This course introduces quantitative approaches to understanding brain and cognitive functions. Topics …
This course introduces quantitative approaches to understanding brain and cognitive functions. Topics include mathematical description of neurons, the response of neurons to sensory stimuli, simple neuronal networks, statistical inference and decision making. It also covers foundational quantitative tools of data analysis in neuroscience: correlation, convolution, spectral analysis, principal components analysis, and mathematical concepts including simple differential equations and linear algebra.
This course explores perspectives in the policy process - agenda setting, problem …
This course explores perspectives in the policy process - agenda setting, problem definition, framing the terms of debate, formulation and analysis of options, implementation and evaluation of policy outcomes using frameworks including economics and markets, law, and business and management. Methods include cost/benefit analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and system dynamics. Exercises include developing skills to work on the interface between technology and societal issues; simulation exercises; case studies; and group projects that illustrate issues involving multiple stakeholders with different value structures, high levels of uncertainty, multiple levels of complexity; and value trade-offs that are characteristic of engineering systems. Emphasis on negotiation, team building and group dynamics, and management of multiple actors and leadership.
"Human capital" may not be the first thing that comes to mind …
"Human capital" may not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think about investments, but investing in education and training is an important economic decision. Learn about human capital and the return on such an investment in the February 2013 issue.
Kiddynomics: An Economics Curriculum for Young Learners is a set of lessons …
Kiddynomics: An Economics Curriculum for Young Learners is a set of lessons designed to introduce young children to the economic way of thinking. Informed decision-making is a critical thinking skill that students can use throughout their school, personal, and work lives. And, as citizens in a democratic society, they should understand basic principles of how the economy operates. Beginning economic education early and building on that learning throughout students’ education is the best way to ensure they develop vital decision-making skills.
Competition, sportsmanship, and national pride are the foundations of the Olympics, but …
Competition, sportsmanship, and national pride are the foundations of the Olympics, but how much do the Olympics cost the host city and country? What are some of the economic benefits and deficits? Is the investment in the Olympics worth it in the end? Read about previous host experiences with the economic side of the Olympics in the August 2012 issue.
Our subject is the ethics of leadership, an examination of the principles …
Our subject is the ethics of leadership, an examination of the principles appealed to by executive authority when questions arise about its sources and its legitimacy. Most treatments of this subject resort to case-studies in order to illustrate the application of ethical principles to business situations, but our primary emphasis will be upon classic works of imaginative literature, which convey more directly than case-studies the ethical pressures of decision-making. Readings will include works by Shakespeare, Sophocles, Shaw, E.M. Forster, Joseph Conrad, George Orwell, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Henrik Ibsen, among others. Topics to be discussed include the sources of authority, the management of consensus, the ideal of vocation, the ethics of deception, the morality of expediency, the requirements of hierarchy, the virtues and vices of loyalty, the relevance of ethical principles in extreme situations.
This course begins with a comparative review of conventional and advanced multiple …
This course begins with a comparative review of conventional and advanced multiple attribute decision making (MADM) models in engineering practice. Next, a new application of particular MADM models in reliable material selection of sensitive structural components as well as a multi-criteria Taguchi optimization method is discussed. Other specific topics include dealing with uncertainties in material properties, incommensurability in decision-makers opinions for the same design, objective ways of weighting performance indices, rank stability analysis, compensations and non-compensations. This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.
This Module describes the MTSS, or RTI, framework as applied to mathematics. …
This Module describes the MTSS, or RTI, framework as applied to mathematics. It includes discussions of how MTSS and RTI are related, as well as a description of instruction, assessment, and data-based decision making at each level of intensity: Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 (est. completion time: 2.5 hours).
