Simulated Evolution and Learning

This volume contains selected papers presented at the Second Asia-Paci c C- ference on Simulated Evolution and Learning (SEAL’98), from 24 to 27 Nov- ber 1998, in Canberra, Australia. SEAL’98 received a total of 92 submissions (67 papers for the regular sessions and 25 for the applications sessions). All papers were reviewed by three independent reviewers. After review, 62 papers were - cepted for oral presentation and 13 for poster presentation. Some of the accepted papers were selected for inclusion in this volume. SEAL’98 also featured a fully refereed special session on Evolutionary Computation in Power Engineering - ganised by Professor Kit Po Wong and Dr Loi Lei Lai. Two of the ve accepted papers are included in this volume. The papers included in these proceedings cover a wide range of topics in simulated evolution and learning, from self-adaptation to dynamic modelling, from reinforcement learning to agent systems, from evolutionary games to e- lutionary economics, and from novel theoretical results to successful applications, among others. SEAL’98 attracted 94 participants from 14 di erent countries, namely A- tralia, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Iceland, India, Japan, South Korea, New Z- land, Portugal, Sweden, Taiwan, UK and the USA. It had three distinguished international scientists as keynote speakers, giving talks on natural computation (Hans-Paul Schwefel), reinforcement learning (Richard Sutton), and novel m- els in evolutionary design (John Gero). More information about SEAL’98 is still available at http://www.cs.adfa.edu.au/conference/seal98/.