Courses tagged with "Information policy" (252)

This course explores the social relevance of neuroscience, considering how emerging areas of brain research at once reflect and reshape social attitudes and agendas. Topics include brain imaging and popular media; neuroscience of empathy, trust, and moral reasoning; new fields of neuroeconomics and neuromarketing; ethical implications of neurotechnologies such as cognitive enhancement pharmaceuticals; neuroscience in the courtroom; and neuroscientific recasting of social problems such as addiction and violence. Guest lectures by neuroscientists, class discussion, and weekly readings in neuroscience, popular media, and science studies.

Explore the complexity and challenges of infrastructure systems (Transport, Energy, IT/Telecom and Water) in the 21st century.

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.

Build your earth science vocabulary and learn about cycles of matter and types of sedimentary rocks through the Education Portal course Earth Science 101: Earth Science. Our series of video lessons and accompanying self-assessment quizzes can help you boost your scientific knowledge ahead of the Excelsior Earth Science exam . This course was designed by experienced educators and examines both science basics, like experimental design and systems of measurement, and more advanced topics, such as analysis of rock deformation and theories of continental drift.

Are you an engineer, scientist or technician? Are you dealing with measurements or big data, but are you unsure about how to proceed? This is the course that teaches you how to find the best estimates of the unknown parameters from noisy observations. You will also learn how to assess the quality of your results.

TU Delft’s approach to observation theory is world leading and based on decades of experience in research and teaching in geodesy and the wider geosciences. The theory, however, can be applied to all the engineering sciences where measurements are used to estimate unknown parameters.

The course introduces a standardized approach for parameter estimation, using a functional model (relating the observations to the unknown parameters) and a stochastic model (describing the quality of the observations). Using the concepts of least squares and best linear unbiased estimation (BLUE), parameters are estimated and analyzed in terms of precision and significance.

The course ends with the concept of overall model test, to check the validity of the parameter estimation results using hypothesis testing. Emphasis is given to develop a standardized way to deal with estimation problems. Most of the course effort will be on examples and exercises from different engineering disciplines, especially in the domain of Earth Sciences.

This course is aimed towards Engineering and Earth Sciences students at Bachelor’s, Master’s and postgraduate level.

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.

Organic electronic devices are quickly making their way into the commercial world, with innovative thin mobile devices, high-resolution displays, and photovoltaic cells. The future holds even greater potential for this technology, with an entirely new generation of ultralow-cost, lightweight and even flexible electronic devices, which will perform functions traditionally accomplished with much more expensive components based on conventional semiconductor materials, such as silicon.

Learn more about this highly promising technology, which is based on small molecules and polymers, and how these materials can be implemented successfully in established (e.g., organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices) and emerging (e.g., thermoelectric (TE) generators) organic electronic modules.

In this course you will gain the ability to tie molecular transport phenomena with macroscopic device response such that you will be well-prepared to analyze, troubleshoot, and design the next generation of organic electronic materials and devices.
 
This course has short lectures with quizzes, homework, and exams.

This course is the latest nanoHUB-U project in a series offered is jointly funded by Purdue University and the NSF with the goal of transcending disciplines though short courses accessible to students in any branch of science or engineering. 

The human mind is an evolutionary product, just like the body. However, the mind does not remain in fossil form like bones and teeth. Therefore, to better study and understand our minds their evolutionary origins we need to compare our cognitive features with those of different living primates. This approach is called "Comparative Cognitive Science (CCS)". CCS is a unique combination of Psychology and Primatology. CCS tries to give answers to the fundamental questions such as "what is uniquely human?", "where did it come from?”, "how did we get here?”, and "where do we go?" This intensive course focuses on chimpanzees, the closest relatives of humans.

This course covers selected areas of current research on CCS. We focus on behavioral studies of nonhuman animals, especially chimpanzees. Since the chimpanzee and the human share the latest common ancestor, only about five million years ago, this great ape provides the key to understanding our nature.

