复杂性文摘 NO：2003.43

Complexity Digest 2003.43 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

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Content:

01. Trade Liberalization, Corruption, And Environmental Policy Formation:
Theory And Evidence, J.
Env. Econ. & Management
01.01. Viscous Demand, J. Econ. Theory
02. Bolivian Leader's Ouster Seen as Warning on U.S. Drug Policy, NYTimes
03. Pattern Excitation-Based Processing: The Music of The Brain, arXiv
03.01. Neural Correlates of the Complexity of Rhythmic Finger Tapping,
NeuroImage
04. Glycine Receptors On the Move, Science
05. Prion Diseases: A Nucleic-Acid Accomplice?, Nature
06. Hierarchical Organization In Complex Networks, Phys. Rev. E
06.01. How to Search a Social Network, arXiv
07. Analysis of Norms Game in networked societies, arXiv
08. 2003 World Rock Paper Scissors Championship, NPR
09. The Living Cell As A Paradigm For Complex Natural Systems, Complexus
09.01. Does Tumor Growth Follow A "Universal Law"?, J. Theor. Biol.
10. Evolution: Opportunity Versus Innovation, Nature
10.01. Single-Gene Speciation By Left-Right Reversal, Nature
11. Females Increase Offspring Heterozygosity And Fitness Through
Extra-Pair Matings, Nature
12. Sipping From a Poisoned Chalice, Science
12.01. A Healthful Dab of Radiation?, Science
13. Regrow Your Own, Wired
14. Self-assembled Nanocells Function As Non-volatile Memory, ScienceDaily
14.01. Electronic Memory Research That Dwarfs the Silicon Chip, NYTimes
15. Halfway to Diamond, Science
15.01. Bonding Changes in Compressed Superhard Graphite, Science
16. A Cultural Scorecard Says West Is Ahead, NYTimes
17. String Theory: Trying to Visualize Many, Many Dimensions of Weirdness,
NYTimes
18. The Stovepipe-How The Intelligence System Got Off Course, New Yorker
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
19.01. Planning For Smallpox Outbreaks, Nature
19.02. Student: I Put Box Cutters On Airplanes Five Weeks Ago, New York
Daily News
19.02.01. Scott Simon Essay: Airport Security, NPR Weekend Edition
19.03. Rare Candor, Newsweek
19.04. White House Withholding Sept 11 Files ?Report, Reuters
20. Links & Snippets
20.01. Other Publications
20.02. Webcast Announcements
20.03. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements
20.04. ComDig Announcement: New ComDig Archive in Beta Test
20.05. Special Announcement: Artists Explore Complex Systems, Federal
Reserve Board

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01. Trade Liberalization, Corruption, And Environmental Policy Formation:
Theory And Evidence , J.
Env. Econ. & Management

Abstract: This study explores the linkages between trade policy,
corruption, and environmental
policy. We begin by presenting a theoretical model that produces several
testable predictions,
including: (i) the effect of trade liberalization on the stringency of
environmental policy depends
on the level of corruption; and (ii) corruption reduces environmental
policy stringency. Using
panel data from a mix of developed and developing countries from 1982 to
1992, we find evidence
that supports these conjectures. We view these results as representing an
attempt at understanding
the myriad of complex relationships that exist in an open economy.

* Trade Liberalization, Corruption, And Environmental Policy Formation:
Theory And Evidence, R.
Damania, P. G. Fredriksson  , J. A. List jlist@arec.umd.edu , Nov. 2003, DOI:
10.1016/S0095-0696(03)00025-1
* Contributed by Pritha Das


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01.01. Viscous Demand , J. Econ. Theory

Abstract: In many markets, demand adjusts slowly to changes in prices,
i.e., demand is "viscous".
This viscosity gives each firm some monopoly power, since it can raise its
price above that of its
competitors without immediately losing all of its customers. The resulting
equilibrium pricing
behavior and market outcomes can differ significantly from what one would
predict in the absence of
demand viscosity. In particular, the model explains the importance of
market share as an
investment, as well as "kinked demand curves". It also explains how
apparently "competitive"
pricing behavior can lead to outcomes that mimic those of collusion.

* Viscous Demand, R. Radner rradner@stern.nyu.edu , Oct. 2003, DOI:
10.1016/S0022-0531(03)00115-7
* Contributed by Pritha Das


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02. Bolivian Leader's Ouster Seen as Warning on U.S. Drug Policy , NYTimes

Excerpts: American officials have considered Bolivia such a success in the
anti-drug campaign that
they were looking to replicate their strategy in Peru. But there, too,
signs of discontent are
appearing, beginning with the re-emergence of the Shining Path, the
guerrilla group that terrorized
the country throughout the 1980's. "Right now Shining Path is strongest in
coca growing areas,"
(?. "To the extent that the U.S. pushes on eradication targets without any
kind of flexibility, it
makes people there much more amenable to turning to violent protest or
insurgent groups(?."

