc.
9. Scientists Use DNA Fragments To Trace The Migration
Of Modern
Humans, ScienceDaily
10. Spontaneous Emergence Of Leaders And Followers In
Foraging
Pairs, Nature
10.1. Competitive Fates
Of Bacterial Social Parasites:
Extinction Of Cheaters, Alphagalileo
11. A Mathematical Model Of Cell-To-Cell Spread Of HIV-1 That
Includes A Time Delay, J. Math.
Biol.
12. Born Under The Sun: UV Light And The Origin Of Life,
Alphagalileo
13. Save Those Molecules! Molecular Biodiversity And Life, J.
of
Appl. Ecol.
13.1. Genomics: Not Junk
After All, Science
14. Dynamic Nature Of African Great Ape Social Communication,
15. Bad Dancers: Childhood Chills Give Bees Six Left Feet,
Science
News
16. Three-Gorges Dam--Experiment in Habitat Fragmentation?
17. Nonlinear Dynamical Model Of Human Gait, Phys. Rev. E
18. Doppler Effect In Larval Biology: Theory And
Applications,
Ecol. Modelling
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
19.1. The Looting of
Iraq's Nuclear Facilities: What Do We Do
Now?, The Globe and Mail
19.2. Are We Winning the
War on Terrorism?, Brookings Middle
East Memo
19.3. "Terrorism
After the War in Iraq," U.S.-France Analysis,
Brookings Memo
19.4. Waggy Dog Stories,
NYTimes
20. Links & Snippets
20.1. Other Publications
20.2. Webcast
Announcements
20.3. Conference &
Call for Papers Announcements
20.3.1. Public Conference Calls
20.4. ComDig
Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test
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1. Global Collaboration on SARS Bears Fruit, NYTimes
Excerpts: The potential of SARS to seed itself rapidly around the world and
touch off a chain reaction of deadly epidemics galvanized the World Health
Organization to start an international collaboration to identify the cause
of the disease and to try to develop ways to diagnose, contain, treat and
prevent it.
The effort got results, and with extraordinary speed.
The investigation has ranged from universities and besieged hospitals to
live-animal markets in southern China to high-tech genetics laboratories
and the sprawling C.D.C. complex.
Global Collaboration on SARS Bears Fruit, Denise Grady, Lawrence K. Altman,
NYTimes, 03/05/26
2. The Cost Of Complexity And The Use Of Grids, Grid Today
Excerpts: For more than 40 years, the industry has created tools for
dealing with increasingly complex tasks. We're doing the same thing today.
Take computing "grids," for example. Like the Internet, grids were
once the
realm of universities and laboratories, but now they're showing up in
commercial settings -- Sun alone powers more than 7,000 of them.
Linking departmental and even enterprise-wide resources, then allocating
them based on business goals and priorities, grids put computing power
where it's needed most.
(¡K) not only in increased utilization but, more importantly, simplified
management.
The Cost Of Complexity And The Use Of Grids, Mark Tolliver, Grid Today,
03/05/26
Abstract: We uncover a vulnerability that allows for an attacker to perform
an email-based attack on selected victims, using only standard scripts and
agents. What differentiates the attack we describe from other, already
known forms of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks is that an
attacker does not need to infiltrate the network in any manner -- as is
normally required to launch a DDoS attack. Thus, we see this type of attack
as a poor man's DDoS. Not only is the attack easy to mount, but it is also
almost impossible to trace back to the perpetrator. Along with descriptions
of our attack, we demonstrate its destructive potential with (limited and
contained) experimental results. We illustrate the potential impact of our
attack by describing how an attacker can disable an email account by
flooding its inbox; block competition during on-line auctions; harm
competitors with an on-line presence; disrupt phone service to a given
victim; cheat in SMS-based games; disconnect mobile corporate leaders from
their networks; and disrupt electronic elections. Finally, we propose a set
of countermeasures that are light-weight, do not require modifications to
the infrastructure, and can be deployed in a gradual manner.
Untraceable Email Cluster Bombs: On Agent-Based Distributed Denial of
Service, Markus Jakobsson, Filippo Menczer, 2003-05-23, DOI: cs.CY/0305042,
arXiv
Contributed by Carlos Gershenson
3. Working Remotely, Robots in Place, Wired
Excerpts: Fears of severe acute respiratory syndrome and terrorism,
combined with drastically reduced travel budgets, mean more companies are
considering video conferencing as an alternative to face-to-face meetings.