We live on the surface of a dynamic and yet paradoxically stable planet that experiences a remarkable range of energetic phenomena, from waves and currents in the ocean to wind and thunderstorms in the atmosphere. This course traces how the remarkable concept called energy is the natural way of describing, understanding and unifying these diverse phenomena. The course traces the cascade of energy from sunlight to its final destination in a thermal form, considering differential surface heating, the role of convection and buoyancy and the formation of the Earth’s circulation system, and the links to the ocean circulation system. We consider the curvature and rotation of the Earth as key constraints on a system driven by sunlight and energy transformations.

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

How much time will the course take?

Obviously the answer will depend on your background and motivation to master the course material. Each week will consist of 5 or 6 segments that will each take 5 to 10 minutes to watch or listen to once. There will be some exploratory questions for each lesson and a confirmation quiz for each week. There will be one exploratory activity for each week. The average commitment will be 2-3 hours per week with perhaps 20 hours required for the whole course.

What background does the course assume?

We’ll ask you to pull out a calculator from time to time (but not all the time!) simply as this will help you really master the key ideas. The key thing is to have a curiosity and interest in what makes our planet tick!

What kind of learning activities will the course involve?

The activities are designed to use basic household objects, and our own senses, to engage with observations of the world, and to think about what these mean and lead to. We’ll get you to sense how cold or warm different objects get when left in the sun, and to observe how energy explains things we see and hear.

What difference will the course make to my life?

The course has the conviction that it is hard to care for or value things that we don’t appreciate or have never considered. Although harsh in certain places and times, the Earth’s surface is remarkably habitable. Many forms of life can make their way in many kinds of terrain and climate. What produces these conditions? How are they maintained? We will seek to answer those questions in rudimentary form at least.

What conversations will the course help to perform?

Courses often imagine a context in which the course material is discussed, and this one is no different. It imagines a setting with family or friends where you might have just learned of a news event involving a storm like a hurricane or thunderstorm, or where a community might have experienced a flood or a drought, or merely unusual weather. You might have heard of El Nino or climate change in the news. This course will give you a background to better engage in a conversation about these great matters, and offer a better sense of the complexity, challenge and wonder connected to living on the surface of such an energetic planet.

This course will provide you with a basic knowledge of plasma physics and of its applications, which will enable you to understand some of the most important phenomena in space and astrophysics, how plasmas can be used in industry, and how we can achieve fusion on earth to contribute solving the problem of energy in sustainable development. In the first part, we will introduce the plasma state and describe the models, from single particles to fluid, which can be applied to study its dynamics. In the second part, we will illustrate and discuss examples of plasmas in space and in astrophysics, and discuss plasma applications in industry and medicine. The third part will be dedicated to fusion energy, from the design and technology of a fusion reactor, to plasma confinement configurations for fusion, and, finally, to confining, heating, controlling and extracting energy from a burning plasma.

This physics course, taught by world-renowned experts in the field, will provide you with an overview of applications in plasma physics. From the study of far distant astrophysical objects over diverse applications in industry, to the ultimate goal of sustainable electricity generation from nuclear fusion.

In the first part of this course, you will learn how nuclear fusion powers our Sun and the stars in the Universe. You will explore the cyclic variation of the Sun’s activity, how plasma flows can generate large-scale magnetic fields, and how these fields can reconnect to release large amounts of energy, manifested for instance by violent eruptions on the Sun.

The second part of this course discusses the key role plasma applications play today in industry and medicine. After a brief survey of the field, you will study in detail how plasmas are generated and sustained in strong electric fields and how this knowledge can be used to avoid undesired occurrence of plasmas in the form of electrical arcs. You will then, in detail, study the transition region between plasma and material surface, called the sheath, and you will learn why its properties are indispensable for the manufacturing of today’s integrated circuits.

Finally, in the third and most extensive part of this course, you will familiarize yourself with the different approaches to fusion energy, the current status, and the necessary steps from present-day experimental devices towards a fusion reactor providing electricity to the grid.

After deriving the general conditions for net energy gain from fusion, we will focus on magnetic confinement fusion. You will learn about the key ingredients of a magnetic fusion reactor, how to confine, heat, and control fusion plasmas at temperatures of 100 million degrees Kelvin, explore the relevant transport mechanisms, and explore the challenges of plasma wall interactions and structural materials.

