Handbook of Natural Computing
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Grzegorz Rozenberg is the head of the Theoretical Computer Science group at Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science (LIACS) as well as the scientific director of Leiden Center for Natural Computing (LCNC), both at Leiden University, the Netherlands. A Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, he has published about 500 papers, six books, and is the co-editor of more than seventy books. He is a Foreign Member of the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters, a member of Academia Europaea, a member of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science as well as the American Association for Advancement of Science, and an Honorary member of the World Innovation Foundation. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Achievements Award of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science "in recognition of his outstanding scientific contributions to theoretical computer science." Thomas Back is head of the Natural Computing Research Group at the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science at Leiden University, the Netherlands. A Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dortmund University in Germany, he has more than 150 publications on natural computing technologies and is the author of Evolutionary Algorithms in Theory and Practice and co-editor of Handbook of Evolutionary Computation. He is an editorial board member and associate editor of a number of journals on evolutionary and natural computation, is co-editor of the Natural Computation Book Series, and has served as program chair for all major conferences in evolutionary computation. He received the best dissertation award from the Gesellschaft fur Informatik in 1995 and is an elected fellow of the International Society for Genetic and Evolutionary Computation for his contributions to the field. Joost N. Kok is the Scientific Director of the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science at Leiden University, Netherlands, as well as a professor in fundamental computer science and medicine there. He is the co-head of the research clusters Algorithms and Foundations of Software as well as board member of the Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science and member of the editorial board of Fundamenta Informaticae. He is the editor of the book series on Natural Computing of Springer Verlag, the Artificial Intelligence theme editor of Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, Unesco, an associate editor of the Natural Computing Journal, editor of Theoretical Computer Science, section C, editor of the Journal of Universal Computer Science, editor of Computational Intelligence, Blackwell Publishing, and series editor of the book series Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications.<p>“I am delighted to be able to recommend this amazingly broad and comprehensive four-volume handbook. Natural Computing is here to stay. It is already becoming a central theme on the borderline between computer science, mathematics and biology, and is poised to play a crucial role in 21st Century science. Grzegorz Rozenberg, besides being a superb scientist and thinker (and an astonishing magician too!), has the uncanny ability to bring together the best people and to somehow get them to contribute to important efforts. This handbook is one of his crowning achievements, and I salute both him and the wonderful result.” [David Harel, Weizmann Institute of Science]</p><p> </p><p>“The Handbook covers in a comprehensive and superb manner all central areas of natural computing. The term Natural Computing was coined by the Main Editor of the Handbook, Grzegorz Rozenberg, some thirty years ago to refer to human-designed computing inspired by nature, as well as computing actually taking place in nature. The main areas of the field (Cellular Automata, Neural Computation, Evolutionary Computation, Molecular Computation, Quantum Computation) are each subedited by top experts. Insights into other areas as well as hints to the future are provided in the part 'Broader Perspectives'. The number of contributors, 105, is amazing. The total result is an excellent massive set of four volumes that will constitute a unique source of reference for researchers and students for a long time to come.” [Arto Salomaa, Academy of Finland]</p><p> </p><p>“Natural sciences aim at <i>discovery </i>while technology seeks <i>invention</i>, thus the interplay of the two fosters creativity and is crucial for the advancement of knowledge. This timely Handbook is a vast effort to compile and relate what is known today about understanding nature through computation and about devising new models, techniques, and technologies of computation inspired by natural phenomena. As a pioneering and seminal work, it constitutes a magnificent entry point for those looking for an exciting research field, and I am sure it will become a reference pillar for the years to come.” [Carme Torras, Institut de Robòtica i Informàtica Industrial (CSIC-UPC), Barcelona]</p><p> </p><p>“[The Handbook] is an achievement of excellent editing. The topics covered are widely disparate and there are dozens of authors involved, and yet the editors have produced a beautifully coordinated, balanced, and very readable resource. All the contributions are very well written, and moreover very well illustrated, and the individual chapters seem able to balance depth of coverage with accessibility. While the mathematical underpinning is rigorous, the clear text and the graphics make it possible for nonexperts to understand the topics with a reasonable effort. ... The many chapters in the various sections of this book show different aspects of the overall approach. Some chapters give a flavor of their topics in an informalmanner, others explain the mathematics, while still others show how the topics can be applied. The emphasis throughout seems to be to explain the concepts without too many implementation details. The tone and clarity are consistent throughout, which makes it possible to read consecutive chapters without noticing any change in style or authorship. Each chapter also includes a good list of references for further study. ... I found it really inspiring to browse through all four volumes together, as it helps to get details of any one approach while having a view of the wider context. ... It provides a solid, easy-to-digest foundation for topics of increasing importance, and the grouping of chapters into related parts provides far more information than individual chapters could.” [Sara Kalvala, ACM Computing Reviews, 2013]</p><p> </p><p>“This work provides a solid presentation of both aspects of computing–natural and artificial–and serves as an important foundation and cross-fertilization for researchers in each area, although the emphasis is still primarily on nature-inspired artificial algorithms. … The book is inspirational in its coverage of the subject. It will be an indispensable tool for researchers and practitioners interested in developing nature-inspired algorithms and a valuable resource for research institutions. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and above.” [J. Y. Cheung, Choice, Vol. 50 (5), January, 2013]</p>