UNDERGRADUATE COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING Explanations of prerequisites and exclusions can be found on page 23
ClVL 511 Simulation i n Civil Engineering [3-0-0:3]
Use of computer simulation in the analysis of civil engineering systems with emphasis on the simulation of stochastic water resource systems.
Background : COMP 102, MATH 241 and MATH 243 (or MATH 244)
ClVL 521 Advanced Reinforced Concrete [3-0-0:3]
Presents an up-to-date treatment of reinforced concrete theory and practice; includes ultimate limit state design for bending, shear, torsion, combined bending and compres- sion, serviceability requirements, plates and slab, art of detailing.
Background : ClVL 321
ClVL 522 Advanced Prestressed Concrete [3-0-0:3]
Basic concepts, design for serviceability and time dependent analysis, ultimate strength limit states, anchorage zones, statically indeterminate structures, two-way slabs, com- pression and tension members.
ClVL 531 Advanced Structural Analysis [3-0-0:3]
Advanced techniques for structural analysis; includes structural modelling, analysis of complex frameworks, shear walls, shear cores, tubular and outrigger-braced structures, nonlinearity and stability, special topics on tall building design.
Background : ClVL 333
Post~raduate Course DescriDtions Postmaduate Course DescriDtions
ClVL 532 Structural Dynamics [3-0-0:3]
Basics, lumped mass systems with various degree of freedom, energy methods, modal analysis, frequency domain, numerical methods, continuous systems, earthquake engi- neering, wind loading and aerodynamic effects on buildings.
ClVL 541 Physical and Chemiil Wa&ewaPer Treatment [3QO:3]
Principles of treatment for removing contaminants from drinking water and municipal wastewaters; includes equalisation, neutralisation, precipitation, coagulation and flocculation, sedimentation, filtration, air stripping, carbon adsorption, disinfection.
Background : ClVL 242
ClVL 542 Biological Waste Treatment [3-0-0:3]
Principles of secondary, biological treatment processes; includes sewage sand filters, trickling filters, activated sludge plants, lagoons, ponds, rotating biological contactors, aerobic and anaerobic digesters, and biological nutrient removal.
Background : ClVL 242
ClVL 543 Aqueous Chemistry [300:3]
Chemistry applied to reactions occurring in water and wastewater, includes inorganic solution chemistry, chemical equilibrium, acidstbases, coordination chemistry, chemical kinetics, colloid chemistry, solubility and precipitation, oxidation-reduction potential . Background : ClVL 242
ClVL 544 Process Design of Water and Wastewater [3-0-0:3]
Treatment Systems
Complete design of water or wastewater treatment plants with emphasis on careful iterative accounting in terms of solids mass balances, flow sidestreams, hydraulics and pumping.
Prerequisites : ClVL 541 and ClVL 542
ClVl545 Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal [3Qo..3]
Technical and regulatory aspects of the handling and disposing of hazardous wastes;
includes waste collection, treatment, storage and disposal facilities, remediation of contaminated soils, treatment of liquid wastes, waste minimisation.
Background : ClVL 344
I ClVL 546 Engineering Design For Landfill System [3-0-0:3]
Geoenvironmental aspects of landfill lining and cover systems; includes clay mineralogy, construction of liners and covers, construction quality assurance, effects of chemicals, transport of chemicals, permeability tests, landfill operation.
Background : ClVL 241 and ClVL 271
ClVL 547 Industrial Wastewater Treatment [3-0-0:3]
Procedures for industrial surveys; includes waste sampling, waste characterisation, treatability studies, selection of treatment methods for achieving cost effective operation, case studies of selected types of industrial waste treatment.
ClVL 551 Advanced Pipeline Analysis and Design [34-0:3]
Advanced topics and applications in the analysis and design of pipelines and pipe networks; includes numerical techniques for solving incompressible and compressible flow equations.
Background : ClVL 251
ClVL 552 Water Resources Systems Analysis [3-0-0:3]
A systems approach to the area of water resources management; includes water resources systems within the context of public investment systems, criteria and design of water management schemes.
Background : ECON 11 1 and MATH 281
ClVL 553 Effluent Dispersion in the Ocean [3-0-0:3]
Ocean disposal of large quantities of effluent such as those generated by a city; includes water quality standards and the design of disposal systems.
ClVL 554 Toxic Releases in the Atmosphere [3-0-0:3]
Concepts for estimating the hazards posed by toxic releases to the atmosphere; includes micrometeorology, a variety of release scenarios and the role of wind tunnel simulations.
