Complexity Digest 2008.05

30-Jan-2008

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Content

  1. How The World Invests In R&D - The Changing Face Of Public And Private Funding., Nature
    1. Big Foot: Eco-Footprints Of Rich Dwarf Poor Nations' Debt, Science News
  2. Microchips Everywhere: a Future Vision, Washington Post
    1. The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey, NY Times
    2. A Wii Warm-Up Hones Surgical Skills, New Scientist
  3. Virology: The Battle Within, Nature
    1. Genomics: Fighting Fire With Fire, Nature
    2. Search For The 'On' Switches May Reveal Genetic Role In Development And Disease, ScienceDaily
  4. Molecular Biology: The Expanding World Of Small RNAs, Nature
  5. The Right Resident Bugs, Science
  6. Entire Synthetic Genome Created, National Geographic News
    1. ‘Telepathic' Genes Recognise Similarities In Each Other, Innovations-report
  7. Human Evolution: Why We're Different: Probing The Gap Between Apes And Humans, Science
  8. Application of Bloom's Taxonomy Debunks the "MCAT Myth", Science
    1. Kids Learn More When Mom Is Listening, Innovations-report
  9. Evolutionary Learning Of Small Networks, Complexity
  10. Cellular Memory Hints At The Origins Of Intelligence - Slime Mould Displays Remarkable Rhythmic Recall., Nature
  11. Systems Biology: Enlightening Rhythms, Science
  12. Researchers Identify Brain's 'Eureka' Circuitry, Innovations-report
  13. 100% Accuracy in Automatic Face Recognition, Science
  14. Clusters Of Ant Colonies And Robust Criticality In A Tropical Agro-Ecosystem, Nature
  15. In Diatom, Scientists Find Genes That May Level Engineering Hurdle, PhysOrg.com
  16. Supercool, And Strange - Scientists Are Finding Clues About Why Water Is So Utterly Weird, Science News
  17. Materials Science: Adaptive Composites, Science
  18. Optics: Against The Spread Of The Light, Nature
  19. Complex Challenges: Global Terrorist Networks
    1. Analysis: Dirty Money Cleanup Gains Speed, UPI
    2. JI [Jemaah Islamiyah, Ed.] Forces Weaken: Military Chief, SunStar Manila
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Webcast Announcements
    3. Conference Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. How The World Invests In R&D - The Changing Face Of Public And Private Funding., Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The latest analysis from the US National Science Board confirms that Israel leads the world in its economic devotion to research and development (R&D). Its civilian R&D spending in 2005 accounted for 4.71% of gross domestic product (GDP), more than twice the average among members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

    Although US R&D investment was the world's largest - $340 billion - and in 2004, it was more than that of the rest of the G7 nations combined, the report offers some evidence of a slight decline in its standing.

    1. Big Foot: Eco-Footprints Of Rich Dwarf Poor Nations' Debt, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      GIANT STEPS. Color-coded footprints indicate the dollar cost, in trillions, of environmental damage inflicted by high-, middle-, and low-income groups of nations on each of the other two groups. E. Roell, from Srinivasan graphic
      The first accounting of who's stomping on whom finds rich nations leaving supersized boot prints of ecological damage on poor countries, adding up to more than those nations' debt to the wealthier countries.

      Rich nations' doings during the last 4 decades of the 20th century caused up to $2.5 trillion in environmental impacts on poor countries,(...). Middle-income nations did about the same amount of damage to the low-income countries.

      Each wallop is bigger than the total that poor countries have borrowed from wealthier nations. In 2000, that borrowing added up to $1.8 trillion.

  2. Microchips Everywhere: a Future Vision, Washington Post Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: -- Here's a vision of the not-so-distant future:

    _Microchips with antennas will be embedded in virtually everything you buy, wear, drive and read, allowing retailers and law enforcement to track consumer items _ and, by extension, consumers _ wherever they go, from a distance.

    _A seamless, global network of electronic "sniffers" will scan radio tags in myriad public settings, identifying people and their tastes instantly so that customized ads, "live spam," may be beamed at them.