To enjoy this course on plasma applications, it is recommended to first familiarize yourself with the plasma physics basics taught in Plasma Physics: Introduction.

Plasma, the fourth state of matter, is by far the most abundant form of known matter in the universe. Its behavior is very different from the other states of matter we are usually familiar with. To understand it, a rigorous formalism is required. This is essential not only to explain important astrophysical phenomena, but also to optimize many industrial and medical applications and for achieving fusion energy on Earth.

This physics course, taught by world-renowned experts of the field, gives you the opportunity to acquire a basic knowledge of plasma physics. A rigorous introduction to the plasma state will be followed by a description of the models, from single particle, to kinetic and fluid, which can be applied to study its dynamics. You will learn about the waves that can exist in a plasma and how to mathematically describe them, how a plasma can be controlled by magnetic fields, and how its complex and fascinating behavior is simulated using today’s most powerful supercomputers.

This course is the first of two courses introducing plasma physics and its applications. After completing this course, you will have the prerequisites to enjoy Plasma Physics: Applications, which deals with plasma applications in astrophysics, industry, and nuclear fusion.

Descripción del curso

La evidencia científica documenta que los efectos de la adversidad durante la primera infancia perduran en el tiempo y tienen consecuencias sobre el aprendizaje, la trayectoria escolar, los comportamientos de riesgo, el empleo, la salud y otras variables claves para la acumulación de capital humano y el bienestar de las personas.

Este curso pretende fortalecer las capacidades de quienes diseñan, implementan y evalúan programas y políticas de desarrollo infantil, con énfasis en aspectos relacionados a la calidad.

Está comprobado que la calidad es indispensable para que los programas desarrollo infantil resulten en cambios en la trayectoria de desarrollo de los niños sostenibles en el tiempo.

En la última década los países de América Latina y el Caribe han demostrado un compromiso político y financiero para fortalecer las políticas de desarrollo infantil. Sin embargo, a pesar de estos esfuerzos, todavía existen retos significativos. Por ejemplo, hay muchos niños y familias de los estratos más pobres que no reciben servicios de desarrollo infantil. Además, se sabe que la calidad de estos servicios en la región es baja.

Everyone involved in higher education has questions. Students want to know how they’re doing and which classes they should take. Faculty members want to understand their students’ backgrounds and to learn whether their teaching techniques are effective. Staff members want to be sure the advice they provide is appropriate and find out whether college requirements accomplish their goals. Administrators want to explore how all of their students and faculty are doing and to anticipate emerging changes. The public wants to know what happens in college and why.

Everyone has questions. We have the chance to help them find answers.

Practical Learning Analytics has a specific goal: to help us collectively ponder learning analytics in a concrete way. To keep it practical, we will focus on using traditional student record data, the kinds of data every campus already has. To make it interesting, we will address questions raised by an array of different stakeholders, including campus leaders, faculty, staff, and especially students. To provide analytic teeth, each analysis we discuss will be supported by both realistic data and sample code.

Humans have always sought to know their own future, be it the destiny of an empire or an individual's fate. Across cultures and history, we find people trying to find their place in the Universe by attempting to gaze into the future.

Join us for this one-week, immersive learning experience as we explore “pre-scientific” prediction systems ranging from ancient Chinese bone burning to the Oracle of Delphi to modern astrology and tarot, with practitioners and Harvard faculty leading the journey. We will examine the details of over a dozen prediction systems as well as theoretical frameworks connecting them.

This module is a part of PredictionX, which examines our efforts to predict the future over all of recorded history. PredictionX courses will cover topics from omens and oracles in ancient civilizations, which this course discusses, to the evolution of the general approach to science most take today (which includes the course John Snow and the Cholera Outbreak of 1854) as well as modern computer simulations and the role they play in predicting our futures today.

This course helps in developing skills as science communicators through projects and analysis of theoretical principles. Case studies explore the emergence of popular science communication over the past two centuries and consider the relationships among authors, audiences and media. Project topics are identified early in the term and students work with MIT Museum staff. Projects may include physical exhibits, practical demonstrations, or scripts for public programs.

