English

The course provides an introduction to Linguistics, the scientific study of language, with the objective to allow student to better understand the dynamics involved in verbal communication. In particular, students acquire basic knowledge about speech sounds and their mental representation, words' morphological structure, word-formation processes, semantic relations, and the composition of the lexicon, with examples relating primarily, but not exclusively, to English and Italian. In addition, students are given the tools needed to recognize and classify linguistic variation, and to identify the main factors involved in transmitting and decoding non-literal meanings. Finally, some essential linguistic profiles are drafted, and in doing so students learn to recognize salient linguistic features and learn methodologies useful to critically analyze texts. 

This course covers basic electromagnetic theory. The course discusses electrostatics, magnetostatics, electrodyanmics, and electromagnetic waves. Textbook: Elements of Electromagnetics 6th Edition, by G.P. Matthew N. O. Sadiku (Oxford University Press, 2015) 

This course focuses on presenting and discussing a diverse range of game theory applications and conveying an understanding of how strategic players may navigate such scenarios. Game Theory is the standard tool for analyzing strategic situations and is widely used in many fields, including economics, finance, biology, and political science. It provides a way of thinking about such strategic situations, whether in economics, politics, relationships, evolution, sports, war, law, or everyday life. The first part of the course presents basic concepts such as Nash equilibrium, dominated strategies, or mixed strategies, and the most famous economic games (prisoner’s dilemma, battle of sexes, matching pennies, beauty contests, etc.). The second part delves deeper into the analysis of dynamic games and covers questions and applications such as: How to build up a reputation; How to bargain; Duels (when should you shoot?); Cooperation (how selfish players can use "stick and carrot"’ to cooperate and collude); Hold-up problems (why and when your employer will invest in your human capital); and First- and second-mover advantage in markets - Wars of attrition. The third part of the course presents further applications of game theory that have been particularly influential in the history of economic theory, such as: Signaling (how to signal your qualities to an employer?); Mechanism design (how to sell your old house? how Google and eBay use auctions. What is the winner’s curse?); and Information aggregation (is there a wisdom of the crowd?). Throughout the course, games are played with and against each other in class. Prerequisites: ECON1210 Introductory microeconomics; and MATH1009 Basic mathematics for business and economics or MATH1011 University mathematics I or MATH1013 University mathematics II.

This course introduces the field of natural language processing. This course focuses on introducing what natural language processing is, the main concepts in natural language processing research, and the algorithm design of major natural language processing tasks. The setting of this course includes three parts. The first part is an introduction to the basic tasks and concepts in the field of natural language processing, such as parsers, language modeling, etc. The second part is about the main research methods of natural language processing, such as statistical learning methods and deep learning algorithms. The third part is an introduction to the research directions of natural language processing, such as the development of technologies of large language models.

This course explores the different perspectives and concepts of urban and rural development including the process of urbanization, diverse population and demographic trends, urban planning, urban growth and decline, governance, natural environment concerns, sustainability, and the impact of globalisation. It examines theories and practices of community development both in rural and urban areas as well as their context and changes. The course also includes analysis of key issues such as rural-urban poverty, agriculture, education, social services, equal opportunity, migration and community dynamics, especially among marginalized and vulnerable families and communities in both urban and rural contexts.

How has the media covered the war on Gaza and what are the underlying political, cultural and business imperatives that have shaped this coverage? What narratives are being foregrounded by legacy Western and Arab media respectively? What role is alternative media playing and what controls are different Social Media platforms imposing on permissible content? What is it like to be a Palestinian journalist in Gaza when journalists are being killed by Israel at an unprecedented rate? These are some of the questions that students critically engage with throughout this course, through a combination of theoretical readings, case studies, multimedia analysis, documentary screenings and guest speakers from the field. The course encourages students to connect scholarship with practice through writing, media monitoring, and creative projects that interrogate the relationship between communication and power in one of the most mediatized conflicts of our time.

Paradoxes are arguments which proceed from highly plausible assumptions, through highly plausible and usually simple steps to highly implausible conclusions. Some examples: Zeno’s paradoxes of motion, Kant’s antinomies, the Liar and the paradox of the surprise examination. What such paradoxes show is that there is something deeply wrong with some of our most fundamental ways of thinking. This course helps explore solutions to certain of these paradoxes. Students are expected to know some elementary formal logic before studying this course. To prepare for the course, they can either take PHIL2006, or study the online material on logic produced by the department. 

The Internet is everywhere. From the smartphones in our pockets to the supermarkets delivering our groceries, large parts of our lives are mediated by digital technology, through screens which connect us to computers in air-conditioned rooms thousands of miles away. But how did we get here? What really is this thing we call "the Internet"? Who made these systems, and how do they work? Beginning with the Cold War origins of today's globally-interconnected digital world, this course explores the social, political, and economic impacts of networked digital technology, its impact on history, and on how that history is written.

This is an introductory level course on digital literacy and its applications - P indicates a python focus. The course covers basic information technology skills and spreadsheet usage, basic statistics and data science concepts for working with data from digital sources, and computational thinking techniques for solving problems with data (e.g., automation, textual analysis, data visualization, etc.). The course includes demonstrations on solving real-life problems creatively. Case studies in social media usage are included to illustrate how to interpret data properly and identify false information. The course focuses on hands-on practices using relevant software toolboxes, without covering the inner-working details. The course ENGG1003 DIG LIT THKNG - R is similar in content but comes from R language focus.

With the emergence of AI, there are endless translation tools that you can use online. Chat GPT, DeepL, Google Translate, Papago, are among many tools that are available to us today. We explore critical questions about why and how translation studies and practice can still benefit us, such as: Why study translation theory when these tools are readily available? How can we most effectively utilize these tools? What can literary scholars contribute to the development of translation tools? How can we apply our theoretical knowledge to enhance existing tools or develop new ones? We study translation theories from the 19th-21st century and practice various types of translation. 

Through this course, each student develops their own translation strategies while gaining a deeper understanding of diverse translation strategies and styles. We translate for different kinds of readership, learning to utilize methods accordingly. This course provides an overview of fundamental translation theories and methods, as well as hands-on experience in translating literary works.  

We read a wide variety of essays, statements, and criticisms on translation methods and philosophy, and apply these ideas to our own translations. Together, we examine translation’s role in world literature and how various translation modes affect readers’ understanding and experience of texts. Students develop both practical translation skills and the ability to appreciate translated literature from a reader’s perspective. Regular in-class workshops provide opportunities for students to produce and share their translations with fellow classmates. 

Note: Students should have proficiency in a source language other than English.