Complexity Digest 2011.12

2011/06/27

Editor-in-Chief: Carlos Gershenson
Founding Editor: Gottfried Mayer

Follow International Conference on Complex Systems on twitter: #ICCS2011 or #ICCS11 : http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23iccs2011%20or%20%23iccs11

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Previous issue 2011.11 | Next issue 2011.13

Content

  1. Physics of life: The dawn of quantum biology, Nature
  2. Computational Experiments for Science Education, Science
  3. Exploring the future with complexity science: The emerging models, Futures
  4. The Visual Impact of Gossip, Science
  5. Bill Ford: A future beyond traffic gridlock, TED.com
    1. Øyvind Vada - Hierarchies and networks, TEDxOslo
    2. Google Consciousness - Maf Lewis, Rome Viharo, TEDxCardiff
  6. Prediction and Modularity in Dynamical Systems, arXiv
  7. Researchers tweet technical talk, Nature
  8. A generalization of Hamilton's rule - Love others how much?, Journal of Theoretical Biology
  9. Complex motion in nonlinear-map model of elevators in energy-saving traffic, Physics Letters A
  10. Controllability of Real Networks, arXiv
  11. Mission Critical: 15 Principles to Help Leaders Meet Their Toughest Challenges, Knowledge@Wharton
  12. Intestinal networks in health and disease, Nature
  13. Combining Computational Fluid Dynamics and Agent-Based Modeling: A New Approach to Evacuation Planning, PLoS ONE
  14. Culturomics: Word play, Nature
  15. The Evolution of Dispersal in Random Environments and The Principle of Partial Control, arXiv
  16. Investigating joint attention mechanisms through spoken humanâ€"robot interaction, Cognition
  17. Open access comes of age, Nature
  18. A Simple Threshold Rule Is Sufficient to Explain Sophisticated Collective Decision-Making, PLoS ONE
  19. Book Announcements
    1. The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, Pantheon
    2. Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle, Basic Books
    3. How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival, W. W. Norton & Company
  20. Links & Snippets
    1. Other Publications
    2. Event Announcements
    3. Webcast Announcements
    4. Other Announcements

  1. Physics of life: The dawn of quantum biology, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: (...) discoveries in recent years suggest that nature knows a few tricks that physicists don't: coherent quantum processes may well be ubiquitous in the natural world. Known or suspected examples range from the ability of birds to navigate using Earth's magnetic field to the inner workings of photosynthesis â€" the process by which plants and bacteria turn sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into organic matter, and arguably the most important biochemical reaction on Earth.

  2. Computational Experiments for Science Education, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Summary: Computational physics, which provides digital representations of natural phenomena by solving their governing equations numerically, has transformed areas as diverse as scientific research, engineering design (1), and film production (2). It is also changing the way science is taught. The Molecular Workbench (MW) software, http://mw.concord.org, developed by the Concord Consortium, illustrates this perspective. MW models atomic-scale phenomena on the basis of molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics calculations, which enables students to carry out computational experiments to investigate and learn a wide range of science concepts.

  3. Exploring the future with complexity science: The emerging models, Futures Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpts: The ‘futures field’ can be divided into five major segments or futurist schools, together with their complementary but differing research methodologies and time horizons. These are generally subsumed under the terms ‘futures research’, ‘futures studies’ and ‘foresight’. Complexity science applications are outlined for each of the schools, and these provide evolving theories for futures thinking. (1) Environmental and geosciences (...) (2) Infrastructure and socio-technological systems (...) (3) Social, political and economic sciences (...) (4) Human life, mind and information sciences (...) (5) Business and management science (...)

  4. The Visual Impact of Gossip, Science Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Gossip is a form of affective information about who is friend and who is foe. We show that gossip does not influence only how a face is evaluatedâ€"it affects whether a face is seen in the first place. In two experiments, neutral faces were paired with negative, positive, or neutral gossip and were then presented alone in a binocular rivalry paradigm (faces were presented to one eye, houses to the other). In both studies, faces previously paired with negative (but not positive or neutral) gossip dominated longer in visual consciousness. These findings demonstrate that gossip, as a potent form of social affective learning, can influence vision in a completely top-down manner, independent of the basic structural features of a face.
    • Source: The Visual Impact of Gossip, Eric Anderson, Erika H. Siegel, Eliza Bliss-Moreau, and Lisa Feldman Barrett, DOI: 10.1126/science.1201574, Science Vol. 332 no. 6036 pp. 1446-1448, 2011/06/17

  5. Bill Ford: A future beyond traffic gridlock, TED.com Next Article Bookmark and Share

    About this talk: Bill Ford is a car guy -- his great-grandfather was Henry Ford, and he grew up inside the massive Ford Motor Co. So when he worries about cars' impact on the environment, and about our growing global gridlock problem, it's worth a listen. His vision for the future of mobility includes "smart roads," even smarter public transport and going green like never before.

