Online courses directory (258)

This is an intermediate workshop designed for students who have a basic understanding of the principles of theatrical design and who want a more intensive study of costume design and the psychology of clothing. Students develop designs that emerge through a process of character analysis, based on the script and directorial concept. Period research, design, and rendering skills are fostered through practical exercises. Instruction in basic costume construction, including drafting and draping, provide tools for students to produce final projects.

This course focuses on the interaction of chemical engineering, biochemistry, and microbiology. Mathematical representations of microbial systems are featured among lecture topics. Kinetics of growth, death, and metabolism are also covered. Continuous fermentation, agitation, mass transfer, and scale-up in fermentation systems, and enzyme technology round out the subject material.

This course illustrates how knowledge and principles of biology, biochemistry, and engineering are integrated to create new products for societal benefit. It uses a case study format to examine recently developed products of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries: how a product evolves from initial idea, through patents, testing, evaluation, production, and marketing. Emphasizes scientific and engineering principles; the responsibility scientists, engineers, and business executives have for the consequences of their technology; and instruction and practice in written and oral communication.

The topic focus of this class will vary from year to year. This version looks at inflammation underlying many diseases, specifically its role in cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

This course covers sensing and measurement for quantitative molecular/cell/tissue analysis, in terms of genetic, biochemical, and biophysical properties. Methods include light and fluorescence microscopies; electro-mechanical probes such as atomic force microscopy, laser and magnetic traps, and MEMS devices; and the application of statistics, probability and noise analysis to experimental data. Enrollment preference is given to juniors and seniors.

This course consists of a series of seminars focused on the development of professional skills. Each semester focuses on a different topic, resulting in a repeating cycle that covers medical ethics, responsible conduct of research, written and oral technical communication, and translational issues. Material and activities include guest lectures, case studies, interactive small group discussions, and role-playing simulations.

Carpentry is a highly skilled trade and the work carpenters carry out is essential during the construction phase of items as varied as residential and commercial buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork etc. The main work performed by a carpenter during the construction phase is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials. In this free online course the learner will be introduced to skills that are essential during the construction phase of any project such as reading plans and elevations so that construction designs can be understood, how to build floor systems for residential and commercial properties, how to build and construct wall and ceiling framing systems, and the methodologies of roof framing. This course will be of great interest to all construction professionals who would like to learn more about the use of carpentry skills as part of the construction process, and to all learners who are interested in carpentry and construction as a career.

There is a constant demand for carpenters in the construction trade. Today, expertise in working with various types of building materials is an indispensable requirement of a carpenter's job. Formwork and joinery are two such areas where skilled carpenters would find themselves working with diverse materials. Formwork involves constructing the forms into which concrete is poured, whereas joinery comprises of working with the wooden parts of a building, such as window frames and doors. Both jobs require further knowledge of working with wood, concrete, and other building materials such as steel reinforcement bars. This free online course will introduce the learner to the basic practices involved in formwork and joinery. The course explains the general types of concrete, concrete mixing information, and the test carried out to measure the workability of fresh concrete. The course also outlines the key components and terms associated with windows, exterior doors, and stairways used in residential construction. This course will be of great interest to all construction professionals who would like to learn more about the carpentry skills involved in finishing and closing off a structure. It will also be of interest to all learners who want to further develop their career in carpentry and the construction trade.<br />

An age-old and highly skilled trade, carpentry has evolved to incorporate improved building materials and construction methods. Modern-day carpenters find themselves working on a variety of projects that span both the residential and commercial sectors. A sound knowledge of the tools, materials, and building methods is therefore an indispensable requirement of the job. This free online Diploma course introduces the learner to the current practices in the trade. The first section of the course traces the history of the trade from the primitive to the modern times. It focuses on the various building materials, fasteners, adhesives, and tools used by carpenters in the construction industry. A brief explanation of the safety guidelines and procedures is also covered in this section. The essential work performed by carpenters during the construction phase of any project comprises the next section of this course. Here, the learner is introduced to reading plans and elevations, and the methodologies for constructing floor systems, wall and roof framing. The final section of the course deals with the work involved in closing off a structure. From introduction to concrete forms used in construction to the installation of windows, exterior doors and stairs, this section provides a brief overview of these topics. This free Diploma course will be of great interest to professionals who want to learn about contemporary procedures and practices in carpentry. It will also be of interest to all learners who want to further develop their career in carpentry and the construction trade. <br />

