DSCI-553: Foundations and Applications of Data Mining

Syllabus

Units: 4

Fall 2024

Thursday – 6:00-9:20 PM, OHE122 and DEN

Instructor: Professor Wei-Min Shen, PhD

Office Hours: After class (by appointment)

Contact Info: [email protected] (include “DSCI-533” in

subject), http://viterbi-web.usc.edu/~wmshen

Teaching Assistants: See Piazza

Course Producers: See Piazza
Office Hours: See Piazza
Contact Info: See Piazza
Catalog Course Description
Algorithms and techniques of Data Mining and Machine Learning for analyzing massive
datasets. Emphasis on system building with Spark. Case studies and applications.
Expanded Course Description
Data mining is a fundamental skill for massive data analysis. At a high level, it allows the analyst
to discover patterns in data, and transform them into usable products. The course will teach
data mining algorithms for analyzing very large data sets. It will have an applied focus; in that it
is meant for preparing students to utilize topics in data mining to build systems and solve real
world problems.
Recommended Preparation
DSCI-551 and DSCI-552 (or equivalents such as CSCI-585 and CSCI-567) are required and hard
prerequisites. Knowledge of probability (e.g., EE364), linear algebra (e.g., EE141), skilled
programming (DSCI-510), algorithm design, and machine learning, are essential. This course is
one of the most advanced classes in Data Science at USC, so please ensure your background
before registration, or else you may be at a severe disadvantage compared to other well-
prepared students in the class.
A basic understanding engineering principle is required, including skilled programming with
Python. Most assignments are in Spark and require sufficient programming experience and
algorithm design. The assignments are designed for the Unix environment (see vocareum.com);
basic Unix skills will make programming assignments much easier.
Course Notes
The course will be run as a lecture class with student participation strongly encouraged. There
are weekly readings and students are encouraged to do the readings prior to the discussion in
class. All the course materials, including the readings, lecture slides, and homework will be posted
online.
Technological Proficiency and Hardware/Software Required
Students are expected to know how to program in programming languages such as Python.
Students are also expected to have their own laptop computer where they can install and run
software to do the weekly homework assignments and quizzes.
Required Readings and Supplementary Materials
● Rajaraman, J. Leskovec and J. D. Ullman, Mining of Massive Datasets, Cambridge
University Press, 2012.
Available free at: http://infolab.stanford.edu/~ullman/mmds.html
In addition to the textbook, students may be given additional reading materials such as
research papers. Students are responsible for all assigned reading assignments.
Description and Assessment of Assignments

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Homework Assignments: There will be 6 homework assignments and a final project. The
assignments and final project must be done individually. Each assignment is graded on a scale
of 0-100 and the specific rubric for each assignment is given in the assignment. Each submission
will be checked for plagiarism. Students will be required to finish their homework with pySpark,
and a 10% bonus would be rewarded if they also implement the homework in Scala and their
pySpark version is correct.
Grading Breakdown
Quizzes: There will be weekly quizzes based on the material from the week before. There is no
mid-term for this class. There will be no makeup for quizzes and students can drop their 2
lowest quiz scores at the end of semester.
Homework Assignments: There will be 5-6 homework assignments based on the topics of the
class each week. The assignments must be done individually. Each assignment is graded on a
scale of 0-100 on Vocarem.com and the specific rubric for each assignment is given in the
assignment.
Data Mining Competition Project: There will be a final project based on the topics introduced
in class. The final project is to build an advanced recommendation system and compete with
other students for achieving the lowest recommendation errors. There will be some bonus
(e.g., extra credits or recommendation letters) for the top winner students for the competition.
Comprehensive Exam: There will be an exam towards the end of the semester covering all the
material covered in the class.

Grading Schema:
Quizzes 30%
Homework 42%
Comprehensive Exam 20%
Data Mining Competition Project 8%
__________________________________________
Total 100%

Grades will range from A through F. The following is the breakdown for grading. You will have
plenty of opportunities to achieve good grades:
92 – 100 = A 88 – 92 = A-
85 – 88 = B+ 80 – 85 = B 78 – 80 = B-
75 – 78 =C+ 70 – 75 = C
67 –70 = C- 65 – 67 = D+ 63 – 65 = D 60 – 63 = D-
Below 60 is an F

