Online courses directory (2511)

Hitherto it had gone by the original Indian name Manna-hatta, or as some still have it, 'The Manhattoes'; but this was now decried as savage and heathenish... At length, when the council was almost in despair, a burgher, remarkable for the size and squareness of his head, proposed that they should call it New-Amsterdam. The proposition took every body by surprise; it was so striking, so apposite, so ingenious. The name was adopted by acclamation, and New-Amsterdam the metropolis was thenceforth called.

—Washington Irving, 1808

In less tongue-in-cheek style, this course examines the evolution of New York City from 1607 to the present. The readings focus on the city's social and physical histories, and the class discussions compare New York's development to patterns in other cities.

This course surveys operations research models and techniques developed for a variety of problems arising in logistical planning of multi-echelon systems. There is a focus on planning models for production/inventory/distribution strategies in general multi-echelon multi-item systems. Topics include vehicle routing problems, dynamic lot sizing inventory models, stochastic and deterministic multi-echelon inventory systems, the bullwhip effect, pricing models, and integration problems arising in supply chain management. Probability and linear programming experience required.

This class introduces the student to the use of small telescopes, either for formal research or as a hobby.

This course covers background for and techniques of visual observation, electronic imaging, and spectroscopy of the Moon, planets, satellites, stars, and brighter deep-space objects. Weekly outdoor observing sessions using 8-inch diameter telescopes when weather permits. Indoor sessions introduce needed skills. Introduction to contemporary observational astronomy including astronomical computing, image and data processing, and how astronomers work. Student must maintain a careful and complete written log which is graded. (Limited enrollment with priority to freshmen. Consumes an entire evening each week; 100% attendance at observing sessions required to pass.)

This course provides intensive coverage of the theory and practice of electromechanical instrument design with application to biomedical devices. Students will work with MGH doctors to develop new medical products from concept to prototype development and testing. Lectures will present techniques for designing electronic circuits as part of complete sensor systems. Topics covered include: basic electronics circuits, principles of accuracy, op amp circuits, analog signal conditioning, power supplies, microprocessors, wireless communications, sensors, and sensor interface circuits. Labs will cover practical printed circuit board (PCB) design including component selection, PCB layout, assembly, and planning and budgeting for large projects. Problem sets and labs in the first six weeks are in support of the project. Major team-based design, build, and test project in the last six weeks. Student teams will be composed of both electrical engineering and mechanical engineering students.

ESD.83 Doctoral Seminar in Engineering Systems examines the core theory and contextual applications of the emerging field of Engineering Systems. There is a focus on doctoral–level analysis of scholarship on key concepts such as complexity, uncertainty, fragility, and robustness, as well as a critical look at the historical roots of the field and related areas such as systems engineering, systems dynamics, agent modeling, and systems simulations. Contextual applications of the course range from aerospace to technology implementation to regulatory systems to large–scale systems change. Special attention is given to the interdependence of social and technical dimensions of engineering systems.

This course presents a comparison of different proposed architectures for the syntax module of grammar. The subject traces several themes across a wide variety of approaches, with emphasis on testable differences among models. Models discussed include ancient and medieval proposals, structuralism, early generative grammar, generative semantics, government-binding theory/minimalism, LFG, HPSG, TAG, functionalist perspectives and others.

This course focuses on strategic and political implications of ongoing trends in global energy markets, particularly markets for crude oil and natural gas. The course examines the world's major oil and natural gas producing regions: the Middle East, the Caspian Region, Russia, Venezuela, and the North Sea. Producer-consumer relationships are considered for China, India, Japan, and the United States. United States foreign policy implications, especially with respect to China, are discussed.

This course examines the evolving structure of cities and the way that cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas can be designed and developed. Boston and other American cities are studied to see how physical, social, political and economic forces interact to shape and reshape cities over time.

This studio will investigate the social, programmatic, tectonic and phenomenological performance and character of a student gathering place on the MIT campus. Whether it is simply for socializing or for more specific events, the student gathering place will serve as a refuge from the vigorous educational environment of the Institute, and it will reinforce a critical sense of "place" through the almost logical organization of its program. The place will foster a casual discovery of "being": a reflection upon the student's own existence based upon participation in group events and an intellectual attitude toward acting. To create a space that inspires, rather than imposes: such a discovery is the foremost challenge of this studio.

This course covers the analysis and design at a molecular scale of materials used in contact with biological systems, including biotechnology and biomedical engineering. Topics include molecular interactions between bio- and synthetic molecules and surfaces; design, synthesis, and processing approaches for materials that control cell functions; and application of state-of-the-art materials science to problems in tissue engineering, drug delivery, vaccines, and cell-guiding surfaces.

