Online courses directory (2511)

This course focuses on laws, approximations and relations of continuum electromechanics. Topics include mechanical and electromechanical transfer relations, statics and dynamics of electromechanical systems having a static equilibrium, electromechanical flows, and field coupling with thermal and molecular diffusion. Also covered are electrokinetics, streaming interactions, application to materials processing, magnetohydrodynamic and electrohydrodynamic pumps and generators, ferrohydrodynamics, physiochemical systems, heat transfer, continuum feedback control, electron beam devices, and plasma dynamics.

Acknowledgements

The instructor would like to thank Xuancheng Shao and Anyang Hou for transcribing into LaTeX the problem set solutions and exam solutions, respectively.

24.901 is designed to give you a preliminary understanding of how the sound systems of different languages are structured, how and why they may differ from each other. The course also aims to provide you with analytical tools in phonology, enough to allow you to sketch the analysis of an entire phonological system by the end of the term. On a non-linguistic level, the course aims to teach you by example the virtues of formulating precise and explicit descriptive statements; and to develop your skills in making and evaluating arguments.

Introduction to Solid State Chemistry is a first-year single-semester college course on the principles of chemistry. This unique and popular course satisfies MIT's general chemistry degree requirement, with an emphasis on solid-state materials and their application to engineering systems.

Course Format

This course has been designed for independent study. It provides everything you will need to understand the concepts covered in the course. The materials include:

• A complete set of Lecture Videos by Prof. Sadoway.
• Detailed Course Notes for most video sessions, plus readings in several suggested textbooks.
• Homework problems with solution keys, to further develop your understanding.
• For Further Study collections of links to supplemental online content.
• Self-Assessment pages containing quiz and exam problems to assess your mastery, and Help Session Videos in which teaching assistants take you step-by-step through exam problem solutions.

About OCW Scholar

OCW Scholar courses are designed specifically for OCW’s single largest audience: independent learners. These courses are substantially more complete than typical OCW courses, and include new custom-created content as well as materials repurposed from previously published courses. Learn more about OCW Scholar.

The subject introduces the principles of ocean surface waves and their interactions with ships, offshore platforms and advanced marine vehicles. Surface wave theory is developed for linear and nonlinear deterministic and random waves excited by the environment, ships, or floating structures.

Following the development of the physics and mathematics of surface waves, several applications from the field of naval architecture and offshore engineering are addressed. They include the ship Kelvin wave pattern and wave resistance, the interaction of surface waves with floating bodies, the seakeeping of ships high-speed vessels and offshore platforms, the evaluation of the drift forces and other nonlinear wave effects responsible for the slow-drift responses of compliant offshore platforms and their mooring systems designed for hydrocarbon recovery from large water depths.

This course was originally offered in Course 13 (Department of Ocean Engineering) as 13.022. In 2005, ocean engineering subjects became part of Course 2 (Department of Mechanical Engineering), and this course was renumbered 2.24.

Microeconomics will ground you in - surprise - basic microeconomics-how markets function, how to think about allocating scarce resources among competing uses, what profit maximizing behavior means in industries with different numbers of competitors, how technology and trade reshapes the opportunities people face, and so on. We will apply economic ideas to understand current economic problems, including the housing bubble, the current unemployment situation (particularly for high school gradutes), how Google makes its money and why healthcare costs are rising so fast.

This advanced course in anthropology engages closely with discussions and debates about ethnographic research, ethics, and representation.

This course examines the contemporary problem of political violence and the way that human rights have been conceived as a means to protect and promote freedom, peace and justice for citizens against the abuses of the state.

This course addresses the challenges of defining a relationship between exposure to environmental chemicals and human disease. Course topics include epidemiological approaches to understanding disease causation; biostatistical methods; evaluation of human exposure to chemicals, and their internal distribution, metabolism, reactions with cellular components, and biological effects; and qualitative and quantitative health risk assessment methods used in the U.S. as bases for regulatory decision-making. Throughout the term, students consider case studies of local and national interest.

