Abstract The thesis deals with the new evolutionary paradigm based on the concept of Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs) that use probabilistic model of promising solutions found so far to obtain new candidate solutions of optimized problem. There are six primary goals of this thesis: l. Suggestion of a new formal description of EDA algorithm. This high level concept can be used to compare the generality of various probabilistic models by comparing the properties of underlying mappings. Also, some convergence issues are discussed and theoretical ways for further improvements are proposed. 2. Development of new probabilistic model and methods capable of dealing with continuous parameters. The resulting Mixed Bayesian Optimization Algorithm (MBOA) uses a set of decision trees to express the probability model. Its main advantage against the mostly used IDEA and EGNA approach is its backward compatibility with discrete domains, so it is uniquely capable of learning linkage between mixed continuous-discrete genes. MBOA handles the discretization of continuous parameters as an integral part of the learning process, which outperforms the histogram-based approach. The original metrics for MBOA is derived as the incremental version of Bayesian Dirichlet metrics (BDe). Its usefulness for modelling of Boolean functions is also investigated and confirmed. 3. Parallelization of EDA algorithms. Different versions of parallel EDA algorithms are proposed for fine-grained. coarse-grained and multithreaded environment. All these algorithms use the original principIe of restricted ordering of nodes in Bayesian network to minimize the communication between parallel processes: .The pipelined Parallel Bayesian Optimization algorithm (PBOA) is propased and simulated for fine-grained type of parallelism. The target platform for its implementation can be Transputers, or one-purpose MIMD processor. .Distributed Bayesian optimization algorithm (DBOA) is proposed and implemented for coarse-grained type of parallelism. The experiments are running on the uniform cluster of Sun Ultra 5 workstations connected by fast Ethernet switch. Both PEGA and DBOA are based on the parallelization of classical Pelikan 's BOA code. .The multithreaded MBOA algorithm, which uses original MBOA code with mixed decision trees model, was simulated in Transim tool. In all parallel algorithms the additional progress towards reoltime performance can be achieved by choosing the KBOA version of BOA algorithm. The concept of KBOA is based on the partial (local) information about the linkage. This information is used to adjust the prior of probabilistic model and injection of building blocks is used to improve the quality of initial population. 4. Extension of single-objective EDA to multi-objective EDA. The experiments show that the realized Pareto-strength BOA algorithm, which utilizes a promising Pareto-strength niching technique, outperforms the classical constraint- or weighting-based approach and is comparable to best recombination-based multiobjective-algorithms of its time -SPEA and NSGA. A completely new optimization technique for MBOA core was designed in collaboration with the author of SPEA2. This new selection operator based on epsilon-archives leads to implementation of Bayesian Multi-objective Optimization Algorithm (BMOA). 5. Design of the modular development system DEBOA for rapid prototyping of optimization applications on the basis of BOA algorithm. The general requirements on the development system are identified including modularity and visualization of results. The design of the development system itself is realized on the platform of lava language, which ensures great portability. DEBOA system can be easily extended to support new types of fitness functions as well as new types of visualizations. 6. Testing of the developed algorithms on well-known benchmarks as well as several real-world problems, mainly from the area of circuit design. Key Words: Bayesian network, Gaussian network, Estimation of Distribution Algorithm, Factorized Distribution Algorithm, Bayesian Optimization Algorithm, Univariate Marginal Distribution Algorithm, Bivariate Marginal Distribution Algorithm, Bayesian-Dirichlet metric, scoring metric, dependency structure, machine learning, linkage learning, decision graph, kernel distribution, mixture model, formal description, building block corruption, convergence, hypergraph bisectioning, knapsack problem, additively decomposable function, multiobjective optimization, Parero ser, niching, Pareto-strength fitness, epsilon dominance, pipelined processing, distributed processing, multithreaded processing, scalability, rapid prototyping of BOA application.