Surveys social psychology and organization theory interpreted in the context of the …
Surveys social psychology and organization theory interpreted in the context of the managerial environment. Shares lectures with 15.301, with a separate recitation required. 15.301 is intended primarily for non-Sloan students, both graduate and undergraduate. Deals with a number of diverse subjects, including motivation and reward systems for engineers and scientists in industry; the aging of technical groups; the management of R&D matrix organizations; and the architecture of R&D laboratories and its effect on communication patterns in the organization. 15.301 is a core subject for students majoring in management science. A laboratory is a required element of the course for these students. It involves projects of an applied nature in behavioral science. Emphasizes use of behavioral science research methods to test hypotheses concerning organizational behavior. Instruction and practice in communication include report writing, team decision-making, and oral and visual presentation.
We function in our personal and professional lives based on knowledge and …
We function in our personal and professional lives based on knowledge and intuitions. Our intuition that we know a lot is very powerful. But sometimes intuitions are accurate and sometimes they are not; without research, it is hard to tell. This course combines a few different goals: develop a critical eye for making inferences from data; be able to carry out simple data analysis; learn about managerial psychology; develop interesting new questions about managerial psychology and test these questions.
This course covers models of individual decision-making under certainty and uncertainty. Applications include risk …
This course covers models of individual decision-making under certainty and uncertainty. Applications include risk sharing and financial markets; contracts and information economics; village economies and national development; models with money and credit; trade, spatial economics and differentiated commodities.
The topic of the class is information and contract theory. The purpose …
The topic of the class is information and contract theory. The purpose is to give an introduction to some of the main subjects in this field: decision making under uncertainty, risk sharing, moral hazard, adverse selection, mechanism design, and incomplete contracting.
This is an introductory course in Microeconomics. This course aims to introduce …
This is an introductory course in Microeconomics. This course aims to introduce students to the basic concepts of microeconomics such as scarcity and choice, and their influences in the decision-making process of individual consumers, firms, and governmental entities. Economics involves all types of decisions. This class will help you understand how different actors, business, households, non-profits and government institutions act. You will realize that this class helps you to put in economic terms the many daily decisions you make about how you allocate your resources. You choose daily what products to buy, businesses decide what products they produce and how many and what services they offer. This class will give you the structure you will need to make decisions more rationally, improving the way you utilize the limited resources that you have at hand.
This lesson teaches students how to make decisions in the face of …
This lesson teaches students how to make decisions in the face of uncertainty by using decision trees. It is aimed for high school kids with a minimal background in probability; the students only need to know how to calculate the probability of two uncorrelated events both occurring (ie flipping 2 heads in a row). Over the course of this lesson, students will learn about the role of uncertainty in decision making, how to make and use a decision tree, how to use limiting cases to develop an intuition, and how this applies to everyday life. The video portion is about fifteen minutes, and the whole lesson, including activities, should be completed in about forty-five minutes. Some of the activities call for students to work in pairs, but a larger group is also okay, especially for the discussion centered activities. The required materials for this lesson are envelopes, small prizes, and some things similar in size and shape to the prize.
After reading the book My Side of the Mountain, students discuss the …
After reading the book My Side of the Mountain, students discuss the human capital that Sam possessed, the investments in human capital that he made and why these investments were important. Students work in groups to help them define and understand the meaning of investment in human capital, and they create a plan for investing in their human capital.
This course explores the social relevance of neuroscience, considering how emerging areas …
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.
How do we decide whether an action is morally wrong? How do …
How do we decide whether an action is morally wrong? How do we choose to do what is right? When and why do we punish wrong-doers? Moral behavior and moral evaluation are functions of the human brain. It is just becoming possible to use neuroscientific methods to understand how they work. This course will consider the mechanisms of morality as a question for neuroscientists.
We are faced with the need to make decisions, both big and …
We are faced with the need to make decisions, both big and small, on a daily basis. The earlier young people learn how to make a good decision, the better their decision-making skills will be. In this short course in our Ella's Adventures series, your students will read and listen to a story about Ella, who has decisions to make. While most of her decisions are easy, she runs across a hard one and employs a decision-making tool to help solve her problem.
The February 2018 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance focuses …
The February 2018 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance focuses on an important milestone in transitioning to adulthood—getting your own place. The article discusses important topics related to renting, including careful preparation and effective planning, a realistic budget, weighing options against important criteria to make the best choice, and understanding a lease.
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