Examines the relationship between popular and high culture and the problem of evaluating texts that tell stories. Treats a range of narrative and dramatic works as well as films. May be repeated for credit, with permission of instructor. Topic for Fall: Masterminds. Topic for Spring: Popular Culture in the Age of Media Convergence. Our purpose is to consider some of the most elaborate and thoughtful efforts to define and delineate "all-mastering," and to consider some of the delineations of "all-mastering the intellect" in various guises - from magicians to master spies to detectives to scientists (mad and otherwise). The major written work of the term will be an ongoing reading journal, which you will circulate to your classmates using an e-mail mailing list. The use of that list is fundamental - it is my intention to generate a sort of ongoing cyberconversation.

This course provides an introduction to the language and culture of the Portuguese-speaking world, with special attention to Brazilian Portuguese. This course focuses are on basic oral expression, listening comprehension, and elementary reading and writing. Students develop their vocabulary and understanding of grammatical concepts through active communication. This is a coordinated language lab program and is designed for students with no knowledge of Portuguese. Class is conducted entirely in Portuguese.

This course is a continuation of 21F.801. It focuses on expanding communication skills and further development of linguistic competency using a variety of authentic sources, such as the Internet, audio, video, and printed materials, to help develop cultural awareness and linguistic proficiency. This course is conducted entirely in Portuguese.

Using examples from anthropology and sociology alongside classical and contemporary social theory, this course explores the nature of dominant and subordinate relationships, types of legitimate authority, and practices of resistance. The course also examines how we are influenced in subtle ways by the people around us, who makes controlling decisions in the family, how people get ahead at work, and whether democracies, in fact, reflect the "will of the people..

This course provides understanding of the theory and processes of negotiation as practiced in a variety of settings. It is designed for relevance to the broad spectrum of bargaining problems faced by the manager and professional. With an emphasis on simulations, exercises, role playing and cases, students are given an opportunity to develop negotiation skills experientially and to understand negotiation in useful analytical frameworks.

This workshop provides an introduction to urban environmental design and explores the potential of information technology and the Internet to transform public education, city design, and community development in inner-city neighborhoods. Integration of comprehensive ("top-down") and grassroots ("bottom-up") approaches to design and planning is a major theme.

You can build a wide range of practical electronic devices if you understand a few basic electronics concepts and follow some simple rules. These devices include light-activated and sound-activated toys and appliances, remote controls, timers and clocks, and motorized devices. The subject begins with an overview of the fundamental concepts, followed by a series of laboratory exercises that demonstrate the basic rules, and a final project.

The course purpose is to provide the substance and skill necessary to make sound business decisions relating to information systems, and to work with senior line managers in the resolution of issues and problems in this area. Categories of issues which will be addressed in the course include: How do IT and its various manifestations in business, such as the Internet, affect current and future competitiveness? How do we align business strategy and plans with IT strategy and IT plans? How can we engage executives in learning and leading IT-related change? How do we implement new systems, change work behavior, manage projects? How should we organize and govern IT in an organization.

Opportunity for group study by graduate students on current topics related to management not otherwise included in curriculum. Practical Leadership is an interactive seminar where students receive repeated coaching and real-time feedback on their own leadership capabilities from their peers and the instructor. The course is structured around a set of readings. However, the key component is each student's own self-assessment. These self-assessments are done by the students in the first week of the semester. The areas for improvement that the students identify are then targeted in the weekly role plays that are customized for each student in the class. The goal of the class is for each student to increase his or her own leadership abilities through an ongoing cycle of practice, feedback and reflection.

This course provides a thorough introduction to the C programming language, the workhorse of the UNIX operating system and lingua franca of embedded processors and micro-controllers. The first two weeks will cover basic syntax and grammar, and expose students to practical programming techniques. The remaining lectures will focus on more advanced concepts, such as dynamic memory allocation, concurrency and synchronization, UNIX signals and process control, library development and usage. Daily programming Assignments and Labs and weekly laboratory exercises are required. Knowledge of C is highly marketable for summer internships, UROPs, and full-time positions in software and embedded systems development.

