复杂性文摘 NO：2004.30

Complexity Digest 2004.30 27-July-2004

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

_________________________________________________________________
Complexity Digest Virtual Conference Network
Fourth Intl Workshop on Meta-synthesis and Complex System 2004 (MCS2004), Beijing, China, 04/07/22-23

http://www.comdig2.de/conf/MCS2004
_________________________________________________________________


Content:

01. The Impact of Political Advertising on Knowledge, Internet Information
Seeking, and Candidate Preference, J. Communication
01.01. Social Structure and Opinion Formation, arXiv
01.02. Phase Transitions for Rock-Scissors-Paper Game on Different Networks,
arXiv
02. How Love Evolved From Sex And Gave Birth To Intelligence And Human Nature,
J. Bioecon.
02.01. From Nosy Neighbors to Cultural Evolution, Science
03. Here Comes The MP3 Revolution, Contra Costa Times
04. Traffic Forecast In Large Scale Freeway Networks, Int. J. Bifur. & Chaos
04.01. The Value Of Snowfall To Skiers And Boarders, Env. & Resource Econ.
05. Technological Networks and the Spread of Computer Viruses, arXiv
06. Biodiversity: A Tragedy With Many Players, Nature
06.01. Population Variation In Lateralised Eye Use, Alphagalileo & Biol. Lett.
06.02. Examining Epignetics, NPR TOTN
07. Human Intelligence Determined By Volume And Location Of Gray Matter Tissue
In Brain, Today@UCI
07.01. Epileptic Neurons Go Wireless, Science
08. Children Think Before They Speak, Nature
08.01. Conceptual Precursors To Language, Nature
08.02. Stuttering More Than Talk - Research Shows Brain's Role In Disorder,
ScienceDaily
09. Audience Drives Male Songbird Response To Partner's Voice, Nature
09.01. Animal Behaviour: A Social Call, Nature
09.02. Coalition Among Male Fiddler Crabs, Nature
10. Toward A 0th Law Of Thermodynamics: Order-Creation Complexity Dynamics, J.
Bioecon.
11. For Doctored Photos, a New Flavor of Digital Truth Serum, NY Times
12. Quantum Change For Nanotubes, nanotechweb
12.01. Physics Enters the Twilight Zone, Science
12.02. Designing Optimal Micromixers, Science
13. Ship-Sinking Monster Waves Revealed By ESA Satellites, ESA News
13.01. Freak Waves Spotted From Space, BBC News
14. Virus 'Harnessed to Kill Cancers', BBC NEWS
15. How Wounds Heal - Clues From Flies, ScienceDaily
16. Results of Drug Trials Can Mystify Doctors Through Omission, NY Times
16.01. Volatile Chemistry: Children and Antidepressants, Science
17. Science And The War On Drugs: A Hard Habit To Break, Nature
18. What's the Presidential Tipping Point?, NY Times
19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
19.01. The Terror Web, The New Yorker
19.02. Blow To Saudi As Al-Qaeda Chief Evades Net, Financial Times
19.03. Honorable Commission, Toothless Report, NY Times
19.04. U.S. Cites Progress Against Terror Funds, Guardian
20. Links & Snippets
20.01. Other Publications
20.02. Webcast Announcements
20.03. Conference & Call for Papers Announcements

_________________________________________________________________

01. The Impact of Political Advertising on Knowledge, Internet Information
Seeking, and Candidate Preference , J. Communication

Excerpts: Previous research has suggested that exposure to political
advertising is generally informative and may even reduce information gaps
between the most and least aware in society, but does not produce large shifts
in candidate preference. Drawing on extant models of opinion change, we
predicted that the informational benefits of political ads would vary by level
of awareness, such that the most aware would experience the largest gains,
especially when they are asked to make inferences about issues not explicitly
discussed in the ad. Further, (...) most aware would use information in
advertisements as a substitute for other kinds of information seeking, (...).

* The Impact of Political Advertising on Knowledge, Internet Information
Seeking, and Candidate Preference, N. A. Valentino nvalenti@umich.edu , V. L.
Hutchings  , D. Williams , Jun. 2004, Journal of Communication
* Contributed by Pritha Das


_________________________________________________________________

01.01. Social Structure and Opinion Formation , arXiv

Excerpt: We present a dynamical theory of opinion formation that takes
explicitly into account the structure of the social network in which
individuals are embedded. The theory predicts the evolution of a set of
opinions through the social network and establishes the existence of a
martingale property, i.e. that the expected weighted fraction of the population
that holds a given opinion is constant in time. Most importantly, this weighted
fraction is not either zero or one, but corresponds to a non-trivial
distribution of opinions in the long time limit. This co-existence of opinions
within a social network is in agreement with the often observed locality effect
(...)

* Social Structure and Opinion Formation, Fang Wu , Bernardo A. Huberman ,
2004/07/20, DOI: cond-mat/0407252, arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


_________________________________________________________________

01.02. Phase Transitions for Rock-Scissors-Paper Game on Different Networks ,
arXiv

Abstract: Monte Carlo simulations and dynamical mean-field approximations are
performed to study the phase transitions in rock-scissors-paper game on
different host networks. These graphs are originated from lattices by
introducing quenched and annealed randomness simultaneously. In the resulting
phase diagrams three different stationary states are identified for all
structures. The comparison of results on different networks suggests that the
value of clustering coefficient plays an irrelevant role in the emergence of a
global oscillating phase. The critical behavior of phase transitions seems to
be universal and can be described by the same exponents.

