ECAL99: CFP

[Dario Floreano]

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            Conference Announcement and Call for Papers
             5th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL LIFE                         
          
                             ECAL99
      Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) 
                       September 13-17 1999

Artificial Life is an interdisciplinary research enterprise aimed at
understanding life-as-it-is and life-as-it-could-be, and at synthetizing
life-like phenomena in chemical, electronic, software, and other artificial
media. Artificial Life redefines the concepts of artificial and natural,
blurring the borders between traditional disciplines and providing new 
insights into the origin and principles of life.
In addition to all traditional topics, ECAL99 will encourage contributions 
that address the role of embodiment and physical constraints for the 
self-organization of life-like systems in chemical, electronic, mechanical, 
and other artificial media. 

The conference will be single-track and will feature selected oral 
presentations, spotlight presentations (short talk + poster), and posters. 
All accepted contributions will be published in the proceedings by Springer 
Verlag. ECAL99 will also host invited talks, thematic debates, 
and public demonstrations. One day of tutorials before the conference will 
provide the necessary background to better enjoy the contributions from 
different disciplines; participation is strongly recommended.

IMPORTANT DATES
28 February 1999: Submission deadline 
30 April 1999: Notification to authors 
31 May 1999: Camera-ready version due 
13-17 September 1999: Conference dates

Official Language: English
Publisher: Springer-Verlag
WWW: http://www.epfl.ch/ecal99
E-mail: address@hidden

SUBMISSIONS
Papers should not be longer than 10 pages (including figures) in the
Springer-Verlag llncs style (http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html) 
with an abstract of 100-150 words. All submissions will be reviewed by at 
least two referees. Authors should make all possible efforts to state the
relevance of their contribution to the field of Artificial Life and explain 
the implications of their results. Novelty, clarity of presentation, and 
scientific content will be the main criteria used by referees.
Both electronic and traditional submissions will be accepted (in the latter 
case, please send 6 hard-copies). Demonstrations, videos, and proposals 
for thematic debates are also welcome.

EXAMPLES OF BROAD AREAS TO BE ADDRESSED (but not limited to):
Self-organization. Chemical origins of life. Autocatalytic systems. 
Prebiotic evolution. RNA systems. Evolutionary chemistry. Fitness 
landscapes. Natural selection. Artificial evolution. Ecosystem evolution. 
Multicellular development. Natural and artificial morphogenesis. Learning 
and development. Bio-morphic and neuro-morphic engineering. Artificial 
worlds. Simulation tools. Artificial organisms. Synthetic actors. Artificial 
(virtual and robotic) humanoids. Intelligent autonomous robots. Evolutionary 
Robotics. Applications of Alife technologies. Life detectors. Self-repairing 
hardware. Evolvable hardware. Emergent collective behaviors. Swarm 
intelligence. Evolution of social behaviors. Evolution of communication.
Epistemology. Artificial Life and Art.

VENUE
The conference will take place on the EPFL campus located by lake Leman,
10 minutes away by metro from the historic centre of Lausanne. The Alps
can be quickly reached by public transportation. Geneva international airport 
is 40 minutes by train (more info on ECAL99 web page). 

REGISTRATION
ECAL99 will encourage debate, contacts, and interdisciplinary exchanges 
in an open-minded and informal atmosphere. Several student fellowships will 
be available. Registration fees (starting at 400 CHF) will include almost 
everything for both regular and student participants. Special offers on 
accomodation. Considerable savings on early registration (before 15 June 1999).
Check out ECAL99 web page frequently http://www.epfl.ch/ecal99

ORGANIZERS: Dario Floreano, Jean-Daniel Nicoud, Francesco Mondada

LOCAL ORGANIZATION:  Monique Dubois and Joseba Urzelai

CONTACT: ECAL99 Secretariat, LAMI-DI-EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne

ADVISORY BOARD:
Inman Harvey (UK) Hiroaki Kitano (JP) Daniel Mange (CH) Jean-Arcady 
Meyer (F) Stefano Nolfi (I) Charles Taylor (USA) Daniel Thalmann (CH)

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE (under formation):
Agnessa Babloyantz (B) Wolfgang Banzhaf (D) Randall Beer (USA) 
Hugues Bersini (B) Eric Bonabeau (USA) Paul Bourgine (F) Rodney 
Brooks(USA) Heinrich Buelthoff (D) Raffaele Calabretta (I) Pablo 
Chacon (E) Dave Cliff (UK) Jean-Louis Deneubourg (B) Marco Dorigo (B) 
Rodney Douglas (CH) Claus Emmeche (DK) Boi Faltings (CH) Toshio 
Fukuda (JP) Takashi Gomi (CA) Stephen Grand (UK) Howard Gutowitz (F) 
Tetsuya Higuchi (JP) Phil Husbands (UK) Takashi Ikegami (JP) George 
Kampis (H) Kunihiko Kaneko (JP) Laurent Keller (CH) Yasuo Kuniyoshi (JP) 
Chris Langton (USA) Kristian Lindgren (SE) Pier Luisi (CH) Henrik Lund (DK) 
Hanspeter Mallot (D) John McCaskill (D) Barry McMullin (IE) Olivier 
Michel (CH) Orazio Miglino (I) Melanie Mitchell (USA) Federico Moran (E) 
Alvaro Moreno (E) Domenico Parisi (I) Rolf Pfeifer (CH) Tom Ray (USA) 
Eduardo Sanchez (CH) Chris Sander (UK) Peter Schuster (A) Katsunori 
Shimohara (JP) Karl Sims (USA) Moshe Sipper (CH) Tim Smithers (E) Ricardo 
Sole (E) Emmet Spier (UK) Luc Steels (F) Jun Tani (JP) Adrian Thompson (UK) 
Peter Todd (D) Marco Tomassini (CH) Gunter Wagner (USA) Barbara Webb (UK) 
Michael Wheeler (UK) Norm White (CA) Tom Ziemke (SE) Stephane Zrehen (USA)




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