    _In "Smart Homes," sensors built into walls, floors and appliances will inventory possessions, record eating habits, monitor medicine cabinets _ all the while, silently reporting data to marketers eager for a peek into the occupants' private lives.

    1. The Coming Wave of Gadgets That Listen and Obey, NY Times Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts:
      Cathy Hul
      Over all, speech recognition was a $1.6 billion market in 2007, according to Opus Research, which predicts an annual growth rate of 14.5 percent over the next three years. (...) The cellphone market holds the most potential, given its billions of phones, but cellular providers are still working out the business model for such services. (...)

      To be sure, speech recognition technology has been available on personal computers since 2001 in applications like Microsoft Office, but few people use it. But in cellphone and other markets, speech recognition "is on the cusp of a curve," (...).

    2. A Wii Warm-Up Hones Surgical Skills, New Scientist Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: To test how the Wii affected surgical skill, the researchers asked eight trainee doctors to play it for an hour before performing a virtual surgery. They used a training tool called ProMIS, which simulates a patient's body in 3D and tracks the surgeon's movements as they operate. They fed the movements to an algorithm which scores the virtual surgeon on a range of factors. Wii-playing residents scored 48 per cent higher on tool control and performance than those without the Wii warm-up.

  3. Virology: The Battle Within, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Viral and microbial interactions within living tissues are more complex than previously thought. (...)

    HHV-6, at least in this situation, seemed to protect against HIV1.

    So infectious agents interact with each other and with hosts in unpredictable ways. An average human body is rife with viruses, and benign and not-so-benign bacteria as well as 'endogenous retroviruses', which buried themselves in the human genome eons ago. This crowded house is a different beast from the sterile cell lines used as models.

    1. Genomics: Fighting Fire With Fire, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Mobile genetic elements called transposons could cause havoc in the genome if left unregulated. Of the various cellular defence strategies used to preserve genome integrity, one involves exploiting transposons themselves. (...)

      (...) in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, proteins called CENP-Bs are drafted in to quell transposon activity. What is unusual about this particular choice is that CENP-Bs themselves are derived from transposable elements.

    2. Search For The 'On' Switches May Reveal Genetic Role In Development And Disease, ScienceDaily Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: A new resource that identifies regions of the human genome that regulate gene expression may help scientists learn about and develop treatments for a number of human diseases, according to researchers (...) "The majority of DNA in our bodies is packaged, or tightly structured," said (...). "Our goal was to identify the areas of DNA across the entire genome that are not packaged, because we know those are the regions that are important in regulating gene activity." They combined two known processes to look at regulatory regions across the whole human genome, Crawford said. (...)

  4. Molecular Biology: The Expanding World Of Small RNAs, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Molecular cell biology has long been dominated by a protein-centric view. But the emergence of small, non-coding RNAs challenges this perception. These plentiful RNAs regulate gene expression at different levels, and have essential roles in health and disease. (...)

    miRNAs were originally identified in C. elegans for their central role in development. Consistent with their function in differentiation and development, expression of many miRNAs is tissue-specific (...) or is associated with certain developmental stages. miRNA expression patterns often change in diseases such as cancer.

  5. The Right Resident Bugs, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: A link between transcription factors and bacteria in the fly gut opens the door to analyses of host immunity to intestinal resident and pathogenic microbes.
    • Source: The Right Resident Bugs, Neal Silverman, Nicholas Paquette, DOI: 10.1126/science.1154209, Science, 08/01/24

  6. Entire Synthetic Genome Created, National Geographic News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    A micrograph shows a synthetic Mycoplasma genitalium genome during a roughly 0.6-second period. The feat is the first time an entire genome has been stitched together in the lab - an important step toward creating synthetic life, according to the creators. Photograph courtesy J. Craig Venter Institute
    Scientists yesterday announced that they have successfully created an entire synthetic genome in the lab by stitching together the DNA of the smallest known free-living bacterium, Mycoplasma genitalium.

    Experts are hailing the research as an important breakthrough in genetic manipulation that will one day lead to the "routine" creation of synthetic genomes - possibly including those of mammals. (...)