This course covers current understanding of, and modern approaches to human disease, emphasizing the molecular and cellular basis of both genetic disease and cancer. Topics include: The Genetics of Simple and Complex Traits; Karyotypic Analysis and Positional Cloning; Genetic Diagnosis; The Roles of Oncogenes and Tumor Suppressors in Tumor Initiation, Progression, and Treatment; The Interaction between Genetics and Environment; Animal Models of Human Disease; Cancer; and Conventional and Gene Therapy Treatment Strategies.

Lectures, reading, and discussion of current theory and data concerning the psychology and biology of language acquisition. Emphasizes learning of syntax and morphology, together with some discussion of phonology, and especially research relating grammatical theory and learnability theory to empirical studies of children.

This course uses reaction kinetics, batch reactor analysis, batch distillation, batch operations scheduling, safety analysis, and the ABACUSS process simulator to introduce process design and analysis techniques.

Acknowledgements

The materials for the Fall 2006 offering of this course were drawn extensively from the materials that Professor Paul Barton used while teaching this course in past years. We are indebted to him for his long service to 10.490.

This course covers the thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena and analysis methods for conventional and nuclear power stations. Specific topics include: kinematics and dynamics of two-phase flows; steam separation; boiling, instabilities, and critical conditions; single-channel transient analysis; multiple channels connected at plena; loop analysis including single and two-phase natural circulation; and subchannel analysis.

This undergraduate class is designed to introduce students to the physics that govern the circulation of the ocean and atmosphere. The focus of the course is on the processes that control the climate of the planet.

Acknowledgments

Prof. Ferrari wishes to acknowledge that this course was originally designed and taught by Prof. John Marshall.

This course focuses on development of interpretive skills, using literary texts (B. Brecht, S. Zweig) and contemporary media texts (film, TV broadcasts, Web materials). The emphasis is on discussion and exploration of cultural topics in their current social, political, and historical context via hypermedia documentaries. It also covers further refinement of oral and written expression and expansion of communicative competence in practical everyday situations.

This course offers an advanced survey of current debates about the ontology, methodology, and aims of the social sciences.

This subject offers a broad survey of texts (both literary and philosophical) drawn from the Western tradition and selected to trace the growth of ideas about the nature of mankind's ethical and political life in the West since the renaissance. It will deal with the change in perspective imposed by scientific ideas, the general loss of a supernatural or religious perspective upon human events, and the effects for good or ill of the increasing authority of an intelligence uninformed by religion as a guide to life. The readings are roughly complementary to the readings in 21L001, and classroom discussion will stress appreciation and analysis of texts that came to represent the cultural heritage of the modern world.

This course is intended for graduate students planning to conduct qualitative research in a variety of different settings. Its topics include: Case studies, interviews, documentary evidence, participant observation, and survey research. The primary goal of this course is to assist students in preparing their (Masters and PhD) dissertation proposals.

This course continues from the fall semester. The course introduces students to the fundamental theories and methods of modern political science through the study of a small number of major books and articles that have been influential in the field. This semester, the course focuses on American and comparative politics.

A survey of how America has become the world's largest consumer of energy. Explores American history from the perspective of energy and its relationship to politics, diplomacy, the economy, science and technology, labor, culture, and the environment. Topics include muscle and water power in early America, coal and the Industrial Revolution, electrification, energy consumption in the home, oil and U.S. foreign policy, automobiles and suburbanization, nuclear power, OPEC and the 70's energy crisis, global warming, and possible paths for the future.

15.769 Operations Strategy provides a unifying framework for analyzing strategic issues in manufacturing and service operations. Students analyze the relationships between manufacturing and service companies and their suppliers, customers, and competitors. The course covers strategic decisions in technology, facilities, vertical integration, human resources, and other areas, and also explores means of competition such as cost, quality, and innovativeness.