* Bolivian Leader's Ouster Seen as Warning on U.S. Drug Policy, LARRY
ROHTER , October 23, 2003


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03. Pattern Excitation-Based Processing: The Music of The Brain , arXiv

Abstract: An approach to information processing based on the excitation of
patterns of activity by
non-linear active resonators in response to their input patterns is
proposed. Arguments are
presented to show that any computation performed by a conventional Turing
machine-based computer,
called T-machine in this paper, could also be performed by the pattern
excitation-based machine,
which will be called P-machine. A realization of this processing scheme by
neural networks is
discussed. In this realization, the role of the resonators is played by
neural pattern excitation
networks, which are the neural circuits capable of exciting different
spatio-temporal patterns of
activity in response to different inputs. Learning in the neural pattern
excitation networks is
also considered. It is shown that there is a duality between pattern
excitation and pattern
recognition neural networks, which allows to create new pattern excitation
modes corresponding to
recognizable input patterns, based on Hebbian learning rules.
Hierarchically organized, such
networks can produce complex behavior. Animal behavior, human language and
thought are treated as
examples produced by such networks.
Contributing Editor's Note: This paper shows that theoretical "brain like"
machines can perform the
same computations than a Turing machine. Could a Turing machine perform all
the computations a
"brain-like" machine can do? If so, can this be achieved only in theory, or
also in practice?

* Pattern Excitation-Based Processing: The Music of The Brain, Lev Koyrakh
, 2003-10-21, DOI:
q-bio.NC/0310025, arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


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03.01. Neural Correlates of the Complexity of Rhythmic Finger Tapping ,
NeuroImage

Abstract: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we studied
the neural correlates of
the complexity of rhythmic finger tapping. Our experiments measured the
brain activity of 13
subjects performing rhythmic tapping on a response box with multistable
rhythms of 1 to 5 different
interresponse intervals. From the button press response times, we
constructed phase portraits where
we identified the number of clusters of periodic points in a rhythm that
corresponded to the number
of different beats of the rhythm performed. We then constructed a
statistical model for correlation
analysis involving the following behavioral parameters: rate of tapping and
number of beats in a
rhythm. The tapping rate correlated with the brain activity in the
ipsilateral pre/postcentral
gyrus, and the number of beats (complexity) was correlated with activations
in the primary motor
cortex, supplementary motor area, basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum.
A region of interest
(ROI) average analysis showed that the complexity of a rhythm had a
differential correlation with
the activity in these regions. The cerebellum and the thalamus showed
increasing activity, and the
basal ganglia showed decreasing activity with complexity of a rhythm. These
results identify the
areas involved in a rhythm generation and the modulation of brain activity
with the complexity.

* Neural Correlates of the Complexity of Rhythmic Finger Tapping, Mukeshwar
Dhamala , Giuseppe
Pagnoni , Kurt Wiesenfeld , Caroline F. Zink , Megan Martin , Gregory S.
Berns , 2003-10, DOI:
10.1016/S1053-8119(03)00304-5, NeuroImage 20(2):918-926
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


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04. Glycine Receptors On the Move , Science

Summary: Semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have recently emerged as probes
with the potential to
revolutionize fluorescence imaging. Dahan et al. (A HREF="
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/302/5644/442" TARGET=new>p. 442
) have now detected single QD-tagged glycine receptors in living cultured
spinal neurons. By
combining in vivo monitoring and post hoc electron microscopic analysis,
the dynamics of receptors
was monitored over time and the entry of a receptor into the synapse was
directly observed.

* Glycine Receptors On the Move, Science, Volume 302, Number 5644, Issue of
17 Oct 2003, pp. 442


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05. Prion Diseases: A Nucleic-Acid Accomplice? , Nature

Excerpts: Prion proteins that trigger a cascade of protein misfolding in
the brain are suspected of
being the sole transmissible cause of some brain-destroying diseases. But
nucleic acids could be
their partner in crime.
(? hypothesis, which holds that prions are "transmissible particles that
are devoid of nucleic
acid"; however, direct proof of the 'protein-only' nature of TSE agents has
remained elusive. (?
evidence that nucleic acids might, after all, be involved in propagating
TSE infectivity. (?
suggest that vertebrate single-stranded RNA is required for the in vitro
amplification of PrPSc.

* Prion Diseases: A Nucleic-Acid Accomplice?, Byron Caughey , David A.
Kocisko  , 16 October 2003,
DOI: 10.1038/425673a, Nature 425, 673 - 674


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06. Hierarchical Organization In Complex Networks , Phys. Rev. E

Abstract: Many real networks in nature and society share two generic
properties: they are
scale-free and they display a high degree of clustering. We show that these
two features are the
consequence of a hierarchical organization, implying that small groups of
nodes organize in a
hierarchical manner into increasingly large groups, while maintaining a
scale-free topology. We
find that several real networks, such as the World wide web, actor network,
the Internet at the
domain level, and the semantic web obey this scaling law, indicating that
hierarchy is a
fundamental characteristic of many complex systems. #level

* Hierarchical Organization In Complex Networks, E. Ravasz & A. L. Barabási
, 2003, DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.67.026112
* Contributed by Atin Das


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06.01. How to Search a Social Network , arXiv

Abstract: We address the question of how participants in a small world
experiment are able to find
short paths in a social network using only local information about their
immediate contacts. We
simulate such experiments on a network of actual email contacts within an
organization as well as
on a student social networking website. On the e-mail network we find that
small world search
strategies using a contact's position in physical space or in an
organizational hierarchy relative
to the target can effectively be used to locate most individuals. However,
we find that in the
online student network, where the data is incomplete and hierarchical
structures are not well
defined, local search strategies are less effective. We compare our
findings to recent theoretical
hypotheses about underlying social structure that would enable these simple
search strategies to
succeed and discuss the implications to social software design.

