Preface

Over the last decades, it has become a strong need for exchange on common computational and algorithmic tools between researchers working in different application backgrounds. Under this situation, the first CESA conference (CESA96) was successfully held in Lille, France in July 1996. The Multiconference on “Computational Engineering in Systems Applications” (CESA2006), was co-sponsored by IMACS (the International Association for Mathematics and Computers in Simulation) and IEEE Systems Man and Cybernetics (IEEE/SMC) Society, and has been held on 4-6 October 2006 in Beijing, China. It aim was to bring together scholars and practitioners from academia and industries to exchange the latest development in theories, and applications of computational techniques. This Conference was co-chaired by Professor Pierre Borne (Ecole Centrale de Lille, France) and Professor Bo Zhang (Tsinghua University, China). In addition to the plenary lectures presented by Professor James M. Tien (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA), Professor Tianyou Chai (Northeastern University, China), Professor Florin G. Filip (Vice President of the Romanian Academy), Professor Jianwei Zhang (University of Hamburg, Germany) and Professor Toshio Fukuda (Nagoya University, Japan), 388 communications have been selected and accepted for presentation. The papers presented in this special issue correspond to enlarged and improved papers which have been selected among the best communications presented during the conferenc