Till Steiner, "Articial Evolutionary Development", Thesis of the University Bielefeld, 2010.

This thesis is situated in the field of Artificial Development coupled to evolutionary computation. I discuss the problem of finding a suitable abstraction level for the developmental process in engineering design. Here, suitable refers to the capability to produce non-trivial artifacts, while keeping the developmental process and its formation comprehensible. Throughout this thesis, I distinguish between two components of development: The first component is the dynamical control of the developmental process. The second component is the cellular representation employed within development. I study both components individually, as well as coupled together as a complete Artificial Development system in an evolutionary context.