Complexity Digest 2004.08 

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. Creative Education Exposition, Taiwan, Video Notes
02. The Evolution Of Modern Educational Systems: Distributional Conflict, And Growth, J. Dev. Econ.
03. Video Game To Help Flood Planners, BBC News
03.01. Learning To Play Bayesian Games, Games & Econ. Behav.
04. Transitions From Nonliving To Living Matter, Science
04.01. Evolutionary Ecology of the Prezygotic Stage, Science
05. Avalanche Forecasting Stymied By Unpredictability Of Snow, Natue Science update
06. Test May Lower Antibiotic Use, Natue Science update
07. The Impact Of Cognitive Complexity On Project Leadership Performance, Info. & Software Tech.
07.01. Conflict and Cognitive Control, Science
08. Stem Cells Found In Adults May Repair Nerves, ScienceDaily
09. Maybe It Takes A Bird Brain To Find The Car Keys, Science News
09.01. Brain Asymmetry And Long-Term Memory, Nature
10. Evaluation Of The Impact Of Prey Behavioural And Ecological Characteristics On Predator Diet,
Alphagalileo & Proc. Biol. Sc.
11. Where To Start To Launch The 'Butterfly Effect', ScienceDaily
11.01. From Football Conferences To Food Webs: Patterns In Complicated Networks, ScienceDaily
12. Effect Of Habitat Complexity On Biological Control By The Red Imported Fire Ant, Biol. Control
13. Predator-Induced Plasticity In Web-Building Behaviour, Animal Behav.
14. Candy Science: M&Ms Pack More Tightly Than Spheres, Science News
14.01. Improving the Density of Jammed Disordered Packings Using Ellipsoids, Science
15. Caustic Comments Get Girls A Date, Natue Science update
16. In Politics, the Web Is a Parallel World With Its Own Rules, NYTimes
16.01. The Search Engine That Isn't a Verb, Yet, NY Times
16.02. Sorting E-Mail Friends From Foes, Natue Science update
17. Don't Skew The Science, The Globe and Mall
17.01. Uses and Abuses of Science, NY Times
18. Concerns Over US Computer Voting, BBC News
18.01. U.S. May Veto Islamic Law In Iraq, USA Today
18.02. A Third Way for Iraq, NYTimes
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks 
19.01. U.S. Agency Sees Global Network for Bomb Making, NY Times
19.02. A Dynamic Model Of Production And Traffic Of Drugs, Econ. Lett.
20. Links & Snippets 
20.01. Other Publications 
20.02. Webcast Announcements 
20.03. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements 
20.03.01. Strategic Thinking in a Complex World, Smithsonian Resident Associates Program

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01. Creative Education Exposition , Taiwan, Video Notes

Video Excerpts: "As now we're in the knowledge economic era, creativity inevitably plays a vital
role in a country's competitive advantage. Creativity also gets more public attention than before
and is becoming an important issue in Taiwan. All the divisions of Ministry of Education have been
making efforts to facilitate the plans that encourage creativity in order to cultivate creative
talents among campus and society and make practical of the creativity education plans. Consulting
Division in Ministry of Education also implements the middle range plans for the creativity
education in Taiwan." (Taiwan Ministry of Education, Creative Education Exposition Proposal)



 
 
 

Introduction to the Exposition, Christine Chang, Dpt Journalism, College of Communication,  Natl
Chengchi Univ , Karen Cheng,  Center f Creativity and Innovation Studies, Video 


 
 
 


Ironman Competition Background,
Chen, I-heng (Institute of Human Resource Management,  National Sun Yat-sen University, Video 


 
 
 


Ironman Competition Winning Team, ( Taipei First Girls' High School), Video



 
 
 


Creative Education with Cartoons, Jing-Jyi Wu, (Dept Edu & Tech/Innovation Management, National
Cheng Chi Univ.), Video

Editor's Note: There is considerable creative talent in Taiwan. Unfortunately there was very little
effort for "exposition" to the creative world outside of Taiwan/Japan. 


To view the quicktime videos a free player is available  here.  For best results "Save" videos on
disk first.

* Taiwan Ministry of Education, Creative Education Exposition Proposal, 04/02/12-15, Taipei Taiwan 


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02. The Evolution Of Modern Educational Systems: Distributional Conflict, And Growth , J. Dev.
Econ.