This electronics course will focus on the physics of biomolecule detection in terms of three elementary concepts: response time, sensitivity, and selectivity. We will use potentiometric, amperometric, and cantilever-based mass sensors to illustrate the application of these concepts to specific sensor technologies. Learners in this course will be able to decide what sensors to make, appreciate their design principles, interpret measured results, and spot emerging research trends.

This electronics course is the latest in a science and engineering series offered by the nanoHUB-U project, which is jointly funded by Purdue University and the National Science Foundation. 

Quantum Mechanics for Everyone is a four-week long MOOC that teaches the basic ideas of quantum mechanics with a method that requires no complicated math beyond taking square roots (and you can use a calculator for that). Quantum theory is taught without “dumbing down” any of the material, giving you the same version experts use in current research. We will cover the quantum mystery of the two-slit experiment and advanced topics that include how to see something without shining light on it (quantum seeing in the dark) and bunching effects of photons (Hong-Ou-Mandel effect).

To get a flavor for the course and see if it is right for you, watch "Let's get small", which shows you how poorly you were taught what an atom looks like, and "The fallacy of physics phobia." 

Please note: the four sections of this course will be released on a weekly basis from April 18, 2017 to May 9, 2017, when all the course material will be available and the course will become fully self-paced.

Have you ever wondered how you can apply math and science skills to real life? Do you wish you could go beyond what you've learned in the classroom? This science course will advance your knowledge as we unpack some important scientific thinking skills using real-world examples. By completing this course, you will be better prepared to continue studying math and science at the high school level and beyond.

In this course, a collaboration between The University of Queensland and Brisbane Grammar School, we will cover key scientific concepts related to:

• Measurement
• Estimation
• The validity of evidence
• The difference between logic and opinion
• Misconceptions
• Modeling
• Prediction
• Extrapolation

Each concept will be explored through real world examples and problems that will help you visualize how math and science work in your life.

This course is ideal for high school students looking to challenge themselves and further develop an interest in math and science. It is also applicable to high school science teachers looking for additional materials for teaching.

Leading companies look for innovative thinking in new hires and for career advancement. Yet only 1 in 4 of us feels truly creative. Time to reinvent yourself and unleash the creativity lying dormant in all of us.   

Dr. Roberta Ness, featured TED speaker, author, and one of America’s leading creative thinking innovators, will guide you through her exclusive 5-step program to being  an effective innovator. Learn to break free from your usual thinking pattern and start generating creative solutions to life’s challenges. Sharpen your powers of observation, make surprising associations, expand your idea space, and even master  how to think backwards. Hone your creative thinking skills by solving real-world problems from business and science.  

The funding for this course was made possible by the UTHealth Innovation in Cancer Prevention Research Training Program (Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas grant #RP160015). The content is solely the responsibility of the creators and does not necessarily represent the views of the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas.

The study of the night sky instilled wonder in our ancestors. Modern astronomy extends the human view to previously unexplored regions of space and time. In this course, you will gain an understanding of these discoveries through a focus on relativity—Einstein's fascinating and non-intuitive description of the physical world. By studying relativity and astronomy together, you will develop physical insight and quantitative skills, and you’ll regain a profound sense of wonder for the universe we call home.

FAQ

• What topics will the course cover?
  • Section One—Introduction
  • Section Two—3, 2, 1 … Launching the journey into spacetime
  • Section Three—Special relativity: from light to dark
  • Section Four—General relativity: from flat to curved

• Is there a required textbook?

  • No textbook is required. Notes will be posted weekly. A list of supplemental resources, including textbooks, will be provided.​​

• What are the learning outcomes of this course?

  • Explain the meaning and significance of the postulates of special and general relativity.

  • Discuss significant experimental tests of both special and general relativity.

  • Analyze paradoxes in special relativity.

  • Apply appropriate tools for problem solving in special relativity.

  • Describe astrophysical situations where the consequences of relativity qualitatively impact predictions and/or observations.

  • Describe daily situations where relativity makes a difference.