http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ A search of MERLOT materials Copyright 1997-2013 MERLOT. All rights reserved. Sat, 18 May 2013 16:27:29 PDT Sat, 18 May 2013 16:27:29 PDT http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/images/merlot.gif http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ 44 34 http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=740026 This is a free online course developed by Yale University.'This course presents the principles of evolution, ecology, and behavior for students beginning their study of biology and of the environment. It discusses major ideas and results in a manner accessible to all Yale College undergraduates. Recent advances have energized these fields with results that have implications well beyond their boundaries: ideas, mechanisms, and processes that should form part of the toolkit of all biologists and educated citizens. This course was recorded in Spring 2009.' http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=739888 Overview of prescription drugs used to treat diabetes for dental students. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=740023 This is a free online course presented by Yale University'This course explores the physical processes that control Earth's atmosphere, ocean, and climate. Quantitative methods for constructing mass and energy budgets. Topics include clouds, rain, severe storms, regional climate, the ozone layer, air pollution, ocean currents and productivity, the seasons, El Niño, the history of Earth's climate, global warming, energy, and water resources. This Yale College course, taught on campus three times per week for 50 minutes, was recorded for Open Yale Courses in Fall 2011.' http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=740027 This is a free online course offered by Yale University.'All life on Earth has a spatial context and associated environmental conditions that contextualize its evolution, ecology and potential exposure to human-induced global change. The genetic and phenotypic make-up of populations, their connectivity, the distribution of species and their attributes, the composition of communities and the relative importance of biotic factors in structuring them -all are critically determined by the specific geographic and abiotic setting. The biosphere's environmental gradients are now rapidly changing and perturbing these interrelationships, with exact consequences depending on e.g. patterns and opportunities for dispersal, adaptation, and community reassembly. The spatial and environmental context of biodiversity thus provides a unifying theme to the disciplines of ecology, evolution and paleontology, and presents pressing new questions.' http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=736836 Everyone knows tea originally came from China. And that was literally millennia ago--Chinese tea cultivation goes back thousands of years. Tea drinking later reached Japan, and in the West from the 1600s on. But today the world's best black tea comes from India, specifically Darjeeling, at the foot of the Himalayas. This article tells you how the world's tea came to Darjeeling, how it's grown and processed, and what you need to know when buying quality Darjeeling tea. It includes a 21-image slide show. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=734442 A online learning experience for the dental studetn that covers common anti-infectives (antibiotics, antifungals and antivirals) prescribed by dentists. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=733396 This is a free online course offered by the Saylor Foundation.'This self-contained course presents a sampling of the fields of Materials Engineering and Materials Science. This course is intended primarily for engineering students who are not planning to major in either Materials Engineering or Materials Science. We will focus primarily on the concerns of the materials engineer—the person interested in choosing materials to make a finished product. This selection is determined by compromises among material properties, ease of fabrication, and cost. In contrast, thematerials scientist is concerned with understanding the relationships between material properties and the internal structure of a material—that is, atomic bonding, arrangements of atoms, grain structure, and other microscopically observable features. We leave most of these associations to advanced courses, which will use more chemistry and physics than needed for this course.The course is divided into four units:Unit 1: Ways That Materials Can Fail – What Can Go Wrong?Unit 2: Classes of Engineering Materials – What Do We Have?Unit 3: Comparison of Engineering Materials – ­Which Is Best?Unit 4: Processing of Materials – How Can We Shape It? http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=733173 This is a free online course offered by the Saylor Foundation.'Most mechanical engineering systems today involve significant amounts of electrical and electronic control systems. Effectively, most modern mechanical engineering systems are mechatronic systems. Mechatronics is the discipline that results from the synergetic application of electrical, electronic, computer, and control engineering in mechanical engineering systems. Thus, it is essential for the mechanical engineer to have a strong understanding of the composition and design of mechatronic systems, which is the goal of this course.Mechatronic systems are around us everywhere. A car contains many mechatronic systems, such as anti-lock braking systems, traction control, the engine control unit and cruise control, to name a few. A satellite dish position control unit is another example of a mechatronic system. Modern industrial automated processes would not be possible without the discipline of mechatronics, covering areas such as vehicle manufacturing, pharmaceutical industries, and food processing plants. Robotic systems are interesting and complex examples of mechatronic systems that contain many sensors and actuators and that require very fast and sophisticated controllers. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=733397 This is a free online course offered by the Saylor Foundation.'Engineering design is the process of creating solutions to satisfy certain requirements given all the constraints. This course will focus on the decision-making process that affects various stages of design, including resource allocation, scheduling, facilities management, material procurement, inspection, and quality control. You will be introduced to the basic theoretical framework and several practical tools you can use to support decision making in the future. The first two units provide an overview of engineering design process and theories and methods for making decisions, including Analytic Hierarchy Process, Lean Six Sigma, and Quality Function Deployment. In Unit 3, you will learn about the basic principles of computerized decision support systems. Unit 4 discusses several advanced mathematical methods used for support decision making, including linear and dynamic programming, decision tree, and Bayesian inference.' http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=730318 This is a free online course offered by the Saylor Foundation.'This course will introduce you to the field known as Science and Technology Studies (STS). STS is an interdisciplinary field that examines how science and technology shape societies, cultures, and the environment and how social, cultural, and environmental factors shape the development of science and technology. These rich connections are most easily seen in areas such as the Internet and other digital technologies; the biological sciences (including biotechnology, genetics, and genomics); medical sciences and technologies; energy sciences and technologies; and ecological and environmental sciences. STS also studies the history of science, focusing on how social and cultural values and interests have shaped science and technology.This course begins with an introduction to STS and continues by examining the nature of science according to various philosophical perspectives. In the process, you will be introduced to key terms necessary for understanding those perspectives. When you have finished this course, you will be able to explain developments in science and technology in terms of their interactions with social, cultural, environmental, and other issues. This course will also prepare you for the STS major by introducing its core components: the philosophy of science, history of science, history of technology, science and ethics, and science policy.'