    The new work is an important second step in a three-step process to the creation of synthetic life, (...).

    1. ‘Telepathic' Genes Recognise Similarities In Each Other, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Genes have the ability to recognise similarities in each other from a distance, without any proteins or other biological molecules aiding the process, according to new research (...). This discovery could explain how similar genes find each other and group together in order to perform key processes involved in the evolution of species. This new study shows that genes - which are parts of double-stranded DNA with a double-helix structure containing a pattern of chemical bases - can recognise other genes with a similar pattern of chemical bases. This ability to seek each other out could be the key to how genes identify one another (...).

  7. Human Evolution: Why We're Different: Probing The Gap Between Apes And Humans, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Researchers at a high-level meeting probe the ancient question of what sets the human brain apart from those of other primates. (...)

    Although nonhuman primates can do remarkable things--chimps have rudimentary cultures, and some monkeys have highly complex social systems--none shows the kind of creativity and innovation that are the hallmarks of Homo sapiens. Researchers have long puzzled about which human behaviors stem from our primate roots and which are unique to the hominid line.


  8. Application of Bloom's Taxonomy Debunks the "MCAT Myth", Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Biology education and medical education are under scrutiny. The essence of the critique is that introductory biology courses for undergraduates and basic science courses in medical schools overemphasize "factual minutiae" [(1), p. 1343] over the things that working biologists and physicians claim students actually need to master--specifically, critical thinking and professional skills (2-4). The Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) has been accused of hindering efforts to introduce more critical thinking into introductory biology courses (3), and the Advanced Placement (AP) Biology course has come under fire for stressing rote memorization (5, 6).

    1. Kids Learn More When Mom Is Listening, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Kids may roll their eyes when their mother asks them about their school day, but answering her may actually help them learn. New research from Vanderbilt University reveals that children learn the solution to a problem best when they explain it to their mom. "We knew that children learn well with their moms or with a peer, but we did not know if that was because they were getting feedback and help," (...) said. "In this study, we just had the children's mothers listen, without providing any assistance. We've found that by simply listening, a mother helps her child learn." (...)

  9. Evolutionary Learning Of Small Networks, Complexity Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Results are presented of a simulation that mimics an evolutionary learning process for small networks. Special features of these networks include a high recurrency, a transition function which decreases for large input activities, and the absence of tunable weights attached to the lines - the line is either there (weight 1) or absent (weight 0). It is remarkable that these simple systems already exhibit a complex learning behavior and a phenomenon of punctuated equilibrium in the evolutionary process. These findings should be of interest for both, the general understanding of evolutionary dynamics (...).
    • Source: Evolutionary Learning Of Small Networks, T. Filk - thomas.filkat-online.de, A. von Müller, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20211, Complexity, Jan.-Feb. 2008, online 2007/12/21
    • Contributed by Pritha Das - prithadas01ayahoo.com

  10. Cellular Memory Hints At The Origins Of Intelligence - Slime Mould Displays Remarkable Rhythmic Recall., Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Learning and memory - abilities associated with a brain or, at the very least, neuronal activity - have been observed in protoplasmic slime, a unicellular organism with multiple nuclei.

    When the amoeba Physarum polycephalum is subjected to a series of shocks at regular intervals, it learns the pattern and changes its behaviour in anticipation of the next one to come, according to a team of researchers in Japan. Remarkably, this memory stays in the slime mould for hours, even when the shocks themselves stop.

  11. Systems Biology: Enlightening Rhythms, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: We live in a sea of vibrations, detecting them through our senses and forming impressions of our surroundings by decoding information encrypted in these fluctuations. Such periodic phenomena range from circadian oscillations in living cells (1) to acoustic oscillations in the primordial universe (2). Passively observing periodic phenomena is scientifically rewarding, but actively using periodic stimuli to observe the hidden wonders of nature is even more so. On page 482 of this issue, Mettetal et al. (3) report using oscillatory stimuli to decipher how an organism--the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae--responds to environmental changes.