(¡K)
Hewlett-Packard doesn't consider it a robot, but a "surrogate," since
it
would have the face and the voice of the person who remotely controls it. (¡K)
The robot's "head" is a four-way computer monitor that displays images
of
the head of the person remotely controlling the surrogate.
That person must sit in a small room with screens and projectors all
around, (¡K).
Working Remotely, Robots in Place, Elisa Batista, Wired, 03/05/26
Excerpts: Experienced players of these games are 30 percent to 50 percent
better than nonplayers at taking in everything that happens around them,
according to the research, which appears today in the journal Nature. They
identify objects in their peripheral vision, perceiving numerous objects
without having to count them, switch attention rapidly and track many items
at once.
Nor are players simply faster at these tasks, (¡K). First-person action
games increase the brain's capacity to spread attention over a wide range
of events.
Video-Game Killing Builds Visual Skills, Researchers Report, Sandra
Blakeslee, NYTimes, 03/05/29
4. Pentagon Explores a New Frontier in the World of Virtual Intelligence,
NYTimes
Excerpt: The Pentagon is shopping for ways to capture everything a person
sees, says and hears, as part of a project it says is meant to help create
smarter robots.
The projected system, called LifeLog, would take in all of a subject's
experience, from phone numbers dialed and e-mail messages viewed to every
breath taken, step made and place gone. The idea is to index the material
and make patterns easily retrievable, in an effort to make machines think
more like people, learning from experience.
Pentagon Explores a New Frontier in the World of Virtual Intelligence,
Reuters, NYTimes, 03/05/30
Excerpts: Call it a two-minute drill for the mind. A Palm OS application
will tell users whether or not they're sober enough to drive, attentive
enough to impress a cynical corporate recruiter or responsive enough to
prevail in a bloody bout of WWF Smackdown.
In fact, researchers at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute
http://www.nsbri.org/ claim their new
MiniCog PDA application will help
people determine if they "need to eat, sleep, exercise or better focus
(their) thoughts." (¡K)
MiniCog consists of nine simple tests (¡K).
This Palm Reads Your Mind, Elliot Borin, Wired, 03/05/26
5. Software Systems as Complex Networks, arXiv
Abstract: Software systems emerge from mere keystrokes to form intricate
functional networks connecting many collaborating modules, objects,
classes, methods, and subroutines. Building on recent advances in the study
of complex networks, I have examined software collaboration graphs
contained within several open-source software systems, and have found them
to reveal scale-free, small-world networks similar to those identified in
other technological, sociological, and biological systems. I present
several measures of these network topologies, and discuss their
relationship to software engineering practices. I also present a simple
model of software system evolution based on refactoring processes which
captures some of the salient features of the observed systems. Some
implications of object-oriented design for questions about network
robustness, evolvability, degeneracy, and organization are discussed in the
wake of these findings.
Software Systems as Complex Networks: Structure, Function, and Evolvability
of Software Collaboration Graphs, C. R. Myers, 2003-05-23, DOI:
cond-mat/0305575, arXiv
Contributed by Carlos Gershenson
6. Copied Citations Give Impact Factors A Boost, Nature
Excerpts: Scientific papers that are not widely read and that lack any
great influence can end up being classed as high-impact, (¡K).
The mistake occurs because citations are often just copied (¡K). A largely
unremarkable or unread paper can therefore end up becoming highly cited, (¡K).
In results posted on the arXiv preprint server, they predicted that 40
papers would be cited 500 times or more. In reality, 44 articles in
Physical Review D are renowned.
"If people cite randomly, the citation distribution would be the same as in
reality," (¡K).
Copied Citations Give Impact Factors A Boost, Tom Clarke, Nature 423, 373
(2003); doi:10.1038/423373a
Excerpts: Language experts generally agree that a better measure of
accessibility is whether a piece of writing contains words in common usage
(¡K). As a general principle, the greater the percentage of common words
an
article contains, the easier it is to comprehend. (¡K)
He calls it lexical difficulty, and has developed a numerical scale, known
as LEX, to quantify it.
(¡K) fiction for nine-year-olds scored about -32, and a transcript of farm
workers talking to dairy cows (¡K) had a value of -59. Scientific papers
in
Nature and Science scored about 30.
