Complexity Digest 2002.16

22-Apr-2002

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Content

  1. Supramolecular Chemistry And Self-Assembly Special Feature: Reaching Across The Sciences, PNAS
    1. Toward Complex Matter: Supramolecular Chemistry And Self-Organization, PNAS
    2. Self-Assembly Of Mesoscopic And Macroscopic Components, PNAS
    3. Molecules Within Molecules: Recognition Through Self-Assembly, PNAS
    4. Controlled Disassembling Of Self-Assembling Systems: Toward Artificial Molecular-Level Devices And Machines, PNAS
    5. Chemical Synthesis: The Art Of Chemistry, Nature
  2. Researchers Find 3,600-Mile Ant Supercolony, CNN/AP
    1. Evolution Of Supercolonies: The Argentine Ants Of Southern Europe, PNAS
    2. The Many Selves of Social Insects, Science
  3. Caterpillar Saliva Beats Plant Defences, Nature
  4. Pesticide Blamed For Sexual Mutation In Frogs, CNN/AP
    1. Frogs Put In The Gender Blender By America's Favourite Herbicide, Nature
    2. Environmental Sustainability: Perspectives on the World, Online Course
  5. Self-Discrimination, a Life and Death Issue, Science
    1. Pathogen Surveillance--the Flies Have It, Science
    2. Neutrality: A Necessity for Self-Adaptation, arXiv
  6. Multiple Mechanisms Of Spiral Wave Breakup In A Model Of Cardiac Electrical Activity, arXiv
  7. Multiple Devices Fabricated in a Single Nanowire, Semiconductor International
  8. The Next Generation Of Computers Will Be Timeless, Alphagalileo
  9. How Life Originated In Space, Alphagalileo
  10. Gene Activity Clocks Brain's Fast Evolution, Science
    1. Intra- and Interspecific Variation in Primate Gene Expression Patterns, Science
  11. DNA Chips Lead Medical Revolution, CNN/AP
  12. Clearing A Path For Nerve Growth, Nature
  13. Role Of Eye, Head, And Shoulder Geometry In The Planning Of Accurate Arm Movements, J. Neurophysiology
  14. Perceiving Patterns In Random Series: Dynamic Processing Of Sequence, Nature Neuroscience
  15. Music Services Aren't Napster, But The Industry Still Cries Foul, NYTimes
    1. Microsoft Learns A Lesson From Competition, CNN
  16. Exploiting Synergy Between Ontologies and Recommender Systems, arXiv
    1. Local Search in Unstructured Networks, arXiv
  17. Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction, Book Announcement
  18. Early Cowboys Herded Cattle in Africa, Science
    1. African Pastoralism: Genetic Imprints of Origins and Migrations, Science
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Informational Warfare, NYTimes
    2. A Rising Toll for Bush, NYTimes
    3. Chávez's Second Chance, NYTimes
    4. U.S. Treatment of War Captives Is Criticized, NYTimes
    5. Mission Impossible, NYTimes
    6. Machines Are Filling In For Troops, NYTimes
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Papers
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements

  1. Supramolecular Chemistry And Self-Assembly Special Feature: Reaching Across The Sciences, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The term Supramolecular (...) refers to ordered molecular aggregates that are held together by noncovalent binding interactions, such as metal-ligand bonds, hydrogen bonds, or van der Waals' forces. Because of the weakness of such binding interactions, the formation of such supramolecular assemblies often is thermodynamically dictated, so that they commonly are generated by spontaneous self-assembly rather than through sequential bond-forming synthetic strategies; (...).Manifestations and applications include: molecular recognition, selective binding and encapsulation, receptors and sensors, drug delivery strategies, catalysis, biological mimics, and nanoscale electronic and mechanical devices.

    1. Toward Complex Matter: Supramolecular Chemistry And Self-Organization, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: As the wind of time blows into the sails of space, the unfolding of the universe nurtures the evolution of matter under the pressure of information. From divided to condensed and on to organized, living, and thinking matter, the path is toward an increase in complexity through self-organization.

      Thus emerges the prime question (...): how does matter become complex? What are the steps and the processes that lead from the elementary particle to the thinking organism, the (present!) entity of highest complexity?