* How to Search a Social Network, Lada A. Adamic , Eytan Adar , 2003-10-6,
DOI: cond-mat/0310120,
arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


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07. Analysis of Norms Game in networked societies , arXiv

Abstract: Norms, defined as generally accepted behaviour in societies
without central authority
(and thus distinguished from laws), are very powerful mechanism leading to
coherent behaviour of
the society members. This paper examines, within a simple numerical
simulation, the various effects
that may lead to norm formation and stability. The approach has been first
used by Axelrod, who
proposed two step model of norm and meta-norm enforcement. We present here
an extension and
detailed analysis of the original work, as well as several new ideas that
may bear on the norm
establishment mechanisms in societies. It turns out that a relatively
simple model for simulated
norm enforcement predicts persistent norm breaking even when it is
associated with high punishment
levels. The key factors appear to be the combination of the level of
penalty for breaking the norm
and proximity of norm enforcers. We also study a totally different
mechanism of norm establishment,
without meta-norms but using instead the direct bonus mechanism to
norm-enforcers.

* Analysis of Norms Game in networked societies, Pawel Sobkowicz ,
2003-10-19, DOI:
cond-mat/0310444, arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


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08. 2003 World Rock Paper Scissors Championship , NPR

Excerpts: A fierce battle for supremacy gets under way in Toronto this
weekend. At the 2003 Rock
Paper Scissors World Championship, competitors will pit fist against
splayed fingers against
outstretched hand. (?

One of the first tricks learned by the novice is to hold back a throw of
paper until the last
possible moment to dupe an opponent into believing that you may actually be
throwing a rock. This
allows you the extra few milliseconds for fine-tuning your approach and
delivery.

* 2003 World Rock Paper Scissors Championship, 03/10/24, NPR
See also: World Rock Paper Scissors Society Web Site



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09. The Living Cell As A Paradigm For Complex Natural Systems , Complexus

Excerpts: (...) John von Neumann predicted that a science of complexity
will emerge from the 20th
century. He started from an intuitive statement about functional
complexity: 'An object is of the
highest degree of complexity if it can do very difficult and involved
things'. He nevertheless
outlined 'a decisive property of complexity' (...). What makes up a cell is
a network of thousands
of chemical reactions (...). All the structural and functional patterns are
not determined in a
simple way by the genome as if in the execution of a computer program.

* Editorial: The Living Cell As A Paradigm For Complex Natural Systems,
Atlan, H. , 2003, DOI:
10.1159/000067478
* Contributed by Atin Das


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09.01. Does Tumor Growth Follow A "Universal Law"? , J. Theor. Biol.

Abstract: A general model for the ontogenetic growth of living organisms
has been recently
proposed. Here we investigate the extension of this model to the growth of
solid malignant tumors.
A variety of in vitro and in vivo data are analysed and compared with the
prediction of a
"universal" law, relating properly rescaled tumor masses and tumor growth
times. The results
support the notion that tumor growth follows such a universal law. Several
important implications
of this finding are discussed, including its relevance for tumor metastasis
and recurrence, cell
turnover rates, angiogenesis and invasion.

* Does Tumor Growth Follow A "Universal Law"?, C. Guiot
caterina.guiot@unito.it , P. G. Degiorgis,
P. P. Delsanto, P. Gabriele & T. S. Deisboeck , 2003/10/02, DOI:
10.1016/S0022-5193(03)00221-2
* Contributed by Pritha Das


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10. Evolution: Opportunity Versus Innovation , Nature

Excerpts: Why have some evolutionary lineages produced many more species
than others? (?, being in
the right place at the right time is a plausible answer.
(?.For example, plant-feeding in insects has evolved on several occasions
and seems generally to
have resulted in an increased net rate of speciation. Ricklefs concludes,
however, that key
innovations are unlikely to have been the major cause of variation in
speciation rates among the
passerines. Instead, those species that happened to be in the right place
at the right time to
exploit ecological opportunities (?).

* Evolution: Opportunity Versus Innovation, Paul H. Harvey , Andy Purvis  ,
16 October 2003, DOI:
10.1038/425676b, Nature 425, 676 - 677


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10.01. Single-Gene Speciation By Left-Right Reversal , Nature

Excerpts: A land-snail species of polyphyletic origin results from
chirality constraints on mating.

A single gene gives rise to the mirror-image form of a snail's body plan,
which could become
established as a different species if mating is prevented between snails of
different chirality by
genital mismatch. Here we (? demonstrate the parallel evolution of reversal
between left and right
lineages of the Japanese land snail Euhadra. We find that the different
mirror-image forms have
evolved in favour of the genetically dominant handedness as a result of
single-gene speciation.

