Online courses directory (19947)

Students in ESD.00 work on projects to address large, complex and seemingly intractable real-world problems, such as energy supply, environmental issues, health care delivery, and critical infrastructure (e.g., telecommunications, water supply, and transportation). The course introduces interdisciplinary approaches - rooted in engineering, management, and the social sciences - to considering these critical contemporary issues. Small, faculty-led teams select an engineering systems term project to illustrate one or more of these approaches.

Surveys the literature on the cognitive and neural organization of human memory and learning. Includes consideration of working memory and executive control, episodic and semantic memory, and implicit forms of memory. Emphasizes integration of cognitive theory with recent insights from functional neuroimaging (e.g., fMRI and PET).

In this 3-unit class, we will read Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost. The goal of the class is for students to come away feeling comfortable with its language and argument; meeting in a small group will also allow us to talk about the key questions and issues raised by the poem. This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.

The course consists of a sampling of topics from algebraic combinatorics. The topics include the matrix-tree theorem and other applications of linear algebra, applications of commutative and exterior algebra to counting faces of simplicial complexes, and applications of algebra to tilings.

The geologic record demonstrates that our environment has changed over a variety of time scales from seconds to billions of years. This course explores the many ways in which geologic processes control and modify the Earth's environment and serves as an introduction to Environmental Earth Science Field Course (12.120), which addresses field applications of these principles in the American Southwest.

It's a fact that other social media like Facebook and Twitter have drawn some people away from blogging, but others have seized the opportunity to use a blog as the central point around which their other social media orbit. There's still nothing as effective as a blog in creating your brand, differentiating yourself from your competitors, and establishing your expertise and credibility with your target audience.

Prepare for a rewarding career as a valued member of the physical therapy team.

Discover how to use the advanced features in QuickBooks to gain more control over how you manage your company's accounting files, lists, and inventory.

Learn to create state-of-the-art Web sites using modern CSS3 and HTML5 techniques.

Material covered in this course includes the following topics:

• Laws of thermodynamics: general formulation and applications to mechanical, electromagnetic and electrochemical systems, solutions, and phase diagrams
• Computation of phase diagrams
• Statistical thermodynamics and relation between microscopic and macroscopic properties, including ensembles, gases, crystal lattices, phase transitions
• Applications to phase stability and properties of mixtures
• Computational modeling
• Interfaces

This course was also taught as part of the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) programme as course number SMA 5111 (Materials at Equilibrium).

The subject of enumerative combinatorics deals with counting the number of elements of a finite set. For instance, the number of ways to write a positive integer n as a sum of positive integers, taking order into account, is 2^n-1. We will be concerned primarily with bijective proofs, i.e., showing that two sets have the same number of elements by exhibiting a bijection (one-to-one correspondence) between them. This is a subject which requires little mathematical background to reach the frontiers of current research. Students will therefore have the opportunity to do original research. It might be necessary to limit enrollment.

This course is intended for students pursuing research projects at the Media Laboratory. Topics include Media Lab research areas, documenting research progress, ethical issues in research; patents, copyrights, intellectual property, and giving oral, written, and online presentations of results. A final oral presentation is required. Enrollment limited with preference given to students in the Media Arts and Sciences freshman program.

This course is intended to introduce the student to the concepts and methods of transport theory needed in neutron science applications. This course is a foundational study of the effects of multiple interactions on neutron distributions and their applications to problems across the Nuclear Engineering department. Stochastic and deterministic simulation techniques will be introduced to the students.

This is the second of a two-semester subject sequence beginning with Atomic and Optical Physics I (8.421) that provides the foundations for contemporary research in selected areas of atomic and optical physics. Topics covered include non-classical states of light–squeezed states; multi-photon processes, Raman scattering; coherence–level crossings, quantum beats, double resonance, superradiance; trapping and cooling-light forces, laser cooling, atom optics, spectroscopy of trapped atoms and ions; atomic interactions–classical collisions, quantum scattering theory, ultracold collisions; and experimental methods.