    2. Self-Assembly Of Mesoscopic And Macroscopic Components, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Self-assembly is a process in which components, either separate or linked, spontaneously form ordered aggregates. Self-assembly can occur with components having sizes from the molecular to the macroscopic, provided that appropriate conditions are met. Although much of the work in self-assembly has focused on molecular components, many of the most interesting applications of self-assembling processes can be found at larger sizes (nanometers to micrometers). These larger systems also offer a level of control over the characteristics of the components and over the interactions among them that makes fundamental investigations especially tractable.

    3. Molecules Within Molecules: Recognition Through Self-Assembly, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Synthetic molecular receptors that completely surround their target molecules can be created through the use of noncovalent interactions. These molecular capsules selectively sequester guest molecules from the influence of bulk solvent and other molecules on the basis of size, shape, and chemical complementarity. This reversible isolation spawns unique behavior within the confines of the host; the catalysis of chemical reactions and the stabilization of reactive species are possible outcomes that have been recently demonstrated. Compartmentalization of reagents can also have a dramatic effect on reactions that take place outside of the capsule, producing nonlinear kinetics in relatively simple reaction systems.

    4. Controlled Disassembling Of Self-Assembling Systems: Toward Artificial Molecular-Level Devices And Machines, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Investigations on self-assembling/induced-disassembling systems have led to the design of molecular-level devices capable of performing a variety of functions. Some of the work carried out in this field is illustrated. (...)

      It should be noted, of course, that the described systems work in solution, i.e., incoherently. For most kinds of applications, they need to be interfaced with the macroscopic world by ordering them in some way, for example at an interface or on a surface, so they can behave coherently either in parallel or in series.

       


    5. Chemical Synthesis: The Art Of Chemistry, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Consider the synthesis of natural products. In assembling a complex organic molecule such as an antiviral or anticancer agent, the synthetic chemist must plan and execute multiple reactions, typically in a stepwise manner, until the desired compound is obtained. Success often requires the ability to react a single part of a molecule to the exclusion of others. Such 'chemoselectivity' is typically achieved with a protecting group that can later be removed without destroying any of the product.


  2. Researchers Find 3,600-Mile Ant Supercolony, CNN/AP Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Cooperating allows the colonies to develop at much higher densities than normally would occur, eliminating some 90 percent of other types of ants that live near them (...).

    The Argentine ants were accidentally introduced to Europe around 1920, probably in ships carrying plants (...)

    However, in the long run the very cooperation that seems to make them successful could lead to the supercolony's self-destruction, he suggested.

    That's because in such a giant colony many workers are unrelated to the queens they help to raise.


    1. Evolution Of Supercolonies: The Argentine Ants Of Southern Europe, PNAS Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Some ants have an extraordinary social organization, called unicoloniality, whereby individuals mix freely among physically separated nests. This type of social organization is (...) an evolutionary paradox and a potential problem for kin selection theory because relatedness between nest mates is effectively zero. (...) Indeed workers of the same supercolony are never aggressive to each other despite the large geographical distance and considerable genetic differentiation between sampling sites. By contrast, aggression is invariably extremely high between the two supercolonies, indicating that they have become fixed for different recognition alleles. The main supercolony, which ranges over 6,000 km from Italy to the Spanish Atlantic coast, effectively forms the largest cooperative unit ever recorded.


    2. The Many Selves of Social Insects, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Social insects show multiple levels of self identity. Most individuals are sterile workers who selflessly labor for their colony, which is often viewed as a superorganism. The superorganism protects itself with colony recognition systems (...). Transfer of these odors within the colony obscures separate clan identities. Residual individual interests do appear to cause conflicts within colonies over sex ratio, male production, caste, and reproductive dominance. However, genomic imprinting theory predicts that the individual's maternal and paternal genes will evolve separate infraorganismal identities, perhaps leaving virtually no coherent individual identity.


  3. Caterpillar Saliva Beats Plant Defences, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A new weapon emerges in the evolutionary arms race between plants and herbivores.

    Blood-feeding arthropods secrete special salivary proteins that suppress the defensive reaction they induce in their hosts. This is in contrast to herbivores, which are thought to be helpless victims of plant defences elicited by their oral secretions. On the basis of the finding that caterpillar regurgitant can reduce the amount of toxic nicotine released by the tobacco plant (...), we investigate here whether specific salivary components from the caterpillar Helicoverpa zea might be responsible for this suppression.