ClVL 555 Water Resources System Modelling [3-0-0:3]
Physical processes in water resources systems, their mathematical representation and numerical solutions; includes Newton's second law, equations of mass and energy conservation applied to closed-conduit, open-channel and groundwater flow problems.
ClVL 571 Advanced Soil Mechanics [3-0-0:3]
Selected topics from recent advances in theoretical and experimental development in soil mechanics; inlcudes stress-strain behaviour of soil, consolidation settlement, drained and undrained strength slope stability problems.
Background : ClVL 371
ClVL 572 Advanced Foundation Design [3-0-0:3]
Current practice of foundation design and analysis; inlcudes design and analysis of bulkheads, deep excavation, tieback systems, tunnelling in soft ground, buried conduits, lateral pile loading, pier foundations.
Background : ClVL 372
Post~raduate Course Desct+Dtions Postgraduate Course Descriptions
ClVL 573 Analytical and Numerical Methods in Geomechanics [3-0-0:3]
Recent advances in analytical and numerical methods in Geomechanics: inlcudes elasticity, classical plasticity, the use of finite element method for elasto-plastid analysis, diffusion and consolidation ~roblems, Fourier transform.
Background : CIVL 371 and ClVL 331
ClVL 574 Geotechnical Design Using Geosynthetics [3-0-0:3]
A state-of-the-art examination of the use of geosynthetics in geotechnical engineering practice; includes properties and test methods for geosynthetics, design for separation, filtration, drainage and reinforcement.
Background : ClVL 371 and ClVL 372
ClVL 600 Special Topics [3-0:3]
Selected topics of current interest. May be repeated for credit if different topics are covered.
ClVL 680 Civil and Structural Engineering Seminar [0 credit]
Discussion of current graduate research, and guest lectures on recent advances in civil and structural engineering. Students are expected to attend regularly.
CNL 698 MSc Project [6 credits]
An independent research project w r i e d out under the supervision of a faculty member.
This compulsory project for MSc students will normally be completed at the end of the course of study.
CNL 699 MPhil Thesis Research
Students are required to complete amaster's research thesis. Asuccessful defence of the thesis leads to the grade Pass or Pass with Distinction. No course credit is assigned.
CNL 799 Doctoral Thesis Research
Students are required to complete an original and independent doctoral research thesis.
A successful defence of the thesis leads to the grade P&s or Pass with Distinction. No course credit is assigned.
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
Explanations of prerequisites and exclusions can be found on page 23.
Courses denoted by * at the end of the course code are available for enrollment by undergraduate students on a limited basis. Permissionof the course instructor is required.
COMP 501' Organisational Computing Systems [3-0-0:3]
Technology integration as applied to organisational computing systems. Interdisciplinary nature; enabling technologies; human-computer interaction; information management;
organisational communication; organisational work; designing organisational computing systems; impact and evaluation.
COMP 514 Software Engineering [3-0-0:3]
Concepts and principles which underlie current and emerging methods, tools, and techniques for software development, validation and maintenance; case studies.
COMP 521 Artificial Intelligence [3-0-0:3]
lntroduction to selected research topics in artificial intelligence, such as machine percep- tion, knowledge-basedsystems, machinetranslation, problem solving, constraint satisfac- tion, truth-maintenance systems.
COMP 522 Machine Learning [3-0-0:3]
lntroduction to machine learning paradigms and techniques. Induction from examples, conceptual clustering, explanation-based learning, analogical and case-based reasoning, statistical pattern recognition, connectionist learning and genetic algorithms.
Background : COMP 321
COMP 523 Artificial Neural Networks [3-0-0:3]
Theory and applications of neurocomputing. Artificial neural networks as biologically inspired computational models for supervised learning, unsupervised learning, reinforce- ment learning, associative memory, optimization, etc. and their theoretical foundations.
Prerequisite : COMP 527
COMP 524 Computer Vision 13-0-0:3]
lntroduction to techniques for automatically describing visual data and tools for image analysis; perception of spatial organisation; models of general purpose vision systems;
computational and psychological models of perception.
COMP 525 Expert Systems [3-0-0:3]
lntroduction to expert systems. Problem specification, knowledge acquisition, knowledge representation, inference techniques, uncertainty management, explanation, tools and languages for building expert systems; examples of existing systems.
I Postgraduate Course Desmiptions Post~raduate Course DescriDtions
COMP 526 Natural Language Processing [3QO:3]
Techniques for parsing, interpretation, context modelling, plan recognition, generation.
Emphasis on statistical approaches, neuropsychological and linguistic constraints, large text corpora. Applications inlcude machine translation, dialog systerns, cognitive model- ling, knowledge acquisition.
