Italy

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. This course focuses on the linguistic theory related to the coding of the linguistic message into sounds, particularly the fundamentals of articulatory/acoustic phonetics and segmental/suprasegmental phonology. In particular, students are able to analyze the phonetic and phonological aspects of a language or linguistic variety from different perspectives: synchronic, diachronic, sociolinguistic, and acquisitional. Students analyze phenomena of phonetic and phonological disruption in pathological speech; and set up autonomously theoretical and experimental research in the fields outlined above. Topics include: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, form and substance of the signifier; and the development of phonetic/phonological competence during childhood.

This course explores central philosophical questions about the nature of science knowledge, its methodology, and the objects it studies. The course is split into two parts. In the first, the course traces the co-development of science from proto-science in Ancient Greece through to the Scientific Revolution and beyond, and associated accounts of scientific methodology in philosophy, from Aristotle’s theory of demonstration to Karl Popper’s falsificationism and Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm shifts. Here the course encounters questions such as: What constitutes scientific progress? Can scientific theories ever be proved correct? And, how is science different from non-sciences? In the second part, the course looks at four important questions within contemporary philosophy of science: (i) Are scientists committed to the actual truth of their theories? (ii) What are scientific models, and how important are they? (iii) What is the replication crisis within science, and what’s causing it? (iv) What challenge is posed by science denialism in society?

This is a graduate level course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. There are two versions of this course; this course, UCEAP Course Number 180B and Bologna course number 75074, is associated with the LM in Sociology and Social Work degree programme. The other version, UCEAP Course Number 180A and Bologna course number 81779, is associated with the LM in Language, Society, and Communication degree programme. The course focuses on different notions of globalization, and how information technologies affect everyday life, markets, and the process of consumption. Emphasis is placed on a sociological reading of globalization, i.e. understanding the internet culture and the relationship between globalization and web society. Students analyze the impact on individual behaviors and society at large within social networks and online communities through the mainstreaming of private information posted to the public sphere. The course addresses the emergence of a new rhetoric concerning democratization and participation in the web society, the changing relationship between producers, consumers, and prosumers in the web society and the consequences and effects of the Digital Divide nationally and worldwide.

The course examines current theoretical models of defining complex trauma and developmental trauma, as well as the main assessment and intervention tools. The course reviews developmental trauma contexts, brain development in relation to trauma, classification systems, assessment of developmental trauma, and current intervention proposals. The course provides theoretical knowledge about the major adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and, in particular, traumatic developmental conditions involving the parental caregiving system. The role of family dynamics and attachment patterns in the context of traumatic developmental frameworks is explored, and implications for relational development, self, affect regulation and, subsequently, parental function are presented. The course addresses: the definition of the constructs of complex trauma and early relational trauma; current positions and diagnostic classification systems; the clinical frameworks; the context of assessment and tools for the assessment of early relational trauma and developmental trauma; and intervention programs, with an emphasis on developmental interventions. The course requires students to have previous knowledge of the main constructs of Dynamic Psychology and Developmental Psychology, theories and tools of psychological assessment in childhood and adolescence, the theoretical and technical basis of psychological interviewing in developmental age and with parents, some knowledge of the neuro-biological basis of development and behavior, and some aspects of research methodology and data analysis in developmental and clinical settings as prerequisites.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. At the end of the course the student is able to evaluate the scientific basis of Earth’s past climate system, identify past states of the climate system that offer the closest analogs to the climates of the coming decades, and appreciate the scientific context for the long view on a warming world, based on the recognition of natural, past climate variability rather than mathematical models of future potential scenarios. The course consists of two modules. Module I focuses on pre-Quaternary examples of global climate changes, including quantitative methods for the study of past global changes, examples of rapid climate changes in the geological past, and the relationships between geodynamics, paleogeography, and climate. Module II focuses on climate variability during the Quaternary (glacial and post-glacial), with emphasis on the high-resolution signature of climate change in the stratigraphic record on millennial to centennial timescales, from quantitative dating methods to climate proxies.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. This course introduces the main concepts of Python and its use in economic and econometric analyses. In particular, the course focuses on: 1) data types: definitions and use; 2) pandas; 3) basic programming structures (loops, if,...); 4) a primer on classes; and 5) applications to economics and econometrics.

