Technical University Berlin

The lecture covers four major aspects of HCI: 1. Understanding users (user behavior, user research techniques such as interviews and usability testing) 2. Designing user interfaces (principles of interface design for usability, interaction paradigms) 3. Evaluating interfaces (usability testing methods, identifying usability problems, iterative design based on user feedback) 4. Integrating HCI into system development (integrating the above aspects into an iterative product development cycle). The exercise section of the course applies the above theory in practice. Learning outcomes include: Apply HCI principles to design user-friendly interfaces; conduct fundamental user research and analyze user needs; understand principles of iterative prototyping and evaluation of interactive systems; communicate HCI concepts effectively.

This course primarily targets Masters students but also ambitious Bachelor students who want to get the opportunity to broaden their knowledge of specific wireless communication technologies. After completing this course, students will have deep knowledge about wireless technologies from the IEEE 802 protocol family (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth and ZigBee), technologies for adhoc/mesh networks and classical cellular networks. Additionally, during the labs, students will have the opportunity to study selected technologies or technology-oriented problems in hands-on exercises.

Participants learn basic concepts, their theoretical foundation, and the most common algorithms used in machine learning and artificial intelligence. After completing the module, participants understand strengths and limitations of the different paradigms, are able to correctly and successfully apply methods and algorithms to real world problems, are aware of performance criteria, and are able to critically evaluate results obtained with those methods. More specifically, participants are able to demonstrate: 1) Understanding regarding basic concepts of neural information processing 2) Knowledge of unsupervised machine learning methods 3) Application to problems of statistical modeling, explorative data analysis, and visualization. Topics include 

1) Principal Component Analysis, Kernel-PCA 

2) Independent Component Analysis (Infomax, FastICA, Second Order Blind Source Separation) 

3) Stochastic Optimization 

4) Clustering, Embedding, and Visualisation (Central and Pairwise Clustering, Self-Organizing Maps, Locally Linear Embedding) 

5) Density Estimation, Mixture Models, Expectation-Maximization Algorithm, Hidden Markov Model 

6) Estimation Theory, Maximum Likelihood Estimation, Bayesian Model Comparison

Handling commercial finite element software, solving a complex stress analysis problem, obtaining background information on advanced strength of materials theory, solving engineering problems collaboratively in teams, presenting and documenting results. Preparatory lecture series: introduction to components and materials of microelectronics and the surface mount technology (SMT), basic mechanics of elastoplastic deformable bodies, introduction to the concepts of the commercial finite element software ABAQUS. Homework assignments: learning and using the finite element software ABAQUS. Project period: literature review, finite element based stress and durability analysis of a SMT component, presentation and documentation of achieved results.

The lecture series on "Advances in Water Management and Climate Adaptation" is a comprehensive course designed to explore the latest techniques, tools, technologies, strategies, and policies in managing water resources and adapting to the challenges posed by climate change. Tools and technologies will include, among others, advanced modelling techniques, digital technologies, remote sensing, and geographic information systems. Water management and climate adaptation strategies and policies will unpack the intertwined relationship between environmental, technological, societal, and economic stakes, and include topics related to climate justice, multi-objective optimization, risk and conflict management, and multi-sector dynamics under uncertainty. After an introductory session, different early-stage researchers from international universities, research institutions, technology centers, and policy institutes will present cutting-edge research, projects, lessons learned, challenges, and visions on water resources management and climate adaptation. Each lecture will be followed by a class discussion.

This course examines the intricate relationship between colonialism, urban development, and economic growth through the lens of political ecology. A central theme of the course is the examination of colonial legacies and their enduring impact on contemporary urban and environmental dynamics. We will critically analyze how Europe's historical growth has often occurred at the expense of other regions, relying on extractive and exploitation of resources in colonized territories to fuel metropolitan centers. Through the classical readings in this field, contemporary case studies, and critical discussions, we will interrogate the role of colonialism in shaping global patterns of urbanization, resource extraction, and environmental degradation. By the end of the course, we will gain insights into potential pathways for building more equitable and environmentally sustainable futures.

Participants explore software security hands-on with the goal to develop and host an international information security contest (¨Attack/Defense CTF”): contesting teams from all over the world receive virtual machines built during the project. The machines run participants’ services, containing secret tokens ("flags") that other teams have to collect over the wire using exploits as part of the game. To build the contest, participants will dive deep into the security of a platform and language of their choice and create a software project with well-hidden software vulnerabilities in this language. Furthermore, a game server will be developed as a team, including scripts to check the health of services for each contestant. As part of the development and hosting, participants will develop and extend the infrastructure required to host the competition, strengthen their skills in penetration testing and exploitation, and build upon other technical and non-technical abilities, depending on their role in the project. Such skills may include networking, continuous integration, agile development, project management and public relations. Furthermore, students develop and extend the infrastructure, required for the competition. The course gives participants the freedom to explore tools of their choice, build software and find creative ways to corrupt it, with the work done both independently and in small teams. Insecure software is a potential threat to both the industry and the democratic society. The course supports goals on sustainability by raising awareness on IT security, and teaching the ability to detect, fix and avoid security issues in software, not only for the students, but also for the international participants of the competition. Furthermore, we support open-source, by making all material publicly available in the end.

This course will introduce fundamental concepts and techniques in the content of remote sensing and image processing for Earth observation from space. The course starts by introducing core concepts in remote sensing (describing the processes by which images are captured by sensors mounted on satellite and airborne platforms and key characteristics of the acquired images). Then, fundamental methodologies for processing, analyzing, and visualizing remotely sensed imagery are introduced. Topics include representation of high-dimensional remote sensing images, time domain representations, filtering and enhancement. Practical applications will be provided throughout the course. Participants of this course will gain theoretical and practical knowledge on fundamental concepts and techniques for processing and analysis of remote sensing images acquired by Earth observation satellite and airborne systems.

The course focuses on various land use and system dynamic topics to guide class discussions in the weekly seminar meetings. Lectures are watched outside of scheduled meeting times to maximize time for discussion and expansion of ideas in class. The topic focuses include the following: global urbanization dynamics, global land use and change, urbanization, global land take of urbanization, urban expansion, urbanization in regards to climate change, urban climate change economics (including subtopics of buildings emissions and urban heat), as well as urban transport. 

The course focuses on analogue drawing of real urban and natural motifs (urban/nature sketching). We focus on drawing techniques, knowledge of materials and examples from the rich world of illustration. With the help of exercises, different techniques and graphic languages are tried out, and your own style can gradually be discovered and developed. We will work outdoors directly on the motif as much as possible.