     


  4. Pesticide Blamed For Sexual Mutation In Frogs, CNN/AP Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The Environmental Protection Agency permits up to 3 parts per billion of atrazine in drinking water.

    But (...) it affected frogs at doses as small as 0.1 part per billion. As the amount of atrazine increased, as many as 20 percent of frogs exposed during their early development produced multiple sex organs (...).

    Hayes' research team concluded that the effect on the frogs results from atrazine causing cells to produce the enzyme aromatase, which is present in vertebrates and converts the male hormone testosterone to the female hormone estrogen.


    1. Frogs Put In The Gender Blender By America's Favourite Herbicide, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Low levels of the most widely used herbicide in the United States have been found to disrupt the sexual development of frogs. The finding will heighten concerns about the persistence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment - and throws the spotlight on another potential factor involved in the global decline of amphibian populations.

      In the United States, about 27,000 tonnes of atrazine are applied each year to fields used to grow crops such as maize, sorghum and sugar cane.


    2. Environmental Sustainability: Perspectives on the World, Online Course Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Human health, welfare, and enjoyment of life depend in fundamental ways on the systems of nature surrounding us. Yet we often see evidence that these vital systems have been compromised by our own actions--consciously or otherwise. It may seem obvious that humanity's coexistence with the natural environment is absolutely critical for the survival of the planet. Our relationship to our ecosystems must be, in brief, "sustainable."

      In this e-seminar, Professor Mark Levy leads an exploration of the many facets of environmental sustainability. The seminar is taught in a conference-style format with the perspectives of nine Columbia University faculty members associated with the Center for International Earth Science Information Networ


  5. Self-Discrimination, a Life and Death Issue, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Immunity represents an evolutionary response to pathogens, (...). Receptors identify molecular cues and activate immune responses. Resemblances to certain receptors in invertebrates suggest that elements of the innate immune system of mammals evolved from more primitive antimicrobial defenses. A Report by Choe et al. (p. 359; also see the accompanying Perspective by Khush, p. 273) describes a pathway in Drosophila for responding to pathogens. Matzinger (p. 301) presents the countersuggestion that the immune system has evolved not to discriminate self from nonself, but rather to recognize "danger" signals within the body, regardless of source.

    1. Pathogen Surveillance--the Flies Have It, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: The ancient origins of the battles between infectious microbes and their hosts are illustrated by the similarities in frontline defense adopted by insects and mammals. In mammals, the innate immune system defines a rapidly induced first response to infection that directly activates host defenses and also stimulates the adaptive immune system. Insects share features of the mammalian innate immune response. In both groups, pathogens are recognized through interactions of stereotypical microbial structures with host proteins called pattern recognition receptors.


    2. Neutrality: A Necessity for Self-Adaptation, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Self-adaptation is used in all main paradigms of evolutionary computation to increase efficiency. We claim that the basis of self-adaptation is the use of neutrality. In the absence of external control neutrality allows a variation of the search distribution without the risk of fitness loss.

      Contributing Editor's Note: Evolutionary algorithms which do not exploit neutrality in many cases "get stuck" in local minima. Neutrality is a way of exploring alternatives in order to find solutions of higher fitness. But this has also consequences for the theory of evolution (see e.g. Alexander, (2001)), since it suggests that evolution does not need to "go forward" at all times.


  6. Multiple Mechanisms Of Spiral Wave Breakup In A Model Of Cardiac Electrical Activity, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt of Abstract: It has become widely accepted that the most dangerous cardiac arrhythmias are due to re- entrant waves, i.e., electrical wave(s) that re-circulate repeatedly throughout the tissue at a higher frequency than the waves produced by the heart's natural pacemaker (sinoatrial node). However, the complicated structure of cardiac tissue, as well as the complex ionic currents in the cell, has made it extremely difficult to pinpoint the detailed mechanisms of these life-threatening reentrant arrhythmias. A simplified ionic model of the cardiac action potential (AP) (...) is used to explain many different mechanisms of spiral wave breakup which in principle can occur in cardiac tissue. Some, but not all, of these mechanisms have been observed before using other models; therefore, the purpose of this paper is to demonstrate them using just one framework model and to explain the different parameter regimes or physiological properties necessary for each mechanism (...).

