Courses tagged with "Overdenture" (72)

Comment l’eau de pluie s'infiltre-t-elle dans le sol (et quelle partie ruisselle) ? Quelle est la recharge d’une nappe ? Quelle quantité d’eau un sol peut-il retenir ? Quelle sont les directions des flux de polluants dans un sol ?

Ce cours vous donnera les clés pour comprendre, modéliser et mesurer les processus de transferts de l’eau dans le sol.

Il s’adresse aux ingénieurs, techniciens et étudiants désireux d'accroître ou de rafraîchir leurs connaissances dans le domaine de l’hydrodynamique des sols, pour des applications aussi diverses que l’agronomie, l’environnement, l’irrigation ou la mécanique des sols.

Ce cours sera donné par des experts de différents domaines liés à cette thématique. Il vous permettra d’acquérir les bases nécessaires à l’utilisation d’outils de modélisation hydrologique, d’irrigation, ou de pollution diffuse.

En collaboration avec

In public discussions, climate change is a highly controversial topic. However, in the scientific community, there is little controversy with 97% of climate scientists concluding humans are causing global warming.

• Why the gap between the public and scientists?
• What are the psychological and social drivers of the rejection of the scientific consensus?
• How has climate denial influenced public perceptions and attitudes towards climate change?

This course examines the science of climate science denial.

We will look at the most common climate myths from “global warming stopped in 1998” to “global warming is caused by the sun” to “climate impacts are nothing to worry about.”

We’ll find out what lessons are to be learnt from past climate change as well as better understand how climate models predict future climate impacts. You’ll learn both the science of climate change and the techniques used to distort the science.

With every myth we debunk, you’ll learn the critical thinking needed to identify the fallacies associated with the myth. Finally, armed with all this knowledge, you’ll learn the psychology of misinformation. This will equip you to effectively respond to climate misinformation and debunk myths.

This isn’t just a climate MOOC; it’s a MOOC about how people think about climate change.

Do you have a passion for buildings and want to contribute to a sustainable environment? Then this is your chance to make a difference! The biggest sustainability challenge for cities worldwide is adapting existing obsolescent buildings and making them future-proof. In this course, you will learn about adapting buildings for sustainability.

This course first introduces you to the challenging management task of redeveloping buildings for future use. Then you will learn how different management tools can be used to convert old buildings for sustainable reuse.

Prior experience with studies or jobs related to the built environment is not essential for this course, but will be a great advantage.

This MOOC is especially relevant for students who are interested in Real Estate, Project Management, Urban Planning, Architecture, Construction, Engineering, and Sustainability.

The course is taught by a multi-disciplinary team of instructors and professors with relevant practical and theoretical experience. You can use the practical knowledge you obtain during this course to tackle many challenges related to the built environment.

Bringing together insights from physics, chemistry, biology, earth and atmospheric sciences -- and even some economics -- this course is geared to curious enthusiasts, allowing them to work with real climate data and simulations of the earth’s changing climate.
 
This eight-week class takes a quantitative approach to the science of global warming and will enable students to understand the greenhouse effect, the planet's carbon cycle, and how burning fossil fuel affects that cycle; and to evaluate the potential severity of humans’ impact on Earth’s climate.

No region on Earth is immune from natural disasters. As we gain scientific understanding into the causes and nature of such phenomena, we become better able to mitigate the effects of disasters. Yet as the world's population continues to grow, an increasingly large number of people are at risk.

This science course examines different types of natural disasters and our ability, or inability, to control and predict such events. You will gain an appreciation of natural disasters beyond the newspaper headlines, and will better understand how the effects of disasters can be reduced.

There is an urgent need for people from all walks of life to better understand the scientific principles behind the occurrence of natural disasters:

• City planners need to know where, and where not, to site buildings.
• Politicians need to make scientifically informed decisions.
• Emergency management officials need to understand the nature of a potential disaster and ways to mitigate such an event.
• Journalists need to report scientifically accurate information.

Learner Testimonial:

“Professors Stix and Gyakum have created and presented an engaging course, and have helped in my quest for a better understanding of the world around me.” – Previous Student

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.

Hablar del cuidado del medio ambiente y la sostenibilidad parece tarea de todos, pero difícilmente en nuestras acciones cotidianas demostramos estar realmente conscientes de la importancia de conocer nuestra casa común para cuidar de ella.

