National University of Singapore

This course explores topics at the intersection of philosophy of mind and language, such as whether thought depends on talk or vice versa, whether we think in words or images, whether those words are words of English or a sui generis mental language just for thinking, whether animals which can't talk can think and whether the mind is like a computer. These questions are central to contemporary philosophy and language and are also an important case study in the relationship between the methods of analysis, experiment and introspection in philosophical psychology. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to introduce how complex biological phenomena can emerge from simple rules. Through interactive lectures, guided reading and hands-on tutorials and simulations, students learn to appreciate how basic concepts like feedback and robustness generate biodiversity across multiples scales. The course requires a prerequisite of General Biology. 

This course examines the modern Japanese sense of cultural, social and national identity, as analyzed by social scientists, cultural historians, and scholars of Japanese thought. Topics include famous studies of the Japanese self by psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists and socio-linguists, supplemented by a historical perspective focusing on the samurai heritage and the ideas behind the Meiji Restoration. Japanese language is not required.

This course covers the key concepts of the different modes of heat transfer (conduction, convection and radiation) and principles of heat exchangers. It develops proficiency in applying these heat transfer concepts and principles, to analyze and solve practical engineering problems involving heat transfer processes. Topics include introduction to heat transfer; steady state heat conduction; transient heat conduction; lumped capacitance; introduction to convective heat transfer; external forced convection; internal forced convection; natural/free convection; blackbody radiation and radiative properties; radiative exchange between surfaces; introduction to heat exchangers and basic calculation of overall heat transfer coefficient. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course provides an overview of the theories and perspectives applicable to the study of communication and new media. Students apply various theories from both critical/cultural and social scientific approaches to analyze diverse digital phenomena and controversies. Students gain a foundational knowledge in how digital technologies affect interactions, how social media changes news consumption, how the conception of work changes in an era of crowdsourcing, and how media content can be made more persuasive.

This project-based course focuses on developing products to meet users’ latent needs. The course combines problem framing, problem solving, and product development. Students learn about the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) framework, distinction between values and features, and product vision. Students develop tangible prototypes that work and test them with users. Topics include product presentation using analogy, metaphor, and product storytelling. Students work in teams in a studio environment and gain hands-on experience in product development.

This course uses postwar Japanese films and animation (anime) as the principal texts and investigates their relationship with contemporary Japanese culture, society and politics. The course introduces the various genre and representative film and anime, together with specific critical writings on these works. The focus is on the relationship between the films and the audience, the impact of the dominance of films and anime in present day Japan and worldwide, and the various social and cultural issues such as violence and globalization that are closely related to the movie industry.

This course on Japanese art focuses on historical contexts, discussing the ideas and feelings conveyed by the art, and probing the aesthetic and philosophical concepts behind the art.  Students learn about (1) ancient and medieval art and sculpture, (2) arts of the early modern period, and (3) modern artistic trends since the Meiji Restoration. 

Building upon the basis of Japanese 5, this course enhances skills and strategies to discuss complex topics such as social, cultural, and historical issues based on authentic materials. Students learn how to summarize long and complex texts, how to structure essays and skills to understand media materials. Students attain a good all-round proficiency in the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) and can communicate with others in Japanese while handling more elaborate situations.

This course provides the foundations to econometrics and the use of software tools to perform econometrics data analysis. The course covers an introduction to causal inference and associated analysis models with a primary emphasis on linear regression. Examples are drawn from various industry domains and applications. The course requires students to have completed prerequisites.