This book contains papers presented at the 2nd International Conference on Unconventional Models of Computation (UMCK'2K), which was held at Solvay Institutes, Brussels, Belgium, in December 2000. Computers as we know them may be getting better and cheaper, and doing more for us, but they are still unable to cope with many tasks of practical interest. Nature, though, has been 'computing' with molecules and cells for billions of years, and these natural processes form the main motivation for the construction of radically new models of computation, the core theme of the papers in this volume. Unconventional Models of Computation, UMCK'2K covers all major areas of unconventional computation, including quantum computing, DNA-based computation, membrane computing and evolutionary algorithms. TOC:From the contents: On the Ohya-Masuda Quantum SAT Algorithm.- Computational Methods and tools for Modeling and Analysis of Complex Processes.- Quantum Recognizable Tree Functions.- An Unconventional Computational Linear Algebra: Operator Trigonometry.- Splicing, Aqueous Computing, and Beyond.- Some Methods of Computation in White Noise Calculus.- Computing with Membranes: Attacking NP-Complete Problems.- DNA Processing in Ciliates - the Wonders of DNA Computing in vivo.- Macroscopical Molecular Computation in Gene Networks.- In vitro Transcriptional Circuits.- Parallelizing with Limited Number of Ancillae.- Upper and Lower Bounds on Continuous-Time Computation.- P Systems with Valuations.- Quantum Domain as a Triadic Relay.- On P Systems with Active Membranes.- Spatial Computing on Self-Timed Cellular Automata.- Inaccessibility in Decision Procedures.- On the Power of Nonlinear Mappings in Switching Map Systems.- Quantum Information: The New Frontier.- Quantum Computation Relative to Oracles.- Solving NP Complete Problems Using P Systems with Active Membranes.The complete table of contents can be found on the Internet: http://www.springer.de
