English

Linear algebra is an essential tool to handle multi-component quantities. It is used not only in mathematics but also in natural and social sciences. This course provides basic notions and understanding of linear algebra such as vectors and matrices. 

This course provides a comprehensive exploration of the principles and applications of building energy systems. The course is for students in engineering and architecture, focusing on the intersection of energy efficiency, electrical systems, and building design. Topics include building energy analysis, psychrometrics, steady state and seasonal analysis, electricity supply system, electrical services in buildings, lightning protection.

This course provides a comparative introduction to the topic of political authoritarianism. Authoritarianism, understood as non-democratic governance, is one of the main scourges of modern politics. Though there was a wave of democratization following the collapse of the Soviet Union, authoritarianism has persisted in numerous guises, including the semi-authoritarian regimes that have developed in many of the so-called "democratizing" states. In gaining an understanding of contemporary authoritarianism, students will develop a more nuanced appreciation of the variety of different ways in which power can be exercised. 

This course establishes the foundation of a wide range of statistical learning methods. It aims to understand and utilize the fundamentals of various statistical learning models. 

The course covers:

• statistical learning;
• classical linear methods for regression and classification; 
• cross-validation;
• bootstrap; 
• modern linear methods;
• nonlinear methods; 
• tree-based methods;
• support vector machines;
• unsupervised learning;
• neural networks, and
• deep learning. 

These topics are the basics of statistical learning, but the core of machine learning. By the end of this course, students will have easier access to and understanding of deep learning and artificial intelligence.

The course requires the following prerequisites: 

• Python Basic – this course assumes a basic knowledge of Python
• STAT 241: Matrix Theory or Linear Algebra - provides a computational foundation for understanding statistical models.
• STAT 232: Mathematical Statistics- knowledge of probability theory and asymptotic evaluations. 

The course demonstrates the reasons for the collapse of the communist system in the Soviet Union and its consequences, with a specific focus on Russia and the Baltic states; the geopolitical consequences of the demise of the Soviet Union, and the subsequent reordering of global economic and geopolitical space; the nature of socio-economic changes in the region in the 1990s, and how different social groups responded to them; cultural change, with a focus on identity politics, gender and ethnicity; the political management of ethno-culturally diverse territories, and the renegotiation of national and ethnic identities; and the importance of the region for Europe as a whole, including a focus on Russia and the Baltic states' relations with the new enlarged Europe.

This course provides an exploration of the relationship to Eastern European Jewishness, both secular and religious, from the end of the 18th century to the present, marked by profound social, economic, political, and cultural transformations. The complex relationship between all of them reflects on the evolutions of Jewish singularity, paradigmatic to other minorities. This interdisciplinary course introduces a modern encounter between Jews, societies, and States, both in culture and politics, including the consequences of the Holocaust and its legacy in the present. It offers a precious key to understand the diversity of contemporary debates on singular versus universal rights, traditions versus modernity, rural versus urban cultures, religiousness versus secularity and beyond that, the condition of modernity in Europe. Olga Tokarczuk's Nobel Prize-winning book, THE BOOKS OF JACOB, is the focus of reflective, historical, and creative work throughout this course. The creative cartographies produced are presented to and potentially commented on by the author.

This course provides a conceptual and historical approach of nations, states, and nationalism in Europe from the late 19th century to the present. It examines the transnational dimension of European political frameworks and considers current political issues in the light of European history. The course fosters analytical distance and questions the nation-centered view of the world, familiarizes with the academic debates on nation-building and nationalism, and examines the historical processes and steps that have led to the success of the national category.

This course explores the current state of play in EU platform regulation and the societal developments to which it responds. It covers the most important current issues in platform governance, including topics such as harmful social media content, platform labor, competition in digital markets, and the “platformization” of media and culture. It also explores and analyzes how EU law is responding to these issues, in areas such as data protection and competition law as well as sector-specific regulations targeting platforms, like the just-passed Digital Services Act. While the course focuses on legal issues, a legal background is not essential, as the focus is on how the EU is aiming to address concrete policy issues rather than on technical/doctrinal questions. The course encourages thinking in a critical and interdisciplinary manner. Rather than simply attributing social changes to technological developments, it encourages thinking about how platform companies' technology and business practices interact with and influence broader social and political trends. To this end, class sessions focus on discussing the assigned reading and helping students formulate and share their own opinions on each week's topics.

Old English was the language spoken and preserved in written texts up to the mid-eleventh century CE in the regions of the British Isles. It developed from the languages spoken by Germanic peoples coming to Britain from the continental mainland and presents the earliest precursor of Modern English. This course focuses on Old English texts written in verse, exploring their themes, styles, meanings, and the challenges of dealing with a language surviving only in a small number of often unique and damaged manuscripts. Texts read include heroic poetry, such as Beowulf, elegies, as well as Old English versions of Biblical texts. The focus of the readings is on the question of how such texts portray concepts of gender, how they construct but also deconstruct gender roles, and how they relate to gender theory in the 21st century. Students are introduced to the grammar and pronunciation of Old English and use their knowledge to work with the original texts alongside Modern English translations.

This course covers sources of and obstacles to economic growth and development in Asian economies, focusing on the role of innovation, internationalization of firms, industrial clusters, institutions (including political institutions), and social capital. Each topic entails a review of basic theory and empirical evidence from growth theory, international economics, development economics, economic geography, economics of institutions, or network science; then an examination of Asian experiences. Classes consist of class discussions and presentations.