Call for Papers

OVERVIEW

The International Conference on Unconventional Computation and Natural Computation has been a meeting where scientists with different backgrounds, yet sharing a common interest in novel forms of computation, human-designed computation inspired by nature, and the computational aspects of processes taking place in nature, present their latest results. Papers and poster presentations are sought in all areas, theoretical or experimental, that relate to unconventional computation and natural computation. Typical, but not exclusive, topics are:

• Molecular (DNA) computing, Quantum computing, Optical computing, Chaos computing, Physarum computing, Hyperbolic space computation, Collision-based computing, Super-Turing computation;
• Cellular automata, Neural computation, Evolutionary computation, Swarm intelligence, Ant algorithms, Artificial immune systems, Artificial life, Membrane computing, Amorphous computing;
• Computational Systems Biology, Genetic networks, Protein-protein networks, Transport networks, Computational neuroscience, Synthetic biology, Cellular (in vivo) computing.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

Authors are invited to submit original papers (at most 12 pages in LNCS format) or one-page poster abstracts using the link
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ucnc2014
Proofs and details omitted due to space constraints must be put into an appendix to be read by the PC members/reviewers at their discretion.

Papers must be submitted in Portable Document Format (PDF). The revised version of the manuscripts, to appear in a LNCS volume by Springer available at the conference venue, must be prepared in LATEX, see
http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs/lncs+authors

The papers must not have been submitted simultaneously to other conferences with published proceedings. All accepted papers must be presented at the conference. Selected papers will appear in a special issue of Natural Computing.

IMPORTANT DATES

Submission deadline: March 7, 2014 - EXTENDED TO MARCH 14
Notification of acceptance: April 7, 2014 - EXTENDED TO APRIL 14
Final versions due: April 27, 2014 - EXTENDED TO MAY 1ST
Conference: July 14-18, 2014

INVITED SPEAKERS

Yaakov Benenson (ETH Zurich) - Molecular Computing Meets Synthetic Biology
Charles Bennett (IBM Research) - From Quantum Dynamics to Physical Complexity
Hod Lipson (Cornell University) - The Robotic Scientist
Nadrian Seeman (New York University) - DNA: Not Merely the Secret of Life

INVITED TUTORIALS

Anne Condon (University of British Columbia, Canada) - Programming with Bio-molecules
Ming Li (University of Waterloo, Canada) - Approximating Semantics
Tommaso Toffoli (Boston University, USA) - Do We Compute to Live, or Live to Compute?

WORKSHOPS

Computational Neuroscience - Organizer: Mark Daley (University of Western Ontario, Canada)
DNA Computing by Self-Assembly - Organizer: Matthew Patitz (University of Arkansas, USA)
Unconventional Computation in Europe - Organizers: Martyn Amos (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK), Susan Stepney (University of York, UK)

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Andrew Adamatzky (University of the West of England, UK)
Selim G. Akl (Queen's University, Canada)
Eshel Ben-Jacob (University of Tel-Aviv, Israel)
Cristian S. Calude (University of Auckland, New Zealand)
Jose Felix Costa (Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal)
Erzsebet Csuhaj-Varju (Eotvos Lorand University, Hungary)
Alberto Dennunzio (Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy)
Marco Dorigo (Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium)
Jerome Durand-Lose (Universite d'Orleans, France)
Masami Hagiya (University of Tokyo, Japan)
Oscar H. Ibarra (University of California, USA, Co-Chair)
Kazuo Iwama (Kyoto University, Japan)
Jarkko Kari (University of Turku, Finland)
Lila Kari (University of Western Ontario, Canada, Co-Chair)
Kamala Krithivasan (IIT Madras, India)
Viv Kendon (University of Leeds, UK)
Giancarlo Mauri (Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy)
Yongli Mi (University of Hong Kong, China)
Mario J. Perez-Jimenez (Universidad de Sevilla, Spain)
Kai Salomaa (Queen's University, Canada)
Hava Siegelmann (University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA)
Susan Stepney (University of York, UK)
Damien Woods (California Institute of Technology, USA)
Byoung-Tak Zhang (Seoul National University, Korea)

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Mark Daley (University of Western Ontario)
Helmut Jurgensen (University of Western Ontario)
Lila Kari (University of Western Ontario, Chair)
Steffen Kopecki (University of Western Ontario)
Stephen Watt (University of Western Ontario)

STEERING COMMITTEE

Thomas Back (Leiden University, The Netherlands)
Cristian S. Calude (University of Auckland, New Zealand, Founding Chair)
Lov K. Grover (Bell Labs, USA)
Natasha Jonoska (University of South Florida, USA, Co-Chair)
Jarkko Kari (University of Turku, Finland, Co-Chair)
Lila Kari (University of Western Ontario, Canada)
Seth Lloyd (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
Giancarlo Mauri (Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy)
Gheorghe Paun (Institute of Mathematics of the Romanian Academy, Romania)
Grzegorz Rozenberg (Leiden University, The Netherlands, Emeritus Chair)
Arto Salomaa (University of Turku, Finland)
Tommaso Toffoli (Boston University, USA)
Carme Torras (Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics, Spain)
Jan van Leeuwen (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)