University of Bologna

By the end of the course, students gain knowledge of the fundamental principles of heredity; they are familiar with the nature, transmission, expression, and variability of genetic information and are able to rigorously interpret genetic experimental data. The course content is divided as follows:

• Introduction to genetics
• Mendelian Genetics
  • Gregor Mendel and basic principles of heredity; monohybrid crosses (dominance and segregation); dihybrid crosses (independent assortment)
  • Predicting the outcome of genetic crosses; probability and Chi-Square test
• Cell division, mitosis and meiosis, chromosomal basis of inheritance
  • Sexual reproduction, mitosis and meiosis. Chromosome theory of inheritance
  • Sex determination and sex-linked inheritance
  • Dosage compensation in mammals
• Human pedigree analysis
• Extensions and modifications of basic mendelian principles
  • Allelic variation and gene function; why some alleles are dominant and other recessive; types of dominance, reduced penetrance, lethal alleles.
  • Genetic heterogeneity, gene interactions and epistasis.
• Linkage, recombination, gene mapping in Eukaryotes
  • Linked genes and crossing over; Constructing genetic maps with recombination frequencies
  • Linkage analysis in human; DNA polymorphisms as genetic markers; the lod-score method
• Overview of genetics of bacterial and viral genetic systems
• Genetic variation, DNA repair and recombination
  • Genetic variability; mutation and polymorphisms; types of genetic variants; molecular basis of mutations; point mutations and their consequences; mutagenesis
  • DNA repair mechanisms; DNA recombination mechanisms
  • Variation in chromosome number and structure; mechanisms of structural variation
• Population genetics
  • Variation in populations; the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
  • Factors that alter allele and genotype frequencies in populations
• Overview of basic techniques in molecular genetics and genomics
  • Basic techniques used to identify, amplify, clone and sequence genes; DNA libraries; genetic, cytogenetic and physical maps
  • The Human Genome Project; map based cloning of genes; association and linkage disequilibrium
  • Analyzing genomic variation
• Introduction to complex traits
  • Heritability
  • Mapping complex traits

The course also includes LABORATORY practicals:

• Genomic DNA extraction from buccal swab cells
• PCR amplification  
• SNP Genotyping  by restriction enzyme digestion

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The main purpose of the course is to provide students with a thorough knowledge of the core concepts of tort law in the automotive industry issues not only from a national perspective but also from the perspective of the harmonization of European Union Law and the US legal system. The course provides the student with a general knowledge of basic principles and concepts of European Union and US tort law and consumer protection law focused on the automotive industry issues. It also focuses on corporate social responsibility and environmental and technological innovation issues that the automotive industry faces. Using the method of the economic analysis of law, the current EU and US legal systems are evaluated in the light of a pragmatic proposal to check that the basic liability law can still function properly in the light of rapid changes to some of the products that it covers. The attention focuses on the new issues arising from highly automated vehicles and the role of the precautionary principle governing the EU consumer protection law, and the risks development doctrine which can be seen as a limit to the manufacturer liability. The automotive litigation prospective also leads to focus the attention on class action and punitive damages which play a crucial role in the American legal system and are not still implemented in EU legal system. At the end of the course the student is expected to become familiar with the legal notions of producer, consumer, tort law, damage, product liability law, and product safety law governing the automotive industry, in order to observe the problem of the automotive litigation in a globalized prospective. 

The course is divided into five parts: Introduction to private law; Product safety and product liability in the EU legal system; Product safety and product liability in the US legal system; Automotive and private law; Highly automated vehicles, connected vehicles and autonomous driving cars

The course provides knowledge of the fundamental legal standards related to the contemporary Public Law under the national and European legal frameworks. Students build skills on the following: legal systems; common and civil law; national and supranational sources of law; interpreting legal standards; national and supranational institutions; state's powers and bodies; law-making and rule-making; soft law and intangible standards; public power; government, agencies, and authorities (NRAs, etc.); adjudication; orders and sanctions; and judiciary and remedies. Case-law methodology drives the discussion over the course's subjects and issues.

Course content is divided as follows: State; Political Form (Form of State) and Political Regime (Form of Government); National and supra-national legal systems; Sources of law; Freedoms, fundamental Rights, Human Rights, Organization of the State and constitutional powers; The Constitutional Justice

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. By the end of the course, students gain the most effective strategies of social inclusivity of diverse human groups with a specific focus on migrants at the theoretical, methodological, and practical intervention level. The focus of teaching and learning includes socio-cognitive strategies leading to social inclusivity:

• cross categorization,
• multiple categorization,
• counter-stereotypical categorization,
• common ingroup identity,
• dual identity,
• social identity complexity,
• relational strategies: intergroup contact in its diverse guises.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course covers the theoretical understanding and working knowledge of the principal gravitational phenomena determining the structure, the dynamics and the evolution of stellar systems, from open and globular clusters, to galaxies, to galaxy clusters. At the end of the course, the student is able to use in autonomy some of the advanced mathematical techniques needed in potential theory and in epicyclic theory. The course content is divided into 2 parts:

1. GENERALS

Gravitational field of point particles, principle of superposition. Integral representation for any distributions. Most important properties of the divergence operator and its coordinate-free representation starting from Gauss's Theorem. Operational introduction to the one-dimensional and multidimensional Dirac Delta in Cartesian and curvilinear coordinates. Calculation of the divergence of the field of extended distributions, Poisson's equation for the field. Direct proof of the First and Second Newton's theorem (homogeneous spherical shells). Alternative demonstration using Gauss's theorem. Coordinate-free representation of the gradient, curl, and Laplacian operators. Notes on differential forms. Exact fields and their properties, potential and work. Closed fields. Stokes' theorem, closed fields in simply and non-simply connected domains. Existence of the potential and its connection with the total energy of a particle. Potential difference as a line integral. Formal calculation of the potential of a point mass. Potential of extended distributions, general expression and discussion of the meaning of the additive constant. Poisson and Laplace equations. First and second Green's identities, uniqueness of the solution of the Poisson equation in bounded volumes with prescribed boundary conditions. Field inside cavities with equipotential boundary. Helmholtz Decomposition Theorem. Definition of concentric and similar ellipsoids. Definition of homoeoid. Statement of the Third Newton's Theorem for finite homoeoids. Field inside a heterogeneous hollow homoeoid from the principle of superposition. Co-area theorem, relationship with the field of homoeoids. Definition of confocal ellipsoidal coordinates. Classification of the three families of associated quadrics. Ellipsoidal coordinates: orthogonality, gradient, Laplacian. Application to the problem of the ellipsoidal layer with zero internal field. Potential of the heterogeneous ellipsoid. Chandrasekhar's formula. Introduction to the multipole expansion of potential in the far field. Monopole, dipole and quadrupole terms.

Introduction to the concept of Green's function for linear differential operators and their use in solving nonhomogeneous problems. The potential of a material point as an explicit example of a Green's function for the Laplacian. Separation of variables for the Laplacian in Cartesian coordinates. Fourier transform and inverse transform in Rn, the case of the Dirac Delta. Green's function in Cartesian coordinates. Green's function in spherical coordinates. Separation of variables. Rotational invariance and the azimuthal quantum number m. Orthogonality of azimuthal functions. Associated Legendre equation for the latitude angle, transformation into an algebraic equation. Outline with examples of singularities of ODEs, both mobile and fixed. Fuchs' theorem, regular points, regular singularities, and essential singularities. Classification for the Legendre equation. Frobenius method and polar quantum number. Legendre functions and associated functions P and Q. Legendre polynomials. Rodrigues formulas, norm of associated polynomials. Orthogonality of solutions with Sturm-Liouville theory. Spherical harmonics as eigenfunctions of the angular part of the Laplacian. Systems with cylindrical symmetry. Generating function for Legendre polynomials, multipole moments. Gegenbauer polynomials. Addition theorem for spherical harmonics. Separation of variables for the vacuum solution of the Laplacian in cylindrical coordinates. Bessel equation and its properties: orthogonality of solutions, singular points. Asymptotic analysis of Bessel functions for large values of the argument. Closure relation and Hankel transform. Green's function in cylindrical coordinates for the Laplacian. Any density potential with Fourier-Bessel transforms. Case of axisymmetric systems. Infinitely thin axisymmetric disks, potential in the plane of the disk, homogeneous rings. Thin disk rotation curve. Mestel's disc and exponential, implications for the dark matter halos. Potential of axisymmetric systems using elliptical integrals.

2. COLLISIONLESS SYSTEMS

Introduction to the epicyclic approximation. Notes on curvilinear coordinates, velocity and acceleration in cylindrical coordinates. Newtonian equations of motion in general axisymmetric potentials, conservation of energy and Jz. Deduction of equations from the Euler-Lagrange equations. The meridional plane, its motion, and effective potential. Equations of motion in the meridional plane, orbital families, circular orbits and their (equivalent) equations. Interpretation of total energy as energy for motion in the meridional plane, extremum properties for the energy of circular orbits, centrifugal barrier, zero-velocity curves. Development of the effective potential to second order. Frequency of vertical and radial epicycles. Radial and vertical motion on the epicycle in the case of stable orbits, zero-velocity ellipses. Rayleigh criterion and examples of applications. First-order angular motion, coordinates on the equatorial plane referred to the deferent, equation of the epicycle on the equatorial plane, and determination of the axes for the epicyclic ellipse. Epicycles in Coulomb, harmonic, and flat rotation potentials: frequency and shape. Relation of Oort constants to the radial epicyclic frequency. Closed, rosette, and open orbits: closure conditions, pattern angular velocity, Lindblad kinetic waves, and the dynamical phenomenology of disks.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This advanced course focuses on the main theoretical approaches to promote well-being across the life-span, tools for assessing the quality of life and psychological well-being in children and adults with typical and atypical development, and interventions aimed at improving well-being in developmental and learning contexts. 