Abstract: We study the evolution of an educational system founded on a hierarchical differentiation
between vocational and general education, with vocational playing an inferior role in the society.
The dynamics are best summarized by the ratio of the fraction of the population in vocational to
that in general education, which we interpret as a measure of the degree of stratification of the
society. We show that this ratio first rises and then declines with the level of development,
displaying an inverted U-shape which reflects the complex interaction between economic and
political forces, including aggregate income growth, wealth inequality and political participation.

* The Evolution Of Modern Educational Systems: Technical Vs. General Education, Distributional
Conflict, And Growth, G. Bertocchi bertocchi@unimo.it , M. Spagat m.spagat@rhul.ac.uk , online
2003/12/01, DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2003.05.003, Journal of Development Economics
* Contributed by Pritha Das 


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03. Video Game To Help Flood Planners , BBC News

Excerpts: The planning of the UK's flood defences is to get a helping hand from a 3D virtual
world-based computer game. 

FloodRanger, set in a fictional region over a 100-year period, helps planners and engineers work
out strategies to cope with real-life flooding.

As in other virtual world games, like SimCity, players have God-like control, so social, economic
and environmental decisions have knock-on effects. 

(...) decide where best to build appropriate sea or river flood defences, like dams, reservoirs or
groynes, whilst keeping their public generally happy.

* Video Game To Help Flood Planners, 04/02/19, BBC News


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03.01. Learning To Play Bayesian Games , Games & Econ. Behav.

Abstract: This paper discusses the implications of learning theory for the analysis of games with a
move by Nature. One goal is to illuminate the issues that arise when modeling situations where
players are learning about the distribution of Nature's move as well as learning about the
opponents' strategies. A second goal is to argue that quite restrictive assumptions are necessary
to justify the concept of Nash equilibrium without a common prior as a steady state of a learning
process.

* Learning To Play Bayesian Games, M. Ahlert ahlert@wiwi.uni-halle.de , A. Cr er , Feb. 2004, DOI:
10.1016/S0899-8256(03)00121-0, Games and Economic Behavior
* Contributed by Pritha Das 


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04. Transitions From Nonliving To Living Matter , Science

Excerpts: All life forms are composed of molecules that are not themselves alive. But in what ways
do living and nonliving matter differ? How could a primitive life form arise from a collection of
nonliving molecules? The transition from nonliving to living matter is usually raised in the
context of the origin of life. (...) artificial cells (sometimes called protocells) might be quite
different from any extant or extinct form of life, perhaps orders of magnitude smaller than the
smallest bacterium, and their synthesis need not recapitulate life's actual origins.

* Transitions From Nonliving To Living Matter, Steen Rasmussen , Liaohai Chen , David Deamer ,
David C. Krakauer , Norman H. Packard , Peter F. Stadler , Mark A. Bedau
, Science Feb 13 2004: 963-965. 



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04.01. Evolutionary Ecology of the Prezygotic Stage , Science

Abstract: The life cycles of sexually reproducing animals and flowering plants begin with male and
female gametes and their fusion to form a zygote. Selection at this earliest stage is crucial for
offspring quality and raises similar evolutionary issues, yet zoology and botany use dissimilar
approaches. There are striking parallels in the role of prezygotic competition for sexual selection
on males, cryptic female choice, sexual conflict, and against selfish genetic elements and genetic
incompatibility. In both groups, understanding the evolution of sex-specific and reproductive
traits will require an appreciation of the effects of prezygotic competition on fitness.

* Evolutionary Ecology of the Prezygotic Stage, G. Bernasconi , T.-L. Ashman , T. R. Birkhead , J.
D. D. Bishop , U. Grossniklaus , E. Kubli , D. L. Marshall , B. Schmid , I. Skogsmyr , R. R. Snook
, D. Taylor , I. Till-Bottraud , P. I. Ward , D. W. Zeh , B. Hellriegel , Science Feb 13 2004:
971-975.


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05. Avalanche Forecasting Stymied By Unpredictability Of Snow , Natue Science update

Excerpts: It is still something of a mystery how the strength of snow is determined, however.
Researchers generally think that the strength of a material affected by random cracks should
decrease as the piece of material gets bigger, as it is then more likely to contain a particularly
damaging flaw.