    Contributing editor's note: The modeling of fibrillation phenomena is among the most important applications of the theory of pattern formation and spatio-temporal chaos. The break-up of spiral waves into multiple spirals and then spatially extended chaotic states is considered by numerous scientists to be a possible mechanism for fibrillation phenomena.


  7. Multiple Devices Fabricated in a Single Nanowire, Semiconductor International Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: "Defect-free, atomically abrupt interfaces may be possible in wires of diameter less than 20 nm," (...)

    The advantage of this direct-growth approach to synthesis, compared with the doping of carbon nanotubes (another type of nanotechnology), is that it eliminates the need for lithography, enabling the possibility of bottom-up assembly of complex functional structures. "By the time Moore's Law starts running out," Gudikeson said, "hopefully all the details will be figured out so that these things become practical."


  8. The Next Generation Of Computers Will Be Timeless, Alphagalileo Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Contributing Editor's Note: In modern computers, all hardware design has been based on the principle of the clock ¡X a microelectronic crystal which emits rapid pulses of electricity to synchronize the flow of data. The electrical pulses, traveling at the speed of light, are not fast enough to keep accurate time as they visit tens of millions of transistors on a single chip. The result is that errors begin to occur in data- according to researchers. This phenomenon is known as metastability and being the subject of research as reported in the following article.

    Excerpts: ¡¥In binary terms, incoming data has a metastable state in which it is neither true nor false.' Asynchronous systems rely on a protocol of data transmission and acknowledgement which is not regulated by time. Computer clocks generate heat as well as high frequencies, since they consume large amounts of power. To abolish them would allow portable devices to run on less power, enabling further miniaturisation (...) the irregular pattern of data transmission allows the information to be encrypted far more effectively than at present.

    (...) the clock-based system is nearing the end of its useful life.


  9. How Life Originated In Space, Alphagalileo Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Contributing Editor's Note: The following article address the old but important question: what is the possible sources of the life in this planet? n. Reacting to the  popular hypothesis that some germs of life have been brought to the Earth from space- the researchers conducted some experiments by simulating space like condition using lunar soil etc. to synthesis one of the DNA components and examining the chemical transformation therein.

    Excerpts: Synthesis requires energy. The major source of energy in the outer space (...) has been the solar ultraviolet radiation of different wavelengths. Therefore, the pellicles were irradiated by a powerful ultraviolet lamp. Naturally, the synthesis was carried out in vacuum, and the researchers used the lunar soil, delivered to the Earth by the `Moon-16` station. The researchers have made a conclusion that the organic compounds synthesis could have happened in the outer space environment.

    By the time the Earth was formed the chemical evolution might have approached the phase to be followed by the biological evolution.


  10. Gene Activity Clocks Brain's Fast Evolution, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: A team of molecular biologists has taken a stab at defining what makes us human. Its answer: We're set apart from other primates not so much by differences in the makeup of our genes but by relatively recent changes in how active those genes are. Such changes are most dramatic in the brain, where they've occurred at a faster rate in humans than in other primates, report Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and his colleagues on page 340.

    1. Intra- and Interspecific Variation in Primate Gene Expression Patterns, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Although humans and their closest evolutionary relatives, the chimpanzees, are 98.7% identical in their genomic DNA sequences, they differ in many morphological, behavioral, and cognitive aspects. The underlying genetic basis of many of these differences may be altered gene expression. (...). We also studied three mouse species that are approximately as related to each other as are humans, chimpanzees, and orangutans. We identified species-specific gene expression patterns indicating that changes in protein and gene expression have been particularly pronounced in the human brain.

  11. DNA Chips Lead Medical Revolution, CNN/AP Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: The chips are also giving researchers insight into how illnesses such as cancer develop. What researchers are finding is that diseases affect people in different ways.

    Researchers are finding increasing proof that cancer is an individualized disease, with many different subtypes, identifiable only by their molecular fingerprints.

    This will ultimately lead to more sophisticated treatments for cancer and other diseases, said Dietrich Stephan, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Children's National Medical Center in Washington D.C.