    1. Øyvind Vada - Hierarchies and networks, TEDxOslo Next Article Bookmark and Share

    2. Google Consciousness - Maf Lewis, Rome Viharo, TEDxCardiff Next Article Bookmark and Share

  6. Prediction and Modularity in Dynamical Systems, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: Identifying and understanding modular organizations is centrally important in the study of complex systems. Several approaches to this problem have been advanced, many framed in information-theoretic terms. Our treatment starts from the complementary point of view of statistical modeling and prediction of dynamical systems. It is known that for finite amounts of training data, simpler models can have greater predictive power than more complex ones. We use the trade-off between model simplicity and predictive accuracy to generate optimal multiscale decompositions of dynamical networks into weakly-coupled, simple modules. State-dependent and causal versions of our method are also proposed.

  7. Researchers tweet technical talk, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Robert Boyle would not have approved. The famously verbose seventeenth- century natural philo sopher and pioneer of the scientific method argued that technical communication demands detail, not brevity. But there is no room for Boyle-like excess within the confines of the social-networking site Twitter, where users converse in 140-character posts, or 'tweets'. Researchers are now using the site's abbreviated messages to discuss papers in journal clubs and to share data in real time.

  8. A generalization of Hamilton's rule - Love others how much?, Journal of Theoretical Biology Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: According to (Hamilton, 1964a) and (Hamilton, 1964b) rule, a costly action will be undertaken if its fitness cost to the actor falls short of the discounted benefit to the recipient, where the discount factor is Wright's index of relatedness between the two. We propose a generalization of this rule, and show that ...

  9. Complex motion in nonlinear-map model of elevators in energy-saving traffic, Physics Letters A Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Abstract: We have studied the dynamic behavior and dynamic transitions of elevators in a system for reducing energy consumption. We present a nonlinear-map model for the dynamics of M elevators. The motion of elevators depends on the loading parameter and their number M. The dependence of the fixed points on the loading parameter is derived. The dynamic transitions occur at 2(Mâˆ'1) stages with increasing the value of loading parameter. At the dynamic transition point, the motion of elevators changes from a stable state to an unstable state and vice versa. The elevators display periodic motions with various periods in the unstable state. In the unstable state, the number of riding passengers fluctuates in a complex manner over various trips.

  10. Controllability of Real Networks, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Liu et al. have forged new links between control theory and network dynamics by focusing on the structural controllability of networks [Lui et al., Nature:473(7346), 167-173, 2011]. Two main results in the paper are that (1) the number of driver nodes, $N_D$, necessary to control a network is determined by the network's degree distribution and (2) $N_D$ tends to represent a substantial fraction of the nodes in inhomogeneous networks such as the real-world examples considered therein. These conclusions hinge on a critical modeling assumption (....) However, the real networks considered in the paper---including food webs, power grids, electronic circuits, metabolic networks, and neuronal networks---manifest dynamics at each node that have finite time constants. Here we apply Liu et al.'s theoretical framework in the context of nondegenerate nodal dynamics and show that a single time-dependent input is all that is ever needed for structural controllability, irrespective of network topology. (...)

  11. Mission Critical: 15 Principles to Help Leaders Meet Their Toughest Challenges, Knowledge@Wharton Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Summary: In his new book, The Leader's Checklist, Wharton management professor Michael Useem presents a collection of 15 principles that can help leaders navigate successfully through even the most difficult circumstances. Using such milestone events as the rescue of the 33 Chilean miners in 2010, the collapse of AIG in 2008 and the surrender of the Confederate army at Appomattox in 1865, Useem illustrates the difference between good and bad leadership, and how to achieve one's own personal leadership success. The Leader's Checklist is the first ebook published by Wharton Digital Press. To mark the occasion, the book will be available as a free download at leading retailers until June 28, 2011.

  12. Intestinal networks in health and disease, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Our bowels have two major roles: the digestion and absorption of nutrients, and the maintenance of a barrier against the external environment. They fulfil these functions in the context of, and with help from, tens of trillions of resident microbes, known as the gut microbiota.
    This Insight has as its topic the various relationships that contribute to keeping this complex system in balance, and that help to protect us from a wide spectrum of diseases, including chronic inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer and metabolic disease.

