Information Processing with Evolutionary Algorithms: From Industrial Applications to Academic Speculations

The last decade of the twentieth century has witnessed a surge of interest in numerical, computational intensive approaches to information processing. The lines that draw the boundaries between statistics, optimization, artificial intelligence and information processing are disappearing and it is not uncommon to find well founded and sophisticated mathematical approaches in applications traditionally associated with ad-hoc programming. Evolutionary Algorithms are increasingly being applied to information processing applications that require any kind of optimization and they have reached the status of problem-solving tools in the backpack of the engineer. However, there are still exciting new developments taking place in the academic community. The driving idea in the organization of this edited volume is the emphasis in the contrast between already accepted engineering practice and on-going explorations in the academic community. As From industrial applications to academic speculations suggests, the organization of Information Processing with Evolutionary Algorithms follows an axis of nearness to practical applications, travelling from industrial day-to-day problems and practice to the more speculative works.