CxAnnouncements

Network (and jump) graph nodes contract down to 1 pixel -- improving the scolling tube for large 1d networks, improvements to enlarged DDLab window layout, load/save ascii seed files.
The Derrida plot (described in EDD#22) is usually applied as an order-chaos measure for large RBN in the context of models of genetic regulatory networks, but it also provides Liapunov-like insights into CA rules. New options allow automatic plots of sets of rules in ascending decimal order, filtering out equivalent binary rcode and tcode, and listing equivalence classes and rule clusters.

For Null Boundary Conditions, inputs beyond the network's edges are held at a constant value of zero. All DDLab functions can now be easily switched between Periodic and Null. Null boundaries are of interest in pattern recognition, and where the system is grounded or quenched, or bounded by an edge, skin or membrane.
The new 2d hex/triangular neighborhoods for k3 and k4 permit investigating the dynamics on these simpler lattices, with many instances of complexity.

http://www.ddlab.com

Nationwide hackathon this weekend encourages coders to use publicly available data to tackle problems ranging from poverty to poultry handling.

A special issue of Information (ISSN 2078-2489).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2013

I wanted to create a series of pictures representing mathematical shapes on white background, like a "tribute to mathematics" that I often use in my work. I chose the "strange attractors" for their dynamic forms and "chaotic feel".

Metaknowledge research is an exciting new interdisciplinary field that blends Big Data, complex systems methods, and computational social science with sociological, anthropological, historical, and philosophical approaches in order to develop “knowledge about knowledge.”

Postdocs positions:

http://www.ci.uchicago.edu/about/jobs.php#pd-metanet

http://www.ci.uchicago.edu/about/jobs.php#pd-prog-nsf

Programmer positions:

http://bit.ly/XAoyLp ;

To foster the study of the structure and dynamics of Web traffic networks, we are making available to the research community a large Click Dataset of about 13 billion HTTP requests collected at Indiana University. During about seven months of collection in 2006-2007, our system generated data at a rate of about 60 million requests per day, or about 30 GB/day of raw data. We hope that this data will help develop a better understanding of user behavior online and create more realistic models of Web traffic. The potential applications of this data include improved designs for networks, sites, and server software; more accurate forecasting of traffic trends; classification of sites based on the patterns of activity they inspire; and improved ranking algorithms for search results.

The Santa Fe Institute is seeking nominations and applications for resident faculty positions. Full-time appointments are of highest priority. We are also seeking sabbatical visitors. ...

Apply by March 15, 2013

http://www.santafe.edu/news/item/resident-faculty-search-2013/

Full time tenure track researcher position available at the Physics Institute, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Instructor: Melanie Mitchell
Launch date: January 28, 2013
Prerequisites: None
Cost: Free
Credit offered: None, though everyone who successfully finishes the course will receive a certificate of completion from the Santa Fe Institute.
Course length: 11 weeks
Approximate workload: 3-6 hours per week

Anthropologists need a better way to study the movements of the last few remaining uncontacted, indigenous human societies – a way that doesn’t involve directly observing, and therefore altering, their ways of life. Our project would test a new method of remote observation using satellite tracking technology and, perhaps, help conserve the landscapes on which these endangered groups depend.

You can help us get our pilot project off the ground by contributing to our purchase of the small number of satellite devices we need to test this method with the Ache. Each NorthStar TrackPack costs approximately $300. We would like to purchase at least 10 of these devices, and as many as 20, to use with the Ache. Your donation will make testing this approach possible. If our campaign is highly successful and we raise the money for 20 devices, we would additionally purchase satellite imagery to help us better understand the landscapes through which these uncontacted groups are moving.

http://rkthb.co/11794

This blog is home to those not put aback by the complexity inherent to healthcare. This is a site for the complexity as well as system science relishers.

Complexity theory and social constructionism are two important meta-theories that have evolved from very different worldviews and knowledge bases. Yet, there are some important similarities between the core arguments of the two meta-theories and these similarities are largely neglected in methodological debates. In essence, both meta-theories reject reductionist, time, space and relationship-free analyses of positivist or Newtonian social science.

While social constructionism reveals existence of multiple realities and viewpoints, history and context dependence of reality and the role of social embeddedness; complexity theory studies heterogeneous populations and the role of stochasticity, path-dependence of processes, the role of interactions and interdependencies and properties of social networks.

This project aims to initiate an international network of scholars working together to identify conflicts or differences as well as links and similarities between complexity theory and social constructionism. The network will also aim to develop a lingua franca through which some stability could be imposed on the terms in which social scientists debate these matters, so that scholars from different disciplines, in particular the early career researchers, could find their way around over crowded terminology.

