DEEP LEARNING

Academic Year 2024/2025 - Teacher: GIOVANNI MARIA FARINELLA

Expected Learning Outcomes

The term Deep Learning identifies a class of machine learning algorithms based on the automatic learning of data representations in a hierarchical way in order to solve a given problem. The recent availability of large amounts of data and appropriate computational resources to analyse them has favoured the emergence of such technologies for solving problems such as image and video analysis, audio signal analysis, text processing, and in general, the analysis of large amounts of data of various kinds. Given the complexity that Deep Learning-based algorithms can easily achieve, specific skills are required in order to correctly design such algorithms, train them, measure their goodness, and understand their limits. The purpose of this course is to provide these skills and in particular:

  • Provide an extensive knowledge of the problems that deep learning aims to solve;

  • Provide an overview of the methodologies currently available to solve these problems;

  • Provide an overview of computational modules useful for solving certain sub-problems within a more complex problem;

  • Provide a methodology based on reasoning for computational modules useful for the development of deep learning architectures to address a given problem;

  • Provide the tools to correctly evaluate deep learning algorithms;

  • Provide the tools to properly train deep learning algorithms. 

General educational objectives of teaching in terms of expected learning outcomes.

  1. Knowledge and understanding: the student will acquire the knowledge and concepts underlying the algorithms that exploit the Deep Learning paradigm and in particular the methodologies that allow you to create automatic learning systems to solve different tasks starting from data heterogeneous.

  2. Applying knowledge and understanding: the student will acquire practical skills useful for the design and development of Deep Learning algorithms through laboratory activities.

  3. Making judgments: Through homeworks proposed by the teacher and the correction in class of the same, the student will be able to independently develop solutions capable of solving the basic problems that could arise in the world of work in which to apply Deep Learning techniques.

  4. Communication skills: the student will acquire the necessary communication skills and expressive appropriateness in the use of technical language in the general context of automatic learning systems that exploit the Deep Learning paradigm.

  5. Learning skills: The aim of the course is to provide theoretical and practical knowledge on the main Deep Learning techniques. In this regard, neural models and architectures will be presented to solve various problems (Domain Adaptation, Metric Learning, Classification / Regression, Representation Learning, etc.). Methodologies to implement and optimise machine learning algorithms will be discussed, as well as those useful for evaluating the performance of algorithms. Open source software libraries in Python language will be used to put into practice the theoretical notions presented in the course. In particular, the course aims to train students who:

    1. understand key concepts underlying Deep Learning techniques

    2. know a wide range of Deep Learning algorithms to solve various classic Machine Learning problems

    3. understand how to carry out the design and tuning of Deep Learning in order to apply the same to new data sets

    4. are able to perform the evaluation of Deep Learning algorithms in order to select the best model

    5. know the python libraries useful for the development of Deep Learning algorithms

Course Structure

Lessons are delivered relying on slides, which are provided to the students. The slides do not replace the reference texts, but, in addition to facilitating the understanding of the lesson, they provide precise detail on the program carried out. Theoretical lectures are interspersed with practical exercises in python language, carried out in the same classroom. Students are invited to form small working groups (maximum 3 people) to carry out the proposed exercises and to carry out the final project.

Course Material: https://www.dmi.unict.it/farinella/DL/CourseSchedule.html

Required Prerequisites

Machine Learning Course


Attendance of Lessons

Attendance of the lessons is not compulsory but is strongly recommended. In particular, it is advisable to attend laboratory hours.


Detailed Course Content

  • Deep Learning - Basic Concepts

  • Deep Autoencoders

  • Deep Generative Models

  • Deep Domain Adaptation and Transfer Learning

  • Deep Metric Learning

  • Self-Supervised, Unsupervised, Representation Learning

  • Deep Sequential Modeling

  • Deep Reinforcement Learning

  • Video Understanding

  • Other Deep Learning Paradigms and State-of-the-Art Architectures

Textbook Information

  1. Slides and notes provided by the teacher

  2. E. Alpaydin, Introduction to Machine Learning

  3. M. P. Deisenroth et. al, Mathematics for Machine Learning

  4. I. Goodfellow et al., Deep Learning

  5. Ovidiu Calin, Deep Learning Architectures

  6. Sutton and Barto, Reinforcement Learning

  7. David Foster, Generative Deep Learning

  8. Gabriela Csurka, Domain Adaptation for Visual Applications: A Comprehensive Survey

  9. Mei Wang, Weihong Deng, Deep Visual Domain Adaptation: A Survey
  10. Aurélien Bellet, Amaury Habrard, Marc Sebban, Metric Learning

Additional teaching material is available at the following link: https://www.dmi.unict.it/farinella/DL

Course Planning

 SubjectsText References
1Deep Learning - Basic Concepts
2Deep Autoencoders
3Deep Generative Models
4Deep Domain Adaptation and Transfer Learning
5Deep Metric Learning
6Self-Supervised, Unsupervised, Representation Learning
7Deep Sequential Modeling
8Deep Reinforcement Learning
9Video Understanding
10Other Deep Learning Paradigms and State-of-the-Art Architectures

Learning Assessment

Learning Assessment Procedures

The final exam consists of a written test and the realisation of a project (which includes a report) agreed with the teacher. The written test usually consists of three open-ended questions. Reservation for participation in the written test is mandatory. The final grade is obtained from the average of the marks of the written test and of the project. The grading is expressed in thirtieths according to the following scheme: Grade 29-30 with honors The students have an in-depth knowledge of the fundamental concepts and of the main Deep Learning architectures. They are able to formalize deep learning problems and architectures by identifying the most suitable algorithms and techniques for solving the considered problems independently and critically. They have excellent communication skills and language proficiency. Grade 26-28 The students have a good understanding of fundamental concepts and major Deep Learning architectures. They are able to formalize deep learning problems and architectures identifying appropriate algorithms and techniques for the considered problems. They have good communication skills and language proficiency. Grade 22-25 The students have a fair understanding of fundamental concepts and of the main Deep Learning architectures. They are able to formalize deep learning problems and architectures, although not always exhaustively, identifying suitable algorithms and techniques for the considered problems. They have moderate communication skills and language proficiency. Grade 18-21 The students have minimal knowledge of fundamental concepts and of the main Deep Learning architectures. They have modest ability to formalize deep learning problems and architectures and to identify suitable algorithms and techniques for the considered problems. They have sufficient communication skills, although not always appropriate language proficiency. Failed Exam The students lack of the minimum required knowledge of the main course contents. Their ability to formalize deep learning problems and architectures is very poor or nonexistent, and they are unable to apply the acquired knowledge independently.

Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises

  • Define the Deep Q-learning algorithm formally and by pseudocode.

  • Formally define a GAN type architecture.

  • Discuss an architecture for generating synthetic data.
  • Discuss an architecture for data compression.