Courses tagged with "Brain stem" (299)

Introduction to the science of human origins, the fossil and archaeological record, and genetic ancestry of living and ancient human populations. The course emphasizes the ways our evolution touches our lives, including health and diet, and explores how deep history may shape the future of our species.

As fossil-based fuels and raw materials contribute to climate change, the use of renewable materials and energy as an alternative is increasingly important and common. This transition is not a luxury, but rather a necessity. We can use the unique properties of microorganisms to convert organic waste streams into biomaterials, chemicals and biofuels. This course provides the insights and tools for the design of biotechnology processes in a sustainable way. Five experienced course leaders will teach you the basics of industrial biotechnology and how to apply these to the design of fermentation processes for the production of fuels, chemicals and foodstuffs.

Throughout this course, you will be challenged to design your own biotechnological process and evaluate its performance and sustainability. This undergraduate course includes guest lectures from industry as well as from the University of Campinas in Brazil, with over 40 years of experience in bio-ethanol production. The course is a joint initiative of TU Delft, the international BE-Basic consortium and University of Campinas.

LICENSE: The course materials of this course are Copyright Delft University of Technology and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC-BY-NC-SA) 4.0 International License.

This course will focus on developing integrative skills through directed reading and analysis of the current primary literature to enable the student to develop the capstone project as the overall final exam for the specialization in systems biology.

Integrative Biology 131: General Human Anatomy. Fall 2005. Professor Marian Diamond. The functional anatomy of the human

Do you want to understand how and why animals behave the way they do, and how we test hypotheses about behaviour scientifically? This biology and life sciences course provides an introduction to the complexities of wild animal behaviour, and how it is studied.

Over six weeks, learners will explore the various behaviours animals adopt in order to meet the challenges of their daily lives. We begin with how animals learn and communicate with each other, then move on to discuss how they find food, avoid predators, choose their mates, and rear their offspring.

This course is aimed at anyone looking to broaden their understanding of animal behaviour beyond nature documentaries or a typical high school education. No previous knowledge is required, only curiosity and enthusiasm for the subject.

We begin with an introduction to the biology, explaining what we measure and why. Then we focus on the two main measurement technologies: next generation sequencing and microarrays. We then move on to describing how raw data and experimental information are imported into R and how we use Bioconductor classes to organize these data, whether generated locally, or harvested from public repositories or institutional archives. Genomic features are generally identified using intervals in genomic coordinates, and highly efficient algorithms for computing with genomic intervals will be examined in detail. Statistical methods for testing gene-centric or pathway-centric hypotheses with genome-scale data are found in packages such as limma, some of these techniques will be illustrated in lectures and labs.

Given the diversity in educational background of our students we have divided the series into seven parts. You can take the entire series or individual courses that interest you. If you are a statistician you should consider skipping the first two or three courses, similarly, if you are biologists you should consider skipping some of the introductory biology lectures. Note that the statistics and programming aspects of the class ramp up in difficulty relatively quickly across the first three courses. By the third course will be teaching advanced statistical concepts such as hierarchical models and by the fourth advanced software engineering skills, such as parallel computing and reproducible research concepts.

These courses make up 2 XSeries and are self-paced:

PH525.1x: Statistics and R for the Life Sciences

PH525.2x: Introduction to Linear Models and Matrix Algebra

PH525.3x: Statistical Inference and Modeling for High-throughput Experiments

PH525.4x: High-Dimensional Data Analysis

PH525.5x: Introduction to Bioconductor: annotation and analysis of genomes and genomic assays 

PH525.6x: High-performance computing for reproducible genomics

PH525.7x: Case studies in functional genomics

Should we clone humans? What should we think of the coming genetic revolution? How much control should we have over how and when we die? When does medical treatment turn into medical enhancement — and should we care? Is rationing health care good, bad, necessary — or all of the above?

This course will explore fundamental moral issues that arise in medicine, health, and biotechnology. Some are as old as life itself: the vulnerability of illness, the fact of death. Some are new, brought on by a dizzying pace of technology that can unsettle our core ideas about human nature and our place in the world. And nearly all intersect with issues of racial and gender equality, as well as policies affecting the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Designed to introduce students to the range of issues that define bioethics, together with core concepts and skills, this course should be of interest to undergraduates, health care professionals, policy makers, and anyone interested in philosophy or ethics.

Before your course starts, try the new edX Demo where you can explore the fun, interactive learning environment and virtual labs. Learn more.