But Peterlik and colleagues don't find this size-dependence in the strength of snow. This means
that its fracture is not controlled solely by random weak spots.

(...)The breaking of snow is also affected by the shape of snow particles, (...).

* Avalanche Forecasting Stymied By Unpredictability Of Snow, Philip Ball , 04/02/19, Nature Science
update


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06. Test May Lower Antibiotic Use , Natue Science update

Excerpts: The unnecessary prescriptions occur because bacterial and viral infections can have
similar symptoms, such as sore throat and fever. So clinicians often prescribe antibiotics to err
on the side of caution.

But the more antibiotics are used, the greater the chance that bacteria will evolve to resist them.
So many researchers worry that the expensive practice of over-prescription is fuelling the
development of superbugs that can't be killed. (...)
The test works by measuring levels of a protein called procalcitonin in the blood.

* Test May Lower Antibiotic Use, Helen R. Pilcher  , 04/02/20, Nature Science update


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07. The Impact Of Cognitive Complexity On Project Leadership Performance , Info. & Software Tech.

Abstract: In today's complex development environments, the ability to integrate project components
has been found to be a key responsibility for project leaders. This paper reports results of a
preliminary experiment examining the importance of cognitive differentiation and integration (i.e.
cognitive complexity) to project leadership performance. Results from this preliminary study show
the importance of cognitive complexity to success in project leadership. Surprisingly, results
suggest that leaders with lower levels of cognitive differentiation abilities (less information
fragmentation) perform better on project definition tasks. To this end, we suggest ways to improve
complex thinking in project leaders.

* The Impact Of Cognitive Complexity On Project Leadership Performance, G. C. Green
gina_green@baylor.edu , Mar. 2004, DOI: 10.1016/S0950-5849(03)00125-3, Information and Software
Technology
* Contributed by Atin Das 


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07.01. Conflict and Cognitive Control , Science

Excerpts: Cognitive control is necessary when we block a habitual behavior and instead execute a
less-familiar behavior. Because cognitive control requires an effort, it is not efficient to
maintain a high level of control all the time?the nervous system needs to know when cognitive
control is necessary. (...) investigate the brain mechanisms that underlie the recruitment of
cognitive control. Two cortical areas in the frontal part of the brain, the anterior cingulate
cortex (ACC) and the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC), are considered essential for recruiting
cognitive control.

* Conflict and Cognitive Control, Kenji Matsumoto  , Keiji Tanaka
, Science Feb 13 2004: 969-970



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08. Stem Cells Found In Adults May Repair Nerves , ScienceDaily

Excerpts: It used to be considered dogma that a nerve, once injured, could never be repaired. Now,
researchers have learned that some nerves, even nerves in parts of the brain, can regenerate or be
replaced. Much of this research focuses on stem cells (...) that can give rise to specialized
cells, like neurons. It was once thought that human stem cells were only found in embryos, and in
bone marrow, where they produce blood cells. But stem cells are also being found in adults,
including the brain and the eye. For example, stems cells steadily replace dead neurons in the
olfactory bulb (...).

* Stem Cells Found In Adults May Repair Nerves, 2004/02/18, ScienceDaily & University Of Washington
* Contributed by Atin Das 


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09. Maybe It Takes A Bird Brain To Find The Car Keys , Science News

Excerpts: During a year, each bird buries 22,000 to 33,000 seeds in up to 2,500 locations, and
scientists estimate that the bird recovers two-thirds of them up to 13 months later.

Just how seed cachers do this has fascinated biologists for decades. Scientific investigation of
the topic has broadened and deepened in recent years. Cognitive scientists pose seed-storage
puzzles to birds as a way of sorting out how their brains work and might resemble our own.
Ecologists are looking for links between seed-caching powers and the perils of a species'
environment.

* Maybe It Takes A Bird Brain To Find The Car Keys, Susan Milius  , Science News, Vol. 165, No. 7,
Feb. 14, 2004, p. 103.


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09.01. Brain Asymmetry And Long-Term Memory , Nature

Excerpts: Fruitflies that have structurally similar brain hemispheres forget within a matter of
hours.

