This book is the first attempt to offer a panoramic view on genetic and evolutionary computation (GEC) techniques, by describing applications of most mainstream GEC techniques to a wide range of problems in image processing and analysis from low-level image processing to high-level image analysis in advanced computer vision applications.

The publication of this book on evolutionaryImage Analysis and Signal P- cessing (IASP) has two main goals. The ?rst, occasional one is to celebrate the 10th edition of EvoIASP, the workshop which has been the only event speci?cally dedicated to this topic since 1999. The second, more important one is to give an overview of the opportunities o?ered by Evolutionary C- putation (EC) techniques to computer vision,pattern recognition,and image and signal processing. It is not possible to celebrate EvoIASP properly without ?rst ackno- edging EvoNET, the EU-funded network of excellence, which has made it possible for Europe to build a strong European research community on EC. Thanks to the success of the ?rst, pioneering event organized by EvoNET, held in 1998 in Paris, it was possible to realize that not only was EC a f- tile ground for basic research but also there were several application ?elds to which EC techniques could o?er a valuable contribution. That was how the ideaofcreatingasingleevent,EvoWorkshops,outofacollectionofworkshops dedicated to applications of EC, was born. Amongst the possible application ?elds for EC, IASP was selected almost accidentally, due to the occasional presence, within EvoNET, of less than a handful of researchers who were interested in it. I would lie if I stated that the event was a great success since its very start, but it was successful enough to survive healthily for a couple of years, before reaching its present size, relevance, and popularity.

This book presents the use of efficient Evolutionary Computation (EC) algorithms for solving diverse real-world image processing and pattern recognition problems. It provides an overview of the different aspects of evolutionary methods in order to enable the reader in reaching a global understanding of the field and, in conducting studies on specific evolutionary techniques that are related to applications in image processing and pattern recognition. It explains the basic ideas of the proposed applications in a way that can also be understood by readers outside of the field. Image processing and pattern recognition practitioners who are not evolutionary computation researchers will appreciate the discussed techniques beyond simple theoretical tools since they have been adapted to solve significant problems that commonly arise on such areas. On the other hand, members of the evolutionary computation community can learn the way in which image processing and pattern recognition problems can be translated into an optimization task. The book has been structured so that each chapter can be read independently from the others. It can serve as reference book for students and researchers with basic knowledge in image processing and EC methods.

This book explains the theory and application of evolutionary computer vision, a new paradigm where challenging vision problems can be approached using the techniques of evolutionary computing. This methodology achieves excellent results for defining fitness functions and representations for problems by merging evolutionary computation with mathematical optimization to produce automatic creation of emerging visual behaviors. In the first part of the book the author surveys the literature in concise form, defines the relevant terminology, and offers historical and philosophical motivations for the key research problems in the field. For researchers from the computer vision community, he offers a simple introduction to the evolutionary computing paradigm. The second part of the book focuses on implementing evolutionary algorithms that solve given problems using working programs in the major fields of low-, intermediate- and high-level computer vision. This book will be of value to researchers, engineers, and students in the fields of computer vision, evolutionary computing, robotics, biologically inspired mechatronics, electronics engineering, control, and artificial intelligence.

Genetic and Evolutionary Computation: Medical Applications provides an overview of the range of GEC techniques being applied to medicine and healthcare in a context that is relevant not only for existing GEC practitioners but also those from other disciplines, particularly health professionals. There is rapidly increasing interest in applying evolutionary computation to problems in medicine, but to date no text that introduces evolutionary computation in a medical context. By explaining the basic introductory theory, typical application areas and detailed implementation in one coherent volume, this book will appeal to a wide audience from software developers to medical scientists. Centred around a set of nine case studies on the application of GEC to different areas of medicine, the book offers an overview of applications of GEC to medicine, describes applications in which GEC is used to analyse medical images and data sets, derive advanced models, and suggest diagnoses and treatments, finally providing hints about possible future advancements of genetic and evolutionary computation in medicine. Explores the rapidly growing area of genetic and evolutionary computation in context of its viable and exciting payoffs in the field of medical applications. Explains the underlying theory, typical applications and detailed implementation. Includes general sections about the applications of GEC to medicine and their expected future developments, as well as specific sections on applications of GEC to medical imaging, analysis of medical data sets, advanced modelling, diagnosis and treatment. Features a wide range of tables, illustrations diagrams and photographs.