University of Hong Kong

This course examines fundamental concepts in probability and mathematical statistics, including probabilistic modelling, limiting results, estimation and hypothesis testing. Topics include random variables and vectors, distribution and quantile functions, covariance and correlation matri-ces, strong law of large numbers, central limit theorem, estimators and their (asymptotic) properties, parametric estimators (maximum likelihood, method of moments), (asymptotic) conĄdence intervals (mean and variance of a normal, difference of means of two normals, ratio of means of two normals), hypothesis tests (theory, power function, p-value, asymptotic tests, likelihood ratio tests). 

This course examines philosophical issues concerning knowledge and the mind. These include metaphysical questions about what minds are, such as whether the mind is something non-physical, and questions about what knowledge is and how (and whether) we can obtain it. We will also cover questions about the existence of god, the possibility of free will, and personal identity.

The analysis of variability is mainly concerned with locating the sources of the variability. Many statistical techniques investigate these sources through the use of linear models. This course presents the theory and practice of these models. Topics include: simple linear regression: least squares method, analysis of variance, coefficient of determination, hypothesis tests and confidence intervals for regression parameters, prediction; multiple linear regression: least squares method, analysis of variance, coefficient of determination, reduced versus full models, hypothesis tests and confidence intervals for regression parameters, prediction, polynomial regression; one-way classification models: one-way ANOVA, analysis of treatment effects, contrasts; two-way classification models: interactions, two-way ANOVA for balanced data structures, analysis of treatment effects, contrasts, randomized complete block design; universal approach to linear modeling: dummy variables, multiple linear regression representation of one-way and two-way (unbalanced) models, ANCOVA models, concomitant variables; regression diagnostics: leverage, residual plot, normal probability plot, outlier, studentized residual, influential observation, Cook's distance, multicollinearity, model transformation. 

This course examines American hemispheric history, society, and culture across North and South America. The course will introduce significant social and cultural developments in selected countries of the Americas. Topics will include indigenous - colonial relations; slavery and its legacies; the impact of modernity on society and culture; the struggle for civil rights in 20th and 21st centuries; wars and empire; immigration, forced migration and its impact on politics; globalization and neoliberal economics; and the rise of populist nationalism in the 21st century. 

Did you know that you will benefit in the economy if you know a great deal about the challenges of cultivating pinot noir? You will benefit even more from understanding why this matters. Sociology is, as Pierre Bourdieu once said, a “martial art” that gives you the tools to fight for yourself in an unequal capitalist world. We will also talk about markets and how they shape people like you. Do they shape the way you think and act? Is it possible or perhaps even likely that you would have a different self if you participated in a different market? What are alternative markets like? Can we learn from them? In what ways is our capitalist market culture changing? Will the future workplace be a neoliberal nightmare in which you’re an independent contractor directed and controlled by algorithms, or will we instead see a post-work world in which the boring stuff is automated and we can focus on creative and social activities that enrich our private and communal lives? These and other questions will be addressed in this math-free course on the complex interactions between cultural and economic forces that shape our worlds. 

This course examines interpretations of urban legends from Hong Kong and other parts of the world using anthropological, sociological, psychological, and literary approaches accompanied with case-studies from different media and platforms. 

This course examines the fundamentals, basic properties and use of classical and modern nonparametric statistical methods for data analysis. Topics may include: order statistics; goodness-of-fit tests; rank tests for single-sample and two-independent samples; tests for designed experiments; permutation tests; tests for trends and association; jackknife and bootstrapping methods; nonparametric regression; nonparametric estimator and statistical functionals.

What is sexual and gender diversity? How does the experience of our own genderedness and sexuality define members of sexual and gender minorities as people, and shape our opinions about those people who do not share our experiences or who do not express their sexuality in the same ways as we do? This course looks at these sorts of questions and does so while teaching about (and in many cases meeting and talking with) people whose gender or sexuality places them on the fringes of mainstream society. People who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or asexual; transgender people and individuals who cross dress, or play with bondage, domination, use pornography, and/or are involved in commercial sex activities. In lectures and tutorials we will examine questions such as: To what extent are sexual and gender diversity biologically ‘hard-wired’ rather than learned? What is ‘normal’ in human sexuality and gender? How, in an increasingly interconnected world, are our ideas about sexual and gender diversity changing? What are the intersectionality that we can discover in the whole course of learning and how do we use these learnings to help make a better world? 

This course examines multi-disciplinary perspectives to examine significant and complex issues of Northeast Asia in the past and present. It aims to help students understand how the historical legacy of Northeast Asia is reflected in today’s states and societies of these regions, and how political, economic, social, and cultural characteristics of Northeast Asia continue to evolve in a comprehensive way.

This course examines economic history and its persistent impact on economic development in the context of China. Particular attention will be paid to explaining the missing industrialization in the Ming-Qing period and the historical roots of China’s recent economic rise. To this end, the course will compare China to the West in terms of culture, institutions, human capital, and other fundamental forces of development, and will employ historical data and econometric tools to examine the economic impacts of these fundamentals.