English

This course explores the governance and political development of the European Union (EU).  It emphasizes the EU’s unique and complex system of governance and its efforts toward policy innovation with focus on its historical development, driving factors, and crisis responses.

The course provides students with detailed knowledge on advanced construction and building materials used in civil infrastructure, such as sustainability of materials, mechanisms of fracture and failure, fiber reinforced composites, advanced concrete, advanced steel, and advanced engineered wood products. The composition, characteristics, properties, and performance of these materials are introduced in detail, and their availability, cost, and their use in civil engineering are discussed as well, based on which the students develop the ability to make professional decisions about materials selection for civil engineering design within a practical context.

This course furthers the critical study of social, cultural, and historical aspects of performance, through analysis and practical exercises. Students explore plays alongside texts which have shaped approaches to acting and performance, and combine these in practical exercises (e.g. scene studies) and analytic discussion. Drawing from plays both ancient and modern, and stemming from various parts of the globe (e.g. East Asia, India, Ancient Greece, Russia), students explore the purpose and impact of theatre in a wide range of cultural contexts. Why have people gathered to watch drama at various points in time? How have radically different forms of behavior have been understand as ‘natural’ in differing contexts? How has theatre’s relation to democracy or community been understood? 

Starting from the concept of limit of a sequence, learn how it is possible to give a precise meaning to the concepts of "infinite", "infinitely small", and "infinitely large". Students also learn how to work with series, and understand how these tools can be applied to define limits of functions. Students see some of the concepts that they have covered in school in a new light, and analyze them in great depth. Students learn how to give rigorous proofs of mathematical statements, and how to sketch the graph of a function. 

This course uses a historical narrative—with an introductory text and lectures—to survey the history of Buddhism from the origin to the rise of major forms of Buddhism in India and further developments in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and the Tibetan cultural regions. Reading assignment will balance primary sources from the key moments of Buddhist history and thought and secondary scholarship. A major theme that we keep coming back to will be the development of Buddhist philosophy and theology as represented by major schools of In- dian, Chinese, and Tibetan Buddhism. The course will also introduce students to wider facets of Asian Buddhist cultures by looking at aspects of Buddhist scriptures, literature, art, ritual and meditation, translation, and other cultural practices. The course is designed to help students sharpen their academic skills in reading, critical thinking, and creative writing and to prepare them for more advanced work in Buddhist studies, Buddhist philosophy, and religious studies.

Course Requirements: • Finishing assigned readings before meetings, regular attendance, and active contribution to discussion •  A paper presentation (30 minutes) on an assigned topic (voluntary) • Essay ("Take-Home-Exam"). Teaching Methods: Lecture will be combined with prepared discussion of assigned readings and paper presentations

This course examines the main historical periods of the English language with particular emphasis on the medieval period (Old and Middle English). It discusses the main changes from Old English to Modern English in terms of phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexis. This course also explores the process of the standardization of English and the varieties of English that exist today.

In this course, students examine the nature of the mind, including insights from metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of language. This relates to empirical work in the cognitive sciences (psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics and robotics). Topics students explore include the mind-body relation, problem of other minds, creature and machine consciousness, the nature and causal efficacy of the mental, self-knowledge, mental representation, and embodied, embedded, extended, and enactive cognition. An emphasis is placed on critical examination of arguments for and against competing accounts of the mind. 

This course introduces students in the various topics that are related to business administration so that students have basic knowledge for the more specialized courses in marketing, organization, finance, strategy, supply chain management, and accounting. The course is centered around a real-life management simulation: Market Place live.

The course introduces the fundamental principles of biochemistry that are essential for all life science disciplines. It covers the importance of water, structure-function relationships of biomolecules (including amino acids, proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and nucleic acids), the biochemical logic of the metabolic pathways, and an overview of metabolism with emphasis on how biomolecules interconvert into each other.

This course analyzes the theoretical perspectives of international politics as well as the challenges of the contemporary global agenda, considering the interests of nation-states It. contrasts the causes, development, and consequences of international conflicts, considering the interaction between the actors involved.