Scientific Literacy: Clear As Mud, Jonathan Knight, Nature 423, 376 - 378
(2003); doi:10.1038/423376a
7. Speculative Behavior And Asset Price Dynamics, Nonlin. Dyn., Psycho. &
Life Sc.
Abstract: This paper deals with speculative trading. Guided by empirical
observations, a nonlinear deterministic asset pricing model is developed in
which traders repeatedly choose between technical and fundamental analysis
to determine their orders. The interaction between the trading rules
produces complex dynamics. The model endogenously replicates the stylized
facts of excess volatility, high trading volumes, shifts in the level of
asset prices, and volatility clustering.
Speculative Behavior And Asset Price Dynamics, F. Westerhoff, Nonlin. Dyn.,
Psycho. & Life Sc., Vol. 7 (3), pp: 245-262, Jul. 2003
Contributed by Pritha Das
8. A Complexity Theory Model In Science Education Problem Solving, Nonlin.
Dyn., Psycho. & Life Sc.
Abstract: The present study examines the role of limited human channel
capacity from a science education perspective. A model of science problem
solving has been previously validated by applying concepts and tools of
complexity theory (the working memory, random walk method). In this work,
we apply the same nonlinear approach to a different data set, taken from
chemical-equilibrium problem solving. In contrast to the organic-synthesis
problems, these problems are algorithmic, require numerical calculations,
and have a complex logical structure.. As the complexity of the problem
increases, the fractal dimension of the working memory random walk
demonstrates a sudden drop (¡K).
A Complexity Theory Model In Science Education Problem Solving: Random
Walks For Working Memory And Mental Capacity, D. Stamovlasis, G. Tsaparlis,
Nonlin. Dyn., Psycho. & Life Sc., Vol. 7 (3), pp: 221-244, Jul. 2003
Contributed by Pritha Das
Abstract: Scholars have characterized academic communities of faculty,
administration, and students in U.S. universities as ¡§organized
anarchies.¡¨ In contrast, we offer evidence that the community structures
of two representative public university systems are notably systematic by
applying empirical phase-diagram techniques from the nonlinear dynamics
literature to reconstruct low-dimensional deterministic behavior from
historic data on the coevolution of faculty, administration, and student
populations in each system. This work offers empirical evidence that
ecological principles, typically reserved for characterizing nonhuman
interactions in biological systems, can shed light on human interactions in
social systems.
Community Dynamics In A University Environment, R Huffaker, R.
Mittelhammer, P. Barkley & R. Folwell, Nonlin. Dyn., Psycho. & Life Sc.,
Vol. 7 (2), pp:181-203, Apr. 2003
Contributed by Pritha Das
9. Scientists Use DNA Fragments To Trace The Migration Of Modern Humans,
ScienceDaily
Excerpts: Human beings may have made their first journey out of Africa as
recently as 70,000 years ago, (¡K) researchers estimate that the entire
population of ancestral humans at the time of the African expansion
consisted of only about 2,000 individuals. "This estimate does not preclude
the presence of other populations of Homo sapiens sapiens [modern humans]
in Africa (¡K) that contemporary worldwide populations descend from one or
very few of those populations,"
The small size of our ancestral population may explain why there is so
little genetic variability in human DNA compared with that of chimpanzees
and other closely related species (¡K).
Scientists Use DNA Fragments To Trace The Migration Of Modern Humans,
ScienceDaily & Stanford Univ., 2003/05/28
Contributed by Atin Das
10. Spontaneous Emergence Of Leaders And Followers In Foraging Pairs, Nature
Spontaneous Emergence Of Leaders And Followers In Foraging Pairs, Sean A.
Rands, Guy Cowlishaw?, Richard A. Pettifor, J. Marcus Rowcliffe, Rufus A.
Johnstone, Nature 423, 432 - 434 (2003); doi:10.1038/nature01630
Abstract: The bacterium (¡K) cooperates to build fruiting bodies that help
it survive environmental stresses as spores. Some strains of this species
¡¥cheat¡¦ during fruiting-body development (¡K). In
this study, several
cheaters mixed with a cooperative strain were observed over several
sequential cycles of starvation-induced development. The cheaters rose to
high frequencies because of their cheating ability. Upon reaching high
frequencies, some cheaters greatly disrupted the total spore output of
mixed populations (¡K) even drove themselves or the entire population to
extinction. These results empirically show how ¡¥selfish¡¦
behaviour can
disrupt cooperative productivity- even in microorganisms.
