The course aims at providing a solid introduction to machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence that deals with the development of algorithms able to extract knowledge from data, with a focus on pattern recognition and classification problems. The course will cover the basic concepts of statistical machine learning, both from the frequentist and the Bayesian perspectives, and will be focused on the broad class of generative linear Gaussian models and discriminative classifiers based on logistic regression and support vector machines. The objective of the course is to provide the students with solid theoretical bases that will allow them to select, apply and evaluate different classification methods on real tasks. The students will also acquire the required competencies to devise novel approaches based on the frameworks that will be presented during the classes. The course will include laboratory activities that will allow the students to practice the theoretical notions on real data using modern programming frameworks that are widely employed both by research communities and companies.
This course explores how new algorithms in Data Science and Machine Learning disciplines can help engineers, with applications to the world of networks. The course will provide an overview of machine learning approaches and tools, focusing on applications to address inference problems in the field of communication networks. The students will also acquire Python programming competencies and learn how to use its main libraries related to ML.
The course initially introduces the data science process, focusing on all its main phases, and then provides theoretical and practical knowledge about the data mining and basic machine learning algorithms that are commonly used for analyzing large and heterogeneous data.
A significant part of the courses will be devoted to laboratory activities that will allow the students to practice the theoretical notions on real problems, from traffic classification to anomaly detection.
Many laboratory sessions, based on a learning-by-doing approach, allow experimental activities on all the phases of a machine learning pipeline (e.g., data preparation and cleaning, data exploration and characterization, ML algorithm selection and tuning, and result evaluation).
At the end of the course the students will
- know and understand the basic principles of statistical machine learning applied to pattern recognition and classification;
- know the principal techniques for classification, including generative linear Gaussian models and discriminative approaches based on logistic regression and support vector
machines, among others;
- understand the theoretical motivations behind different classification approaches, their main properties and domain of application, and their limitations;
- be able to implement the different algorithms using wide-spread programming frameworks (Python)
- be able to apply different methods to real tasks, to critically evaluate their effectiveness and to analyze which strategies are better suited to different applications;
- be able to transfer the acquired knowledge and capabilities to solve novel classification problems, developing novel methods based on the frameworks that will be discussed
during classes
Knowledge and abilities:
• Knowledge of Python programming language and the main Python libraries for machine learning;
• Knowledge of the main phases characterizing a data science process;
• Knowledge of the basic principles of machine learning;
• Knowledge of the principal models for supervised and unsupervised learning;
• Knowledge of the main theoretical properties, domains of application, and limitations of different machine learning approaches;
• Ability to employ the Python machine learning libraries to devise complete solutions for inference problems;
• Ability to design, implement and evaluate a machine learning and deep learning pipeline;
• Ability to apply different methods to real tasks, to critically evaluate their effectiveness and to analyze which strategies are better suited to different applications;
• Ability to design, implement and evaluate analytics scripts in the Python language.
The students should have basic knowledge of probability and statistics, linear algebra and calculus.
The students should have basic knowledge of:
• programming skills (whatever the language)
• communication networks
• probability theory and statistics
• linear algebra
• calculus
• optimization
Machine learning and pattern recognition
- Introduction and definitions
Probability theory concepts
- Random Variables
- Estimators
- The Bayesian framework
Introduction to Python
- The language
- Main numerical libraries
Decision Theory
- Inference, expected loss
- Model taxonomy: generative and discriminative approaches
- Model optimization, hyperparameter selection, cross-validation
Model evaluation
- Classification scores and log-likelihood ratios
- Detection Cost Functions and optimal Bayes decisions
Dimensionality reduction
- Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
- Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA)
Generative Gaussian models
- Generative Gaussian classifiers: univariate Gaussian, Naive Bayes, multivariate Gaussian (MVG)
- Tied covariance MVG and LDA
Logistic Regression (LR)
- From Tied MVG to LR
- LR as ML solution for class labels
- Binary and multiclass cross-entropy
- From MVG to Quadratic LR
- LR as empirical risk minimization
- Overfitting and regularization
Support Vector Machines (SVM)
- Optimal classification hyperplane: the maximum margin definition
- Margin maximization and L2 regularization
- SVM as minimization of classification errors
- Primal and dual SVM formulation
- Non linear extension: brief introduction to kernels
Density estimation and latent variable models
- Gaussian mixture models (GMM)
- The Expectation Maximization algorithm
Continuous latent variable models: Linear-Gaussian Models
- Linear regression
- Linear regression and Tied MVG
- MVG with unknown class means: Probabilistic LDA (PLDA)
- Bayesian MVG
- Factor Analysis: PLDA, Probabilistic PCA
Approximated inference basics
- Variational Bayes
Introduction to Machine Learning and its application to Networking (0.5 CFU)
• Definitions of pipeline and taxonomy of Machine Learning tasks
• Problems in networking: from traffic classification to anomaly detection
Python usage and libraries (2.0 CFU)
• The Python language
• Numerical libraries
• ML libraries
Data exploration and preprocessing (1.5 CFU)
• Data visualization
• Normalization
• Feature extraction
• Dimensionality reduction
Supervised ML (2.5 CFU)
• Algorithms
• Quality indices
• Validation strategies
Unsupervised ML (1.5 CFU)
• Algorithms
• Quality indices
The course will include 3 hours of lectures and 1,5 hours of laboratory per week. The lectures will focus both on theoretical and practical aspects, and will include open discussions aimed at developping suitable solutions for different problems. The laboratories will allow the students to implement most of the techniques that will be presented during the lectures, and to apply the learned methods to real data.