The asymmetrical positioning of neural structures on the left or right side of the brain in
vertebrates 1,2 and in invertebrates 3,4may be correlated with brain laterality,which is associated
with cognitive skills 5.But until now this has not been illustrated experimentally. Here we
describe an asymmetrically positionedbrain structure in the fruitfly Drosophilaand find that the
small proportion of wild-type flies that have symmetrical brains with two such structures lack a
normal long-term memory, although their short-term memory is intact.Our results indicate that brain
asymmetry may be required for generating or retrieving long-term memory.

* Brain Asymmetry And Long-Term Memory, Alberto Pascual , Kai-Lian Huang , Julie Neveu , Thomas
Pr t  , 04/02/12, Nature 427, 605 - 606


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10. Evaluation Of The Impact Of Prey Behavioural And Ecological Characteristics On Predator Diet ,
Alphagalileo & Proc. Biol. Sc.

Abstract: Sociality is believed to be an adaptation to help prey evade predators. If true, prey in
larger groups should experience lower predation rates than those in small groups, but there is
limited evidence for how predators chose between prey in different sized groups. Additionally, most
animals live in environments where they have multiple predators. In this study of predator diets,
prey in small terrestrial groups suffered the highest, and arboreal prey in large groups suffered
the lowest predation rates. These results suggest that predator and prey behavioural decisions are
important for understanding how predation has impacted social evolution.

* A Community-Level Evaluation Of The Impact Of Prey Behavioural And Ecological Characteristics On
Predator Diet Composition, S. Shultz  , R. No? , W. S. McGraw  , R.I.M. Dunbar , 2004/02/16,
Alphagalileo & Proceedings B (Biological Sciences)
* Contributed by Atin Das 


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11. Where To Start To Launch The 'Butterfly Effect' , ScienceDaily

Excerpts: "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?"
meteorologist Edward Lorenz once asked in postulating the "butterfly effect," (...). In today's
world of the Internet the question might be rephrased: Can a single e-mail from Brazil set off a
torrent of action in Texas? Groups on the Internet can take many forms, including (...) discussion
groups, e-mail mailing lists and links between Web sites on related topics. Most recently, the
writers of personal online journals known as Web logs, or "blogs," have begun to link to one
another and comment on each other's work.

* Where To Start To Launch The 'Butterfly Effect', 2004/02/16, ScienceDaily & Cornell University
* Contributed by Atin Das 


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11.01. From Football Conferences To Food Webs: Patterns In Complicated Networks , ScienceDaily

Excerpts: The world is full of complicated networks that scientists would like to better understand
-- human social systems, for example, or food webs in nature. But discerning patterns of
organization in such vast, complex systems is no easy task. "The structure of those networks can
tell you quite a lot about how the systems work, but they're far too big to analyze (...)." One
challenge in making sense of a large network is finding clumps-or communities-of members that have
something in common, such as Web pages that are all about the same topic, people that socialize
(...).

* From Football Conferences To Food Webs: U-M Researcher Uncovers Patterns In Complicated Networks,
2004/02/17, ScienceDaily & University Of Michigan
* Contributed by Atin Das 


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12. Effect Of Habitat Complexity On Biological Control By The Red Imported Fire Ant , Biol. Control

Abstract: (...) can manipulate their abundance with changes in habitat complexity. The most
economically significant pests of collards are larvae of the diamondback moth (DBM) (...).
Predation of DBM larvae by fire ants was more rapid and efficient in the intercrop than the
monocrop. Furthermore, collard leaf damage tended to be inversely related to fire ant density and
fire ants were more effective at reducing crop damage in the complex intercrop. Our study indicates
the ability of red imported fire ants to be effective biological control agents and suggests that
increasing habitat complexity can enhance red imported fire ant efficacy and herbivore control.

* Effect Of Habitat Complexity On Biological Control By The Red Imported Fire Ant (Hymenoptera:
Formicidae) In Collards, C. T. Harvey ctharvey@wisc.edu , M. D. Eubanks meubanks@acesag.auburn.edu
, Mar. 2004, DOI: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2003.08.006, Biological Control
* Contributed by Atin Das 


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13. Predator-Induced Plasticity In Web-Building Behaviour , Animal Behav.

