National University of Singapore

This course introduces the idea that space is lived and experienced as part social and cultural life. Drawing from the arts, food, sports and film, and/or other related topics, the course delves into critical developments in social and cultural geography and provides students with the foundational knowledge to read advanced courses in the sub-discipline. It introduces methodological approaches which include ‘ways of seeing’ and ‘landscape as text' and is critical to understanding the human/culture and environment/space relationship.

This course explores the development and evolution of popular culture in Singapore from the colonial period to the present day. Students learn diverse topics including Singapore's changing religious landscape, wedding and death rituals, as well as varied forms of popular entertainment from street opera, amusement parks to radio and cinema. Students gain a sensitivity to change and continuities within historical contexts, better understand Singapore’s rich cultural heritage and improve skills in critical thinking, writing and presentation.

Consumption has come to dominate our lives, is driving economies, yet also endangering the future of our planet. This course asks questions about consumption from multiple perspectives, such as how did consumption assume its prominent place, how do economists rationalize consumption, how do companies use behavioral models to craft marketing strategies, whether consumption is good or bad for society or the individual, or whether consumers need to be protected.

It is generally assumed that language, culture, and our way of thinking are related. The relation, which is often called the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis or linguistic relativity, has been the subject of serious philosophical, anthropological and scientific inquiry. Taking advantage of the extensive bilingualism in Singapore, this course selects a few salient grammatical features and critically examines them within the broader cultural and/or cognitive contexts. Topics discussed include pluralisation, classifier, tense and aspect, kinship, polysemy, metaphor and bilingual acquisition. Issues related to translation are also discussed.

This course examines the basic principles of receptor pharmacology and of pharmacokinetics with emphasis on molecular and cellular mechanisms of action, clinical uses and adverse effects using lectures, tutorials and practicals. The lecture topics start with the classical drug receptor theory followed by pharmacokinetics and molecular pharmacology of drug receptors and their regulation including receptor-mediated signal transduction and membrane ion channel function. Autonomic pharmacology (adrenergic and cholinergic) is introduced. The module also focuses on the pharmacology of autacoids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, anti-asthma drugs, and anti-arthritic drugs.

The extraction, production, distribution and use of energy sources has significant environmental, social, political and economic impacts. Impacts are multi‐scalar, ranging from global climate change to socio‐cultural disruption at local, national and regional scales. This module exposes students to these impacts and related energy geopolitics with detailed case studies. The module also gives students a comprehensive background of the development and use of promising future post-carbon alternative energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, tidal, and biofuels. It discusses how to build the energy-efficient architecture of a low carbon economy and develop sustainable energy system design for the future.

The Internet of Things (IoT), where a large number of physical objects embedded with computing power and sensors connect to the network for seamless cooperation between the cyber domain and the physical world, is revolutionizing our lives. This course serves as an introduction to the IoT and provide a holistic view of the entire spectrum of the IoT system architecture from the devices to the fog and the cloud computing. The focus is on designing IoT systems that balance both the functional and non-functional (communication bandwidth, security, safety, power) requirements.