English

The course covers key statistical methods and data analytic techniques most relevant to finance. Hands-on experience in analyzing financial data in the “R” environment is an essential part of the course. The course includes a selection of the following topics: obtaining financial data, low- and high-frequency financial time series, ARCH-type models for low-frequency volatilities and their simple alternatives, Markowitz portfolio theory and the Capital Asset Pricing Model, concepts and  practices in machine learning as applied in financial forecasting, Value at Risk. The course covers classification techniques using random forests and simple trading strategies if time permits.

This course examines the meaning and role of critique in the social sciences. It focuses on various theoretical conceptions of critique and the application of critique in different fields of research across the social sciences. Through a combination of lectures and discussions, the course develops the skill of criticizing social problems or pathologies and uses this skill in research across disciplines in investigations of the social world. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course provides theoretical concepts and managerial tools to (a) understand and analyze the main models underlying organizational behavior and people management; (b) develop and increase critical skills in decision making through the analysis of the impact of theories; c) identify problem solving approaches through discussion of case studies. Furthermore, this course intends to develop and practice teamwork skills by examining complex situations, identifying common action plans, and coming up with solution during projects. The course consists of three main subjects. The first subject is on the individual in organizations. Topics in this section include: individual differences: personalities and skills; definition of personality; the big five model; the most relevant personality traits; personality assessment; the nature and relationship of values, attitudes, moods, and emotions; job satisfaction and potential consequences; motivation at work, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation; why people act the way they act, motivational theories; and goal setting, performance assessment, compensation, and career management as motivational tools. The second subject is on group and team processes. Topics in this section include: work groups; different kinds of work teams and the 5-stage development model; team characteristics and effectiveness; how to measure team effectiveness; team dysfunctional processes; and virtual teams. The last subject is on power, politics, and conflicts. Topics in this section include: sources of individual formal and informal power; politics as the exercise of power in organizations; conflict in organizations; sources of conflict in organizations; Pondy's model of organizational conflict; and tactics to handle conflict in organizations.

In this course, students look closely at one point in the very distant past and at the early origins of Western civilization, at Homer and the Greeks, at ancient Greek language and culture, at its strange and yet (as we shall see!) familiar words, its structure and its thought. Homer and the ancient Greeks are part of our world, our language, our thought, and our lives. If you are studying chemistry or English, history, economics, or maths, and want to know why the past, Greek, and the Greek culture matter, this Trinity Elective is the course for you.

This course introduces major themes in environmental history along with the historical study of the mutual influences of humans and the environment. After critically evaluating how the discipline of environmental history has developed, lectures and discussions focus on topics such as disease, agriculture, gender, and modern environmental problems. The course combines lectures with research assignments to understand how a historian approaches such a topic concerning the environment. 

Subsequent to Public Economics I, Public Economics II continues to analyze market failure and the function of the government, specifically what the government should do in a market economy. This course covers the basic principle of public economics, especially the role of the government and the rationale for the policy, in a framework of applied microeconomics. The course teaches the standard approach of public economics, which is the foundation of economic analysis in any policy issue. 

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In the 1950s, Noam Chomsky revolutionized the study of linguistics by treating language as something produced by the human brain. From this change in perspective, the study of language became an indirect way of studying the human mind. In addition to opening new ways to approach the subject, this change also built a foundation for doing linguistics as a science. Grammar is seen not as a known set of rules that people need to study to learn but rather as the rules that result from the human mind trying to make sense of the language it is exposed to. This course looks at three sub-areas of linguistics from this perspective: morphology (the study of word structure), phonetics (the study of the physical sounds of language), and phonology (the study of the structure of sounds in language).

The course provides students with a framework for understanding and analyzing the key issues involved in developing marketing strategy and conducting marketing operations on an international scale. At the heart of the course is the tension between standardization and adaptation and implications for the marketing mix.

This course explores how British food has evolved across the centuries. It studies a few of the current food-related issues that are relevant today in the United Kingdom through various analyses of texts, film extracts, menus, maps, and statistics. The course provides the opportunity to reconsider stereotypes to gain a better understanding of British food.

This course highlights the development of Buddhist thought in Japan. Founded in India in the fifth century BCE, Buddhism was brought to Japan via China and Korea in the sixth century CE. Due to the influence of local structures and beliefs, Buddhism in Japan acquired some features which make it distinct from other forms of Buddhism in East and Southeast Asia. Concretely, this course examines the Buddhist teachings that had been influential in Japan at one time in the past; trace the interaction of Buddhism with other religions such as Shinto during the premodern period and shed light on the process of its development and transformation into the modern age.