P e ace
Ma ian Gheo ghe
1
•Gheo ghe Pa
˘un
2
•Ma io J. Pe
´ ez-Jime
´nez
3
•
Agus ı
´n Riscos-Nu
´n
˜ez
3
Published online: 22 July 2016
ÓThe Au ho (s) 2016. This a icle is published wi h open access a Sp inge link.com
Memb ane compu ing is an a ea o na u al compu ing,
ini ia ed in 1998, which s udies models o compu a ion
inspi ed by he s uc u e and unc ioning o li ing cells,
and he o ganiza ion o cells in issues and o he s uc u es,
including he b ain. The esul ing models (called P sys-
ems) a e dis ibu ed pa allel compu ing de ices, p ocess-
ing mul ise s in compa men s de ined by memb anes.
Many classes o P sys ems we e conside ed, wi h
mo i a ions coming om biology, compu e science,
ma hema ics, and applica ions. Mos o hem a e compu-
a ionally uni e sal and, i an exponen ial wo king space
can be p oduced in polynomial ime (e.g., by memb ane
di ision) du ing he compu a ion, hen hey a e able o
sol e compu a ionally ha d ( ypically, NP-comple e)
p oblems in a easible ( ypically, polynomial) ime. A
se ies o applica ions we e epo ed, especially in biology
and bio-medicine, bu also in compu e g aphics, c yp og-
aphy, linguis ics, economics, app oxima e op imiza ion,
and obo con ol. Se e al simula ion p og ams (use ul in
applica ions), including a specialized p og amming lan-
guage, P-lingua, a e a ailable by now.
A comp ehensi e in o ma ion abou his esea ch a ea
(conside ed in 2003 by ISI as ‘‘ as eme ging esea ch on
in compu e science’’) can be ound a he Websi e h p://
ppage.psys ems.eu, while a sys ema ic p esen a ion (a he
le el o yea 2009) can be ound in The Ox o d Handbook
o Memb ane Compu ing, edi ed by Gh. Pa
˘un, G. Rozen-
be g, A. Salomaa, Ox o d Uni . P ess, 2010.
Th ee in e na ional mee ings dedica ed o memb ane
compu ing ake place each yea : he Con e ence on
Memb ane Compu ing, CMC ( he 16 h edi ion in 2015 was
held in Valencia, Spain), he Asian Con e ence on Mem-
b ane Compu ing, ACMC ( he ou h edi ion was held in
2015 in Hei ei, China), and he B ains o ming Week on
Memb ane Compu ing, BWMC. Excep ing he i s edi ion
(2003), all subsequen edi ions o he B ains o ming Week
we e o ganized by he Resea ch G oup on Na u al Com-
pu ing (RGNC) o he Depa men o Compu e Science
and A i icial In elligence o he Uni e sidad de Se illa,
Spain.
The 13 h edi ion o he B ains o ming (Se illa, om
Feb ua y 2 o Feb ua y 6, 2015) had a special ocus on he
in e play be ween memb ane compu ing and high pe o -
mance compu ing.
In he s yle o p e ious mee ings, he 13 h edi ion o
BWMC was concei ed as a pe iod o ac i e in e ac ion
among he pa icipan s, wi h he emphasis on exchanging
ideas and coope a ion. Se e al ‘‘p o oca i e’’ alks we e
deli e ed, mainly de o ed o open p oblems, esea ch
opics, and conjec u es, ollowed by an in ense coope a ion
among he 30 pa icipan s.
The e iciency o his ype o mee ings was again p o ed
o be e y high and a olume con aining wo king pape s
elabo a ed du ing he mee ing and comple ed sho ly a e
ha was published by Fenix Edi o a, Se illa, 2015 (i can
be ound a he memb ane compu ing websi e men ioned
abo e).
Six pape s om his olume, oge he wi h h ee pape s
p esen ed a ACMC 2015 (No embe 12–15, 2015, Anhui
Uni e si y, He ei, Anhui, China), we e selec ed o his
special issue o Na u al Compu ing. Simila special issues
&Ma ian Gheo ghe
[email p o ec ed]
1
B ad o d, UK
2
Bucha es , Romania
3
Se illa, Spain
123
Na Compu (2016) 15:519–520
DOI 10.1007/s11047-016-9568-z
o in e na ional jou nals we e published a e all B ain-
s o ming Week mee ings o ganized in Se illa.
The pape s we e ho oughly ewo ked a e he mee ing
and hen hey wen h ough he s anda d e e eeing p o-
cedu e o he jou nal.
Besides he quali y c i e ion, he selec ion was also
conce ned wi h he balance be ween he add essed opics,
so ha his special issue co e s a a ie y o subjec s cu -
en ly in es iga ed in memb ane compu ing. All hese
pape s con ain no only sound new esul s, bu also s im-
ula ing ideas and esea ch opics o u he in es iga ions.
