Online courses directory (2511)

This seminar is open to graduate students, and is intended to offer a synoptic view of selected methodologies and thinkers in art and architectural history (with many theorists from other fields). The syllabus outlines the structure of the course and the readings and assignments for each week; the goal is to become aware of the apparatuses of discourse, and find your own voice within them.

This class covers a range of topics including hypertext, interactive cinema, games, installation art, and soundscapes. It examines the potential for dynamic narrative in traditional media like novels and films and as well as in computer-based stories and games. The course focuses on the creation of electronic stories and games using simple authoring systems and multimedia software tools. Students present and constructively critique one another's work in progress in a workshop setting aimed at expanding the representational powers of a new creative medium.

This course covers theories about the form that settlements should take and attempts a distinction between descriptive and normative theory by examining examples of various theories of city form over time. Case studies will highlight the origins of the modern city and theories about its emerging form, including the transformation of the nineteenth-century city and its organization. Through examples and historical context, current issues of city form in relation to city-making, social structure, and physical design will also be discussed and analyzed.

Theories about cities and the form that settlements should take will be discussed. Attempts will be made at a distinction between descriptive and normative theory, by examining examples of various theories of city form over time. The class will concentrate on the origins of the modern city and theories about its emerging form, including the transformation of the nineteenth-century city and its organization. It analyzes current issues of city form in relation to city making, social structure, and physical design. Case studies of several cities will be presented as examples of the theories discussed in the class.

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 course is an introduction to epistemology: the theory of knowledge. We will focus on skepticism—that is, the thesis that we know nothing at all—and we will survey a range of skeptical arguments and responses to skepticism.

This course is an elementary introduction to number theory with no algebraic prerequisites. Topics covered include primes, congruences, quadratic reciprocity, diophantine equations, irrational numbers, continued fractions, and partitions. 

6.896 covers mathematical foundations of parallel hardware, from computer arithmetic to physical design, focusing on algorithmic underpinnings. Topics covered include: arithmetic circuits, parallel prefix, systolic arrays, retiming, clocking methodologies, boolean logic, sorting networks, interconnection networks, hypercubic networks, P-completeness, VLSI layout theory, reconfigurable wiring, fat-trees, and area-time complexity.

This course was also taught as part of the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) programme as course number SMA 5511 (Theory of Parallel Hardware).

This course covers topics such as sums of independent random variables, central limit phenomena, infinitely divisible laws, Levy processes, Brownian motion, conditioning, and martingales.

This is the first term of a theoretical treatment of the physics of solids. Topics covered include crystal structure and band theory, density functional theory, a survey of properties of metals and semiconductors, quantum Hall effect, phonons, electron phonon interaction and superconductivity.

This is the second term of a theoretical treatment of the physics of solids. Topics covered include linear response theory; the physics of disorder; superconductivity; the local moment and itinerant magnetism; the Kondo problem and Fermi liquid theory.

This course is taught in four main parts. The first is a review of fundamental thermodynamic concepts (e.g. energy exchange in propulsion and power processes), and is followed by the second law (e.g. reversibility and irreversibility, lost work). Next are applications of thermodynamics to engineering systems (e.g. propulsion and power cycles, thermo chemistry), and the course concludes with fundamentals of heat transfer (e.g. heat exchange in aerospace devices).

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 subject deals primarily with equilibrium properties of macroscopic systems, basic thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium of reactions in gas and solution phase, and rates of chemical reactions.

Acknowledgements

The material for 5.60 has evolved over a period of many years, and therefore several faculty members have contributed to the development of the course contents. The following are known to have assisted in preparing the lecture notes available on OpenCourseWare: Emeritus Professors of Chemistry: Robert A. Alberty, Carl W. Garland, Irwin Oppenheim, John S. Waugh. Professors of Chemistry: Moungi Bawendi, John M. Deutch, Robert W. Field, Robert G. Griffin, Keith A. Nelson, Robert J. Silbey, Jeffrey I. Steinfeld. Professor of Bioengineering and Computer Science: Bruce Tidor. Professor of Chemistry, Rice University: James L. Kinsey. Professor of Physics, University of Illinois: Philip W. Phillips.

This course explores materials and materials processes from the perspective of thermodynamics and kinetics. The thermodynamics aspect includes laws of thermodynamics, solution theory and equilibrium diagrams. The kinetics aspect includes diffusion, phase transformations, and the development of microstructure.

In this course, principles of thermodynamics are used to infer the physical conditions of formation and modification of igneous and metamorphic rocks. The course includes phase equilibria of homogeneous and heterogeneous systems and thermodynamic modeling of non-ideal crystalline solutions. It also surveys the processes that lead to the formation of metamorphic and igneous rocks in the major tectonic environments in the Earth's crust and mantle.

This subject deals primarily with equilibrium properties of macroscopic and microscopic systems, basic thermodynamics, chemical equilibrium of reactions in gas and solution phase, and macromolecular interactions.

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 seminar is for students who plan to write a senior thesis in Political Science, and is required of all MIT Political Science majors. Seminar participants will develop their research topics, review relevant research and scholarship, frame their research questions and arguments, choose an appropriate methodology for analysis, draft the introductory and methodology sections of their theses, and write a complete prospectus of the project.