Durée
25h Th, 10h Pr, 45h Proj.
Nombre de crédits
Enseignant
Langue(s) de l'unité d'enseignement
Langue anglaise
Organisation et évaluation
Enseignement au deuxième quadrimestre
Horaire
Unités d'enseignement prérequises et corequises
Les unités prérequises ou corequises sont présentées au sein de chaque programme
Contenus de l'unité d'enseignement
This course aims to provide an overview of the field of linked semantic data, which has seen strong progress in recent years and has become a key domain bridging several modern IT areas, including artificial intelligence, advanced web initiatives, big data solutions, and software engineering.
The course will first cover the conceptual foundations of the representation of semantic knowledge and its use for inferences. Semantic networks and ontologies will be introduced, and historical difficulties in reasoning with semantic networks discussed. Description logics will be presented as theoretical basis for ontology-based reasoning, with appropriate semantics and inference algorithms.
The course will show how these concepts are reused by the semantic web initiative, the purpose of which is to enrich the web with linked semantic data to make it more usable by machines. The link between description logics and the ontology web language OWL will be further developed.
Finally, the course will illustrate how semantic data are used in modern industrial areas.
The main topics covered will be:
- Knowledge representation foundations.
- The Semantic Web resource description framework (the initiative, RDF, RDFS, SPARQL).
- Modern ontologies (types, uses, ontological commitment).
- Introduction to description logics (including a summary of useful first order logic concepts).
- The Web Ontology Language: OWL.
- Ontology Engineering.
- Reasoning with description logics.
- Ontology-based data access.
- Selected business application domains (bioinformatics, software engineering, energy ...) and case studies of modern developments in some of these domains.
Acquis d'apprentissage (objectifs d'apprentissage) de l'unité d'enseignement
At the end of the course, the students will have gained a broad understanding of the field of semantic data, including its theoretical foundations, application domains and related technologies.
They will have learned the knowledge representation principles and inference mechanisms related to ontologies and the logical formalisms supporting them.
They will also understand the vision, ideas and formal languages of the semantic web, as well as the emerging technologies, leading-edge application areas and some of the open questions related to this field.
Finally, they will have developed a practical experience of the tools and challenges involved in building and using an ontology-based application for a specific domain.
Savoirs et compétences prérequis
There are no prerequisite courses required.
A previous experience of formal logic is useful but not necessary: a summary of the concepts of first order logic necessary to understand the material of the course is provided.
For the project, a programming experience sufficient to understand XML-based standards, the basics of Java and the use of a Java-based API (application programming interface) is expected.
Activités d'apprentissage prévues et méthodes d'enseignement
Lectures (25 h) will cover the theoretical content of the course.
Practice sessions (10h) will cover:
- exercises on the theoretical foundations;
- an introduction to ontology modeling and to the programming tools needed for the project.
A project will be realized in small groups with the goal to implement an ontology for a specific domain and to access this ontology to retrieve information, using open source tools.
Mode d'enseignement (présentiel ; enseignement à distance)
The theoretical sessions and practice sessions will be delivered face-to-face.
The project will mostly be carried out remotely. A final review with presentation and defense of the results will take place during the last session of the course.
Lectures recommandées ou obligatoires et notes de cours
The reference material for the theory and the practice sessions is provided in the slides of the course.
Due to the diversity of the subject matter there is no global reference textbook. Useful complementary readings will be indicated at the start of each chapter when relevant.
The following sources provide non-required but useful reading on knowledge representation and description logics:
- Chapters 7, 8 and 12 of the book of Russel and Norvig: Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach (3rd Edition), Pearson, 2010.
- Chapters 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 of the book of Baader, Horrocks, Lutz and Sattler: An introduction to description logic, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
The realization of the project will require to consult the online documentation of the semantic web standards and the chosen tools. Appropriate pointers will be provided.
Modalités d'évaluation et critères
Content of the theory and exercises sessions will be assessed by an individual oral exam in June, and if required a second-session oral exam in August/September.
The exams will take place with closed books and will be based on open questions on the theory, the practice and the case studies, allowing to assess the level of understanding of the subject matter.
Project results will be assessed from the resulting implementation, and a final defense, including a presentation and a demonstration.
Timely submission of project results is mandatory for presenting the exam!
The grade allocation will be split as follows:
- exam: weight 60%,
- project results: weight 40%.
Grades for the project are normally assigned to the whole group. However, in some cases (e.g. when there is evidence that a member of a group has not participated enough in the project), the grade may be assigned individually, reflecting the personal involvement of each member of a group.
