Human Language Engineering

Credits
4.5
Types
  • MDS: Optional
  • MAI: Optional
Requirements
This subject has not requirements , but it has got previous capacities
Department
CS;TSC
Human Language Engineering constitutes a broad field. The aim of this course is first to provide the students with a general overview of the range of applications associated with language engineering, identifying the currents trends. After this overview, the course will be centered on three specific areas: Information Extraction, Machine Translation and Dialogue Systems. For each area, some applications have been selected for study. Students will learn what knowledge and tools are needed for an engineer to develop such applications. Current applications from companies will be presented to understand the present situation of Human Language Engineering at the market.

Teachers

Person in charge

  • Anna Sallés Rius (anna.salles@upc.edu)

Weekly hours

Theory
2
Problems
1
Laboratory
0
Guided learning
0
Autonomous learning
5.65

Competences

Generic Technical Competences

Generic

  • CG1 - Capability to plan, design and implement products, processes, services and facilities in all areas of Artificial Intelligence.

    • Technical Competences of each Specialization

    Academic

  • CEA3 - Capability to understand the basic operation principles of Machine Learning main techniques, and to know how to use on the environment of an intelligent system or service.
  • CEA5 - Capability to understand the basic operation principles of Natural Language Processing main techniques, and to know how to use in the environment of an intelligent system or service.
  • CEA7 - Capability to understand the problems, and the solutions to problems in the professional practice of Artificial Intelligence application in business and industry environment.

    • Professional

  • CEP3 - Capacity for applying Artificial Intelligence techniques in technological and industrial environments to improve quality and productivity.
  • CEP4 - Capability to design, write and report about computer science projects in the specific area of ??Artificial Intelligence.

    • Transversal Competences

    Teamwork

  • CT3 - Ability to work as a member of an interdisciplinary team, as a normal member or performing direction tasks, in order to develop projects with pragmatism and sense of responsibility, making commitments taking into account the available resources.

    • Information literacy

  • CT4 - Capacity for managing the acquisition, the structuring, analysis and visualization of data and information in the field of specialisation, and for critically assessing the results of this management.

    • Reasoning

  • CT6 - Capability to evaluate and analyze on a reasoned and critical way about situations, projects, proposals, reports and scientific-technical surveys. Capability to argue the reasons that explain or justify such situations, proposals, etc..

    • Analisis y sintesis

  • CT7 - Capability to analyze and solve complex technical problems.

    • Basic

  • CB6 - Ability to apply the acquired knowledge and capacity for solving problems in new or unknown environments within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to their area of study.
  • CB8 - Capability to communicate their conclusions, and the knowledge and rationale underpinning these, to both skilled and unskilled public in a clear and unambiguous way.
  • CB9 - Possession of the learning skills that enable the students to continue studying in a way that will be mainly self-directed or autonomous.

    • Objectives

    1. Learning the current trends of Human Language Engineering and further challenges.
      Related competences: CEA3, CEA5, CEA7, CG1, CT4, CB9,
    2. Learning knowledge and tools required to develop Human Language Engineering applications in the selected areas (Information Extraction, Machine Translation and Dialogue Systems), and comparison criteria.
      Related competences: CEA3, CT4, CT6, CB8,
    3. Development of criteria to identity problems to be solved using Human Language Engineering.
      Related competences: CEA7, CG1, CEP3, CT3, CT6, CT7,
    4. Application of the acquired knowledge to specific real problems.
      Related competences: CEA3, CEA5, CEA7, CG1, CEP3, CEP4, CT3, CT7, CB6,
    5. Understanding the potential applications of Human Language Engineering in the business environment.
      Related competences: CEA3, CEA5, CEA7, CG1,

    Contents

    1. Course Introduction
      Presentation of the course: aims, plan and structure.
      General overview of the range of applications associated with language engineering. Currents trends.
      Review of the transformer architecture.
    2. Information Extraction
      Entity and Relation extraction. Event and Time extraction. Sentiment and Affect extraction. Summarisation.
    3. Machine Translation
      Classical MT. Statistical MT. Resources and models for MT. MT Evaluation.
    4. Dialogue Systems
      Question Answering. Conversational Agents. Chatbots. Virtual Assistants.

    Activities

    Activity Evaluation act


    Course Introduction

    Presentation of the course: aims, plan and structure. General overview of the range of applications associated with language engineering. Currents trends.
    Objectives: 1
    Contents:
    Theory
    2h
    Problems
    1h
    Laboratory
    0h
    Guided learning
    0h
    Autonomous learning
    5.7h

    Information Extraction

    Entity and Relation extraction. Event and Time extraction. Sentiment and Affect extraction. Summarisation. Considering open and restricted domains. Considering monolingual and crosslingual scenarios.
    Objectives: 5 2 3
    Contents:
    Theory
    6h
    Problems
    3h
    Laboratory
    0h
    Guided learning
    0h
    Autonomous learning
    17h

    Machine Translation

    Classical MT. Statistical MT. Resources and models for MT. MT Evaluation. Text-to-text translation. Speech-to-speech translation.
    Objectives: 5 2 3
    Contents:
    Theory
    8h
    Problems
    4h
    Laboratory
    0h
    Guided learning
    0h
    Autonomous learning
    22.6h

    Dialogue Systems

    Question Answering. Conversational Agents. Chatbots. Virtual Assistants.
    Objectives: 5 2 3
    Contents:
    Theory
    6h
    Problems
    3h
    Laboratory
    0h
    Guided learning
    0h
    Autonomous learning
    17h

    Industrial presentations

    Industrial presentations: learning current applications of human language engineering.
    Objectives: 3 4
    Contents:
    Theory
    2h
    Problems
    1h
    Laboratory
    0h
    Guided learning
    0h
    Autonomous learning
    5.7h

    Students presentations

    Students presentations: oral presentation of the study or development carried on.
    Objectives: 3 4
    Contents:
    Theory
    2h
    Problems
    1h
    Laboratory
    0h
    Guided learning
    0h
    Autonomous learning
    5.7h

    Teaching methodology

    This course will build on different teaching methodology (TM) aspects, including:

    TM1: theoretical lecture sessions
    TM2: practical sessions with invited speakers from the industry
    TM3: laboratory session
    TM4: oral presentations of the students
    TM5: development of a final project

    Evaluation methodology

    The evaluation of the subject is done through several activities:

    1. The students must choose a paper with a state-of-the-art technique related to the concepts seen in class and explain it in an oral presentation (15% of the final grade).

    2. Laboratory assignment of an HLE application (15% of the final grade).

    3. The students must deliver a report from an industrial session, where invited speakers from the industry explain actual applications of HLE (10% of the final grade).

    4. For the other 60% of the mark, the students will develop a project that will consist of one of the following options:
    a) Deep study of a specific HLE application or a comparative study of HLE applications
    b) Development of a HLE application
    c) Development of a proposal to solve a specific real challenge

    In all cases, the students must prepare an oral presentation (10%) and write a report (50%).

    Bibliography

    Basic

    Previous capacities

    - Introductory concepts and methods of Natural Language Processing.

    - Programming.