This course examines major social and political trends, events, debates and personalities which help place aspects of contemporary French culture in their historical perspective through fiction, films, essays, newspaper articles, and television. Topics include the heritage of the French Revolution, the growth and consequences of colonialism, the role of intellectuals in public debates, the impact of the Occupation, the modernization of the economy and of social structures. The sources and meanings of national symbols, monuments, myths and manifestoes are also studied. Recommended for students planning to study abroad. Taught in French.

Spanish IV aims at developing and improving student's oral and written communication through the continued study of the language, literature and culture of Spain, Latin America and Hispanic communities in the United States. It also seeks to improve students' ability to read and appreciate literary and non-literary texts in Spanish, deepening this way students' awareness and understanding of the cultural diversity of the Spanish-speaking world. The course is organized by themes based on contemporary social, political and cultural issues of Spanish-speaking societies such as: cultural identity, the changing roles of women and family, economic development and its effects on cultural heritage and environment, and the individual's rights in the political system.

This course explores the form, content, and historical context of various works of fiction specifically through the thematic lens of "dysfunctional families." We will focus primarily on questions pertaining to the structure, language, story, and characters of these fictional works.

How do literature, philosophy, film and other arts respond to the profound changes in world view and lifestyle that mark the twentieth century? This course considers a broad range of works from different countries, different media, and different genres, in exploring the transition to a decentered "Einsteinian" universe.

This undergraduate level course follows Algebra I. Topics include group representations, rings, ideals, fields, polynomial rings, modules, factorization, integers in quadratic number fields, field extensions, and Galois theory.

Turbulent flows, with emphasis on engineering methods. Governing equations for momentum, energy, and species transfer.

Turbulence: its production, dissipation, and scaling laws. Reynolds averaged equations for momentum, energy, and species transfer. Simple closure approaches for free and bounded turbulent shear flows. Applications to jets, pipe and channel flows, boundary layers, buoyant plumes and thermals, and Taylor dispersion, etc., including heat and species transport as well as flow fields. Introduction to more complex closure schemes, including the k-epsilon, and statistical methods in turbulence.

As the digital revolution brings with it radical changes in how and what we learn, people must continue to learn all the time. New technologies make possible new approaches to learning, new contexts for learning, new tools to support learning, and new ideas of what can be learned. This course will explore these new opportunities for learning with a special focus on what can be learned through immersive, hands-on activities. Students will participate in (and reflect on) a variety of learning situations, and will use Media Lab technologies to develop new workshops, iteratively run and refine the workshops, and analyze how and what the workshop participants learn.

This seminar explores approaches to representation for distributed cinematic storytelling. The relationship between story creation and story appreciation is analyzed. Readings are drawn from literary and cinematic criticism, as well as from descriptions of interactive, distributed works. Students analyze a range of storytelling techniques; they develop a proposal using visualization techniques; and they prototype a working story experience, culminating in a final project displayed at the end of the semester.

Spanish I is very different from other classes at MIT. The central component of the text and workbook is a series of 26 half-hour video episodes. The videos allow students to learn authentic Spanish and experience its cultural diversity while following a good story full of surprises and human emotions. Students also listen to an audio-only program integrated with the text and workbook.

In the classroom, students do a variety of activities and exercises, which include talking in Spanish about the video program, practicing pronunciation and grammar, and interacting in Spanish with classmates in pairs and small groups. The class is conducted in Spanish as much as possible, but English is used where necessary for clarity and efficiency. This course deals with all basic language skills: aural comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. This class assumes no previous knowledge of Spanish.

This course examines the problems and issues confronting American national security policymakers and the many factors that influence the policies that emerge. But this is not a course about "threats," military strategies, or the exercise of military power.

What threatens those interests? How should the U.S. defend those interests? What kind of military should we build? Should the U.S. enter into alliances with other countries? Do we need a larger Navy? How much should we spend on weapons procurement?

The course has four broad goals:

• to demonstrate that definitions of national security and the specification of vital interests are subjective and fluid and that they are as much functions of domestic politics as they are responses to international politics and "objective threats";
• to demonstrate that policy decisions involve complex tradeoffs among political, social, economic, military, legal, and ethical goals and values;
• to explore how the many organizations, institutions, and individuals that participate in American national security policymaking affect policy formulation, implementation, and outcomes; and
• to better understand the historical context, evolution, and linkages of national security problems and solutions.

The course is organized along an historical time line. Beginning with the final days of World War II we follow American national security policy from the first stirrings of confrontation with the Soviet Union and China, into two hot wars in Asia that cost over 100,000 American lives and spawned social upheavals, through a close encounter with nuclear war, stumbling into the era of arms control, and conclude with the collapse of the communism. Selective case studies, memoirs, and original documents act as windows into each period. What were US national security decision makers thinking? What were they worried about? How did they see their options?