复杂性文摘 NO：2003.48

Complexity Digest 2003.48 Dec. 01, 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

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Content:

01. 1.Hydrocarbons And The Evolution Of Human Culture, Nature
01.01. The Long-Term Carbon Cycle, Fossil Fuels And Atmospheric
Composition, Nature
01.02. Two Measures Of Progress In Adapting To Climate Change, Global Env.
Change
02. Volcanoes Kick-Start El Nino, Nature Science Update
03. Coastline Carve Thyself, Natue Science update
04. Tropical Soils and Food Security: The Next 50 Years, Science
04.01. The Future for Fisheries, Science
05. The Origins of Genome Complexity, Science
05.01. Learning to Speak the Language of Proteins, Science
05.02. Public Projects Gear Up to Chart the Protein Landscape, Science
05.03. Proteomics: A Sharper Focus, Science
06. Rebuilding The Heart: Marrow Cells Boost Cardiac Recovery, Science News
06.01. British Firm Plans Human Stem Cell Trial-Magazine, Reuters
06.02. Marijuana-Like Compounds Linked to Embryo Growth, NPR Audio
07. Complexity in the Immune System, arXiv
07.01. Velocity and Hierarchical Spread of Epidemic Outbreaks in Complex
Networks, arXiv
08. How Fielders Arrive In Time To Catch The Ball, Nature
08.01. Giving Eyesight To The Blind Raises Questions About How People See,
Science News
09. Complexities Of A Simple System: New Lessons, Old Challenges For The
Gill Withdrawal, Brain
Res. Rev.
10. Why Ants Do But Honeybees Do Not Construct Satellite Nests, J. Bioecon.
11. Chicks Unite To Increase Parent-Pestering, Natue Science update
11.01. Essay: Monkeys and Dolphins, NPR Audio
11.02. The Physics of Fish, NPR Audio
12. Molecule Gives Clue To Schizophrenia, Natue Science update
13. Compartments Revealed In Food-Web Structure, Nature
13.01. Plant Development: Leaves By Number, Nature
13.02. Signal Transduction: An Eye On Organ Development, Nature
14. Drying-Mediated Self-Assembly Of Nanoparticles, Nature
14.01. DNA-Templated Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistor, Science
14.02. Nanodevices Make Fresh Strides Toward Reality, Science
15. Historic Maths Problem 'Cracked', BBC News Online
16. Time Use, Work And Overlapping Activities: Evidence From Australia,
Cambridge J. Econ.
17. Opinion Formation in Networked Societies with Strong Leaders, arXiv
18. U.S. Is Worried Foe Is Tracking Targets in Iraq, NYTimes
18.01. Licenses for Illegal Immigrants, NYTimes
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
19.01. Facing The Nuclear Danger, Nature
19.02. Theft of Cobalt in Iraq Prompts Security Inquiry, NYTimes
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

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01. 1.Hydrocarbons And The Evolution Of Human Culture , Nature

Excerpt: Most of the progress in human culture has required the
exploitation of energy resources.
About 100 years ago, the major source of energy shifted from recent solar
to fossil hydrocarbons,
including liquid and gaseous petroleum. Technology has generally led to a
greater use of
hydrocarbon fuels for most human activities, making civilization vulnerable
to decreases in supply.
At this time our knowledge is not sufficient for us to choose between the
different estimates of,
for example, resources of conventional oil.

* 1.Hydrocarbons And The Evolution Of Human Culture, Charles Hall , Pradeep
Tharakan , John Hallock
, Cutler Cleveland , Michael Jefferson  , 20 November 2003, DOI:
10.1038/nature02130, Nature 426,
318 - 322


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01.01. The Long-Term Carbon Cycle, Fossil Fuels And Atmospheric Composition
, Nature

Excerpts: The long-term carbon cycle operates over millions of years and
involves the exchange of
carbon between rocks and the Earth's surface. There are many complex
feedback pathways between
carbon burial, nutrient cycling, atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen, and
climate. New
calculations of carbon fluxes during the Phanerozoic eon (the past 550
million years) illustrate
how the long-term carbon cycle has affected the burial of organic matter
and fossil-fuel formation,
as well as the evolution of atmospheric composition.


(? take place over timescales ranging from hours to millions of years.

* The Long-Term Carbon Cycle, Fossil Fuels And Atmospheric Composition,
Robert A. Berner  , 20
November 2003, DOI: 10.1038/nature02131, Nature 426, 323 - 326


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01.02. Two Measures Of Progress In Adapting To Climate Change , Global Env.
Change

Abstract: Adaptation will play a key role in determining the economic and
social costs of climate
change. One important measure of adaptation is reductions in deaths caused
by climate events. This
paper uses two new data sets to test the hypothesis that, in recent years,
climate events cause
less deaths than in the past. Using data on deaths caused by natural
disasters and data on skin
cancer death rates in warmer and cooler US states, this paper reports
evidence in favor of the
adaptation progress hypothesis.