The course will include 30 hours of lectures and 50 hours of laboratory.
The lectures will focus both on theoretical and practical aspects of the course topics and will include open discussions aimed at developing suitable solutions for different problems. The laboratories will allow the students to apply the methods presented during lectures to real data, with a particular focus on networking applications.
The course includes laboratory sessions on data science processes and machine learning algorithms for engineering applications. Laboratory sessions allow experimental activities on the most widespread tools and libraries. Students will prepare a written report on a group project assigned during the course.
[1] Christopher M. Bishop. 2006. Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning (Information Science and Statistics). Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.
[2] Kevin P. Murphy. 2012. Machine Learning: A Probabilistic Perspective. The MIT Press.
Additional material, including slides and code fragments, will be made available on the course website.
Copies of the slides used during the lectures, exercises, and manuals for the activities in the laboratory will be made available. All teaching material is downloadable from the course website or the teaching Portal.
Book (only a few chapters needed) :
[1] A. Jung, Machine Learning: The Basics. Springer, Singapore, 2022
https://github.com/alexjungaalto/MachineLearningTheBasics/blob/master/MLBasicsBook.pdf
[2] Christopher M. Bishop. 2006. Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning (Information Science and Statistics). Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg.
[3] Tan, Steinbach, Karpathe, Kumar, Introduction to data mining, 2nd edition, Pearson, 2019
[4] Kent D. Lee , Python Programming Fundamentals, Springer, 2015
[5] Jake VanderPlas, Python Data Science Handbook: Essential Tools for Working with Data, O’Reilly, 2016
Lucidi delle lezioni; Libro di testo; Esercizi; Esercitazioni di laboratorio; Video lezioni dell’anno corrente; Materiale multimediale ;
Lecture slides; Text book; Exercises; Lab exercises; Video lectures (current year); Multimedia materials;
Modalità di esame: Prova scritta (in aula); Elaborato progettuale individuale; Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;
Exam: Written test; Individual project; Group project;
...
The exam will assess the knowledge of the course topics, and the ability of the candidate to apply such knowledge and the developed skills to solve specific problems.
The exam will consist in two parts:
- A project to be developed during the course. The students will be able to choose individual or (small) group projects among a set of possible choices (max. 18 points).
- A written examination (max. 12 points).
The final mark will be the sum of the report and written exam marks. To pass the exam, the report mark must be at least 9/18, the written exam mark must be at least 6/12, and the final mark must be at least 18/30.
The projects will address machine learning tasks. For each project, a dataset will be provided, and the students will have to develop suitable models for the specific task based on the topics and tools presented during lectures and laboratories. Each candidate will have to provide a technical report detailing the employed methodology and a critical analysis of the obtained results. The report will assess:
- The degree of understanding of the theoretical principles of different machine learning approaches
- The ability of the student to analyze a specific problem, assessing which approaches, among those that have been presented, are more suited to solve the task
- The ability of the student to apply the studied methods to devise suitable solutions for the specific case study
- The ability of the student to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
The written examination will consists of open questions covering the topics presented during the lectures. The written examination will assess:
- The theoretical understanding of the basic principles of the presented machine learning approaches
- The knowledge and understanding of the different approaches that have been presented during the lectures
- The ability of the student to critically analyze and evaluate the different approaches.
Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.
Exam: Written test; Individual project; Group project;
The exam includes a group project and a written part. The final score is defined by considering both the evaluation of the group project and the written part. The teacher may request an integrative oral test to confirm the obtained evaluation.
The projects will address machine learning tasks. For each project, a dataset will be provided, and the students will have to develop suitable models for the specific task based on the topics and tools presented during lectures and laboratories. Each group will have to provide a technical report detailing the employed methodology and a critical analysis of the obtained results. The report will assess:
- The degree of understanding of the theoretical principles of different machine learning approaches
- The ability of the student to analyze a specific problem, assessing which approaches, among those that have been presented, are more suited to solve the task
- the working knowledge of the Python language and the major data mining and machine learning libraries.
- The ability of the student to apply the studied methods to devise suitable solutions for the specific case study
- The ability of the student to critically evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
The written examination will consist of open questions covering the topics presented during the lectures. Textbooks, notes, and electronic devices of any kind are not allowed. The written examination will assess:
- The theoretical understanding of the basic principles of the presented machine learning approaches
- The knowledge and understanding of the different approaches that have been presented during the lectures
- The ability of the student to critically analyze and evaluate the different approaches.
The final grade will be given by the weighted average of the written exam (40%) and the project report grade (60%). Each part will have a grade between 0 and 30 cum laude. Both parts must be sufficient to pass the exam.
• Individual written exam (40%, at least 18/30)
• Project (60%, at least 18/30)
In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.
