English

Biomechanics, as a growing field of engineering, has many applications in the health and sport sectors. This broad field of study includes the design of artificial implants, the development of human tissues in the lab, the measurement of human movement and the detection and treatment of pathological conditions, the understanding of the performance of our muscles and how to employ it in sport, the diagnosis of injuries, the imaging of biological tissues and the detection of their pathological state, etc. In this course, the fundamental principles of biomechanics and their application to real life situations will be covered including: basic understanding of the application of mechanical principles in biology, understanding of anatomical and biomechanical terminology, application of biomechanical principles to human movement, basic understanding of the mechanical properties of biological tissues and the techniques used to determine them, and more recent advanced topics such as mechanics of cells, tissue imaging and tissue engineering. Participants should have successfully completed courses in engineering mechanics and materials science and possess knowledge on programming software.

This course develops theoretical and empirical understanding of spatial economic processes in order to study and evaluate a wide range of issues and policies. Particular emphasis is put on regional economies, business and worker location decisions, focusing in particular on models of the location of economic and innovation activity with a particular emphasis on regional economies. The course analyzes the New Economic Geography theories and the agglomeration of economic activity, with a particular focus on EU integration as a testing ground. Students also look at the global and local knowledge economy, focusing on core aspects of a society based on knowledge and technical progress and how this proceeds hand in hand with the enlargement of markets and the intensification of exchange. Students explore the seeming contradiction that geographically localized knowledge may be increasingly significant just as so much of our world becomes more globalized.

This lecture provides the basics of areodynamics of bluff bodies, ground vehicles and buildings. The focus is on passenger cars. The students will be enabled to analyze and identify sources of aerodynamics forces for these objects in order to improve performance, reduce energy consumption or to incease passenger comfort. The methods include wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulation (CFD). The students will be trained in reading and summarizing scientific publications through presentations.

The course deals with flows around blunt (bluff) bodies, which either move along the ground (e.g. automobiles, trucks, trains) or lie stationary in the path of a flow (e.g. buildings). The content include: - Introduction to the aerodynamics of blunt bodies. - Fundamental mechanisms for lift and drag of automobiles. - Methods of reducing drag by means of lift production. - Aspects to the design of automobiles taking into account the flow around and through the body. - Overview of numeric and experimental methods of investigation. - Introduction of the aerodynamics of high-speed trains - Introduction to aerodynamics of buildings and environment Experiments with a 25% scaled car model will be carried out in the large wind tunnel of the TU-Berlin.

This course provides students with a fundamental understanding of the chemistry and materials science principles related to Bioengineering. It covers the main functional groups in organic molecules, their roles in building more complex structures and functionalizing surfaces; the main techniques for identifying and characterizing engineered molecules; the foundations of classical thermodynamics and applications in biomedical engineering and molecular sciences; chemical kinetics, Fick's laws and steady state diffusion; and the wet lab skills of students, including preparing a range of biomaterials and practice with the main techniques used for classifying such materials.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course provides in-depth and critical knowledge of Air and Space Law and the International Treaties which govern the sectors. In order to analyze the matter also under a practical perspective, an important part of the course is devoted to the analysis of the relevant case-law in the sector. The examination of case law will include not only specific Air and Space Law law issues, but also competition matters such as state aid and abuse of dominant position with reference to aviation and space sectors. Topics include: Air Navigation Authorities and International bodies; Air Navigation Services in the European and International Context. The 1944 Chicago Convention; Access to the European Air Transport market and the liberalization of the latter. Code sharing agreements and frequent flyer programs.; The contract of carriage by air of passengers (Montreal Convention 1999; EC Regulations 2027/97 and 2002/889); General principles of Space Law; The legal status of spacecraft including their registration (registration of space objects and jurisdiction and space legislation at EU level) and liability for damage caused by space activities; Representation of the European Space Programmes and major responsibilities of the main European bodies (EU, ESA, EUSPA); Italian Space Governance and decision-making process for space policy and legal instruments in Italy.

This course examines the history of the peoples of the Pacific Islands from their initial settlement of Oceania to the present day. It covers Pacific Islanders’ colonization of the region, and Pacific Islanders’ progressive involvement in the emerging global economy following sustained contact with Europe and Asia.

This course explores the intersection between food cultures and food politics, emphasizing the pivotal debates and discussions that have shaped French culinary traditions. It delves into how food serves as a medium for studying urban transformations, global interactions, and the evolution of national identity. The course examines how food has been a tool for constructing community and belonging, as well as exclusion. Through a combination of interdisciplinary readings, analytic and ethnographic writing assignments, and immersive excursions around Paris, the course considers the role of food in structuring identities, everyday practices, and political landscapes in modern France.

This seminar course will engage with key readings and positions in the wider field of anthropology of ethics and morality as they have been shaped and discussed within and beyond anthropology. We shall be engaged in critical readings of programmatic texts and different kinds of approaches, focusing in particularly on the readings of ethnographies (as articles, or key chapters). Readings will include work on the ‘ethnography of moralities’, and particularly approaches focusing on the workings of ethics in ordinary everyday life (e.g. Lambek, Das, Keane, Fassin), as well as the anthropology of Islam (e.g. Mahmood; Hirschkind; Marsden, Schielke), and overall conceptual approaches (e.g. Laidlaw; Faubion). We may also engage with earlier writings (to grasp the history of intellectual trajectories), and with particular writings on human sharing, suffering and persevering, trying to assess what we can gain from here. Critical readings of these approaches and their critical reception, particularly within the field of interpretive and existentialist anthropology, will guide our course discussions – which seek to address aspects of ethnographic description and critical conceptualization in a balanced manner. Thereby, we will also pursue recent questions about the integration of ethical perspectives and/or moral universes from the global South into theorizing (asking how much/ how far this may have been done); and we will consider decolonial demands for theory to work with and be built on concepts from the global South (e.g. Menon 2022). Which kind of concepts, and what kind of writers from there could enrich, enhance, or re-focus recent approaches and debates in an adequate manner? These are open questions, for critical and open-minded engagements in close readings.

This course focus on advanced spatial analysis using GIS/Geoinformatics and Remote Sensing. It provides an understanding of the relevant theories and methodologies necessary to select appropriate strategies within the broad context of urban and regional geography. The course discusses the theoretical background and tries out the practical implementation in a number of practical exercises. Topics include GIS and Geoinformatics for urban applications, high resolution remote sensing, spatial analysis, spatial optimization, spatial statistics, and general knowledge of Geodata. 

In this course, the fundamentals of Python are covered, with a special focus on the skills necessary for in-depth data analyses and data visualization. These two skills are fundamental in a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and Humanities fields of study. This course will cover the following: data types and compound data structures, conditional statements and loops, Python functions, importing, exporting and analyzing different types of data using pandas, visualizing data using Matplotlib and Seaborn, and developing interactive plots with Plotly. At the end of the two weeks course, students will work and present a final personal data analytics and visualization project.