* Two Measures Of Progress In Adapting To Climate Change, M. E. Kahn
matt.kahn@tufts.edu ,
2003/11/21, DOI: 10.1016/S0959-3780(03)00052-9, Global Environmental Change
* Contributed by Pritha Das


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02. Volcanoes Kick-Start El Nino , Nature Science Update

Excerpts: Past studies have suggested a statistical connection between
explosive volcanic eruptions
and subsequent El Niño climate events. (...) Here we present support for a
response of the El
Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon to forcing from explosive
volcanism (...).
The results imply roughly a doubling of the probability of an El Niño event
occurring in the winter
following a volcanic eruption. Our empirical findings shed light on how the
tropical Pacific
ocean-atmosphere system may respond to exogenous (both natural and
anthropogenic) radiative
forcing.

* Volcanoes Kick-Start El Nino, Philip Ball  , 03/11/20, Nature Science Update


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03. Coastline Carve Thyself , Natue Science update

Excerpts: The beauty of jagged, rocky coastlines will prevail, however hard
the sea pounds them.
The classic coastal profile is a balance between the sea's eroding power
and the ability of the
coastline to damp it out, say researchers in France and Italy.

Although a coast continues to crumble and break up under the relentless
assault of the waves, it
soon adopts a pitted, fractal form that modifies the force that erodes it.
"Whatever its initial
shape, a rocky shore will end up fractal," the researchers conclude.


* Coastline Carve Thyself, , 03/11/26, Natue Science update


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04. Tropical Soils and Food Security: The Next 50 Years , Science

Excerpts: An appreciation of the dynamism of the links between soil
resources and society provides
a platform for examining food security over the next 50 years.
Interventions to reverse declining
trends in food security must recognize the variable resilience and
sensitivity of major tropical
soil types. In most agro-ecosystems, declining crop yield is exponentially
related to loss of soil
quality. (?, investments to reverse degradation are primarily driven by
private benefit, socially
or financially. "Tragedy of the commons" scenarios can be averted by
pragmatic local solutions that
help farmers to help themselves.

* Tropical Soils and Food Security: The Next 50 Years, M. A. Stocking  ,
Science Nov 21 2003:
1356-1359


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04.01. The Future for Fisheries , Science

Excerpts: Formal analyses of long-term global marine fisheries prospects
have yet to be performed,
because fisheries research focuses on local, species-specific management
issues. Extrapolation of
present trends implies expansion of bottom fisheries into deeper waters,
serious impact on
biodiversity, and declining global catches, the last possibly aggravated by
fuel cost increases.
Examination of four scenarios, covering various societal development
choices, suggests that the
negative trends now besetting fisheries can be turned around, and their
supporting ecosystems
rebuilt, at least partly.

* The Future for Fisheries, Daniel Pauly , Jackie Alder , Elena Bennett ,
Villy Christensen , Peter
Tyedmers , Reg Watson  , Science Nov 21 2003: 1359-1361.


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05. The Origins of Genome Complexity , Science

Excerpts: Complete genomic sequences from diverse phylogenetic lineages
reveal notable increases in
genome complexity from prokaryotes to multicellular eukaryotes. (? emerged
passively in response
to the long-term population-size reductions that accompanied increases in
organism size. According
to this model, much of the restructuring of eukaryotic genomes was
initiated by nonadaptive
processes, and this in turn provided novel substrates for the secondary
evolution of phenotypic
complexity by natural selection. The enormous long-term effective
population sizes of prokaryotes
may impose a substantial barrier to the evolution of complex genomes and
morphologies.

* The Origins of Genome Complexity, Michael Lynch  , John S. Conery ,
Science Nov 21 2003:
1401-1404.


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05.01. Learning to Speak the Language of Proteins , Science

Excerpts: Understanding the folding of proteins can be likened to learning
to speak a new language.
Learning a language can be a long and difficult process. (? Finally, after
a great deal of
practice, the learner begins to understand the actual syntax of the
language, and the process is
almost complete. Applying this analogy to the report on page  1364  of this
issue, we can say that
Kuhlman et al.  (1) have spoken a new sentence in the complex language of
protein folding and have
been understood perfectly.

* Learning to Speak the Language of Proteins, David T. Jones

, Science Nov 21 2003: 1347-1348.


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05.02. Public Projects Gear Up to Chart the Protein Landscape , Science

Excerpts: With the human gene sequence now in hand, researchers have moved
on to a new goal:
identifying all the body's proteins. The task is massive. Not only does
each of the body's 252 cell
types harbor its own complement of proteins, but their expression patterns
also vary with age,
nutrition, health, and disease . (...)
Once researchers have collected snapshots of the ever-changing proteomes of
different tissues and
cells, they hope to assemble them into a kind of full-length movie showing
the ebb and flow of
proteins in the body.

* Public Projects Gear Up to Chart the Protein Landscape, Robert F. Service
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1316-1318.



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05.03. Proteomics: A Sharper Focus , Science

Excerpts: The large-scale proteomic surveys coordinated by the Human
Proteome Organization (HUPO)
have a long way to go to produce their promised medical benefits ( see main
text). But more-focused
proteomic projects may have a more immediate impact. Researchers around the
globe are hard at work
using proteomic technologies to identify the proteins that make up the
mitochondria, the cell's
energy powerhouse, and other subcellular structures. (? how proteomic tools
can lead to crucial
new insights into cell biology as well as potential medical benefits.