  12. Researchers Identify Brain's 'Eureka' Circuitry, Innovations-report Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Researchers have found the brain region that controls the decision to halt your midnight exploration of the refrigerator and commence enjoyment of that leftover chicken leg. What's more, they said, such mechanisms governing exploration are among those that malfunction in addiction and mental illness. (...) presented monkeys with a choice of touch targets on a computer screen, requiring the monkeys to spend time exploring which target would trigger a juice reward. (...) During the trials, the researchers recorded the electrical activity of hundreds of neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a brain region known to be active in adaptive behaviors (...).

  13. 100% Accuracy in Automatic Face Recognition, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The simple process of image averaging can boost the performance of a commercial face recognition system to 100% accuracy.(...)

    Accurate face recognition is critical for many security applications. Current automatic face-recognition systems are defeated by natural changes in lighting and pose, which often affect face images more profoundly than changes in identity. The only system that can reliably cope with such variability is a human observer who is familiar with the faces concerned. We modeled human familiarity by using image averaging to derive stable face representations from naturally varying photographs.

  14. Clusters Of Ant Colonies And Robust Criticality In A Tropical Agro-Ecosystem, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Although sometimes difficult to measure at large scales, spatial pattern is important in natural biological spaces as a determinant of key ecological properties such as species diversity, stability, resiliency and others. Here we demonstrate, at a large spatial scale, that a common species of tropical arboreal ant forms clusters of nests through a combination of local satellite colony formation and density-dependent control by natural enemies, mainly a parasitic fly. Cluster sizes fall off as a power law consistent with a so-called robust critical state.

  15. In Diatom, Scientists Find Genes That May Level Engineering Hurdle, PhysOrg.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    By manipulating the genes responsible for silica production in diatoms - unicellular algae that encase themselves in intricately patterned, glass-like shells - scientists hope to produce faster computer chips. Photo: courtesy Wikimedia Commons
    Diatoms build their hard cell walls by laying down submicron-sized lines of silica, a compound related to the key material of the semiconductor industry - silicon. "If we can genetically control that process, we would have a whole new way of performing the nanofabrication used to make computer chips," (...).

    To that end, a team (...) has reported finding a set of 75 genes specifically involved in silica bioprocessing in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana (...).


  16. Supercool, And Strange - Scientists Are Finding Clues About Why Water Is So Utterly Weird, Science News Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts:
    MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES. Water's many forms, or phases, change with shifts in temperature and pressure. Below -38 degC, at high enough pressures (a region researchers call "no man's land"), water may remain liquid. The precise locations of the phase boundaries are uncertain, but those shown here are supported by computer simulations. E. Roell/S. Norcross
    You wouldn't expect to learn much about the properties of water by watching a square dance. But think again. Following the caller's lead, the dancers meet, separate, weave, and swing in a perfectly fluid manner.

    It turns out that similar coordinated maneuvers - with water molecules taking the places of the dancers - may be responsible for some of water's most puzzling features, an array of recent research findings suggest.

  17. Materials Science: Adaptive Composites, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Imagine a search-and-rescue robot that can change shape to squeeze through crevices with the suppleness of an octopus, or an aircraft skin with a circulatory system that enables temperature regulation, cooling, and self-healing similar to an animal. Such concepts are driving the development of adaptive composites that mimic biological responsive functionality while operating in extreme environments.

  18. Optics: Against The Spread Of The Light, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: Light that propagates without spreading or diffracting sounds like a theorist's pipedream. But it is a very real proposition, and could be used to illuminate some profound aspects of wave-particle duality.

    The law of wave diffraction is a tough nut to crack. Consider, for example, a beam from a simple laser pointer. It might still seem narrow and pencil-like when you shine it on a wall or screen a few metres from you, but if you were to point it at the Moon, it would have a diameter of several hundred kilometres.

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

    1. Analysis: Dirty Money Cleanup Gains Speed, UPI Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Illegal money hurts development efforts in poor countries and may be used to fund terrorism, but new cleanup efforts offer significant hope for curbing dirty money flows.

