Courses tagged with "Information environments" (1105)

This course offers an introduction to discrete and computational geometry. Emphasis is placed on teaching methods in combinatorial geometry. Many results presented are recent, and include open (as yet unsolved) problems.

This course is an intensive introduction to architectural design tools and process, and is taught through a series of short exercises. The conceptual basis of each exercise is in the interrogation of the geometric principles that lie at the core of each skill. Skills covered in this course range from techniques of hand drafting, to generation of 3D computer models, physical model-building, sketching, and diagramming. Weekly lectures and pin-ups address the conventions associated with modes of architectural representation and their capacity to convey ideas. This course is tailored and offered only to first-year M.Arch students.

This course focuses on the algorithms for analyzing and designing geometric foldings. Topics include reconfiguration of foldable structures, linkages made from one-dimensional rods connected by hinges, folding two-dimensional paper (origami), and unfolding and folding three-dimensional polyhedra. Applications to architecture, robotics, manufacturing, and biology are also covered in this course.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to videographers Martin Demaine and Jayson Lynch.

Geometry of Manifolds analyzes topics such as the differentiable manifolds and vector fields and forms. It also makes an introduction to Lie groups, the de Rham theorem, and Riemannian manifolds.

This is a second-semester graduate course on the geometry of manifolds. The main emphasis is on the geometry of symplectic manifolds, but the material also includes long digressions into complex geometry and the geometry of 4-manifolds, with special emphasis on topological considerations.

In this course students are exposed to history and culture of German-speaking countries through audio, video, and Web materials. It focuses on the expansion of basic communication skills and further development of linguistic competency, and includes the review and completion of basic grammar, building of vocabulary, and practice in writing short essays. Students will also read short literary texts.

An old saying holds that "there are many more good ideas in the world than good ideas implemented." This is a case based introduction to the fundamentals of effective implementation. Developed with the needs and interests of planners—but also with broad potential application—in mind, this course is a fast paced, case driven introduction to developing strategy for organizations and projects, managing operations, recruiting and developing talent, taking calculated risks, measuring results (performance), and leading adaptive change, for example where new mental models and habits are required but also challenging to promote. Our cases are set in the U.S. and the developing world and in multiple work sectors (urban redevelopment, transportation, workforce development, housing, etc.). We will draw on public, private, and nonprofit implementation concepts and experience.

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.

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.

15.389A Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Asia-Pacific enables teams of students to work with the top management of global start-ups and gain experience in running, and consulting to, a new enterprise outside the United States. The focus is on start-ups operating in emerging markets throughout the world, with a special focus on the Asia-Pacific region. The course combines an internship in a growing firm with in-class discussions of the issues and policies that affect the climate for innovation and start-up success around the world.

Special Features

15.389A is part of a two-section course and includes materials that cover entrepreneurship in the Asia-Pacific region. 15.389B Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa is also available on OpenCourseWare and covers topics pertinent to these additional regions.

15.389B Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa enables teams of students to work with the top management of global start-ups and gain experience in running, and consulting to, a new enterprise outside the United States. The focus is on start-ups operating in emerging markets throughout the world, with a special focus on Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The course combines an internship in a growing firm with in-class discussions of the issues and policies that affect the climate for innovation and start-up success around the world.

Special Features

15.389B is part of a two-section course and includes materials that cover entrepreneurship in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. 15.389A Global Entrepreneurship Lab: Asia-Pacific is also available on OpenCourseWare and covers topics pertinent to these additional regions.

In this three-day workshop, students will get a broad introduction to global health issues. We will look at one particular non-governmental organization in India that works to improve health across the lifespan by empowering existing community resources to provide appropriate physical, psychological and social therapies, focusing on child development, adolescent and youth health, mental health, and chronic disease. This workshop equips student to explore novel ideas and technologies with an inspiring and ground-breaking Indian NGO.

