AIMS:

TPNC is the first event in a series to cover the wide spectrum of computational principles, models 
and techniques inspired by information processing in nature. TPNC 2012 will reserve significant 
room for young scholars at the beginning of their career. It aims at attracting contributions about
nature-inspired models of computation, synthesizing nature by means of computation, nature-inspired
materials, and information processing in nature.

VENUE:

TPNC 2012 will take place in Tarragona, less than 100 kms. to the south of Barcelona.

SCOPE:

Topics of either theoretical, experimental or applied interest include, but are not limited to:

* Nature-inspired models of computation:
- amorphous computing
- cellular automata
- chaos and dynamical systems based computing
- evolutionary computing
- membrane computing
- neural computing
- optical computing
- swarm intelligence

* Synthesizing nature by means of computation:
- artificial chemistry
- artificial immune systems
- artificial life

* Nature-inspired materials:
- computing with DNA
- nanocomputing
- physarum computing
- quantum computing and quantum information
- reaction-diffusion computing

* Information processing in nature:
- developmental systems
- fractal geometry
- gene assembly in unicellular organisms
- rough/fuzzy computing in nature
- synthetic biology
- systems biology

* Applications of natural computing to: algorithms, bioinformatics, control, cryptography, design, 
economy, graphics, hardware, learning, logistics, optimization, pattern recognition, programming, 
robotics, telecommunications etc.

A flexible "theory to/from practice" approach would be the perfect focus for the expected 
contributions.

STRUCTURE:

TPNC 2012 will consist of:
* invited talks
* invited tutorials
* peer?reviewed contributions

INVITED SPEAKERS:

To be announced

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE:

Ajith Abraham (Auburn)
Selim G. Akl (Kingston CA)
Enrique Alba (Málaga)
Artiom Alhazov (Chi?in?u)
Peter J. Bentley (London)
Mauro Birattari (Brussels)
Christian Blum (Barcelona)
Óscar Castillo (Tijuana)
Weng-Long Chang (Kaohsiung)
Parimal Pal Chaudhuri (Calcutta)
Carlos A. Coello Coello (Mexico DF)
Kalyanmoy Deb (Kanpur)
Peter Dittrich (Jena)
Andries Petrus Engelbrecht (Pretoria)
Toshio Fukuda (Nagoya)
Enrique Herrera-Viedma (Granada)
César Hervás-Martínez (Córdoba)
Julia Kempe (Paris)
Elmar Wolfgang Lang (Regensburg)
Pier Luca Lanzi (Milan)
Vincenzo Manca (Verona)
Maurice Margenstern (Metz)
Carlos Martín-Vide (Tarragona, chair)
Kaisa Miettinen (Jyväskylä)
Michael O'Neill (Dublin)
Ferdinand Peper (Kobe)
Ion Petre (Turku)
Carla Piazza (Udine)
A.C. Cem Say (Istanbul)
Jürgen Schmidhuber (Lugano)
Moshe Sipper (Beer-Sheva)
El-Ghazali Talbi (Lille)
Kay Chen Tan (Singapore)
Jirí Wiedermann (Prague)
Takashi Yokomori (Tokyo)
Ivan Zelinka (Ostrava)

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:

Adrian Horia Dediu (Tarragona)
Peter Leupold (Tarragona)
Carlos Martín?Vide (Tarragona, chair)
Bianca Truthe (Magdeburg)
Florentina Lilica Voicu (Tarragona)

SUBMISSIONS:

Authors are invited to submit papers presenting original and unpublished research. Papers should 
not exceed 12 single?spaced pages (including eventual appendices) and should be formatted according
to the standard format for Springer Verlag's LNCS series 
(see http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-6-793341-0).

Submissions have to be uploaded at:

https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=tpnc2012

PUBLICATIONS:

A volume of proceedings published by Springer in the LNCS series will be available by the time of 
the conference.

A special issue of a major journal will be later published containing peer?reviewed extended 
versions of some of the papers contributed to the conference. Submissions to it will be by 
invitation.

REGISTRATION:

The period for registration is open from February 25 to October 1, 2012. 
The registration form can be found at the website of the conference: 
http://grammars.grlmc.com/tpnc2012/

Early registration fees: 500 Euro
Early registration fees (PhD students): 400 Euro Late registration fees: 540 Euro Late registration
fees (PhD students): 440 Euro On?site registration fees: 580 Euro On?site registration fees (PhD 
students): 480 Euro

At least one author per paper should register. Papers that do not have a registered author who paid
the fees by July 1, 2012 will be excluded from the proceedings.

Fees comprise access to all sessions, one copy of the proceedings volume, coffee breaks and lunches.
PhD students will need to prove their status on site.

PAYMENT:

Early (resp. late) registration fees must be paid by bank transfer before July 1, 2012 (resp. 
September 21, 2012) to the conference bank account:

Uno-e Bank
bank?s address: Julian Camarillo 4 C, 28037 Madrid, Spain
IBAN: ES3902270001820201823142
SWIFT/BIC code: UNOEESM1
account holder: Carlos Martín-Vide GRLMC account holder?s address: 
Av. Catalunya 35, 43002 Tarragona, Spain

Please mention TPNC 2012 and your name in the subject. A receipt will be provided on site.

Remarks:

- Bank transfers should not involve any expense for the conference.
- People claiming early registration will be requested to prove that the bank transfer order was 
carried out by the deadline.

People registering on site must pay in cash. For the sake of local organization, however, it is 
much recommended to do it earlier.

Besides paying the registration fees, it is required to fill in the registration form at the 
website of the conference.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES:

Paper submission: May 1, 2012 (23:59h, CET) 
Notification of paper acceptance or rejection: June 18, 2012 
Final version of the paper for the LNCS proceedings: June 25, 2012 
Early registration: July 1, 2012 
Late registration: September 21, 2012 
Starting of the conference: October 1, 2012 
Submission to the post?conference special issue: January 5, 2013

FURTHER INFORMATION:

florentinalilica.voicu@urv.cat

POSTAL ADDRESS:

TPNC 2012
Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics (GRLMC) Rovira i Virgili University Av. Catalunya, 35
43002 Tarragona, Spain
Phone: +34?977?559543
Fax: +34?977?558386