abstract = "This thesis presents three approaches to the automatic
design of algorithms for the processing of binary
images based on the Genetic Programming (GP) paradigm.
In the first approach the algorithms are designed using
the basic Mathematical Morphology (MM) operators, i.e.
erosion and dilation, with a variety of Structuring
Elements (SEs). GP is used to design algorithms to
convert a binary image into another containing just a
particular characteristic of interest. In the study we
have tested two similarity fitness functions, training
sets with different numbers of elements and different
sizes of the training images over three different
objectives. The results of the first approach showed
some success in the evolution of MM algorithms but also
identified problems with the amount of computational
resources the method required. The second approach uses
Sub-Machine-Code GP (SMCGP) and bitwise operators as an
attempt to speed-up the evolution of the algorithms and
to make them both feasible and effective. The SMCGP
approach was successful in the speeding up of the
computation but it was not successful in improving the
quality of the obtained algorithms. The third approach
presents the combination of logical and morphological
operators in an attempt to improve the quality of the
automatically designed algorithms. The results obtained
provide empirical evidence showing that the evolution
of high quality MM algorithms using GP is possible and
that this technique has a broad potential that should
be explored further. This thesis includes an analysis
of the potential of GP and other Machine Learning
techniques for solving the general problem of Signal
Understanding by means of exploring Mathematical
Morphology.",