* Phase Transitions for Rock-Scissors-Paper Game on Different Networks, Attila
Szolnoki , Gyorgy Szabo , 2004/07/16, DOI: cond-mat/0407425, arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


_________________________________________________________________

02. How Love Evolved From Sex And Gave Birth To Intelligence And Human Nature ,
J. Bioecon.

Excerpts: This article argues that emotional attachment drive has shaped the
evolution of human intelligence, interpersonal relationships and culture. The
first section is about the evolution of social bonds and their role in the rise
of intelligence. At the outset, I present evidence that desire for emotional
closeness to others is a primary human instinct. Recent discoveries in
neurobiology are then incorporated into a summary of the evolution of brain
systems that activate emotional attachments (...). The evolution of maternal
behavior is discussed as a particularly important event enabling expansion of
brain size and complexity (...) leading ultimately to the modern human brain.

* How Love Evolved From Sex And Gave Birth To Intelligence And Human Nature, C.
A. Pedersen Cort_Pedersen@med.unc.edu , Apr. 2004, DOI:
10.1023/B:JBIO.0000017278.56163.6b, Journal of Bioeconomics
* Contributed by Atin Das


_________________________________________________________________

02.01. From Nosy Neighbors to Cultural Evolution , Science

Excerpts: Psychologists, economists, and advertising moguls have long known
that human decision-making is strongly influenced by the behavior of others. A
rapidly accumulating body of evidence suggests that the same is true in
animals. Individuals can use information arising from cues inadvertently
produced by the behavior of other individuals with similar requirements. Many
of these cues provide public information about the quality of alternatives. The
use of public information is taxonomically widespread and can enhance fitness.
Public information can lead to cultural evolution, which we suggest may then
affect biological evolution.

* From Nosy Neighbors to Cultural Evolution , ienne Danchin , Luc-Alain
Giraldeau , Thomas J. Valone , Richard H. Wagner , 04/07/23, Science : 487-491


_________________________________________________________________

03. Here Comes The MP3 Revolution , Contra Costa Times

Excerpts: While the record companies battled Napster and so-called music piracy
in court, tech companies saw a different future in other statistics: namely,
that at least 33 percent of obtainable music will be delivered digitally within
five years. Voila -- along comes the MP3 player and the current benchmark, the
iPod, bypassing CD burning and eliminating the CD. Users instead download music
onto a handheld computer that, essentially, acts like a mini jukebox without
the physical records.

Only this jukebox costs about $400 and holds up to 15,000 songs, (...).

* Here Comes The MP3 Revolution, Tony Hicks  , 04/07/25, Contra Costa Times


_________________________________________________________________

04. Traffic Forecast In Large Scale Freeway Networks , Int. J. Bifur. & Chaos

Excerpts: Traffic flow in large and complex freeway networks is a highly
nonlinear phenomenon, which makes traffic forecast a difficult task. In this
article an approach to traffic forecast is presented, which uses a
micro-simulator for traffic flow combined with current and historical traffic
data. The micro-simulator and locally measured current traffic data are used to
reconstruct the current network-wide traffic state. (...) The micro-simulator
uses an advanced cellular-automaton model for traffic flow, and the data are
supplied from more than 4,000 locally installed loop-detectors, which deliver
information on the (local) traffic state online minute by minute.

* Traffic Forecast In Large Scale Freeway Networks, R. Chrobok
chrobok@traffic.uni-duisburg.de , A. Pottmeier  , S. F. Hafstein  , M.
Schreckenberg , Jun. 2004, DOI: 10.1142/S0218127404010412, International
Journal Of Bifurcation And Chaos
* Contributed by Atin Das


_________________________________________________________________

04.01. The Value Of Snowfall To Skiers And Boarders , Env. & Resource Econ.

Abstract: An interesting winter sport phenomenon in recent years has been the
growth of snowboarding. Snowboarding has outpaced skiing at many resorts and
has become the snow riding activity of choice for many young people. This study
develops an empirical demand model for winter sport trips amongst college
students from both camps and estimates economic welfare associated with the two
different activities. The results show that both trip demand and surplus values
are strongly affected by snow conditions. These effects are distinctly
different for the two consumer groups.

* The Value Of Snowfall To Skiers And Boarders, J. Englin englin@unr.edu , K.
Moeltner , Sep. 2004, DOI: 10.1023/B:EARE.0000035453.78041.71, Environmental &
Resource Economics
* Contributed by Pritha Das


_________________________________________________________________

05. Technological Networks and the Spread of Computer Viruses , arXiv

Abstract: Computer infections such as viruses and worms spread over networks of
contacts between computers, with different types of networks being exploited by
different types of infections. Here we analyze the structures of several of
these networks, exploring their implications for modes of spread and the
control of infection. We argue that vaccination strategies that focus on a
limited number of network nodes, whether targeted or randomly chosen, are in
many cases unlikely to be effective. An alternative dynamic mechanism for the
control of contagion, called throttling, is introduced and argued to be
effective under a range of conditions.

