English

This introductory statistics course focuses on data analysis. It begins with the essential concepts that are necessary for understanding data analysis, such as probability and their distributions. It then covers sampling, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, analysis of variance, correlation, and linear regression analysis. Additional topics include probability concepts, probability distributions, sampling distributions, and two group comparisons.

Life history traits, e.g., growth rates, maturation schedules, and offspring size and number, are influenced by environmental and anthropogenic factors and in turn determine individual fitness and influence population growth rates. Because life history traits are heritable, variation in these traits tends to involve both evolutionary (genetic) and ecological (plastic) processes. Exploring life history variation provides an opportunity not only to understand the eco-evolutionary interactions that shape the observed patterns, but also to forecast population dynamics in changing environments. In this course, we design lectures to guide students to understand the concepts and theories of adaptive life history variation. In addition, the course project involves field sampling and laboratory experiments with mosquitofish Gambusia affinis, to gain hands-on experience on life history research. The objectives of this course are to understand the theoretical background of life history variation, and explore empirical variation in growth rates, maturation schedules, and offspring size and number based on the model species, mosquitofish.

Social Entrepreneurship is a rapidly growing area in Ireland and internationally, as businesses can no longer operate in isolation from social, environmental and political challenges.  When considering climate change trends, economic inequality, and political instability, arguably, those challenges, are existential and urgent. This course develops a critical awareness of major issues, opportunities, and problems associated with social entrepreneurship in Ireland and internationally. Students examine the theoretical underpinnings of social entrepreneurship and social venture development and analyze patterns of social entrepreneurial behavior. Students work with theory, cases, and their own social entrepreneurial projects to identify how social entrepreneurship can respond to and even drive social-economic-political change.

The course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. This course explores the connection between globalization, the evolution of criminology, and crime, and how this connection changes in space and time. Globalization affects crime phenomena in a variety of ways: creating new conditions and opportunities for new types of crime or reshaping more traditional criminal behaviors and increasing insecurity and fear of crime. Moreover, globalization requires new categories to explain and understand crime and therefore affects and reshapes many traditional criminological theories. Finally, globalization has an impact also on strategies of crime control and surveillance.

The course offers a study of English literature from its medieval origins through the seventeenth century. The course examines prominent authors from various time periods, literary genres, cultural components, and historical contexts.