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Assignment Submission Policy
Homework assignments are due on the date/time specified on the homework description upon
release, and solutions should be submitted on Vocareum. You can submit homework up to one
week late, but you will lose 20% of the possible points for the assignment. After one week, the
assignment cannot be submitted. Every student has FIVE free late days for the homework
assignments (but please submit your request to use the free extension days before the
deadline, and you can always adjust it after the deadline). You can use these five days for any
reason separately or together to avoid the late penalty. There will be no other extensions for
any reason. You cannot use the free late days after the last day of the class. There is no
extension for the final project due to the limited time in the last week of the semester.
To ensure the individual learning for the assignments, our system and intelligent agents will
automatically check the similarity between any pair of submissions. If the matching score for
two submissions is above a certain threshold, then both submissions will receive at least 50%
for penalty depending on the severity.

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 Topic Readings and Deliverables/Due Dates
Schedule Assignments

Week 1 Introduction to Data Ch1: Data Mining

Mining, MapReduce
Ch2: Large-Scale File
Systems and Map-
Reduce

Week 2 MapReduce (cont.) Ch2: Large-Scale File Learn/Install Spark

Systems and Map-
Spark (introduction) Practice quiz online
Reduce

Weekly Quiz starts

Week 3 Frequent itemsets and Ch6: Frequent
Homework 1 assigned
Association rules itemsets,

Week 4 Similar Itemset: Shingling, Ch3: Finding Similar

Minhashing, Locality Items
Sensitive Hashing

Week 5 Recommendation Systems: Ch9: Homework 1 due

Content-based and Recommendation Homework 2 assigned
Collaborative Filtering systems

Week 6 Recommendation Systems: Additional Readings

Content-based and see lecture notes
Collaborative Filtering

Week 7 No class Homework 2 due

(Fall Recess) Homework 3 assigned

Week 8 Analysis of Massive Graphs Ch10: Analysis of

(Social Networks I and II) Social Networks

Week 9 Mining data streams Ch4: Mining data

streams

Week 10 Clustering massive data Ch7: Clustering Homework 3 due

Homework 4 assigned
Link Analysis
Competition assigned

Week 11 Link Analysis I Ch5: Link Analysis

Week 12 Link Analysis II Ch5: Link Analysis Homework 4 due

Homework 5 assigned

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 Week 13 Web Advertising Ch8: Advertising on Homework 5 due
the Web Homework 6 assigned

Week 14 No Class Homework 6 due

(Thanksgiving Holiday)

Week 15 Comprehensive Exam

Week 16 Competition project due

Statement on Academic Conduct and Support Systems

Academic Conduct
Plagiarism – presenting someone else’s ideas as your own, either verbatim or recast in your
own words – is a serious academic offense with serious consequences. Please familiarize
yourself with the discussion of plagiarism in SCampus in Section 11, Behavior Violating
University Standards https://policy.usc.edu/student/scampus/part-b/. Other forms of academic
dishonesty are equally unacceptable. See additional information in SCampus and university
policies on scientific misconduct, http://policy.usc.edu/scientific-misconduct.
Discrimination, sexual assault, and harassment are not tolerated by the university. You are
encouraged to report any incidents to the Office of Equity and Diversity http://equity.usc.edu or
to the Department of Public Safety http://adminopsnet.usc.edu/department/department-
public-safety. This is important for the safety of the whole USC community. Another member of
the university community – such as a friend, classmate, advisor, or faculty member – can help
initiate the report, or can initiate the report on behalf of another person. The Relationship and
Sexual Violence Prevention Services http://engemannshc.usc.edu/rsvp/ provides 24/7
confidential support, and the sexual assault resource center webpage http://sarc.usc.edu
describes reporting options and other resources.

Support Systems
A number of USC’s schools provide support for students who need help with scholarly writing.
Check with your advisor or program staff to find out more. Students whose primary language is
not English should check with the American Language Institute http://dornsife.usc.edu/ali,
which sponsors courses and workshops specifically for international graduate students. The
Office of Disability Services and Programs
http://sait.usc.edu/academicsupport/centerprograms/dsp/home_index.html provides
certification for students with disabilities and helps arrange the relevant accommodations. If an
officially declared emergency makes travel to campus infeasible, USC Emergency Information
http://emergency.usc.edu will provide safety and other updates, including ways in which
instruction will be continued by means of blackboard, teleconferencing, and other technology.

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Resources for Online Students
The Course Blackboard page has many resources available for students enrolled in our graduate
programs. In addition, all registered students can access electronic library resources through
the link https://libraries.usc.edu/.

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