      A major step began last summer, when Norway requested that the World Bank conduct a study of illicit financial flows and tax havens, which Norway offered to finance. World Bank President Robert Zoellick subsequently agreed that a study of the development impact of offshore financial centers would be a valuable contribution to the governance and anti-corruption agenda, a representative of the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told United Press International in an e-mail message.

    2. JI [Jemaah Islamiyah, Ed.] Forces Weaken: Military Chief, SunStar Manila Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Excerpts: Armed Forces Chief Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the strength of the Southeast Asian regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) has declined to around 20 men in the country, from a high of at least 30 to 40 men several years ago.

      Esperon at the same time assured that the military establishment is continuing with its campaign against the foreign terrorists who have funded a number of bombings in the country by its local ally, the Abu Sayyaf Group.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Fenced-Off Trees Drop Their Friends , 08/01/26, ScienceNews, Protecting acacia trees from large, tree-munching animals sets off a chain of events that ends up ruining the trees' partnership with their bodyguard ants.
      2. Shape-Shifting Magnetic Bots Take A Page Out Of The Dharma Playbook, Paul Miller, 08/01/29, engadget.com, Some friendly folks at Carnegie Mellon University are working towards electromagnetic microscopic bots that cling together and can assume virtually any shape. Down the line that means rapid prototyping, the promise of "claytronics," (...).
      3. Estimation Of Quantitative Genetic Parameters, R. Thompson, 2008/01/22, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1417
      4. Estimating Evolutionary Parameters When Viability Selection Is Operating, J. D. Hadfield, 2008/01/22, Proceedings B: Biological Sciences, DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2007.1013
      5. Car-Cam Saves Sleepy Drivers: System Wakes Driver And Applies Brakes, S. Burns, 2008/01/23, vnunet.com
      6. Boffins Close To Building Life: Well That Just About Wraps It Up For God, I. Thomson, 2008/01/25, vnunet.com
      7. Scientists Look At Those In Evolutionary Race Who Don't Make It 'Out Of The Gate', 2008/01/25, ScienceDaily
      8. Camera In A Pill Offers Cheaper, Easier Window On Your Insides, 2008/01/25, ScienceDaily
      9. How Much You're Willing To Pay Depends On What You Were Just Doing, 2008/01/25, ScienceDaily
      10. Key Factor In Stress Effects On The Brain Identified, 2008/01/26, ScienceDaily
      11. Youth Participation In Society, C. Roger - roger.clemenceagmail.com, Jan. 2008, online 2007/12/11, Asia Europe Journal, DOI: 10.1007/s10308-007-0152-0
      12. Thermal Roots Of Correlation-Based Complexity, P. Fraundorf - fraundorfpamsx.umsl.edu, Jan.-Feb. 2008, online 2007/12/12, Complexity, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20195
      13. The Role Of Culture In The Emergence Of Decision-Making Roles: An Example Using Cultural Algorithms, R. G. Reynolds - reynoldsacs.wayne.edu, B. Peng, M. Z. Ali, Jan.-Feb. 2008, online 2007/12/14, Complexity, DOI: 10.1002/cplx.20196

    2. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. 7th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 07/10/28-11/02
      2. Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007
      3. World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 08/01/22-27
      4. TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
      5. Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
      6. Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006, Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
      7. 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
      8. Artificial Life X, 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington, IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
      9. 6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
      10. Ralph Abraham on Complexity Digest, , Calcutta, India, 05/12/27
      11. An Afternoon with Michael Crichton, Washington, 05/11/06
      12. Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
      13. Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
      14. Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
      15. ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
      16. T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, The Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), Podcast
      17. North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity 2005 Conference, Virtual Conference Network, St. Pete's Beach, Florida, 05/06/09-11
      18. Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC, 05/05/16-19
      19. Nonlinearity, Fluctuations, and Complexity, with a celebration of the 65th birthday of Gregoire Nicolis. , Complexity Session, Universite' Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, 05/03/16
      20. 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
      21. From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
      22. Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
      23. International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
      24. Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
      25. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      26. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      27. Edge Videos

