Archives: Courses

MA Labor Market Policy is a one week intensive class on models of the labor market in different schools of economic thought as well as the analysis of labor market policies like minimum wages, front-loading unemployment benefits and work time reduction. Students will read the seminal contributions on labor market inequality in neoclassical/new Keynesian, Post Keynesian as well as Marxist and Classical Political Economics. They will furthermore have the opportunity to work with the unique and proprietary Austrian Social Security Database on their own empirical projects.

After a one week intensive class, students will participate in a panel discussion on labor markets in different schools of economic thought. They will then work on a take-home midterm essay exam and prepare a small research proposal. After discussing the proposal and appropriate data sources with the lecturer, students will conduct an empirical analysis and present their results.

Basic knowledge of econometrics and statistical software are a pre-requisite for this course. Coding examples will be done in R/RStudio, but no coding class or coding bootcamp will be provided. Some basic knowledge of labor market models and history of economic thought is encouraged, but not strictly necessary.

We live in challenging times that are ready made for comparative historical analysis. (CHA) A failed insurrection in the world’s oldest democracy; a pandemic disrupting global supply chains; China’s ascendancy altering geopolitical dynamics, and global warming potentially disrupting everything. This course provides guidance for scholars interesting in analyzing such macro- historical phenomena and are looking to CHA for methodological advice. Like historians, CHA scholars use the past to formulate research questions, describe complex social processes, and generate new inductive insights. And like social scientists, they compare those patterns to formulate generalizable and testable theories. CHA builds a bridge between the fascinating but disorderly world of history—that historians explore—and the slightly blander but more orderly world of methodology—that social scientists construct to test hypotheses. And CHA builds this bridge between exploration because it recognizes that it is easy to get results but difficult to get answers.

CHA is a broad umbrella term that draws on tools used in literatures as diverse as historical sociology, American political development, IR constructivism, global history, historical institutionalism, comparative political economy, democratization studies and basically any literature interested in temporal dynamics or historical processes. Together, these tools constitute a grammar of time for studying a disorderly and changing world in the most orderly fashion possible. Grammars analyze cultural phenomena—languages—that emerged independently of each other in different places. The same goes for CHA. It established itself in different disciplines independently of each other and therefore subsumes vernaculars that are distinct without being unique. The goal of this module is to introduce you to three key elements of this grammar of time:

Thinking Historical. CHA investigates complex, oftentimes changing, most of the time only dimly understood macro-historical phenomena. It employs historical thinking to understand such phenomena sufficiently enough to formulate relevant questions. Historical thinking helps formulate such questions because it is inductive, unconstrained by theoretical or methodological strictures, and thus capable of exploring.
Thinking Temporally: Macro-historical phenomena are constantly changing—they are objects in motion—that require a specific vocabulary to thinking temporally. CHA distinguishes between two notions of time. Historical time uses the vocabulary of events, dates, periods, directionality to analyze historical continuities and discontinuities—that is patterns of historical change. Physical time, in turn, uses a more clock-like mechanical vocabulary of tempo, duration, timing, sequencing, or stages to capture the more context independent elements of historical change and capture its more general dynamics.
Thinking Abductively: CHA places questions before methods and thus employs a more heterodox methodological tool set to properly align causal inferences with the ontological characteristics of the questions. It pays close attention to none-linear, historical causation that highlights the causal effects of physical time. It also intermingles inductive insights with deductively derived hypothesis in a range of abductive causal inference strategies (i.e. historical explanations, path dependency, process tracing).

These modules draw on my forthcoming book the Grammar of Time: Leveraging the Methodological Riches of History through Comparative Historical Analysis (CUP, Forthcoming) The book offers the first systematic synthesis of the different CHA vernaculars spoken across multiple disciplines and literatures. Thinking historically, temporally and abductively involves a distinct mode of thinking that rests on ontological assumptions that are very different from those informing frequentist, statistical thinking. The course therefore devotes attention not just to these three elements of CHA but also employs exercises to practice them.

