University of Cape Town

This course forms part of the third-year major in Applied Statistics. It is an introduction to the study of Operational Research (OR) and explores fundamental quantitative techniques in the OR armamentarium with a strong focus on computer-based application. The course is intended for students in the applied statistics stream but may be taken as an elective by students in the mathematical statistics stream. Topics covered include linear and non-linear programming where students will learn to find optimal solutions by characterizing problems in terms of objectives, decision variables and constraints, decision making under uncertainty through decision trees, decision rules and scenario planning, Queueing Theory simulation through modelling the operation of real-world systems as they evolve over time. Course entry requirements: STA2030S or STA2005S; STA3030F is recommended.

The course builds upon ECO1011S and provides the analytical tools and formal models to explain the behavior of output, inflation, employment, interest rates, and other economic aggregates. These tools are used to understand current economic issues, forecast the behavior of the economy, and assess the impact of policy choices. The course allows students to understand the behavior of households, firms, governments and Central Banks. It starts with analyzing the short run behavior of the economy and then moves on to explore the open economy and exchange rates. Finally, it looks at the long run and assesses the role of technology and population growth on aggregate economic growth using the Solow growth model. Course entry requirements: ECO1010, ECO1011 and MAM1010 (or an equivalent) or MAM1031F or MAM1032S. 

This course explores questions of memory, remembering, and time as these are refracted and represented via a range of verbal, literary, and cultural forms. The course considers the making of collective and public memory (e.g. the creation of national pasts; cultures of commemoration; oral history; testimonial forms; displacement, exile and global conflict; literatures of war) but also the question of individual and personal memory (e.g. language and identity; narrative and subjectivity; literature and psychoanalytic theory). As such, the course opens onto a wide range of topics, including but not limited to: the relation between the literary text and the history text; life-writing, autobiography and memoir; representations of childhood and ageing; engagements with the archive; the question of silenced, repressed or invisible histories; the historical, post-colonial and post-apartheid novel; discourses of trauma, truth and reconciliation; old age and forgetting; death and commemoration. Course entry requirements: At least second-year status.

This course provides introductory theoretical constructs regarding society, organizations, groups, families, and individuals which enable human service professionals to understand and to interact professionally within the context in which professionals work. The content is anchored around the South African Constitution and uses a human rights approach as the overarching theoretical framework.

The course equips practical experience and skills in analyzing data, using statistical techniques frequently used in the sciences. The skills include designing experiments, choosing appropriate statistical methods for visual display and statistical modelling of data, model checking, interpretation and reporting of statistical results, and understanding of limitations of statistical methods and data. Topics covered include Introduction to statistical notation, linear regression, design and analysis of experiments, generalized linear models. Strong emphasis on the practical application of the above methods, using open-source statistical software such as R.  Course entry requirements: A pass in STA1000F/S or STA1006S or STA1007S or STA1106H or STA1100S or STA1008F/S) and (MAM1000W or MAM1031F or MAM1033F or MAM1004F/S or MAM1005H or MAM1010F/S or MAM1020F/S or MAM1110F/H).

This course provides the basic tools required for understanding linear systems, and the effect that such systems have on deterministic signals. The course covers linear time-invariant systems in terms of input-output relationships, using both time and frequency domain methods and includes concepts related to signal representation, linear convolution, Fourier analysis, sampling of continuous-time signals, and Laplace transforms.

This course develops the understanding of Computer Networks and the Internet: Internet, network edge, network core, network performance metrics, protocol layers and service models, LAN topology, Physical media, OSI reference model and TCP/IP reference model, network standardization, computer network attacks and prevention, history of computer networking and the Internet. Application and Transport Layers: Principle of network applications, socket programming, transport layer services, multiplexing/demultiplexing, connectionless transport, connection-oriented transport (TCP), TCP congestion control and performance issues. Network Layer: Network layer design issues, forwarding and routing, virtual circuit and datagram networks, router architecture, Internet protocol, routing algorithms, routing the Internet, integrated and differentiated services. Data Link Layer: Data link design issues, error detection and correction, multiple access links and protocols, switched local area networks, IEEE 802 family, link virtualization, MPLS, data center networking. Physical Layer: Baseband systems, formatting textual data, formatting analogue information, sources of corruption, pulse code modulation, quantization, baseband modulation and demodulation/detection, inter-symbol interference, equalization, bandpass modulation and demodulation/detection amplitude. Emerging Communication Networks: Fundamentals of mobile networks, fundamentals of smart grid communication networks.

This is an introductory course to Anthropology. Anthropology is explored through four contingent entry points: "Words" focuses on intra- and cross-cultural meaning making; "Deeds" examines the individual's agency within social contexts; "Things" analyses interaction with objects and "Bones" introduces basic principles of archaeology. The course privileges hands-on immersion into anthropology and provides an overview of its complex history. As an introductory course, we use content that engages the diversity of students’ life worlds and is cognizant of our African location. We employ innovative teaching and delivery methods, including multilingual pedagogies and digital literacy, which allow more time for active engagement and the development of critical reading and writing skills in the Humanities. DP requirements: Attendance at tutorials and submission of all written work, plus class test. Assessment: Continuous assessment (essays, projects, class tests) counts 100%.