* Technological Networks and the Spread of Computer Viruses, Justin Balthrop ,
Stephanie Forrest , M. E. J. Newman , Matthew M. Williamson , 2004/07/19, DOI:
cs.NI/0407048, arXiv
* Contributed by Carlos Gershenson


_________________________________________________________________

06. Biodiversity: A Tragedy With Many Players , Nature

Excerpts: Peter Ng is a man with a mission: to catalogue the huge diversity of
life dwelling in habitats long dismissed as uninteresting. (...)

The peat swamps, in particular, are being drained as fast as he can sample
them, sometimes for urban or agricultural development, at other times ?in a
bitter irony ?under the guise of 'environmental improvement'.

The rich faunas found in such neglected habitats underline a growing
realization that conservation biologists really know very little about our
planet's biodiversity (...).

* Biodiversity: A Tragedy With Many Players, Carina Dennis , Peter Aldhous  ,
04/07/22, DOI: 10.1038/430396a, Nature 430, 396 - 398


_________________________________________________________________

06.01. Population Variation In Lateralised Eye Use , Alphagalileo & Biol. Lett.

Excerpts: It is well known that humans, and virtually all other vertebrates,
use one side of their brain for some tasks and the other side for other tasks
(lateralisation). Evolutionary biologists have struggled to explain why
lateralisation initially arose and why it persists. (...) shown that the
pattern of lateralisation within a species varies depending on the level of
predation pressure present in the environment, suggesting that various
ecological pressures shape the relative costs and benefits associated with the
development of lateralised brains. Their discovery has considerable
implications for the understanding of the evolution of brain lateralization in
all animals including humans.

* Population Variation In Lateralised Eye Use In The Poeciliid Brachyraphis
Episcopi, C. Brown  , C. Gardner  , V. A. Braithwaite , 2004/07/19,
Alphagalileo & Biology Letters
* Contributed by Atin Das


_________________________________________________________________

06.02. Examining Epignetics , NPR TOTN

Excerpts: A look at the emerging science of epigenetics: inherited information
that isn't in the form of genes.

* Examining Epignetics, 04/07/23, NPR TOTN


_________________________________________________________________

07. Human Intelligence Determined By Volume And Location Of Gray Matter Tissue
In Brain , Today@UCI

Excerpts:


Areas in brain activated by IQ testing



General human intelligence appears to be based on the volume of gray matter
tissue in certain regions of the brain, (...).

(...) because these regions related to intelligence are located throughout the
brain, a single ntelligence center,?such as the frontal lobe, is unlikely.
(...)
Previous research had shown that larger brains are weakly related to higher IQ,
but this study is the first to demonstrate that gray matter in specific regions
in the brain is more related to IQ than is overall size. Multiple brain areas
are related to IQ,

* Human Intelligence Determined By Volume And Location Of Gray Matter Tissue In
Brain, 04/07/19, Today@UCI


_________________________________________________________________

07.01. Epileptic Neurons Go Wireless , Science

Excerpts: The idea that "neurons that fire together, wire together" is well
established in developmental neuroscience. (...) neurons that fire action
potentials at the same time are more likely to develop synaptic connections
with each other. In epilepsy, this process is taken to an unhealthy extreme:
Neurons that fire together during seizures wire together through a process
called axonal sprouting. (...) some of the positive feedback that underlies the
epileptic condition may be formed "wirelessly"--that is, using a mechanism that
does not involve growth of new axons or synaptic connections.

* Epileptic Neurons Go Wireless, Kevin Staley , 04/07/23, Science : 482-483


_________________________________________________________________

08. Children Think Before They Speak , Nature

Excerpts: A linguistic contrast between English and Korean provides a telling
test of different ideas about whether thought precedes the acquisition of
language, or whether certain concepts are language-specific.

For Augustine, thought precedes language: language is a tool with which to
express one's ideas and to understand the ideas of others. (...) Many scholars
would instead endorse the theory of linguistic relativity, and maintain that
learning a language has a profound influence on a child's mental life. If so,
then speakers of different languages might think in very different ways.

* Children Think Before They Speak, Paul Bloom  , 04/07/22, DOI:
10.1038/430410a, Nature 430, 410 - 411


_________________________________________________________________

08.01. Conceptual Precursors To Language , Nature

Excerpts: Because human languages vary in sound and meaning, children must
learn which distinctions their language uses. For speech perception, this
learning is selective: (...); however, infants' sensitivity to non-native sound
distinctions declines over the course of the first year. Here we ask whether a
similar process governs learning of word meanings. We investigated the
sensitivity of 5-month-old infants in an English-speaking environment to a
conceptual distinction that is marked in Korean but not English; (...).
Language learning therefore seems to develop by linking linguistic forms to
universal, pre-existing representations of sound and meaning.

* Conceptual Precursors To Language, Susan J. Hespos , Elizabeth S. Spelke  ,
04/07/22, DOI: 10.1038/nature02634, Nature 430, 453 - 456


_________________________________________________________________

08.02. Stuttering More Than Talk - Research Shows Brain's Role In Disorder ,
ScienceDaily

Excerpts: New research from Purdue University shows that even when people who
stutter are not speaking, their brains process language differently.
"Traditionally, stuttering is thought of as a problem with how someone speaks,
and little attention has been given to the complex interactions between
neurological systems that underlie speaking, (...) We have found differences in
adults who stutter, compared to those who don't, in how the brain processes
information when people are thinking about language but not speaking. For
example, there was a significant delay in response time when subjects were
given a complex language task. (...)"

