Online courses directory (2511)
This course explores perspectives in the policy process - agenda setting, problem definition, framing the terms of debate, formulation and analysis of options, implementation and evaluation of policy outcomes using frameworks including economics and markets, law, and business and management. Methods include cost/benefit analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and system dynamics. Exercises include developing skills to work on the interface between technology and societal issues; simulation exercises; case studies; and group projects that illustrate issues involving multiple stakeholders with different value structures, high levels of uncertainty, multiple levels of complexity; and value trade-offs that are characteristic of engineering systems. Emphasis on negotiation, team building and group dynamics, and management of multiple actors and leadership.
Treatment of the laws of thermodynamics and their applications to equilibrium and the properties of materials. Provides a foundation to treat general phenomena in materials science and engineering, including chemical reactions, magnetism, polarizability, and elasticity. Develops relations pertaining to multiphase equilibria as determined by a treatment of solution thermodynamics. Develops graphical constructions that are essential for the interpretation of phase diagrams. Treatment includes electrochemical equilibria and surface thermodynamics. Introduces aspects of statistical thermodynamics as they relate to macroscopic equilibrium phenomena.
This course analyzes the functions of a complex variable and the calculus of residues. It also covers subjects such as ordinary differential equations, partial differential equations, Bessel and Legendre functions, and the Sturm-Liouville theory.
The causes and prevention of interstate war are the central topics of this course. The course goal is to discover and assess the means to prevent or control war. Hence we focus on manipulable or controllable war-causes. The topics covered include the dilemmas, misperceptions, crimes and blunders that caused wars of the past; the origins of these and other war-causes; the possible causes of wars of the future; and possible means to prevent such wars, including short-term policy steps and more utopian schemes.
The historical cases covered include the Peloponnesian and Seven Years wars, World War I, World War II, Korea, the Arab-Israel conflict, and the U.S.-Iraq and U.S. al-Queda wars.
This is an undergraduate course, but it is open to graduate students.
We will cover fundamentals of ecology, considering Earth as an integrated dynamic system. Topics include coevolution of the biosphere, geosphere, atmosphere and oceans; photosynthesis and respiration; the hydrologic, carbon and nitrogen cycles. We will examine the flow of energy and materials through ecosystems; regulation of the distribution and abundance of organisms; structure and function of ecosystems, including evolution and natural selection; metabolic diversity; productivity; trophic dynamics; models of population growth, competition, mutualism and predation. This course is designated as Communication-Intensive; instruction and practice in oral and written communication provided. Biology is a recommended prerequisite.
The course includes survey and special topics designed for graduate students in the brain and cognitive sciences. It emphasizes ethological studies of natural behavior patterns and their analysis in laboratory work, with contributions from field biology (mammology, primatology), sociobiology, and comparative psychology. It stresses mammalian behavior but also includes major contributions from studies of other vertebrates and of invertebrates. It covers some applications of animal-behavior knowledge to neuropsychology and behavioral pharmacology.
The course focuses on the problem of supervised learning within the framework of Statistical Learning Theory. It starts with a review of classical statistical techniques, including Regularization Theory in RKHS for multivariate function approximation from sparse data. Next, VC theory is discussed in detail and used to justify classification and regression techniques such as Regularization Networks and Support Vector Machines. Selected topics such as boosting, feature selection and multiclass classification will complete the theory part of the course. During the course we will examine applications of several learning techniques in areas such as computer vision, computer graphics, database search and time-series analysis and prediction. We will briefly discuss implications of learning theories for how the brain may learn from experience, focusing on the neurobiology of object recognition. We plan to emphasize hands-on applications and exercises, paralleling the rapidly increasing practical uses of the techniques described in the subject.
Principles of heat and mass transfer. Steady and transient conduction and diffusion. Radiative heat transfer. Convective transport of heat and mass in both laminar and turbulent flows. Emphasis on the development of a physical understanding of the underlying phenomena and upon the ability to solve real heat and mass transfer problems of engineering significance.
This course explores the theory of self-assembly in surfactant-water (micellar) and surfactant-water-oil (micro-emulsion) systems. It also introduces the theory of polymer solutions, as well as scattering techniques, light, x-ray, and neutron scattering applied to studies of the structure and dynamics of complex liquids, and modern theory of the liquid state relevant to structured (supramolecular) liquids.
This class introduces scientific, economic, and ecological issues underlying the threat of global climate change, and the institutions engaged in negotiating an international response. It also develops an integrated approach to analysis of climate change processes, and assessment of proposed policy measures, drawing on research and model development within the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
This course will guide students through the process of forming economic hypotheses, gathering the appropriate data, analyzing them, and effectively communicating their results.