    3. Conference Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. The 1st Conf on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI-08), Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 08/03/01-03
      2. The 3rd Intl Nonlinear Sciences Conference (INSC), Tokyo, Japan, 08/03/13-15
      3. 19th European Meeting On Cybernetics And Systems Research, (EMCSR 2008), Vienna, Austria, 08/03/25-28
      4. 2nd KES Intl Symp on Agent and Multi-Agent Systems : Technologies and Applications, Incheon, Korea, 08/03/26-28
      5. Nexus for Change II, Bowling Green, OH, 08/03/29-04/01
      6. 2nd Applied Neuroscience Meeting, Monterrey, Mexico, 08/04/03-06
      7. Fumee 1 - 1St Futures Meeting - Understanding Anticipatory Systems, Rovereto (Italy), 08/04/10-12
      8. 1st Intl Conf on Social Entrepreneurship & Complexity, Garden City, NY, USA, 08/04/10-12
      9. Emergence In The Physical And Biological World: A Notion In Search Of Clarification, Erice (Italy), 08/04/12-16
      10. CHAOS2008 Chaotic Modeling and Simulation International Conference, Chania, Crete, Greece, 08/06/03-06
      11. International Conference on Chaos, Complexity & Conflict, Omaha, NE, 08/06/05-07
      12. 4th Organization Studies Summer Workshop: "Embracing Complexity: Advancing Ecological Understanding in Organization Studies", Pissouri, Cyprus, 08/06/05-07
      13. Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Tenth Annual... Applying Systems Biology, San Francisco, CA, 08/06/09-11
      14. 9th Intl Mathematica Symposium, Maastricht, The Netherlands, 08/06/20-24
      15. The 14th Intl Conf on Auditory Display (ICAD), Paris, France, 08/06/24-27
      16. The 12th World Multi-Conf on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA, 08/06/29-07/02
      17. From Animals To Animats 10 - The 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation Of Adaptive Behavior (SAB'08), Osaka, Japan, 08/07/07-12
      18. Complex Systems and Social Simulations, CEU Summer University, Budapest, Hungary, 08/07/07-18
      19. Stochastic Resonance 2008, Perugia, Italy, 08/08/17-21
      20. 1st Intl Workshop on Nonlinear Dynamics and Synchronization (INDS'08), Klagenfurt, Austria, 08/07/18-19
      21. Scratch@MIT,Cambridge, MA, 08/07/24-26
      22. 8th Intl Conf on Epigenetic Robotics: Modeling Cognitive Development in Robotic Systems, Brighton, UK, 08/07/31-08/02

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share

      1. " Wolfram Research is Now the Official Math Brain Trust for the Hit CBS Series NUMB3RS. 07/10/05
      2. A short notice from Dean LeBaron

        Dear ComDig Readers,

        Our editor, Dr. Gottfried Mayer, is affectionately esteemed by many of you -- as readers, you know he devotes himself unselfishly to widening our knowledge of complexity science. He was recently diagnosed with advanced colon cancer and given a timetable of a very few years. Knowing Gottfried, you can imagine that, in addition to the customary processes of chemotherapy, he would explore other frontier therapies, especially those arising out of interdisciplinary applications of complexity. These are expensive ... if he can find them.

        Many of you have sent your good wishes and indicated your desire to assist. With Gottfried's permission, I am posting this note with information, below, about how to send contributions to him. Please indicate the source since Gottfried will want to express his warm gratitude.

        I know that Gottfried, the good scientist that he is, will explain from time to time what he is doing and what the results are ... and we will follow his progress with great interest and hope.

        Dean LeBaron
        Publisher, Complexity Digest

        Bank Information:

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      3. Intl Master of Science in Methods For Management Of Complex Systems - Academic Year 2007-2008, Institute for Advanced Study, Pavia, Italy, 08/01/01
      4. News notes on Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) for July 2007 are now available on-line, 07/08/04
      5. National Humanities Center Launches Humanities/Sciences Website, 07/04, As part of its ongoing "Autonomy, Singularity, Creativity: The Human & The Humanities" project (ASC), the National Humanities Center makes public a new website for the initiative which significantly expands the potential pool of humanists and scientists engaged in the exploration and examination of topics surrounding the question of human being.

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