This volume encloses research articles that were presented at the EVOLVE 2014 International Conference in Beijing, China, July 1–4, 2014. The book gathers contributions that emerged from the conference tracks, ranging from probability to set oriented numerics and evolutionary computation; all complemented by the bridging purpose of the conference, e.g. Complex Networks and Landscape Analysis, or by the more application oriented perspective. The novelty of the volume, when considering the EVOLVE series, comes from targeting also the practitioner’s view. This is supported by the Machine Learning Applied to Networks and Practical Aspects of Evolutionary Algorithms tracks, providing surveys on new application areas, as in the networking area and useful insights in the development of evolutionary techniques, from a practitioner’s perspective. Complementary to these directions, the conference tracks supporting the volume, follow on the individual advancements of the subareas constituting the scope of the conference, through the Computational Game Theory, Local Search and Optimization, Genetic Programming, Evolutionary Multi-objective optimization tracks.

This book comprises selected research papers from the 2015 edition of the EVOLVE conference, which was held on June 18–June 24, 2015 in Iași, Romania. It presents the latest research on Probability, Set Oriented Numerics, and Evolutionary Computation. The aim of the EVOLVE conference was to provide a bridge between probability, set oriented numerics and evolutionary computation and to bring together experts from these disciplines. The broad focus of the EVOLVE conference made it possible to discuss the connection between these related fields of study computational science. The selected papers published in the proceedings book were peer reviewed by an international committee of reviewers (at least three reviews per paper) and were revised and enhanced by the authors after the conference. The contributions are categorized into five major parts, which are: Multicriteria and Set-Oriented Optimization; Evolution in ICT Security; Computational Game Theory; Theory on Evolutionary Computation; Applications of Evolutionary Algorithms. The 2015 edition shows a major progress in the aim to bring disciplines together and the research on a number of topics that have been discussed in previous editions of the conference matured over time and methods have found their ways in applications. In this sense the book can be considered an important milestone in bridging and thereby advancing state-of-the-art computational methods.

This book comprises nine selected works on numerical and computational methods for solving multiobjective optimization, game theory, and machine learning problems. It provides extended versions of selected papers from various fields of science such as computer science, mathematics and engineering that were presented at EVOLVE 2013 held in July 2013 at Leiden University in the Netherlands. The internationally peer-reviewed papers include original work on important topics in both theory and applications, such as the role of diversity in optimization, statistical approaches to combinatorial optimization, computational game theory, and cell mapping techniques for numerical landscape exploration. Applications focus on aspects including robustness, handling multiple objectives, and complex search spaces in engineering design and computational biology.

The aim of this book is to provide a strong theoretical support for understanding and analyzing the behavior of evolutionary algorithms, as well as for creating a bridge between probability, set-oriented numerics and evolutionary computation. The volume encloses a collection of contributions that were presented at the EVOLVE 2011 international workshop, held in Luxembourg, May 25-27, 2011, coming from invited speakers and also from selected regular submissions. The aim of EVOLVE is to unify the perspectives offered by probability, set oriented numerics and evolutionary computation. EVOLVE focuses on challenging aspects that arise at the passage from theory to new paradigms and practice, elaborating on the foundations of evolutionary algorithms and theory-inspired methods merged with cutting-edge techniques that ensure performance guarantee factors. EVOLVE is also intended to foster a growing interest for robust and efficient methods with a sound theoretical background. The chapters enclose challenging theoretical findings, concrete optimization problems as well as new perspectives. By gathering contributions from researchers with different backgrounds, the book is expected to set the basis for a unified view and vocabulary where theoretical advancements may echo in different domains.

Numerical and computational methods are nowadays used in a wide range of contexts in complex systems research, biology, physics, and engineering. Over the last decades different methodological schools have emerged with emphasis on different aspects of computation, such as nature-inspired algorithms, set oriented numerics, probabilistic systems and Monte Carlo methods. Due to the use of different terminologies and emphasis on different aspects of algorithmic performance there is a strong need for a more integrated view and opportunities for cross-fertilization across particular disciplines. These proceedings feature 20 original publications from distinguished authors in the cross-section of computational sciences, such as machine learning algorithms and probabilistic models, complex networks and fitness landscape analysis, set oriented numerics and cell mapping, evolutionary multiobjective optimization, diversity-oriented search, and the foundations of genetic programming algorithms. By presenting cutting edge results with a strong focus on foundations and integration aspects this work presents a stepping stone towards efficient, reliable, and well-analyzed methods for complex systems management and analysis.

This book comprises a selection of papers from the EVOLVE 2012 held in Mexico City, Mexico. The aim of the EVOLVE is to build a bridge between probability, set oriented numerics and evolutionary computing, as to identify new common and challenging research aspects. The conference is also intended to foster a growing interest for robust and efficient methods with a sound theoretical background. EVOLVE is intended to unify theory-inspired methods and cutting-edge techniques ensuring performance guarantee factors. By gathering researchers with different backgrounds, a unified view and vocabulary can emerge where the theoretical advancements may echo in different domains. Summarizing, the EVOLVE focuses on challenging aspects arising at the passage from theory to new paradigms and aims to provide a unified view while raising questions related to reliability, performance guarantees and modeling. The papers of the EVOLVE 2012 make a contribution to this goal.

This book comprises a selection of extended abstracts and papers presented at the EVOLVE 2012 held in Mexico City, Mexico. The aim of the EVOLVE is to build a bridge between probability, set oriented numerics, and evolutionary computation as to identify new common and challenging research aspects. The conference is also intended to foster a growing interest for robust and efficient methods with a sound theoretical background. EVOLVE aims to unify theory-inspired methods and cutting-edge techniques ensuring performance guarantee factors. By gathering researchers with different backgrounds, a unified view and vocabulary can emerge where the theoretical advancements may echo in different domains. Summarizing, the EVOLVE conference focuses on challenging aspects arising at the passage from theory to new paradigms and aims to provide a unified view while raising questions related to reliability, performance guarantees, and modeling. The extended papers of the EVOLVE 2012 make a contribution to this goal.