* Stuttering More Than Talk - Research Shows Brain's Role In Disorder,
2004/07/23, ScienceDaily & Purdue University
* Contributed by Atin Das


_________________________________________________________________

09. Audience Drives Male Songbird Response To Partner's Voice , Nature

Excerpts: (...), avian communication generally takes place in a network of
signallers and receivers, which represents an audience altering individual
signalling behaviours. (...). This 'audience effect' provides support for the
reality of social awareness in some bird species. However no evidence has yet
been found to suggest that birds are able to estimate the characteristics of
the social relationships between group-mates. Here we show that the male of
(...) the zebra finch (...) ays attention to the mating status of conspecific
pairs, and uses this information to control its behaviour towards its female
partner.

* Audience Drives Male Songbird Response To Partner's Voice, Cl entine Vignal
, Nicolas Mathevon , St hane Mottin  , 04/07/22, DOI: 10.1038/nature02645,
Nature 430, 448 - 451


_________________________________________________________________

09.01. Animal Behaviour: A Social Call , Nature

Excerpts: An indicator of animal intelligence is thought to be the ability to
judge relationships between members of the same species. (...)

(...) female zebra finches can recognize their mate, with whom they form
lasting pair bonds, by his 'distance call', (...). But (...) male zebra finches
did not recognize their mate through female distance calls. (...)
One overlooked factor was the context in which these recognition tests were
conducted. The birds, normally members of large flocks in the wild or large
groups in captivity, had been tested while alone.

* Animal Behaviour: A Social Call, Christopher B. Sturdy  , 04/07/22, DOI:
10.1038/430414a, Nature 430, 414


_________________________________________________________________

09.02. Coalition Among Male Fiddler Crabs , Nature

Excerpts: Seeing off a neighbour's intruder may be easier than negotiating with
a larger usurper.


Until now, no compelling evidence has emerged from studies of animal
territoriality to indicate that a resident will strategically help a neighbour
to defend its territory against an intruder. We show here that territory-owning
Australian fiddler crabs will judiciously assist other crabs in defending their
neighbouring territories. This cooperation supports the prediction that it is
sometimes less costly to assist a familiar neighbour than to renegotiate
boundaries with a new, and possibly stronger, neighbour.

* Coalition Among Male Fiddler Crabs, Patricia R. Y. Backwell , Michael. D.
Jennions  , 04/07/22, DOI: 10.1038/430417a, Nature 430, 417


_________________________________________________________________

10. Toward A 0th Law Of Thermodynamics: Order-Creation Complexity Dynamics , J.
Bioecon.

Excerpts: (...) A more recent view is that the most significant dynamics in
bio- and econospheres are not variances around equilibria. Instead order is now
seen to be due to the interactions of autonomous, heterogeneous agents
energized by contextually imposed tensions (...) also calls for a change away
from the definition of science rooted in the equilibrium mathematics of
Newton's orbital mechanics. This new message from natural science is about
rapid-fire dynamics calling for a fast-motion science of order-creation before
the equilibria of the 1st Law (...). The possibility of a 0th law - of agents'
self-organization toward order creation - is considered. (...)

* Toward A 0th Law Of Thermodynamics: Order-Creation Complexity Dynamics From
Physics And Biology To Bioeconomics, B. McKelvey mckelvey@anderson.ucla.edu ,
Apr. 2004, DOI: 10.1023/B:JBIO.0000017280.86382.a0, Journal of Bioeconomics
* Contributed by Atin Das


_________________________________________________________________

11. For Doctored Photos, a New Flavor of Digital Truth Serum , NY Times

Excerpts: (...) develop software that can automatically figure out which
digital pictures are real and which ones are fake.

"It used to be that you had a photograph, (...) - that was truth," (...) To put
some measure of guarantee back in photography."

(...) The United States military has become increasingly reliant on digital
images from drones and satellites to give soldiers a sense of the battlefield.
Law enforcement officers routinely use digital cameras to photograph crime
scenes. Newspapers and magazines are now dependent on digital photographs that
can be easily doctored.

* For Doctored Photos, a New Flavor of Digital Truth Serum, Noah Shachtman ,
04/07/22, NYTimes


_________________________________________________________________

12. Quantum Change For Nanotubes , nanotechweb

Excerpts:


Magnetic magic


A metallic carbon nanotube can be made into a semiconductor and vice versa when
a magnetic field is combined with a little quantum mechanics.
(...) in reality it is very difficult to change an insulator into a metal, and
vice versa, without, say, applying extreme pressures.

For nano-scale materials, however, things may be different. (...)

The magnetic field comes into play via the Aharonov-Bohm effect. This is a
quantum phenomenon in which the wavefunction of an electron acquires a phase
shift as it follows a trajectory that encloses a magnetic flux (...).

* Quantum Change For Nanotubes, Jing Kong , Leo Kouwenhoven , Cees Dekker  ,
04/07, nanotechweb


_________________________________________________________________

12.01. Physics Enters the Twilight Zone , Science

Excerpts: Parallel universes have launched a thousand bad science-fiction
plots. Now mainstream physicists and cosmologists are arguing that they are
both useful and, in an infinite cosmos, inevitable (...)

