The second Symposium on Stochastic Algorithms, Foundations and Applications (SAGA 2003),took place on September 22 23,2003, in Hat?eld, England.The present volume comprises 12 contributed papers and 3 invited talks. The contributed papers included in the proceedings present results in the following areas: ant colony optimization; randomized algorithmsfor the intersection problem; - cal search for constraint satisfaction problems; randomized local search methods for combinatorial optimization, in particular, simulated annealing techniques; probabilistic global search algorithms; network communication complexity; open shop scheduling; aircraft routing; traf?c control; randomized straight-line programs; and stochastic - tomata and probabilistic transformations. TheinvitedtalkbyRolandKirschnerprovidesabriefintroductiontoquantuminf- matics. The requirements and the prospects of the physical implementation of a qu- tum computer are addressed. Lucila Ohno-Machado and Winston P. Kuo describe the factors that make the an- ysis of high-throughput gene expression data especially challenging, and indicate why properly evaluated stochastic algorithms can play a particularly important role in this process. John Vaccaro et al. review a fundamental element of quantum information theory, source coding, which entails the compression of quantum data. A recent experiment that demonstrates this fundamental principle is presented and discussed. Our special thanks go to all who supported SAGA 2003, to all authors who subm- ted papers, to the members of the program committee, to the invited speakers, and to the members of the organizing committee. Andreas Albrecht Kathleen Steinhofel Organization SAGA2003wasorganizedbytheUniversityofHertfordshire,DepartmentofComputer Science, Hat?eld, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, United Kingdom. Prospects of Quantum Informatics.- A Converging ACO Algorithm for Stochastic Combinatorial Optimization.- Optimality of Randomized Algorithms for the Intersection Problem.- Stochastic Algorithms for Gene Expression Analysis.- Analysis of a Randomized Local Search Algorithm for LDPCC Decoding Problem.- Testing a Simulated Annealing Algorithm in a Classification Problem.- Global Search through Sampling Using a PDF.- Simulated Annealing for Optimal Pivot Selection in Jacobian Accumulation.- Quantum Data Compression.- Who'sThe Weakest Link?.- On the Stochastic Open Shop Problem.- Global Optimization - Stochastic or Deterministic?.- Two-Component Traffic Modelled by Cellular Automata: Imposing Passing Restrictions on Slow Vehicles Increases the Flow.- Average-Case Complexity of Partial Boolean Functions.- Classes of Binary Rational Distributions Closed under Discrete Transformations. Andreas Albrecht wurde 1951 in Cottbus geboren. Er absolvierte eine Ausbildung zum Rinderzüchter und studierte Physik. Er veröffentlichte Prosa, Lyrik und Hörspiele. Der Autor lebt seit 1996 in München. 1997 erhielt er das Münchner Literaturstipendium und war Burgschreiber in Beeskow.