  12. Clearing A Path For Nerve Growth, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: After spinal-cord injury, severed nerve fibres face a thicket of obstacles as they try to regenerate. Researchers have used a bacterial enzyme to help prune these obstacles in rats.

    It has long been thought that such traumatic injuries are incurable, but intense experimental work is beginning to suggest that they might one day be treatable at least. (...) a bacterial enzyme that trims the carbohydrate side chains off large extracellular proteins - enables severed nerve fibres to regenerate after the spinal cord has been crushed in rats.


  13. Role Of Eye, Head, And Shoulder Geometry In The Planning Of Accurate Arm Movements, J. Neurophysiology Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Contributing Editor's Note: Eyes, head, and shoulder have different centers of rotation. So to integrate their activity by the brain is a geometrically complex process as the constituents change continuously. For this reason,  head rotation causes the eye to translate with respect to the shoulder in order to 'relatively' fix it to any object. The consequences of this geometry for planning accurate arm movements in a pointing task with the head at different orientations is being reported in the following article.

    Excerpts: When asked to point at an object, subjects oriented their arm to position the fingertip on the line running from the target to the viewing eye. But this eye-target line shifts when the eyes translate with each new head orientation, thereby requiring a new arm pointing direction. We confirmed that subjects do realign their fingertip with the eye-target line during closed-loop pointing across various horizontal head orientations when gaze is on target. More importantly, subjects also showed this head-position-dependent pattern of pointing responses for the same paradigm performed in complete darkness.


  14. Perceiving Patterns In Random Series: Dynamic Processing Of Sequence, Nature Neuroscience Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: We demonstrate that regions within human prefrontal cortex develop moment-to-moment models for patterns of events occurring in the sensory environment. Subjects viewed a random binary sequence of images, each presented singly and each requiring a different button press response. Patterns occurred by chance within the presented series of images. (...) we identified activity evoked by viewing a stimulus that interrupted a pattern. Prefrontal activation was evoked by violations of both repeating and alternating patterns, and the amplitude of this activation increased with increasing pattern length. Violations of repeating patterns, but not of alternating patterns, activated the basal ganglia.

  15. Music Services Aren't Napster, But The Industry Still Cries Foul, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A new generation of free music exchanges has blossomed in place of Napster, which was forced offline by a California court in July (...). So the record companies have found themselves back in courtrooms worldwide and are facing a more complicated set of legal questions. (...)

    Lawyers for the software makers say that once they introduce the software into the market, they not only cannot control how it is used but also cannot completely shut down their systems because those networks do not rely on the companies' computers.


    1. Microsoft Learns A Lesson From Competition, CNN Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The General Public License allows any user to access a piece of software's source code, change it and distribute it for nothing more than the cost of distribution.

      The only caveat: If a developer uses such a piece of software to build another piece of technology, that new technology also is subject to the rules of the GPL.

      In fact, Microsoft uses an open-source operating system called FreeBSD, which isn't under the GPL, for its free Hotmail e-mail system.


  16. Exploiting Synergy Between Ontologies and Recommender Systems, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Recommender systems learn about user preferences over time, automatically finding things of similar interest. This reduces the burden of creating explicit queries. Recommender systems do, however, suffer from cold-start problems where no initial information is available early on upon which to base recommendations. Semantic knowledge structures, such as ontologies, can provide valuable domain knowledge and user information. However, acquiring such knowledge and keeping it up to date is not a trivial task and user interests are particularly difficult to acquire and maintain. This paper investigates the synergy between a web-based research paper recommender system and an ontology containing information automatically extracted from departmental databases available on the web. The ontology is used to address the recommender systems cold-start problem. The recommender system addresses the ontology's interest-acquisition problem. An empirical evaluation of this approach is conducted and the performance of the integrated systems measured.

    1. Local Search in Unstructured Networks, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: We review a number of message-passing algorithms that can be used to search through power-law networks. Most of these algorithms are meant to be improvements for peer-to-peer file sharing systems, and some may also shed some light on how unstructured social networks with certain topologies might function relatively efficiently with local information. Like the networks that they are designed for, these algorithms are completely decentralized, and they exploit the power-law link distribution in the node degree. We demonstrate that some of these search algorithms can work well on real Gnutella networks, scale sub-linearly with the number of nodes, and may help reduce the network search traffic that tends to cripple such networks.