The basic argument for parallel universes goes like this: Space is infinite.
Within any finite volume of space, however, matter and energy can be arranged
in only a finite number of ways. So if you carve space into enough same-sized
regions, sooner or later they will start repeating themselves.

Most cosmologists accept the first premise. "(...) an infinite universe is the
best bet," (...).

* Physics Enters the Twilight Zone, Charles Seife , 04/07/23, Science : 464-466


_________________________________________________________________

12.02. Designing Optimal Micromixers , Science

Excerpts: Microfluidics is now part of big science and big business. It is a
key component of established and developing technologies ranging from
lab-on-a-chip biotech devices to inkjet printing. And the field is now bubbling
with activity--thousands of papers are published and hundreds of patents are
issued each year. A recent collection of papers focuses on one aspect that is
common to many of these technologies: mixing. Mixing--or lack thereof--is often
a key obstacle to the effective functioning of microfluidic devices in many
applications, (...).

* Designing Optimal Micromixers, Julio M. Ottino  , Stephen Wiggins , 04/07/23,
Science : 485-486


_________________________________________________________________

13. Ship-Sinking Monster Waves Revealed By ESA Satellites , ESA News

Excerpts:


Giant wave detected in ERS-2 imagette data [The white vertical stripe in the
middle of the white horizontal line. The wave is almost 1000m wide. Ed]


Once dismissed as a nautical myth, freakish ocean waves that rise as tall as
ten-storey apartment blocks have been accepted as a leading cause of large ship
sinkings. Results from ESA's ERS satellites helped establish the widespread
existence of these 'rogue' waves and are now being used to study their
origins.

Severe weather has sunk more than 200 supertankers and container ships
exceeding 200 metres in length during the last two decades. Rogue waves are
believed to be the major cause in many such cases.

* Ship-Sinking Monster Waves Revealed By ESA Satellites, 04/07/21, ESA News


_________________________________________________________________

13.01. Freak Waves Spotted From Space , BBC News

Excerpts: Now that their existence is no longer in dispute, it is time to gain
a better understanding of these rogues.

In the next phase of the research, a project called WaveAtlas will use two
years' worth of imagettes to create a worldwide atlas of freak wave events.

The goal is to find out how these strange cataclysmic phenomena may be
generated, and which regions of the seas are most at risk.

(...) "We know some of the reasons for the rogue waves, but we do not know them
all."

* Freak Waves Spotted From Space, 04/07/22, BBC News


_________________________________________________________________

14. Virus 'Harnessed to Kill Cancers' , BBC NEWS

Excerpts: Scientists believe they can beat cancer by taking advantage of its
natural desire to stay alive. (...) Professor Nick Lemoine and colleagues at
Bart's and Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry have created a
modified virus that will do just that. The virus lacks a gene viruses normally
use to disguise themselves so they can sneak into the cell unnoticed. Normal
cells can recognise they are under attack by the modified virus and commit
suicide to prevent it from replicating and infecting other cells. Cancer cells
are programmed differently and resist suicide at all costs. This "selfishness"
on the cancer's behalf allows the engineered virus to replicate within the
cancer cells and spread through the tumour tissue.

* Virus 'Harnessed to Kill Cancers', 2004/07/24, BBC NEWS
* Contributed by Nadia Gershenson


_________________________________________________________________

15. How Wounds Heal - Clues From Flies , ScienceDaily

Excerpts: (...) Tissue damage in humans triggers a well-characterized response
marked by rapid blood clotting and a recruitment of epidermal cells to the
injury. When you remove a scab, you're also removing some of the newly
regenerated tissues growing underneath, thereby interfering with the healing
process. Many different cell types and proteins have been linked to the repair
process, but the complexity of the mammalian wound response has challenged
efforts to determine their individual roles. (...) After stabbing fruitfly
larvae with a needle to create a nonfatal puncture wound, the researchers
observed the familiar blood clotting and spreading of epidermal cells to
promote healing. (...)

* How Wounds Heal - Clues From Flies, 2004/07/20, ScienceDaily & Public Library
Of Science
* Contributed by Atin Das


_________________________________________________________________

16. Results of Drug Trials Can Mystify Doctors Through Omission , NY Times

Excerpts: It is a quirk of the F.D.A.'s labeling rules. For a drug's
government-approved uses, the label gives doctors important data from clinical
tests involving those treatments while spelling out the drug's risks and
providing directions for administering it to patients.

But labels are often allowed to remain silent about a test when the F.D.A.
turns down a company's application for approval of a new use or a new patient
group - as in the case of Diflucan and ringworm.

* Results of Drug Trials Can Mystify Doctors Through Omission, Barry Meier  ,
04/07/21, NYTimes


_________________________________________________________________

16.01. Volatile Chemistry: Children and Antidepressants , Science

Excerpts: First, unpublished studies of Paxil released by GSK suggest that this
therapy didn't consistently help depressed children any more than a placebo
did. The one published pediatric study of Paxil had shown the opposite.

