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Physical Science And Engineering Courses - Page 27

Showing results 261-270 of 522
Question Reality: Cosmos
This course explores the concept of reality and the physics of the sky. You will travel through the philosophies and worldviews of early civilizations to the time of early scientists such as Plato, Aristotle, and Copernicus. You will learn how Galileo's findings with the telescope challenged the Aristotelian interpretation of the cosmos, about Galileo’s revolutionary conclusions on gravity, and Newton's universal law of gravitation. This course will also introduce you to the scientific methods and their limitations. You will also explore the properties and behaviors of homemade pendulums. Next, you will explore modern ideas of cosmology, of the Big Bang, and even recent speculations that our universe is not all there is. Mysteries and properties of light and how they were discovered, questioned, and confirmed through experiments over the past few hundred years through the present will also be discussed.
Intelligent Machining
Manufacturers are increasingly utilizing machine tools that are self-aware – they perceive their own states and the state of the surrounding environment – and are able to make decisions related to machine activity processes. This is called intelligent machining, and through this course students will receive a primer on its background, tools and related terminology. Learn how the integration of smart sensors and controls are helping to improve productivity. You’ll be exposed to various sensors and sensing techniques, process control strategies, and open architecture systems that can be leveraged to enable intelligent machining. This course will prepare you to contribute to the implementation of intelligent machining projects. Main concepts of this course will be delivered through lectures, readings, discussions and various videos. This is the fifth course in the Digital Manufacturing & Design Technology specialization that explores the many facets of manufacturing’s “Fourth Revolution,” aka Industry 4.0, and features a culminating project involving creation of a roadmap to achieve a self-established DMD-related professional goal. To learn more about the Digital Manufacturing and Design Technology specialization, please watch the overview video by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://youtu.be/wETK1O9c-CA
Electrodynamics: Analysis of Electric Fields
This course is a continuation of Electrodynamics: An Introduction. Here, we will cover different methods of calculating an electric field. In addition, we will introduce polarization, dielectrics, and how electric fields create dipoles. Learners will • Be able to apply symmetry and other tools to calculate the electric field. • Understand what susceptibility, polarization, and dipoles are. Additionally, students will learn to visualize Maxwell equations in order to apply the derived mathematics to other fields, such as heat/mass diffusion and meso-scale electromechanical properties, and to create patents that could lead to potential innovations in energy storage and harvesting. The approach taken in this course complements traditional approaches, covering a fairly complete treatment of the physics of electricity and magnetism, and adds Feynman’s unique and vital approach to grasping a picture of the physical universe. Furthermore, this course uniquely provides the link between the knowledge of electrodynamics and its practical applications to research in materials science, information technology, electrical engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, energy storage, energy harvesting, and other materials related fields.
Introduction to the Arctic: Climate
The University of Alberta, the University of Tromso and the University of the Arctic invite you to explore this four week course that examines the environment and climate of the circumpolar North. This course is the result of an international collaboration and provides you with an insight into our planet's North. Following an overview of regional geography, we will focus on the cryosphere (ice), as well as the atmosphere and ocean of the region. We will learn why the Arctic is cold and ice covered, and how that impacts its climate and ecosystems. We will also consider how the Arctic is connected to the rest of the world. Finally, we will examine present day climate change, the processes driving it, and evidence for it in the Arctic, before looking at the implications in the rapidly evolving North. Watch a preview of the course here: https://uofa.ualberta.ca/courses/arctic-climate
Battery State-of-Charge (SOC) Estimation
This course can also be taken for academic credit as ECEA 5732, part of CU Boulder’s Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree. In this course, you will learn how to implement different state-of-charge estimation methods and to evaluate their relative merits. By the end of the course, you will be able to: - Implement simple voltage-based and current-based state-of-charge estimators and understand their limitations - Explain the purpose of each step in the sequential-probabilistic-inference solution - Execute provided Octave/MATLAB script for a linear Kalman filter and evaluate results - Execute provided Octave/MATLAB script for state-of-charge estimation using an extended Kalman filter on lab-test data and evaluate results - Execute provided Octave/MATLAB script for state-of-charge estimation using a sigma-point Kalman filter on lab-test data and evaluate results - Implement method to detect and discard faulty voltage-sensor measurements
The Finance of Climate Change
The urgent transition towards a low-carbon economy will profoundly change our economy. Households, companies and financial intermediaries have to be ready in order to avoid the downside risks and seize the opportunities created by climate change. The Finance of Climate Change MOOC will explain (i) how climate change and the policies aimed to mitigate it will impact the different businesses and (ii) the means and tools at the disposal of companies, banks and investors to be part of this transition. What is the shadow price of carbon? What makes a bond green? How can investors steer the decarbonization of a company? How can we make sure that a company is making real efforts to make its business model climate-resilient and not just greenwashing? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in this MOOC. This MOOC covers the financial risks and opportunities of climate change and how companies can finance their green transition, for example by issuing green securities. You will also learn how financial intermediaries address climate change risks and why central banks are concerned about climate change. This MOOC is for those who wish to understand the finance of climate. It is not necessary to have specialized prior knowledge, apart from basic familiarity with accounting and financial concepts such as discounted cash flows. We do suggest, however, taking the first and second MOOC of this specialization before starting this one in order to gain a simple but solid understanding of the science and economics aspects of climatic changes.
