[alife] ECAL 2011, Deadline extension: April 13

Mon Apr 4 00:45:50 PDT 2011

[Apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement.]
[Please kindly help forward it to potentially interested attendees.]

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!!! BY POPULAR DEMAND, DEADLINE EXTENSION THROUGH APRIL 13 !!!
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*** PROCEEDINGS WITH MIT PRESS - BEST PAPERS INVITED TO ALIFE JOURNAL
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*** 6 KEYNOTE eSPEAKERS - PIONEERS' PANEL - ART EXHIBIT & SHOW - 14 WORKSHOPS
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*** REGISTRATION NOW OPEN
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CALL FOR PAPERS: ECAL 2011   

<< Back to the origins of Alife >>

ECAL 2011, European Conference on Artificial Life,
an international conference on the simulation and synthesis of living systems 

8-12 August 2011, Paris, France
www.ecal11.org                         

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Artificial Life is an interdisciplinary undertaking that investigates the fundamental properties of living systems through the simulation and synthesis of biological entities and processes. It also attempts to design and build artificial systems that display properties of organisms, or societies of organisms, out of abiotic or virtual parts.

ECAL, the European Conference on Artificial Life, is a biennial event that alternates with the US-based Alife conference series.  

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Welcome to ECAL 2011! Back then, in the early 1990's, the first two ECAL conferences in Paris and Brussels were mainly centered on theoretical biology and the physics of complex systems. Today, we feel that Alife can look back on these origins and take more inspiration from new developments at the intersection between computer science and theoretical biology ó thus it is our wish to refocus the conference on *complex biological systems*. Closing a loop, this ECAL will mark the 20th anniversary of the 1st ECAL and will be framed as a tribute to the late Francisco Varela, co-organizer in 1991 with two of this year's committee members (Paul Bourgine, CREA, and Hugues Bersini, IRIDIA). We look forward to seeing you in Paris.

** You are invited to submit papers (full and abstract) to this exciting event! **

6 KEYNOTE SPEAKERS (Confirmed)
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* Eric Wieschaus, Princeton University, 1995 Nobel Prize in Physiology
* Jacques Demongeot, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble
* David Harel, Weizmann Institute of Science
* James D. Murray, Universities of Washington and Oxford
* Jordan Pollack, Brandeis University
* Ricard Solé, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona

A PANEL DISCUSSION WITH ALIFE PIONNEERS (Tentative list)
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* Mark Bedau, Reed College and Portland State University, Oregon
* Rodney Brooks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
* J. Doyne Farmer, Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico
* Stuart Kauffman, University of Vermont, Burlington
* Pier Luigi Luisi, Roma Tre University, Italy
* Norman Packard, European Center for Living Technology, Venice
* Steen Rasmussen, University of Southern Denmark, Odense
* Luc Steels, Vrije Universiteit Brussel & Sony Labs

ART EXHIBIT AND PERFORMANCE (Confirmed, possibly more)
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* Louis Bec, Zoosystematician ( http://www.v2.nl/archive/people/louis-bec )
* Francois Chapet, Jazz Player / Researcher, Sony Labs ( http://www.csl.sony.fr/~pachet/ )

14 WORKSHOPS & TUTORIALS (Confirmed)
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* AAALE - Alife Approaches to Artificial Language Evolution
* ACCS - Artificial Chemical Computing Systems
* BioChemIT - 1st COBRA Workshop on Biological and Chemical Information Technologies
* Closure - Metabolic closure: From (M,R) systems and autopoiesis to self-referential equations
* CoSMoS - 4th Workshop on Complex Systems Modelling and Simulation
* CS-Sports - Complex Systems in Sports
* iBioMath - First International Workshop on Integral Biomathics
* INCUP - Novel Computing Substrates: Information Coding Perspective
* MASmms - Workshop on Multi-Agent Systems in Biology at meso or macroscopic scales
* MEW - 3rd Morphogenetic Engineering Workshop
* RUTSAC - Research Using The Stringmol Artificial Chemistry
* SIM-A - System Immunology Models of Autopoesis
* SynBioCCC - Workshop on the Design, Simulation, Construction and Testing of Synthetic Gene Regulatory Networks for Computation, Control and Communications
* WAAT - Workshop on Artificial Autonomy: 20 years of practice of autonomous systems