Este es un curso introductorio para conocer los avances que, desde la ecología como disciplina científica se han logrado para mejorar la forma en la que todos los seres humanos interactuamos con nuestro planeta. El curso motivará pensamientos racionales tendientes al mejoramiento de las condiciones del medio ambiente y permitirá conocer aún más de eso de lo que todos hablan “el cuidado de nuestra casa común”

No es necesario tener conocimientos previos acerca de la ecología.

Our climate is changing rapidly, and now more than ever we need to be ready to act and prepare the next generation to do the same.

This course explores the basic science behind climate change and presents the tools to teach it in a positive, engaging and participatory way. The course also introduces some of the ethical and social issues around climate change.

This is a hands-on course that makes use of videos, lesson plans and online games developed by the IDB's "Rise-Up: Education Against Climate Change" initiative with examples coming directly from Latin America and the Caribbean. It is intended to assist elementary and high-school teachers or teachers-in-training in the launch of climate change education and actions to mitigate and adapt to climate change in their school community.

In this course, we will take you on a virtual journey covering different Earth observation tools. In the course modules, we cover the most crucial measurement tools for solid Earth, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. Our experts will give you first-hand insights why, where, and how those techniques are applied and they will show you how sensors work in space, on aircrafts, and on the ground.

You will be given insights on how you can use data from various sensors to better understand our living planet and how it changes. Together with your fellow learners all over the world, you will conduct joined experiments that demonstrate, how easy it is to sense the Earth’s environment. On top of that, world-renowned experts will be interviewed - telling you why they think it is so important that we study our planet.

Join us and let’s sense planet Earth together!

Global warming. Rising sea levels. Droughts. Flooding. The melting of the polar ice caps.

Join us, when we discover how continental water and ice masses are measured and monitored through remote sensing. Our experts give you first-hand insights how water and mass transport can be traced, and how this relates to the complex processes in the Earth‘s system.

Together with your fellow learners you will assess and evaluate statements made in relation to climate change. This will prepare you to make evidence-based decisions for a sustainable future.

Join us and let’s sense planet Earth together!

Did you know that you can track some sharks’ movements on Twitter? Or that the scales on their skin have influenced the way humans design boats, planes, and even swim suits? Or that sharks have more senses than humans?

In this biology course, you will learn how scientists study sharks. You will join researchers on location in labs, aquariums, and oceans across the globe to learn about the biodiversity, biology, and conservation of sharks, rays, and chimaeras.

In this activity‑rich course, you’ll track movements of a wild shark, observe shark habitats and behavior, and dig deep into the fossil record. You will also examine topics in the functional anatomy, sensory biology, reproduction, behavior, and ecology of many of the 1,200 living species.

This is an exciting time to be a shark biologist. An explosion of new research methods and technologies are leading to a surprising world of discovery. We’ll introduce new, as well as traditional techniques, for classifying sharks, understanding behavior, and unraveling the mysteries of shark evolution. You’ll be invited to explore global shark populations and consider shark-human interactions and their impacts on history and culture.

You’ll be rewarded by your ability to see virtually any animal with new eyes. Practice thinking like a biologist while honing critical skills that can lead to broader observations about the ongoing history of life on Earth.

How can you determine if a proposed real estate development project is socially responsible? Or determine whether the developer used the tools of social impact assessment (SIA), environmental impact assessment (EIA), and public consultation effectively?

This course will teach you how to evaluate a development project and practice socially responsible real estate yourself by applying SIA, EIA, and consultation methods. It is also designed to help students build their own personal theory of what constitutes socially responsible real estate development.

Taught by a professor with more than forty-five years of teaching experience at MIT, using an applied case study method, this course will open new opportunities for real estate developers and urban planners to see how SIA, EIA, and stakeholder engagement are the keys to creating socially-responsible real estate development throughout the world. 

In the third edition of Solar Energy, you will learn to design a complete photovoltaic system. This course introduces the technology that converts solar energy into electricity, heat and solar fuels with a main focus on electricity generation. Photovoltaic (PV) devices are presented as advanced semiconductor devices that deliver electricity directly from sunlight. The emphasis is on understanding the working principle of a solar cell, fabrication of solar cells, PV module construction and the design of a PV system. You will gain a greater understanding of the principles of the photovoltaic conversion— the conversion of light into electricity. This course explores the advantages, limitations and challenges of different solar cell technologies, such as crystalline silicon solar cell technology, thin film solar cell technologies and the latest novel solar cell concepts as studied on lab-scale. We will discuss the specifications of solar modules and demonstrate how to design a complete solar system for any particular application.

