Dr David Cairns

Lecturer

Computing Science University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA

Dr David Cairns

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About me

About me

My research involves the development and use of evolutionary algorithms to search for solutions to complex problems. Typical applications cover areas as diverse as: determining collagen structure, chemotherapy scheduling, routing of midwife visits, automated production of models from data. Outside of University life, my main interests involve variations on the theme of getting wet or cold (an adaptive response to living in Scotland). In the summer I try to make the most of the ample wind and limited sunshine by indulging in  windsurfing and sailing.

Research (2)

The main focus of my current research activity concentrates on Computational Intelligence with a particular focus on Genetic Algorithms and optimal control problems. Some examples of the application areas I am investigating are: Finding an optimal fit for collagen fibril distribution using Genetic Algorithms. Modelling the relationship between post-natal recovery and childbirth using Neural Networks. Combining Neural Networks and Genetic Algorithms to automatically generate scenes for Virtual Reality environments. For more information on my research activities, please visit: SASSA Project Evolutionary Computation applied to X-ray Diffraction

Projects

Improving quality of life and swallowing function in patients with head and neck cancer: Development and feasibility of a Swallowing Intervention Pack (SIP)
PI: Professor Mary Wells
Funded by: Chief Scientist Office

Knowledge Transfer Partnership between University of Stirling and The Royal College of Midwives
PI:
Funded by: Royal College of Midwives and Technology Strategy Board

Outputs (41)

Outputs

Conference Proceeding

Mitchell R, Cairns D, Hamami D, Pollock K & Shankland C (2021) Effective use of evolutionary computation to parameterise an epidemiological model. In: Cazzaniga P, Besozzi D, Merelli I & Manzoni L (eds.) Computational Intelligence Methods for Bioinformatics and Biostatistics. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 12313. CIBB 2019: 16th International Conference on Computational Intelligence methods for Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Bergamo, Italy, 04.09.2019-06.09.2019. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63061-4_3


Conference Proceeding

Wallace A, Brownlee AEI & Cairns D (2021) Towards explaining metaheuristic solution quality by data mining surrogate fitness models for importance of variables. In: Bramer M & Ellis R (eds.) Artificial Intelligence XXXVIII. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 13101. 41st SGAI International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, AI 2021, Cambridge, 14.12.2021-16.12.2021. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 58-72. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91100-3_5


Conference Proceeding

Brownlee A, Wallace A & Cairns D (2021) Mining Markov Network Surrogates to Explain the Results of Metaheuristic Optimisation. In: Martin K, Wiratunga N & Wijekoon A (eds.) Proceedings of the SICSA eXplainable Artifical Intelligence Workshop 2021. CEUR Workshop Proceedings, 2894. SICSA eXplainable Artifical Intelligence Workshop 2021, Aberdeen, 01.06.2021-01.06.2021. Aachen: CEUR Workshop Proceedings, pp. 64-70. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2894/short9.pdf


Conference Proceeding

Thomson S, Verel S, Ochoa G, Veerapen N & Cairns D (2018) Multifractality and Dimensional Determinism in Local Optima Networks. In: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2018. 2018 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2018), Kyoto, Japan, 15.07.2018-19.07.2018. New York: ACM, pp. 371-378. http://gecco-2018.sigevo.org; https://doi.org/10.1145/3205455.3205472


Conference Proceeding

Haraldsson S, Woodward J, Brownlee A & Cairns D (2017) Exploring Fitness and Edit Distance of Mutated Python Programs. In: McDermott J, Castelli M, Sekanina L, Haasdijk E & García-Sánchez P (eds.) Genetic Programming: 20th European Conference, EuroGP 2017, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April 19-21, 2017, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 10196. EuroGP 2017: Genetic Programming, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 19.04.2017-21.04.2017. Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 19-34. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55696-3_2