The concerns have also prompted regulators to reanalyze unpublished data for
other SSRIs. In April, a set of experts commissioned to advise the U.K.
government found that unpublished data suggested that four of five SSRIs were
unlikely to benefit children--sometimes in contrast to what published data
implied.
Editor's Note: This example illustrates some strong incentive in this industry
to selectively publish positive research results.

* Volatile Chemistry: Children and Antidepressants, Jennifer Couzin
, 04/07/23, Science : 468-470


_________________________________________________________________

17. Science And The War On Drugs: A Hard Habit To Break , Nature

Excerpts: The US National Institute on Drug Abuse has frequently been accused
of bowing to the political agenda of its paymasters. But, (...) its new
director swears that the agency is being led by science.


(...) groups that she declines to identify have pressed her to issue a public
statement that marijuana causes brain damage, on the basis of her own imaging
studies. Volkow says that she has refused, (...). "I don't want to use science
to scare," she says, "I want to use science to educate."

* Science And The War On Drugs: A Hard Habit To Break, Helen Pearson  ,
04/07/22, DOI: 10.1038/430394a, Nature 430, 394 - 395


_________________________________________________________________

18. What's the Presidential Tipping Point? , NY Times

Excerpts: At some point, politicians can step over an amorphous line that
separates good or questionable judgment from inexcusably arrogant, outrageous
or incompetent behavior," (...) "That shatters trust. Democracy is built on
perceptions of trustworthiness. (...)

When asked by The New York Times and CBS News in June whether Mr. Bush was
being completely honest about the war in Iraq, 20 percent of voters said he was
mostly lying and 59 percent said he was hiding something. Only 18 percent
thought he was telling the entire truth.

* What's the Presidential Tipping Point?, Michael Oreskes  , 04/07/25, NYTimes


_________________________________________________________________

19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks





_________________________________________________________________

19.01. The Terror Web , The New Yorker

Excerpts: Were the Madrid bombings part of a new, far-reaching jihad being
plotted on the Internet?

(...) bin Laden  goals seemed to be motivated mainly by revenge. In 1998, he
had decreed that it was the uty of every Muslim?to kill Americans and their
allies. (...)

The Internet document suggested that a new intelligence was at work, a
rationality not seen in Al Qaeda documents before. The Mujahideen Services
Center, (...), appeared to operate as a kind of Islamist think tank. (...)
his is political science applied to jihad.?
* The Terror Web, Lawrence Wright  , 04/07/26, The New Yorker


_________________________________________________________________

19.02. Blow To Saudi As Al-Qaeda Chief Evades Net , Financial Times

Excerpts: There are also concerns that militants have infiltrated some of the
security organisations. This is strongly denied by officials, (...).

However, some observers suggest the slow pace of social reform is hampering
attempts by the security apparatus to adapt to the evolving threat. They argue
that social reform is the key to the overall success of the counter-terrorist
campaign.

(...) "It cannot be stressed too firmly that Saudi security is best preserved
by broad progress and reform, and not by reforming the Saudi military or
intelligence services."

* Blow To Saudi As Al-Qaeda Chief Evades Net, Mark Huband  , 04/07/25,
Financial Times


_________________________________________________________________

19.03. Honorable Commission, Toothless Report , NY Times

Excerpts: Unfortunately, because of America's low standing in the Islamic
world, we are now at a great disadvantage in the battle of ideas. This is
primarily because of the unnecessary and counterproductive invasion of Iraq.
(...), the commission failed to admit the obvious: we are less capable of
defeating the jihadists because of the Iraq war.

Unanimity has its value, but so do debate and dissent in a democracy facing a
crisis. To fully realize the potential of the commission's report, we must see
it not as the end of the discussion (...).

* Honorable Commission, Toothless Report, Richard A. Clarke  , 04/07/25,
NYTimes


_________________________________________________________________

19.04. U.S. Cites Progress Against Terror Funds , Guardian

Excerpts: Officials concede it's difficult to stay on top of the money trail.
There are lots of options for terrorists: traditional banking systems,
siphoning charitable contributions, trafficking in drugs, cigarettes, diamonds
and gold, and smuggling cash.

``Every time we choke off one vehicle ... it causes the bad guys to change
tactics and try to find another way to move that money around,'' said Fran
Townsend, the White House's homeland security adviser.(...)

Some Capitol Hill lawmakers and others have questioned the Saudis' commitment
to combat terrorist financiers

* U.S. Cites Progress Against Terror Funds, Jeannine Aversa  , 04/07/26,
Guardian