  17. Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction, Book Announcement Next Article Bookmark and Share

    From the back cover: The most prominent example of a complex adaptive system is our brain. It consists of neurons which are connected by synapses to a complex and intricate network which is adaptive, i.e. we can learn with our brain. In recent years it has become clear that the picture of complex adaptive systems as networks, consisting of many nonlinearly interacting elements which can adapt their dynamical behavior to external influences applies to many evolutionary processes ranging from the emergence of life out of a network of interacting biopolymers, via Darwinian evolution with its ecological and economical networks, to the emergence of higher brain functions in neural networks and man made, i.e. evolutionary caused, communications networks like the Internet.

  18. Early Cowboys Herded Cattle in Africa, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Humans and cattle go way back, but the origins of this relationship have been murky. (...) The study also fills in details of how domesticated cattle were herded across the continent, and it could provide insights into how humans learned to produce food.

    Pictorial representations and archaeological remains show that the earliest African cattle were humpless (...). The earliest evidence for humped cattle on the continent, provided by Egyptian tomb paintings of the XIIth Dynasty, do not appear until the second millennium BC


    1. African Pastoralism: Genetic Imprints of Origins and Migrations, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The genetic history of African cattle pastoralism is controversial and poorly understood. (...). The earliest cattle originated within the African continent, but Near East and European genetic influences are also identified. The initial expansion of African Bos taurus was likely from a single region of origin. It reached the southern part of the continent by following an eastern route rather than a western one. The B. indicus genetic influence shows a major entry point through the Horn and the East Coast of Africa and two modes of introgression into the continent.

  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Informational Warfare, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Abstract: Reputations were built and maintained by the collection, analysis, and dissemination of information about the actions and capabilities of group members-that is, by gossiping. Strategic gossiping would have been an excellent strategy for manipulating reputations and thereby competing effectively for resources and for cooperative relationships with group members who could best provide such resources. Because, over evolutionary time, women may have experienced more within-group competition than men, and because female reputations may have been more vulnerable than male reputations to gossip, gossiping may have been a more important strategy for women than men.

       


    2. A Rising Toll for Bush, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: The apparent failure of Secretary Powell's mission has now pushed American diplomacy into the region's most intractable conflict to a point where the political costs at home are rising and the diplomatic costs with the Arab world are steep, and where even the global antiterror campaign could be in jeopardy.


    3. Chávez's Second Chance, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: The Bush administration's mixed signals about last weekend's attempted coup in Venezuela - first, as the administration reports, warning against it, then approving it when it happened and then backpedaling - have given rise to charges that President Bush not only waffled but was not sufficiently firm about defending basic democratic values. (...) demonstrated a clearer resolve to defend legitimately elected governments. But Venezuela also illustrates how complex and difficult it can be in Latin America to improve the quality of democratic governance.


    4. U.S. Treatment of War Captives Is Criticized, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: "In so doing, it has not only violated the rights of those individuals but threatens to undermine the rule of law everywhere."

      These rights, the report says, include the right to be informed of the reason for detention, the right to prompt and confidential access to counsel of one's choice and the presumption of innocence.

      The report says the presumption of innocence has been undermined by "a pattern of public commentary on the presumed guilt of the people" in American custody in Guantánamo Bay.


    5. Mission Impossible, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Mr. Sharon and Mr. Arafat may be improbable partners for peacemaking, but the administration let the violence grow into a conflagration before it intervened forcefully. By then even American influence was no match for the anger and bloodshed. American power has not been enhanced by the spectacle of Mr. Sharon brazenly ignoring Mr. Bush's call for an immediate withdrawal. We would like nothing more than to affirm Mr. Bush's declaration yesterday that Secretary Powell made progress toward peace, but right now we don't see much reason for optimism.


    6. Machines Are Filling In For Troops, NYTimes Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpt: Rapid advances in technology have brought an array of sensors, vehicles and weapons that can be operated by remote control or are totally autonomous. Within a decade, those machines will be able to perform many of the most dangerous, strenuous or boring tasks now assigned to people, military planners say, paving the way for a fundamental change in warfare.

