Introduction Genetic programming is a domain-independent problem-solving approach in which computer programs are evolved to solve, or approximately solve, problems. Genetic programming is based on the Darwinian principle of reproduction and survival of the fittest and analogs of naturally occurring genetic operations such as crossover (sexual recombination) and mutation. John Holland's pioneering Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems (1975) described how an analog of the evolutionary process can be applied to solving mathematical problems and engineering optimization problems using what is now called the genetic algorithm (GA). The genetic algorithm attempts to find a good (or best) solution to the problem by genetically breeding a population of individuals over a series of generations. In the genetic algorithm, each individual in the population represents a candidate solut

In the feature subset selection problem, a learning algorithm is faced with the problem of selecting a relevant subset of features upon which to focus its attention, while ignoring the rest. To achieve the best possible performance with a particular learning algorithm on a particular training set, a feature subset selection method should consider how the algorithm and the training set interact. We explore the relation between optimal feature subset selection and relevance. Our wrapper method searches for an optimal feature subset tailored to a particular algorithm and a domain. We study the strengths and weaknesses of the wrapper approach and show a series of improved designs. We compare the wrapper approach to induction without feature subset selection and to Relief, a filter approach to feature subset selection. Significant improvement in accuracy is achieved for some datasets for the two families of induction algorithms used: decision trees and

The goal of getting computers to automatically solve problems is central to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the broad area encompassed by what Turing called “machine intelligence ” [161, 162].

. This paper presents a critical review of the most important evolutionary-based multiobjective optimization techniques developed over the years, emphasizing the importance of analyzing their Operations Research roots as a way to motivate the development of new approaches that exploit the search capabilities of evolutionary algorithms. Each technique is briefly described mentioning its advantages and disadvantages, their degree of applicability and some of their known applications. Finally, the future trends in this discipline and some of the open areas of research are also addressed. Keywords: multiobjective optimization, multicriteria optimization, vector optimization, genetic algorithms, evolutionary algorithms, artificial intelligence. 1 Introduction Since the pioneer work of Rosenberg in the late 60s regarding the possibility of using genetic-based search to deal with multiple objectives, this new area of research (now called evolutionary multiobjective optimization) has grown c...

Devices]: Modes of Computation---Parallelism and concurrency General Terms: Algorithms, Design, Performance, Theory Additional Key Words and Phrases: Automatic parallelization, DAG, multiprocessors, parallel processing, software tools, static scheduling, task graphs This research was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council under contract numbers HKUST 734/96E, HKUST 6076/97E, and HKU 7124/99E. Authors' addresses: Y.-K. Kwok, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong; email: ykwok@eee.hku.hk; I. Ahmad, Department of Computer Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. Permission to make digital / hard copy of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage, the copyright notice, the title of the publication, and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the ACM, Inc. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers, or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and / or a fee. 2000 ACM 0360-0300/99/1200--0406 $5.00 ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 31, No. 4, December 1999 1.

. This article presents a new reinforcement learning method called SANE (Symbiotic, Adaptive Neuro-Evolution), which evolves a population of neurons through genetic algorithms to form a neural network capable of performing a task. Symbiotic evolution promotes both cooperation and specialization, which results in a fast, efficient genetic search and discourages convergence to suboptimal solutions. In the inverted pendulum problem, SANE formed effective networks 9 to 16 times faster than the Adaptive Heuristic Critic and 2 times faster than Q- learning and the GENITOR neuro-evolution approachwithout loss of generalization. Such efficient learning, combined with few domain assumptions, make SANE a promising approach to a broad range of reinforcement learning problems, including many real-world applications. Keywords: Neuro-Evolution, Reinforcement Learning, Genetic Algorithms, Neural Networks. 1. Introduction Learning effective decision policies is a difficult problem that appears in m...

In this doctoral dissertation, we study three basic problems in machine learning and two new hypothesis spaces with corresponding learning algorithms. The problems we investigate are: accuracy estimation, feature subset selection, and parameter tuning. The latter two problems are related and are studied under the wrapper approach. The hypothesis spaces we investigate are: decision tables with a default majority rule (DTMs) and oblivious read-once decision graphs (OODGs).

There are two distinct approaches to solving reinforcement learning problems, namely, searching in value function space and searching in policy space. Temporal difference methods and evolutionary algorithms are well-known examples of these approaches. Kaelbling, Littman and Moore recently provided an informative survey of temporal difference methods. This article focuses on the application of evolutionary algorithms to the reinforcement learning problem, emphasizing alternative policy representations, credit assignment methods, and problem-specific genetic operators. Strengths and weaknesses of the evolutionary approach to reinforcement learning are presented, along with a survey of representative applications. 1. Introduction Kaelbling, Littman, and Moore (1996) and more recently Sutton and Barto (1998) provide informative surveys of the field of reinforcement learning (RL). They characterize two classes of methods for reinforcement learning: methods that search the space of value fu...

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This article demonstrates the advantages of a cooperative, coevolutionary search in difficult control problems. The SANE system coevolves a population of neurons that cooperate to form a functioning neural network. In this process, neurons assume different but overlapping roles, resulting in a robust encoding of control behavior. SANE is shown to be more efficient, more adaptive, and maintain higher levels of diversity than the more common network-based population approaches. Further empirical studies illustrate the emergent neuron specializations and the different roles the neurons assume in the population. 1 Introduction Artificial evolution has become an increasingly popular method for forming control policies in difficult decision problems (Grefenstette, Ramsey, & Schultz, 1990; Moriarty & Miikkulainen, 1996a; Whitley, Dominic, Das, & Anderson, 1993). Such applications are very different from the function optimization tasks to which evolutionary algorithms (EA) have been tradition...