The First International Conference on Natural Computation (ICNC'05) Held in Changsha

From August 27 to 29, 2005, the First International Conference on Natural Computation (ICNC'05) and the Second International Conference on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (FSKD'05) were held in Changsha International Convention and Exhibition Center, drawing over 500 professionals and scholars from 32 countries and regions. The joint conferences were sponsored by the Xiangtan University and organized by the University’s School of Information Engineering. Other co-sponsors include the International Neural Network Society, Chinese Association for Artificial Intelligence, International Fuzzy System Association of Japan, Asia-Pacific Neural Network Assembly, Fuzzy Mathematics and Systems Association of China, and Hunan Computer Association. The conferences received 3136 dissertations, among which 835 were adopted.
The Opening Ceremony was presided by the director of School of Information Engineering of Xiangtan University, Professor Liu Renren. The conferences’ president, also president of Xiangtan University, Professor Luo He’an gave a congratulation address. President Luo first expressed the warmest welcome to domestic and foreign guests. Then, he made a brief introduction to the developments and changes of Xiangtan University in recent years. Professor Wang Libo, who is the conferences’ vice president, one of the advocators of the conferences, and a chair professor of the “Lotus Scholar Program” of Hunan, reported on the conferences’ preparation and dissertation adoption.
During the conferences, international leading scholar on neural network study, Professor Shun-ichi Amari, Chief Editor of the journal IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, Professor Nikhi R.Pal, Chief Editor of the journal IEEE Transactions and Evolutionary Computation, Professor Xin Yao, Academican of the Chinese Academy of Science, Professor Guo Aike, and other prestigious experts in the international natural computation field from China, England, Japan and India gave wonderful reports. More than 500 attendees reported on their most recent research achievements.
The conferences have got great supports from the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, and the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society.
Natural computation, inspired by natural, especially biological functions, features, and mechanisms, studies the rich information processing mechanisms in them, so as to abstract corresponding computation models and design corresponding computation methods for extensive application. Natural computation covers various research fields that take natural mechanisms as computation foundations, including evolutionary computation, neural computation, ecological computation, quanta computation, and complex self-adaptation system. It imitates the nature and is usually of self-adaptation, self-organization and self-learning capacities, being able to deal with a wide range of complex problems that traditional computation methods are not. It has got excellent applications in fields like optimal design, optimal control, and computer network safety for massive and complex systems. All these research fields are international front fields and significant in promoting the development of national economy and the progress of scientific technology study.