Competitive Fates Of Bacterial Social Parasites: Persistence And
Self-Induced Extinction Of Myxococcus Xanthus Cheaters, F. Fiegna, G. J.
Velicer, Alphagalileo & Proc. B, 2003/05/28
Contributed by Atin Das
11. A Mathematical Model Of Cell-To-Cell Spread Of HIV-1 That Includes A
Time Delay, J. Math. Biol.
Abstract: We consider a two-dimensional model of cell-to-cell spread of
HIV-1 in tissue cultures, assuming that infection is spread directly from
infected cells to healthy cells and neglecting the effects of free virus.
(¡K) the model is a system of two differential equations with distributed
delay, which includes the differential equations model with a discrete
delay and the ordinary differential equations model as special cases. The
results indicate that, differing from the cell-to-free virus spread models,
the cell-to-cell spread models can produce infective oscillations in
typical tissue culture parameter regimes and the latently infected cells
are instrumental in sustaining the infection.
A Mathematical Model Of Cell-To-Cell Spread Of HIV-1 That Includes A Time
Delay, R. V. Culshaw, S. Ruan, G. Webb, J. Math. Biol., Vol. 46, Issue 4,
pp: 425-444, 2003/05/14, DOI 10.1007/s00285-002-0191-5
Contributed by Pritha Das
12. Born Under The Sun: UV Light And The Origin Of Life, Alphagalileo
Excerpts: Early evolution of life as we know it may have depended on DNA¡¦s
ability to absorb UV light. The research fills in one of the major gaps in
our understanding about the origins of life: how single molecules were able
to join together to create the self-replicating long chain molecules of
RNA, the precursors of DNA. With no ozone layer the primordial Earth was a
hostile place. This was especially true for long-chain molecules that would
be broken up by UV radiation (¡K). Most existing theories about how life
evolved involve hiding the first life forms away from the light.
Born Under The Sun: UV Light And The Origin Of Life, G. Bradley,
Alphagalileo, 2003/05/27
Contributed by Atin Das
13. Save Those Molecules! Molecular Biodiversity And Life, J. of Appl. Ecol.
Abstract: Biodiversity involves diversity of species, genetics and
habitats. But there is a fourth source of biodiversity ¡V molecular
biodiversity ¡V without which evolution cannot occur (¡K) is
distinct from
genetic diversity, though both ultimately depend on inheritable DNA. It
occurs within one individual, between individuals of the same species,
between related species (¡K). These highlight what Darwin and Wallace
missed, the origin of a biological process, or a species. But, although
molecules are at the centre of modern biology and medicine, science begins
and ends with a curiosity about the whole ¡V the cell, the organ or the
individual organism, within a particular ecosystem.
Save Those Molecules! Molecular Biodiversity And Life, Campbell A.K., J. of
Appl. Ecol., Vol. 40, No. 2, pp:193-203(11), Apr. 2003
Contributed by Pritha Das
Excerpts: From bacteria to mammals, the DNA content of genomes has
increased by about three orders of magnitude in just 3 billion years of
evolution. Early DNA association studies showed that the human genome is
full of repeated segments, such as Alu elements, that are repeated hundreds
of thousands of times. The vast majority of a mammalian genome does not
code for proteins. (...) "Why do we need so much DNA?" (...) Alu
elements
in the introns of human genes end up in the coding exons, and in so doing
influence evolution.
Genomics: Not Junk After All, Wojciech Makalowski, Science 2003 300:
1246-1247
14. Dynamic Nature Of African Great Ape Social Communication,
Abstract: We argue that dynamic-systems theory (DST) offers researchers a
promising alternative to the information-processing framework that has
dominated the study of primate social communication. DST rejects a linear
view of communication in which a sender transmits a signal to a receiver,
who then decodes that signal for its information content. Instead,
dynamic-systems theory envisions communication as an intrinsically creative
process that unfolds as communicating partners continuously adjust their
behaviors to one another. This process of continual adjustment, termed
co-regulation, can be identified in the social communication of the African
great apes. When researchers study communication in terms of co-regulated
social interaction, new insights and research questions emerge that may
help anthropologists better understand the nature of the vocal and gestural
behaviors of our closest living relatives.