Abstract: Many orb-web weaving spiders add conspicuous silken structures, called stabilimenta, to
the hub of their webs, which are hypothesized to attract more prey. However, they may also attract
predators. Orb spiders should therefore alter their web-building behaviour to minimize predation
risk. We tested this hypothesis by experimentally examining web-building responses (...) to
predation risk (...). When exposed to predator cues, the juveniles not only decreased the frequency
of stabilimentum building but also refrained from increasing stabilimentum area, capture area and
capture silk thread (...). This is the first demonstration of an adaptive, plastic web-building
behavioural response induced by chemical cues from a predator.

* Predator-Induced Plasticity In Web-Building Behaviour, D. Li dbslidq@nus.edu.sg , W. S. Lee ,
2004/01/21, DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.06.011, Animal Behaviour
* Contributed by Atin Das 


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14. Candy Science: M&Ms Pack More Tightly Than Spheres , Science News

Excerpts: Using bench experiments and computer simulations, the team has found that squashed or
stretched versions of spheres snuggle together more tightly than randomly packed spheres do.

This surprising result could help scientists better understand the behavior of disordered materials
ranging from powders to glassy solids, says Princeton University chemist Salvatore Torquato. The
finding could also lead to denser ceramic materials that might make for improved heat shields for
furnaces and reduced-porosity glass with exceptional transparency. 
(...) so an ellipsoid nestles close to more neighbors than a sphere does.

* Candy Science: M&Ms Pack More Tightly Than Spheres, Peter Weiss , 04/02/14, Science News, Vol.
165, No. 7 


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14.01. Improving the Density of Jammed Disordered Packings Using Ellipsoids , Science

Excerpts: We suggest that the higher density is directly related to the higher number of degrees of
freedom per particle and thus the larger number of particle contacts required to mechanically
stabilize the packing. We measured the number of contacts per particle Z 10 for our spheroids, as
compared to Z 6 for spheres. Our results have implications for a broad range of scientific
disciplines, including the properties of granular media and ceramics, glass formation, and discrete
geometry.

* Improving the Density of Jammed Disordered Packings Using Ellipsoids, Aleksandar Donev , Ibrahim
Cisse , David Sachs , Evan A. Variano , Frank H. Stillinger , Robert Connelly , Salvatore Torquato
, P. M. Chaikin , 04/02/13, Science Feb 13 2004: 990-993


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15. Caustic Comments Get Girls A Date , Natue Science update

Excerpts: Fisher asked 57 women and 47 men to look at pictures of female and male faces, and rate
their attractiveness on a seven-point scale from 'extremely unattractive' to 'extremely
attractive'.

Whereas the men were fairly consistent in their voting, the women's votes were slightly, but
significantly, affected by the stage of their menstrual cycle. Women about two or three weeks past
the first day of their most recent period rated females about half a point lower than women at
other points in their cycle.

* Caustic Comments Get Girls A Date, 
Michael Hopkin, 
, 04/02/18, Nature Science update


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16. In Politics, the Web Is a Parallel World With Its Own Rules , NYTimes

Excerpts: The one-minute spot, (...) did not appear on television, but on President Bush  campaign
Web site. And so a new bare-knuckled political use of the World Wide Web showed its head: the
Internet attack ad.

When the Web was in its infancy, Internet utopians envisioned a political revolution, predicting
that the new medium would engage and empower voters as never before. Much of what they envisioned
has come to pass, with the Internet facilitating vigorous debate this year, most dramatically,
giving Howard Dean  campaign the ability to raise millions.

* In Politics, the Web Is a Parallel World With Its Own Rules, Jim Rutenberg , NY Times


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16.01. The Search Engine That Isn't a Verb, Yet , NY Times

Excerpts: Mr. Semel soon realized that the company had helped create a monster. So he has spent $2
billion trying to assemble his own Google, buying Inktomi, the Web search software company, (...).

Last week, Yahoo finally replaced Google's search results with its home-brewed search engine, which
uses a robot, called Slurp, to read Web pages. Experts say Yahoo's new search engine is credible
and roughly comparable to Google's. (...) Yahoo appears committed to the sort of engineering work
that is needed to improve the quality of Web searches.

* The Search Engine That Isn't a Verb, Yet, Saul Hansell , NY Times


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16.02. Sorting E-Mail Friends From Foes , Natue Science update

Excerpts: Identifying networks of mutual friends helps filter out spam. 
The technique exploits the structure of social networks to quickly determine whether a given
message comes from a friend or a spammer. The method works for only about half of all e-mails
received - but in all of those cases, it sorts the mail into the right category1.(...) 