COMP 5 2 7 Pattern Recognition [3-3]
lntroduction to pattern recognition techniques, Bayes decision theory, discriminant functions, perception, potential functions, parametric and nonparametric techniques;
supervised and unsupervised learning; clustering; feature selection; syntactic pattern recognition.
Background : MATH 11 1 and MATH 244
COMP 531' Data and Knowledge Base Systems [3Q1:3]
lntroduction to data and knowledge base systems. Data models including relational model, semantic, object-oriented, and logic-based models. Transaction processing and query optimisation. Distributed data and knowledge base systerns.
COMP 533 Information Retrieval [3QO:3]
I
Systems that provide relevance (similarity) based retrieval rather than exact matching.Topics: IR system architecture, IR models, performance, evaluation, relevance feedback, clustering, other reductional indexing approaches, analysis applications, future trends.
COMP 534 Distributed Data and Knowledge Base Systems [3QO:3]
An introduction to distributed data and knowledge base systems. Topics include architectures, database design, query processing and optimisation, concurrency control and recovery, and techniques for heterogeneous systems.
COMP 541 Multilingual Computing [3QO:3]
Classifying systems of writing, script families, major scripts. Fonts: representation, rendering, etc. Attributes of systerns of writing: bound and unbound graphemes, case and other modes, conjuncts, character classes. Operations over scripts.
COMP 551* Compiler Design [3-0-1:3]
Overview of compiler organisation, compiler building s o h a r e tools; use of regular expressions and context-free grammar in programming language specification;
semantic analysis, code generation and optimisation.
COMP 552' Operating Systems [3-0-1:3]
[Previous Course Code: COMP 51 21
Operating system design and construction techniques; concurrent programming, operat- ing system kernels, correctness, deadlock, memory management, process scheduling, file systems, security; programming methodologies for operating systems.
COMP 553 Distributed Systems [3-0-0:3]
Issues in the design of distributed systems. Clock synchronisation, state detection, mutual exclusion; naming and authentication; coordination of distributed processes;
design environment for specification, testing and analysis; case studies.
COMP 570 Algorithm Design and Analysis [3-0-0:3]
Thiscoursecoversadvanced topics in algorithm design and analysis, including probabilistic algorithms, geometric algorithms, parallel algorithms: shared memory and network connected, graph algorithms, and advanced topics in complexity theory.
COMP 572 Computability and Logic 13-0-0:3]
Computable functions, Church's thesis, unsolvable problems; recursively enumerable sets and degrees, computational complexity; predicate calculus, including the complete- ness, compactness, and Lowenheim-Skolem theorems; formal theories and Goedel incompleteness theorem.
COMP 581 Advanced Computer Architectures 13-0-0:3]
Design and evaluation of high performance computers. Memory hierarchies, virtual memories and caches, pipelining, vector processing, compilers and operating systems as they affect computer architectures, performance evaluation; supercomputer case stud- ies.
COMP 582 Parallel Processing [3-0-0:3]
Design and analysis of parallel computer systems; distributed and shared memory;
classification, programming models, interconnection networks, performance evaluation, fault-tolerance, parallel algorithm design, mapping problems; case studies.
COMP 583 Computer Engineering Graph Theory [3-0-0:3]
Graph theory and techniques with apptications to computer engineering problems;
optimisation techniques; resource allocation, logic design verification, distributed fault testing and diagnosis, network communication routing.
Postgraduate Course Desmptions
COMP 584 Optical Computing [3-00:3]
Design of computer systemsandcommunication networks using optical devices; nonlinear optical devices, optical switching and interconnection networks, different routing protocols in optical links, pipelining in waveguides, optical addressing.
COMP 585 Fault Tolerant Computing [3-00:3]
Fault-tolerance issues in designing computer systems; fault detection and testing, algorithms for designing test sets; design for testability; error detecting and correcting codes; characterising fault-tolerance, reliability, availability.
COMP !iW Concurrency and Real-time Systems [3-1-0:3]
Concurrency and synchronisation issues in computer systems; deadlock, contention, real-time interrupt driven systems, hardware and software synchronisation mechanisms, synchronous, asynchronous, and self-timed systems.
COMP 610 Topics i n Software Engineering [3-00:3]
This course covers selected topics in software engineering that are of current interest to the Department and are not covered by existing courses.
COMP 61 1 Topics i n Object-Orientation [3-0-0:3]
Topics include object-oriented computing concepts, object-oriented analysis and design, object-oriented data models and databases; impact on software reuseability; exemplary languages and systems; and other selected research topics.
COMP 620 Topics i n lmage Processing and lmage Understanding [3-M):3]
Topics include image processing design, analysis and implementation. lmage represen- tation and datastructures; algorithm design and complexity issues; software development environments, parallel architectures and algorithms for image processing.
