Preface Special Issue: Advances in Membrane Computing

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