Italy

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The aim of this course is to obtain a general understanding of physical properties of stars and galaxies. At the end of the lectures the student is familiar with the equations that regulate the internal structure of the stars, the sources of energy production, the structure of stellar atmosphere, and the formation theory of the spectral lines. Students acquire a general knowledge of morphological, structural, and dynamical properties of stellar systems (stellar clusters, galaxies). Hence, students acquire the necessary bases to understand the structural and evolutionary properties of stars and galaxies. The course discusses topics including :astronomical data and tools; celestial mechanics and the solar system; radiative processes; classification of stars and stellar atmospheres; stellar interiors; stellar evolution; fate of massive stars and stellar remnants; the interstellar medium; star formation; origin of the solar system and extra-solar planets; galaxies and galaxy clusters; and cosmology and large scale structure.

This course offers an introduction to Italian culture and Florence's rich history and traditions through a hands-on approach. Florence is a complex city with many identities. It is known as the cradle of the Renaissance, but its structure was shaped in the middle ages, in the 19th century, and in recent times. It is an international place, visited by tourists from all around the world, but still maintains a sense of pride in its own traditions. In the Culture section of this course, students explore the city through a series of on-site lectures, understanding its structure and its development through the centuries up to today, discovering the significance of its beautiful monuments and the scars left by its fascinating history. The Language component of the course provides students the tools and skills to navigate the city and complete tasks in real-life situations and specific contexts. Through small-group works they acquire basic communicative structures and learn to react effectively to authentic communicative situations.

This course explores the complexities of multinational financial management, ranging from the management of foreign currency exposures (to determine a subsidiary’s capital structure or to value an investment in a risky country) to the managerial and environmental considerations that make multinational financial decision-making so challenging. Financial decision making in the multinational setting requires a sound understanding of: 1) the extension of traditional finance considerations to a more complex global setting (i.e. Exchange Rate Effects, Global CAPM); 2) how institutional constraints can create obstacles and opportunities for multinational firms (i.e. Opportunities created by different markets); 3) the managerial objectives that can often limit the relevance of traditional financial objectives or institutional opportunities. The framework developed in the course suggests how to balance these three relevant factors: complex financial incentives have to be integrated with institutional obstacles and opportunities and aligned with managerial objectives. The goal then offers both a clear framework and a set of operative tools to understand the relationship between multinational firms and international financial markets. The whole structure of the course is applied, involves several real-world cases that are discussed in class, and is oriented to develop capabilities to understand and use international finance methodologies and practices used around the world. The course requires students to have familiarity with basic topics of corporate finance and a basic knowledge of concepts like risk, return, capital structure, and the CAPM as a prerequisite.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course is divided in two modules. The aim of the first module is to provide knowledge about vehicle dynamics. Theoretical and numerical approaches are discussed to this end, as tools that allow students to predict the performance of cars in terms of longitudinal dynamics, lateral dynamics, handling, comfort, and stability. The aim of the second module is to provide the theoretical basis and the practical skills required to design embedded hardware and firmware compliant with industrial standards (safety, interoperability, maintainability). In addition, model-based design and automatic code generation using Matlab/Simulink is considered.

This introductory foundation course for beginners investigates the various materials, skills, and expressive issues involved in drawing the city of Florence, its architecture, sculptures, and the human figure from the live model. Students explore a range of compositional issues such as figure/ground relationships, light and shade, perspective, line and shape, value and color, texture, anatomy, contrapposto, and design.  Students draw on site in the city of Florence as well as in the classroom. Both are used in conjunction with exploring diverse approaches to the learning of drawing fundamentals. Emphasis is placed on drawing from perception while focusing on different cultural conventions relating to space, perspective, the human figure, architecture, anatomy, and proportion. The course includes trips to on-site locations in the city of Florence: its piazzas, gardens, museums, as well as a visit to an artist studio. There are two versions of the FOUNDATIONS OF DRAWING: DRAWING IN THE CITY OF FLORENCE, a beginner level and an intermediate level, this course is the beginning level.

