Many machine learning tasks involve solving complex optimization problems, such as working on non-differentiable, non-continuous, and non-unique objective functions; in some cases it can prove difficult to even define an explicit objective function. Evolutionary learning applies evolutionary algorithms to address optimization problems in machine learning, and has yielded encouraging outcomes in many applications. However, due to the heuristic nature of evolutionary optimization, most outcomes to date have been empirical and lack theoretical support. This shortcoming has kept evolutionary learning from being well received in the machine learning community, which favors solid theoretical approaches. Recently there have been considerable efforts to address this issue. This book presents a range of those efforts, divided into four parts. Part I briefly introduces readers to evolutionary learning and provides some preliminaries, while Part II presents general theoretical tools for the analysis of running time and approximation performance in evolutionary algorithms. Based on these general tools, Part III presents a number of theoretical findings on major factors in evolutionary optimization, such as recombination, representation, inaccurate fitness evaluation, and population. In closing, Part IV addresses the development of evolutionary learning algorithms with provable theoretical guarantees for several representative tasks, in which evolutionary learning offers excellent performance.

Inspired by the Darwinian framework of evolution through natural selection and adaptation, the field of evolutionary computation has been growing very rapidly, and is today involved in many diverse application areas. This book covers the latest advances in the theories, algorithms, and applications of simulated evolution and learning techniques. It provides insights into different evolutionary computation techniques and their applications in domains such as scheduling, control and power, robotics, signal processing, and bioinformatics. The book will be of significant value to all postgraduates, research scientists and practitioners dealing with evolutionary computation or complex real-world problems. This book has been selected for coverage in: . OCo Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings). OCo CC Proceedings OCo Engineering & Physical Sciences. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Co-Evolutionary Learning in Strategic Environments (231 KB). Contents: Evolutionary Theory: Using Evolution to Learn User Preferences (S Ujjin & P J Bentley); Evolutionary Learning Strategies for Artificial Life Characters (M L Netto et al.); The Influence of Stochastic Quality Functions on Evolutionary Search (B Sendhoff et al.); A Real-Coded Cellular Genetic Algorithm Inspired by PredatorOCoPrey Interactions (X Li & S Sutherland); Automatic Modularization with Speciated Neural Network Ensemble (V R Khare & X Yao); Evolutionary Applications: Image Classification using Particle Swarm Optimization (M G Omran et al.); Evolution of Fuzzy Rule Based Controllers for Dynamic Environments (J Riley & V Ciesielski); A Genetic Algorithm for Joint Optimization of Spare Capacity and Delay in Self-Healing Network (S Kwong & H W Chong); Joint Attention in the Mimetic Context OCo What is a OC Mimetic SameOCO? (T Shiose et al.); Time Series Forecast with Elman Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms (L X Xu et al.); and other articles. Readership: Upper level undergraduates, graduate students, academics, researchers and industrialists in artificial intelligence, evolutionary computation, fuzzy logic and neural networks."

Presenting a theory of the theoryless, a computer scientist provides a model of how effective behavior can be learned even in a world as complex as our own, shedding new light on human nature.

The first complete overview of evolutionary computing, the collective name for a range of problem-solving techniques based on principles of biological evolution, such as natural selection and genetic inheritance. The text is aimed directly at lecturers and graduate and undergraduate students. It is also meant for those who wish to apply evolutionary computing to a particular problem or within a given application area. The book contains quick-reference information on the current state-of-the-art in a wide range of related topics, so it is of interest not just to evolutionary computing specialists but to researchers working in other fields.

Evolutionary computation has emerged as a major topic in the scientific community as many of its techniques have successfully been applied to solve problems in a wide variety of fields. Modeling Applications and Theoretical Innovations in Interdisciplinary Evolutionary Computation provides comprehensive research on emerging theories and its aspects on intelligent computation. Particularly focusing on breaking trends in evolutionary computing, algorithms, and programming, this publication serves to support professionals, government employees, policy and decision makers, as well as students in this scientific field.

This Third Edition provides the latest tools and techniques that enable computers to learn The Third Edition of this internationally acclaimed publication provides the latest theory and techniques for using simulated evolution to achieve machine intelligence. As a leading advocate for evolutionary computation, the author has successfully challenged the traditional notion of artificial intelligence, which essentially programs human knowledge fact by fact, but does not have the capacity to learn or adapt as evolutionary computation does. Readers gain an understanding of the history of evolutionary computation, which provides a foundation for the author's thorough presentation of the latest theories shaping current research. Balancing theory with practice, the author provides readers with the skills they need to apply evolutionary algorithms that can solve many of today's intransigent problems by adapting to new challenges and learning from experience. Several examples are provided that demonstrate how these evolutionary algorithms learn to solve problems. In particular, the author provides a detailed example of how an algorithm is used to evolve strategies for playing chess and checkers. As readers progress through the publication, they gain an increasing appreciation and understanding of the relationship between learning and intelligence. Readers familiar with the previous editions will discover much new and revised material that brings the publication thoroughly up to date with the latest research, including the latest theories and empirical properties of evolutionary computation. The Third Edition also features new knowledge-building aids. Readers will find a host of new and revised examples. New questions at the end of each chapter enable readers to test their knowledge. Intriguing assignments that prepare readers to manage challenges in industry and research have been added to the end of each chapter as well. This is a must-have reference for professionals in computer and electrical engineering; it provides them with the very latest techniques and applications in machine intelligence. With its question sets and assignments, the publication is also recommended as a graduate-level textbook.

This edited book reports on recent developments in the theory of evolutionary computation, or more generally the domain of randomized search heuristics. It starts with two chapters on mathematical methods that are often used in the analysis of randomized search heuristics, followed by three chapters on how to measure the complexity of a search heuristic: black-box complexity, a counterpart of classical complexity theory in black-box optimization; parameterized complexity, aimed at a more fine-grained view of the difficulty of problems; and the fixed-budget perspective, which answers the question of how good a solution will be after investing a certain computational budget. The book then describes theoretical results on three important questions in evolutionary computation: how to profit from changing the parameters during the run of an algorithm; how evolutionary algorithms cope with dynamically changing or stochastic environments; and how population diversity influences performance. Finally, the book looks at three algorithm classes that have only recently become the focus of theoretical work: estimation-of-distribution algorithms; artificial immune systems; and genetic programming. Throughout the book the contributing authors try to develop an understanding for how these methods work, and why they are so successful in many applications. The book will be useful for students and researchers in theoretical computer science and evolutionary computing.