* Proteomics: A Sharper Focus, Robert F. Service
  , Science Nov 21 2003: 1318.


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06. Rebuilding The Heart: Marrow Cells Boost Cardiac Recovery , Science News

Excerpts: Experimental therapy that infuses a person's bone marrow cells
into his or her damaged
heart tissue is showing early success, scientists report. First tried in
patients 2 years ago, the
technique is designed to stimulate the growth of new, healthy heart cells.
The treatment could help
people who've had recent heart attacks, as well as those who've been
battling heart disease for
years (?
(?people who have marrow cells inserted into their hearts within days of a
heart attack exhibit
improvement.

* Rebuilding The Heart: Marrow Cells Boost Cardiac Recovery , Nathan Seppa
, 03/11/22, Science
News, Vol. 164, No. 21, p. 323, See also  Audible Format


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06.01. British Firm Plans Human Stem Cell Trial-Magazine , Reuters

Excerpts: A British company is planning human trials of a new technique
which it says can transform
white blood cells into stem cells that can be used to treat leukemia and a
range of other diseases.
London-based TriStem says the method it has developed eliminates the need
for embryos and fetuses,
rich sources of the stem cells that can develop into any cell type. The use
of early embryos has
been a major stumbling block in the use of stem cells. "TriStem has been
claiming for years that it
can take a half liter of anyone's blood, extract the white blood cells and
make them revert to a
stem cell-like state," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

* British Firm Plans Human Stem Cell Trial-Magazine, 2003-11-26, Reuters
* Contributed by Nadia Gershenson


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06.02. Marijuana-Like Compounds Linked to Embryo Growth , NPR Audio

Excerpts: Researchers discover that marijuana-like compounds produced by
the body can help regulate
the growth of mouse embryos. Scientists believe the findings could have
implications for fertility
research in humans. NPR's Joe Palca reports.

* Marijuana-Like Compounds Linked to Embryo Growth, 25-Nov-2003


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07. Complexity in the Immune System , arXiv

Abstract: The immune system is a real-time example of an evolving system
that navigates the
essentially infinite complexity of protein sequence space. How this system
responds to disease and
vaccination is discussed. Of particular focus is the case when vaccination
leads to increased
susceptibility to disease, a phenomenon termed original antigenic sin. A
physical theory of protein
evolution to explain limitations in the immune system response to
vaccination and disease is
discussed, and original antigenic sin is explained as stemming from
localization of the immune
system response in antibody sequence space. This localization is a result
of the roughness in
sequence space of the evolved antibody affinity constant for antigen and is
observed for diseases
with high year-to-year mutation rates, such as influenza.

* Complexity in the Immune System, Michael W. Deem , 2003-10-15, DOI:
q-bio.CB/0310019, arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


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07.01. Velocity and Hierarchical Spread of Epidemic Outbreaks in Complex
Networks , arXiv

Abstract: We study the effect of the connectivity pattern of complex
networks in the propagation
dynamics of epidemics. The growth time scale of outbreaks is inversely
proportional to the network
degree fluctuations, signaling that epidemics spread almost instantaneously
in networks with
scale-free degree distributions. This feature is associated to an epidemic
propagation that follows
a precise hierarchical dynamics. Once reached the highly connected hubs,
the infection pervades the
network in a progressive cascade across smaller degree classes. The present
results are relevant
for the development of adaptive containment strategies.

* Velocity and Hierarchical Spread of Epidemic Outbreaks in Complex
Networks, Marc Barthelemy ,
Alain Barrat , Romualdo Pastor-Satorras , Alessandro Vespignani ,
2003-11-21, DOI:
cond-mat/0311501, arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


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08. How Fielders Arrive In Time To Catch The Ball , Nature

Excerpts: Here we show how fielders use such tracking signals to arrive at
the right place in time
to catch a ball ?they run so that their angle of gaze elevation to the ball
increases at a
decreasing rate while their horizontal gaze angle to the ball increases at
a constant rate (unless
the distance to be run is small). Allowing the horizontal angle to increase
minimizes the
acceleration that the fielder must achieve to reach the interception point
at the same time as the
ball.

* How Fielders Arrive In Time To Catch The Ball, Peter Mcleod , Nick
Reed  , Zoltan Dienes  , 20
November 2003, DOI: 10.1038/426244a, Nature 426, 244 - 245


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08.01. Giving Eyesight To The Blind Raises Questions About How People See ,
Science News

Excerpts: He has difficulty identifying everyday items, distinguishing male
from female faces, and
recognizing emotional expressions on unfamiliar faces. May keeps track of
people's faces by noting
hair length, eyebrow shape, and other individual features.

May does track his own and others' movements with precision. He also
distinguishes shaded areas
from illuminated surfaces. With these capabilities, he's made a transition
from being an expert
blind skier, who depended on verbal directions from a sighted guide, to
being a competent sighted
skier.

* Giving Eyesight To The Blind Raises Questions About How People See, Bruce
Bower , DOI: 03/11/22,
Science News, Vol. 164, No. 21, p. 323, See also  Audible Format


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09. Complexities Of A Simple System: New Lessons, Old Challenges For The
Gill Withdrawal , Brain
Res. Rev.