Frontiers in Neurorobotics Research Topic: "Intrinsic motivations and open-ended development in animals, humans, and robots"

The aim of this Research Topic for Frontiers in Neurorobotics and Frontiers in Cognitive Science is to present state-of-the-art research, whether theoretical, empirical, or computational investigations, on open-ended development driven by intrinsic motivations. The topic will address questions such as: How do motivations drive learning? How are complex skills built up from a foundation of simpler competencies? What are the neural and computational bases for intrinsically motivated learning? What is the contribution of intrinsic motivations to wider cognition?

...

Now is an important moment in the study of intrinsically motivated open-ended development, requiring contributions and integration across a large number of fields within the cognitive sciences. This Research Topic aims to contribute to this effort by welcoming papers carried out with ethological, psychological, neuroscientific and computational approaches, as well as research that cuts across disciplines and approaches. Original research advancing specific aspects of the state-of-the art and review/theoretical papers aiming to systematize the field are both suitable for this Topic.

Topic Editors:

Gianluca Baldassarre, Italian National Research Council (CNR), Italy
Andrew Barto, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA
Marco Mirolli, Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie della Cognizione, Italy
Peter Redgrave
Richard M. Ryan, University of Rochester, USA
Tom Stafford, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom

Deadline for full article submission: 21 May 2013

Extended deadline for full article submission: 21 Jun 2013

Tenure Track Faculty Position in Systems Pharmacology
Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences
University of California, San Francisco

The UCSF Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences (BTS) invites applications for a tenure track position at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. Expertise in systems pharmacology is preferred. 

http://bts.ucsf.edu/careers/

From Politics and Finance to Power Grids and Products: Addressing Complexity in the Interconnected World
MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series

Dan Braha, PhD
Lecturer, MIT Engineering Systems Division

Date: February 11, 2013
Time: Noon - 1 p.m. EDT
Free and open to all

About the Presentation
How can we manage the financial crisis? How do civil unrest, religion, and rumors spread, and how is that related to epidemics and earthquakes? Can human behavior and societal systems be studied in the same way as biological systems and complex man-made systems?

In this webinar, Dr. Dan Braha will demonstrate how the field of complexity research provides clues to these intriguing questions. He will focus on why and how complex socio-economic systems evolve and why these large scale engineering systems fail and offer guidelines that can be applied across industries and organizations around the world.

We are pleased to announce the launch of our new website. This is the first stage of our planned development of the site, and more improvements will be rolled out over 2013.

GPEM is calling for papers for a special issue on Evolvability and Robustness in Artificial Evolving Systems. A diversity of concepts under the rubrics of ‘evolvability’ and ‘robustness’ has been introduced as the literature on these subjects has expanded. This special issue is open to the full range of these concepts.. However, confusion has entered the literature due to imprecise usage of these terms. Therefore, a unique requirement for this special issue will be that the authors provide precise quantitative definitions for the aspects of ‘evolvability’ and ‘robustness’ they investigate.

The Center for Complex Networks and Systems Research (CNetS.indiana.edu) at Indiana University, Bloomington has an open postdoctoral position to study how ideas propagate through complex online social networks. The position is funded by a McDonnell Foundation's grant in Complex Systems (www.jsmf.org/grants/2011022/). The appointment starts as early as possible after January 2013 for one year and is renewable for up to 2 additional years. The salary is competitive and benefits are generous.

The postdoc will join a dynamic and interdisciplinary team that includes computer, physical, and cognitive scientists. The postdoc will work with PIs Filippo Menczer and Alessandro Flammini, other postdocs, and several PhD students on analysis and modeling of social media data. Areas of focus will include information diffusion patterns, epidemic models for the spread of ideas, interactions between network traffic and structure dynamics, and agent-based models to explain the emergence of viral bursts of attention. Domains of study will include politics, scientific knowledge, and world events. Go to the grant page or cnets.indiana.edu/groups/nan/truthy for further details on the team and project.

The ideal candidate will have a PhD in computing or physical sciences; a strong background in analysis and modeling of complex systems and networks; and solid programming skills necessary to handle big data and develop large scale simulations.

To apply, send a CV and names and emails of three references by email to <tgholbro@indiana.edu> or by mail to CNetS, 919 E 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47408, USA. Applications received by 15 December 2012 will receive full consideration, but applications will be considered until the position is filled.

Indiana University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Applications from women and minorities are strongly encouraged. IU Bloomington is vitally interested in the needs of Dual Career couples.