Education Method

The class will consist of a collection of eight to twelve minute lecture videos, exercises, assignments and exams. Specified assignments and the three exams will determine the final grade. The new textbook on “Solar Energy, basics, technology and systems” from the Delft University of Technology will be available for the students on-line and free of charge. Your course staff will encourage and challenge you to learn from, and interact with, your fellow students by helping each other and sharing ideas and best practices, in the course forum. We were happy to see the incredible number of interesting student videos on solar energy systems from all over the world in the previous edition of this course. 

Professor Smets was the first ever recipient of the edX Prize for Exceptional Contributions to Online Teaching and Learning. His previous online courses attracted over 150,000 students worldwide, who were inspired to take their first steps in the transition to renewable energy. 

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.

Nuestro clima está cambiando rápidamente, y ahora más que nunca, necesitamos estar listos para actuar y preparar la próxima generación para cuidar de nuestro planeta.

Este curso explora la ciencia básica que hay detrás del cambio climático y presenta herramientas para su enseñanza de una manera positiva, atractiva y participativa. También introduce algunas de las cuestiones éticas y sociales relacionadas al cambio climático.

Este es un curso práctico en donde se utilizan videos, planes de clase y juegos en línea con ejemplos de América Latina y el Caribe, desarrollados por la iniciativa “Súbete: educación sobre el cambio climático” del BID. El curso dirigido para maestros o estudiantes para maestros de escuelas primarias y secundarias, pretende prepararlos para enseñar educación sobre el cambio climático y promover acciones de mitigación y adaptación contra el cambio climático en su escuela y comunidad.

Daily headlines warn of new chemical dangers, species on the edge of extinction, global warming-- framing our planet as “at risk.”

Some people stop listening, others get alarmed, while some others want to learn more in hopes of making a difference in the world. 

Do you want to live a more sustainable life? In this environmental studies course, you will learn how to make more informed choices about your ecological footprint and gain a better understanding of how your choices impact on our world.

This course is organized into five key themes: chemicals, globalization, climate change, food and energy. These five themes represent challenges that people face day-to-day managing choices relating to sustainability.

In the final task of this course, you will demonstrate how you have acquired the skills and knowledge to organize your everyday life sustainably. 

Sustainability is indispensable for the future of humankind. Sustainability science has emerged as an effort to tackle the complex problems the world is facing today. Lecturers from different disciplines provide a holistic overview of key issues in sustainability including industrial pollution, an aging society, human-nature connection, urban planning, resilience, environmental governance, and education for sustainable development. 

In this course, you will learn about historical and current sustainability issues that have emerged around the world, as well as some of the approaches that have been used to solve them. You will be exposed to industrial and water pollution control issues, in addition to challenges caused by an aging and shrinking population.

You will also learn about the human-nature connection and initiatives that aim to create sustainable societies in harmony with nature, based on the concept of Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS). You will explore how ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR) approaches can be used to reestablish the human-nature connection through re-naturalization of damaged environments.

This course will also consider an urban planning point of view by exploring the value of an urban-rural land use mixture to create new sustainable societies and resilient megacities.

Finally, you will learn about environmental governance, a crucial element for progress towards a sustainable future. You will be introduced to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as a learning method for sustainable development and discuss international debates on ESD.

Japanese perspectives are emphasized throughout the course in the hopes of providing concrete value to solving contemporary sustainability issues.

Crop production: learn about agriculture and food production for the future

How much food will be available for humankind in the future? Feeding nine billion people in 2050 without exhausting the planetary reserves is perhaps the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced.

In this course of the XSeries in environmental studies, you will examine the principles of crop production. You will learn about the ‘availability pillar’ of global food security that lies at the heart of food production, applicable to both crops and animal production. This course will discuss why yields in some parts of the world are lagging behind and identify the agro-ecological drivers that shape the broad diversity of production systems. Also, key issues relating to the closing of yield gaps and the difference in visions of sustainability will be explored.

