Multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs) and uncertain optimization problems (UOPs) which widely exist in real life are challengeable problems in the fields of decision making, system designing, and scheduling, amongst others. Decomposition exploits the ideas of ‘making things simple’ and ‘divide and conquer’ to transform a complex problem into a series of simple ones with the aim of reducing the computational complexity. In order to tackle the abovementioned two types of complicated optimization problems, this book introduces the decomposition strategy and conducts a systematic study to perfect the usage of decomposition in the field of multi-objective optimization, and extend the usage of decomposition in the field of uncertain optimization.

Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) have grown into a mature field of research in optimization, and have proven to be effective and robust problem solvers for a broad range of static real-world optimization problems. Yet, since they are based on the principles of natural evolution, and since natural evolution is a dynamic process in a changing environment, EAs are also well suited to dynamic optimization problems. Evolutionary Optimization in Dynamic Environments is the first comprehensive work on the application of EAs to dynamic optimization problems. It provides an extensive survey on research in the area and shows how EAs can be successfully used to continuously and efficiently adapt a solution to a changing environment, find a good trade-off between solution quality and adaptation cost, find robust solutions whose quality is insensitive to changes in the environment, find flexible solutions which are not only good but that can be easily adapted when necessary. All four aspects are treated in this book, providing a holistic view on the challenges and opportunities when applying EAs to dynamic optimization problems. The comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the subject, together with details of latest original research, makes Evolutionary Optimization in Dynamic Environments an invaluable resource for researchers and professionals who are dealing with dynamic and stochastic optimization problems, and who are interested in applying local search heuristics, such as evolutionary algorithms.

Agent based evolutionary search is an emerging paradigm in computational int- ligence offering the potential to conceptualize and solve a variety of complex problems such as currency trading, production planning, disaster response m- agement, business process management etc. There has been a significant growth in the number of publications related to the development and applications of agent based systems in recent years which has prompted special issues of journals and dedicated sessions in premier conferences. The notion of an agent with its ability to sense, learn and act autonomously - lows the development of a plethora of efficient algorithms to deal with complex problems. This notion of an agent differs significantly from a restrictive definition of a solution in an evolutionary algorithm and opens up the possibility to model and capture emergent behavior of complex systems through a natural age- oriented decomposition of the problem space. While this flexibility of represen- tion offered by agent based systems is widely acknowledged, they need to be - signed for specific purposes capturing the right level of details and description. This edited volume is aimed to provide the readers with a brief background of agent based evolutionary search, recent developments and studies dealing with various levels of information abstraction and applications of agent based evo- tionary systems. There are 12 peer reviewed chapters in this book authored by d- tinguished researchers who have shared their experience and findings spanning across a wide range of applications.

Intended for researchers and practitioners alike, this book covers carefully selected yet broad topics in optimization, machine learning, and metaheuristics. Written by world-leading academic researchers who are extremely experienced in industrial applications, this self-contained book is the first of its kind that provides comprehensive background knowledge, particularly practical guidelines, and state-of-the-art techniques. New algorithms are carefully explained, further elaborated with pseudocode or flowcharts, and full working source code is made freely available. This is followed by a presentation of a variety of data-driven single- and multi-objective optimization algorithms that seamlessly integrate modern machine learning such as deep learning and transfer learning with evolutionary and swarm optimization algorithms. Applications of data-driven optimization ranging from aerodynamic design, optimization of industrial processes, to deep neural architecture search are included.