Finally, the Paper on Compiling Dyadic First-order Speciÿcations into Map Alge- Bra By

The papers in this issue are revised and extended versions of communications presented at the Second International AMAST Workshop on Algebraic Methods in Language Processing (AMiLP ’00), held at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA, 20–22 May 2000. Like the 2rst workshop, that was held in 1995 at the University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands, the workshop was organized in the framework provided by the Algebraic Methodology and Software Technology (AMAST) movement. Papers from this 2rst workshop were collected in the issue of TCS 1–3, 1998. In the AMAST framework large international conferences and specialized workshops related to algebraic issues are held. The recent AMiLP workshop considered algebraic methods in formal languages, programming languages and natural languages. Responsible for the scienti2c program of the workshop were Anton Nijholt (program chair, Enschede, Netherlands), Dirk Heylen (Enschede, Netherlands), Giuseppe Scollo (Catania, Italy) and Teodor Rus (Iowa City, USA). The presentations in the workshop were selected from the response to a call for papers and in addition some well known researchers were invited to present an overview of their research area. These lectures were given by • Theo Janssen: An Algebraic Approach to Grammatical Theories for Natural Languages. • Teodor Rus: Algebraic De2nition of Programming Languages. • Gheorghe Paun: Molecular computing and Formal Languages. The workshop provided the participants with a stimulating opportunity to exchange their ideas and compare their latest results. A selection made at the workshop, followed by a careful refereeing of the invited contributions, resulted in the contents of the present issue, which testi2es to the continuing process of cross-fertilization between several disciplines, where the use of algebraic methods appears to be the main catalyst. We hope the results presented in this issue, the problems still left open and the new questions which arise here, will foster further research into what appears to be a mature, yet largely unexplored and exciting 2eld of investigation.