* Single-Gene Speciation By Left-Right Reversal, Rei Ueshima , Takahiro
Asami  , 16 October 2003,
DOI: 10.1038/425679a, Nature 425, 679


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11. Females Increase Offspring Heterozygosity And Fitness Through
Extra-Pair Matings , Nature

Excerpts: Females in a variety of species commonly mate with multiple
males, and there is evidence
that they benefit by producing offspring of higher genetic quality;
however, the nature of these
genetic benefits is debated. (? Females should thus benefit from mating
with genetically
dissimilar males. In many birds, social monogamy restricts mate choice, but
females may circumvent
this by pursuing extra-pair copulations. Here we show that female blue
tits, Parus caeruleus,
increase the heterozygosity of their progeny through extra-pair matings.

* Females Increase Offspring Heterozygosity And Fitness Through Extra-Pair
Matings, Katharina
Foerster , Kaspar Delhey , Arild Johnsen , Jan T. Lifjeld , Bart
Kempenaers  , 16 October 2003,
DOI: 10.1038/nature01969, Nature 425, 714 - 717


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12. Sipping From a Poisoned Chalice , Science

Excerpts: Dioxin and its chemical cousins are among the most deadly
compounds on Earth. Spike a
rat's water with 10 parts per billion--the equivalent of 7 teaspoons of
dioxin dissolved in an
Olympic-sized swimming pool--and there's a 50/50 chance that the rat will
die of liver cancer. Yet
even tinier concentrations of dioxins fed to rats inhibit tumors. The
seemingly paradoxical
findings have some scientists suggesting what would have been unthinkable
not long ago: testing
modified dioxins as an anticancer agent in humans.

* Sipping From a Poisoned Chalice, Jocelyn Kaiser  , Science 302, 5644,
Issue of 17 Oct 2003, pp.
376-379


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12.01. A Healthful Dab of Radiation? , Science

Excerpts: Radiation risks are now calculated based mainly on cancers among
86,600 survivors of the
two atomic bombs dropped on Japan. These human data "are the gold
standard," notes carcinogenesis
expert Julian Preston of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The incidence of solid
cancers in the survivors rises in a straight line with dose. This suggests
that any increase in
dose delivers an increase in risk, with no safe level of radiation. But at
the lowest doses, there
are too few cancers to calculate the actual risks.

* A Healthful Dab of Radiation?, Jocelyn Kaiser  , Science 302, 5644, Issue
of 17 Oct 2003, p 378


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13. Regrow Your Own , Wired

Excerpts: (? newts hold the key to human healing. (? This constant
replenishment is what enables
our 70-year lifespan, but cell growth is calibrated to run at a trickle:
too slow to fix major
damage. Lose an arm or a kidney and that's it; we can't generate the lost
part any more than a car
can sprout a new transmission.

Why? It's an evolutionary mystery. (? But a paradox of regeneration is that
the higher you move up
the evolutionary chain, the less likely you'll have the ability to regrow
limbs or organs.

* Regrow Your Own, Jennifer Kahn , Wired, Issue 11.11, 03/11


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14. Self-assembled Nanocells Function As Non-volatile Memory , ScienceDaily

Excerpts: (...) demonstrated that disordered assemblies of gold nanowires
and conductive organic
molecules can function as non-volatile memory, one of the key components of
computer chips. "A
large part of the cost associated with creating integrated circuits comes
from the painstaking
precision required to ensure that each of the millions of circuits on the
chip are placed in
exactly the right spot. Our research shows that ordered precision isn't a
prerequisite for
computing. It is possible to make memory circuits out of disordered
systems." (...) a
self-assembled ensemble of molecular electronic components has been used to
create complex devices
(...).

* Self-assembled Nanocells Function As Non-volatile Memory, 2003/10/20,
ScienceDaily & Rice Univ.
* Contributed by Atin Das


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14.01. Electronic Memory Research That Dwarfs the Silicon Chip , NYTimes

Excerpts: (? build circuits from molecules that are randomly laid out
between larger contact
points.

By repeating tiny electrical pulses between adjacent contact points, the
researchers were able to
create regions they referred to as nanocells, which would function both as
memory and as computer
logic circuits.

So far, the researchers have created circuits that are about 10 times as
dense as silicon chips,
though they switch on and off far more slowly, Mr. Tour said.

(? applications where the stored information is permanent or changes
infrequently.

* Electronic Memory Research That Dwarfs the Silicon Chip, JOHN MARKOFF ,
03/10/20, NYTimes


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15. Halfway to Diamond , Science

Summary: In diamond, carbon forms sp3 bonds in a three-dimensional
structure, whereas in graphite,
carbon sheets form through sp2 bonds. A variety of enigmatic structures
between these two have been
hinted at when graphite is compressed at ambient temperatures. Mao et al. (A
HREF="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/302/5644/425" TARGET=new>p.
425
) used near K-edge spectroscopy to resolve this transition. At pressures
around 17 gigapascals,
half of the weak bonds between the graphite layers convert to diamondlike
bonds to create a
material hard enough to indent diamond.

* Halfway to Diamond, Science, 302, 5644, Issue of 17 Oct 2003, pp. 425-427


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15.01. Bonding Changes in Compressed Superhard Graphite , Science

Abstract: Compressed under ambient temperature, graphite undergoes a
transition at 17 gigapascals.
The near K-edge spectroscopy of carbon using synchrotron x-ray inelastic
scattering reveals that
half of the -bonds between graphite layers convert to -bonds, whereas the
other half remain as
-bonds in the high-pressure form. The x-ray diffraction pattern of the
high-pressure form is
consistent with a distorted graphite structure in which bridging carbon
atoms between graphite
layers pair and form -bonds, whereas the nonbridging carbon atoms remain
unpaired with -bonds. The
high-pressure form is superhard, capable of indenting cubic-diamond single
crystals.