Abstract: The gill withdrawal reflex of Aplysia is generally depicted as a
simple behaviour
mediated by a simple neural circuit in a simple organism. Such a view has
permitted a clear focus
upon synapses between relatively small numbers of identified neurones,
(...) is anything but
simple. First, the behaviour itself is complex (...). While daunting, the
complexity of the total
circuitry mediating the gill withdrawal reflex may provide yet another
important lesson: even in
simple systems, memory may not be localized to specific loci, but rather
may be an emergent
property of physiological mechanisms distributed throughout the entire
circuitry.

* Complexities Of A Simple System: New Lessons, Old Challenges And
Peripheral Questions For The
Gill Withdrawal Reflex Of Aplysia, R. P. Croll ROGER.CROLL@DAL.CA , online
2003/11/14, DOI:
10.1016/j.brainresrev.2003.09.003, Brain Research Reviews
* Contributed by Atin Das


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10. Why Ants Do But Honeybees Do Not Construct Satellite Nests , J. Bioecon.

Abstract: Ants and honeybees are both social insects that share many
characteristics in common.
Ants can and do construct main nests with satellite nests, whereas bees
construct only a main nest
with no satellite nests. In this paper we explain the difference between
the socio-economic
organization of ants and bees: ants can identify nest-mates from satellite
nests because ants leave
odor trails connecting main nests to satellite nests so that fellow
nest-mate from satellite nests
smell the same. Bees, on the other hand, cannot leave odor trails in the
air, and hence are unable
to identify bees from another nest (...).

* Why Ants Do But Honeybees Do Not Construct Satellite Nests, Landa J.T.
jlanda@Yorku.ca , Tullock
G. , 2003, Journal of Bioeconomics
* Contributed by Atin Das


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11. Chicks Unite To Increase Parent-Pestering , Natue Science update

Excerpts: Children accompanying their parents on Christmas shopping trips:
take a tip from
black-headed gull chicks, and team up with your siblings to increase pester
power.

Gull nestlings put aside their differences and coordinate their begging to
extract the maximum
amount of regurgitated food from mum and dad, French researchers have
discovered.

It flies in the face of conventional wisdom - children should fight each
other for the biggest
share of parental care. "Competition should increase with the number of
chicks, but that's not what
we found,"(?


* Chicks Unite To Increase Parent-Pestering, 03/11/26, Natue Science update


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11.01. Essay: Monkeys and Dolphins , NPR Audio

Excerpts: NPR's Scott Simon reflects on a study released this week that has
found that monkeys and
dolphins are capable of making cognitive choices.

* Essay: Monkeys and Dolphins, 03/11/29, NPR Weekend Edition


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11.02. The Physics of Fish , NPR Audio

Summary: Fish have developed a neat trick that helps them swim upstream.
When water flows past
objects in a stream, it develops a string of small whirlpools, or
"vortices." A researcher
simulated this environment in a tank outfitted with a high-speed camera.
They found that fish
slalomed in between the vortices and used the energy of each one to help
propel them forward --
much the same way that a boater uses a sail to tack back and forth in the
wind. NPR's Christopher
Joyce reports.

* The Physics of Fish, 03/11/28, NPR Morning Edition


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12. Molecule Gives Clue To Schizophrenia , Natue Science update

Excerpts: Each hallucinogen altered the same mystery brain protein,
DARPP-32, (...)Animals
developed schizophrenic symptoms (...). Mice lacking DARPP-32 were immune
to the drugs' psychotic
effects, (...).

Current therapies damp down one neurotransmitter called dopamine. Delusions
subside but attention
and memory problems often persist, and serious adverse effects are common.

Drugs that target DARPP-32 would affect several neurotransmitters, says
dopamine expert Ariel
Deutch of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. This might make
them more effective with
fewer side-effects, (...).

* Molecule Gives Clue To Schizophrenia, Helen R Pilcher  , 03/11/27, Nature
Science Update


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13. Compartments Revealed In Food-Web Structure , Nature

Excerpts: Similarity between human social networks and food webs has
recently been noted (?. In
the social sciences, cohesive subgroups in human communities have been an
important concept since
the 1950s, when it was proposed that social systems were more efficient and
durable when composed
of subgroups in which interactions were concentrated. (....) This is also
the case for food-web
compartments in ecology, wherein methods for identifying compartments have
often emphasized the
similarity of prey and predators between taxa, which results in little
direct interaction or carbon
exchange within compartments.

* Compartments Revealed In Food-Web Structure, Ann E. Krause, , Kenneth A.
Frank,  , Doran M.
Mason,  , Robert E. Ulanowicz,  , William W. Taylor  , 20 November 2003,
DOI: 10.1038/nature02115,
Nature 426, 282 - 285


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13.01. Plant Development: Leaves By Number , Nature

Excerpts: Auxin is a growth stimulator that is propelled through plant
tissues (?. Existing leaf
buds act as sinks, preventing auxin from continuing its progress directly
above them. The maximum
auxin concentration, and so the site of new leaf formation, is thus as far
away as possible from
already-formed leaves.

