English

This course deals with advanced sedimentology from a temporal and spatial perspective. Development of sedimentary basins, and their sedimentary infill is treated with emphasis on depositional processes/environments and resultant stratigraphic architecture.

This course on global health examines the economic, geographic, social and demographic factors of the distribution of disease and mortality in the world. It looks at the main indicators for measuring health, including the relationship between health and poverty and between inequality and poverty. Other topics include: the origins, impact, efficiency and sustainability of primary world health systems; political economy of health systems; economic policies and their impact on global health; global health risks and prevention policies.

This is a non-synchronous online course taught in English. This course aims to inspire students’ interests in numerical computation regarding epidemiology and biostatistic, cultivating students’ critical thinking and logic in programming. The course expects to facilitate students’ research in biostatistics, epidemiology, or related quantitative fields and build students’ further understanding of quantitative epidemiology and biostatistics.

In most biostatistics courses, instructors usually introduce theoretical models and then analyze data with statistical software such as SAS and R. However, there is a black box between these two parts. To link statistical theory to software output, this course introduces the numerical computation process involved in statistical models. The course instructs on matrix operations, numerical analyses, Monte Carlo simulations, etc. The course also teaches how to construct a log-likelihood function according to a statistical distribution; obtain maximum likelihood estimates from a logistic regression and a Poisson regression; find exact confidence intervals, and design Monte Carlo simulations for a given research topic, etc.

Prerequisite: At least one course in biostatistics (or statistics) or epidemiology. 

 

This course provides an introduction to basic elements of animal behavior and application of ethology (i.e. the study of animal behavior) in relation to livestock farming and keeping of domestic animals. Furthermore, it provides an understanding of how different types of behavior are affected by management and the external environment to enable assessment of these factors on animal welfare. Topics include: domestication; behavior and physiology; motivation; factors controlling behavior; learning and cognition; normal and abnormal behavior in selected farm animal species; human-animal relations; and behavioral variables as welfare indicators.

This course examines Spanish culture and society today through a study of its history and art. Topics include: Paleolithic, Neolithic, and Metal Age; Iberians and Celts; Roman Empire; Visigoths; Islam and Al Andalus; Christian kingdoms; late Middle Ages and Catholic Monarchs; empire of Charles I; Bourbons in Spain; Enlightenment; colonization and independence of American colonies; first and second republics; Franco dictatorship and transition to democracy; Spain and the European Union.

This course examines the economic problems of developing countries by utilizing economic theories and their applications. It covers both macroeconomic and microeconomic approaches to development economics; an overview of growth theories and their potential in explaining income differences across countries; various facets of human development, including poverty, nutrition, health, education, institutions, culture, and history.

This courses provides a foundation for statistical and probabilistic concepts based on mathematical tools. It explores how to apply statistical concepts to solve real-world problems. Topics include axioms of probability, random variables, the most important discrete and continuous probability distributions, expectation, moment generating functions, conditional probability and conditional expectations, multivariate distributions, some limit theorems.

The development of new technology and innovation plays an increasingly important role in enhancing the competitiveness of countries, firms and individuals. This course describes the development of technology and innovation from social and business perspectives. It covers the technology side of innovations, how an invention can be developed into a successful commercial product, the role of innovation in society and how innovations are created from a socioeconomic perspective. It highlights that successful development and adoption of innovative products relies not only on the technology itself but also a complex process that is subject to the impact of cultural, political, economic and managerial factors. Assessment: Class participation (10%), midterm exam (25%), group project (25%), and final exam (40%).