Conference Proceeding

Neumann G & Cairns D (2016) A Targeted Estimation of Distribution Algorithm Compared to Traditional Methods in Feature Selection. In: Madani K, Dourado A, Rosa A, Filipe J & Kacprzyk J (eds.) Computational Intelligence: Revised and Selected Papers of the International Joint Conference, IJCCI 2013, Vilamoura, Portugal, September 20-22, 2013. Studies in Computational Intelligence, 613. 5th International Joint Conference on Computational Intellegience, IJCCI 2013, Vilamoura, Portugal, 20.09.2013-22.09.2013. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, pp. 83-103. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-23392-5_5; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23392-5_5


Conference Proceeding

Cairns D, Fayed M & Mouftah HT (2013) Revisiting Planarity in Position-Based Routing for Wireless Networks. In: Zheng J, Mitton N, Li J & Lorenz P (eds.) Ad Hoc Networks: 4th International ICST Conference, ADHOCNETS 2012, Paris, France, October 16-17, 2012, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, 111. 4th International ICST Conference, ADHOCNETS 2012, Paris, France, 16.10.2012-17.10.2012. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer, pp. 87-102. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-36958-2_7#; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36958-2_7


Conference Proceeding

Cairns D & Fayed M (2012) Towards position-based routing for mobile environments. In: Proceedings of the 10th international conference on mobile systems, applications, and services. MobiSys, 12. MobiSys'12 The 10th International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services, Low Wood Bay, Lake District, UK, 25.06.2012-29.06.2012. New York, NY, USA: ACM, pp. 523-524. https://doi.org/10.1145/2307636.2307715; https://doi.org/10.1145/2307636.2307715


Conference Proceeding

Marco D, Shankland C & Cairns D (2012) Evolving Bio-PEPA process algebra models using genetic programming. In: Proc. of the 14th International Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation (GECCO). GECCO, 14. Fourteenth International Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation conference (GECCO) 2012, Philadelphia, USA, 07.07.2012-11.07.2012. New York, NY, USA: ACM, pp. 177-184. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2330163.2330189; https://doi.org/10.1145/2330163.2330189


Conference Proceeding

Marco D, Scott E, Cairns D, Graham A, Allen JE, Mahajan SM & Shankland C (2012) Investigating co-infection dynamics through evolution of Bio-PEPA model parameters: a combined process algebra and evolutionary computing approach. In: Gilbert D & Heiner M (eds.) Computational Methods in Systems Biology: 10th International Conference, CMSB 2012, London, UK, October 3-5, 2012. Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 7605. The 10th Conference on Computational Methods in Systems Biology, CMSB 2012, London, UK, 03.10.2012-05.10.2012. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, pp. 227-246. http://sites.brunel.ac.uk/cmsb2012; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33636-2_14


Conference Proceeding

Neumann G & Cairns D (2012) Targeted EDA Adapted for a Routing Problem with Variable Length Chromosomes. In: Li X (ed.) Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC). 2012 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), Brisbane, Australia, 10.06.2012-15.06.2012. Brisbane, Australia: IEEE, pp. 334-341. https://doi.org/10.1109/CEC.2012.6256531


Conference Proceeding

Neumann G & Cairns D (2012) Introducing intervention targeting into estimation of distribution algorithms. In: Proceedings of the 27th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing. SAC, 12. SAC '12 The 27th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, Riva del Garda (Trento), Italy, 26.03.2012-30.03.2012. New York, NY, USA: ACM Press, pp. 220-225. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2245276.2245320; https://doi.org/10.1145/2245276.2245320


Conference Proceeding

Marco D, Cairns D & Shankland C (2011) Optimisation of Process Algebra Models Using Evolutionary Computation. In: IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), 2011. IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC) IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, Singapore, 05.06.2011-08.06.2011. Piscataway, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 1296-1301. https://doi.org/10.1109/CEC.2011.5949765


Technical Report

Fayed M, Cairns D & Mouftah HT (2010) An Analysis of Planarity in Face-Routing. Technical Report, CSM-184. Department of Computing Science and Mathematics, University of Stirling.


