Dr. Alan Reynolds

Background
Research Interests
Other Interests
Publications

Background

University of Cambridge
- Mathematics BA
- Part 3 Mathematics
- Diploma in Computer Science
University of East Anglia
- PhD in Computer Science: Novel Methods for Constructing Solutions to Scheduling Problems
- Other research work included: the production of scheduling code for Unilever’s manufacturing plants; the generation and optimization of diagnostic keys for the identification of yeast samples; the clustering of rules generated by the all-rules algorithm; the development of multi-objective metaheuristics (including multi-objective GRASP) for rule induction.
Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
- Research Associate working on the application of metaheuristics to multilateration problems in the School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences (MACS)
- Research Associate applying single objective and multiobjective metaheuristics to an industrial inverse problem with an expensive evaluation function.
- Other research includes work on a multiobjective GRASP for rule selection and on multiobjective feature selection.

Further details can be found in my curriculum vitae .

Research Interests

I am currently working on the application of single and multi-objective metaheuristics to an industrial ‘inverse problem’ with an expensive evaluation function. However, in spare time I am also endeavouring to keep a wide research base through side projects on multiobjective feature selection and the effect of objective space shape on multiobjective search. In both cases, the use of modified dominance relations plays a significant role in the work.

More broadly still, my interests lie primarily in the use of metaheuristic methods in optimization and I have experience in applying genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, local search methods, estimation of distribution algorithms, particle swarm optimization, GRASP and other algorithms in both single and multi-objective scenarios.

Any remaining spare time is spent attempting to enhance my mathematical knowledge, focusing at present on abstract algebra and number theory.

Other Interests

Running

At present, my main hobby (apart from the mathematics) is running. In 2010 I completed the Scottish Half Marathon a time of 1:41:01 and the Scotland Kilomathon - a 26.2km event - in a time of 2:12:04. Knee problems then held me back for over a year and a half - however, in 2011 I completed the 2010 Norwich Half Marathon (which took place in March 2011!) in 1:47:55, the Great Edinburgh Run (10k) in 45:18 and the 2011 Norwich Half Marathon in 1:44:27. This year, I ran the Chester Half Marathon in 1:36:26 and I am hoping that my knees allow me to improve on this time in future events.

Photography

I hope also to return to photography, where I tended to take pictures primarily of bugs, insects and other small creatures, although I did take some more 'normal' shots. A small selection is included. Given the time and equipment, I would love to spend hours taken pictures of wildlife.

Folk

While at UEA I was an active member of 'Folked!', the UEA folk dance and music society, for a number of years. Furthermore, I was a member of the five strong organising committee for the Inter-Varsity Folk Dance Festival of 2005, held at UEA and Earlham High School. If you want to see what you missed, here is a copy of the web site I provided.

Much more recently, I have started to learn to play the fiddle. Fortunately the neighbours are understanding!

Games

I have been interested in games, primarily games of strategy, since childhood. At school and as an undergraduate I played chess and I was captain of a college team. Before leaving Cambridge for UEA, I became more interested in bridge and I provided web pages and advice to the UEA Bridge Club, during its brief existence. Though work has taken over of late, I hope to be able to play again in the near future.

Given the time, I would enjoy writing computer players for such games. During my first year at UEA, I wrote a simple Reversi player based on minimax search and a position evaluation function evolved using repeated simulated annealing. It gave me a good game, even if it played somewhat eccentrically!

Publications

Journal papers

"A Multi-Objective GRASP for Partial Classification" (© Springer)
- Alan P. Reynolds and Beatriz de la Iglesia
- Soft Computing - A Fusion of Foundations, Methodologies and Applications.
- Special Issue on Evolutionary and Metaheuristics based Data Mining (EMBDM).
- Vol. 13, no. 3, pp 227-243, February 2009.
- The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com, DOI: 10.1007/s00500-008-0320-1.
- Supplementary material.
"Construction of factory schedules using reverse simulation"
- A. P. Reynolds and G. P. McKeown
- European Journal of Operational Research.
- (Feature Cluster: Applications of Metaheuristics)
- Vol. 179, no. 3, pp 656-676, June 2007.
- DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2005.03.053.
"Clustering Rules: A Comparison of Partitioning and Hierarchical Clustering Algorithms" (© Springer)
- A. P. Reynolds, G. Richards, B. de la Iglesia and V. J. Rayward-Smith
- Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Algorithms.
- Special Issue on Learning Algorithms
- Vol. 5, no. 4, pp 475-504, December 2006.
- The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com, DOI: 10.007/s10852-005-9022-1.
- (Includes the development of improved variants of CLARANS, able to produce results comparable with PAM in greatly reduced run time.)
"Scheduling a Manufacturing Plant Using Simulated Annealing and Simulation"
- A. P. Reynolds and Dr. G. P. McKeown
- Computers and Industrial Engineering: An International Journal.
- Vol. 37, nos 1-2, pp 63-67, October 1999.

