[agents] CFP: WORKSHOP on COMPLEXITY, EVOLUTION AND EMERGENT INTELLIGENCE

[Stefano Cagnoni]

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 WORKSHOP  on  COMPLEXITY,   EVOLUTION  AND  EMERGENT  INTELLIGENCE  
              12 December 2009 Reggio Emilia (Italy)
 
                      Satellite workshop of 
             AI*IA 2009 International Conference of the 
          Italian  Association for Artificial Intelligence
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* * * CALL   FOR  PAPERS   -  Deadline   October   4,  2009   *  *  *
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      We apologize for any cross-posting of this announcement.  
  Please, forward this CFP to other potentially interested people. 
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LOCATION AND DATE 
 
The Workshop  on Complexity, Evolution and  Emergent Intelligence will
take place  in Reggio Emilia  (Italy) on December 12,  2009, following
the AI*IA 2009: International Conference (9-11 December 2009)
 
The  conference  and all  the  workshops will  be  hosted  in the  new
building  of  the Department  of  Social,  Cognitive and  Quantitative
Sciences and of the Faculty of Communication and Economics, located in
the centre  of Reggio  Emilia Address: via  Allegri 9, I  42100 Reggio
Emilia
 
WORKSHOP WEBSITE 
 
Updated  information can  be  found  on the  workshop  section of  the
conference website, http://www.aixia09.unimore.it
 
CALL FOR PAPERS 
 
The  workshop  aims at  bringing  together  scientists  who work  from
different  perspectives, from  basic science  to applications,  on the
common  theme of  systems composed  by many  components  that interact
non-linearly.
 
Due  to the  different backgrounds  and references  of  the scientific
communities of  researchers working in these  fields, opportunities to
exchange ideas  and to  achieve cross-fertilization are  lacking.  The
aim of the workshop is therefore  to try and bridge this gap and reach
a better  comprehension of the mechanisms underlying  such systems, as
well as to find new applications based on them.
 
Such systems  (complex systems,  or CS for  short) very  often exhibit
interesting  features,  as  self-organisation, robustness,  surprising
collective processes and  occasionally intelligence; in particular, up
to now  the living CSs are the  only systems able to  support the last
feature.
 
As already  suggested, the  contemporary presence of  intelligence and
complex interactions may not be  casual but, instead, able to disclose
deeper  links between  the two  characteristics.  Are  there universal
patterns   of  organization  in   complex  systems,   from  pre-biotic
replicators  to  evolved  beings,  to  artificial  objects?  Do  these
structures allow effective computational processes to develop?
 
Key questions are how robust  structures which develop in such systems
are,  how information is  incorporated into  these structures  and how
computation emerges.  The study of complex systems  is also interested
in   determining   the   contributions   of  selection,   chance   and
self-organization  to   the  functioning  and   evolution  of  complex
structures.
 
The interactions  between the  communities of Complex  Systems Science
(CSS)  and Artificial Intelligence  (AI) have  been rather  limited so
far,  although both  might benefit  from closer  interactions.  Recent
developments -  for example in  the context of  agent-based modelling,
distributed   and/or   evolutionary   computation  -   represent   new
opportunities for further exploring and strengthening these scientific
interactions and connections.
 
Could  methodologies coming  from research  in Complexity  inspire the
rise of new paradigms  and/or theories in Artificial Intelligence?  Or
could AI  methods deepen the  knowledge of complex  environments? This
workshop  would  like  to  encourage  the  dialogue  between  the  two
disciplines and,  possibly, recognise  that this dialogue  is actually
already fruitfully commenced.
 
