English

This course takes an in-depth view of organic chemistry using structures and reactivities exhibited by important molecules in everyday life. Students learn, refresh and cement key concepts in organic chemistry, particularly reactions involving polar mechanisms, and acquire knowledge and hands-on experience in molecular and structural characterization, while at the same time appreciating the intrinsic relevance of organic chemistry in existence and daily lives. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course analyses how institutions shape economics policies in modern democracies. The course covers the tools and looks at some of the frontier research in the field. Topics include collective choice and voting, political accountability, redistribution, media, immigration, and populism.

TBA

This course offers a study of stochastic processes. Topics include: discrete time Markov chains; renewal theory and Poisson process; continuous time Markov chains; Brownian motion. Pre-requisite: Probability 

The period from the accession of David I in 1124 to the death of David II in 1371 forged the modern nation of Scotland. This course considers the extent to which David I's feudal and economic innovations shaped Scotland. Students examine the influence of the Church on society and how religion was utilized to political advantage. The territorial expansion of Scotland is assessed. Students also examine Anglo-Scottish relations during the period and consider the lives of William Wallace and Robert Bruce.

This course introduces students to key theoretical debates that have emerged in the study of Scotland’s relationship with the film and television industries. Important questions include: Who is responsible for constructing Scotland’s identity onscreen? How are Scotland and Scottishness depicted? Why do certain representations dominate over others? The course begins by exploring "Hollywood Scotland," concentrating on the commercial cinematic representation of Scotland and Scottishness found in Mel Gibson’s BRAVEHEART (1995). This is then contrasted with a more local construction of Scotland found in the long running television show TAGGART (ITV, 1983-2011). The class concludes by considering filmmaking in contemporary Scotland, first through contemplation of the importance of short films in the Scottish context, focusing in particular on the shorts and careers of Lynne Ramsay, Peter Mullan, and Morag McKinnon, and second through examination of the Scottish/Danish co-produced Advance Party initiative.

This course examines the nature of moral judgments, and how they are related to motivation, truth, and objectivity. It ask the question do moral judgments always accompany motivation to act in a certain way, how can moral judgments be true or false, and is morality relative or absolute? 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. Art and literature can be seen weaving around each other, influencing one and another, and being used as a tool to teach students about liberal arts and humanity; this course explores various ways in which words and images have interacted and shaped Italian culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is divided into two modules.

Module 1: Literature and Visual Culture explores the relations between the Italian novel and comic strip fiction between the 20th and 21st centuries, highlighting the fundamental role played by comics in the personal formation and creative activity of some writers. Tracing the development and diffusion of comic strip fiction in Italy starting from the second half of the 20th century, this module focuses in particular on how much the experience of comic strip readers influenced the narrative and non-fiction production of Italo Calvino and Umberto Eco, shaping their imagery and writing methods. The module analyzes and discusses interpretations of comic book characters and serial stories, as well as the different ways in which comics are incorporated into their texts.

Module 2: Literature and the Arts provides students with themes and areas for in-depth study: 1) the interaction between literature and photography; 2) the issue of the gaze in literature; 3) iconology, the visual turn and the pictorial turn; 4) literature and visual arts facing the crisis of modernity and postmodernity. In particular, the course delves into these specific forms of interaction between literature and photography: 1) the photographer as a character; 2) photography as a theme in literature; 3) photography as a way of writing or the role of photographic gaze in literature; 4) phototexts. At the end of the course, students are able to develop a general vision of the relationships between Italian Literature and other Arts, from the nineteenth century to nowadays, with a focus on painting. Students acquire knowledge on the most relevant works of literature which interact with images and they will be capable of analyzing critical, theoretical, and literary texts regarding visual arts.

This course provides students with the fundamental tools to understand financial decision-making in the modern corporation. Topics include: capital budgeting/corporate investment, capital structure, corporate sources of funding, dividend policy, corporate contingent claims for financial risk management. The course frames these topics within the standard theories of risk and return, valuation of assets, and market structure.

The course focuses on the following topics:

• Financial Planning and Analyzing financial performance
• Capital budgeting (NPV, IRR and payback period)
• Capital budgeting and risk (asset beta and equity beta)
• Financing decisions and the firm cost of capital
• Capital issuing (seasoned equity offers, IPOs and venture capital)
• Corporate risk management