Fulfills the Sloan Innovation Period (SIP) elective requirement. SIP occurs at the midpoint of each semester providing students with an intensive week of experiential leadership learning, as well as exposure to groundbreaking faculty work. It allows students to engage in intellectual exploration outside the classroom. SIP degree requirements include core courses in ethics and leadership as well as electives.

This course examines opportunities and risks firms face in today's global market. It provides conceptual tools for analyzing how governments and social institutions influence economic competition among firms embedded in different national settings. Public policies and institutions that shape competitive outcomes are examined through cases and analytical readings on different companies and industries operating in both developed and emerging markets.

This course examines the opportunities and risks firms face in today's global world. The course provides conceptual tools for analyzing how governments and a variety of social and economic institutions influence competition among firms embedded in different national settings. Public policies and institutions that shape competitive outcomes are examined through cases and analytic readings on different companies and industries operating in both developed and emerging markets.  In addition to traditional case/class discussions, this course will include some presentations by various guest speakers. The hope is that greater exposure to/interaction with these real-world practitioners will "bring to life" some of the issues discussed in the readings/cases. Whenever possible, informal dinners and/or coffees will be organized for small groups of students interested in meeting with our guest speakers.

This subject focuses on the specifics of strategy and organization of the multinational company, and provides a framework for formulating successful and adaptive strategies in an increasingly complex world economy. Topics include the globalization of industries, the continuing role of country factors in competition, organization of multinational enterprises, and building global networks. This particular version of the subject is taught and tailored specifically to those enrolled in the MIT Sloan Fellows Program.

This course pairs faculty-mentored student teams with enterprises on the front lines of health care delivery in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. To tackle specific barriers identified by each partnering organization, the course is built around custom-designed projects in strategy, business model innovation, operations, marketing, and technology. Class sessions include interactive cases, practical exercises, and lively conversations with experts, all designed to support project work before, during, and after the intensive two-week onsite collaboration with entrepreneurs, leaders, staff, and stakeholders in the setting. Course assignments include a portfolio of host deliverable, a foundational toolkit designed to support each project, and a distillation of learning from the field.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks is given to Imperial Health Sciences, Unjani Clinic and L V Prasad Eye Institute for allowing their organizations to be featured in the sample student projects on this course site.

This seminar explores changes in the international economy and their effects on domestic politics, economy, and society. Is globalization really a new phenomenon? Is it irreversible? What are effects on wages and inequality, on social safety nets, on production, and innovation? How does it affect relations between developed countries and developing countries? How globalization affects democracy? These are some of the key issues that will be examined.

Tracing the evolution of international interactions, this course examines the dimensions of globalization in terms of scale and scope. It is divided into three parts; together they are intended to provide theoretical, empirical, and policy perspectives on source and consequences of globalization, focusing on emergent structures and processes, and on the implications of flows of goods and services across national boundaries – with special attention to the issue of migration, on the assumption that people matter and matter a lot. An important concern addressed pertains to the dilemmas of international policies that are shaped by the macro-level consequences of micro-level behavior. 17.411 fulfills undergraduate public policy requirement in the major and minor. Graduate students are expected to explore the subject in greater depth through reading and individual research.

The tools and analytical methods that biochemists use to dissect biological problems. Analysis of the mode of action and structure of regulatory, binding, and catalytic proteins.

This is the second in a sequence of two field seminars in American politics intended for graduate students in political science, in preparation for taking the general examination in American politics. The material covered in this semester focuses on American political institutions. The readings covered here are not comprehensive, but it is sufficiently broad to give students an introduction to major empirical questions and theoretical approaches that guide the study of American political institutions these days.

This is a literature seminar with a focus on classic papers in Algebraic Topology. It is named after the late MIT professor Daniel Kan. Each student gives one or two talks on each of three papers, chosen in consultation with the instructor, reads all the papers presented by other students, and writes reactions to the papers. This course is useful not only to students pursuing algebraic topology as a field of study, but also to those interested in symplectic geometry, representation theory, and combinatorics.