* Bonding Changes in Compressed Superhard Graphite, Wendy L. Mao , Ho-kwang
Mao , Peter J. Eng ,
Thomas P. Trainor , Matthew Newville , Chi-chang Kao , Dion L. Heinz ,
Jinfu Shu , Yue Meng ,
Russell J. Hemley,  , Science Oct 17 2003: 425-427.


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16. A Cultural Scorecard Says West Is Ahead , NYTimes

Excerpts: "As I write, it appears Europe's run is over," he asserts. "In
another few hundred years,
books will probably be exploring the reasons why some completely different
part of the world became
the locus of great human accomplishment. Now is a good time to stand back
in admiration. What the
human species is today it owes in astonishing degree to what was
accomplished in just half a dozen
centuries by the peoples of one small portion of the northwestern Eurasian
land mass."

* A Cultural Scorecard Says West Is Ahead, EMILY EAKIN  , 03/10/25, NYTimes


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17. String Theory: Trying to Visualize Many, Many Dimensions of Weirdness ,
NYTimes

Abstract: (? multiple theories were each in fact different facets of a
single underlying theory
that he called M theory, which requires 11 dimensions and allows for the
existence of not just
strings but multidimensional membranes ?"branes" in the new cosmic jargon
?that could be island
universes.(?
"M stands for magic, mystery or matrix, according to taste," he says in the
"11th Dimension"
episode, then adds, "Some cynics have also occasionally suggested that M
may also stand for murky,
because our level of understanding of the theory is so primitive."

Contributed by  Dean LeBaron

* String Theory: Trying to Visualize Many, Many Dimensions of Weirdness,
Dennis Overbye  ,
03/10/26, NYTimes


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18. The Stovepipe-How The Intelligence System Got Off Course , New Yorker

Excerpts: A retired C.I.A. officer described for me some of the questions
that would normally arise
in vetting: "Does dramatic information turned up by an overseas spy square
with his access, (??
(? The vetting process is especially important when one is dealing with
foreign-agent
reports-sensitive intelligence that can trigger profound policy decisions.
In theory, no request
for action should be taken directly to higher authorities-a process known
as "stovepiping?without
the information on which it is based having been subjected to rigorous
scrutiny.

* The Stovepipe-How The Intelligence System Got Off Course, Seymour M.
Hersh  , 03/10/20, New
Yorker


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19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks





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19.01. Planning For Smallpox Outbreaks , Nature

Excerpts: Mathematical models of viral transmission and control are
important tools for assessing
the threat posed by deliberate release of the smallpox virus and the best
means of containing an
outbreak. Models must balance biological realism against limitations of
knowledge, and
uncertainties need to be accurately communicated to policy-makers. (?
spread in contemporary
populations must be elucidated largely from historical studies undertaken
before disease
eradication in 1979. We review the use of models in smallpox planning
within the broader
epidemiological context set by recent outbreaks of both novel and
re-emerging pathogens.

* Planning For Smallpox Outbreaks, Neil M. Ferguson , Matt J. Keeling , W.
John Edmunds , Raymond
Gani , Bryan T. Grenfell , Roy M. Anderson , Steve Leach  , 16 October
2003, DOI:
10.1038/nature02007, Nature 425, 681 - 685


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19.02. Student: I Put Box Cutters On Airplanes Five Weeks Ago , New York
Daily News

Excerpts: On Sept. 15, the Transportation Security Administration received
an e-mail from Heatwole
saying he had "information regarding six security breaches?at the
Raleigh-Durham and
Baltimore-Washington airports between Feb. 7 and Sept. 14, the FBI
affidavit said. (?

The affidavit does not say what was done about the e-mail after it was
received in September. The
bags containing box cutters and other items were not discovered until last
Thursday night, after a
lavatory on one of the planes had maintenance problems and workers found them.
Editor's Note: During a recent stopover I tried to report a security breach
on  TSA's toll free
number (1-866-289-9673, Monday thru Friday 8 am - 10 pm). I dialed the
number about a dozen times
from 8a.m. to 9:30a.m. only to get a recorded message that I should call
back "during business
hours?

* Student: I Put Box Cutters On Airplanes Five Weeks Ago, 03/10/20, New
York Daily News /THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS


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19.02.01. Scott Simon Essay: Airport Security , NPR Weekend Edition

Excerpts: NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the college student who was charged
this week for planting
box cutters on airplanes to, as he claims, draw attention to security threats.

* Scott Simon Essay: Airport Security , NPR Weekend Edition, 03/10/25


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19.03. Rare Candor , Newsweek

Excerpts: Either way, the truths that Rumsfeld put to paper in the memo
leaked to USA Today reflect
the hard reality of our engagement in Iraq, and should be the public
posture of the administration.
The fact that Rumsfeld dares to say the administration lacks "the metrics
to measure?progress in
fighting terrorism is the most chilling aspect of his frosty analysis. "It
seems the harder we
work, the behinder we get,?he says. They can put that on the
administration's tombstone.

