*****************   Apologies for multiple copies received   *****************



                                   ANTS 2004
                       Fourth International Workshop on
                Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence

                    Brussels, Belgium, September 5-8, 2004


CALL FOR PAPERS (prepared on Oct 13, 2003)

Up-to-date information at http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~ants/ants2004/


SCOPE OF THE WORKSHOP

Swarm intelligence is a relatively novel discipline interested  in the study of
self-organizing processes in Nature and human artifacts.

Researchers in  ethology  and animal  behavior  have  proposed  many models  to
explain interesting aspects of social insect behavior such as self-organization
and  shape-formation.  Recently, algorithms inspired  by these models have been
proposed to solve difficult computational problems.

An example of particularly  successful research direction in swarm intelligence
is "ant colony optimization", which focuses  on discrete optimization problems.
Ant  colony  optimization has been  applied  successfully to a  large number of
difficult discrete optimization problems including  the traveling salesman, the
quadratic assignment, scheduling, vehicle routing, etc., as  well as to routing
in telecommunication networks.

Another example of interesting research direction  is swarm robotics, where the
focus  is on applying   swarm intelligence techniques  to  the control of large
groups of cooperating autonomous robots.

The ANTS 2004 workshop will give researchers in both  real and artificial swarm
intelligence the opportunity to meet, to  present their latest research, and to
discuss current developments and applications.

The four-day workshop will be held in Brussels, Belgium, Sep 5-8, 2004.
September 5 will be devoted to tutorials.


RELEVANT RESEARCH AREAS

ANTS  2004 solicits  contributions dealing    with  any aspect   of ant  colony
optimization  and swarm  intelligence.  Typical,  but not   exclusive topics of
interest are:

- Models of the  behavior of social insects  or other animal societies that can
  stimulate new algorithmic approaches.

- Empirical  and  theoretical research   in  ant colony  optimization and swarm
  intelligence.

- Application  of ant  colony optimization  and  swarm  intelligence methods to
  real-world problems.

- Swarm robotics.


PUBLICATION DETAILS

Conference proceedings will  be published by a  major publisher and distributed
to the participants at  the  conference site.  More  on  this subject  will  be
published soon on the web site.



BEST PAPER AWARD

A best paper award will be presented at the workshop.



FURTHER INFORMATION

Up-to-date  information about the  workshop will be available  at the ANTS 2004
web  site (http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~ants/ants2004/).    For  information  about
local   arrangements, registration forms, etc.,   please   refer to the  above-
mentioned web  site,  or contact the local  organizers   at the  address below.

LIMITED NUMBER OF PLACES

As  the  number  of participants   will  be limited, participants are  strongly
invited  to  pre-register.  If you intend   to participate, please  fill in the
INTENTION FORM   available at   the  workshop  web   page  and  email   it  to:

[log in to unmask]


IMPORTANT DATES

Title and abstract deadline   Mar   12, 2004
Submission deadline           Mar   19, 2004
Notification of acceptance    May   21, 2004
Camera ready copy             June   6, 2004
Tutorials                     Sep    5, 2004
Workshop                      Sep  6-8, 2004



ANTS'2004 CONFERENCE COMMITTEE

PROGRAM CHAIR
  Marco DORIGO, IRIDIA, ULB, Brussels, Belgium

TECHNICAL PROGRAM AND PUBLICATION CHAIRS
  Mauro BIRATTARI, IRIDIA, ULB, Brussels, Belgium
  Luca M. GAMBARDELLA, IDSIA, USI-SUPSI, Manno, Switzerland
  Francesco MONDADA, ASL, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
  Thomas STUETZLE, INTELLEKTIK, TUD, Germany

PUBLICITY CHAIR
  Andrea ROLI, Universita' degli Studi "G.D'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
  Under formation.


WORKSHOP ADDRESS

ANTS2004 WORKSHOP
IRIDIA CP 194/6                      Tel +32-2-6502729
Universite' Libre de Bruxelles       Fax +32-2-6502715
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 50         http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/~ants/ants2004/
1050 Bruxelles                       email: [log in to unmask]
Belgium


WORKSHOP LOCATION

Universite' Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium


RELATED CONFERENCES

Note that ten days after ANTS'2004, the conference PPSN-VIII will take place in
Birmingham, UK (http://events.cs.bham.ac.uk/ppsn04/).