COMP 621 Topics i n Artificial Intelligence [3-0-0:3]
Advanced topics in Al: neural networks, machine intelligence, logic programming, machine learning, neurocomputing, natural language processing, etc.
COMP 630 Topics i n Database Systems [3-0-0:3]
This course covers selected topics in database systems that are of current interest to the Department and are not covered by existing courses.
Postgraduate Course Descriptions
COMP 631 Topics in Knowledge Base Systems [3-0-0:3]
This course covers selected topics in knowledge base systems that are of current interest to the Department and are not covered by existing courses.
COMP 632 Topics i n Information Retrieval 13-0-0:3]
This course covers selected topics in information retrieval that are of current interest to the Department and are not covered by existing courses.
COMP 640 Topics in Interactive Computing [3-0-0:3]
This course covers selected topics in interactive computing that are of current interest to the Department and are not covered by existing courses.
COMP 641 Topics in Graphics [3-0-0:3]
This course covers selected topics in graphics that are of current interest to the Department and are not covered by existing courses.
COMP 650 Topics i n Computer Systems [3-0-0:3]
This course covers selected topics in computer systems that are of current interest to the Department and are not covered by existing courses.
COMP 651 Topics in Computer Systems Analysis [3-0-0:3]
Advanced topics in computer systems analysis; issues in development and solution of system models; model parametrisation, verification and validation; recent developments in techniques and tools for system evaluation.
COMP 660 Topics i n Computer and Communication Networks [3-0-0:3]
This course explores the nature, design and implementation of computer communication protocols; and in particular, the design principles of OSI protocols. A survey of protocol specification, verification and testing will be given.
COMP 670 Topics in Theoretical Computer Science [3-0-0:3]
This course covers selected topics in theoretical computer science that are not covered by existing courses. Topics include, but not limited to, computational complexities and computability, graph algorithms, combinatorial optimisation.
COMP 680 Topics in Computer Engineering [3-0-0:3]
Selected topics in computer engineering that are of current interest to the Department and are not covered by existing courses.
Postgraduate Course Descriptions
COMP 690 Computer Science Seminar I [O-10:1]
A regular seminar presenting research problems currently under investigation. Students are expected to attend regularly. (Graded either P or F).
COMP 691 Computer Science Seminar II [O-14:1]
A regular seminar presenting research problems currently under investigation. Students are expected to attend regularly. (Graded either P or F).
COMP 692 Computer Science Seminar Ill [O-1-0:1]
A regular seminar presenting research problems currently under investigation. Students are expected to attend regularly. (Graded either P or F).
COMP 695 Advanced Seminar in Computer Science [O-14:1]
An indepth study of a current topic in computer science. Offerings are announced each semester.
COMP 697 Independent Studies [I to 3 credits]
An independent research project carried out under the supervision of a faculty member.
COMP 698 MSc Research Project [OQ12:4]
An independent research project carried out under the supervision of a faculty member.
A project report is expected and will be read by two faculty members, one of whom is the supervisor. (Graded either P or F).
COMP 699 MPhil Thesis Research [Previous Course Code: COMP 6001
Students are required to complete a master's research thesis. A successful defence of the thesis leads to Pass or Pass with Distinction. No course credii is assigned.
COMP 799 Doctoral Thesis Research [Previous Course Code: COMP 7001
Students are required to complete an original and independent doctoral research thesis.
A successful defence of the thesis leads to Pass
or
Pass with Distinction. No course credit is assigned.Postgraduate Course Descriptions
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS
Explanations of prerequisites and exclusions can be found on page 23.
ECON 51 1 Managerial Microeconomics [3-0-0:3]
Demand theory, analysis and estimation; production and cost analysis; market structures, strategic behaviour and interaction; output and pricing decisions in-practice; special topics in managerial economics; case studies. (MBA core course)
ECON 512 Managerial Macroeconomics [3-0-0:3]
Aggregate demand and supply, investment, employment, and inflation; monetary and fiscal policies; international trade and investment; trade policy and exchange rate policy;
linkages between economies. (MBA core course)
ECON 521 Microeconomic Theory I [4-0-0:4]
Theory of the firm, theory of consumer behaviour, duality; theory of the market, game theory; neoclassical and alternative approaches.
Prerequisite : One year of calculus
ECON 522 Microeconomic Theory I1 [4-0-0:4]
Introduction to general equilibrium theory and welfare economics; ecoomics of informa- tion and uncertainty; game theory; theory of contract and organisation; topics in modern microeconomics.