Dynamic Nature Of African Great Ape Social Communication, Barbara J. King,
Stuart G. Shanker, Anthropological Theory, Volume 03 Issue 01, 03/03/01
15. Bad Dancers: Childhood Chills Give Bees Six Left Feet, Science News
Excerpts: (¡K) tested learning in the bees by giving them whiffs of a
citronella smell along with a treat of sugar water. A minute later, the
bees from the warmest pupahood were most likely to associate the scent cue
with the treat and stick out their tonguelike proboscises in response to a
puff of citronella odor. The difference between the two colder-and the
warmest-pupahood bees became even more pronounced when researchers waited
10 minutes to administer the test. Such a difference in cognitive powers
might affect bees' performance (¡K).
Bad Dancers: Childhood Chills Give Bees Six Left Feet, Susan Milius,
Science News, Vol. 163, No. 21, 03/5/24
16. Three-Gorges Dam--Experiment in Habitat Fragmentation?
Habitat fragmentation is the primary cause of the loss of biodiversity and
ecosystem services, but its underlying processes and mechanisms remain
poorly understood. Studies of islands and insular terrestrial habitats are
essential for improving our understanding of habitat fragmentation. We
argue that the Three-Gorges Dam, the largest that humans have ever created,
presents a unique grand-scale natural experiment that allows ecologists to
address a range of critical questions concerning the theory and practice of
biodiversity conservation.
Three-Gorges Dam--Experiment in Habitat Fragmentation?, Wu, Jianguo, Huang,
Jianhui, Han, Xingguo, Xie, Zongqiang, Gao, Xianming, Science 2003 300:
1239-1240
17. Nonlinear Dynamical Model Of Human Gait, Phys. Rev. E
Abstract: We present a nonlinear dynamical model of the human gait control
system in a variety of gait regimes. The stride-interval time series in
normal human gait is characterized by slightly multifractal fluctuations
(¡K) becomes more pronounced under both an increase and decrease in the
average gait. Moreover, the long-range memory in these fluctuations is lost
when the gait is keyed on a metronome. The central nervous system is
coupled to the motocontrol system, and together they control the locomotion
of the gait cycle itself. The metronomic gait is simulated by a forced
nonlinear oscillator with a periodic external force (¡K).
Nonlinear Dynamical Model Of Human Gait, B. J. West & N. Scafetta, Phys.
Rev. E 67, 051917, 2003/05/20
Contributed by Atin Das
18. Doppler Effect In Larval Biology: Theory And Applications, Ecol. Modelling
Abstract: Temperature is an important biological factor, affecting numerous
biological processes and phenomena. In this paper, I model several aspects
of the larval biology of the dungeness crab Cancer magister Dana. (¡K) to
analyse published laboratory data, under three regimes of water
temperature. I then interpret changes in larval abundance and the
instantaneous rate of natural mortality in terms of survival analysis,
estimating their parameters as a function of water temperature. I also
derive and calculate the values of simple indices of the changing effects
of water temperature in the dynamics of larval abundance and in larval
development.
Doppler Effect In Larval Biology: Theory And Applications, Y. Xiao, Ecol.
Modelling, Vol. 165, Issue 1, pp:1-22,
2003/07/01, doi:10.1016/S0304-3800(02)00356-3
Contributed by Atin Das
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
Excerpt: The primary problem is not that the weapons we were so certain
existed have not yet been found, however unsettling or embarrassing that
may be. The most pressing problem is that Iraqi nuclear facilities
containing valuable documents, partially enriched uranium and other
radiological materials ideal for "dirty bombs" have been looted and
ransacked under the noses of U.S. forces.
As a consequence, the U.S. government has no idea how much radioactive
material may have been stolen and could now be available to the highest
bidder.
The Looting of Iraq's Nuclear Facilities: What Do We Do Now?, Susan E.
Rice, The Globe and Mail, 03/05/21
Excerpts: Ironically, U.S. efforts to fight terrorism have resulted in the
fostering (¡K) of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world. Washington's
embrace of sordid governments such as the Karimov regime in Uzbekistan, its
silence regarding Russian brutality in Chechnya, and other distasteful,
albeit perhaps necessary, concessions needed to ensure vital cooperation
against al Qaeda are paradoxically bolstering al Qaeda's claims that the
United States supports the oppression of Muslims and props up brutal
governments.(¡K)
If the United States mishandles the reconstruction of Iraq, it too might
become a new training ground (¡K).
