Complex systems and their phenomena are ubiquitous as they can be found in biology, finance, the humanities, management sciences, medicine, physics and similar fields. For many problems in these fields, there are no conventional ways to mathematically or analytically solve them completely at low cost. On the other hand, nature already solved many optimization problems efficiently. Computational intelligence attempts to mimic nature-inspired problem-solving strategies and methods. These strategies can be used to study, model and analyze complex systems such that it becomes feasible to handle them. Key areas of computational intelligence are artificial neural networks, evolutionary computation and fuzzy systems. As only a few researchers in that field, Rudolf Kruse has contributed in many important ways to the understanding, modeling and application of computational intelligence methods. On occasion of his 60th birthday, a collection of original papers of leading researchers in the field of computational intelligence has been collected in this volume.

Complex systems and their phenomena are ubiquitous as they can be found in biology, finance, the humanities, management sciences, medicine, physics and similar fields. For many problems in these fields, there are no conventional ways to mathematically or analytically solve them completely at low cost. On the other hand, nature already solved many optimization problems efficiently. Computational intelligence attempts to mimic nature-inspired problem-solving strategies and methods. These strategies can be used to study, model and analyze complex systems such that it becomes feasible to handle them. Key areas of computational intelligence are artificial neural networks, evolutionary computation and fuzzy systems. As only a few researchers in that field, Rudolf Kruse has contributed in many important ways to the understanding, modeling and application of computational intelligence methods. On occasion of his 60th birthday, a collection of original papers of leading researchers in the field of computational intelligence has been collected in this volume.

This clearly-structured, classroom-tested textbook/reference presents a methodical introduction to the field of CI. Providing an authoritative insight into all that is necessary for the successful application of CI methods, the book describes fundamental concepts and their practical implementations, and explains the theoretical background underpinning proposed solutions to common problems. Only a basic knowledge of mathematics is required. Features: provides electronic supplementary material at an associated website, including module descriptions, lecture slides, exercises with solutions, and software tools; contains numerous examples and definitions throughout the text; presents self-contained discussions on artificial neural networks, evolutionary algorithms, fuzzy systems and Bayesian networks; covers the latest approaches, including ant colony optimization and probabilistic graphical models; written by a team of highly-regarded experts in CI, with extensive experience in both academia and industry.

In recent years there has been a growing interest to extend classical methods for data analysis. The aim is to allow a more flexible modeling of phenomena such as uncertainty, imprecision or ignorance. Such extensions of classical probability theory and statistics are useful in many real-life situations, since uncertainties in data are not only present in the form of randomness --- various types of incomplete or subjective information have to be handled. About twelve years ago the idea of strengthening the dialogue between the various research communities in the field of data analysis was born and resulted in the International Conference Series on Soft Methods in Probability and Statistics (SMPS). This book gathers contributions presented at the SMPS'2012 held in Konstanz, Germany. Its aim is to present recent results illustrating new trends in intelligent data analysis. It gives a comprehensive overview of current research into the fusion of soft computing methods with probability and statistics. Synergies of both fields might improve intelligent data analysis methods in terms of robustness to noise and applicability to larger datasets, while being able to efficiently obtain understandable solutions of real-world problems.

This textbook provides a clear and logical introduction to the field, covering the fundamental concepts, algorithms and practical implementations behind efforts to develop systems that exhibit intelligent behavior in complex environments. This enhanced second edition has been fully revised and expanded with new content on swarm intelligence, deep learning, fuzzy data analysis, and discrete decision graphs. Features: provides supplementary material at an associated website; contains numerous classroom-tested examples and definitions throughout the text; presents useful insights into all that is necessary for the successful application of computational intelligence methods; explains the theoretical background underpinning proposed solutions to common problems; discusses in great detail the classical areas of artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems and evolutionary algorithms; reviews the latest developments in the field, covering such topics as ant colony optimization and probabilistic graphical models.

Die Autoren behandeln umfassend zentrale Themen der Informatik von Kunstlichen Neuronalen Netzen, uber Evolutionare Algorithmen bis hin zu Fuzzy-Systemen und Bayes-Netzen. Denn: Der Anwendungsbereich "Computational Intelligence" erlangt durch viele erfolgreiche industrielle Produkte immer mehr an Bedeutung. Dieses Buch behandelt die zentralen Techniken dieses Gebiets und bettet sie in ein didaktisches Konzept ein, welches sich gezielt an Studierende und Lehrende der Informatik wendet. Fur die vorliegende 2. Auflage des Buches wurden alle Themenbereiche uberarbeitet, aktualisiert und zum Teil erweitert. Zusatzmaterialen wie Aufgaben, Loesungen und Foliensatze fur Vorlesungen sowie Beispiele aus der industriellen Anwendung betonen den praktischen Charakter des Buches.