VIPS 2015 - PhD School in Advanced Machine Learning: Partially Supervised Learning

11th VIPS Advanced School on Computer Vision, Pattern Recognition, and Image Processing, Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Verona, Verona (Italy) 19-21 May 2015
http://vips.sci.univr.it/html/VIPS11/index.html
This school follows the series of intensive courses, aimed at PhD students and researchers in the areas of Computer Vision, Image Processing, and Pattern Recognition. It is organized by the VIPS (Vision, Image Processing, and Sound) lab of the Computer Science Department of the University of Verona. The course is residential, spanning 3 days, so that attendees can potentially achieve a more productive interaction with the lecturers.
TITLE & LECTURER
Partially Supervised Learning
Prof. Marco Loog
Delft University of Technology, University of Copenhagen
http://prlab.tudelft.nl/users/marco-loog
CONTENTS
Standard supervised machine learning and pattern recognition methods often do not fit the real-world requirements exactly and, hence, cannot be applied directly to solve the decision, prediction, or classification task at hand. A large class of approaches, which we collectively referred to here as partially supervised, meet some of the demands encountered in practice. The course will cover topics within the field of classification and focuses on multiple instance learning, semi-supervised learning, and, potentially, transfer learning, domain adaptation, and active learning.
The lectures will not only focus on the main lines of research within these particular areas. They also aim to provide some insight, some theoretical background, and a critical assessment of the main concepts and ideas underlying the methods. Possible directions for further research may also be sketched.
The course is completed with a one-day computer exercise session in which the participants can get some hands-on experience with concepts and methods from the lectures.
PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
DAY 1 (Theory):
- General introduction to classification, representation, generalization, and evaluation. The aim of research in pattern recognition and machine learning.
- Semi-supervised learning. Label propagation, harmonic functions, expectation maximization, self-learning, transductive SVMs, and learning under parameter constraints.
DAY 2 (Theory):
- Multiple instance learning. Classical approaches, MIL through combining, MILES, and kernel and dissimilarity-based techniques.
- Basics of active learning (e.g. uncertainty sampling, query-by-committee, information vs representation) and transfer learning/domain adaptation (e.g. learning under covariate shift).
DAY 3 (Lab):
The idea of the lab session is to study two or more methods, related to the contents of the course, and perform a critically comparison of these methods, taking, for instance, into account their general applicability, how efficient they are, how they perform on various data sets, etc. Convincing arguments and, where necessary, experimental results supporting the pros and cons put forward should be provided. (Depending on the choice made, there might of course be the need to implement the methods yourself.)
If the participant needs an evaluation, the results of the lab session should be summarized in a to-the-point report of about four pages, which will be reviewed and scored by the lecturer ? this counting as a final exam. The report, of about four pages, should clearly describe the research question, the research setup, the results from the analysis of the underlying theory, methodology, and/or concepts, and the experimental results. A conclusion and discussion should wrap up the report.
COURSE FEES
150 euro for PhD and undergraduate students.
200 euro for postdocs, researchers, and other people working at a university.
250 euro for everybody else.
REGISTRATION
If you want to participate, please send an email to manuele.bicego-AT-univr.it or umberto.castellani-AT-univr.it. The mail should state your full name and your status (undergraduate, PhD student, other). The ultimate deadline for applications is April 1, 2015. You will receive a confirmation email from us with a registration form to be printed, filled out, and returned, together with a proof of payment (detailed instructions will be in the confirmation email).
ACCOMMODATION
The accommodation costs are not covered by the Course Fee. A list of hotels will be posted on the school's website.
ORGANIZATION:
Directors: Manuele Bicego, Umberto Castellani (University of Verona, Italy)
Steering Director: Vittorio Murino (IIT and University of Verona, Italy)
NEWS/INFORMATION
For any other information, please send an email to manuele.bicego-AT-univr.it or umberto.castellani-AT-univr.it;
For latest news check the school's web page:
http://vips.sci.univr.it/html/VIPS11/index.html