IMPORTANT DATES
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o Start of early registration rates: March 15, 2011
o !!! NEW PAPER & ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: April 13, 2011 !!!
o Paper & abstract notification: May 20, 2011
o Camera-ready versions: June 10, 2011
o Start of standard registration rates: June 10, 2011
o Start of late registration rates: July 31, 2011
o Conference: August 8-12, 2011

THEMES
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"A new body of disciplines": Over the past two decades, biological knowledge has grown at an unprecedented rate, giving rise to new disciplines such as systems biology ó- testimony of the striking progress of modeling and quantitative methods across the field. During the same period, highly speculative ideas have matured, and entire conferences and journals are now devoted to them. Synthesizing artificial cells, simulating large-scale biological networks, storing and making intelligent use of an exponentially growing amount of data (e.g., microarrays), exploiting biological substrates for computation and control, and deploying bio-inspired engineering are all cutting-edge topics today.

"Life itself": ECAL 2011 will leverage the remarkable development of biological modeling and extend the topics of Artificial Life to the fundamental properties of living organisms: their multiscale pattern-forming morphodynamics, their autopoiesis, robustness, capacity to self-repair, cognitive capacities, and co-adaptation at all levels, including ecological ones. ECAL 2011 will bring together a large interdisciplinary community of biologists, computer scientists, physicists, and mathematicians. It will invite them to reflect on how traditional boundaries between disciplines have become blurred, and to revisit in depth what constitutes ìlifeî.

Papers are welcome in all areas of Artificial Life, including, but not limited to:

- (Chemical) Self-Assembly & Complexity
- Artificial Chemistries
- Biological & Chemical Information Processing and Production
- Biosemiotics
- Complex Networks
- Emergent Engineering
- Evolutionary & Learning Dynamics
- Minimal (Bottom up) Synthetic Cells
- Minimal Cognition & Physical Intelligence
- Mixed Living (Technology) Systems
- Modular Robotics
- Morphogenesis, Generative & Developmental Systems
- Multilevel Ecologies
- Organizations & Collective Intelligence
- Origins of Life
- Philosophy of Artificial Life & Living Technology
- Protocellular Energetics & Metabolic Networks
- Robotic Energy Autonomy
- Robotic Self-Assembly
- Socio-Technical Systems
- Swarm Intelligence
- Systems Biology
- Theoretical & Computational Frameworks
- Top-Down Artificial Cells

Authors are encouraged to explain how their work sheds light on the fundamental properties of living systems and makes progress on the important open questions identified during previous meetings.

PAPER/ABSTRACT FORMAT
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Detailed information concerning the formatting guidelines, templates, online submission process, and proceedings can be found at http://www.ecal11.org/submission

There are two options for submission: either *full paper* or *abstract*. Note that the format is exactly the same for both options. The only difference resides in the number of pages and type of contents:

1. Full papers have an *8-page* maximum length and should report on new, unpublished work

2. Abstracts are limited to a *2-page* length and should discuss work previously published in a journal. It is therefore essential that a reference to the previous article is clearly cited in the abstract.

All submissions will be subject to peer review, and all accepted submissions will be allocated either an oral presentation slot or a poster slot with no distinction being made between the two submission options (full paper or abstract). 

PUBLICATION
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Every accepted full-paper and abstract, which was submitted to the main conference (not the satellite workshops), will be published by MIT Press in a single online open-access proceedings volume.

The top 10 accepted publications will have the opportunity to publish a revised and expanded version of their conference paper in the Artificial Life journal.

