This book presents state-of-the-art technical contributions based around one of the most
successful evolutionary optimization algorithms published to date: Harmony Search.
Contributions span from novel technical derivations of this algorithm to applications in the
broad fields of civil engineering energy transportation & mobility and health among many
others and focus not only on its cross-domain applicability but also on its core evolutionary
operators including elements inspired from other meta-heuristics. The global scientific
community is witnessing an upsurge in groundbreaking new advances in all areas of
computational intelligence with a particular flurry of research focusing on evolutionary
computation and bio-inspired optimization. Observed processes in nature and sociology have
provided the basis for innovative algorithmic developments aimed at leveraging the inherent
capability to adapt characterized by various animals including ants fireflies wolves and
humans. However it is the behavioral patterns observed in music composition that motivated the
advent of the Harmony Search algorithm a meta-heuristic optimization algorithm that over the
last decade has been shown to dominate other solvers in a plethora of application scenarios.
The book consists of a selection of the best contributions presented at ICHSA a major biannual
event where leading global experts on meta-heuristic optimization present their latest findings
and discuss the past present and future of the exciting field of Harmony Search optimization.
It provides a valuable reference resource for researchers working in the field of optimization
meta-heuristics and a solid technical base for frontline investigations around this algorithm.
