Online courses directory (2511)

This course provides ways to analyze manufacturing systems in terms of material flow and storage, information flow, capacities, and times and durations of events. Fundamental topics include probability, inventory and queuing models, optimization, and linear and dynamic systems. Factory planning and scheduling topics include flow planning, bottleneck characterization, buffer and batch-size analysis, and dynamic behavior of production systems.

This course is an introduction to linear optimization and its extensions emphasizing the underlying mathematical structures, geometrical ideas, algorithms and solutions of practical problems. The topics covered include: formulations, the geometry of linear optimization, duality theory, the simplex method, sensitivity analysis, robust optimization, large scale optimization network flows, solving problems with an exponential number of constraints and the ellipsoid method, interior point methods, semidefinite optimization, solving real world problems problems with computer software, discrete optimization formulations and algorithms.

This course provides an aggressively gentle introduction to MATLAB®. It is designed to give students fluency in MATLAB, including popular toolboxes. The course consists of interactive lectures with students doing sample MATLAB problems in real time. Problem-based MATLAB assignments are given which require significant time on MATLAB.

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.

Acknowledgements

The 6.094 course materials were developed by Danilo Šćepanović, Sourav R. Dey, Ankit Patel, and Patrick Ho.

This course is intended to assist undergraduates with learning the basics of programming in general and programming MATLAB® in particular.

Introduction to Media Studies is designed for students who have grown up in a rapidly changing global multimedia environment and want to become more literate and critical consumers and producers of media. Through an interdisciplinary comparative and historical lens, the course defines "media" broadly as including oral, print, performance, photographic, broadcast, cinematic, and digital cultural forms and practices. The course looks at the nature of mediated communication, the functions of media, the history of transformations in media and the institutions that help define media's place in society. This year’s course will focus on issues of network culture and media convergence, addressing such subjects as Intellectual Property, peer2peer authoring, blogging, and game modification.

This course provides a critical analysis of mass media in our culture. Various types of media such as books, films, video games, and online interactions will be discussed and reviewed. This course will also evaluate how information and ideas travel between people on a large scale.

This subject provides an introduction to modeling and simulation, covering continuum methods, atomistic and molecular simulation, and quantum mechanics. Hands-on training is provided in the fundamentals and applications of these methods to key engineering problems. The lectures provide exposure to areas of application based on the scientific exploitation of the power of computation. We use web based applets for simulations, thus extensive programming skills are not required.

This subject provides an introduction to modeling and simulation (IM/S), covering continuum methods, atomistic and molecular simulation (e.g. molecular dynamics) as well as quantum mechanics. These tools play an increasingly important role in modern engineering. You will get hands-on training in both the fundamentals and applications of these methods to key engineering problems. The lectures will provide an exposure to areas of application, based on the scientific exploitation of the power of computation. We will use web based applets for simulations and thus extensive programming skills are not required.

Through a progressive series of composition projects, students investigate the sonic organization of musical works and performances, focusing on fundamental questions of unity and variety. Aesthetic issues are considered in the pragmatic context of the instructions that composers provide to achieve a desired musical result, whether these instructions are notated in prose, as graphic images, or in symbolic notation. No formal training is required. Weekly listening, reading, and composition assignments draw on a broad range of musical styles and intellectual traditions, from various cultures and historical periods.

Traditionally, progress in electronics has been driven by miniaturization. But as electronic devices approach the molecular scale, classical models for device behavior must be abandoned. To prepare for the next generation of electronic devices, this class teaches the theory of current, voltage and resistance from atoms up. To describe electrons at the nanoscale, we will begin with an introduction to the principles of quantum mechanics, including quantization, the wave-particle duality, wavefunctions and Schrödinger's equation. Then we will consider the electronic properties of molecules, carbon nanotubes and crystals, including energy band formation and the origin of metals, insulators and semiconductors. Electron conduction will be taught beginning with ballistic transport and concluding with a derivation of Ohm's law. We will then compare ballistic to bulk MOSFETs. The class will conclude with a discussion of possible fundamental limits to computation.

Traditionally, progress in electronics has been driven by miniaturization. But as electronic devices approach the molecular scale, classical models for device behavior must be abandoned. To prepare for the next generation of electronic devices, this class teaches the theory of current, voltage and resistance from atoms up. To describe electrons at the nanoscale, we will begin with an introduction to the principles of quantum mechanics, including quantization, the wave-particle duality, wavefunctions and Schrödinger's equation. Then we will consider the electronic properties of molecules, carbon nanotubes and crystals, including energy band formation and the origin of metals, insulators and semiconductors. Electron conduction will be taught beginning with ballistic transport and concluding with a derivation of Ohm's law. We will then compare ballistic to bulk MOSFETs. The class will conclude with a discussion of possible fundamental limits to computation.

This course explores the organization of synaptic connectivity as the basis of neural computation and learning. Perceptrons and dynamical theories of recurrent networks including amplifiers, attractors, and hybrid computation are covered. Additional topics include backpropagation and Hebbian learning, as well as models of perception, motor control, memory, and neural development.

This subject will be an intensive introduction to neuroanatomy, involving lectures, demonstrations, and hands-on laboratories, including a brain dissection. The course will not assume any prior knowledge of neuroanatomy, though some general knowledge of brain structures will be helpful.

This course is an introduction to the mammalian nervous system, with emphasis on the structure and function of the human brain. Topics include the function of nerve cells, sensory systems, control of movement, learning and memory, and diseases of the brain.

The course will span modern neuroscience from molecular neurobiology to perception and cognition, including the following major topics: anatomy and development of the brain; cell biology of neurons and glia; ion channels and electrical signaling; synaptic transmission, integration, and chemical systems of the brain; sensory systems, from transduction to perception; motor systems; and higher brain functions dealing with memory, language, and affective disorders.

The phenomenology and experimental foundations of particle and nuclear physics are explored in this course. Emphasis is on the fundamental forces and particles, as well as composites.

This course provides an introduction to nuclear science and its engineering applications. It describes basic nuclear models, radioactivity, nuclear reactions and kinematics; covers the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter, with an emphasis on radiation detection, radiation shielding, and radiation effects on human health; and presents energy systems based on fission and fusion nuclear reactions, as well as industrial and medical applications of nuclear science.

This course analyzed the basic techniques for the efficient numerical solution of problems in science and engineering. Topics spanned root finding, interpolation, approximation of functions, integration, differential equations, direct and iterative methods in linear algebra.

This course is offered to undergraduates and introduces students to the formulation, methodology, and techniques for numerical solution of engineering problems. Topics covered include: fundamental principles of digital computing and the implications for algorithm accuracy and stability, error propagation and stability, the solution of systems of linear equations, including direct and iterative techniques, roots of equations and systems of equations, numerical interpolation, differentiation and integration, fundamentals of finite-difference solutions to ordinary differential equations, and error and convergence analysis. The subject is taught the first half of the term.

This subject was originally offered in Course 13 (Department of Ocean Engineering) as 13.002J. In 2005, ocean engineering became part of Course 2 (Department of Mechanical Engineering), and this subject was renumbered 2.993J.

This course offers an advanced introduction to numerical linear algebra. Topics include direct and iterative methods for linear systems, eigenvalue decompositions and QR/SVD factorizations, stability and accuracy of numerical algorithms, the IEEE floating point standard, sparse and structured matrices, preconditioning, linear algebra software. Problem sets require some knowledge of MATLAB®.