Membrane Computing:Traces, Neural Inspired Models, ControlsAutor: Armand-Mihai IonescuDirectores: Dr. Victor Mitrana (URV)Dr. Takashi Yokomori (Universidad Waseda, Japón)Resumen Castellano:El presente trabajo está dedicado a una área muy activa del cálculo natural (que intenta descubrir la odalidad en la cual la naturaleza calcula, especialmente al nivel biológico), es decir el cálculo con membranas, y más preciso, a los modelos de membranas inspirados de la funcionalidad biológica de la neurona.La disertación contribuye al área de cálculo con membranas en tres direcciones principales. Primero, introducimos una nueva manera de definir el resultado de una computación siguiendo los rastros de un objeto especificado dentro de una estructura celular o de una estructura neuronal. A continuación, nos acercamos al ámbito de la biología del cerebro, con el objetivo de obtener varias maneras de controlar la computación por medio de procesos que inhiben/de-inhiben. Tercero, introducimos e investigamos en detallo - aunque en una fase preliminar porque muchos aspectos tienen que ser clarificados - una clase de sistemas inspirados de la manera en la cual las neuronas cooperan por medio de spikes, pulsos eléctricos de formas idénticas.English summary:The present work is dedicated to a very active branch of natural computing (which tries to discover the way nature computes, especially at a biological level), namely membrane computing, more precisely, to those models of membrane systems mainly inspired from the functioning of the neural cell.The present dissertation contributes to membrane computing in three main directions. First, we introduce a new way of defining the result of a computation by means of following the traces of a specified object within a cell structure or a neural structure. Then, we get closer to the biology of the brain, considering various ways to control the computation by means of inhibiting/de-inhibiting processes. Third, we introduce and investigate in a great - though preliminary, as many issues remain to be clarified - detail a class of P systems inspired from the way neurons cooperate by means of spikes, electrical pulses of identical shapes.

No / Recent research in membrane computing examines and confirms the anticipated modelling potential of kernel P systems in several case studies. On the one hand, this computational model is destined to be an abstract archetype which advocates the unity and integrity of P systems onto a single formalism. On the other hand, this envisaged convergence is conceived at the expense of a vast set of primitives and intricate semantics, an exigent context when considering the development of simulation and verification methodologies and tools. Encouraged and guided by the success and steady progress of similar undertakings, in this paper we directly address the issue of formal verification of kernel P systems by means of model checking and unveil a software framework, kpWorkbench, which integrates a set of related tools in support of our approach. A case study that centres around the well known Subset Sum problem progressively demonstrates each stage of the proposed methodology: expressing a kP system model in recently introduced kP-Lingua; the automatic translation of this model into a Promela (Spin) specification; the assisted, interactive construction of a set of LTL properties based on natural language patterns; and finally, the formal verification of these properties against the converted model, using the Spin model checker.

No / In this short paper one overviews the two years development of kernel P systems (kP systems for short), a basic class of P systems combining features of different variants of such systems. The definition of kP systems is given, some examples illustrate various features of the model and the most significant results are presented.

Yes / To solve the multi-objective mobile robot path planning in a dangerous environment with dynamic obstacles, this paper proposes a modified membraneinspired algorithm based on particle swarm optimization (mMPSO), which combines membrane systems with particle swarm optimization. In mMPSO, a dynamic double one-level membrane structure is introduced to arrange the particles with various dimensions and perform the communications between particles in different membranes; a point repair algorithm is presented to change an infeasible path into a feasible path; a smoothness algorithm is proposed to remove the redundant information of a feasible path; inspired by the idea of tightening the fishing line, a moving direction adjustment for each node of a path is introduced to enhance the algorithm performance. Extensive experiments conducted in different environments with three kinds of grid models and five kinds of obstacles show the effectiveness and practicality of mMPSO. / National Natural Science Foundation of China (61170016, 61373047), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-11-0715) and SWJTU supported project (SWJTU12CX008); grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCSUEFISCDI, project number PN-II-ID-PCE- 2011-3-0688.

Yes / Membrane computing is a new natural computing paradigm inspired by the functioning and structure of biological cells, and has been successfully applied to many different areas, from biology to engineering. In this paper, we present kPWorkbench, a software framework developed to support membrane computing and its applications. kPWorkbench offers unique features, including modelling, simulation, agent-based high performance simulation and verification, which allow modelling and computational analysis of membrane systems. The kPWorkbench formal verification component provides the opportunity to analyse the behaviour of a model and validate that important system requirements are met and certain behaviours are observed. The platform also features a property language based on natural language statements to facilitate property specification. / EPSRC

No / P systems are the computational models introduced in the context of membrane computing, a computational paradigm within the more general area of unconventional computing. Kernel P (kP) systems are defined to unify the specification of different variants of P systems, motivated by challenging theoretical aspects and the need to model different problems. In this paper, we present kPWorkbench, a software framework developed to support kP systems. kPWorkbench integrates several simulation and verification tools and methods, and provides a software suit for the modelling and analysis of membrane systems.

No / Presents comprehensive descriptions of the most significant membrane computing tools developed for various models Describes the most relevant applications, facilitating a better understanding of how the tools are used in building, experimenting with and analysing membrane computing models of complex problems arising in robotics, automatic design of P systems, image processing, ecosystem modelling, systems and synthetic biology, and bioinformatics Discusses efficient software and hardware solutions, together with the algorithms and platforms used

No / Evolutionary membrane computing is an important research direction of membrane computing that aims to explore the complex interactions between membrane computing and evolutionary computation. These disciplines are receiving increasing attention. In this paper, an overview of the evolutionary membrane computing state-of-the-art and new results on two established topics in well defined scopes (membrane-inspired evolutionary algorithms and automated design of membrane computing models) are presented. We survey their theoretical developments and applications, sketch the differences between them, and compare the advantages and limitations. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Yes / This paper proposes a novel trajectory tracking control approach for nonholonomic wheeled mobile robots. In this approach, the integration of feed-forward and feedback controls is presented to design the kinematic controller of wheeled mobile robots, where the control law is constructed on the basis of Lyapunov stability theory, for generating the precisely desired velocity as the input of the dynamic model of wheeled mobile robots; a proportional-integral-derivative based membrane controller is introduced to design the dynamic controller of wheeled mobile robots to make the actual velocity follow the desired velocity command. The proposed approach is defined by using an enzymatic numerical membrane system to integrate two proportional-integral-derivative controllers, where neural networks and experts’ knowledge are applied to tune parameters. Extensive experiments conducted on the simulated wheeled mobile robots show the effectiveness of this approach. / The work of XW and GZ is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61170016, 61373047). The work of MG, FI and RL was supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, CNCS-UEFISCDI (project number: PN-II-ID-PCE-2011-3-0688).

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