Money and finance shape key issues in our contemporary global political economy, amongst others economic inequality, (currency) hierarchies and decarbonization. Yet many social sciences, including economics and political science, have often neglected the monetary and the financial system, their specific architectures and their main actors. This seminar will explore the connections, interlinkages and tensions within the contemporary global financial system both from theoretical and from actor-centred perspectives. At the outset we will look at different theories of money (creation) and finance, including the ‘money view’ approach and ‘critical macro-finance.’ Then we will discuss various other central issues concerning the role of finance (e.g. financialization, offshore finance and shadow banking). In the second part of the seminar we will focus on the main actors of today’s global finance, and their development, role and power. This will include how the financial system has been radically changing since the global financial crisis. A huge money mass migration from actively managed funds to ‘passive’ funds is causing a centralization of finance in the hands of the ‘Big Three’ American asset managers (BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street). At the same time, a little-known group of index providers (MSCI, S&P Dow Jones, and FTSE Russell) is gaining influence and new private authority in global finance. Moreover, the growing segment of ‘sustainable finance’ that comprises Green Bonds and ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) funds will also be covered. Finally, we will discuss what role global finance can play for sustainability and the urgently needed green transition.

This lecture starts with a short historical overview of Chinese politics (1949 – present) including a basic introduction to reference tools and online data bases. It outlines key theories and methods for the analysis of Chinese politics. The second part deals with China’s political system(s) – including Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan – and the organizational structure of the Chinese party-state. Furthermore, it discusses the interplay between legitimacy, efficiency and different modes of participation in the context of Chinese politics. The third part discusses key features of China’s political economy on three levels (national, regional, global) and summarizes selected scenarios of China’s past and future development (moving beyond the black-and-white typology of transformation theories). The fourth part focuses on traditional and non-traditional security in China’s domestic and external affairs. This includes the role of the military in Chinese politics, social unrest and contestation in China, party-military relations, regional security (and the island disputes), energy security as well as China’s position vis-à-vis R2P interventions. All materials and additional readings for this lecture are available on the Moodle platform (please register for “Politics in China” on the UDE’s elearning system)

REQUIREMENTS: blended learning: active participation (via Zoom) + preparation of the reading materials; short presentation (via Zoom); final exam

Adsorbers are used in a lot of technical products and processes of all scales;
from small applications like odour control filters in car cabins to massive
plants for water treatment or air separation. All of these processes are based
on the separation capacity of microporous solids like activated carbon or silica
gel. The lecture covers the whole bandwith of adsorption processes in gas
and liquid phase with a focus on industrial applications. In addition to the
lecture exercises and practical trainings on laboratory plants are offered.

Ideetail the following topics will be adressed:
– Basics of Adsorption and Desorption
– Mathematical Description and Simulation
– Adsorption Equilibria
– Adsorption Kinetics
– Technical Adsorbents
– Technical Desorption Processes
– Industrial Gas Phase-Adsorptions-Processes
– Industrial Liquid-Phase-Adsorptions-Processes

Teaching form

Blended learning: Face-to-face lectures and practical sessions with online learning modules, and group work.

First Lecture: April 14th, at LE/LE105
Working Language

English
Description

Computers and ‘machine-intelligence’ are frequently discussed as the means for addressing today’s critical educational challenges: learning remotely, learning at one’s own pace, learning according to one’s needs and background, providing quality education to all and for all. In this course, we welcome all master-level students with technical or non-technical backgrounds. Through the semester, we will cover topics on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Educational Technologies, and Human-Computer Interaction and we will carry out hands-on exercises to deepen our understanding of intelligent learning technologies. Specifically, we will go over the following:

– Introduction to educational technologies
– Artificial intelligence in education (AIED)
– Student Modeling
– Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS)
– Collaborative learning environments / MOOCs
– Learning Management Systems / Open Educational Resources
– Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics in AIED.

Learning Objectives

Students will learn about the state-of-the-art research in Educational Technologies with a focus on Artificial Intelligence in Education. They will familiarize themselves with algorithmic techniques for modeling cognition and knowledge, and they will explore how these representations are used in practice. Students will explore various learning environments supported by “intelligent” algorithms and will learn about using technology as a tool and means for orchestrating learning.
Literature

– How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition (2000), National Research Council.
– Handbook of design in educational technology, edited by Rosemary Luckin, Sadhana Puntambekar, Peter Goodyear, Barbara Grabowski, Joshua Underwood, and Niall Winters.
– selected publications (research/news articles)

Pre-qualifications

None
Information

https://www.uni-due.de/colaps/teaching.php