My Research

My research interests are in learning and optimisation using evolutionary algorithms. For over ten years, I have researched applications of EA to optimisation of medical treatment, in particular cancer chemotherapy. My work in this area has made three major contributions. First, it has established that EAs are superior to traditional optimisation techniques in addressing chemotherapy optimisation problems with realistic constraints. Second, that EAs are able to discover radical chemotherapies that, in simulation, produce better patient outcomes than combination chemotherapies, such as CAF, that are commonly-used in clinical practice, thereby suggesting directions for future efforts to improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Third, it has explored a range of EA approaches (GA, PSO, EDA) and established those which are most efficient in discovering effective therapies while minimising computational cost.

Over the last seven years I have developed a strong interest in the field of Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDA). EDAs use probabilistic models to replace traditional evolutionary operators. The main contribution of my work in this area has been to explore the use of Markov Networks in building probabilistic models. This has been applied to important problems theoretical problems such as MAXSAT and 2D Ising spin glasses as well as practical applications including chemotherapy and biocontrol in mushroom farming.

I am also involved in a range of industrial consultancy work based around learning and optimisation.

Publications by John McCall

2006

Petrovski, A., Shakya, S., & Mccall, J. (2006). Optimising Cancer Chemotherapy Using an Estimation of Distribution Algorithm and Genetic Algorithms. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCOâ??06), , Seattle WA, USA, on July 2006.

Shakya, S, Mccall, J, & Brown, D (2006). Solving the Ising Spin Glass Problem using a Bivariate EDA based on Markov Random Fields.. IEEE Congress in Evolutionary Computation. , on July 2006.

2005

Petrovski, A., Brownlee, S., & Mccall, J. (2005). Statistical optimisation and tuning of GA factors.. IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation, (CECâ??05). , Edinburgh, UK, on September 2005.

Petrovski, A., & Mccall, J. (2005). Smart Problem Solving Environment for Medical Decision Support.. Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference(GECCOâ??05) , Washington, USA, on June 2005.

Shakya, S., Mccall, J., & Brown, D. (2005). Estimating the Distribution in an EDA in Ribeiro B.. In Adaptive and Natural Computing Algorithms,, Springer Wien , New York (ISSN/ISBN: 3-211-24934-6 ) , page(s) 202-205

Shakya, S, Mccall, J, & Brown, D (2005). Incorporating a Metropolis method in a Distribution Estimation using Markov Random Field algorithm. IEEE Congress in Evolutionary Computation 2005

Shakya, S, Mccall, J, & Brown, D (2005). Using a Markov Network Model in a Univariate EDA: An Empirical Cost-Benefit Analysis. the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2005

2004

Petrovski, A., Sudha, B., & Mccall, J. (2004). Optimising Cancer Chemotherapy Using Particle Swarm Optimisation and Genetic Algorithms. The 8th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature , Birmingham, UK

Shakya, S. K., Mccall, J. A. W., & Brown, D. F. (2004). Updating the probability vector using MRF technique for a Univariate EDA. STarting Artificial Intelligence Researchers Symposium (STAIRS 2004), IOS press, 2004 , Valencia, Spain

2003

Ji, W., Naguib, R., McCall, J., Petrovic, D., Gaura, E., & Ghoneim, M. (2003). Prognostic prediction of bilharziasis-related bladder cancer by neuro-fuzzy classifier. 4th Annual IEEE Conference on Information Technology Applications in Biomedicine , Birmingham, UK, on 24 - 26 April 2003.

Maclean, A., Mccall, J. A W, & Brown, D. F (2003). Pattern Matching in Collections of Java Bytecode: Maximizing Reuse Potential (ANNIE 2003). (speaker). Intelligent Engineering Systems Through Artificial Neural Networks , on November 2003.

2001

Brown, D., Garmendia-Doval, A. B., & Mccall, J. A. W. (2001). Markov random field modelling of royal road genetic algorithms. 5th International Conference on Evolution Artificielle 2001 , Le Creusot, France

Petrovski, A., & McCall, J. A. W. (2001). Multi-objective optimisation of cancer chemotherapy using evolutionary algorithms. First International Conference on Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimisation , Zurich, Switzerland

2000

Brown, D., Cuddy, S. J., Garmendia-Doval, A. B., & Mccall, J. (2000). Prediction of permeability in oilbearing strata using genetic algorithms.. IASTED International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, , on July 2000.

Brown, D., Garmendia-Doval, A. B., & Mccall, J. (2000). A functional framework for the implementation of genetic algorithms. Comparing Haskell and Standard ML. In S. Gilmore (Ed.)Trends in Functional Programming, Intellect Books (ISSN/ISBN: ISBN 1-84150-058 ) , Vol 2(3), page(s) 27-38

Brown, D., Garmendia-Doval, A. B., & Mccall, J. (2000). A Genetic Algorithm Framework Using Haskell. 2nd Asia-Pacific Conference on Genetic Algorithms, , Hong Kong, on May 2000.

McCall, J. A. W., & Petrovski, A. (2000). OWCH - a decision support system for designing novel cancer chemotherapies. 1st International Symposium on Soft Computing in Biomedicine (SCB'99) , Rochester, NY

Petrovski, A., Wilson, A., & Mccall, J. (2000). Statistical identification and optimisation of significant GA factors. Fifth Joint Conference on Information Sciences (JCIS 2000), Atlantic City, NJ

Thomson, S., Mccall, J., & Crossen, D. (2000). Component Based Visual Software Engineering.. The Second International Conferecne on Enterprise Information Systems, Leeds.

1999

McCall, J. A. W., & Petrovski, A. (1999). A decision support system for cancer chemotherapy using genetic algorithms. International Conference on Computational Intelligence for Modelling, Control and Automation , Vienna, Austria

Petrovski, A., & McCall, J. A. W. (1999). Computational optimisation of cancer chemotherapies using genetic algorithms. Workshop on Recent Advances in Soft Computing, Soft Computing Techniques and Applications , Leicester, UK

1998

Petrovski, A., McCall, J. A. W., & Forrest, E. (1998). An application of genetic algorithms to optimisation of cancer chemotherapy. In International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, Vol 29(3), page(s) 377-388

1997

Petrovski, A., & McCall, J. A. W. (1997). Optimising GA parameters using statistical approaches. 1st International Workshop on Frontiers in Evolutionary Algorithms , Durham, NC

1996

McCall, J. A. W., & Petrovski, A. (1996). Searching for optimal strategies in cancer chemotherapy using genetic algorithms. Seventh IMA Conference on Mathematics Applied in Medicine and Biology , Oxford, UK