Ireland

This course covers the fundamental concepts of soil formation and characterization, and examines how soil characteristics influence plant distribution and productivity through water and nutrient availability. It looks at how soil organisms (bacteria, fungi) interact with plants, and how soils influence global biogeochemical cycles (carbon and nitrogen). Particular focus is given to the role of soils in the production of food, fuel, and fiber and how sustainable land management practices are required to ensure the long-term health and fertility of soil systems.

This course introduces students to jurisprudence and the philosophy of law. It explores the nature and purpose of law, examining how it relates to morality and politics. The course looks at some of the foundational principles which underpin legal systems in the western world, including justice, rights, democracy, the rule of law, and the separation of powers.

This course provides an overview of supply chain management for engineers from a business and managerial perspective, enabling students to understand what a supply chain is, why it is important, and the challenges in managing the supply chain.

What is literature? The question has fascinated writers and philosophers alike for centuries, and this course looks at some of the most engaging and powerful responses the 20th century has to offer. The course provides students with conceptual tools to think about literature by examining writers and thinkers whose works – literary and theoretical – have laid some of the foundations of modern literary thought. What does it mean to theorize literature? Does a theory of literature adequately address the experience of literature? And can literature actually convey experience in the first place? What happens when literature produces its own experience and its own theory, when literature becomes the experience of its theory or the theory of its experience? This course explores these and other related questions by introducing students to two key French figures of the 20th century: Maurice Blanchot (1907-2003) and Georges Bataille (1897-1962). The focus of this course is twofold: first, students concentrate on works of fiction by the two authors under discussion (THOMAS L'OBSCUR and MADAME EDWARDA) and see how a close-reading of these works raises theoretical questions about literary experience; second, students look at the ways in which these thinkers have sought to account for the experience of literature in their theoretical writings. Taught in French, the course offers students an opportunity to address the issues at stake from a variety of perspectives (aesthetic, philosophical, affective, anthropological, mystical, etc.) and is assists them in developing and enhancing both their analytical skills and their conceptual language. As such, this course is useful as a preparation for those wishing to explore critical thought and literary theory in the post-war and post-1968 periods in more advanced classes. While prior knowledge of literary theory is not a requirement, students should be prepared to engage with theoretical questions.

The course is an introduction to Irish visual culture dating from pre-history to the end of the 20th century. Lectures include the identification of key works from Irish art and architecture, addressing fine, applied, and popular art forms. Throughout the course, Irish visual culture is discussed within its artistic, social, and cultural contexts and its place within a broader European perspective.

This course develops students knowledge of calculus, with increased depth of coverage and further applications. The course consolidates and develops skills previously learned so as to provide a basis for further calculus studies.