Australia

This course examines decadence as a textual, historical, sexual and cultural formation across a range of literary texts of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Students are introduced to European and British varieties of literary decadence and aestheticism; art for art's sake theories of aesthetic production; relations between lifestyle, aestheticism and commodity culture; and emergent discourses of degeneration and sexology. The course asks students to consider how decadent aestheticism was shaped by regulatory categories of taste and vulgarity, and by cultural practices of tastemaking, lifestyling and the aestheticisation of sexuality. Students also consider the relationship between sexual dissidence and social and cultural distinction as produced in the representative examples of decadent literature studied.

This course examines what is artificial intelligence (AI); current uses of AI in society; frameworks for ethical AI, including fairness, accountability and safety; technical responses, including transparency and explainability in AI; legal regimes, including privacy, consumer law, discrimination and human rights law; public and private accountability; uses of AI in the workplace; AI home assistants; autonomous vehicles; AI and robots in medicine; AI in media, including social media platforms; AI in decision-making by governments, courts, police and other public institutions; and military uses of AI.

This course examines materials science, construction materials, and mechanics of materials. The material science component examines basic concepts on inter-atomic bonding, microstructure of solids and generic material properties related to density, deformation, yield, ductility, fracture, toughness, susceptibility to corrosion and fatigue. The construction materials component examines the engineering applications of structural and light-gauge steel, concrete, masonry, timber, glass, fibre-glass and composites. The mechanics component examines the basic concepts of stress-strain compatibility, composite actions, the concept of shear stress flow, basic two-dimensional stress analysis, strength and ductility and arching actions.

This course examines how to optimize one’s own personal performance. It critically examines psychological, sociological and scientific research related to expertise development and examines a range of embodied, and frequently tacit, everyday practices that enable progress in all aspects of human endeavor. By highlighting both similarities and differences between various performance domains it aims to capture, understand, inspire and disrupt ways of thinking about one’s personal performance that cut across a wide array of domains, including the arts, business, medicine and science. Attention is given to the various sub-skills of performance, especially the conditions that enhance expectations for future performance, influence personal autonomy, and facilitate attention focusing within various contexts.

This course examines how artists create meaningful experiences in performance. It covers staging scripts, designing scenes, and devising actions.

To think and act strategically, one needs to evaluate the effect of one's actions on the actions of others. As most economic decisions are strategic, such as the decision to lower a price or introduce a new tax, economics, if it is to avoid simplistic models, requires a theoretical framework capable of illuminating strategic behavior. This course offers a comprehensive, critical introduction to the theory which purports, not only to satisfy this theoretical need, but also potentially to unify the social sciences: game theory. After examining important concepts of game theory, the unit investigates the repercussions for the theory of bargaining and for the evolution of social institutions.