English

This course focuses on educating future data analysts. In comparison to other courses dealing with machine learning or data analysis, the focus of this course is on the peculiarities of processing large amounts of data - that is, on Big Data. The course is relevant for students from the studies of Computer Science, Cognition and IT, Bioinformatics, Physics, Statistics, and other areas of quantitative studies. The course covers a selection of the following list: fundamentals of data mining; online and large-scale machine learning; programming paradigms for large-scale data analysis; mining of streaming data; data analysis on (massively-)parallel platforms. Students obtain knowledge on: the general principles of data mining; the theoretical concepts underlying large-scale data analysis; common pitfalls in large-scale data analysis; how to apply efficient algorithms for analyzing large-scale data sets; using programming paradigms for large-scale data analysis; using software tools for large-scale data analysis; identifying and handling common pitfalls in data analysis. Prerequisites: Machine Learning or a similar course; knowledge of basic calculus and statistics is required. Participants should also have knowledge of basic programming and programming languages (in particular Python) or should be willing to spend extra study time to get familiar with the required programming skills.

This course examines the creation of early modern texts c.1490-1603, focusing on the means by which texts in different genres communicate with the reader. It also seeks to create context through interdisciplinary material, especially in terms of science and philosophy. The course demonstrates the generic breadth of writing in this period, and the way in which the investigation and articulation of individual identity is informed by society, literature, and the sciences. What makes us what we are? What informs the ways in which we express ourselves?

This multidisciplinary class deals with dystopian visions in literature, painting, film, television and political discourse both past and present. The course successively covers the main themes and concerns of these various schools of dystopia—including far-right and far-left politics, populism and demagoguery, fear of new technologies, fear of government censorship, dark anti-feminist visions of the future, fear of the growing need for conformity and political correctness, fear of growing crime and violence, etc. This class seeks to contradict the vision that dystopian art is strictly a Western concept by including key examples from Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. In addition, student projects further expand the scope of the class into other cultures. For in-class presentations, four students are given a general theme related to dystopia and asked to present four works on that theme from various cultures and countries of origin (a work of literature, a painting, a film or television series and a current political debate), carefully drawing a connection between them. Required reading includes WE by Eugene Zamyatin, ANTHEM by Ayn Rand, BRAVE NEW WORLD by Aldous Huxley, PLAYER PIANO by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., THE CHILDREN OF MEN by P.D. James, THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy, and THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood.

This course introduces students to spoken and written French. It is delivered through two 90-minute sessions per week on campus, blended with an on-line component that uses up-to-date methodology and extensive multimedia materials. It is open to beginners or near beginners.

Sex and sexuality are core dimensions of social life. Sociologists have long investigated how sex captures and reflects social norms and practices. This course introduces core concepts in the theoretical, empirical and anatomical approaches to the sociology of sex. Topics include, but are not limited to, sexual identities, sexual practice and sex as a manifestation of power

This course covers the opportunities and challenges associated with managing employees in international and cross-cultural contexts, with specific emphasis on international recruitment, selection, preparation, placement, management development, performance management, reward, and remuneration in international, multi-national, and trans-national corporations. The course considers the implications of internationalization and globalization for human resource management (HRM), the difference between domestic and international HRM, and the challenges of cross-cultural management.

The course gives students insight to a number of topics that are analyzed from the perspective of different linguistic disciplines: grammar (lexical semantics, morphology), psycholinguistics, language acquisition, anthropological linguistics, and typology. Students consider the following: what is the lexicon; what is a word; how are words and their meanings represented in the brain or mental lexicon; how is lexical knowledge acquired; what is the relation between culture and lexicon. Students apply different empirical methods and take a comparative perspective where possible (starting with Dutch and English but also with attention to other European languages and other language families). Specific topics of this course include the meaning of derivational morphemes and complex words, semantic fields, linguistic relativity, and lexical universals.