* Rare Candor, Eleanor Clift  , 03/10/24, Newsweek


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19.04. White House Withholding Sept 11 Files ?Report , Reuters

Excerpts: The head of the federal commission investigating the September
11, 2001 attacks says the
White House is withholding highly classified intelligence documents and he
is ready to subpoena
them if they are not released within weeks, according to a report. (...)

It was the first explicit public warning to the White House that it risked
subpoena and a possible
courtroom battle with the commission over access to the documents, which
include Oval Office
intelligence reports that preceded the attacks.

* White House Withholding Sept 11 Files ?Report, 03/10/25, Reuters


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20. Links & Snippets





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20.01. Other Publications



- Influence of Topology on the Performance of a Neural Network, Joaquin J.
Torres , Miguel A. Munoz
, J. Marro , P. L. Garrido , 2003-10-9, arXiv, DOI: cond-mat/0310205
- Self-organized Model for Modular Complex Networks : Division and
Independence, D.-H. Kim , G. J.
Rodgers , B. Kahng , D. Kim , 2003-10-10, arXiv, DOI: cond-mat/0310233
- Upstream Plasticity and Downstream Robustness in Evolution of Molecular
Networks, Sergei Maslov ,
Kim Sneppen , Kasper Astrup Eriksen , 2003-10-22, arXiv, DOI: q-bio.MN/0310028
- The Search For Homology: A Paradigm For Molecular Interactions?, M. Dutreix
marie.dutreix@curie.u-psud.fr , R. Fulconis & J. L Viovy , 2003, DOI:
10.1159/000070465
- Modeling Of Protein Interaction Networks, A. Vázquez  , A. Flammini  , A.
Maritan
maritan@sissa.it , A. Vespignani , 2003, DOI: 10.1159/000067642
- Complex Systems In Biomedicine in The Architecture of Biological
Networks, S. Wuchty, E. Ravasz &
A.-L. Barabási , 2003, DOI: 10.1007/s10115-002-0094-1
- Scale-Free And Hierarchical Structures In Complex Networks, A.-L.
Barabási, Z. Dezs, E. Ravasz,
S.-H. Yook & Z. Oltvai , to appear 2004
- Emotions And Behaviour: Data From A Cross-Cultural Recognition Study, N.
S. Consedine, K. T.
Strongman & C. Magai , Sep. 2003
- Communicating Global Activism: Strengths And Vulnerabilities Of Networked
Politics, W. L. Bennett
, Jun. 2003
- A People-Counting System Using A Hybrid RBF Neural Network, D. Huang, T.
W. S. Chow , Oct. 2003
- Complexity Of Hearing, A. Kern albert@ini.phys.ethz.ch , 2003, Modeling,
Computing, and Mastering
Complexity 2003, Soc. f Compu. Econ.
- Mammal Population Regulation, Keystone Processes And Ecosystem Dynamics,
A. R. E. Sinclair ,
2003/10/29, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2003.1359
- Cooperative Breeding In Oscine Passerines: Does Sociality Inhibit
Speciation?, A. Cockburn ,
2003/11/07
- Health Effects From Mobile Phone Radiation, M. Meriläinen
minna.merilainen@helsinki.fi ,
2003/10/17
- Toad Tadpoles And The 'Laurel And Hardy' Effect, K. Baxter
mediaoffice@kent.ac.uk , 2003/10/20
- Unusual Form Of Memory Loss Often Confused With Alzheimer's Disease,
2003/10/17, ScienceDaily &
Northwestern Univ.
- Network-Based Analysis Of Metabolic Regulation In The Human Red Blood
Cell, N. D. Price, J. L.
Reed, J. A. Papin, S. J. Wiback  , B. O. Palsson bpalsson@ucsd.edu ,
2003/10/04, DOI:
10.1016/S0022-5193(03)00237-6
- Production, Consumption, And General Equilibrium With Physical
Constraints, F. C. Krysiak
krysilca@sp.zrz.tu-berlin.de , D. Krysiak , Nov. 2003, DOI:
10.1016/S0095-0696(03)00028-7
- Stock Prices In Japan Rise At Night, Y. Tsutsui
tsutsui@econ.osaka-u.ac.jp , Dec. 2003, DOI:
10.1016/S0922-1425(02)00049-X
- Smart Servers as Watchdogs for Trouble on the Web, ANNE EISENBERG , NY Times
- 'Qwik Clot' Aids Wounded Troops in the Field , The U.S. military is using
a new product to help
wounded soldiers in the field. It's a blood-clotting powder that looks a
bit like kitty litter and
is surprisingly effective. NPR's Allison Aubrey reports.
- Dreams versus Reality: Plenary Debate Session on Quantum Computing, This
is a transcript of a
debate on quantum computing that took place at 6:00pm, Wednesday, 4th June
2003, La Fonda Hotel,
Santa Fe, USA. Transcript editor: Derek Abbott. Pro Team: Carlton M. Caves,
Daniel Lidar, Howard
Brandt, Alex Hamilton. Con Team: David Ferry, Julio Gea-Banacloche, Sergey
Bezrukov, Laszlo Kish.
Derek Abbott  , 03/10/21, arXiv, quant-ph/0310130
- Nanowires Make Flexible Circuits, Eric Smalley  , 03/10/22, Technology
Research News
- Failing Teachers, Bob Herbert  , 03/10/24, NYTimes
- Iraqis on the Sidelines, Susan E. Rice  , 03/10/24, NYTimes
- Terahertz Rays See Into The Nanoworld, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
researchers have shown
that terahertz rays can be used in conjunction with scanning near-field
microscopy to circumvent
the usual "diffraction limit" on imaging methods, which restricts the
resolution to the same order
of magnitude as the wavelength of the radiation... , Oct. 23, 2003,
Kurzweilai.Net Newsletter
- Hölder Exponent Spectra For Human Gait,
ddejBJ&iclitemid=XbfaadajBI&tid=WbehchdCE
N. Scafetta, L. Griffin and B.J. West, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and
its Applications
328(3-4) (2003) 561-583
- The Mullahs and the Bomb, Gary Milhollin  , 03/10/23, NYTimes
- Venture to Offer ID Card for Use at Security Checks, John Schwartz  ,
03/10/23, NYTimes
- Rumsfeld Sees Need to Realign Military Fight Against Terror, Thom
Shanker  , 03/10/23, NYTimes
- Full Disclosure on Leaks, Robert Booth  , 03/10/22, NYTimes
- Let Someone Else Do the Talking, Alton Frye  , 03/10/22, NYTimes
- State Dept. Study Foresaw Trouble Now Plaguing Iraq, Eric Schmitt , Joel
Brinkley  , 03/10/19,
NYTimes
- Cell Cycle Sees The Light, Sean Lawler  , 03/10/22, The Scientist
- A Hybridization Model for the Plasmon Response of Complex Nanostructures,
E. Prodan , C. Radloff
, N. J. Halas , P. Nordlander , Science Oct 17 2003: 419-422.
- Solvent-Free Electrolytes with Aqueous Solution-Like Conductivities, Wu
Xu , C. Austen Angell