Read fully to understand the verified-certificate option. Join Professor Eric Lander and the MITx Biology team in this unique introductory biology learning experience. All 7.00x course materials are available here for exploration and completion, including video and interactive problem sets and exams for skill building. We strongly encourage you to work through the activities, towards a goal of learning biology. We have optimized the course settings for learning: instant feedback after trying problems and all content available at all times. We offer a rigorous means of certifying edX learners in their mastery of the MITx introductory biology content, through the MITx 7.00x Introduction to Biology Competency Exam. This exciting option is available ONLY to those who register for the verified-certificate track, and successful completion of this exam is the only assessment that counts toward a certificate. We highly recommend preparing for the Competency Exam certification by using the current course materials and MIT OpenCourseWare problems. The next Competency Exam will be open October 24, 2017 to October 31, 2017.

7.00x is an introductory level biology course hosted by professor Eric Lander, who was one of the leaders of the Human Genome Project. The course content reflects the topics taught in the MIT introductory biology courses and many biology courses across the world. As a learner, you will first focus on the structure and function of macromolecules such as DNA, RNA and proteins. You will discover how changes in the structure of some of these macromolecules alter their functions and what the implications of such changes have on human health. As you continue in the course, you will apply an understanding of heredity and information flow within cells to human health and disease and will learn about molecular biological techniques and their potential to impact our changing world. After you complete this course, you will have a foundation in biology that will allow you to understand the remarkable medical revolution going on today.

MITx 7.00x: Introduction to Biology – The Secret of Life will let you explore the mysteries of biochemistry, genetics, molecular biology, recombinant DNA technology and genomics, and rational medicine. We are excited to take this journey with you!

Imaging technologies form a significant component of the health budgets of all developed economies, and most people need advanced imaging such as MRIs, X-Rays and CT Scans (or CAT Scans) during their life. Many of us are aware of the misinformation sometimes offered in TV dramas, which either exaggerates the benefits or overemphasizes the risks.

This medical imaging course provides an introduction to biomedical imaging and modern imaging modalities. The course also covers the basic scientific principals behind each modality, and introduces some of the key applications, from neurological diseases to cancers. This course includes modules specially designed for the general public, whilst also providing some advanced modules which could contribute to professional development in health, engineering and IT industries.

Have you wondered about the design strategies behind temperature controllers, quad-copters, or self-balancing scooters? Are you interested in robotics, and have heard of, or tried, “line-following" or “PID control” and want to understand more?

Feedback control is a remarkably pervasive engineering principle. Feedback control uses sensor data (e.g. brightness, temperature, or velocity) to adjust or correct actuation (e.g. steering angle, motor acceleration, or heater output), and you use it all the time, like when you steer a bicycle, catch a ball, or stand upright. But even though applications of feedback are very common, the subject is an uncommonly compelling example of mathematical theory guiding practical design. In this engineering course we will introduce you to the theory and practice of feedback control and provide a glimpse into this rich and beautiful subject.

Each week we will begin with a mathematical description of a fundamental feedback concept, combined with on-line exercises to test your understanding, and will finish with you designing, implementing, measuring, and analyzing a hardware system, that you build, for controlling a propeller-levitated-arm feedback system.

You will not need a background in calculus or software engineering to succeed in this class but you should be familiar with algebra and mechanical forces, have some exposure to complex numbers, and be comfortable with modifying mathematical formulas in short computer programs.

This is a lab course, and in order to complete the weekly assignments, you will need to purchase/acquire a list of parts. To make sure you receive your parts before the class begins, you should register promptly, so that you can access the lists of parts and international vendors.

Introduction to Environmental Science, ENVX, was first offered in early 2015.

Environmental science is the study of patterns and processes in the natural world and their modification by human activity.  To understand current environmental problems, we need to consider physical, biological and chemical processes that are often the basis of those problems. This course will give you the skills necessary to address the environmental issues we are facing today by examining scientific principles and the application of those principles to natural systems.  This course will survey some of the many environmental science topics at an introductory level, ultimately considering the sustainability of human activities on the planet.