Systems-based approach at Wageningen University

The University of Wageningen offers an excellent combination of conducting research worldwide and educating in the area of ‘healthy food and living environment’. Through its unique systems-based approach to food systems, the institute adds the phase of primary production to the broad context of global food security.

This is why you should sign up

If you want to enrich your views and action perspectives related to global food security and food systems, you can sign up as a:

• international student
• professional with a varied educational background

After successful completion of both practice and graded questions related to this course, you will:

• Understand the basic concept of plant production
• Be able to value central issues related to global food production and consumption
• Understand the influences of water scarcity and water availability on crop production, as well as measures suppressing pests, diseases, and weeds
• Be able to identify processes that cause significant environmental problems and evaluate measures to solve and prevent those problems be able to judge innovations in food crop production on their merits for the rural population in the different geographical regions

A verified edX certificate provides proof for an employer, school, or other institution that you have successfully completed this online course.

Systems thinking and environmental sustainability: solve the Rubik’s cube

Have you ever considered how many aspects of food production affect the natural environment? Every aspect needs to be considered in attaining the future goal to produce enough food for the growing population while at the same time preserving our planet. It’s as difficult as solving a Rubik’s cube; changing one aspect may affect the environment in a major way.

Systems theory, or systems thinking, is a way of understanding and working with the complexity of sustainable food production systems, which requires training in different disciplines and an approach that can address this complexity. This environmental studies course enables participants to apply the principles of a systems approach to food production with a focus on environmental sustainability.

The professors at Wageningen University

The University of Wageningen offers an excellent combination of conducting research worldwide and educating in the area of ‘healthy food and living environment’. For each course, professors from specific fields of expertise are eager to teach and share the University’s mission: “Explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life”.

This is why you should sign up

Sign up as a student if you want to acquire knowledge about environmental sustainability and the way systems thinking helps in decision-making in the complexity of food production. After successful completion of both practice and graded assignments related to this course, you will:

• Understand the complexity and diversity of food production systems
• Understand the principles of system analysis and apply it to environmental issues in food production
• Understand evaluation methods for the environmental impact of food production systems in different contexts and levels (e.g. farm, regional and global) Be able to evaluate strong and weak points of different food production systems regarding environmental sustainability
• Be able to contribute to a discussion about environmental sustainability and food production and ask relevant questions

Soil is the earth’s fragile skin that anchors all life. We depend on soil to build our homes and cities, to grow crops for food and raise livestock, to support transportation and enable recreation. Yet we disregard this crucial and precious resource that lies right under our feet.

This introductory environmental studies course will explore the importance of soil to life on earth, the issues, processes and societal challenges underlying soil degradation – and what can be done to ensure sustainable soil management for the future. The threats to our soil span deforestation, erosion, overgrazing, use of agrochemicals, pollution and climate change. Learn what you can do to make a difference in protecting this vital natural resource.

Did you know that cities take up less than 3% of the earth’s land surface, but more than 50% of the world’s population live in them? And, cities generate more than 70% of the global emissions? Large cities and their hinterlands (jointly called metropolitan regions) greatly contribute to global urbanization and sustainability challenges, yet are also key to resolving these same challenges.

If you are interested in the challenges of the 21^st century metropolitan regions and how these can be solved from within the city and by its inhabitants, then this Sustainable Urban Development course is for you!

There are no simple solutions to these grand challenges! Rather the challenges cities face today require a holistic, systemic and transdisciplinary approach that spans different fields of expertise and disciplines such as urban planning, urban design, urban engineering, systems analysis, policy making, social sciences and entrepreneurship.

This MOOC is all about this integration of different fields of knowledge within the metropolitan context. The course is set up in a unique matrix format that lets you pursue your line of interest along a specific metropolitan challenge or a specific theme.

Because we are all part of the challenges as well as the solutions, we encourage you to participate actively! You will have the opportunity to explore the living conditions in your own city and compare your living environment with that of the global community.

You will discover possible solutions for your city’s challenges and what it takes to implement these solutions. Your participation will also contribute to wider research into metropolitan regions as complex systems.

We invite you to take the first steps in understanding the principles that will be essential to transform metropolitan regions into just, prosperous and sustainable places to live in!

This course forms a part of the educational programme of the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions and is developed by Wageningen UR and TU Delft, two of the founding universities of AMS Institute.