  13. Combining Computational Fluid Dynamics and Agent-Based Modeling: A New Approach to Evacuation Planning, PLoS ONE Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: We introduce a novel hybrid of two fields -Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Agent-Based Modeling (ABM)- as a powerful new technique for urban evacuation planning.

  14. Culturomics: Word play, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Summary: By mining a database of the world's books, Erez Lieberman Aiden is attempting to automate much of humanities research. But is the field ready to be digitized?

  15. The Evolution of Dispersal in Random Environments and The Principle of Partial Control, arXiv Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: McNamara and Dall (2011) identified novel relationships between the abundance of a species in different environments, the temporal properties of environmental change, and selection for or against dispersal. Here, the mathematics underlying these relationships in their two-environment model are investigated for arbitrary numbers of environments. (...)

  16. Investigating joint attention mechanisms through spoken humanâ€"robot interaction, Cognition Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Referential gaze during situated language production and comprehension is tightly coupled with the unfolding speech stream ([Griffin, 2001], [Meyer et al., 1998] and [Tanenhaus et al., 1995]). In a shared environment, utterance comprehension may further be facilitated when the listener can exploit the speaker’s focus of (visual) attention to anticipate, ground, and disambiguate spoken references. To investigate the dynamics of such gaze-following and its influence on utterance comprehension in a controlled manner, we use a humanâ€"robot interaction setting.

  17. Open access comes of age, Nature Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: A study of open-access publishing â€" published last week in the open-access journal PLoS ONE â€" has found that the number of papers in freely accessible journals is growing at a steady 20% per year (M. Laakso et al. PLoS ONE 6, e20961; 2011). To many, the growth confirms the health of the free-access, author-pays model. But to a few it is a discouraging sign that open access is not about to take over the world of scholarly publishing.

  18. A Simple Threshold Rule Is Sufficient to Explain Sophisticated Collective Decision-Making, PLoS ONE Next Article Bookmark and Share

    Excerpt: Social animals make collective decisions about many group behaviours including foraging and migration. The key to the collective choice lies with individual behaviour. We present a case study of a collective decision-making process...

  19. Book Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, Pantheon Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      Psychologists have long been aware that most people maintain an often irrationally positive outlook on life. In fact, optimism may be crucial to our existence. In this fascinating exploration, Tali Sharot takes an a look at how the brain generates hope and what happens when it fails; how the brains of optimists and pessimists differ; why we are terrible at predicting what will make us happy; how emotions strengthen our ability to recollect; how anticipation and dread affect us; and how our optimistic illusions affect our financial, professional, and emotional decisions.

    2. Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle, Basic Books Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      Feathers are an evolutionary marvel: aerodynamic, insulating, beguiling. They date back more than 100 million years. Yet their story has never been fully told. In Feathers, biologist Thor Hanson details a sweeping natural history, as feathers have been used to fly, protect, attract, and adorn through time and place. Applying the research of paleontologists, ornithologists, biologists, engineers, and even art historians, Hanson asks: What are feathers? How did they evolve? What do they mean to us?

    3. How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival, W. W. Norton & Company Next Article Bookmark and Share

      Summary:
      Today, quantum information theory is among the most exciting scientific frontiers, attracting billions of dollars in funding and thousands of talented researchers. But as MIT physicist and historian David Kaiser reveals, this cutting-edge field has a surprisingly psychedelic past. How the Hippies Saved Physics introduces us to a band of freewheeling physicists who defied the imperative to “shut up and calculate” and helped to rejuvenate modern physics.

  20. Links & Snippets Next Article Bookmark and Share

    1. Other Publications Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Computation with competing patterns in Life-like automaton, Genaro J. Martinez, Andrew Adamatzky, Kenichi Morita, Maurice Margenstern, 2011/06/15, arXiv:1106.3046
      2. A Molecular Mechanism for Circadian Clock Negative Feedback, Hao A. Duong, Maria S. Robles, Darko Knutti, Charles J. Weitz, 2011/06/17, Science Vol. 332 no. 6036 pp. 1436-1439, DOI: 10.1126/science.1196766
      3. Random walks on dual Sierpinski gaskets, Shunqi Wu, Zhongzhi Zhang, Guanrong Chen, 2011/06/21, Eur. Phys. J. B, DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2011-20338-0
      4. Strategy abundance in evolutionary many-player games with multiple strategies, Gokhale CS, Traulsen A, June 2011, Journal of Theoretical Biology 283 (1): 180-191, DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.05.031
      5. Axelrod's Metanorm Games on Networks, GalĂĄn JM, Latek MM, Rizi SMM, May 2011, PLoS ONE 6(5): e20474, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0020474