(? mechanism in which the position of leaves is determined neither by a
physical property of the
stem, nor by an inhibitory field produced by growing leaves. Instead, the
gaps between leaves, (?,
mark out the position of each new leaf.

* Plant Development: Leaves By Number, Christopher Surridge  , 20 November
2003, DOI:
10.1038/426237a, Nature 426, 237


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13.02. Signal Transduction: An Eye On Organ Development , Nature

Excerpts: Studies in flies and mice have revealed a surprising way in which
cells regulate gene
activity, with consequences for our understanding of organ formation during
development. (?


Among the most remarkable discoveries of the past decade has been the
identification of single
genes that can induce the formation of entire organs or tissues. In
fruitflies (Drosophila
melanogaster), for example, misexpression of a single gene called Eyeless,
one of several
'retinal-determination' genes that encode transcription factor, is enough
to evoke eyes where eyes
shouldn't be ('ectopic' eyes).

* Signal Transduction: An Eye On Organ Development, Jonathan A. Epstein  ,
Benjamin G. Neel  , 20
November 2003, DOI: 10.1038/426238a, Nature 426, 238 - 239


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14. Drying-Mediated Self-Assembly Of Nanoparticles , Nature

Excerpts: Systems far from equilibrium can exhibit complex transitory
structures, even when
equilibrium fluctuations are mundane. A dramatic example of this phenomenon
has recently been
demonstrated for thin-film solutions of passivated nanocrystals during the
irreversible evaporation
of the solve. The relatively weak attractions between nanocrystals, which
are efficiently screened
in solution, become manifest as the solvent evaporates, initiating assembly
of intricate, slowly
evolving structures. Although certain aspects of this aggregation process
can be explained using
thermodynamic arguments alone, it is in principle a non-equilibrium process.

* Drying-Mediated Self-Assembly Of Nanoparticles, Eran Rabani , David R.
Reichman , Phillip L.
Geissler  , Louis E. Brus  , 20 November 2003, DOI: 10.1038/nature02087,
Nature 426, 271 - 274


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14.01. DNA-Templated Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistor , Science

Excerpts: The combination of their electronic properties and dimensions
makes carbon nanotubes
ideal building blocks for molecular electronics. However, the advancement
of carbon nanotube-based
electronics requires assembly strategies that allow their precise
localization and interconnection.
Using a scheme based on recognition between molecular building blocks, we
report the realization of
a self-assembled carbon nanotube field-effect transistor operating at room
temperature. A DNA
scaffold molecule provides the address for precise localization of a
semiconducting single-wall
carbon nanotube as well as the template for the extended metallic wires
contacting it.

* DNA-Templated Carbon Nanotube Field-Effect Transistor, Kinneret Keren ,
Rotem S. Berman , Evgeny
Buchstab , Uri Sivan , Erez Braun , Science Nov 21 2003: 1380-1382


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14.02. Nanodevices Make Fresh Strides Toward Reality , Science

Excerpts: On page 1380, biophysicist Erez Braun and colleagues at the
Technion-Israel Institute of
Technology in Haifa report using a combination of proteins and DNA to
direct the synthesis of a
carbon nanotube-based transistor, a success that could pave the way for
complex circuitry to
essentially build itself. Meanwhile, in another paper on page 1377, a team
led by Harvard
University chemist Charles Lieber reports creating a scheme for feeding
electrical impulses to
specific locations in a nanocircuit, an essential step for carrying out
complex computation.

* Nanodevices Make Fresh Strides Toward Reality, Robert F. Service ,
Science Nov 21 2003: 1310


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15. Historic Maths Problem 'Cracked' , BBC News Online

Excerpts: A 22-year-old student at Stockholm University, Elin Oxenhielm,
may have solved part of
one of mathematics' greatest unsolved problems.

Called Hilbert's problem 16, it has confounded workers for over a century. (?

Her research into so-called planar polynomial vector fields may have
practical applications for
computer simulations in science and economics.
(? special version of the second part of the problem, called the "boundary
cycles for polynomial
differential equations". (?

It may improve the way scientists use computers to simulate such diverse
phenomena as global
warming and economies.

* Historic Maths Problem 'Cracked', David Whitehouse  , 03/11/27, BBC News
Online


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16. Time Use, Work And Overlapping Activities: Evidence From Australia ,
Cambridge J. Econ.

Abstract: The overlapping of activities is an important dimension of time
use that has previously
received little attention in economic analysis. Most time-use studies have
looked only at primary
activities, ignoring the fact that individuals often perform two or more
activities simultaneously.
This seriously underestimates the time spent on several economic activities
such as childcare and
housework which are also performed as secondary activities. (...) this
paper examines the incidence
and determinants of overlapping activities (...) shows that inclusion of
overlapping activities in
time-use measurements provides a better estimation of the economic
contribution of individuals,
especially in non-market production.