LOCATION & REGISTRATION
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The conference will be held at the CitÈ Internationale Universitaire de Paris (CIUP), located on a wooded park at the southern edge of the French capital. See more information at http://www.ecal11.org/venue

** Registration information is posted at http://www.ecal11.org/registration **

ORGANIZATION
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* RenÈ Doursat (chair)
  Complex Systems Institute/CREA, Ecole Polytechnique & CNRS, Paris

* Hugues Bersini
  IRIDIA, UniversitÈ Libre de Bruxelles

* Paul Bourgine
  Complex Systems Institute/CREA, Ecole Polytechnique & CNRS, Paris

* Tom Lenaerts (program chair)
  Department of Computer Science, Université Libre de Bruxelles and Vrije Universiteit Brussel

* Mario Giacobini (program co-chair)
  Molecular Biotechnology Center, University of Torino

* Marco Dorigo
  IRIDIA, Université Libre de Bruxelles

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
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* Hussein Abbass  * Bart De Boer  * Daniel Lobo  * Hiroki Sayama
* Andy Adamatzky  * Ralf Der  * Fernando Lobo  * Matthias Scheutz
* Chris Adami  * Gianni Di Caro  * Robert Lowe  * Thomas Schmickl
* Andreas Albrecht  * Cecilia Di Chio  * Penousal Machado  * Marc Schoenauer
* Fernando Almeida E Costa  * Ezequiel A. Di Paolo  * Steven Maere  * Luis Seabra Lopes
* Lee Altenberg  * Peter Dittrich  * Davide Marocco  * Roberto Serra
* Paul Andrews  * Marco Dorigo  * John McCaskill  * Cosma Shalizi
* Takaya Arita  * Alan Dorin  * Chris Mcewan  * Linda Smith
* Wolfgang Banzhaf  * Rene Doursat  * Barry Mcmullin  * Ricard Sole
* Xabier E. Barandiaran  * Marc Ebner  * Jose Mendes  * Antoine Spicher
* Andrea Baronchelli  * Arantza Etxeberria  * Olivier Michel  * Peter Stadler
* Zoltan Barta  * Nazim Fates  * Martin Middendorf  * Susan Stepney
* Jacob Beal  * Christoph Flamm  * Eduardo Miranda  * Charles Taylor
* Mark Bedau  * Luca Gambardella  * Colin Molter  * Tim Taylor
* Randall Beer  * Carlos Gershenson  * Luís Moniz Pereira  * Gianluca Tempesti
* Tony Belpaeme  * Mario Giacobini  * Sara Montagna  * Christof Teuscher
* Peter Bentley  * Takashi Gomi  * Jason Moore  * Jon Timmis
* Hugues Bersini  * Roderich Gross  * Federico Moran  * Peter Todd
* Luc Berthouze  * Thilo Gross  * Chrystopher L. Nehaniv  * Marco Tomassini
* Mauro Birattari  * Pauline C Haddow  * Jason Noble  * Arne Traulsen
* Joris Bleys  * Emma Hart  * Stefano Nolfi  * Elio Tuci
* Josh Bongard  * Inman Harvey  * Ann Nowe  * Gunnar Tufte
* Paul Bourgine  * Paulien Hogeweg  * Charles Ofria  * Ali Emre Turgut
* Seth Bullock  * Phil Husbands  * Alexandra Penn  * Karl Tuyls
* Stefano Cagnoni  * Fumiya Iida  * Andrew Philippides  * Jon Umerez
* Alexandre Campo  * Yaochu Jin  * Raphaël Plasson  * Sven Van Segbroeck
* Philippe Capdepuy  * Colin Johnson  * Daniel Polani  * Patricia A. Vargas
* Ciro Cattuto  * Istvan Karsai  * Vitorino Ramos  * Mirko Viroli
* Anders Christensen  * Jozef Kelemen  * Charles Richter  * Paul Vogt
* Dominique Chu  * Serge Kernbach  * Marylyn Ritchie  * Richard Watson
* Netta Cohen  * Daeeun Kim  * Luis M. Rocha  * Alan Winfield
* Luis Correia  * Kalevi Kull  * Miguel Rocha  * Rachel Wood
* Ernesto Costa  * Renaud Lambiotte  * Pierre Rouze  * Andrew Wuensche
* Tamas Czaran  * Doron Lancet  * Kepa Ruiz-Mirazo  * Larry Yaeger
* Christian Darabos  * Tom Lenaerts  * Erol Sahin  * Klauspeter Zauner
* Joachim De Beule  * Pedro U. Lima  * Francisco C. Santos  * Tom Ziemke

CONTACT    
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For further information about the conference program and travel arrangements, please see the website, http://www.ecal11.org. For questions about the submission, reviewing process and other issues, email to: contact at ecal11.org.