Ireland

This course assesses the impact of agricultural practices on the wider environment and agri-environmental policy responses towards the mitigation of such impacts at both national and EU level. Important environmental issues in Irish agriculture and related land uses are discussed from the perspective of the protection of natural resources (air, water, and soil quality), biodiversity, and natural and cultural heritage. The course provides both an understanding of the major environmental issues generated by Irish agriculture and the consequent responses of policy makers to address these issues.

This course is devoted to one of the most influential and enduring works in the literary canon, Chaucer's CANTERBURY TALES. Imagined as a storytelling competition between a fictional band of pilgrims, Chaucer's unfinished masterpiece conjures an extraordinary cast of characters whose distinct voices fill this "human comedy" with an array of contrasting literary genres and forms. The collection moves from courtly romance to bawdy comedy, from savage satire to delicate religious sentiment, from the miracles of saints to the antics of barnyard animals. Chaucer's ambitious work is the crowning achievement of a writer long celebrated as the father of English poetry.

In this course, students study exercise science. They learn how an acute bout of exercise alters the structure and function of the human body, and they examine the acute responses to exercise in the neuromuscular system, the cardio-respiratory system, together with the associated metabolic, neuro-endocrine, and thermoregulatory responses.

This course introduces students to the business of biotechnology and to how biotechnology firms capture and create value. The course starts with a case study in which the basic concepts used in the business of biotechnology are introduced. The first lecture is followed by lectures that address theoretical concepts that allow a structured study of the business of biotechnology. Students build a theory of the business (following Donaldson) and discuss theories of innovation (Rogers, Kano, Schumpeter, etc.), and the cognitive theory of the firm (Nooteboom). Students also discuss the products derived from industrial biotechnology research and development with a special focus on biotherapeutics and their development process.

This course examines the manner in which film can provide political agency to marginalized voices through an analysis of the films of women directors from the Middle East. Drawing from theories of postcolonial identity and biopolitics, the course includes films and filmmakers from countries with long and rich cinema histories such as Iran but also from the very new national cinema of Saudi Arabia. The themes of the course are reflected in those of the films screened, whereby the emancipatory potential of cinema is plotted in depictions of education, resistance, and transgression. Students consider how popular cinematic discourses, including ideas of authorship, spectatorship, and genre are deeply affected by the political and religious environment in which they take place.

This course offers a very broad introduction to the fundamental concepts and techniques of artificial intelligence, and provides students with the ability to assess and apply some of the basic techniques used in artificial intelligence (AI). Some of the topics include knowledge representation, problem solving & search, game playing, planning, machine learning and classification, genetic algorithms, neural networks, knowledge reasoning, and recommender systems. Please note any student taking this course must have their own laptop.

This course provides students with a good understanding of the key business and labor market conditions that impact on human resources strategies. Particular attention is paid to understanding employment trends, skills and education patterns, and government policy that affect the firms' human resources decisions. The business environment, in which important decisions are made by firms about human resources, is examined. Before developing comprehensive human resources strategies, firms must scan the environment. This course addresses key questions: What factors are driving the amount of workers that are hired by companies? What are the key trends in skills and education? how is technology changing firms' human resources decisions? What impact does government policy (such as taxation) have on these decisions? How are individuals responding to the changing work environment?

This course describes, explicates, and illustrates the main sociological theories and research studies of crime and deviance. Within a historical narrative of their context, the course describes and assesses the main sociological theories of crime and deviance on the basis of their theory, their evidence, and their research methods.

The course explores the structure and measurement of ability processes including factor analytic and hierarchical models of ability, Gardner's multiple intelligences, and Sternberg's triarchic theory of intelligence. The course also covers the social and biological origins of ability processes, cognitive epidemiology, and the neuroscience of ability processes.