Bücher der Reihe Genetic Algorithms and Evolutionary Computation

OmeGA: A Competent Genetic Algorithm for Solving Permutation and Scheduling Problems addresses two increasingly important areas in GA implementation and practice. Permutation and scheduling problems are difficult combinatorial optimization problems with commercial import across a variety of industries.

Evolutionary Algorithms for Embedded System Design describes how Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) concepts can be applied to circuit and system design - an area where time-to-market demands are critical.

Brings together eleven contributions by international researchers, discussing significant issues in the field of Evolutionary Computation (EC). This work explores such topics as the role of building blocks, the balancing of exploration with exploitation, the modeling of EC algorithms, and more.

Evolutionary Algorithms for Embedded System Design describes how Evolutionary Algorithm (EA) concepts can be applied to circuit and system design - an area where time-to-market demands are critical.

OmeGA: A Competent Genetic Algorithm for Solving Permutation and Scheduling Problems addresses two increasingly important areas in GA implementation and practice. OmeGA, or the ordering messy genetic algorithm, combines some of the latest in competent GA technology to solve scheduling and other permutation problems. Competent GAs are those designed for principled solutions of hard problems, quickly, reliably, and accurately. Permutation and scheduling problems are difficult combinatorial optimization problems with commercial import across a variety of industries. This book approaches both subjects systematically and clearly. The first part of the book presents the clearest description of messy GAs written to date along with an innovative adaptation of the method to ordering problems. The second part of the book investigates the algorithm on boundedly difficult test functions, showing principled scale up as problems become harder and longer. Finally, the book applies the algorithm to a test function drawn from the literature of scheduling.

As genetic algorithms (GAs) become increasingly popular, they are applied to difficult problems that may require considerable computations. In such cases, parallel implementations of GAs become necessary to reach high-quality solutions in reasonable times. But, even though their mechanics are simple, parallel GAs are complex non-linear algorithms that are controlled by many parameters, which are not well understood. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms is about the design of parallel GAs. It presents theoretical developments that improve our understanding of the effect of the algorithm's parameters on its search for quality and efficiency. These developments are used to formulate guidelines on how to choose the parameter values that minimize the execution time while consistently reaching solutions of high quality. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms can be read in several ways, depending on the readers' interests and their previous knowledge about these algorithms. Newcomers to the field will find the background material in each chapter useful to become acquainted with previous work, and to understand the problems that must be faced to design efficient and reliable algorithms. Potential users of parallel GAs that may have doubts about their practicality or reliability may be more confident after reading this book and understanding the algorithms better. Those who are ready to try a parallel GA on their applications may choose to skim through the background material, and use the results directly without following the derivations in detail. These readers will find that using the results can help them to choose the type of parallel GA that best suits their needs, without having to invest the time to implement and test various options. Once that is settled, even the most experienced users dread the long and frustrating experience of configuring their algorithms by trial and error. The guidelines contained herein will shorten dramatically the time spent tweaking the algorithm, although some experimentation may still be needed for fine-tuning. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

Researchers and practitioners alike are increasingly turning to search, op- timization, and machine-learning procedures based on natural selection and natural genetics to solve problems across the spectrum of human endeavor. These genetic algorithms and techniques of evolutionary computation are solv- ing problems and inventing new hardware and software that rival human designs. The Kluwer Series on Genetic Algorithms and Evolutionary Computation pub- lishes research monographs, edited collections, and graduate-level texts in this rapidly growing field. Primary areas of coverage include the theory, implemen- tation, and application of genetic algorithms (GAs), evolution strategies (ESs), evolutionary programming (EP), learning classifier systems (LCSs) and other variants of genetic and evolutionary computation (GEC). The series also pub- lishes texts in related fields such as artificial life, adaptive behavior, artificial immune systems, agent-based systems, neural computing, fuzzy systems, and quantum computing as long as GEC techniques are part of or inspiration for the system being described. This encyclopedic volume on the use of the algorithms of genetic and evolu- tionary computation for the solution of multi-objective problems is a landmark addition to the literature that comes just in the nick of time. Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) are receiving increasing and unprecedented attention. Researchers and practitioners are finding an irresistible match be- tween the popUlation available in most genetic and evolutionary algorithms and the need in multi-objective problems to approximate the Pareto trade-off curve or surface.

Anticipatory Learning Classifier Systems describes the state of the art of anticipatory learning classifier systems-adaptive rule learning systems that autonomously build anticipatory environmental models. An anticipatory model specifies all possible action-effects in an environment with respect to given situations. It can be used to simulate anticipatory adaptive behavior. Anticipatory Learning Classifier Systems highlights how anticipations influence cognitive systems and illustrates the use of anticipations for (1) faster reactivity, (2) adaptive behavior beyond reinforcement learning, (3) attentional mechanisms, (4) simulation of other agents and (5) the implementation of a motivational module. The book focuses on a particular evolutionary model learning mechanism, a combination of a directed specializing mechanism and a genetic generalizing mechanism. Experiments show that anticipatory adaptive behavior can be simulated by exploiting the evolving anticipatory model for even faster model learning, planning applications, and adaptive behavior beyond reinforcement learning. Anticipatory Learning Classifier Systems gives a detailed algorithmic description as well as a program documentation of a C++ implementation of the system. It is an excellent reference for researchers interested in adaptive behavior and machine learning from a cognitive science perspective as well as those who are interested in combining evolutionary learning mechanisms for learning and optimization tasks.