Conference papers

"A Parallel BOA-PSO Hybrid Algorithm for History Matching"
- Alan P. Reynolds, Asaad Abdollahzadeh, David W. Corne, Mike Christie, Brian Davies and Glyn Williams
- Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), pp 894-901.
- Presentation.
- Erratum.
"Bayesian Optimization Algorithm Applied to Uncertainty Quantification"
- Asaad Abdollahzadeh, Alan Reynolds, Mike Christie, David Corne, Brian Davies and Glyn Williams
- Presented at the SPE EUROPEC/EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria (2011).
- SPE 143290
"Estimation of Distribution Algorithms Applied to History Matching"
- Asaad Abdollahzadeh, Alan Reynolds, Mike Christie, David Corne, Glyn Williams and Brian Davies
- Presented at the SPE Reservoir Simulation Symposium, Houston, Texas, U.S.A. (2011).
- SPE 141161
"Feature Selection for Multi-Purpose Predictive Models: a Many-Objective Task"
- Alan P. Reynolds, David W. Corne and Michael J. Chantler
- Parallel Problem Solving From Nature - PPSN XI. (11th International Conference, Krakow, Poland, September 11-15).
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science No. 6239, part 1, pp 384-393, (2010).
- Poster.
- Supplementary material.
- (Views feature selection as a multiobjective problem with, conceptually at least, infinitely many objectives.)
"Optimisation and Generalisation: Footprints in Instance Space"
- David W. Corne and Alan P. Reynolds
- Parallel Problem Solving From Nature - PPSN XI. (11th International Conference, Krakow, Poland, September 11-15).
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science No. 6239, part 1, pp 22-31, (2010).
"A Multiobjective GRASP for Rule Selection"
- Alan P. Reynolds, David W. Corne and Beatriz de la Iglesia
- Proceedings of the 11th Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO '09), pp 643-650, (2009).
- Presentation
"Noisy Multiobjective Optimization on a Budget of 250 Evaluations"
- Joshua Knowles, David Corne and Alan Reynolds
- Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimization: 5th International Conference, EMO 2009.
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science No. 5467, pp 36-50, (2009)
"Managing Population Diversity Through the Use of Weighted Objectives and Modified Dominance: An Example from Data Mining"
- Alan P. Reynolds and Beatriz de la Iglesia
- Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Multicriteria Decision Making (MCDM 2007), pp 99-106.
- Presentation
"Rule Induction for Classification Using Multi-Objective Genetic Programming"
- A. P. Reynolds and B. de la Iglesia
- Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimization: 4th International Conference, EMO 2007.
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science No. 4403, pp 516-530, (2007)
- Poster.
- Erratum.
"Rule Induction Using Multi-Objective Metaheuristics: Encouraging Rule Diversity"
- Alan Reynolds and Beatriz de la Iglesia
- 2006 IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence, pp 6375-6382.
- 2006 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN).
- Winner of Best Session Presentation: Multi-Objective Machine Learning.
- Errata.
- (Includes the use of rule clustering to summarize the results and the development of measures of apparent rule novelty and rule dissimilarity.)
"The Use of Metaheuristic Algorithms for Data Mining"
- Beatriz de la Iglesia and Alan Reynolds
- Proceedings of the First International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICICT 2005), pp 34-44.
- Keynote Address
"Developments on a Multi-objective Metaheuristic (MOMH) Algorithm for Finding Interesting Sets of Classification Rules"
- Beatriz de la Iglesia, Alan Reynolds and V. J. Rayward-Smith
- Evolutionary Multi-Criterion Optimization: Third International Conference, EMO 2005, Guanajuato, Mexico, March 9-11, 2005.
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science No. 3410, pp 826-840, (2005)
"The Application of K-medoids and PAM to the Clustering of Rules" (© Springer-Verlag)
- A. P. Reynolds, G. Richards and V. J. Rayward-Smith
- Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning (IDEAL'04).
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science No. 3177, pp 173-178, (2004)
"Algorithms for Identification Key Generation and Optimization with Application to Yeast Identification" (© Springer-Verlag)
- A. P. Reynolds, J. L. Dicks, I. N. Roberts, J. J. Wesselink, B. de la Iglesia, V. Robert, T. Boekhout and V. J. Rayward-Smith
- Applications of Evolutionary Computing: EvoBIO 2003.
- Lecture Notes in Computer Science No. 2611, pp 107-118, (2003)
"The Application of Simulated Annealing to an Industrial Scheduling Problem"
- A. P. Reynolds, Prof. V. J. Rayward-Smith and Dr. G. P. McKeown
- Second International Conference on Genetic ALgorithms in Engineering Systems: Innovations and Applications (GALESIA '97).
- IEE Conference Publication Number 446.

Book chapters, columns and monographs

"Swarm Intelligence: A Tutorial Account."
- David Corne and Alan Reynolds
- The Natural Computing Column by Grzegorz Rozenberg.
- Bulletin of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS).
- No. 96, pp 104-127, October 2008.

Abstracts

"Data mining techniques can be used to rapidly interrogate an endoscopy database and calculate 'adjusted' colonoscopy success or failure rates - but what criteria should be used to define such success?"
- K. Sheikh, A. P. Reynolds, B. de la Iglesia, G. D. Bell and R. Tighe
- Gut: An International Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
- Abstracts from the British Society of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting, 14-17 March 2005
- Page A75
- Presented as a poster
"To be or not to be sedated? - The effect of age and gender on an individual patient’s likely decision"
- A. P. Reynolds, B. de la Iglesia, G. D. Bell, V. J. Cook and R. Tighe
- Gut: An International Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
- Abstracts from the British Society of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting, 14-17 March 2005
- Page A62
- Presented as a poster
"Monitoring colonoscopy success rates and detecting changes in sedation practice using data mining and statistical techniques: Figures from a regional training centre"
- A. P. Reynolds, B. de la Iglesia, G. D. Bell, K. Sheikh, V. J. Cook and R. Tighe
- Gut: An International Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, page A10
- Abstracts from the British Society of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting, 14-17 March 2005
- Page A10
- Presented as a free paper

Thesis

PhD: Novel Methods for Constructing Solutions to Scheduling Problems.
- Awarded 10th July 2003.