This is a course in how corporations make use of the insights and tools of risk management. Most courses on derivatives, futures and options, and financial engineering are taught from the viewpoint of investment bankers and traders in the securities. This course is taught from the point of view of the manufacturing corporation, the utility, the software firm‰ŰÓany potential end-user of derivatives, but not the dealer. Most related courses focus on the extensive taxonomy of instruments and the complex models developed to price them, and on ways to exploit mispricing. While this course will make use of some of these pricing models, the focus is on how corporations use the insights and models to improve their operations, to increase the value of their real assets, or to create the financial flexibility necessary to implement their core strategy.

This course is the third and final part of our graduate introduction to semantics. The other two classes are 24.970 Introduction to Semantics and 24.973 Advanced Semantics. The semester will be divided into somewhat independent units. One unit will be devoted to conversational implicatures (mainly scalar implicatures) and another to presupposition. In each unit, we will discuss basic concepts and technical tools and then devote some time to recent work which illustrates their application.

This course provides students with the opportunity to develop a map of contemporary architectural practice and discourse. The seminar examines six themes in terms of their recent history: city and global economy, urban plan and map of operations, program and performance, drawing and scripting, image and surface, and utopia and projection. Students will study buildings and read relevant texts in order to place recent architectural projects in disciplinary and cultural context.

Intensive coverage of precision engineering theory, heuristics, and applications pertaining to the design of systems ranging from consumer products to machine tools. Topics covered include: economics, project management, and design philosophy; principles of accuracy, repeatability, and resolution; error budgeting; sensors; sensor mounting; systems design; bearings; actuators and transmissions; system integration driven by functional requirements and operating physics. Emphasis on developing creative designs which are optimized by analytical techniques applied via spreadsheets. Many real-world examples are given, and classwork and tests are based on mini-design problems. From the course home page: This is a projects course with lectures consisting of design teams presenting their work and the class helping to develop solutions; thereby everyone learning from everyone's projects.

Prediction is at the heart of almost every scientific discipline, and the study of generalization (that is, prediction) from data is the central topic of machine learning and statistics, and more generally, data mining. Machine learning and statistical methods are used throughout the scientific world for their use in handling the "information overload" that characterizes our current digital age. Machine learning developed from the artificial intelligence community, mainly within the last 30 years, at the same time that statistics has made major advances due to the availability of modern computing. However, parts of these two fields aim at the same goal, that is, of prediction from data. This course provides a selection of the most important topics from both of these subjects.

Forecasting is the ultimate form of model validation. But even if a perfect model is in hand, imperfect forecasts are likely. This course will cover the factors that limit our ability to produce good forecasts, will show how the quality of forecasts can be gauged a priori (predicting our ability to predict!), and will cover the state of the art in operational atmosphere and ocean forecasting systems.

This course is designed to teach students how to price goods and services by providing a framework for understanding pricing strategies and tactics. Topics covered include economic value analysis, price elasticities, price customization, pricing complementary products, pricing in platform markets and anticipating competitive price responses.

Subject provides a comprehensive overview of human pathology with emphasis on mechanisms of disease and modern diagnostic technologies. Topics include: general mechanisms of disease (inflammation, infection, immune injury, host response to foreign materials, transplantation, genetic disorders and neoplasia); pathology of lipids, enzymes, and molecular transporters; pathology of major organ systems; and review of diagnostic tools from invasive surgical pathology to non-invasive techniques such as optical spectroscopy, functional imaging, and molecular markers of disease. The objectives of this subject are achieved by a set of integrated lectures and laboratories, as well as a student-driven term project leading to a formal presentation on a medical, socioeconomic, or technological issue in human pathology.

This course serves as a description and critical assessment of the major issues and stages of developing a pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical. Topics covered include drug discovery, preclinical development, clinical investigation, manufacturing and regulatory issues considered for small and large molecules, and economic and financial considerations of the drug development process. A multidisciplinary perspective is provided by the faculty, who represent clinical, life, and management sciences. Various industry guests also participate.

Develop 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.