This class is divided into a series of sections or "modules", each of which concentrates on a particular large technology-related topic in a cultural context. The class will start with a four-week module on Samurai Swords and Blacksmithing, followed by smaller units on Chinese Cooking, the Invention of Clocks, and Andean Weaving, and end with a four-week module on Automobiles and Engines. In addition, there will be a series of hands-on projects that tie theory and practice together. The class discussions range across anthropology, history, and individual development, emphasizing recurring themes, such as the interaction between technology and culture and the relation between "skill" knowledge and "craft" knowledge.

Culture Tech evolved from a more extensive, two-semester course which formed the centerpiece of the Integrated Studies Program at MIT.  For 13 years, ISP was an alternative first-year program combining humanities, physics, learning-by-doing, and weekly luncheons.  Culture Tech represents the core principles of ISP distilled into a 6-unit seminar. Although many collections of topics have been used over the years, the modules presented here are a representative sequence. 

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.

Cancer has existed among humans since humans themselves began and has been a subject of urgent interest from very early in our history.  What we call “cancer” consists of a number of different diseases with one fundamental similarity: they are all initiated by the unchecked proliferation and growth of cells in which the pathways and systems that normally control cell division and mortality are absent.  Cancer-cell abnormalities are often due to mutations of the genes that control the cell cycle and cell growth.  To understand cancer cells, then, one must first understand the processes that regulate normal cell cycles. This course will cover the origins of cancer and the genetic and cellular basis for cancer.  It will examine the factors that have been implicated in triggering cancers; the intercellular interactions involved in cancer proliferation; current treatments for cancer and how these are designed; and future research and treatment directions for cancer therapy.

Advanced Inorganic Chemistry is designed to give you the knowledge to explain everyday phenomena of inorganic complexes. You will study the various aspects of their physical and chemical properties and learn how to determine the practical applications that these complexes can have in industrial, analytical, and medicinal chemistry. This course will begin with the discussion of symmetry and point group theory and its applications in the field of vibrational spectroscopy. We will then study molecular orbital (MO) theory specifically applied to metal organic complexes. MO theory will be critical in understanding the following: 1) the relative position of ligands in the spectrochemical series, 2) the electronic transitions and related selection rules, and 3) the application of spectroscopy of metals. The course will then move onto the study of the oxidation states of transition metals and their redox properties. A firm grasp of the chemical redox properties of transition metals is critical to understanding thei…

The purpose of this course is to systematically examine the elements and factors which result in an effective speech.  The textbook and associated lectures present an element-by-element examination of the essentials of public speaking while also identifying traits of the individual speaker and how they impact preparation and presentation.  In addition to these resources, a comprehensive series of brief videos demonstrate specific, performance-oriented aspects of public speaking.  Tying each of these course elements together are the themes of information and ethics, emphasized in each resource because they are becoming increasingly important to all communicators.  For example, the textbook constantly returns to the discussion of society’s ever-increasing access to information and the demands on the individual to use it effectively and ethically.  The authors note that “the New York Times has more information in one week than individuals in the 1800s would encounter in a lifetime,” which illustrates…

When we use programming for problem-solving purposes, data must be stored in certain forms, or Data Structures, so that operations on that data will yield a specific type of output.  Imagine, for example, that a non-profit is having trouble staying afloat and needs an increase in donation.  It decides it wants to keep track of its donors in a program in order to figure out who is contributing and why.  You would first need to define the properties that would define those donors: name, address, amount donated, date of donation, and so on.  Then, when the non-profit wants to determine how to best reach out to their donors, it can create a model of the average donor that contributes to the non-profitsay, for example, based on size of gift and locationso that it can better determine who is most receptive to its mission.  In this case, size of gift and location are the “data” of the donor model.  If the non-profit were to use this model, it would be identifying real donors by first generating an abstract…