Boykin and Roychowdhury decided to tackle the problem by taking advantage of the fact that most
people's e-mail comes from a limited social network, and these networks tend to be clustered into
clumps where everyone knows each other.

* Sorting E-Mail Friends From Foes, Philip Ball , 04/02/19, Nature Science update


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17. Don't Skew The Science , The Globe and Mall

Excerpts: Some of the most influential scientists in the United States have gone public with
disquieting accusations that the Bush administration has suppressed and distorted scientific
findings, manipulated research and stacked government advisory panels to suit its political
objectives. "When scientific knowledge has been found to be in conflict with its political goals,
the administration has often manipulated the process through which science enters into its
decisions," the Union of Concerned Scientists said last week after releasing the results of its
investigation into the alleged abuses.

* Don't Skew The Science, 04/02/23, The Globe and Mall 


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17.01. Uses and Abuses of Science , NY Times

Excerpts: On global warming alone, the administration belittled, misrepresented, altered or quashed
multiple reports suggesting a clear link between greenhouse gas emissions and the burning of fossil
fuels like coal and oil. A study detailing the impact of mercury emissions from power plants was
sanitized to industry specifications. Another study (...) was withheld. It does not take much
effort to find a pattern of suppressing inconvenient facts that might force Mr. Bush's friends in
the oil, gas and coal industries to spend more on pollution control.
Editor's Note: There are numerous historical examples -from the collapse of Chinese technological
superiority to the fall of the communist system- where ideological re-interpretations and selective
filtering of empirical facts (treating science as form of literature) provided a clear signature of
system instabilities that can lead to bifurcations and paradigm shifts.

* Uses and Abuses of Science, 04/02/23, NY Times


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18. Concerns Over US Computer Voting , BBC News

Excerpts: "The problem with electronic voting is your votes disappear into the electronic machine
and there is no independent way to check that those results are valid," said Professor Dill.

"I know that I am not going to have a lot of confidence in the vote totals reported by those
machines unless there is some independent polling or whatever that is consistent with that."


In recent years there has been a spate of disputes over local election results across the US
involving voting machines.

* Concerns Over US Computer Voting, 04/02/15, BBC News


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18.01. U.S. May Veto Islamic Law In Iraq , USA Today

Excerpts: Iraq's U.S. administrator suggested Monday he would block any move by Iraqi leaders to
make Islamic law the backbone of an interim constitution, which women's groups fear could threaten
their rights. (...)
During a visit to a women's center in Karbala, administrator L. Paul Bremer said the current draft
of the interim constitution, due to take effect at the end of this month, would make Islam the
state religion and "a source of inspiration for the law" ?but not the main source for that law.

* U.S. May Veto Islamic Law In Iraq, 04/02/16, USA Today


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18.02. A Third Way for Iraq , NYTimes

Excerpts: (...)the June 30 date is not inherently significant to Iraqis (...).
Washington's initial hope for establishing a transition government in Baghdad by June 30 was pinned
on using some sort of nationwide caucus system, but this foundered when Ayatollah Sistani ruled out
caucuses as undemocratic. The ayatollah's position is not unreasonable: Iraq's novice electorate
needs simplicity and transparency, and it would be hard to find a dozen ordinary Americans outside
of Iowa who could explain the caucus system (there is not even an Arabic word for caucus).

Editor  Note: Maybe there is also no Arabic word for errymander?

* A Third Way for Iraq, Noah Feldman , NY Times


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19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks 





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19.01. U.S. Agency Sees Global Network for Bomb Making , NY Times

Excerpts: Militant Islamic bomb builders have used the same designs for car bombs in Africa, the
Middle East and Asia, officials said."Linkages have been made in devices that have been used in
different continents,"(...)

But there are many questions still unanswered about who is behind various bombings, including some
of the major suicide bombing attacks in Iraq.(...) believe that Al Qaeda has been weakened by the
campaign against terrorism and lacks a central command, as well as financial and recruiting
structures. But the bomb investigations suggest that the terrorist network still may be
disseminating bomb-making skills to a generation of militants who have fanned out around the world.