* Time Use, Work And Overlapping Activities: Evidence From Australia, Floro
M. S.  , Miles M. ,
2003/11/01, Cambridge Journal of Economics
* Contributed by Pritha Das


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17. Opinion Formation in Networked Societies with Strong Leaders , arXiv

Abstract: Recent studies show that many types of human social activities,
from scientific
collaborations to sexual contacts, can be understood in terms of complex
network of interactions.
Such networking paradigm allows to model many aspects of social behaviour
with relatively simple
computer models. The present work investigates the influence of single
leaders on opinion formation
within simulations of agent based artificial networked societies. Several
types of network systems
(among them random networks, highly clustered, small world and scale-free)
are studied. The
strength of the social influence of individuals is assumed to be dictated
by distance from an agent
to another, as well as individual strengths of the agents. We study the
effect of different
topologies on the conditions of general acceptance of leader's opinion by
the society.

* Opinion Formation in Networked Societies with Strong Leaders, Pawel
Sobkowicz , 2003-11-22, DOI:
cond-mat/0311521, arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


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18. U.S. Is Worried Foe Is Tracking Targets in Iraq , NYTimes

Excerpts: Anti-American forces in Iraq may be using simple but effective
means to monitor
activities and coordinate attacks against the U.S. military and its allies.
(...)

American officials say operatives loyal to the ousted Hussein government do
not require
high-technology eavesdropping devices to gather substantial amounts of
information on the
activities of American officials. "Given the size of our footprint, you
can't overestimate the
amount of information you can gather just standing on a street corner and
watching," one official
said.

* U.S. Is Worried Foe Is Tracking Targets in Iraq, Thom Shanker , 03/11/28,
NYTimes


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18.01. Licenses for Illegal Immigrants , NYTimes

Excerpts: (? controversy over whether an illegal immigrant should have a
driver's license.
Obviously on one level it makes no sense for the government to be issuing
documents ?documents
that are frequently used as identification cards ?to people who should in
theory be deported. (?
estimated seven million people in the country illegally. Our law
enforcement officials are not
making any serious effort to find them, and our political leaders are not
making any serious effort
to come up with a system that would expand their ability to work here legally.

* Licenses for Illegal Immigrants, 03/11/25, NYTimes


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19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks





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19.01. Facing The Nuclear Danger , Nature

Excerpts: The war on terrorism threatens to overshadow the greatest
weapons-proliferation challenge
of all ?the safe management of nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union.

Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden and Kim Jong-Il are each well-known for
their possible ties to
weapons of mass destruction, but has anyone heard of Alexander Tyulyakov?
Tyulyakov was deputy
director of Atomflot ?the state-owned company overseeing Russia's fleet of
nuclear icebreakers. In
August, he was arrested (? and charged with trying to sell more than a
kilogram of uranium and
radium to nuclear smugglers.

* Facing The Nuclear Danger, 20 November 2003, DOI: 10.1038/426213a, Nature
426, 213


_________________________________________________________________

19.02. Theft of Cobalt in Iraq Prompts Security Inquiry , NYTimes

Excerpts: A seeming lapse in surveillance by American forces has led to the
looting of dangerously
radioactive capsules from Saddam Hussein's main battlefield testing site in
the desert outside
Baghdad and the identification of at least one 30-year-old Iraqi villager,
and possibly a village
boy, as suffering from radiation sickness.

The two capsules, taken from a site once used by Mr. Hussein's government
to test the effects of
radiation on animals and perhaps humans, have since been recovered after an
American sweep through
the area.

* Theft of Cobalt in Iraq Prompts Security Inquiry, John F. Burns  ,
03/11/25, NYTimes