Are We Winning the War on Terrorism?, Daniel L. Byman, Brookings Middle
East Memo, 03/05/23
Excerpts: Unfortunately, while much progress has been made, the terrorist
threat from Al-Qa'eda (¡K) remains grave. Claiming otherwise may itself
create a security risk. The war in Iraq did not reduce the terrorist
threat, and in fact, has increased the risk of attacks in the United States
and Europe by increasing the level of Islamist and anti-American rhetoric,
by diverting the attention of political leaders from the central issue of
the war on terrorism, and by encouraging the view among the public that the
war on terrorism is nearly won.
"Terrorism After the War in Iraq," U.S.-France Analysis, Judge
Jean-Louis
Bruguiere
Excerpts: An administration hypes the threat posed by a foreign power. It
talks of links to Islamic fundamentalist terrorism; it warns about a
nuclear weapons program. The news media play along, and the country is
swept up in war fever. (¡K)
The 1997 movie "Wag the Dog" had quite a plot. (¡K)
Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary, recently told Vanity Fair
that the decision to emphasize W.M.D.'s had been taken for "bureaucratic
reasons . . . because it was the one reason everyone could agree on."
Waggy Dog Stories, Paul Krugman, NYTimes, 03/05/30
20. Links & Snippets
20.1 Other Publications
SFI Working Papers
External and Internal Control in Plant Development, Beata Oborny, DOI:
SFI-WP 03-05-034
Survival and Competition of Clonal Plant Populations in Spatially and
Temporally Heterogeneous Habitats, Adam Kun, Beata Oborny, DOI: SFI-WP
03-05-033
Self-Organization from Structural Refrigeration, D. Eric Smith, DOI: SFI-WP
03-05-032
The Evolution of Cooperation in Heterogeneous Populations, Samuel Bowles,
Herbert Gintis, DOI: SFI-WP 03-05-031
Cooperation in Balinese Rice Farming, J. Stephen Lansing, John H. Miller,
DOI: SFI-WP 03-05-030
Estimation Of Entropy And Mutual Information, L. Paninski, Neural
Computation, Vol.15, Number: 6, pp:1191-1253, Jun. 2003, DOI:
10.1162/089976603321780272
Integrated Fuzzy Modeling And Adaptive Control For Nonlinear Systems, Y. C.
Hsu, G. Chen, S. Tong & H. X. Li, Info. Sciences, Vol.153, pp:217-236,
Jul. 2003, doi:10.1016/S0020-0255(03)00063-X
How Do Simple Energy Activities Comprise Complex Behavior Of Life Systems?
A Conceptual Synthesis And Decomposition Of The Energy Structure Of Life
Systems, X. Huang, Ecol. Modelling, Vol. 165, Issue 1, pp:79-89,
2003/07/01, doi:10.1016/S0304-3800(03)00063-2
Climate Change Good For The Birds?, T. Reynolds, Alphagalileo & Proc. B,
2003/05/26
Keeping Pace Of Mobile Phone Safety, M. Cain, Alphagalileo, 2003/05/28
Trophic Interactions Under Climate Fluctuations: The Atlantic Puffin As An
Example, J. M. Durant, T. A. Nilssen & N. C. Stenseth, Alphagalileo &
Proc.