Students who must represent the course in the August/September session may opt either to keep the grade obtained for the project in June or to improve their project. This improvement will have to be carried out individually if no member of the same project group is in the same situation. There is no support guaranteed during the summer for project improvement.
Stage(s)
Non applicable.
Remarques organisationnelles
The course takes place in second semester; the exact start date and location will be posted on the course web page.
The project will begin a few weeks after the start of the course (to allow the students to acquire the necessary knowledge); the exact start date will be posted on the course web page. The project results will be presented during one of the last sessions of the course.
Contacts
Lecturer: Jean-Louis Binot (jean-louis.binot@uliege.be).
Adaptation des engagements pédagogiques suite à la pandémie de COVID-19 pour la session de mai-juin
Méthodes d'apprentissage mises en œuvre : enseignement à distance
Theory : chapters seen during the remote learning period are covered both by:
- livre presentations using the Cisco Webex Meetings tool, and
- podcast records loaded into ULiege Unicast system.
Practice : podcats commenting practices relevant for the project are provided in addition to the PDFs.
Project : the project is proceeding as planned. Teams are expected to work remotely, relying on remote communication tools of their choice (LifeSize, WebEx, Skype, ..).
Matière de l'évaluation
Theory : the required material covers chapters 1 to 10 (for chapter 10, first two sections only) and the two case studies.
Material excluded from theory : chapter 11 and chapter 10 section 3.
A list of high level questions to prepare for the exam will be provided on the course web page.
Practice: the material from the practice sessions is suppressed from the exam. The only exercices part of the required material for the exam are those (examples, quiz, ...) present in the theory chapters.
The material from the practice sessions may however still be useful as support for the project.
The project is maintained as part of the evaluation.
Méthodes d'évaluation
The projet will be assessed by a remote videoconference review; that review will take place as originally planned.
Timely submission of project results is still mandatory for presenting the exam!
The exam will be an individual oral remote discussion with open books.
Students will be asked to present one question out of the list to be prepared for the exam (cf. "Matière de l'évaluation"). They will be allowed to use the relevant slides and asked to explain them.
They will then be asked verbal complementary questions testing their understanding and their capability to make links between different chapters of the course. One of these complementary questions will relate to one of the two case studies.
The oral will use individual videoconference sessions or any other feasible way to have a meaningful remote discussion.
Given the circumstances and the suppression of the practice material from the oral exam,
the ponderation of the oral exam is reduced in the final note :
Oral exam : 50% of the final note;
Project : 50% of the final note.
Contact
Lecturer: Jean-Louis Binot (jean-louis.binot@uliege.be)
Adaptation des engagements pédagogiques suite à la pandémie de COVID-19 pour la session août-sept
Matière de l'évaluation
The material is the same as for the June session:
Theory : the required material covers chapters 1 to 10 (for chapter 10, first two sections only) and the case studies.
Material excluded from theory : chapter 11 and chapter 10 section 3.
A list of high level questions to prepare for the exam is provided on the course web page.
Practice: the material from the practice sessions is suppressed from the exam. The only exercices part of the required material for the exam are those (examples, quiz, ...) present in the theory chapters.
The material from the practice sessions may however still be useful as support for the project.
Project: as specified in the initial engagements, students who must represent the course in the August/September session may opt either to keep the grade obtained for the project in June or to improve their project. This improvement will have to be carried out individually if no member of the same project group is in the same situation. There is no support guaranteed during the summer for project improvement.
Méthodes d'évaluation (et plateforme utilisée)
Exam: as in the June session, the exam will be an individual oral remote discussion with open books.
Students will be asked to present one question out of the list to be prepared for the exam (cf. "Assessment subjects"). They will be allowed to use the relevant slides and asked to explain them.
They will then be asked verbal complementary questions testing their understanding and their capability to make links between different chapters of the course.
Complementary questions may range over the whole required material, typically focusing on the key concepts seen in the course, and students are expected to be able to answer them without having to take time to research the course material. One of these complementary questions will relate to one of the case studies.
The oral will use individual videoconference sessions (by preference Webex) or any other feasible way to have a meaningful remote discussion.
Project: as said in the assessment subjects, students may elect to keep their project note or to improve their project. For the students who have elected to improve their project, the projet will be assessed by a remote videoconference review; that review will take place during the session, if possible during the same remote session as the oral exam.
The ponderation between oral exam and project is the same as in the June session :
Oral exam : 50% of the final note;
Project : 50% of the final note.
Contact(s)
Lecturer: Jean-Louis Binot (jean-louis.binot@uliege.be)