Electricity lights up our streets and buildings, and enables us to use and enjoy the many electronic devices that make our lives more comfortable. Skilled electricians and engineers work behind the scenes to ensure that we receive a continuous supply of electric power. In order to do this, they need to have a thorough understanding of the basic concepts and practices of the electrical trade that enables them to install and maintain functional electrical systems. <br /><br />In ALISON's free online diploma course, the first section introduces you to the electrical trade. Topics on electrical safety, electrical circuits, and electrical theory are discussed in this section. The next section of the course focuses on what constitutes an electrical wiring system. This section explains the installation procedures and storage techniques for electrical wiring components such as device boxes, raceways and fittings, conductors and cables. The final section of the course covers the electrical drawings and test equipment used in the trade. Some of this test equipment includes ammeters, galvanometers, voltmeters, multi-meters. <br /><br />ALISON's free Diploma course will be of great interest to professionals in the areas of construction and electrical engineering. Learners who want to gain a practical knowledge and understanding of the electrical trade would also benefit from the concepts explained in this course.<br />

This course will explore the mutual influences of ideas of nature, theories of city design and planning, and practices of urban design, construction, and management. We will investigate how natural processes shape urban landscapes (from the scale of street corner to region) and how to intervene strategically in those processes in order to achieve certain goals. We will examine cases of cities that adapted successfully to natural processes and those that did not. Students will then have the opportunity to research a case of their choice and to present their findings for discussion. The subject may be historical or an an example of contemporary theory and practice. Additional information is also available at Professor Spirn's class website.

This course will explore the mutual influences of ideas of nature, theories of city design and planning, and practices of urban design, construction, and management. We will investigate how natural processes shape urban landscapes (from the scale of street corner to region) and how to intervene strategically in those processes in order to achieve certain goals. We will examine cases of cities that adapted successfully to natural processes and those that did not. Students will then have the opportunity to research a case of their choice and to present their findings for discussion. The subject may be historical or an an example of contemporary theory and practice. Additional information is also available at Professor Spirn's class website.

TV programs such as "Law and Order" show how forensic experts are called upon to give testimony that often determines the outcome of court cases. Engineers are one class of expert who can help display evidence in a new light to solve cases. In this seminar you will be part of the problem-solving process, working through both previously solved and unsolved cases. Each week we will investigate cases, from the facts that make up each side to the potential evidence we can use as engineers to expose culprits. The cases range from disintegrating airplane engines to gas main explosions to Mafia murders. This seminar will be full of discussions about the cases and creative approaches to reaching the solutions. The approach is hands-on so you will have a chance to participate in the process, not simply study it. Some background reading and oral presentation are required.

In this course, we will investigate the diverse types and functions of different RNA species, with a focus on "non-coding RNAs," i.e. those that do not directly encode proteins. The course will convey both the exciting discoveries in and frontiers of RNA research that are propelling our understanding of cell biology as well as the intellectual and experimental approaches responsible.

The molecular biology revolution firmly established the role of DNA as the primary carrier of genetic information and proteins as the primary effector molecules of the cell. The intermediate between DNA and proteins is RNA, which initially was regarded as the "molecule in the middle" of the central dogma. This view has been transformed over the past two decades, as RNA has become recognized as a critical regulator of cellular processes.

*Note - This is an Archived course*

This is a past/archived course. At this time, you can only explore this course in a self-paced fashion. Certain features of this course may not be active, but many people enjoy watching the videos and working with the materials. Make sure to check for reruns of this course.

Composites are used in many industries today to enable high-performance products at economic advantage. These industries range from space to sports and include manufactured products for aircraft, transportation, energy, construction, sports, marine, and medical use. There are many material, economic and aesthetic advantages to using composites, but a solid knowledge of the physical properties, including the mechanics, tooling, design, inspection & repair, and manufacturing options is required for working in this medium as they are intrinsically linked.

This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of composite materials for high performance structures from the point of view of Aerospace engineering design, manufacturing, and repair. It is designed to address critical areas of composite technologies that focus on materials, manufacturing, mechanics, design, inspection, and repair.  In this course students will learn how composite materials achieve properties of strength, weight ratios and durability that surpass aluminum in aircraft design.  For these high performance applications engineers typically rely on laminated structures, which are built up from many varying layers of ply-materials. Using this process the mechanical properties of the composite part can be tailored to specific applications resulting in significant weight and cost savings. Tailoring specific properties and designing innovative laminate structures highlights the multidisciplinary nature of this industry and how it touches the expertise of many disciplines including engineers, mechanics, and inspection specialists.