_________________________________________________________________

20. Links & Snippets





_________________________________________________________________

20.01. Other Publications



- The Face of the City is its Information, Herman Haken , Juval Portugali ,
2003-12, Journal of
Environmental Psychology 23(4):385-408, DOI: 10.1016/S0272-4944(03)00003-3
- Integration of Intelligent Systems in Development of Smart Adaptive
Systems, Esko K. Juuso ,
2003-11-21, International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, In Press,
Corrected Proof, DOI:
10.1016/j.ijar.2003.08.008
- Hierarchical Clustering Using Mutual Information, Alexander Kraskov ,
Harald Stoegbauer , Ralph
G. Andrzejak , Peter Grassberger , 2003-11-14, arXiv, DOI: q-bio.QM/0311037
- Emotional Tagging Of Memory Formation-In The Search For Neural
Mechanisms, G. R.-Levin
gal.r-l@psy.haifa.ac.il , I. Akirav , online 2003/11/14, Brain Research
Reviews, DOI:
10.1016/j.brainresrev.2003.08.005
- Early Processing Of The Six Basic Facial Emotional Expressions, M. Batty
mbatty@cerco.ups-tlse.fr
, M. J. Taylor , Oct. 2003, Cognitive Brain Research, DOI:
10.1016/S0926-6410(03)00174-5
- Growth Of Brain Stimulation Reward As A Function Of Duration And
Stimulation Strength, B.
Sonnenschein  , K. Conover  , P. Shizgal , online 2003/10/24, Behavioral
Neuroscience
- Do Rats Have A Prefrontal Cortex?, H. B. M. Uylings h.uylings@nih.knaw.nl
, H. J. Groenewegen  ,
B. Kol , online 2003/11/13, Behavioural Brain Research, DOI:
10.1016/j.bbr.2003.09.028
- What Does It Mean To Be Human? A Comparison Of Primate Economies, Pryor F. L.
fpryor1@swarthmore.edu , 2003, Journal of Bioeconomics
- Measuring Attitudes And Values: What Europeans Think And Feel, M. Septon
monique.septon@cec.eu.int , 2003/11/24, Alphagalileo
- Total Control Of A Computer Through Eye Movement, E. Fundazioa
garazi@elhuyar.com , 2003/11/24,
Alphagalileo
- The Last Cry Of Matter, G. De Marchi guido.de.marchi@esa.int ,
2003/11/27, Alphagalileo
- Avoidance Of Obstacles In The Absence Of Visual Awareness, McIntosh  ,
others , 2003/11/24,
Proceedings: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2003.2545
- Disentangling DNA During Replication: A Tale Of Two Strands, Hardy  ,
others , 2003/11/26,
Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2003.1363
- Brain's 'Daydream' Network Offers Detection For Alzheimer's Diagnosis,
2003/11/26, ScienceDaily &
Washington Univ. In St. Louis
- Grapes May Minimize Brain Damage In Stroke Victims, 2003/11/27,
ScienceDaily & Univ. Of
Missouri-Columbia
- Taking Cues From Mother Nature To Foil Cyber Attacks, 2003/11/27,
ScienceDaily & National Science
Foundation
- Scientists Discover How Brain Draws And Re-draws Picture Of World,
2003/11/27, ScienceDaily &
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
- The Importance Of Expressly Examining Global Warming Policy Issues
Through An Ethical Prism, D.
A. Brown brownd@state.pa.us , 2003/11/21, Global Environmental Change, DOI:
10.1016/S0959-3780(03)00053-0
- Competition Among Trading Venues: Information And Trading On Electronic
Communications Networks,
M. J. Barclay  , T. Hendershott  , D. T. McCormick , Dec. 2003, The Journal
of Finance
- Unemployment, Consumption Smoothing, And Precautionary Saving In Urban
China, X. Meng
xin.meng@anu.edu.au , 2003/09/10, Journal of Comparative Economics, DOI:
10.1016/S0147-5967(03)00069-6
- Informal Economy Activities Of Soviet Households: Size And Dynamics,
B.-Y. Kim bykim@essex.ac.uk
, 2003/09/10, Journal of Comparative Economics, DOI:
10.1016/S0147-5967(03)00052-0
- No Assembly Required: DNA Brings Carbon Nanotube Circuits In Line,
03/11/22, Science News, Vol.
164, No. 21, p. 323, See also  Audible Format . Using DNA as a scaffold,
researchers have devised a
simple way of creating carbon nanotube transistors-a feat that paves the
way for more complex
circuits made from these nanomaterials
- Bias Bites Back: Racial prejudice may sap mental control, 03/11/22,
Science News, Vol. 164, No.
21, p. 323, See also  Audible Format
White people who hold biased attitudes toward blacks experience a decline
in the ability to monitor
and control information after brief interracial encounters, a new study
suggests.
- Quantum Pileup: Ultracold molecules meld into oneness, 03/11/22, Science
News, Vol. 164, No. 21,
p. 323, See also  Audible Format
Scientists have for the first time transformed molecules into an exotic
state of matter called a
Bose-Einstein condensate.
- Whales of Distinction: Old specimens now declared a new species,
03/11/22, Science News, Vol.
164, No. 21, p. 323, See also  Audible Format
Japanese researchers have named a new category of living baleen whales to
explain puzzling
specimens dating back to the 1970s.
- Vision Seekers, Giving Eyesight To The Blind Raises Questions About How
People See, Bruce Bower ,
03/11/22, Science News, Vol. 164, No. 21, p. 323, See also  Audible Format
- Toxic Cleanups Get A Boost, 03/11/22, Science News, Vol. 164, No. 21, p.
323, See also  Audible
Format
Researchers have developed and field-tested a new technique that identifies
specific soil microbes
that can break down environmental pollutants.
- Acid Blockers Stop Stomach Ulcers, Too, 03/11/22, Science News, Vol. 164,
No. 21, p. 323, See
also  Audible Format
People who get ulcers from frequent use of anti-inflammatory painkillers
can lessen their risk by
simultaneously taking acid-blocking drugs.
- Greek Diet Reduces Inflammatory Proteins, 03/11/22, Science News, Vol.
164, No. 21, p. 323, See
also  Audible Format
People on a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil and fresh fruits have
lower blood concentrations
of several inflammatory proteins linked to atherosclerosis.
- Weight-Loss Compound May Cause Arrhythmia, 03/11/22, Science News, Vol.
164, No. 21, p. 323, See
also  Audible Format
The weight-loss supplement Metabolife 356 causes subtle changes in
heartbeat in test subjects.
- Protein May Predict Heart Problems, 03/11/22, Science News, Vol. 164, No.
