National University of Singapore

This course examines the fusion of physics of biology that forms the basis of modern medical imaging and radiation therapy technology and traces its roots from the foundational theories to its implementation in medical procedures. Students learn how such technology is applied to disease management, as well as the modern innovations that pave the way towards the future of healthcare. Topics include how medical technology is one of the most important applications of science and technology; how it provides the means to protect and preserve lives in today’s world of ageing population, proliferation of chronic diseases, global pandemics and rising pollution. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course introduces the key questions, issues, and tools necessary to conduct qualitative research. It guides students through devising a research question, choosing appropriate research epistemologies, ethical implications, selecting appropriate methods of data collection and analysis, and writing a research proposal. Students learn the key techniques of qualitative sociological inquiry including interviews, focus groups, content and discourse analysis, archival research, participatory and action research, and various forms of ethnographic research. It further introduces relevant qualitative data analysis and research software, in addition to examining the analysis, writing, and reporting of qualitative research.

This course explores the concept of physical activity and the importance of encouraging people to move more and sit less as part of health promotion efforts. Students examine measuring movement behaviors to equip students with the ability to judge data based on how it was obtained. Students identify and analyze various factors that impact how much or little people move. This includes looking into the psychology of physical activity, environmental assessments, and policy enquiries. Insights allow students to design an intervention that can improve movement behaviors. Students can gain tangible knowledge and skills for assessing, understanding, and changing movement behaviors across diverse populations.

This course introduces South Asian Islamic society, culture and religious thought, especially in Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives, the three South Asian countries with a Muslim majority and where Islam forms an important cultural element. The focus of this course is the period from c. 1750-1950, during which important developments took place in South Asian Islam. The course outlines the role of Islam in pre-colonial society as well as the movements for religious and political reform of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Questions of language and literature are also addressed.

This course covers the underlying principles and wide-ranging industrial, environmental, pharmaceutical, and biomedical applications of microbiology. The objectives are (a) to gain an understanding of the role of microorganisms for biotechnology applications in the fields of medicine, agriculture, organic chemistry, synthetic biology, public health, biomass conversion, bioremediation, and biomining; and (b) to review advances in genetics and molecular biology of industrial microorganisms, enzyme engineering, environmental microbiology, food microbiology, and molecular biotechnology. A particular focus will be on the meaning and impact of microbiology on human health and the development of new therapeutic approaches. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course explores Europe and Asia's mutual fascination with, and appropriation of, each other's visual and material cultures. From the Buddhist art of Central Asia to KL Petronas Towers through medieval textiles, chinoiseries, Orientalist paintings, colonial architecture, museums, modernist avant-gardes and postmodernism, the course surveys chronologically some fifteen centuries of East/West artistic interactions while introducing students to the disciplines (art and cultural history, post-colonial and cultural studies) concerned with visual culture. 

This course focuses on key events that take place in different stages of vertebrate nervous system development including neural induction, neurogenesis, glial biology, neuronal growth and polarity, axonal guidance, synapse formation, and regeneration. Pathological states such as muscular dystrophy, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases are examined, both in terms of understanding the deficits as well as examining potential solutions to improve the outcomes of these neuronal diseases. Latest findings are discussed, allowing students to learn the current state of research in developmental neurobiology. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course examines economic miracles of Japan and Korea and their central business organizations, keiretsu and chaebols, that brought the success. It then analyzes how they responded to the challenges of the transition from catching‐up economies to mature economies, and how their business organizations functioned in the transition process. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course explores Buddhist philosophical issues and logic that were established during Mahayanic development. Topics include Mahayanic issues such as icchantika and the Mahayanic theory of knowledge. Under the latter, topics such as the concept of Buddha nature, reality, sources of knowledge, sensations, reflexes, conceptions, judgement, inferences, etc. are examined.

The objective of this course is to work on optimisation problems which can be formulated as linear and network optimisation problems. The course covers formulating linear programming (LP) problems and solving them by the simplex method (algorithm); looking at the geometrical aspect and developing the mathematical theory of the simplex method; studying problems which may be formulated using graphs and networks. These optimisation problems can be solved by using linear or integer programming approaches. However, due to its graphical structure, it is easier to handle these problems by using network algorithmic approaches. Applications of LP and network optimisation are demonstrated. Major topics: Introduction to LP: solving 2-variable LP via graphical methods. Geometry of LP: polyhedron, extreme points, existence of optimal solution at extreme point. Development of simplex method: basic solution, reduced costs and optimality condition, iterative steps in a simplex method, 2-phase method and Big-M method. Duality: dual LP, duality theory, dual simplex method. Sensitivity Analysis. Network optimisation problems: minimal spanning tree problems, shortest path problems, maximal flow problems, minimum cost flow problems, salesman problems and postman problems. The course requires students to take prerequisites.