The course presents theories, methods, and assessment and intervention tools to promote wellbeing, quality of life and learning in a development and education perspective in the lifecycle. The course involves the following integrated and complementary modules:

The first module is designed to provide the principal theoretical approach of the course concerning the wellbeing promotion in children, students, youth, and adults. The module also explores the role of technologies in human development, by considering both their functional use to develop knowledge, skills and their dysfunctional effects on lifecycle development.

The second module provides an advanced theoretical and empirical approach to understand the developmental and educational consequences of social stigma on children’s health, quality of life and psycho-social well-being, and cognitive functioning. Evidence-based interventions to reduce stigma and its consequences in educational settings are illustrated.

This advanced course is especially designed in the format of seminars and guest lecturers to expose the student to the frontier of knowledge of climate and apprehend what are the topics available for the final thesis. Students are able to grasp what are the emerging areas on climate science and be able to select the topic for future deepening of the knowledge.

The course is structured with 1- or 2-hours long time slots and with three types of offers:

1) Seminars: >=1 hour on current research/technological challenges, delivered by specialist.

2) Lecture: >=2 hours on a more general topic of broader relevance and less technical details.

3) Short course: >=3 hours on an additional supplementary skill. Examples may include a focus on programming or on an area of transversal interest.

The exact schedule changes every year. Students are asked to check the program frequently given that it is usually updated in the course of the year based on availability of speakers.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course aims to provide an advanced understanding of the types, the causes, and the dynamics of political and criminal violence. At the end of the course, students are familiar with classical and contemporary theories on the origins of political violence, with studies on the different forms of organized violence, and with current research on how violence is exercised. Students are also familiar with the major methodological debates in the study of violence.

The course examines different types of collective violence, including violence occurring in civil wars, instances of state repression, mafia, and gang violence. It explores the different “types” of violence, defining their main features and uncovering their rationale through a plurality of approaches. Ultimately, the class provides the theoretical and empirical tools to study violence in its relations with political order(s). The course is divided in two sections. The first section – conducted through frontal lectures – explores classic types of “political violence” (such as civil wars, revolutions and terrorism) looking at their origins and dynamics, then looks second section deals with violence perpetrated by states (such as repressions and genocides) and violence that occurs within states that does not challenge their existence or regime (such as that perpetrated by organized crime and gangs). The second section – run as a seminar in which students present and discuss the assigned material – looks at the organizations that “produce” violence, and namely at insurgent and mafia groups, analyzing their emergence, their internal functioning, and their relations with violence.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course focuses on the nature and peculiar aspects of law, in particular its relationship with history; the traditional areas of private law, as well as the system, the founding categories and the historical evolution of Roman private law (VIII century BC - VI century AD). Students will be capable to understand the main issues and effects concerning the interpretation of ancient legal sources. The course is divided into two parts. The first part takes into consideration the principle stages of Roman legal history from the Law of the Twelve Tablets to the epoch of Justinian. The second part takes into consideration the fundamental institutions of Roman private law.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The aim of the course is to develop semiotic skills for understanding the perceptual, affective, and cognitive dimensions of psychopathologies, as well as the discourses built to describe and understand them. The course provides a dual focus: first, it offers an overview of psychopathological literature from a philosophical perspective, reinterpreted through semiotic theories. Second, it equips students with tools to analyze the relationship between patients' expressive forms (including narratives, poetry, speech, and artistic productions), their lived experiences, and the surrounding sociocultural context. 

The course of this year (Fall 2025) begins with a general overview of the role of semiotics in understanding psychopathology, emphasizing how psychiatric and psychological knowledge is embedded within a broader cultural network. This network selects and organizes notions such as normality and abnormality, reason and madness, sense and nonsense, through biopolitical mechanisms and discursive practices. Special attention is devoted to the cultural dimension in the construction of concepts related to mental illness and in the emergence of specific psychopathological conditions. The theoretical frameworks introduced in the first part of the course are applied to a range of diagnostic constructs, including Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, psychopathy, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. These cases serve to test the analytical potential of semiotic theory and its relevance for contemporary mental health discourse.

In the second part of the course, the focus shifts to schizophrenia, one of the most enigmatic and debated psychiatric conditions. This topic is explored through a range of interdisciplinary perspectives that contribute to a richer understanding of psychopathology. Cognitive and phenomenological approaches are examined for their capacity to illuminate the lived experience of mental illness, and are critically integrated with semiotic analysis, as well as with insights from anthropology and the philosophy of mind. The aim is to develop comprehensive and context-sensitive frameworks for interpreting the symbolic, narrative, and experiential dimensions of schizophrenia.

Key topics in this section include:

a) the cultural dimension of schizophrenia and its representations across different media;
b) the historical process of constructing and categorizing the disorder;
c) communicative and linguistic features associated with the condition;
d) narrative structures shaping patients’ experiences and the role of psychotherapy;
e) the disruption of experiential meaning and a semiotic account of delusion formation.