The course discusses research on the dynamics of peer interactions, their impact on multiple aspects of social development, and the risk factors and consequences of peer difficulties in childhood and adolescence. In particular, the course emphasizes the importance of peer relationships for emotional competence, psychological well-being, and achievement. The course reviews how individual characteristics interact with family, group, and contextual factors throughout development to shape social behavior. Each topic is presented with a brief theoretical overview, measures and methods used in research, research findings and implications, and future directions. The course discusses topics including conceptual origins of peer research; overview of concepts and methods of assessment of peer relations; individual characteristics, contextual factors, and peer interactions; group dynamics and their effects on peer relations; and methodological issues in studying peer relations. The course requires students to have basic knowledge of developmental social psychology and research methods as a prerequisite.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. This course focuses on the awareness of the information and communication technologies (ICTs) and of their socio-economic impacts; awareness of main issues pertaining to the regulation of ICTS; knowledge of emerging aspects of European ICT Law; awareness the basic principles and issues on e-government, e-governance, and e-democracy; knowledge of the legal regulation of ICTs in the Europe; and awareness the Digital Agenda for Europe framework. The course discusses risks and opportunities of ICTs and addresses legal issues pertaining to ICTs in a European and comparative perspective. The course is divided into two parts. Part one is on Computable Law: legal retrieval systems, man-made models, and machine learning systems. Part two is on legal issues of AI and autonomous systems.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. The course provides advanced knowledge on US foreign policy from 1945 until the election of Donald Trump. Examining the role of the United States within the international system, at the end of the course students are able to: describe the different historical phases of US foreign policy; detect the multiple political, geopolitical, and economic factors that have affected the development of US foreign policy; analyze the transitional moments and the turning points in the evolution of US foreign policy; and understand the link between domestic and foreign policy. The course examines the history of United States foreign relations – broadly defined – from the end of second world war to the election of Donald Trump. Examining the US role and place in the world, specific questions are raised and discussed, including: what triggered the American hegemonic rise; how do we conceptualize the response to the deployment of America’s multifaceted global power; and how do we investigate the connection between domestic politics and foreign policy choices? The course considers the impact of the political, geopolitical, and economic transformations of the past century on the foreign policy choices and particular attention is paid to specific turning points and transition moments (i.e.: the modernization policy of the Sixties, the crisis of the Seventies, the end of the Cold War, 9/11, and the war on terrorism). After a broad introductory lecture on the origins of United States foreign policy, the course follows a chronological pattern. Historiographical debates and issues are also thoroughly discussed and examined, starting from the current debate on the end of the American century.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. There are two versions of this course; this course, UCEAP Course Number 152A and Bologna course number 90543, is associated with the LM in Sociology and Social Work degree programme. The other version, UCEAP Course Number 152B and Bologna course number 93217, is associated with the LM in Geography and Territorial Processes degree programme.

At the end of the course, students are able to: have a general overview of international migrations, their main interpretative models, and some related issues; and manage the main concepts for the study of migrations, without limiting to the classic economy and the demography ones, but paying attention also to some most recent approaches. The course provides the main conceptual and analytical tools for a sociological analysis of migrations, presenting the most accredited interpretation models, the most recent trends, and the social impact of this phenomenon in the Mediterranean area. The first part of this course considers the figure of the stranger and the interaction models with society as it emerges from the classical sociological debate (Simmel, Park, Thomas). The second part introduces the contemporary debate on international migrations and the interpretation models of this phenomenon from different disciplines. Special attention is given to: 1. theoretical contributions from the Chicago School of sociology in the 1920s; 2. considering migrations as a "total social fact," according to the Algerian sociologist A. Sayad; and 3. interethnic and cohabitation relations in urban settings. During the Laboratory experts and workers of the socio-sanitary field present their professional experience, in order to enlarge the debate with students about the main issues of the course of sociology of migrations.