Internet of Things: How did we get here?
It is hard to imagine life without your Smartphone – you have come to rely on it so much – for your work; to stay in touch with family and friends; to capture and share those special moments; to find your way around in a new neighborhood. Did you ever wonder how and when all this happened? Or how and when GPS sensors came to be in your cell phone? In this course, we will explore the convergence of multiple disciplines leading to todays’ Smartphones. You will learn about the birth and evolution of Telephony Networks, Broadcast Networks (TV and Radio) and Consumer Electronics. We will discuss the impact of Internet, (multimedia) content, smartphones and apps on everyday lives. We will then look at how this emerging platform called the Internet of Things – wherein billions and trillions of devices communicating with each other and “the cloud” – could enable unprecedented, innovative products and services. Take this course if you want to understand what great new advances in mobile-enabled products will be coming our way! Learning Goals: This course provides a core grounding in how science and technology have developed to enable the Internet of Things – in a way appropriate for any learner. For those interested in developing further hands-on expertise in designing and developing for the Internet of Things, this course will provide a context to the discoveries and converging technologies that will springboard the next round of innovations. After completing this course, you will be able to: 1. Compare how the telephone system works (that is, peer-to-peer networks) with how media delivery works (that is, broadcast/multicast networks). 2. Explain the tradeoffs between circuit switched networks (that is, dedicated resources) and packet switched networks (that is, shared resources). 3. Tell interesting stories about key innovations that transformed the communications, entertainment and consumer electronics industries. 4. Explain how email, YouTube, SMS, etc. work. 5. Find resources for those wishing to do more of a “deep-dive” into the above topics.
Introduction to Reproducibility in Cancer Informatics
The course is intended for students in the biomedical sciences and researchers who use informatics tools in their research and have not had training in reproducibility tools and methods. This course is written for individuals who: - Have some familiarity with R or Python - have written some scripts. - Have not had formal training in computational methods. - Have limited or no familiar with GitHub, Docker, or package management tools. Motivation Data analyses are generally not reproducible without direct contact with the original researchers and a substantial amount of time and effort (BeaulieuJones et al, 2017). Reproducibility in cancer informatics (as with other fields) is still not monitored or incentivized despite that it is fundamental to the scientific method. Despite the lack of incentive, many researchers strive for reproducibility in their own work but often lack the skills or training to do so effectively. Equipping researchers with the skills to create reproducible data analyses increases the efficiency of everyone involved. Reproducible analyses are more likely to be understood, applied, and replicated by others. This helps expedite the scientific process by helping researchers avoid false positive dead ends. Open source clarity in reproducible methods also saves researchers' time so they don't have to reinvent the proverbial wheel for methods that everyone in the field is already performing. Curriculum This course introduces the concepts of reproducibility and replicability in the context of cancer informatics. It uses hands-on exercises to demonstrate in practical terms how to increase the reproducibility of data analyses. The course also introduces tools relevant to reproducibility including analysis notebooks, package managers, git and GitHub. The course includes hands-on exercises for how to apply reproducible code concepts to their code. Individuals who take this course are encouraged to complete these activities as they follow along with the course material to help increase the reproducibility of their analyses. **Goal of this course:** Equip learners with reproducibility skills they can apply to their existing analyses scripts and projects. This course opts for an "ease into it" approach. We attempt to give learners doable, incremental steps to increase the reproducibility of their analyses. **What is not the goal** This course is meant to introduce learners to the reproducibility tools, but _it does not necessarily represent the absolute end-all, be-all best practices for the use of these tools_. In other words, this course gives a starting point with these tools, but not an ending point. The advanced version of this course is the next step toward incrementally "better practices". How to use the course This course is designed with busy professional learners in mind -- who may have to pick up and put down the course when their schedule allows. Each exercise has the option for you to continue along with the example files as you've been editing them in each chapter, OR you can download fresh chapter files that have been edited in accordance with the relative part of the course. This way, if you decide to skip a chapter or find that your own files you've been working on no longer make sense, you have a fresh starting point at each exercise.
Philosophy of Science
For the last four centuries, scientists have aimed to provide us with an understanding of the world around us. By all appearances, science has made substantial progress during this time. But is this progress real or illusory? And if it is real, how has this progress been made? This four-week course will consider these important questions. Specific topics will include how scientists generate knowledge through observations, experiments, and simulations; scientific objectivity and failures of scientific objectivity; the self-correcting nature of the scientific community; the positive and negative influences that values can have on science; the relationship between science and religion; and the role of the public in guiding the scientific enterprise.
Introduction to Basic Vibrations
Introduction to Basic Vibrations starts with the fundamental principle of vibrations with a single and double degree of freedom systems. These fundamental vibration systems provide a solid platform not only to understand general vibrations but also to apply or use them into simple mechanical problems.