      Already, autonomous sentinels on the ground, in the air and in orbit are probing the battlefield with heat detectors, radar, cameras, microphones and other devices.


  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Papers Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. A Compelling Genetic Hypothesis For A Complex Disease: PRODH2/DGCR6 Variation Leads To Schizophrenia Susceptibility, Aravinda Chakravarti, PNAS 2002;99 4755-4756
      2. Contextualizing Concepts, L. Gabora & D. Aerts,  To be presented in Proc. 15th Int. FLAIRS Conference, Florida, American Association for Artificial Intelligence, May, 2002
      3. The Complexity Of Comparing Reaction Systems, M. Ettinger, Bioinformatics, Vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 465-469, March 2002
      4. Thinking About Feeling, Humphrey, N., Oxford Companion to the Mind, Gregory, Richard L., (Eds.). Oxford University Press, 2002
      5. A Classical Probabilistic Computer Model Of Consciousness, B. Stephen, CogPrints, 2002
      6. Computational Phonology , Steven Bird, Oxford International Encyclopedia of Linguistics, 2nd Edition, 2002. (arXiv Paper ID: cs.CL/0204023. 10-Apr-2002.)
      7. Scaling Of Entanglement Close To A Quantum Phase Transition, A. Osterloh, Luigi Amico, G. Falci, Rosario Fazio, Nature 416, 608 - 610 (2002)
      8. Spontaneous Breaking Of Time-Reversal Symmetry In The Pseudogap State Of A High-Tc Superconductor, A. Kaminski, S. Rosenkranz, H. M. Fretwell, J. C. Campuzano, Z. Li¡±, H. Raffy, W. G. Cullen†, H. You†, C. G. Olson, C. M. Varma, H. Höchst, Nature 416, 610 - 613 (2002)
      9. Optical Studies Of Solid Hydrogen To 320 GPa And Evidence For Black Hydrogen, Paul Loubeyre, Florent Occelli, René Letoullec, Nature 416, 613 - 617 (2002)
      10. Strong Male-Driven Evolution Of Dna Sequences In Humans And Apes, Kateryna D. Makova And Wen-Hsiung Li, Nature 416, 624 - 626 (2002)
      11. Direct Visuomotor Transformations For Reaching, Christopher A. Buneo, Murray R. Jarvis, Aaron P. Batista, Richard A. Andersen, Nature 416, 632 - 636 (2002)
      12. A 'Periodic Table' For Protein Structures, William R. Taylor, Nature 416, 657 - 660 (2002)
      13. Fabrication of a Cylindrical Display by Patterned Assembly, Heiko O. Jacobs, Andrea R. Tao, Alexander Schwartz, David H. Gracias, George M. Whitesides, Science Apr 12 2002: 323-325
      14. Computer Modeling: Our Virtual Planet, Robert Triendl, Nature 416, 579 - 580 (2002), Japan's Earth Simulator supercomputer could provide the most accurate models yet of the planet's climate and geophysics - but there are obstacles to realizing that potential.

       


    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. The War On Terrorism: What Does It Mean for Science?, Audio Files from the AAAS Symposium , 01/12/18
      2. Press Coverage and the War on Terrorism, The Impact of September 11 on Public Opinion: Increased Patriotism, Unity, Support for Bush; More Interest in News, A Brookings/Harvard Forum, The Brookings Institution, 02/03/27 (video)
      3. 2002 Complex Systems Lecture Series, University of Alaska Anchorage
        1. Computation Of Chaos, Complexity, And Computability With Applications To Real World Problems, Julian Palmore, 02/04/05 (21:30GMT)
        2. The Particle Swarm Algorithm: Discoveries, Investigations, And New Frontiers, James Kennedy, 02/04/12 (19:00GMT)
        3. Complex Networks: From The Internet To The Genome, Dr. Ricard Solé, 02/04/19 (09:00GMT)
      4. The Tenth Annual, Enterprise Value Retreat & Awards Ceremony, Tucson, Arizona, 02/01/27-30 (a.o. Jaron Lanier, "Not Being There")(video)
      5. The Adaptive Enterprise in Action, The Center for Business Innovation, online until June 2002
      6. Center for Preventive Action Special Event, Kofi Annan, John W. Vessey, Webcast, 02/03/06
      7. Protecting the Homeland Through Executive Leadership And Effective Communication, Princeton, NJ, 02/04/23
      8. Foresight Senior Associate Gathering: "Exploring the Edges", April 26-28, 2002 Palo Alto, California

