Machine Learning with Small Data Part 2

Northeastern University via Coursera

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Provider

Coursera
Pricing

Paid Course
Languages

English
Certificate

Paid Certificate Available
Duration & workload

11 hours 34 minutes
Sessions

On-Demand
Level

Advanced
Subtitles

English

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Overview

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By completing this course, you'll master building powerful machine learning systems that excel with limited data. You'll gain expertise in multi-task learning, meta-learning, and advanced data augmentation—from physics-based simulations to generative approaches—enabling models to adapt quickly and perform beyond their dataset size. What makes this course unique is its focus on cutting-edge 3D and generative technologies: Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), diffusion models, and 3D Gaussian Splatting. Unlike traditional ML courses that assume abundant data, this program tackles real-world constraints while unlocking advanced capabilities in science, engineering, and creative industries. This course is primarily aimed at graduate students in computer science, engineering, or data science, along with industry professionals and researchers working with limited datasets who need to develop high-performance machine learning systems despite data constraints.

Syllabus

8 - Multi-Task Learning

In this module, we will introduce the fundamentals of Multi-Task Learning (MTL), a paradigm where multiple related tasks are learned simultaneously by sharing representations. This approach leverages the commonalities among tasks to improve generalization, reduce overfitting, and achieve better performance with fewer training examples. We will explore how MTL is applied across various domains, such as natural language processing, computer vision, and speech recognition, and examine practical examples such as using MTL to enhance image classification and object detection in autonomous systems. Students will gain insights into both the benefits and challenges of MTL, including issues such as task imbalance, negative transfer, and scalability. Additionally, we will delve into meta-learning techniques, such as Conditional Neural Adaptive Processes (CNAPs), that extend MTL by enabling models to quickly adapt to new tasks with minimal data.

9 - Meta-Learning

This module explores the concept of meta-learning, or "learning to learn," which enables models to generalize across various tasks by leveraging knowledge from similar tasks. We will delve into key meta-learning algorithms such as Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning (MAML) and Prototypical Networks and examine their applications in computer vision using datasets such as ImageNet, Omniglot, CUB-200-2011, and FGVC-Aircraft. The module also covers the Meta-Dataset framework, which provides a diverse range of tasks for training robust and adaptable meta-learning models.

10 - Learning With Data Augmentation: Data-Driven Simulation

This module focuses on generative models for data augmentation, covering key generative AI techniques that enhance machine learning applications by generating synthetic but realistic data. We begin by introducing generative adversarial networks (GANs), Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), Normalizing Flows, Diffusion Models, and Motion Graphs, highlighting their mathematical foundations, training mechanisms, and real-world applications. Additionally, we discuss the limitations of each model and the computational challenges they present. The lecture provides insights into how generative models contribute to modern AI systems, including image synthesis, domain adaptation, super-resolution, motion synthesis, and data augmentation in small-data learning scenarios.

11 - Learning With Data Augmentation: Physics-Based Simulation

This module focuses on physics-based simulation for data augmentation, exploring how physics-driven techniques generate realistic synthetic data to enhance machine learning models. We will discuss key advantages of physics-based simulations, such as scalability, cost-effectiveness, and their ability to model rare events. The module also covers notable approaches, including GeoNet (CVPR 2018) for depth and motion estimation, ScanAva (ECCVW 2018) for semi-supervised learning with 3D avatars, and SMPL (ACM Transactions on Graphics, Volume 15) for human body modeling. Additionally, we introduce equation-based simulation techniques such as Finite Element Method (FEM) and Navier-Stokes equations for modeling fluid dynamics. The module highlights challenges in bridging the simulation-to-reality gap and optimizing computational costs while ensuring high-fidelity synthetic data generation.

12 - Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF)

This module introduces Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), a deep learning-based approach for synthesizing novel views of complex 3D scenes. Unlike traditional 3D reconstruction techniques such as Structure-from-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS), which rely on explicit point cloud representations, NeRF learns a continuous volumetric representation of a scene using a fully connected neural network. By taking a set of 2D images captured from different viewpoints, NeRF estimates the density and color of light rays at each spatial location, enabling high-quality, photorealistic novel view synthesis. The lecture also explores how NeRF improves upon prior methods, such as depth estimation, photogrammetry, and classic geometric techniques. Understanding NeRF provides valuable insights into data-efficient 3D scene representation—a critical area for applications in computer vision, robotics, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR).

13 - Diffusion Models

This module explores diffusion models, a class of generative models that incrementally add noise to data and then learn to reverse the process to reconstruct high-quality samples. Diffusion models have gained prominence due to their state-of-the-art performance in image, video, and text generation, surpassing GANs in terms of sample quality and diversity. The module covers the foundational principles of Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models (DDPMs) and their training objectives, advancements such as Score-Based Generative Models, Latent Diffusion Models (LDMs), and Classifier-Free Guidance techniques. We also examine their real-world applications in text-to-image generation (Stable Diffusion, DALL·E), video synthesis (Sora, Veo 2), and high-resolution image synthesis. Finally, the module provides insights into the mathematical framework, the optimization strategies, and the growing role of diffusion models in AI-driven content creation.

14 - 3D Gaussian Splatting

This lecture explores 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS), a novel approach in computer vision for high-fidelity, real-time 3D scene rendering. Unlike traditional methods like Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF), which rely on continuous neural fields, 3DGS represents scenes using a collection of discrete anisotropic Gaussian functions. These Gaussians efficiently approximate scene geometry, radiance, and depth, enabling real-time rendering with minimal computational overhead. We discuss the theoretical foundations, mathematical formulations, and rendering techniques that make 3D Gaussian Splatting a game-changer in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and interactive media. Additionally, we highlight key differences between isotropic and anisotropic Gaussian splats, their impact on rendering quality, and how optimization techniques refine their accuracy. Finally, we compare 3DGS to NeRF, analyzing their trade-offs in rendering speed, computational efficiency, and application suitability.