Lund University

The course provides an introduction to the rapidly growing field of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for social science students. Some of the most important theories and practices of GIS, within social sciences are presented. The course also addresses some key conceptual debates and developments in GIS. Practical tasks include exercises in a computer lab environment, and common analytical methods and tools within GIS are introduced. The course makes aware of the potential uses of GIS as well as its application within various fields of study.

Psycholinguistics tests different theories of the production, perception, and acquisition of language by using various methods, such as reaction time experiments, brain activity measurements, misarticulation analysis, and corpus analysis. This course provides an introduction to these theories and methods. Furthermore, the factors that affect our perception, production, and acquisition of a first or second language are studied. The course introduces the principles for conducting and assessing a psycholinguistic experiment and includes an exercise in conducting such an experiment.

The course covers sufficient statistics, factorization criteria, exponential families, Rao-Blackwells theorem, ancillary statistics, Cramér-Rao's bound, Neyman-Pearson's lemma, permutation test, and connection between hypothesis testing and confidence intervals. Asymptotic methods: maximum likelihood estimation, profile, conditional and penalized likelihood as well as hypothesis testing with likelihood ratio-, Wald- and score-method. Bayesian inference: estimation, hypothesis testing, and confidence interval and the difference compared to frequentist interpretation.

This course reviews the basic theory and understanding of the most important molecular genetic methods used in modern ecological and evolutionary research projects. The course is mainly based on practical learning through wet labs (DNA extraction, PCR, DNA sequencing) and computer exercises (editing of DNA sequences that you obtain during the course, phylogeny, and various programs for analysis of DNA sequences) and leads to mastery of different methods used to detect and analyze variation at gene, genome and protein levels within and between individuals, populations, and species. Emphasis is also placed on improving one's ability to assimilate and critically review scientific articles based on molecular genetic data and analyses. The course ends with a research project that is carried out in small groups.

The course deals with current interdisciplinary research on the origins of language. Focus is placed on the relationship between biological and cultural evolution and physiological and neural conditions for language from the perspective of evolution. Furthermore, the course addresses animal communication, experiments on language acquisition in primates and other animals, the relationship between mind and language and different hypotheses on the origins of language and evaluation of these on the basis of empirical evidence.

This course provides a sociological perspective on economic, social, and political processes, focusing especially on global social change and sustainable development. Students acquire the knowledge required to understand and critically examine the discussions pursued about the global social change that marks modernity, focusing especially on the post-war period. The course includes 4 modules: Classical and Modern Social Analysis; Contemporary Sociological Perspectives on Global Development; Global Sustainability and Environmental Sociology; and Social Sciences Methods.

The course has its starting point in yesterday's raw materials and describes the development of the petrochemical revolution to the chemical process industries of today. The course contains the following sections: historic development of the process industry, catalysis, common feedstocks in the process industry, refinery processes, production of organic and inorganic chemicals, specialty chemicals, biotechnical processes as well as paper and pulp production.

The course covers human psychological development from childhood to old age and methods used in research in development psychology. It describes theoretical perspectives on personality and related fields of application. The course consists of four modules, this is the second module: Youth Psychology. This module studies the psychological and biological development during adolescence and its relation to the surrounding environment. In view of the changed patterns of interaction within and outside the family, the studies also include the ability of the teenager to face challenges and stress factors, such as increased demands for independence and personal views.