English

This course aims to  understand issues in global health and to utilize econometric methodologies to improve health policies in one's own countries. The first half of this course discusses global health/health systems reforms in the Asia-Pacific Region while the second half introduces impact evaluation by presenting a detailed analysis of quantitative research underlying recent program evaluations and case studies. This course works extensively with Stata.

Students are required to have basic knowledge on statistics and econometrics.

This course examines the major influences on and developments in feminist theory and gender and sexuality studies up to the present day. Among the topics considered are: gender and sexual difference and diversity, sexual politics and sexuality, the relationships between gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and class, and postmodernism and post-feminism. These topics are explored in a global and cross-cultural context, through close engagement with the writings of key thinkers in the field.

The course covers commodities markets with a primary focus on agriculture, metals and minerals and energy and chemicals. It focuses on fundamental concepts and terminology necessary for understanding commodity production, transportation, economics and marketing. Students learn about trading technology trends and innovation and look into sustainability challenges and legal aspects.

This course explores the city of Barcelona from a historic, artistic, literary, and cinematographic perspective. Topics include: the roman city; the Gothic Quarter; a bohemian and modernist city; a global city-- Universal Exposition, Olympic Games, and Universal Forum of Cultures.

This course provides an in-depth analysis of a central area of psychology known variously as individual differences or differential psychology. Students build on several key areas of psychology that show substantial individual differences including personality, psychopathology, intelligence, and cognition. Students then explore the proposed causes and effects of these individual differences drawing from research using approaches from psycho-dynamics to behavioral genetics. Finally, they explore the evidence behind several key controversies in individual differences including the continuum between personality and mental health, the nature vs nurture debate, race differences in intelligence, and genetic determinism.

This course provides interchanging discussions between media, communication, and sustainability issues. It examines sustainability issues in relation to media and communication theory to grasp strategies to encourage organizational or social behavior change. At the beginning of the semester, the course offers a theoretical framework of media and sustainability communication. Later in the course, students present a paper project on sustainability communication strategies in given sustainability issues.

This course introduces the concept of modelling dependence and focuses on discrete-time Markov chains. Topics include discrete-time Markov chains, examples of discrete-time Markov chains, classification of states, irreducibility, periodicity, first passage times, recurrence and transience, convergence theorems and stationary distributions. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course covers the basics of “traditional” microeconomics, the so-called “price theory:” the analysis of the perfect competition and its application. This course covers: market, demand, supply and the equilibrium; consumer behavior and utility maximization; firm behavior and profit maximization; market failure (imperfect competition, imperfect information, externality, and public goals) and economic policy; taxes and subsidies, income distribution, etc. 

This course studies economists' way of viewing, explaining, and predicting the world, focusing on microeconomics principles that demonstrate the decision making of individuals, including consumer, firm and individual industry. It emphasizes applications and polices rather than formal economic theory. 

Students learn how to convert raw materials into useful products through conventional and advanced manufacturing processes. The course covers the appropriate manufacturing pathways for producing specific products. Topics include an introduction to manufacturing, metal casting, powder metallurgy and processing, bulk deformation processing, sheet metalworking, machining, cutting tool technology, welding, and additive manufacturing.

Our conceptions of Japan are, like those of any country, shaped not only by our firsthand experiences but also by the images we see in the media, talk about with our friends, and hold in our thoughts. This course focuses on common images of Japanese culture and society—including artistic tropes, pervasive ideologies, and stereotypes—from the Meiji Period until contemporary times. Through contextual analysis of historical and contemporary media representations of Japanese culture or society (for example, advertisements and works of art), the course aims to build students’ critical engagement with the images they encounter in their daily lives. Each course positions these images in the context of global exchange, focusing on the interactions between understandings of Japan domestically and abroad. Students will be encouraged to apply the ideas discussed in class to familiar cultural texts, culminating in the production of a video or photo essay that examines a common idea about Japan today.