Book Chapter

Hultquist C, Gain J & Cairns D (2009) An Adjectival Interface for Procedural Content Generation. In: Plemenos D & Miaoulis G (eds.) Intelligent Computer Graphics 2009. Studies in Computational Intelligence, Volume 240. Berlin: Springer, pp. 143-165. http://www.springer.com/engineering/computational+intelligence+and+complexity/book/978-3-642-03451-0; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03452-7_8


Conference Proceeding

Brownlee A, Wu Y, McCall J, Godley PM, Cairns D & Cowie J (2008) Optimisation and Fitness Modelling of Bio-control in Mushroom Farming Using a Markov Network EDA. In: Keijzer M (ed.) Proceedings of the 10th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation, (GECCO-2008). Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO-2008, Atlanta, Georgia, 12.07.2008-16.07.2008. New York: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), pp. 465-466. https://doi.org/10.1145/1389095.1389180


Conference Proceeding

Godley PM, Cairns D, Cowie J, McCall J & Swingler K (2008) The Effects of Mutation and Directed Intervention Crossover When Applied to Scheduling Chemotherapy. In: Keijzer M (ed.) Proceedings of the 10th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation (GECCO). ACM Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) 2008, Atlanta, Georgia, 12.07.2008-16.07.2008. New York, USA: Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), pp. 1105-1106. http://portal.acm.org/toc.cfm?id=1389095&type=proceeding&coll=GUIDE&dl=GUIDE&CFID=47644191&CFTOKEN=12932833; https://doi.org/10.1145/1389095.1389300


Conference Proceeding

Wu Y, McCall J, Godley PM, Brownlee A & Cairns D (2008) Bio-control in Mushroom Farming Using a Markov Network EDA. In: IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, 2008. CEC 2008. (IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence). IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation 2008, CEC 2008, (IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence), Hong Kong, 01.06.2008-06.06.2008. Hoboken, NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 2991-2996. https://doi.org/10.1109/CEC.2008.4631201


Conference Proceeding

Godley PM, Cairns D, Cowie J & McCall J (2008) Fitness Directed Intervention Crossover Approaches Applied to Bio-Scheduling Problems. In: Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, 2008. CIBCB '08. 2008 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Sun Valley, Idaho, 15.09.2008-17.09.2008. Hoboken NJ: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), pp. 120-127. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?punumber=4669529; https://doi.org/10.1109/CIBCB.2008.4675768


Conference Proceeding

Godley PM, Cowie J, Cairns D, McCall J & Howie C (2008) Optimisation of cancer chemotherapy schedules using directed intervention crossover approaches. In: IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, 2008. CEC 2008. (IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence). IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence. IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation 2008, CEC 2008, Hong Kong, 01.06.2008-06.06.2008. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), pp. 2532-2537. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/servlet/opac?punumber=4625778; https://doi.org/10.1109/CEC.2008.4631138


Book Chapter

Blunn M, Cowie J, Cairns D, Wilson C & Davidson D (2007) Mobile decision making and knowledge management: supporting geoarchaelogists in the field. In: Cardoso J, Cordeiro J & Filipe J (eds.) ICEIS 2007 - Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems Volume AIDSS June 12-16, 2007, Funchal, Portugal. ICEIS - International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems conference series. Denmark: Interaction Design Foundation, pp. 57-62. http://www.interaction-design.org/references/conferences/iceis_2007_-_proceedings_of_the_ninth_international_conference_on_enterprise_information_systems_volume_aidss.html


Conference Proceeding

Godley PM, Cairns D & Cowie J (2007) Directed intervention crossover applied to bio-control scheduling. In: IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, 2007. CEC 2007.. IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, 2007. CEC 2007., Singapore, 25.09.2007-28.09.2007. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, pp. 638 -645. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=4424531; https://doi.org/10.1109/CEC.2007.4424531


Conference Proceeding

Godley PM, Cairns D & Cowie J (2007) Maximising the Efficiency of Bio-control Applications Utilising Genetic Algorithms. In: Parker C, Skerrat S, Park C & Shields J (eds.) Proceedings of the 6th Biennial Conference of European Federation of IT in Agriculture (EFITA). 6th Biennial Conference of the European Federation of IT in Agriculture (EFITA/WCCA' 07), 2007, Glasgow, 02.07.2007-05.07.2007, pp. 638-645.


