University of Edinburgh

This is an introductory astronomy course that should be accessible to any student. We assume a basic level of numeracy, but no mathematics more complicated than simple algebra and simple trigonometry is used. The course covers a wide range of topics, from understanding our sun and solar system through to cosmology and the Big Bang.

The course examines some of the important recent developments in economics, focusing mainly, but not exclusively, on key contributions since 1950, especially those whose authors were awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Science. Through an examination of the original as well as more modern academic literature, it will look at analytical concepts and techniques that were once novel but are now widely accepted. The course also touches on the historical context in which economics evolved.

This course teaches about bio-inspired algorithms for optimization and search problems. The algorithms are based on simulated evolution (including Genetic algorithms and Genetic programming), particle swarm optimization, ant colony optimization as well as systems made of membranes or biochemical reactions among molecules. These techniques are useful for searching very large spaces. For example, they can be used to search large parameter spaces in engineering design and spaces of possible schedules in scheduling. However, they can also be used to search for rules and rule sets, for data mining, for good feed-forward, or recurrent neural nets and so on. The idea of evolving, rather than designing, algorithms and controllers is especially appealing in AI. In a similar way it is tempting to use the intrinsic dynamics of real systems consisting e.g. of quadrillions of molecules to perform computations for us. The course includes technical discussions about the applicability and a number of practical applications of the algorithms.

In a globalizing world, contemporary debates around health, illness, and well-being are not only concerned with the individual, but include a consideration of the ways that social and political contexts shape health. This course gives an outline of the global context of health and disease and then addresses a selection of health challenges by focusing on a different contemporary topic each week. These topics change in order to keep up-to-date with changing patterns of disease and global health concerns but example topics for the course include subject areas as diverse as long term conditions in a global world, communicable and non-communicable diseases, organ transplantation, telemedicine, and people trafficking. The complexities and contradictions of contemporary issues of health in a globalized world are explored, and students are encouraged to develop a critical and self-directed approach to each topic.