Netherlands

This course evaluates social media use and investigates which strategies can be employed to influence communication and the ethical questions they raise. Students investigate the power of words, images, and stories. The course considers the impact of attention in social media and the role of influencers. The course discusses how language technology can help in automatically analyzing communication and get a better insight into people’s behavior and user groups. Techniques such as sentiment analysis, trend analysis, media analytics, and visualization of communication are discussed. The course focuses on how social media can be employed in our society, such as in small and large companies, in non-profit organizations, and within the government. Students learn to critically analyze existing social media strategies and to develop innovative communication strategies in one of these settings. Students also discuss the value of social media data in current algorithmic society and how data is employed to shape social behavior, generate economic value, impact political choices, and consider the privacy and ethical questions they raise.

This course presents the essentials of Biochemistry. It covers the structures, functions, and interactions of biomacromolecules, including proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, DNA, and RNA, which perform many of the activities associated with life. The course provides insight in the specificity and action of enzymes, the bio catalysts of the cell. Further, it explains metabolic pathways that result in the generation of ATP, the major energy currency of the cell. Finally recent biochemical understandings on genome editing are presented that revolutionize treatment of diseases at the level of correcting mutated genes (gene therapy). Prerequisites for this course are an introduction to biology or chemistry.

Course goals

After successful completion of this course, the student has:
 
•          developed a critical understanding of theories and philosophies dealing with visuality and the hierarchy of the senses 
•          developed a critical understanding of theories of visual culture and the relation they has with the visual arts
•          practiced with making critical understanding of visual culture theories and theories, criticism and philosophies dealing with visuality, the senses and the hierarchy of the senses
 

Content

The aim of this course is to make students familiar with and learn them to look critically at theories of visuality and theories that consider the senses, the importance of sight and the anti-ocular impulse. Today sight seems to be the most importance sense in our culture. But has this, from a historical point of view, always been so? Which theories and philosophies have questioned the dominance of sight and why? How has modern and contemporary art dealt with its own historically grown inclinations towards the eye? We will be considering ideas developed by philosophers such as Rene Descartes, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean Baudrillard, Guy Debord; psychoanalysts such as Jacques Lacan and look at art from amongst others Gustave Courbet, impressionists, Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman, Martin Kippenberger…

Chemistry describes the composition of matter and its transformations. This introductory course presents an overview of chemistry and lays a foundation by considering its central concepts. The course begins with the quantum world in which the structure of atoms and elements and the role of electrons in chemical bonding are described. Then the energetics associated with chemical processes and chemical equilibria are studied, a discipline called thermodynamics. The course ends with the treatment of some basic organic (i.e., carbon-based) chemical reactions. When possible, attention is paid to the connection of the subject matter with materials science and/or the biochemical relevance.

There are important differences in terms of economic dynamics between cities and regions. The question of why some areas tend to be wealthier than others, and how these differences in wealth change over time, is crucial. This course analyzes the economic success and failure of cities and regions according to the main economic theories of regional growth. Building on theories and concepts from previous courses, students start with agglomeration theories. Then traditional growth theories of convergence and divergence, the basic concepts of evolutionary theory and its application to the spatial dynamics of industries, economic growth, and the spatial dynamics of innovation networks are considered. Special attention is devoted to the spatial-economic and industrial and innovation policy in the Netherlands and the European Union. Students organize a seminar with people from the academic, policy, and business world.

Students familiarize themselves with the basic concepts of evolutionary theory and cognitive science in order to able to evaluate the controversies and debates within the framework of an evolutionary perspective on art, literature, and music. Several themes are discussed, such as: the mating mind; artistic universals; human nature: blank or pre-wired, the rhythm of poetry; the science of art; the origins of music, grooming, gossip, and the novel; art as adaptation vs. art as by-product. At the conclusion of this course, students are able to evaluate and apply Darwinist approaches to practices in art, literature, music, and religion.

This module elaborates on the psychological consequences of brain damage and dysfunction; several neurological and neuropsychological diseases are discussed. The main objective is the reciprocal relation between (dis)functioning of the brain, cognitions, emotions, and behavior. Looking at patients not only provides information about dysfunctioning, but also informs the students about the normal functions of the brain. The approach is multidisciplinary covering both biomedical and psychological aspects of neuropsychological functioning. The following topics are covered: neuroanatomy of the brain (central nervous system), functions of several brain areas/circuits, neuropsychological disorders after brain damage, causes of neuropsychological disorders, diagnosis of neuropsychological disorders, treatment of neuropsychological disorders, theoretical models concerning brain functioning, biomedical, neurological and psychosocial factors associated with neuropsychological disorders.