This course outlines the physics, modeling, application, and technology of compound semiconductors (primarily III-Vs) in electronic, optoelectronic, and photonic devices and integrated circuits. Topics include: properties, preparation, and processing of compound semiconductors; theory and practice of heterojunctions, quantum structures, and pseudomorphic strained layers; metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs); heterojunction field effect transistors (HFETs) and bipolar transistors (HBTs); photodiodes, vertical-and in-plane-cavity laser diodes, and other optoelectronic devices.
This graduate level course is more extensive and theoretical treatment of the material in Computability, and Complexity (6.045J / 18.400J). Topics include Automata and Language Theory, Computability Theory, and Complexity Theory.
This subject is the first semester of two that form an introduction to modern standard Chinese, commonly called Mandarin. Though not everyone taking this course will be an absolute beginner, the course presupposes no prior background in the language. The purpose of this course is to develop:
- Basic conversational abilities (pronunciation, fundamental grammatical patterns, common vocabulary, and standard usage)
- Basic reading and writing skills (in both the traditional character set and the simplified)
- An understanding of the language learning process so that you are able to continue studying effectively on your own.
The main text is Wheatley, J. K. Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course in Mandarin. Part I. (unpublished, but available online). (Part II of the book forms the basis of 21F.102 / 152, which is also published on OpenCourseWare.)
Chinese Sequence on OCW
OpenCourseWare now offers a complete sequence of four Chinese language courses, covering beginning to intermediate levels of instruction at MIT. They can be used not just as the basis for taught courses, but also for self-instruction and elementary-to-intermediate review.
The four Chinese subjects provide the following materials: an online textbook in four parts, J. K. Wheatley's Learning Chinese: A Foundation Course in Mandarin; audio files of the main conversational and narrative material in this book; and syllabi and day-by-day schedules for each term.
| CHINESE COURSES | COURSE SITES |
|---|---|
| Chinese I (Spring 2006) | 21F.101/151 |
| Chinese II (Spring 2006) | 21F.102/152 |
| Chinese III (Fall 2005) | 21F.103 |
| Chinese IV (Spring 2006) | 21F.104 |
This course is the first intermediate-level course in Spanish, with a focus on grammar review, additional vocabulary, writing of essays in Spanish and enhancement of cultural awareness. Group activities and projects, and conversation are emphasized. There are detailed simulation activities, readings about literature and art from Latin America and Spain, activities with music videos and interviews, and viewings of recent films such as El espinazo del diablo, Juana la loca, and María llena eres de gracia. Students also participate in the MITUPV Exchange project, a multimedia-centered Web site that deals with university life at MIT, the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia in Spain, and other universities.
Alienation, overcrowding, sensory overload, homelessness, criminality, violence, loneliness, sprawl, blight. How have the realities of city living influenced literature's formal and thematic techniques? How useful is it to think of literature as its own kind of "map" of urban space? Are cities too grand, heterogeneous, and shifting to be captured by writers? In this seminar we will seek answers to these questions in key city literature, and in theoretical works that endeavor to understand the culture of cities.
This graduate level course focuses on nonlinear dynamics with applications. It takes an intuitive approach with emphasis on geometric thinking, computational and analytical methods and makes extensive use of demonstration software.
This is an engineering laboratory subject for mechanical engineering juniors and seniors. Major emphasis is on interplay between analytical and experimental methods in solution of research and development problems. Communication (written and oral) of results is also a strong component of the course. Groups of two or three students work together on three projects during the term.
This class is an introduction to the analysis of tonal music. Students develop analytical techniques based upon concepts learned in 21M.301-21M.302. Students study rhythm and form, harmony, line and motivic relationships at local and large scale levels of musical structure. Three papers (totaling 20 pages, one to be revised) and one oral presentation are required.
This course covers interpretations of the concept of probability. Topics include basic probability rules; random variables and distribution functions; functions of random variables; and applications to quality control and the reliability assessment of mechanical/electrical components, as well as simple structures and redundant systems. The course also considers elements of statistics; Bayesian methods in engineering; methods for reliability and risk assessment of complex systems (event-tree and fault-tree analysis, common-cause failures, human reliability models); uncertainty propagation in complex systems (Monte Carlo methods, Latin Hypercube Sampling); and an introduction to Markov models. Examples and applications are drawn from nuclear and other industries, waste repositories, and mechanical systems.