TOPICS 
 
Authors are invited to submit works dealing either with methodological
issues or  applications where the CSS  point-of-view and computational
issues (up to high level  AI aspects) are present. Papers dealing with
(but not limited to) the following subjects are particularly welcome:
 
  Agent based models 
  Cellular automata 
  Evolutionary computation  
  Information processing 
  Network properties  
  Self-organisation, emergent behaviours 
  Tangled hierarchies, description levels, reciprocal causality 
  Adaptation/exaptation 
  Evolution and co-evolution 
  Robustness, criticality 
  Pattern formation, pattern recognition 
  Collective intelligence 
  Non linear dynamics, edge of chaos 
  The emergence of mind 
  Bio-inspired methods 
 
INVITED SPEAKER 
 
Prof. David Lane  (University of Modena and Reggio  Emilia Italy - and
Santa Fe Institute Santa Fe, NM, USA)
 
David Lane is  professor of economics at the  University of Modena and
Reggio Emilia.  He  transferred to Italy in 1992,  after many years in
the School of  Statistics at the University of  Minnesota. Since 1988,
he has been associated with the Santa Fe Institute (NM, USA), where he
is currently a  member of the external faculty,  the Science Board and
the  Editorial  Board. He  also  serves  on  the editorial  boards  of
Complexity and  the Journal of Evolutionary Economics  and the Science
Board of the European Complex Systems Society. He is an elected Fellow
of  the American  Statistical Society,  the Institute  of Mathematical
Statistics and the International  Statistics Society and a past fellow
of  the Guggenheim  Foundation.  His  research interests  in  the past
include stochastic processes,  the foundation of statistics, causality
assessment of adverse drug  reactions, and clinical epidemiology.  For
the  past  15 years,  he  has been  developing  a  theory of  artifact
innovation,  elements  of  which  have been  presented  in  Complexity
Perspectives in  Innovation and Social Change  (Springer, 2009), which
he edited  with Denise  Pumain, Sander van  der Leeuw and  Geoff West.

PAPER SUBMISSION FORMAT
 
Papers not exceeding  10 pages, written in English  and complying with
the              LNCS              Springer-Verlag              format
(http://www.springer.com/computer/lncs?SGWID=0-164-7-72376-0)    should
be  submitted  electronically.  Submissions  are  due  in  PDF  format
attached to an email sent to the following email address:
 
ceei at unimore.it 
 
Accepted  papers will  be  published  on the  official  CD-Rom of  the
AI*IA2009 International conference with regular ISBN number.
 
IMPORTANT DATES 
 
   * Paper submission: October 4, 2009 
   * Camera-ready of accepted papers: November 11, 2009 
   * Workshop day: December 12, 2009 
 
WORKSHOP AND CONFERENCE FEE 
 
Attendance  to the  conference  and  to the  workshops  is limited  to
members of AI*IA. Participants are kindly requested to register before
the conference, although on-site registration will also be offered.
 
Attendance to  the workshops only (including participation  in all the
workshops,  coffee-breaks and  a CD-ROM  with the  Proceedings  of all
Workshops; it does not include membership to AI*IA):
 
Advance registration: 100 Euro                
On-site registration: 200 Euro 
 
Regular conference fee (including  participation in the conference and
all the  workshops, a copy  of the proceedings volume,  the conference
CD-ROM, coffee breaks  for all 4 days; it  does not include membership
to AI*IA):
 
Early registration, before August 31, 2009: 350 Euro. 
Late registration, since September 1, 2009: 400 Euro. 
On-site registration: 500 Euro 
 
Student  fee (including  proceedings volume  and participation  to the
workshops, not including conference dinner): 
                                  130 Euro ** NOT AVAILABLE ON-SITE **
 
CHAIRS 
 
Marco Villani (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) 
Stefano Cagnoni (University of Parma) 
 
LOCAL OPERATING TEAM 
 
Alex Graudenzi (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) 
Chiara Damiani (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) 
Luca Ansaloni (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) 
Luca Mussi (University of Parma) 
 
PROGRAM COMMITTEE  

Stefania Bandini (University of Milano-Bicocca) 
Timoteo Carletti (University of Namur) 
Mario Giacobini (University of Torino) 
Pier Luca Lanzi (Politecnico Milano) 
Marco Mirolli (Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies - CNR) 
Monica Mordonini (University of Parma) 
Luca Mussi (University of Parma) 
Giuseppe Nicosia (University of Catania) 
Irene Poli (University of Venezia  Ca' Foscari) 
Riccardo Poli (University of Essex) 
Andrea Roli (University of Bologna) 
Roberto Serra (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) 
Andrea Tettamanzi (University of Milano-Crema) 
Marco Tomassini (University of Lausanne) 
Leonardo Vanneschi (University of Milano-Bicocca)