    2. Event Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. International Conference on Complex Systems (ICCS 2011), Boston, MA, USA, 2011/06/26-07/01 Follow reports @cxdig
      2. International Conference on Information Society (i-Society 2011), London, UK, 2011/06/27-29
      3. Origins 2011 ISSOL and Bioastronomy Joint International Conference, Montpellier, France, 2011/07/3-8
      4. The International Conference on High Performance Computing & Simulation (HPCS 2011), Istanbul, Turkey, 2011/07/4-8
      5. 5th Annual French Complex Systems Summer School "Complex Systems and Complex Networks", Paris, France, 2011/07/04-16
      6. Lipari School on the Game Theoretic Approach to Computational Complex Systems, Lipari Island, Italy, 2011/07/9-16
      7. Applications of Self-Organization in Technology (Research Days 2011, Lakeside Labs), Klagenfurt, Austria, 2011/07/11-15 Follow reports @cxdig
      8. GECCO 2011: Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 2011/07/12-16
      9. IJCAI 2011, the 22nd International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Barcelona, Spain, 2011/07/16-22
      10. The 10th International Conference on Artificial Immune Systems, Cambridge, UK, 2011/07/18-21
      11. 29th International Conference of the System Dynamics Society, Washington, DC, USA, 2011/07/24-28
      12. The 7th International Conference on Intelligent Environments - IE'11, Nottingham, UK, 2011/07/25-26
      13. Third International Workshop on nonlinear Dynamics and Synchronization -- INDS'11 Sixteenth International Symposium on Theoretical Electrical Engineering -- ISTET'11, Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria, 2011/07/25-27
      14. International Workshop on Game Theory and Society: Models of Social Interaction in Sociological Research, Zurich, 2011/07/27-30
      15. Summer School Course: Emergence, Explanation and Complexity. Prof. Alan Baker, Aarhus, Denmark, 2011/08/1-26
      16. ECAL 11: European Conference on Artificial Life, Paris, France, 2011/08/8-12
      17. The Effect of DNA Sequence and Structure on Genome Evolution, Rutgers University, NJ, USA, 2011/08/9-11
      18. 1st Annual Conference on Integral Biomathics, Stirling, Scotland, 2011/08/29-31
      19. TAROS 2011: 12th Conference Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems, Sheffield, UK, 2011/08/31-09/02
      20. The 2011 International Conference on Adaptive & Intelligent Systems - ICAIS'11, Klagenfurt, Austria, 2011/09/06-08
      21. ICMC 2011 - 2nd International Conference on Morphological Computation, Venice, Italy, 2011/09/12-14
      22. European Conference on Complex Systems 2011, Vienna, Austria, 2011/09/12-16
      23. The 15th WOSC INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS on CYBERNETICS and SYSTEMS, Nanjing, China, 2011/09/15-18
      24. Interdisciplinary Symposium on Complex Systems, Halkidiki, Greece, 2011/09/19-25
      25. ICCCI 2011 3rd International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence: Technologies and Applications, Gdynia, Poland, 2011/09/21-23
      26. World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK, 2011/09/26-30
      27. SCIENCE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT - ENVIRONMENT FOR SOCIETY, Aarhus, Denmark, 2011/10/5-6
      28. The Third International Conference on Social Informatics (SocInfo2011), Singapore, 2011/10/6-8
      29. SSS 2011 - 13th International Symposium on Stabilization, Safety, and Security of Distributed Systems, Grenoble, France, 2011/10/10-12
      30. EPIA2011 - 15th Portuguese Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Lisbon, Portugal, 2011/10/10-13
      31. XII Latin American Workshop on Nonlinear Phenomena (LAWNP-2011), San Luis Potosi, Mexico, 2011/10/10-15
      32. Complexity in Business Conference, Washington, DC, USA, 2011/10/14
      33. 2nd International Business Complexity & the Global Leader Conference, Boston, MA, USA, 2011/10/17-19
      34. Third World Congress on Nature and Biologically Inspired Computing (NaBIC2011), Salamanca, Spain, 2011/10/19-21
      35. AMBIENT 2011: The First International Conference on Ambient Computing, Applications, Services and Technologies and SIMUL 2011: The Third International Conference on Advances in System Simulation, Barcelona, Spain, 2011/10/23-28
      36. 3rd International Joint Conference on Computational Intelligence, Paris, France, 2011/10/24-26
      37. Complex Adaptive Systems: Energy, Information, and Intelligence, AAAI Fall Symposium; Arlington, VA, 2011/11/4-6
      38. Workshop on Complex Systems as Computing Models (WCSCM2011), Mexico City, Mexico, 2011/11/9-10
      39. VI Congreso Bienal Internacional Complejidad 2012, Havana, Cuba, 2012/01/10-13
      40. 38th International Conference on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Computer Science, Ć pindlerĆŻv MlĂœn, Czech Republic, 2012/01/21â€"27
      41. 4th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence - ICAART 2012, Vilamoura, Algarve, Portugal, 2012/02/6-8
      42. Collective Intelligence 2012, Cambridge, MA, USA, 2012/04/18-20

