DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTING SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS
UNIVERSITY . COMPUTING SCIENCE . SEMINARS

SEMINARS - Autumn 2007

[Talk Schedule] [Abstracts] [Previous Seminars]

The Department of Computing Science and Mathematics presents the following seminars. Unless otherwise stated, seminars will take place in Room 4B94 of the Cottrell Building, University of Stirling from 15.00 to 16.00 on Friday afternoons during semester time. For instructions on how to get to the University, please look at the following routes.

If you would like to give a seminar to the department in future or if you need more information, please contact the seminar organiser, Savi Maharaj (Phone 01786 46 7421, Email savi@cs.stir.ac.uk).

Talk Schedule [Top] [Abstracts]

Abstracts [Top] [Schedule]

21st September [Schedule ]

S.U.M.S - An on-line tutorial generator to make teaching statistics easier
Kevin Swingler
Department of Computing Science and Mathematics, University of Stirling.

Abstract

Statistics Understanding Made Simple (SUMS) is a collaboration between the department of Computing at Stirling University and the department of Psychology at the University of Glasgow. It is a free resource for people who teach statistics. It builds interactive, fun and highly effective tutorials designed to help students understand basic statistics. Tutors provide a data set of their own and the web site automatically builds a tutorial of up to 45 pages, ready for students to follow. This talk demonstrates the use of the site, talks about the learning philosophy behind it, and presents some early feedback from users. The talk will be of interest to teaching staff with a responsibility for statistics from any department and students who are looking for an easy way to brush up their own statistical understanding.

 

28th September [Schedule ]

A Process Algebra approach to Epidemiology and System Dynamics
Carron Shankland
Department of Computing Science and Mathematics, University of Stirling.

Abstract

In many domain areas the behaviour of a system can be described at two levels: the behaviour of individual components, and the behaviour of the system as a whole. Traditionally, Epidemiology has used Ordinary Differential Equations to describe system level behaviour, abstracting away from individual behaviour; however, the individual behaviour is what can be measured in practice. Process algebra provides a way of expressing individual based models, and also of automatically composing those models to obtain system level dynamics.

The composition step can be computationally expensive. An alternative approach is to produce an approximation of the system dynamics directly from the initial process algebra model, side-stepping the state explosion problem. I'll present an outline of a rigorous algorithm which, given an individual based model describing the components of a system and the way they interact in the process algebra WSCCS, can produce a system of mean field equations which describe the mean behaviour of the system as a whole. This approach was motivated by problems in biological systems, but is applicable to distributed systems in general.

This is joint work with Rachel Norman and Chris McCaig, both of the University of Stirling.

5th October [Schedule ]

LogicaCMG Careers Presentation
David Morison
LogicaCMG

Description

During this presentation I intend to talk about two things. The first is what you can expect if you join a company like LogicaCMG in Scotland. I will talk about the kind of work we are involved in and the clients we work with. I also intend to speak about the upcoming Boardroom Challenge Training Course and its potential benefit as a bridge between employers and students.

This presentation is mainly intended for students (both UG and PG) though anyone who is interested in the topic is welcome.

 

12th October [Schedule ]

Directed intervention crossover approaches applied to both bio-control and chemotherapy scheduling
Paul Godley
Department of Computing Science and Mathematics, University of Stirling

Description

This seminar will show the results of the Targeted Intervention with Stochastic Selection (TInSSel) and Calculated Expanding Bin (CalEB) crossover approaches which we have created. The seminar will introduce Genetic Algorithms (GAs), discuss other crossover approaches and will show how our novel approaches compare with them. The approaches are tested over two problem domains, namely the scheduling of bio-control interventions for optimal pest reduction in mushroom farming and the optimal scheduling of cancer chemotherapy drugs.

 

9th November [Schedule ]

Using Bayesian network inference algorithms to reveal structure of complex biological networks
Anne Smith
University of St Andrews

Description

Network inference algorithms, and in particular Bayesian networks algorithms, are being applied with growing regularity in computational molecular biology to recover gene regulatory networks from gene expression data. However, the basic task at hand -- to predict causal relationships based on repeated concurrent measurements of multiple variables -- -is not necessarily limited to the molecular realm. Here, I present my research on using Bayesian network inference algorithms to recover networks on several different levels of biological organization: using gene expression data to reveal gene regulatory networks; using neural activity data to reveal neural information flow networks; and using species abundance data to reveal ecological interaction networks. Each biological system presents a unique set of conditions to the network inference task; however, the applicability of the Bayesian network algorithms across all three systems reveals both how methodology developed in one
complex biological system can be transferred to another, as well as the potential of Bayesian network algorithms for recovering networks in many complex systems -- biological or otherwise.

23rd November [Schedule ]

An Introduction to Rich Internet Application Development With Microsoft Silverlight
Scott McElveen (Microsoft Student Partner)
Department of Computing Science and Mathematics
University of Stirling

Description

Microsoft Silverlight is an emerging technology for developing graphically rich internet applications to bridge the gap between desktop and web browser user experience. I will talk briefly about the technology and its current uses, but will focus mainly on showing how to begin developing applications, ending with a simple yet quite powerful puzzle game.

Previous Seminar Series [Top] [Abstracts] [Schedule]

Last Modified: 20 August 2007