* U.S. Agency Sees Global Network for Bomb Making, David Johnston  , 04/02/22, NYTimes


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19.02. A Dynamic Model Of Production And Traffic Of Drugs , Econ. Lett.

Abstract: This paper uses a model of the illegal drug dealer and producer populations to predict a
positive-but not necessarily prolific-equilibrium given an initial positive number of them. Both
populations are reduced by the repression against their activities.

* A Dynamic Model Of Production And Traffic Of Drugs, R. A. Araujo rsaaraujo@pos.ucb.br , T. B. S.
Moreira , online 2004/01/25, DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2003.09.015, Economics Letters
* Contributed by Pritha Das 


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20. Links & Snippets 





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20.01. Other Publications 



- A Requirement Specification Language For Configuration Dynamics Of Multiagent Systems, M. Dastani
mehdi@cs.vu.nl , C. M. Jonker jonker@cs.vu.nl , J. Treur treur@cs.vu.nl , online 2004/02/18,
International Journal of Intelligent Systems, DOI: 10.1002/int.10171
- Do Infants Apply The Principle Of Rational Action To Human Agents?, B. Sodian
sodian@edupsy.uni-muenchen.de , B. Schoeppner  , U. Metz , online 2003/12/04, Infant Behavior and
Development, DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2003.05.006
- A New Approach To Data Storage Using Localized Structures, P. Coullet  , C. Riera  , C. Tresser ,
online 2004/02/09, Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, DOI: 10.1063/1.1642311
- Male-Male Vocal Interactions And The Adjustment Of Song Amplitude In A Territorial Bird, H. Brumm
brumm@zedat.fu-berlin.de , D. Todt , 2004/01/24, Animal Behaviour, DOI:
10.1016/j.anbehav.2003.06.006
- The Food Consumption Of The World's Seabirds, M. de L. Brooke , 2004/02/16, Alphagalileo &
Biology Letters
- Observation Of A ZZW Female In A Natural Population: Implications For Avian Sex Determination, D.
Arlt  , S. Bensch  , B. Hansson  , D. Hasselquist  , H. Westerdahl , 2004/02/16, Alphagalileo &
Biology Letters
- Territory Inheritance In Clownfish, P. M. Buston , 2004/02/16, Alphagalileo & Biology Letters
- Fat And Smart - The Perfect Combination?, C. Amorim catarina.amorim@linacre.ox.ac.uk ,
2004/02/17, Alphagalileo
- Rutgers Researcher Offers A New Perspective On Human Evolution, 2004/02/16, ScienceDaily &
Rutgers, The State University Of New Jersey
- Evolutionary Document Management And Retrieval For Specialized Domains On The Web, M. Kim
mihyek@cse.unsw.edu.au , P. Compton , 2003/12/03, International Journal of Human-Computer Studies,
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2003.10.004
- How Clean Is Clean Enough? Threats Posed By Chemical And Biological Warfare Agents, Raber E.  ,
Carlsen T.  , Folks K.  , Kirvel R.  , Daniels J.  , Bogen K. , Feb. 2004, International Journal of
Environmental Health Research, DOI: 10.1080/09603120310001633886
- Does Observation Influence Learning?, O. Armantier olivier.armantier@sunysb.edu , online
2003/11/21, Games and Economic Behavior, DOI: 10.1016/S0899-8256(03)00124-6
- Hubble Sees 'Most Distant Object', BBC News. Astronomers say the latest discovery shows why the
US space agency must keep the telescope working.
- Nanotubular Highways for Intercellular Organelle Transport, Amin Rustom , Rainer Saffrich ,
Ivanka Markovic , Paul Walther , Hans-Hermann Gerdes
, Science Feb 13 2004: 1007-1010.
- Pending a Vote, Some Iraqis Press for a Larger Governing Council, Jeffrey Gettleman , Dexter
Filkins
, NY Times. Several Iraqi leaders said they wanted the Governing Council to remain after the U.S.
transferred power back to the Iraqi people.
- Digital Video Frees Film-Makers, Tracey Logan  , 04/02/22, BBC News, Consumer video cameras are
allowing film-makers to create award-winning films on tight budgets, (...).
- Low-Level Magnetic Fields Concern, Studies in rats show that exposure to low-level magnetic
fields can damage their brain cells. But should humans be worried?
- New World Found Far Beyond Pluto, Astronomers have discovered what may be the largest object
found circling the Sun since Pluto was recognised in 1930.
Studies in rats show that exposure to low-level magnetic fields can damage their brain cells. But
should humans be worried?
- Lead Linked To Schizophrenia, Helen Pearson , 04/02/17, Nature. Study hints that prenatal toxins
can trigger psychiatric disease.
- Iran's leader hails poll results, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hails the election as free and fair, as
hardliners head for sweeping victory.
- Modified Medaka Mate More, 04/02/20, Science News, Escaped GM fish could decimate wild
populations.
- I Feel Your Pain, Really, 04/02/19, Science News, Empathy for pain activates pain-sensitive brain
regions.
- Cloning First Starts With the Nose, 04/02/18, Science News,Mice disprove a theory of how neurons
learn to smell.
- Quantum Transition Heats Up, 04/02/18, Science News, Experiment Makes the World a Bit More
Surreal.
- Snakes' Family Values, 04/02/17, Science News, Timber rattlesnake sisters recognize their kin.
- RNA Rules the Ribosome, 04/02/18, Science News, Newfound molecules regulate levels of metabolites
in the cell.
- MathRevolt Announces Infinity 1.2.6, 04/02/23, Innovative non-linear math software suite
released, Mathrevolt.com.