After successfully completing this course, students will be able to identify the unique characteristics of composites and understand how advanced composite structures are designed, manufactured and maintained.

Who Can Take This Course?

Unfortunately, learners from Iran, Sudan, Cuba and the Crimea region of Ukraine will not be able to register for this course at the present time. While edX has received a license from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to offer courses to learners from Iran, Sudan and Cuba, our license does not cover this course. Separately, EdX has applied for a license to offer courses to learners in the Crimea region of Ukraine, but we are awaiting a determination from OFAC on that application. We are deeply sorry the U.S. government has determined that we have to block these learners, and we are working diligently to rectify this situation as soon as possible.

This course applies the concepts of reaction rate, stoichiometry and equilibrium to the analysis of chemical and biological reacting systems, derivation of rate expressions from reaction mechanisms and equilibrium or steady state assumptions, design of chemical and biochemical reactors via synthesis of chemical kinetics, transport phenomena, and mass and energy balances. Topics covered include: chemical/biochemical pathways; enzymatic, pathway, and cell growth kinetics; batch, plug flow and well-stirred reactors for chemical reactions and cultivations of microorganisms and mammalian cells; heterogeneous and enzymatic catalysis; heat and mass transport in reactors, including diffusion to and within catalyst particles and cells or immobilized enzymes.

This course aims to connect the principles, concepts, and laws/postulates of classical and statistical thermodynamics to applications that require quantitative knowledge of thermodynamic properties from a macroscopic to a molecular level. It covers their basic postulates of classical thermodynamics and their application to transient open and closed systems, criteria of stability and equilibria, as well as constitutive property models of pure materials and mixtures emphasizing molecular-level effects using the formalism of statistical mechanics. Phase and chemical equilibria of multicomponent systems are covered. Applications are emphasized through extensive problem work relating to practical cases.

In recent years, flying robots such as miniature helicopters or quadrotors have received a large gain in popularity. Potential applications range from aerial filming over remote visual inspection of industrial sites to automatic 3D reconstruction of buildings. Navigating a quadrotor manually requires a skilled pilot and constant concentration. Therefore, there is a strong scientific interest to develop solutions that enable quadrotors to fly autonomously and without constant human supervision. This is a challenging research problem because the payload of a quadrotor is uttermost constrained and so both the quality of the onboard sensors and the available computing power is strongly limited. 

In this course, we will introduce the basic concepts for autonomous navigation for quadrotors. The following topics will be covered:

• 3D geometry,
• probabilistic state estimation,
• visual odometry, SLAM, 3D mapping,
• linear control.

In particular, you will learn how to infer the position of the quadrotor from its sensor readings and how to navigate it along a trajectory.

The course consists of a series of weekly lecture videos that we be interleaved by interactive quizzes and hands-on programming tasks. For the flight experiments, we provide a browser-based quadrotor simulator which requires the students to write small code snippets in Python.

This course is intended for undergraduate and graduate students in computer science, electrical engineering or mechanical engineering. This course has been offered by TUM for the first time in summer term 2014 on EdX with more than 20.000 registered students of which 1400 passed examination. The MOOC is based on the previous TUM lecture “Visual Navigation for Flying Robots” which received the TUM TeachInf best lecture award in 2012 and 2013.

FAQ

Do I need to buy a textbook?

No, all required materials will be provided within the courseware. However, if you are interested, we recommend the following additional materials:

1. This course is based on the TUM lecture Visual Navigation for Flying Robots. The course website contains lecture videos (from last year), additional exercises and the full syllabus: http://vision.in.tum.de/teaching/ss2013/visnav2013
2. Probabilistic Robotics. Sebastian Thrun, Wolfram Burgard and Dieter Fox. MIT Press, 2005.
3. Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications. Richard Szeliski. Springer, 2010.

Do I need to build/own a quadrotor?

No, we provide a web-based quadrotor simulator that will allow you to test your solutions in simulation. However, we took special care that the code you will be writing will be compatible with a real Parrot Ardrone quadrotor. So if you happen to have a Parrot Ardrone quadrotor, we encourage you to try out your solutions for real.

This course covers the analytical, graphical, and numerical methods supporting the analysis and design of integrated biological systems. Topics include modularity and abstraction in biological systems, mathematical encoding of detailed physical problems, numerical methods for solving the dynamics of continuous and discrete chemical systems, statistics and probability in dynamic systems, applied local and global optimization, simple feedback and control analysis, statistics and probability in pattern recognition.

An official course Web site and Wiki is maintained on OpenWetWare: 20.181 Computation for Biological Engineers.