21, p. 323, See also
Audible Format
Low blood concentrations of a protein called adiponectin may signal risk of
heart disease.
- Defibrillator Access Pays Dividends, 03/11/22, Science News, Vol. 164,
No. 21, p. 323, See also
Audible Format
Ready access to a heart defibrillator can boost the survival chances of
someone who suffers a
cardiac arrest.
- Big Step in Conductivity: More Sociable Particles, Kenneth Chang  ,
03/11/25, NYTimes
- The Sticker-Shock Congress, 03/11/25, NYTimes, This year's end-of-session
binge has saddled the
country with long-term obligations of mammoth proportions, inviting censure
from economists who
fear for the economy.
- The Uncivil War, Paul Krugman , 03/11/25, NYTimes, There's no nice way to
explain how the
administration uses cooked numbers to sell its tax cuts, or how its
arrogance and gullibility led
to the current mess in Iraq.
- Refuting the Cynics, David Brooks , 03/11/25, NYTimes, Whatever other
problems grip the United
States, lack of vitality is not one of them -- especially when compared to
European nations.
- The Three-State Solution, Leslie H. Gelb , 03/11/25, NYTimes, The only
viable strategy in Iraq
may be to correct the historical defect and move in stages toward this
solution: Kurds in the
north, Sunnis in the center and Shiites in the south.
- Language Tree Rooted In Turkey, 03/11/27, Evolutionary ideas give farmers
credit for
Indo-European tongues. Natue Science update
- Retraction in Amoeboid Cell Motility Powered by Cytoskeletal Dynamics,
Long Miao , Orion
Vanderlinde , Murray Stewart , Thomas M. Roberts
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1405-1407.
- Synchronization of Cellular Clocks in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus, Shun
Yamaguchi , Hiromi
Isejima , Takuya Matsuo , Ryusuke Okura , Kazuhiro Yagita , Masaki
Kobayashi , Hitoshi Okamura
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1408-1412. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] [Supporting
Online Material]
- SPARring with Spines, Guido Meyer  , Nils Brose
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1341-1344.
- The Secret Lives of Roots, Susan E. Trumbore and Julia B. Gaudinski
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1344-1345.
- Picosecond View of Melting, Dietrich von der Linde
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1345-1346.
PHYSICS:
- Marriage of Two Device Concepts, Alessandro Tredicucci
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1346-1347.
STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY:
- CO Gas Joins Brain Signaling Team, Ingrid Wickelgren
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1320-1323.
- Neurons Get Connected Via Glia, Greg Miller
, Science Nov 21 2003: 1323.
- Society For Neuroscience Meeting:Birds Can Put Two and Two Together,
Laura Helmuth , Science Nov
21 2003: 1323.
- Iraqi Attacks on Americans Start to Ease, Bremer Says, Joel Brinkley ,
03/11/26, NYTimes, Far
fewer Americans in Iraq have been killed in guerrilla attacks in recent
days, but instead the
insurgents have turned to killing other Iraqis.
- Exposing the Cheat Sheet, With the Students' Aid, Jane Gross , 03/11/26,
NYTimes, After a high
school principal in Westport, Conn., started a campaign against cheating,
he was surprised to find
that students were relieved to have the subject out in the open.
- America's Sugar Daddies, 03/11/29, NYTimes, America's sugar program has
become far too costly to
America's global economic and strategic interests.
- The Good News, Paul Krugman , 03/11/28, NYTimes, Over the past 25 years,
we've seen an enormous,
unexpected improvement in the standard of living for the world's poor.
- Telling the Truth, Facing the Whip, Mansour Al-Nogaidan , 03/11/28,
NYTimes, Saudi Arabia, as a
nation, needs to embrace the pain of a rebirth to get rid of deep-rooted
Islamic extremism.
- Mothers Of Genius , 03/11/27, BBC News, The women whose inventions
changed the world
- Spoiling For A Fight , 03/11/27, US forces, and the Iraqi people, will
pay an ever greater price
for Washington's current policies,
Ibrahim Nafie, AL-AHRAM , Cairo,
- 5 Pakistanis Freed From Guantanamo, Agence France-Press , 03/11/23,
NYTimes, Mr. Sagheer, 53, has
filed a lawsuit in a local court seeking $10.4 million in damages from the
United States for his
"illegal detention, torture and humiliation."
- Ultraviolet Light Can Cure 'Sick Buildings' , Shaoni Bhattacharya  ,
03/11/28, NewScientist



_________________________________________________________________

20.02. Webcast Announcements


   Presentation Webcasts from Scientific Sessions 2003,
   American Heart Association
   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
   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)
   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
   13th Ann Intl Conf,
   Soc f Chaos Theory in Psych & Life Sciences, Boston, MA, USA,
   2003/08/08-10
   CERN
   Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and
   Live Events
   Dean
   LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since
   February 1998
   Edge Videos





_________________________________________________________________

20.03. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements


   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

   Physics
   of Socio-Economic Systems, 1st Intl Winter School
   2004, Konstanz, Germany, 04/02/16-20

   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

   The
   9th IEEE Intl Conf on Engineering of Complex
   Computer Systems, Florence, Italy, 04/04/14-16

   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

   Dynamic
   Ontology, An Inquiry into Systems, Emergence, Levels of
   Reality, and Forms of Causality, Trento, Italy,
   04/09/08-11

   9th
   Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems
   (ALIFE9), Boston, Massachusetts, 04/09/12-15

   The
   8th Intl Conf 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.





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