, Science Oct 17 2003: 422-425.
- Always Good Turing: Asymptotically Optimal Probability Estimation, Alon
Orlitsky , Narayana P.
Santhanam , Junan Zhang
, Science Oct 17 2003: 427-431
- Centenarian Advantage: Some old folks make cholesterol in big
way                     , Science
News, Vol. 164, No. 16, Oct. 18, 2003
Also available in
Audible format
People who live to be nearly 100 and their offspring are more likely to
have large cholesterol
particles in their blood, a condition conducive to good health.
- Your Spiral or Mine? Snail gene reverses coil, makes new species, Science
News, Vol. 164, No. 16,
Oct. 18, 2003
Also available in Audible format
A snail with a shell spiraling to the right can't mate readily with a
lefty, so changes in the
single gene that controls shell direction have created new snail species.
- Erectus Ahoy, Prehistoric Seafaring Floats Into View, Bruce Bower,
Science News, Vol. 164, No.
16, Oct. 18, 2003, p. 248. A researcher who explores the nautical abilities
of Stone Age people by
building rafts and having crews row them across stretches of ocean contends
that language and other
cognitive advances emerged 900,000 years ago with Homo erectus, not
considerably later among modern
humans, as is usually assumed.
- Danger, Danger, Cry Injured Cells, Damaged cells may release uric acid to
rouse the immune
system. Science News, Vol. 164, No. 16, Oct. 18, 2003
Also available in
Audible format
- The Speed Of Information In A 'Fast-Light' Optical Medium , Michael D.
Stenner , Daniel J.
Gauthier , Mark A. Neifeld  , 16 October 2003, Nature 425, 695 - 698, DOI:
10.1038/nature02016



_________________________________________________________________

20.02. Webcast Announcements


     EVOLVABILITY
     & INTERACTION: Evolutionary Substrates of Communication,
     Signaling, and Perception in the Dynamics of Social
     Complexity, London, UK, 03/10/08-10

     The
     Semantic Web and Language Technology - Its Potential and
     Practicalities, Bucharest, Romania,
     03/07/28-08/08

     ECAL
     2003, 7th European Conference on Artificial
     Life, Dortmund, Germany,
     03/09/14-17

     Dean
     LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video
     Commentary, Ongoing Since February
     1998

     IMA
     International Conference Bifurcation
     2003, Univ. Southampton, UK, 27-30
     July, 2003

     New
     Santa Fe Institute President About His Vision for SFI's
     Future Role, (Video, Santa Fe, NM,
     03/06/04)

     Edge
     Videos

     SPIE's
     1st Intl Symp on Fluctuations and
     Noise, Santa Fe, NM,
     2003/06/01-04

     NAS
     Sackler Colloquium on Mapping Knowledge
     Domains, Video/Audio Report,
     03/05/11

     Uncertainty
     and Surprise: Questions on Working with the Unexpected and
     Unknowable, The University of Texas
     Austin, Texas USA, 2003/04/10-12

     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

     13th
     Ann Intl Conf, Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life
     Sciences, Boston, MA, USA,
     2003/08/08-10

     Fair
     Value; The Good, The Bad, and The
     Unknown, Financial Executives
     International (FEI), 03/08/26, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
     GMT





_________________________________________________________________

20.03. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements


   Exystence
   Thematic Institute - Algorithms And Challenges In Hard
   Combinatorial Problems, Turin, Italy, 03/10/01-30

