Deeply rooted in fundamental research in Mathematics and Computer Science, Cellular Automata (CA) are recognized as an intuitive modeling paradigm for Complex Systems. Already very basic CA, with extremely simple micro dynamics such as the Game of Life, show an almost endless display of complex emergent behavior. Conversely, CA can also be designed to produce a desired emergent behavior, using either theoretical methodologies or evolutionary techniques. Meanwhile, beyond the original realm of applications - Physics, Computer Science, and Mathematics - CA have also become work horses in very different disciplines such as epidemiology, immunology, sociology, and finance. In this context of fast and impressive progress, spurred further by the enormous attraction these topics have on students, this book emerges as a welcome overview of the field for its practitioners, as well as a good starting point for detailed study on the graduate and post-graduate level. The book contains three parts, two major parts on theory and applications, and a smaller part on software. The theory part contains fundamental chapters on how to design and/or apply CA for many different areas. In the applications part a number of representative examples of really using CA in a broad range of disciplines is provided - this part will give the reader a good idea of the real strength of this kind of modeling as well as the incentive to apply CA in their own field of study. Finally, we included a smaller section on software, to highlight the important work that has been done to create high quality problem solving environments that allow to quickly and relatively easily implement a CA model and run simulations, both on the desktop and if needed, on High Performance Computing infrastructures.

Deeply rooted in fundamental research in Mathematics and Computer Science, Cellular Automata (CA) are recognized as an intuitive modeling paradigm for Complex Systems. Already very basic CA, with extremely simple micro dynamics such as the Game of Life, show an almost endless display of complex emergent behavior. Conversely, CA can also be designed to produce a desired emergent behavior, using either theoretical methodologies or evolutionary techniques. Meanwhile, beyond the original realm of applications - Physics, Computer Science, and Mathematics - CA have also become work horses in very different disciplines such as epidemiology, immunology, sociology, and finance. In this context of fast and impressive progress, spurred further by the enormous attraction these topics have on students, this book emerges as a welcome overview of the field for its practitioners, as well as a good starting point for detailed study on the graduate and post-graduate level. The book contains three parts, two major parts on theory and applications, and a smaller part on software. The theory part contains fundamental chapters on how to design and/or apply CA for many different areas. In the applications part a number of representative examples of really using CA in a broad range of disciplines is provided - this part will give the reader a good idea of the real strength of this kind of modeling as well as the incentive to apply CA in their own field of study. Finally, we included a smaller section on software, to highlight the important work that has been done to create high quality problem solving environments that allow to quickly and relatively easily implement a CA model and run simulations, both on the desktop and if needed, on High Performance Computing infrastructures.

The three-volume set, LNCS 2329, LNCS 2330, and LNCS 2331, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on Computational Science, ICCS 2002, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in April 2002.The three volumes present more than 350 reviewed contributed and invited papers and span the whole range of computational science, from foundational issues in computer science and mathematics to advanced applications in virtually all application fields making use of computational techniques. These proceedings give a unique account of recent results in the field.

"What joy to discern the minute in in?nity, the vast to perceive in the small, what divinity " Jacob Bernoulli (1654-1705) in Ars Conjectandi (1713) We are proud to present to you the proceedings of the Sixth International C- ference on Cellular Automata for Research and Industry (ACRI 2004), held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on October 25-27, 2004. Since the ?rst conference in Italy, ACRI, which is held biennially, has become the premier conference in the ?eld of cellular automata in Europe and beyond, and is still growing in quality and size. This year's theme was "From Individual to Collective Behavior," emphas- ing the capability of Cellular Automata to simulate macroscopic processes from individual, local interactions. Cellular Automata, in spite of their apparent s- plicity, represent a very powerful approach to studying spatio-temporal systems in which complex phenomena build up out of many simple local interactions. In thewordsofRichardFeynmanintheCharacterofPhysicalLaw(1982),"Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry." John von Neumann, who is recognized as the father of cellular automata, would have been 100 years old in 2004. ACRI 2004 wanted to commemorate this date by inviting researchers to submit contributions related to von Neumann's work or to the emergence of organization in systems in which collaboration between components wins over the individual behavior.