Prerequisite : ECON 521
ECON 525 Macroeconomic Theory I [4-0-0:4]
Classical and Keynesian macroeconomic models; microfoundation of macroeconomics;
dynamic and stochastic models of the economy; the role of expectations of future events;
various approaches to the study of business cycles.
Prerequisite : One year of calculus
ECON 526 Macroeconomic Theory II [4-0-0:4]
Theories of consumption, investment, money, and asset priceslreturns; inflation and unemployment; fiscal and monetary policies; factors affecting the twin deficits; economic growth.
Prerequisite : ECON 525
ECON 530 Econometrics [4-0-0:4]
Ordinary least squares, maximum likelihood and generalised least squares; multicollinearity and serial correlation; heteroscedasticity; errors in variables; limited dependent variables;
simultaneous equation systems.
Prerequisites : One year of calculus
Postgraduate Course Descraiptions
ECON 531 Time Series Analysis [eOo:4]
Estimation and application of trend models, smoothing, Box-Jenkins and time series models.
Prerequisite : ECON 530
ECON 535 Mathematics for Business and Economics [4QO:4]
Application of mathematics to economic and business analysis; mathematical analysis and linear algebra; optimisation methods.
ECON 536 Dynamic Optimisation Methods i n Business and [ M 4 ] Economics
Basic methods in dynamic optimisation; differential and difference equations; calculus of variations, control theory, dynamic programming; other methods useful for modem economics; computer applications of these methods.
Prerequisite : ECON 535
ECON 540 International Trade Theory [4QO:4]
Theories of trade, including Ricardian, Heckscher-Ohlin, Chamberlainian, and technol- ogy-gap models; tariffs and non-tariff trade barriers, welfare, income distribution; factor mobility; political economy of protection and trade negotiation.
Prerequisite : Postgraduate mircroeconomic theory course
ECON 541 Open Economy Macroeconomics [4QO:4]
Determination of national income in an open economy; balance of international payments and indebtedness; adjustments under fixed and flexible exchange rate systems; interna- tional monetary system and macroeconomic policy coordination.
Prerequisite : Postgraduate macroeconomic theory course
ECON 551 Comparative Economic Systems I [4QO:4]
Varieties of capitalism in the US, Westem Europe, Japan and in newly industrialised countries; economic transition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, economic reform in China.
Prerequisites : ECON 51 1 and ECON 512
ECON 552 Comparative Economic Systems II Continuation of ECON 551
Postgraduate Course Desmptions
ECON 561 Industrial Organisation I [4-0-0:4]
[Previous Course Code : ECON 5201
Theory of imperfect competition, its consequences for market structure, performance and strategic behaviours; entry deterrence, advertising, R & D merger, vertical integration, alliance formation; empirical and experimental evidence.
Prerequisite : ECON 521
ECON 562 Industrial Organisation II [4-0-0:4]
Causes and effects of oligopoly; anti-competitive business practices; regulation of monopolies such as public utilities; anti-trust policies; behaviour of regulatory agencies and regulated firms.
Prerequisite : ECON 561
ECON 565 Public Economics I [4-0-0:4]
Effects of taxation and other sources of government revenue on resource allocation and income distribution; theory of optimal taxation; time consistency of taxation policy; public debt.
Prerequisites : ECON 521 and ECON 525
ECON 566 Public Economics I1 [4-M):4]
Market failures and public expenditure, public sector pricing and production; provision of public goods; infrastructure investment and project evaluation; theory of public choice.
Prerequisite : ECON 565
ECON 570 Monetary Economics I [4-0-0:4]
Classical dichotomy and neutrality of money; money supply and financial intermediation;
money demand; monetary equilibrium; money, inflation and growth; money and the business cycle; money in the theory of finance.
Prerequisites : ECON 521 and ECON 525
ECON 571 Monetary Economics II (Monetary Policy) [4-0-0:4]
Optimum quantity of money; targets and instruments of monetary policy; rational expec- tations and policy effectiveness; rules versus discretion; dynamic inconsistency and , reputational equilibrium.
Prerequisite : ECON 570
ECON 575 Advanced Econometrics I [4-0-0:4]
Nonlinear regression methods; asymptotic distribution theory; time series analysis;
discrete and limited dependent variables; Bayesian inference in econometrics.
Prerequisite : ECON 530
Postgraduate Course Descriptions
ECON 576 Advanced Econometrics II [4-0-0:4]
Various topics which may include generalised method of moments (GMM), semi- parametric and non-parametric estimation, discrete choice models and analysis of panel data; applications in dynamic economic models.
Various topics which may include generalised method of moments (GMM), semi- parametric and non-parametric estimation, discrete choice models and analysis of panel data; applications in dynamic economic models.