   Art
   & Artificial Life International Competition,
   Deadline: 03/10/31

   Systems-Based
   Practice: Competency for Medical Professionals, Boston,
   MA, 03/11/02

   Intl Congress
   on Computational Intelligence, Medellin, Colombia,
   03/11/06-08,(Mirror)

   American
   Society for Cybernetics (ASC) 2003 Conference
   (H.v.Foerster), Vienna, Austria, 03/11/10-15

   Modeling
   Workshop, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 03/11/15-16

   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: 3rd IEEE International Conference on Data
   Mining, Melbourne, Florida, USA, 03/11/19-22

   4th
   Intl Conf on Systems Science and Systems Engineering,
   Hong Kong, 03/11/25-28

   3rd
   International Workshop on Meta-Synthesis and Complex
   System, Guangzhou, China, 03/11/29-30

   Artificial
   Intelligence and Law, Special Issue on Electronic
   Democracy, Submissions Deadline: 03/11/30

   Plexusinstitute
   Organizational Management Conference With Ralph Stacey,
   Washington, DC, 03/12/02-04

   Learning
   with Everett Rogers and Ralph Stacey: Bridging the Quality
   Chasm Between Medical Knowledge and Clinical Practice,
   Rockville, MD, 03/12/02-03

   Learning
   with Ralph Stacey: On Thinking and Learning About Complex
   Responsive Processes, Rockville, MD, 03/12/03-04

   Intl Wkshp Networks
   of Interacting Machines: Industrial Production Systems and
   Biological Cells, Berlin, Germany, 03/12/11-13

   2nd
   International Workshop on the Mathematics and Algorithms of
   Social Insects, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia, USA;
   03/12/15-17

   2nd
   WSEAS Intl Conf on Non-linear Analysis, Non-linear
   Systems and Chaos, Athens, Greece, 03/12/29-31

   Complex
   Physical, Biological and Social Systems, MIT,
   Cambridge, MA, 04/01/05-09

   2nd
   Biennial Seminar on the Philosophical, Epistemological, and
   Methodological Implications of Complexity Theory,
   Havana, Cuba, 04/01/07-10

   2004
   Western Simulation MultiConference (WMC'04), San Diego,
   CA., USA, 04/01/18-24)

   1st
   International Workshop on Biologically Inspired Approaches to
   Advanced Information Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland,
   04/01/29-30

   Leadership in
   Rapidly Changing Business Environments -Learning and Adapting
   in Time, Cambridge, MA, 04/02/26-27

   4th
   Intl ICSC Symposium Engineering Of Intelligent Systems (EIS
   2004), Island of Madeira, Portugal, 04/02/29-03/02

   Arbeitskreis
   Physik sozio-ökonomischer Systeme Jahrestagung
   (AKSOE), Regensburg, Germany, 04/03/08-12

   Capital
   Science 2004, Washington, 04/03/20-21

   Fractal
   2004, "Complexity and Fractals in Nature", 8th Intl
   Multidisciplinary Conf, Vancouver, Canada, 04/04/04-07

   2004
   Advanced Simulation Technologies Conference (ASTC'04),
   Arlington, VA., USA, 04/04/18-22

   Urban
   Vulnerability and Network Failure: Constructions and
   Experiences of Emergencies, Crises and Collapse,
   Manchester, UK, 04/04/29-30

   5th
   International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2004),
   Boston, MA, USA, 04/05/16-21

   3rd Intl Conf
   on Systems Thinking in Management (ICSTM 2004) "Transforming
   Organizations to Achieve Sustainable Success",
   Philadelphia, Pa, USA, 04/05/19-21

   9th
   Annual Workshop on Economics and Heterogeneous Interaction
   Agents (WEHIA04),, Kyoto, Japan, 2004/05/27-29

   13th
   International Symposium on HIV & Emerging Infectious
   Diseases, Toulon, France, 04/06/03-05

   From Animals To
   Animats 8, 8th Intl Conf On The Simulation Of
   Adaptive Behavior (SAB'04), Los Angeles, USA,
   04/07/13-17

   8th
   World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and
   Informatics, Orlando, Florida, USA, 04/07/18-21

   2004
   Summer Simulation MultiConference (SummerSim'04), San
   Jose Hyatt, San Jose, California, 04/07/25-29

   ANTS
   2004, 4th International Workshop on Ant Colony
   Optimization and Swarm Intelligence, Brussels, Belgium,
   04/09/05-08

   The
   8th International Conference on Parallel Problem
   Solving from Nature (PPSN VIII), Birmingham, UK,
   04/09/18-22

   XVII
   Brazilian Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Sao
   Luis, Maranhao - Brazil, 04/09/22-24





_________________________________________________________________

20.04. 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.




_________________________________________________________________

20.05. Special Announcement: Artists Explore Complex Systems , Federal
Reserve Board

COMPLEXITY, the first major museum exhibition about complex systems, is on
display at the Federal
Reserve Board in Washington, DC, ongoing - 03/11/28. The Washington
exhibition is being
co-sponsored by the Washington Center for Complexity and Public Policy and
the Fine Arts Program of
the Federal Reserve Board.  Contributed by Irene Sanders





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