The focus of this course is on how managers can enhance and sustain superior business performance by making sound strategic decisions. The course covers analytical and conceptual models that help in the development of business strategy. The course is designed to expose students to fundamental and advanced topics in business strategy and enable them to analyze business situations from the point of view of the practicing general manager. General managers engage in identifying opportunities and threats in the competitive environment, developing and allocating critical resources, and interacting with competitors. They also identify opportunities for forming strategic alliances and plan how to create and capture value from alliances, especially when collaborating with competitors. The course also studies how managers should negotiate alliance agreements and manage the firm’s alliance portfolio. The course recommends students have prior knowledge in functional areas of economics, marketing, finance, and operations management as a prerequisite.

The course offers a study of contemporary theories and best practices of gender mainstreaming in education; cultural facets of socialization to gender roles and how they interact with the organization of school and with hidden curriculum, also in an intersectional perspective; and comparing projects and actions in gender mainstreaming in education, both inside and outside the classroom. The course examines topics including: sociological perspectives on sex, gender, and sexual orientation; major theories and empirical research on socialization to gender roles; fender mainstreaming in education; anti-gender campaigns across European countries; and best teaching practices on gender mainstreaming in education in an intersectional perspective.

This course requires permission from the UCEAP Faculty Director to enroll. The course addresses four main topics (climate change and health, urbanization and health, water and health, and food and health) strictly linked to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 and related to distal and proximal determinants of health. The course provides the basis of systemic thinking for the improvement of surveillance programs, timely response to emergencies, and economic savings by applying the One Health (OH) approach. The course demonstrates the need for an integrated and cross-sectoral approach toward the achievement of the Agenda 2030 SDGs and provides basic knowledge on the main issues related to health at the human/animal/environment interfaces. The course asserts that health is a precondition, an outcome and an indicator of sustainable development.

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 aims to study classic topics in Public Economics and Policy, including taxation, education, and policy instruments but accounting for the shortcomings of the standard neoclassical model and supplementing the neoclassical treatment of these topics with insights from behavioral economics. The course begins each topic of the course with an introduction to the neoclassical treatment of the topic. The course then explores the implications of the neoclassical model and asks what identifies potential limitations of the assumptions of the standard model. The course then identifies a current public policy related to the topic and discusses how to analyze its effectiveness. The course covers both theoretical foundations in behavioral public economics and the design and testing of public policies. The course also highlights the link between theory and practice. The course achieves this with one or two guest lectures from individuals who span this divide between academia and real-world policy design. The course discusses topics include: introduction to behavioral public economics; theory of welfare; theory of policy interventions: taxation and nudges; health issues and policies; environmental issues and policies; savings and retirement; education and labor market (e.g., minimum wage policies, discrimination); and experimental design, RCTs, and policy evaluation. A solid foundation in microeconomics and applied mircoeconometrics is a prerequisite for attending the course.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. The course starts with introductions into the concept of monumentality and memory in archaeology. The topics are addressed and discussed into detail mainly using examples from Pharaonic Egypt (3000 B.C.E – 300 B.C.E.), a culture which is due to its long duration and the long-lasting traditions on the one hand, and the presence of a large monumental record, especially well suited as a case study. While the major focus is laid upon the emic perspective, presenting and interpreting processes within the Egyptian culture, the course also includes the etic perspective from antiquity until today. The course shows how ancient monumentality and the cultural memory are still being used and how they affected and still affect archaeology. Topics covered include: monumentality – What does it mean and why does it matter; an introduction to the concept of memory within archaeology; monuments of Pharaonic Egypt; what makes a monument a monument in Pharaonic Egypt, the concept of the monumental discourse; cities and residences as expressions of monumentality; the heydays of monumentalism: the pyramids of the Old Kingdom and the time of Ramesses II; Damnatio Memoriae: the Amarna Period and its reception; the structure of the Ancient Egyptian history: how monumental records shaped the later idea of Ancient Egypt; reuse and usurpation; Archaism in Ancient Egypt; monumentality and memory in the Mayan Culture; the construction of memory and identities in the European prehistory: monuments and megalithism; the memory and monuments of Ancient Egypt from Roman times until the decipherment of the hieroglyphs in 1822: what remained without the knowledge of the Ancient Egyptian language; and the memory and monuments of Ancient Egypt today.