English

The course gives an advanced treatment of structure-function relationships in proteins, and of new practical opportunities for the use of genome-wide analyses in dissecting regulation in biological systems. Gene and protein networks are also discussed. Topics include, post-genomic science; modes of specific recognition in mediating protein interactions and DNA/protein interaction; domains and functions; and protein engineering. Students complete a guided bioinformatics coursework. This assesses individual competencies and practical skills as each student individually will have to analyze separate datasets and develop own conclusions on the function of a gene/protein within a network through the analysis of databases and literature. 

This course examines Existentialism and Phenomenology in terms of their unique and considerable contributions to the Western, and particularly French, aesthetic tradition. Students examine views on art by some of the best-known modern theorists to gain understanding of the philosophical issues motivating French aesthetic thought at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Centuries. The course then covers a shift from a broadly existentialist view of literature to one influenced by the growing structuralist movement and reviews philosophical investigations of the arts in relation to theories of perception.  

Plants are continuously challenged by sometimes life-threatening changes in their environment. These can severely impact their development and even kill plants. Interestingly, plants can flexibly adjust their development to deal with these environmental changes. They can for example adjust root anatomy to resist drought, overall root architecture to forage for nutrients, and shoot architecture to escape from shade or submergence. In order to ascertain optimal development, plants have evolved a broad variety of mechanisms of developmental plasticity. This course discusses how plants control their development, how plants sense the environmental cues flooding and salinity, and how environmental signaling controls plant development through a combination of molecular genetics, physiology, and functional genomics.  This course combines lectures with hands-on practice in wet lab practicals and data labs. This includes practicing how to define research questions and hypotheses, how to design and perform experiments, how to collect and analyze data, and how to interpret results in the biological context. In the wet labs, learn how to carry out experiments with plants, such as treating plants with different light and water regimes, measuring phenotypic traits, and assessing molecular level changes to protein and mRNA. In the data labs, learn how to analyze large gene expression datasets using online databases to gain biological insight on how roots and shoot respond to changes in their environment. Assumed previous knowledge is plants and micro-organisms, and Plant Physiology and Development are required. Molecular Genetic Research Techniques (B-B2MGOT14) and Plants in Context (B-B2PICO21) are recommended.

In this course, students learn about vectors spaces, subspaces, bases, inner products, linear transformations, rank/nullity, matrices of linear maps, change of basis, eigenvalues/eigenvectors, Jordan normal form, diagonalization, and special classes of linear transformations and their matrices.

The course is concerned with the ways in which accounting information can assist 'internal' users (i.e. management) to make decisions and to plan and control organizational activities. Such 'management accounting' is relevant to all kinds of organizations. Although concentrated on accounting information, an important emphasis in the approach adopted in the course is the need to see the use of accounting in its organizational context and the effect it can have on human behavior. Various management accounting concepts are introduced and illustrated through practical examples of various numerical techniques. Alternative cost concepts are explored for both recording the costs of existing operations and for taking decisions about new opportunities. Special attention is given to cost-volume-profit analysis, product pricing, special decisions, and allocation decisions when resources are limited. In addition, the construction of budgets for planning and the use of standard costing and variance analysis for control are examined. The course also introduces the concept and design performance measurement systems in decentralized organizations.

This interdisciplinary course examines how gender and sexuality were experienced, represented, and contested in Weimar-era Germany (1918-1933). Drawing on a diverse array of primary sources - including theater, visual art, literature, film, and theoretical texts - students explore how marginalized individuals and communities navigated, expressed, and politicized their identities. Key topics include the emergence of sexual science and the conceptualization of the "third sex"; the proliferation of queer spaces, subcultures, and social movements in 1920s Berlin; intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, and disability; artistic and literary depictions of gender fluidity and erotic desire; medicalization, criminalization, and the state's response to gender/sexual nonconformity; the rise of fascism and the violent backlash against LGBTQ+ rights. Through close engagement with primary sources and cutting-edge scholarly work, students gain a nuanced understanding of the complex, often contradictory dynamics that defined gender and sexuality in Weimar Germany. This course equips students with the critical tools to analyze the interplay between cultural production, social movements, and the politics of identity.

This course broadens, and selectively deepens, students' understanding of finance, building on their existing knowledge of financial economics. The course covers a broad range of topics, with both a theoretical and an empirical emphasis. These include topics in investments and performance evaluation and international finance. The first component provides students with a way of thinking about investment decisions by examining the empirical behavior of security prices. Students study the empirical evidence of the CAPM and other asset pricing models, and then analyze different tests of market efficiency focusing on event studies and investment anomalies. They also study the main empirical findings in behavioral finance. They learn how to measure the performance of a portfolio manager and to attribute it to different types of skill. Finally, this section of the course introduces the foundations of international finance and explores issues related to international portfolio management.

This course focuses on applying linguistic theories to real-world contexts, examining the intricate connections between linguistic and non-linguistic phenomena. By analyzing these relationships at individual, societal, and global levels, students will explore how linguistic theories are utilized to understand and address complex issues, gaining insights into their practical relevance and broader impact. Students examine the evolution of language and linguistics, with emphasis on the processes of language development and decline. Students also apply a linguistic perspective to everyday contexts, including education, language policy, K-pop, and culture. 

This special topics data sciences course covers up-to-date research trends in prompt engineering and prompt engineering interactions with large scale language modeling. The course examines how prompt engineering significantly impacts the effectiveness of LLM-based applications and interactions with generative AI. 

Academic researchers, industry vendors, and practitioners have proposed many practical techniques and guidelines for building LLMs or applications on LLMs. In this course, students review concepts and techniques that can be used to guide the model in how to behave in a way that is aligned with users' preferences or perform a specific task. 

Topics include basic concepts of LLMs, Foundation model vs custom model, Fine tuning vs prompt tuning, Methods of prompt engineering, Agentic workflow, Integrating local preparatory knowledge bases, and more. 

This course introduces students to international marketing, focusing on the complexities of operating in diverse and unfamiliar environments. Students build knowledge of the international environment and the unique challenges facing international marketers, including increased scope, risk, and uncertainty. Students learn to identify and manage differences, opportunities, and threats across varied economic, demographic, political/legal, cultural, technical, and competitive environments. Students connect international issues to marketing decision-making at three levels: macro level, where country selection decisions are made; national level, where market entry decisions are considered; market level, where marketing mix decisions are implemented.