They co e a b oad ange o opics, om heo e ical
aspec s such as compu a ional powe and complexi y, and
ela ionships wi h o he compu a ional models, o e icien
implemen a ions o P sys ems and e olu iona y app oaches
sol ing a ious op imiza ion p oblems. The pape ‘‘Simu-
la ing P sys ems wi h memb ane dissolu ion in a chemical
calculus’’, by B. Aman, P. Ba ya
´nyi, G. Ciobanu and Gy.
Vaszil, p esen s a mapping o some classes o P sys ems
in o o mulas o he chemical calculus. F. G. C. Caba le, H.
N. Ado na and M. J. Pe
´ ez-Jime
´nez in ‘‘No es on spiking
neu al P sys ems and ini e au oma a’’ in es iga e he
po en ial o spiking neu al P sys ems o simula e he
beha iou o de e minis ic ini e au oma a and s a e ans-
duce s. ‘‘A class o es ic ed P colonies wi h s ing en i-
onmen ’’, by L. Cienciala, L. Ciencialo a
´and E. Csuhaj-
Va ju
´, s udies he compu a ional powe o a class o P
colonies using an en i onmen speci ied as a s ing.
‘‘Monodi ec ional P sys ems’’, by A. Lepo a i, L. Manzoni,
G. Mau i, A. E. Po eca and C. Zand on, in es iga es he
compu a ional complexi y o P sys ems whe e communi-
ca ion happens om a memb ane owa ds i s pa en .
‘‘Pa allel simula ion o popula ion dynamics P sys ems:
upda es and oadmap’’, by M. A. Ma ı
´nez-del-Amo , L.
F. Macı
´as-Ramos, L. Valencia-Cab e a and M. J. Pe
´ ez-
Jime
´nez, epo s u he wo k on simula ing popula ion
s ochas ic P sys ems on pa allel ha dwa e pla o ms such as
GPUs. L. Pan and Gh. Pa
˘un in ‘‘On he uni e sali y o
pu ely ca aly ic P sys ems’’ p o e ha pu ely ca aly ic P
sys ems wi h one ca alys a e uni e sal when p omo e s
and inhibi o s o p omo e s and a p io i y ela ionship a e
used, and pu ely ca aly ic coope a ing P sys ems wi h wo
ca alys s a e uni e sal. J. Xiao, J. He, P. Chen and Y. Niu
in ‘‘An imp o ed dynamic memb ane e olu iona y
algo i hm o cons ained enginee ing design p oblems’’
show he e iciency o combining he dynamic memb ane
s uc u e o P sys ems wi h he pa icle swa m op imiza ion
and di e en ial e olu ion by applying he me hod o a se
o benchma k p oblems. ‘‘P sys ems based compu ing
polynomials: design and o mal e i ica ion’’, by W. Yuan,
G. Zhang, M. J. Pe
´ ez-Jime
´nez, T. Wang and Z. Huang,
p esen s some de e minis ic ansi ion P sys em solu ions o
he p oblem o compu ing he alue o a polynomial; he
alidi y o he me hod is p o ed and i s desc ip i e com-
plexi y assessed. X. Zhang, J. Li and L. Zhang in ‘‘A mul i-
objec i e memb ane algo i hm guided by he skin mem-
b ane’’ p opose a mul i-objec i e memb ane algo i hm and
show o a numbe o benchma k p oblems ha i ou pe -
o ms s a e-o - he-a mul i-objec i e op imiza ion
algo i hms.
As men ioned abo e, he B ains o ming Week was
o ganized by he Resea ch G oup on Na u al Compu ing
om Uni e sidad de Se illa,
1
and all he membe s o his
g oup we e en husias ically in ol ed in his wo k. The
ACMC e en was o ganized by he Anhui Uni e si y.
2
Thanks o he o ganize s o help and suppo . Thanks also
o he au ho s and he e e ees, o hei highly p o essional
and imely wo k.
The B ains o ming Week mee ing was suppo ed om
a ious sou ces: (1) P oyec o del Minis e io de Economı
´ay
Compe i i idad, g an TIN2012 37434 (co inanced by
FEDER unds), (2) Fundacio
´n pa a la In es igacio
´nyel
Desa ollo de las Tecnologı
´as de la In o macio
´nen
Andalucı
´a (FIDETIA), (3) Ins i u o de Ma ema
´ icas de la
Uni e sidad de Se illa (IMUS), (4) V Plan P opio de
In es igacio
´n de la Uni e sidad de Se illa, as well as by
he Depa men o Compu e Science and A i icial In el-
ligence om Uni e sidad de Se illa.
The edi o s
Janua y 2016
Open Access This a icle is dis ibu ed unde he e ms o he
C ea i e Commons A ibu ion 4.0 In e na ional License (h p://c ea
i ecommons.o g/licenses/by/4.0/), which pe mi s un es ic ed use,
dis ibu ion, and ep oduc ion in any medium, p o ided you gi e
app op ia e c edi o he o iginal au ho (s) and he sou ce, p o ide a
link o he C ea i e Commons license, and indica e i changes we e
made.
1
Websi e h p://www.gcn.us.es.
2
Websi e h p://gjc.ahu.edu.cn/en/.
520 M. Gheo ghe e al.
123