_________________________________________________________________

20. Links & Snippets





_________________________________________________________________

20.01. Other Publications



- Optimal Nonlinear Models From Empirical Time Series: An Application To
Climate, R. M. Guti rez rgutier@venus.uanarino.edu.co , Jun. 2004,
International Journal Of Bifurcation And Chaos, DOI: 10.1142/S0218127404010400
- Economic Growth And The Biological Standard Of Living In China, 1880-1930, S.
L. Morgan s.morgan@unimelb.edu.au , Jun. 2004, online 2004/05/04, Economics &
Human Biology, DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2004.03.002
- Are Human Preferences For Facial Symmetry Focused On Signals Of Developmental
Instability?, L. W. Simmons lsimmons@cyllene.uwa.edu.au , G. Rhodes  , M.
Peters  , N. Koehler , Sep. 2004, online 2004/06/11, Behavioral Ecology, DOI:
10.1093/beheco/arh099
- EU Enlargement And The Internal Geography Of Countries, M. Crozeta  , P. K.
Soubeyran pks@ensae.fr , Jun. 2004, online 2004/04/15, Journal of Comparative
Economics, DOI: 10.1016/j.jce.2004.02.009
- Convergent Coevolution In The Domestication Of Coral Mushrooms By
Fungus-Growing Ants, A. B. Munkacsi  , J. J. Pan  , P. Villesen  , U. G.
Mueller  , M. Blackwell  , D. J. McLaughlin , 2004/07/19, Alphagalileo &
Proceedings B (Biological Sciences)
- Work Migration Of Russian Scientists, S. Komarov textmaster@informnauka.ru ,
2004/07/19, Alphagalileo
- What Determines EU Decision Making? Needs, Power Or Both?, P. Sumner
philippa.sumner@oxon.blackwellpublishing.com , 2004/07/23, Alphagalileo &
Blackwell Publishing
- Search Engine Experts Look Forwards To Completely Digital Lives And Backwards
To Washington's Letters, L. Branton l.branton@shef.ac.uk , 2004/07/23,
Alphagalileo
- Molecular Motor Shuttles Key Protein In Response To Light, 2004/07/19,
ScienceDaily & Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
- Nature Mimics Industry, 2004/07/22, ScienceDaily & Dartmouth College
- Governance And Competence: How Can They Be Combined?, B. Nooteboom
b.nooteboom@uvt.nl , Jul. 2004, Cambridge Journal of Economics
- The Market For Preferences, P. E. Earl p.earl@economics.uq.edu.au , J. Potts
j.potts@economics.uq.edu.au , Jul. 2004, Cambridge Journal of Economics
- Political Competition, Rent Seeking And The Choice Of Environmental Policy
Instruments: Comment, B. R. Dijkstra bouwe.dijkstra@nottingham.ac.uk , Sep.
2004, Environmental & Resource Economics, DOI:
10.1023/B:EARE.0000035439.63411.68
- Diverse In Name Only? Intercultural Interaction At A Multicultural
University, R. T. Halualani  , A. S. Chitgopekar  , J. H. T. A. Morrison  , P.
S.-W. Dodge , Jun. 2004, Journal of Communication
- Blind Construction of Optimal Nonlinear Recursive Predictors for Discrete
Sequences, Cosma Rohilla Shalizi , Kristina Lisa Shalizi , 2004/06/06, arXiv,
DOI: cs.LG/0406011
- Self-organising Vehaviour in the Presence of Negative Externalities: A
Conceptual Model of Commuter Choice, Ann van Ackere , Erik R. Larsen ,
2004/09/01, European Journal of Operational Research 157(2):501-513, DOI:
10.1016/S0377-2217(03)00237-6
- Recurrence Quantification Analysis Of Wavelet Pre-Filtered Index Returns,
Antonios Antoniou  , Constantinos E. Vorlow , , Physica A  , 04/07/20,
Uncorrected Proof
- Price Clustering And Discreteness: Is There Chaos Behind The Noise?, Antonios
Antoniou , Constantinos E. Vorlow  , 04/07/18, arXiv, cond-mat/0407471
- Parasite Invades Human Genome, 04/07/23, Science Now, Chagas disease
parasite's DNA wreaks havoc long after the bugs are gone
- Crab Coalitions, 04/07/22, Science Now, Territorial fiddlers help their
neighbors, but pick their fights
- Cosmic Wager Conceded, 04/07/21, Science Now, Stephen Hawking says
information can escape a black hole after all
- Quantum Dots Light Up Tumors, 04/07/20, Science Now, Linked to antibodies,
glowing crystals latch onto cancer cells
- Ice Age Sistine Chapel Found, 04/07/20, Science Now, Elaborate carvings
discovered on ceiling of British cave
- Accounting and Accountability, Paul Krugman  , 04/07/23, NYTimes
- Foolscap and Favored Sons, Caroline Alexander , 04/07/23, NYTimes, The
disappearance of President Bush's service records is important beyond politics;
a nation's archival history depends on the preservation of its military
records.
- Earth Science: Deeper Understanding, 04/07/22, Thomas S. Duffy, Nature 430,
409 - 410. The boundary between the core and mantle is one of the most
enigmatic regions of Earth's interior. Analyses of a newly discovered
crystalline phase should yield a fuller understanding of this region., DOI:
10.1038/430409a
- Correcting the Record on Sept. 11, in Great Detail, Philip Shenon  ,
04/07/25, NYTimes
- Suicide Watch: Antidepressants Get Large-Scale Inspection, Bruce Bower ,
04/07/24, Science News
- Inside Plastic Transistors: Crystal-Clear Window Opens On Hidden Flows, By
creating a new type of plastic transistor, researchers have identified crucial
details regarding electric flow through plastic semiconductors.
- Dangerous Dust? Chemicals In Plastics Are Tied To Allergies, Elevated risks
for developing multiple allergies, including asthma, eczema, and rhinitis,
appear to be associated with household exposure to synthetic chemicals called
phthalates.
- Deep-Sea Cukes Can't Avoid the Weather: El Ni  changes life 2.5 miles down ,



LOW LIFE. The sea cucumber Scotoplanes globosa, a species with appendages,
lives miles below the ocean surface but grew more abundant after an El Ni  and
a La Ni .