_________________________________________________________________

20.02. Webcast Announcements 



Voices of Public Intellectuals Lecture Series: Democracy's Response to the Terrorist Threat
Now in its fifth year, the Radcliffe Institute Voices of Public Intellectuals lecture series brings
issues affecting civic life to a public forum. This year's series of three lectures features
experts in the study of terrorism and the prosecution of terrorists to explore the effects of
terrorism on democracy. These lectures take place in Cambridge on February 26, March 4, and March
11 at 4 p.m. 

World Economic Forum 2004, Davos, Switzerland

 Riding the Next Democratic Wave, 
Al-Thani, Khan, Vike-Freiberga, Wade, Soros, Zakaria, World Economic Forum, 04/01/25
 The Future of Global Interdependence, Kharrazi, Held, Owens, Shourie, Annan, Martin, Schwab, World
Economic Forum, 04/01/25

Why Victory Against Terrorism Demands Shared Values


The Process of Curricular Review: Redefining a World-Class Education, Benedict Gross, Thomas
Bender, Harvard@home, 04/01/21, Dean of Harvard College Benedict Gross discusses Harvard's first
comprehensive review of the undergraduate curriculum in almost 3 decades. This program introduces
the process of curricular review by presenting two segmented lectures. The first, by Dean Gross,
outlines the approach and considerations in undertaking the current review. The second lecture,
presented by NYU Professor Thomas Bender, presents a historical perspective on academic culture. 
  
Cancer Biology , NPR Talk of the Nation, 04/01/16, How the spread of cancer is like wound healing
gone awry. 

   Tracking Ebola , NPR Talk of the Nation, 04/01/16, A new study might help scientists predict
where Ebola may!
strike next. 

   Animal Thought and Communication, NPR Talk of the Nation, 04/01/16, 
How do animals think and communicate with each other? And what can studying animals tell us about
the evolution of language in humans? In this hour, NPR's Ira Flatow and guests look at thought and
communication in apes, gorillas and monkeys. What can non-human primates tell us about
communication in humans?

 CODIS 2004, International Conference On Communications, Devices And Intelligent Systems, 2004
Calcutta, India, 04/01/09-10
  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 Po
tential and Practicalities, 
  Bucharest, Romania, 03/07/28-08/08 
  ECAL 2003, 7th 
  European Conference on Artificial Life, Dortmund, Germany, 
  03/09/14-17 
  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 
  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 





_________________________________________________________________

20.03.01. Strategic Thinking in a Complex World , Smithsonian Resident Associates Program


 
 
Recognizing the world as one vast interconnected system is essential to understanding the level of
complexity in today  global environment. 
 

This course is designed to give you a working knowledge of complexity science, and to show how to
apply insights from the new science to your life and work, and to world events.

* Strategic Thinking in a Complex World, T. Irene Sanders  , David Rejeski , 04/05/01-22,
Smithsonian Resident Associates Program



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