B, 2003/05/28
Gene Mapping Key To Unlocking Human Secrets, Says Geneticist, ScienceDaily
& Texas A&M Univ., 2003/05/26
Just How Many Species Are There, Anyway?, ScienceDaily, 2003/05/26
Monogamous Animals May Be More Likely To Die Out, ScienceDaily, 2003/05/27
Sleep Disorder Linked To Common, Serious Heart Rhythm Problem, ScienceDaily
& Mayo Clinic, 2003/05/27
Fish Oils In Heart Cells Can Block Dangerous Heart Rhythms, ScienceDaily,
2003/05/29
A Dam Shame? Project May Slam China's Biodiversity, When the Three Gorges
Dam begins to impound the waters of the Yangtze River in China later this
year, dozens of mountains and other elevated areas upstream will become
islands-an outcome that will probably devastate the rich diversity of
species now living along the river. 2003/05/24
Repeat After Me, New research suggests that the ability to infer the
thoughts and feelings of others grows out of a capacity for imitation
exhibited by human infants and perhaps by other animals, as well. 2003/05/24
Scripted Brains: Learning To Read Evokes Hemispheric Trade-Off, From
childhood through adolesence, the process of learning to read involves an
amplification of specific types of left-brain activity and a dampening of
right-brain responses, a new brain-imaging study finds. 2003/05/24
ARKive Launched, New Online Archive For Endangered Species Begins Loading,
Fred Pearce, The Scientist, 2003/05/23
Repeat After Me, Atoms with long memories could enhance supersecure quantum
communications, 2003/05/22
From PlayStation to Supercomputer for $50,000, John Markoff, NYTimes,
2003/05/26
Geiger Counter In Every Human Revealed, Philip Cohen, New Scientist,
2003/05/03 19:00
Mimicry Makes Computers The User's Friend, Anil Ananthaswamy, New
Scientist, 2003/05/28
Making Your Mind Up, Kevan Martin, Nature 423, 383 - 384 (2003);
doi:10.1038/423383a, reviews Cortex and Mind: Unifying Cognition, by
Joaquin M. Fuster, Oxford University Press: 2002. 314 pp, Neurons with
sustained activity could help us to understand cognition
Vision: The Retina's Fancy Tricks, Richard H. Masland, Nature 423, 387 -
388 (2003); doi:10.1038/423387a
Home Schooling in Cyberspace, Bonnie Rothman Morris, NYTimes, 2003/05/29
Where Parents Can Do Their Homework, Bonnie Rothman Morris, NYTimes,
2003/05/29
Worriers More Prone To Cancer, New Scientist, It is not going to help those
people prone to anxiety, but a study suggests they are 25% more likely to
have premalignancies, 2003/05/28
Europe's Satellite Navigation System Gets Final Approval, New Scientist,
The Galileo satellite network will provide a more accurate commercial
service than the US Global Positioning System, 2003/05/27
Alchemy With Light Shocks Physicists, New Scientist, An unexpected and
stunning new phenomenon could allow light to be turned into heat, or X-rays
into radio waves, 2003/05/21
Stem Cell 'Immortality' Gene Found, New Scientist, A master gene that
directs embryonic stem cells to remain in a state of perpetual youth is
reveale, 2003/05/30
Quantum Dots Boost Tissue Imaging, New Scientist, An ultra-high resolution
technique for imaging living tissue just got better, thanks to the addition
of tiny nanocrystals, 2003/05/30
Code Diagrams Enable 'Point-And-Click' Programming, Will Knight, New
Scientist, Non-programmers using a new computer language can design and
modify Java software with a few clicks of a mouse, 2003/05/19
20.2 Coming and Ongoing Webcasts
U.S. Militarism Threatens the Destiny of Humanity, Ramsey Clark, c-span,
03/05/12
NAS Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge Domains, Video/Audio Report,
03/05/11
Robert Baer, Fmr. CIA Field Officer Baer discusses his article in the
current issue of The Atlantic Monthly on Saudi Arabia's counter-terrorism
efforts, c-span, 4/30/2003, 1 hr., (Video clip13399)
Uncertainty and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected and
Unknowable, The University of Texas Austin, Texas USA, 2003/04/10-12
Autonomous Agents, Stuart Kauffman, FRIAM Group sponsored Applied
Complexity Lecture Series at the Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, 2003/03/13
New Trends In Industrial Partnership And Innovation Management At European
Research Laboratories, CERN, Geneva, 2003/03/19 (with webcast)
CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
"New Frontiers of Neuroscience" Symposium, Taipei, Taiwan, 2003/03/07
INSC 2003, International Nonlinear Sciences Conference, Vienna, Austria,
2003/02/07-09
World Economic Forum Meeting "Building Trust", Davos, Switzerland,
2003/01/23-28
Artificial Life Conference (A-Life 8), Sydney, Australia, 2002/12/09-13
Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
20.3 Conference Announcements & Call for Papers
SPIE's 1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and Noise, Santa Fe, NM, 2003/06/01-04
The First International Workshop on "Socio-Cognitive Grids: The Net as a
Universal Human Resource", Santorini, Greece, 2003/06/01-04
21st ICDE World Conf on Open Learning and Distance Education, Hong Kong,
2003/06/01-05
The Co-Revolutionary Competition An Alternative War Game Inspired By The
New Sciences, Newport, RI, 2003/06/03-05
Summer School on Nonlinear Phenomena In Computational Chemical Physics,
Barcelona, Spain, 2003/06/09-14
17th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS 2003), San
Diego, California, 2003/06/10-13
One-Week Intensive Course: Complex Physical, Biological and Social Systems,
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 2003/06/16-20
2003 Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SCSC '03), Montreal, Canada,
2003/06/20-24
5th Intl Conf "Symmetry in Nonlinear Mathematical Physics", Kiev,
Ukraine,
2003/06/23-29, Mirror
Workshops of Dynamical Systems with Applications to Biology, Hsinchu,
Taiwan, 2003/06/24-28 (Postponed!)
