This book thoroughly investigates the underlying theoretical basis of membrane computing models, and reveals their latest applications. In addition, to date there have been no illustrative case studies or complex real-life applications that capitalize on the full potential of the sophisticated membrane systems computational apparatus; gaps that this book remedies. By studying various complex applications - including engineering optimization, power systems fault diagnosis, mobile robot controller design, and complex biological systems involving data modeling and process interactions - the book also extends the capabilities of membrane systems models with features such as formal verification techniques, evolutionary approaches, and fuzzy reasoning methods. As such, the book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date guide for all researchers, PhDs and undergraduate students in the fields of computer science, engineering and the bio-sciences who are interested in the applications of natural computing models.

Membrane Computing was introduced as a computational paradigm in Natural Computing. The models introduced, called Membrane (or P) Systems, provide a coherent platform to describe and study living cells as computational systems. Membrane Systems have been investigated for their computational aspects and employed to model problems in other fields, like: Computer Science, Linguistics, Biology, Economy, Computer Graphics, Robotics, etc. Their inherent parallelism, heterogeneity and intrinsic versatilityallow them to model a broad range of processes and phenomena, being also an efficient means to solve and analyze problems in a novel way.

Membrane Computing has been used to model biological systems, becoming with time a thorough modeling paradigm comparable, in its modeling and predicting capabilities, to more established models in this area. This book is the result of the need to collect, in an organic way, different facets of this paradigm.

The chapters of this book, together with the web pages accompanying them, present different applications of Membrane Systems to Biology. Deterministic, non-deterministic and stochastic systems paired with different algorithms and methodologies show the full potential of this framework.

The book is addressed to researchers interested in applications of discrete biological models and the interplay between Membrane Systems and other approaches to analyze complex systems."

This book contains revised selected papers from the 18th International Conference on Membrane Computing, CMC 2017, held in Bradford, UK, in July 2017. The 18 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 29 submissions. They deal with membrane computing (P systems theory), an area of computer science aiming to abstract computing ideas and models from the structure and the functioning of living cells, as well as from the way the cells are organized in tissues or higher order structures. The volume also contains 2 invited talks.

Membrane Computing was introduced as a computational paradigm in Natural Computing. The models introduced, called Membrane (or P) Systems, provide a coherent platform to describe and study living cells as computational systems. Membrane Systems have been investigated for their computational aspects and employed to model problems in other fields, like: Computer Science, Linguistics, Biology, Economy, Computer Graphics, Robotics, etc. Their inherent parallelism, heterogeneity and intrinsic versatility allow them to model a broad range of processes and phenomena, being also an efficient means to solve and analyze problems in a novel way. Membrane Computing has been used to model biological systems, becoming with time a thorough modeling paradigm comparable, in its modeling and predicting capabilities, to more established models in this area. This book is the result of the need to collect, in an organic way, different facets of this paradigm. The chapters of this book, together with the web pages accompanying them, present different applications of Membrane Systems to Biology. Deterministic, non-deterministic and stochastic systems paired with different algorithms and methodologies show the full potential of this framework. The book is addressed to researchers interested in applications of discrete biological models and the interplay between Membrane Systems and other approaches to analyze complex systems.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Membrane Computing, CMC 2011, held in Fontainebleau, France, in August 2011. The 19 revised selected papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 27 papers and 5 posters presented at the conference. The book also contains full papers or extended abstracts of the 5 invited presentations. The papers address all the main directions of research in membrane computing, ranging from theoretical topics in the mathematics and computer science to application issues.

This book thoroughly investigates the underlying theoretical basis of membrane computing models, and reveals their latest applications. In addition, to date there have been no illustrative case studies or complex real-life applications that capitalize on the full potential of the sophisticated membrane systems computational apparatus; gaps that this book remedies. By studying various complex applications - including engineering optimization, power systems fault diagnosis, mobile robot controller design, and complex biological systems involving data modeling and process interactions - the book also extends the capabilities of membrane systems models with features such as formal verification techniques, evolutionary approaches, and fuzzy reasoning methods. As such, the book offers a comprehensive and up-to-date guide for all researchers, PhDs and undergraduate students in the fields of computer science, engineering and the bio-sciences who are interested in the applications of natural computing models.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Membrane Computing, CMC 2013, held in Chi in u, Republic of Moldova, in August 2013.

The 16 revised selected papers presented together with 6 invited lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 26 papers presented at the conference. Membrane computing is an area of computer science aiming to abstract computing ideas and models from the structure and the functioning of living cells, as well as from the way the cells are organized in tissues or higher order structures. It deals with membrane systems, also called P systems, which are distributed and parallel algebraic models processing multi sets of objects in a localized manner (evolution rules and evolving objects are encapsulated into compartments delimited by membranes), with an essential role played by the communication among compartments and with the environment."

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Membrane Computing, CMC 2012, held in Budapest, Hungary, in August 2012. The 21 revised selected papers presented together with 6 invited lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 25 papers presented at the conference. The book also deals with membrane systems, also called P systems, which are distributed and parallel algebraic models processing multisets of objects in a localized manner (evolution rules and evolving objects are encapsulated into compartments delimited by membranes), with an essential role played by the communication among compartments and with the environment.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Membrane Computing, CMC 2014, held in Prague, Czech Republic, in August 2014. The 19 revised selected papers presented together with 5 invited lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 24 papers presented at the conference. In addition, two papers selected from the 22 papers presented at the regional version of CMC, the Asian Conference on Membrane Computing , ACMC 2014, held in Coimbatore, India, are included. The papers cover a wide range of topics in the area of membrane computing, which is an area of computer science aiming to abstract computing ideas and models from the structure and the functioning of living cells, as well as from the way the cells are organized in tissues or higher order structures.