Environmental impacts on Earth come from the number of people and the amount and types of resources that they use. By applying scientific principles and considering real-world examples, we will examine:

• The field of environmental science and how to think like an environmental scientist
• The human population and the ways in which changes in the population affect the environment
• Agriculture, soils and the environmental implications of eating meat, vegetables, local, organic, sustainable, industrial and other types of food
• Non-renewable fossil fuels with a focus on coal, petroleum and natural gas and the benefits and consequences of using each
• Renewable fuels such as wind and solar and identify that even renewable “green” energy sources have impacts as well as benefits
• Biodiversity and global change, which are the integrating units of environmental science

Education method
The course will utilize video lectures, interviews with experts, readings, discussions, multiple choice and prompted discussions and one graded quiz per week. There will also be several optional live office hours on Google Hangouts.

Completion of self-assessments, contributions to discussion and quiz scores will determine the final grade. 

Understand how basic scientific principles underpin forensic science and can contribute to solving criminal cases.

A whirlwind introduction to evolution and genetics, from basic principles to current applications, including how disease genes are mapped, areas or research in evolutionary genetics, and how we leverage evolutionary concepts to aid humanity.

In the first half of this course, we'll investigate DNA replication, and ask the question, where in the genome does DNA replication begin? You will learn how to answer this question for many bacteria using straightforward algorithms to look for hidden messages in the genome.

In the second half of the course, we'll examine a different biological question, and ask which DNA patterns play the role of molecular clocks. The cells in your body manage to maintain a circadian rhythm, but how is this achieved on the level of DNA? Once again, we will see that by knowing which hidden messages to look for, we can start to understand the amazingly complex language of DNA. Perhaps surprisingly, we will apply randomized algorithms to solve problems.

Finally, you will get your hands dirty and apply existing software tools to find recurring biological motifs within genes that are responsible for helping Mycobacterium tuberculosis go "dormant" within a host for many years before causing an active infection.

This course begins a series of classes illustrating the power of computing in modern biology.

The basic biology of modern genomics and the experimental tools used for measurement. This is the first course in the Genomic Big Data Science Specialization.

Behavioral genetic methodologies from twin and adoption studies through DNA analysis will be described and applied to address longstanding questions about the origins of individual differences in behavioral traits.

As contemporary humans, we are a product of our evolutionary past. That past can be directly observed through the study of the human fossil record, the materials preserved for archaeological study, and the DNA of living and extinct human populations. This course will provide an overview of human evolutionary history from the present--contemporary human variation in a comparative context--through our last common ancestor with the living great apes, some 5-7 million years in the past. Emphasis will be placed on major evolutionary changes in the development of humans and the methodological approaches used by paleoanthropologists and related investigators to develop that knowledge.

The course will begin by asking basic questions about how evolution operates to shape biological variation and what patterns of variation look like in living humans and apes. We will then look at how the human lineage first began to differentiate from apes, the rise and fall of the Australopithecines, the origin and dispersal of the genus Homo, and eventually the radical evolutionary changes associated with the development of agricultural practices in the past 15,000 years. Throughout the course students will be exposed to the primary data, places and theories that shape our understanding of human evolution.

To share knowledge and issues in the physical properties of light, the accommodation of light in biological phenomena and medical applications, and the dynamic ways that light is experienced through color in everyday life.

Matrix Algebra underlies many of the current tools for experimental design and the analysis of high-dimensional data. In this introductory data analysis course, we will use matrix algebra to represent the linear models that commonly used to model differences between experimental units. We perform statistical inference on these differences. Throughout the course we will use the R programming language.

Given the diversity in educational background of our students we have divided the series into seven parts. You can take the entire series or individual courses that interest you. If you are a statistician you should consider skipping the first two or three courses, similarly, if you are biologists you should consider skipping some of the introductory biology lectures. Note that the statistics and programming aspects of the class ramp up in difficulty relatively quickly across the first three courses. By the third course will be teaching advanced statistical concepts such as hierarchical models and by the fourth advanced software engineering skills, such as parallel computing and reproducible research concepts.

These courses make up 2 XSeries and are self-paced:

PH525.1x: Statistics and R for the Life Sciences

PH525.2x: Introduction to Linear Models and Matrix Algebra

PH525.3x: Statistical Inference and Modeling for High-throughput Experiments

PH525.4x: High-Dimensional Data Analysis

PH525.5x: Introduction to Bioconductor: annotation and analysis of genomes and genomic assays 

PH525.6x: High-performance computing for reproducible genomics

PH525.7x: Case studies in functional genomics

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Economics, psychology, and neuroscience are converging today into a unified discipline of Neuroeconomics with the ultimate aim of providing a single, general theory of human decision making. Neuroeconomics provides economists, psychologists and social scientists with a deeper understanding of how they make their own decisions, and how others decide.