Category: Books

The book Design and Analysis of Learning Classifier Systems: A Probabilistic Approach by Jan Drugowitsch presents a machine learning approach to Learning Classifier Systems. In the author’s own words:

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the design and analysis of Learning Classifier Systems (LCS) from the perspective of machine learning. LCS are a family of methods for handling unsupervised learning, supervised learning and sequential decision tasks by decomposing larger problem spaces into easy-to-handle subproblems. Contrary to commonly approaching their design and analysis from the viewpoint of evolutionary computation, this book instead promotes a probabilistic model-based approach, based on their defining question “What is an LCS supposed to learn?”. Systematically following this approach, it is shown how generic machine learning methods can be applied to design LCS algorithms from the first principles of their underlying probabilistic model, which is in this book  for illustrative purposes  closely related to the currently prominent XCS classifier system. The approach is holistic in the sense that the uniform goal-driven design metaphor essentially covers all aspects of LCS and puts them on a solid foundation, in addition to enabling the transfer of the theoretical foundation of the various applied machine learning methods onto LCS. Thus, it does not only advance the analysis of existing LCS but also puts forward the design of new LCS within that same framework.

Entrepreneurial times call for The Entrepreneurial Engineer

In an age when technology and business are merging as never before, today’s engineers need skills matched with the times. Today, career success as an engineer is determined as much by an ability to communicate with coworkers, sell ideas, and manage time as by talent at manipulating a Laplace transform, coding a Java(r) object, or analyzing a statically indeterminate structure.

This book covers those nontechnical skills needed by today’s entrepreneurial engineers who mix strong technical know-how, business and organizational prowess, and an alert eye for opportunity. Author David Goldberg unlocks the keys to ten core competencies at the heart of what entrepreneurial engineers need to master to be effective in a fast-moving world of deals, teams, startups, and innovating corporations. You’ll discover how to:

• Feel the essence-and the joys-of engineering
• Examine personal motivation and set goals
• Master time management and organization
• Write fast and well under pressure
• Prepare and deliver effective presentations
• Understand and practice good human relations
• Act ethically in matters large, small, and engineering
• Assess technology opportunities
• Understand teams, leadership, culture, and the organization of organizations

Reviews from amazon.com:
David Goldberg’s Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization and Machine Learning is by far the bestselling introduction to genetic algorithms. Goldberg is one of the preeminent researchers in the field–he has published over 100 research articles on genetic algorithms and is a student of John Holland, the father of genetic algorithms–and his deep understanding of the material shines through. The book contains a complete listing of a simple genetic algorithm in Pascal, which C programmers can easily understand. The book covers all of the important topics in the field, including crossover, mutation, classifier systems, and fitness scaling, giving a novice with a computer science background enough information to implement a genetic algorithm and describe genetic algorithms to a friend.

Goldberg, David E.

This book focuses like a laser beam on one of the hottest topics in evolutionary computation over the last decade or so: estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs). EDAs are an important current technique that is leading to breakthroughs in genetic and evolutionary computation and in optimization more generally. I’m putting Scalable Optimization via Probabilistic Modeling in a prominent place in my library, and I urge you to do so as well. This volume summarizes the state of the art at the same time it points to where that art is going. Buy it, read it, and take its lessons to heart.

David E Goldberg, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This book is an excellent compilation of carefully selected topics in estimation of distribution algorithms—search algorithms that combine ideas from evolutionary algorithms and machine learning. The book covers a broad spectrum of important subjects ranging from design of robust and scalable optimization algorithms to efficiency enhancements and applications of these algorithms. The book should be of interest to theoreticians and practitioners alike, and is a must-have resource for those interested in stochastic optimization in general, and genetic and evolutionary algorithms in particular.
John R. Koza, Stanford University

This edited book portrays population-based optimization algorithms and applications, covering the entire gamut of optimization problems having single and multiple objectives, discrete and continuous variables, serial and parallel computations, and simple and complex function models. Anyone interested in population-based optimization methods, either knowingly or unknowingly, use some form of an estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA). This book is an eye-opener and a must-read text, covering easy-to-read yet erudite articles on established and emerging EDA methodologies from real experts in the field.
Kalyanmoy Deb, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

This book is an excellent comprehensive resource on estimation of distribution algorithms. It can serve as the primary EDA resource for practitioner or researcher. The book includes chapters from all major contributors to EDA state-of-the-art and covers the spectrum from EDA design to applications. These algorithms strategically combine the advantages of genetic and evolutionary computation with the advantages of statistical, model building machine learning techniques. EDAs are useful to solve classes of difficult real-world problems in a robust and scalable manner.
Una-May O’Reilly, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Machine-learning methods continue to stir the public’s imagination due to its futuristic implications. But, probability-based optimization methods can have great impact now on many scientific multiscale and engineering design problems, especially true with use of efficient and competent genetic algorithms (GA) which are the basis of the present volume. Even though efficient and competent GAs outperform standard techniques and prevent negative issues, such as solution stagnation, inherent in the older but more well-known GAs, they remain less known or embraced in the scientific and engineering communities. To that end, the editors have brought together a selection of experts that (1) introduce the current methodology and lexicography of the field with illustrative discussions and highly useful references, (2) exemplify these new techniques that dramatic improve performance in provable hard problems, and (3) provide real-world applications of these techniques, such as antenna design. As one who has strayed into the use of genetic algorithms and genetic programming for multiscale modeling in materials science, I can say it would have been personally more useful if this would have come out five years ago, but, for my students, it will be a boon.
Duane D. Johnson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The book “Scalable Optimization via Probabilistic Modeling: From Algorithms to Applications” edited by Martin Pelikan, Kumara Sastry, and Erick Cantu-Paz has just been published by Springer.

Estimation of distribution algorithms combine evolutionary computation and machine learning to provide a class of robust and scalable optimization techniques applicable to broad classes of difficult problems. Scalable optimization via Probabilistic Modeling compiles articles by some of the leading experts in academia and industry that range from design and analysis to efficiency enhancement and real-world applications of estimation of distribution algorithms. The book is written for the general audience and should be of interest for optimization researchers and practitioners alike.A sample chapter can be downloaded here and more Information can be found at http://medal.cs.umsl.edu/scalable-optimization-book/