Ruhl



- Potential Block For Epilepsy: Researchers Find New Drug Target, Using
genetically engineered mice, scientists have identified a new target in the
brain for drugs that could prevent epilepsy.
- Trail Mix: Espionage Among The Bees, Tests with two kinds of stingless bees
suggest that the more aggressive species uses scent-based espionage to target
raids on the milder species' food.
- Generous Players, Game theory is helping to explain how cooperation and other
self-sacrificing behaviors fit into natural selection.
- Seeds Of Agriculture Move Back In Time, Excavations in Israel indicate that
people began to eat large quantities of wild grass seeds and wild cereal grains
by around 23,000 years ago, which pushes back by 10,000 years the estimated
shift to a plant-rich diet.



_________________________________________________________________

20.02. Webcast Announcements




The 4th Intl Workshop on Meta-synthesis and Complex System, Beijing, China,
04/07/22-23


Intl Conf on Complex Networks: Structure, Function and Processes, Kolkata,
India, 04/06/27-30


 From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela
(1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20



ECC8 Experimental Chaos Conference, Florence, Italy,
  04/06/14-17



Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium,
04/05/26-28


International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21


Life, a Nobel Story, Brussels, Belgium, 04/04/28


Nonlinear Dynamics and Statistical Mechanics Days, Brussels, Belgium,
04/04/26-27


Science Education Forum for Chinese Language Culture, Panel Discussion, Taipei,
Taiwan, 04/05/01


Biologically Inspired Approaches to Advanced Information Technology, ,
Lausanne,Switzerland, 04/01/29-30


Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H.,
Internet-First University Press, 1994

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

  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



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

  SME 2004 Symposium on Modeling
  and Control of Economic Systems , University in Redlands, CA, 04/07/28-31

  6th
  International Mathematica Symposium (IMS 2004), Banff,
  Canada, 04/08/02-06

4th
  intl seminar on Collective Intelligence
, U of Ottawa, Canada, 04/08/08-10


Real-Life Complex Adaptive Systems: Modelling And Control, session in Intl Conf
on Computing, Communications and Control Technologies: CCCT'04, Austin, Texas,
04/08/14-17

   Fractals and Natural Hazards at
32nd Intl Geological Congress (IGC), Florence, Italy, 04/08/20-28


Intl Conf on Science of Complex Networks: from Biology
to the Internet and WWW (CNET2004), Aveiro
(Portugal), 04/08/29-09/02




ICCC 2004, IEEE International Conference on Computational Cybernetics, ,
Vienna, Austria, 04/08/30-09/01

  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

  Dynamics Days 2004, XXIV Annual Conf,
Palma de Mallorca, Spain, 04/09/13-17

  Neuroeconomics 2004, Charleston, SC, 04/09/16-19

  TNew Economic Windows 2004: Complexity Hints for Economic Policy, Salerno,
Italy, 04/09/16-18

  The
Verhulst 200 on Chaos, Brussels, BELGIUM, 04/09/16-18

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

  The
  Nonlinear Waves in Fluids: Recent Advances and Modern Applications, Udine,
Italy, 04/09/18-22

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

  3rd Natll Conf on Systems Science ,
Trento (Italy), 04/10/07-09

   TEDMED Conference ,
Charleston SC, 04/10/12-15

  Intl Workshop On Bifurcations In Nonsmooth And Hybrid Dynamical Systems  ,
Milano (Italy), 04/10/21-22

  Wolfram
  Technology Conference, Champaign, Illinois,
  04/10/21-23

  6th Intl Conf on Electronic Commerce
ICEC'2004: Towards A New Services Landscape,  Delft, The Netherlands,
04/10/25-27

   Complexity and Philosophy Workshop - 2-Day Conference ,  Rio de Janeiro,
04/11


ICDM '04: The Fourth IEEE Intl Conf on Data Mining, Brighton, UK, 04/11/01-04

Denaturing Darwin: International Conference on Evolution and Organization
, Amersfoort, The Netherlands, 04/11/12-14


  The 7th Asia-Pacific Complex Systems Conference,  Queensland, Australia,
04/12/06-10

  17th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence,  Queensland,
Australia, 04/12/06-10

Cellular Computing Symposium, U Warwick
(UK), 04/12/09-10

  Kondratieff Waves, Warfare And World Security, NATO Advanced Research
Workshop
, Covilh? Portugal, 05/02/14-17



  Powders & Grains 2005, Stuttgart, Germany, 05/06/18-22

  Workshop on Complexity and Policy Analysis, Cork, Ireland, 05/06/22-24


18th International Conference on Noise and Fluctuations (ICNF 2005), Salamanca,
Spain, 05/09/19-23







_________________________________________________________________
Complexity Digest is an independent publication available to organizations that
may wish to repost ComDig (http://www.comdig.org/) to their own mailing lists.
ComDig (http://www.comdig.org/) is published by Dean LeBaron
(http://www.deanlebaron.com/index.html) and edited by Gottfried J. Mayer
(http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/x/gxm21/). To unsubscribe from this
list, please send a note to subscriptions@comdig.org.
ed