Ireland

This course explores the relationship between literature and technology. It begins by formulating an understanding of writing itself as a technology – that is as a cultural practice involving dedicated tools invented at a specific historical juncture (to be contrasted with spoken language, as a human universal). This encourages students to examine literature as a product of various writing technologies – from manuscript, to print, to typewriting, to a variety of electronic forms of textual production and presentation. How these modes of production can influence the form and content of literature are explored, as are the strategies used by authors to represent these different varieties of text within literature itself. Students consider the role of standardization in literature, and how and why a variety of writers have chosen to step outside the usual written standard. They consider the integration of images with text and discuss the semiotics of different forms of text.

This course draws on a range of political science research on European integration and European Union politics to analyze the development of the EU and how it operates today. The course addresses one of the most important questions in the study of European politics and international organization's: why did a diverse group of states construct what is currently the world’s most extensive example of international integration? This course provides an extensive overview of the contemporary EU, including its institutions and policy-making processes using approaches from modern political science. Students also assess how the EU has influenced both public opinion and party competition, and the debate concerning whether the EU suffers from a democratic deficit. 

The course includes lectures on different media and techniques involved in painting, sculpture, printmaking, performance, and time-based works of art. It also examines how the analysis of a work of art is structured and written; and reflects on changing theories of art history, viewership, and the object.
 

This course looks at the process of first language acquisition by examining the social and cognitive mechanisms that drive language learning in the first few years of life. It is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of first language acquisition with a focus on spoken language in typical healthy children. The course starts with an exploration of pre-verbal communication in infancy and tracks verbal development during toddlerhood into middle childhood. Overarching issues in linguistic theory, in the form of competing explanations of language acquisition patterns, will be discussed and key debates and current research in the field will be examined.

This course is an introduction to linguistics. It gives a general knowledge of each area of linguistics drawing from a range of spoken and signed languages. It provides the students who have no previous knowledge of linguistics with a background in core areas of the field – phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, and their acquisition. The course is divided in three parts: the first part is an introduction to the field of linguistics, the second part is concerned with the structure of natural languages, and the third part is related to language modality, with particular attention to signed languages and gesture.

This is a course for all students interested in using and understanding computers. Students learn the practical skill of how to program a computer to make it do what they want it to do. Students learn how to write simple computer programs that can solve problems; how to write simple programs that can process different sorts of information; and how to write programs that can respond differently to different situations. 

This course introduces students to the fundamental principles of biomass feedstock supply for the bioeconomy, with a focus on both dedicated production of biomass and recovery of residues/wastes. The physical characterization and chemistry of biorenewable feedstocks such as bioenergy crops, algae, forestry, and agricultural residues are examined. The course examines the varying supply chains (collection, storage, transport) for different biomass sources for further processing to bioenergy and bioproducts via biorefining. The focus of the course is on the application of engineering science to develop integrated biomass feedstock management systems with an emphasis on sustainability.

This course introduces the principles and methods of life cycle thinking and life-cycle assessment (LCA) with specific reference to agriculture, food, and energy systems using attributional LCA. The course is based around the ISO 14040 methodology and ILCD handbook. It focuses on the four common stages of LCA: definition of the Goal and Scope; Life Cycle Inventory Analysis; Life Cycle Impact Assessment, and Interpretation. Case studies consider LCA studies of agriculture, food, and energy systems. 

This course provides a broad understanding of language learning and familiarizes students with some pedagogical considerations and second language acquisition theory as a necessary underpinning to the use of technology in language learning. Students learn a range of speech and language technologies that can be deployed in educational applications. Students learn practical skills in the design/development of digital educational content. 

This course includes prediction using machine learning; choice of features, including for text, images, time series; model selection (e.g. linear, kernel, neural net); learning as empirical risk minimization; common machine learning techniques (linear regression, logistic regression, SVMs, kernel trick, neural nets, convolutional neural nets, kNN, k-Means); evaluating machine learning methods (cross-validation, bootstrapping, ROC, use of a baseline); and practical experience of applying machine learning methods to real data.