       


    3. Conference Announcements Bookmark and Share

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      1. Modeling & Simulation of Microsystems (MSM 2002) & Intl. Conf on Comp Nano Science (ICCN 2002), San Juan, Puerto Rico, 02/04/22-25
      2. 'Introducing Complexity', The University of Liverpool, 02/04/24
      3. PROTECTING THE HOMELAND: Lessons Learned and Policy Implications of 9/11, Washington, DC, 02/04/29-05/01
      4. World Conference NL 2002 - Networked Learning in a Global Environment: Challenges and Solutions for Virtual Education, Berlin, Germany, 02/05/01-04
      5. Electronic Conference on Foundations of Information Science: The Nature Of Information: Conceptions, Misconceptions, And Paradoxes, 02/05/06
      6. Managing Complex Organizations In A Complex World, Cambridge, MA, 02/05/09-10
      7. Understanding Complex Systems: Complexity In Physical And Biological Structures, Medicine & Ecology, U. Illinois At Urbana-Champaign, 02/05/13-15
      8. Mass Customisation: Strategies and Enabling Technology, U. Warwick, UK, 02/05/14-15
      9. International Conference Ethics and Technological Complexity, Louvain-la-Neuve, 02/05/29-31
      10. International Conference SocioPhysics, ZIF - Bielefeld, Germany, 02/06/06-09
      11. International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS2002), Nashua, NH, 02/06/9-14
      12. Sitges Conference "Statistical Mechanics of Complex Networks", Sitges, Spain, 02/06/10-14
      13. 2nd International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL'02), Cambridge, Massachusetts USA, 02/06/12-15
      14. AES 22nd International Conference on Virtual, Synthetic And Entertainment Audio, Espoo, Finland, 02/06/15-17
      15. Complex Systems: Control and Modeling Problems, Samara, Russia, 02/06/17
      16. International Conference: Emergence in Chemical Systems, University of Alaska Anchorage, 02/06/20-23
      17. Let's Face Chaos Through Nonlinear Dynamics, Maribor, Slovenia, 02/06/30 - 07/14
      18. 7th International Conference on Music Perception & Cognition - ICMPC7, Sydney, 02/07/17-21
      19. Complexity and Philosophy, Norwood, Massachusetts, USA, 02/07/29-30
      20. 12th Ann Intl Conf Society For Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences: Chaos and Complexity in a Changing World, Portland, OR, USA, 02/08/01-04
      21. Self-Organisation and Evolution of Social Behaviour, Monte Verità, Switzerland, 02/09/08-13
      22. Complex Systems (CS02) Complexity with Agent-Based Modeling, Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan, 02/09/10-12
      23. 3rd Intl NAISO Symposium on Engineering Of Intelligent Systems (EIS 20020), Malaga, Spain, 02/09/24-27
      24. Seminar on Non-equilibrium Phenomena and Phase Transitions in Complex Systems, Avila, Spain, 02/09/24-28.
      25. ACRI 2002, 5th Intl Conf on Cellular Automata for Research and Industry, Geneva, Switzerland, 02/10/09-11 
      26. Dynamical Systems Methods for Advanced Diagnosis and Prognosis, 39th Annual Technical Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science, University Park, Pennsylvania, 02/10/13-16
      27. 4th Asia-Pacific Conference on Simulated Evolution And Learning (SEAL'02), 9th International Conference on Neural Information Processing (ICONIP'02), International Conference on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (FSKD'02), Singapore, 02/11/18-22
      28. Managing the Complex IV, Naples , FL, Early December 2002
      29. Artificial Life VIII, UNSW, Sydney, Australia, 02/12/09-13
      30. Hawaii International Conference On System Sciences (HICSS-36), Big Island, Hawaii, 03/01/06-09
      31. 21st ICDE World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education, Hong Kong, 03/06/01-05

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