    3. Webcast Announcements Next Article Bookmark and Share

      1. Complex Systems: The Challenge of Prediction, Yaneer Bar-Yam, NECSI and MIT/ESD Seminar, 2011/04/08
      2. Lakeside Research Days 2010.
      3. Smarter Cities NYC. Posted on 2009/10/05
      4. ASSYST Digital Library. Since 09/09
      5. Complex Systems Teleconferences. Since 09/09
      6. Symmetry Festival 2009, Budapest, Hungary, 09/08/1-4.
      7. International Workshop on Coping with Crises in Complex Socio-Economic Systems, Zurich, Switzerland, 09/06/8-12
      8. Memorial Service for Dr Gottfried Mayer, Founding Editor Complexity Digest, Taipei, Taiwan (1954-2009). Video [RM], 09/02/13
      9. Making Connections: In Memory and Celebration of the Life of Dr. Gottfried Mayer (1954-2009). Video [RM] [MPG], 09/02/13
      10. Eulogy for Gottfried Mayer by Dean LeBaron [WMV, 25 Mb], [RM, 10 Mb], 09/02/10
      11. Can Ants Solve Traffic Jams?, Danielle Parsons, Slatev.com, 08/07/22
      12. Reseau Nationale des Systemes Complexes , (in French), 2007
      13. World Economic Forum , Davos, Switzerland, 08/01/22-27
      14. TED Talks, TED Conferences LLC , since 2006
      15. Talking Robots: The PodCast on Robotics and AI, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 06/11/03
      16. Potentials of Complexity Science for Business, Governments, and the Media 2006, Budapest, Hungary, 06/08/03-05
      17. 6th Intl Conf on Complex Systems (ICCS), Boston, MA, 06/06/25-30
      18. Artificial Life X, 10th Intl Conf on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems, Bloomington, IN, USA. 2006/06/03-07
      19. 6th Understanding Complex Systems Symposium, Urbana-Champaign, Il, 06/05/15-18
      20. Illuminating the Shadow of the Future, Ann Arbor, Mi 05/09/23-25
      21. Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems - Brainstorming Meeting, Paris, France 05/09/19-23
      22. Complexity, Science & Society Conference 2005, U. Liverpool, UK 2005/09/11-14
      23. ECAL 2005 - VIIIth European Conference on Artificial Life, Canterbury, Kent, UK 2005/09/5-9
      24. T. Irene Sanders, Executive Director and Founder, The Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, 05/08/27, QuickTime video (10:38 min), Podcast
      25. 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
      26. Understanding Complex Systems - Computational Complexity and Bioinformatics, Virtual Conference Network, Urbana-Champaign, Il, UIUC, 05/05/16-19
      27. 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
      28. 1st European Conference on Complex Systems, Torino, Italy, 04/12/5-7
      29. From Autopoiesis to Neurophenomenology: A Tribute to Francisco Varela (1946-2001), Paris, France, 2004/06/18-20
      30. Evolutionary Epistemology, Language, and Culture, Brussels, Belgium, 04/05/26-28
      31. International Conference on Complex Systems 2004, Boston, 04/05/16-21
      32. Nonlinear Dynamics And Chaos: Lab Demonstrations, Strogatz, Steven H., Internet-First University Press, 1994
      33. CERN Webcast Service, Streamed videos of Archived Lectures and Live Events
      34. Dean LeBaron's Archive of Daily Video Commentary, Ongoing Since February 1998
      35. Edge Videos

    4. Other Announcements Bookmark and Share


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