NKS 2003 Conference & Minicourse, Boston, MA, 03/06/27-29
The 2003 World Technology Summit & World Technology Awards, San Francisco,
CA
UQAM Summer Institute in Cognitive Sciences 2003: Categorization In
Cognitive Sciences, Montreal, 2003/06/30-07/11
9th International Conference on Auditory Display, Boston, MA,
2003/07/07-09, Wkshp on Assistive Technologies for the Blind, 2003/07/07-09
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, 2003/07/07-11
2nd International School Topics In Nonlinear Dynamics, Siena (Italy),
2003/07/09-11
2003 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2003), Chicago,
IL,2003/07/12-16
2nd Intl Joint Conf on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems
(AAMAS-2003), Melbourne, Australia, 2003/07/14-18
7th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics (SCI
2003), Orlando, Florida, 2003/07/27-30
BIFURCATIONS 2003, Southampton, UK, 03/07/28-30
Intl Conf on Socio Political Informatics and Cybernetics: SPIC '03,
Orlando, Fl, USA, 2003/07/31-08/02
13th Annual International Conference, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life
Sciences,Boston, MA, USA, 2003/08/08-10
Call for Papers on Dynamical Hierarchies, Special Issue of Artificial Life,
Deadline: 2003/09/05
A Dual International Conference on Ethics, Complexity & Organisations &
Creativity, London WC2, UK, 2003/09/16-18
1st German Conference on Multiagent System Technologies (MATES'03), Erfurt,
Germany, 2003/09/22-25
Dynamics Days 2003, XXIII Annual Conference, 4 Decades of Chaos 1963-2003,
Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 03/09/24-27
Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT, Cambridge, MA, 2003/09/24-25
7th European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL-2003), Dortmund, Germany,
2003/09/14-17
2003 IEEE/WIC Intl Joint Conf. Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent
Technology, Beijing, China, 2003/10/13-17
American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) 2003 Conference (H.v.Foerster),
Vienna, Austria , 2003/11/10-15
Trends And Perspectives In Extensive And Non-Extensive Statistical
Mechanics, In Honour Of The 60th Birthday Of Constantino Tsallis, Angra Dos
Reis, Brazil, 2003/11/19-21
ICDM '03: The Third IEEE International Conference on Data Mining,
Melbourne, Florida, USA, 2003/11/19-22
3rd International Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex System, Guangzhou,
China, 2003/11/29-30
2nd International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of Social
Insects, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; 2003/12/15-17
4th Intl ICSC Symposium Engineering Of Intelligent Systems (EIS 2004),
Island of Madeira, Portugal, 04/02/29-03/02
Fractal 2004, "Complexity and Fractals in Nature", 8th Intl
Multidisciplinary Conf , Vancouver, Canada, 2004/04/04-07
Fifth International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2004), Boston, MA,
USA, 2004/05/16-21
20.3.1 Public Conference Calls
PlexusCalls: "Surprise! Surprise!", McDaniel, Reuben, Audio File
Available
Now, mp3
Complexity And Medical Practice, Pat Rush & Bob Lindberg, PlexusCalls,
2003/01/10, Audio File Available Now, mp3
John Holland in Conversation, PlexusCalls, - Audio File Available Now, mp3
Are Disease and Aging Information/Complexity Loss Syndromes?, PlexusCalls,
2002/11/08, 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, 2002/11/22, 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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