Conference Proceeding

Godley PM, Cowie J & Cairns D (2007) Novel Genetic Algorithm Crossover Approaches for Time-series Problems. In: Ridge E, Stutzle R, Birattari M & Hoos H (eds.) SLS-DS 2007: Doctoral Symposium on Engineering Stochastic Local Search Algorithms. IRIDIA - Technical Report Series, TR/IRIDIA/2007-014. SLS-DS 2007: Doctoral Symposium on Engineering Stochastic Local Search Algorithms, Brussels, Belgium, 06.09.2007-08.09.2007. Brussels, Belgium: IRIDIA, pp. 47-51. http://iridia.ulb.ac.be/IridiaTrSeries/link/IridiaTr2007-014.pdf


Conference Proceeding

Hultquist C, Gain J & Cairns D (2006) Affective scene generation. In: AFRIGRAPH '06 4th International Conference on Computer Graphics, Virtual Reality and Visualisation in Africa. AFRIGRAPHInternational Conference on Computer Graphics, Virtual Reality, Visualisation and Interaction in Africa, 2006. AFRIGRAPH '06 4th International Conference on Computer Graphics, Virtual Reality, Visualization and Interaction in Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, 25.01.2006-27.01.2006. New York, NY, USA: ACM, pp. 59-63. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1108600&CFID=346292698&CFTOKEN=65697882; https://doi.org/10.1145/1108590.1108600


Conference Proceeding

Cairns D, Cameron GJ & Wess TJ (2005) Evolving an Improved Axial Structure for Fibrillar Collagen. In: Cantu-Paz E, Beyer H, Deb K K, Foster J, Davis L & Roy R (eds.) Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, GECCO 2005, Proceedings, volume Vol. 1. GECCO '05 The 2005 conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation, Washington DC, USA, 25.06.2005-29.06.2005. New York: ACM Press, pp. 471-472. http://www.sigevo.org/gecco-2005/index.html


Article

Marsden G & Cairns D (2004) Improving the Usability of the Hierarchical File System. South African Computer Journal, 32, pp. 69-78. http://search.sabinet.co.za/WebZ/AdvancedQuery?sessionid=01-56556-1434718863&termA=2004&indexA=py%3A&termB=32&indexB=so%3A&format=B&advancednumrecs=50&entitytoprecno=1&entitycurrecno=1&entitytempjds=true&dbgroup=compg&next=comp/comp_abresult.html&bad=error


Conference Proceeding

Marsden G & Cairns D (2003) Improving the Usability of the Hierarchical File System. In: Eloff J, Englebrecht A, Kotze P & Eloff M (eds.) SAICSIT '03 Proceedings of the 2003 annual research conference of the South African institute of computer scientists and information technologists on Enablement through technology. SAICSIT '03: the 2003 annual research conference of the South African institute of computer scientists and information technologists on Enablement through technology. New York, NY, USA: ACM, pp. 122-129. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=954027&CFID=346292698&CFTOKEN=65697882


Conference Proceeding

Smith L, Cairns D & Nischwitz A (1994) Synchronization of Integrate-and-fire Neurons with Delayed Inhibitory Lateral Connections. In: Marinaro M & Morasso P (eds.) ICANN '94: Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, Sorrento, Italy, 26-29 May 1994. The International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks, ICANN '94, Sorrento, Italy, 26.05.1994-29.05.1994. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer.


Conference Proceeding

Cairns D, Baddeley R & Smith L (1993) Phase constraints on synchronizing oscillator networks. In: Brown G & Oaksford M (eds.) Neurodynamics and Psychology. The Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop (NCPW1), Bangor, Wales, 04.04.1992-07.04.1992. London: Academic Press, pp. 237-254.


Research centres/groups