Search result: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2024
Environmental Engineering Bachelor ![]() | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Number | Title | Type | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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101-0031-10L | Systems Engineering | O | 3 credits | 2G | B. T. Adey | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abstract | • Systems Engineering is a way of thinking that helps engineer sustainable systems, i.e., ones that meet the needs of stakeholders in the short, medium and long term. • This course provides an overview of the main principles of Systems Engineering, and includes an introduction to the use of operations research methods in the determination of optimal systems. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Learning objective | The world’s growing population, changing demographics, and changing climate pose formidable challenges to humanity’s ability to live sustainably. Ensuring that humanity can live sustainably requires accommodating Earth’s growing and changing population through the provision and operation of a sustainable and resilient built environment. This requires ensuring excellent decision-making as to how the built environment is constructed and modified. The objective of this course is to ensure the best possible decision making when engineering sustainable systems, i.e., ones that meet the needs of stakeholders in the short, medium and long term. In this course, you will learn the main principles of Systems Engineering that can help you from the first idea that a system may not meet expectations, to the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of possible system modifications. Additionally, the course includes an introduction to the use of operations research methods in the determination of optimal solutions in complex systems. More specifically upon completion of the course, you will have gained insight into: • how to structure the large amount of information that is often associated with attempting to modify complex systems • how to set goals and define constraints in the engineering of complex systems • how to generate possible solutions to complex problems in ways that limit exceedingly narrow thinking • how to compare multiple possible solutions over time with differences in the temporal distribution of costs and benefits and uncertainty as to what might happen in the future • how to assess values of benefits to stakeholders that are not in monetary units • how to assess whether it is worth obtaining more information in determining optimal solution • how to take a step back from the numbers and qualitatively evaluate the possible solutions in light of the bigger picture • the basics of operations research and how it can be used to determine optimal solutions to complex problems, including linear, integer and network programming, dealing with multiple objectives and conducting sensitivity analyses. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Content | The lectures are structured as follows: 1. Introduction – An introduction to System Engineering, a way of thinking that helps to engineer sustainable systems, i.e. ones that meet the needs of stakeholders in the short, medium and long terms. A high-level overview of the main principles of System Engineering. The expectations of your efforts throughout the semester. 2. Situation analysis – How to structure the large amount of information that is often associated with attempting to modify complex systems. 3. Goals and constraints – How to set goals and constraints to identify the best solutions as clearly as possible. 4. Generation of possible solutions – How to generate possible solutions to problems, considering multiple stakeholders. 5. The principles of net-benefit maximization and a series of methods that range from qualitative and approximate to quantitative and exact, including pairwise comparison, elimination, weighting, and expected value. 6. The idea behind the supply and demand curves and revealed preference methods. 7. The concept of equivalence, including the time value of money, interest, life times and terminal values. 8. The relationship between net-benefit and the benefit-cost ratio. How incremental cost benefit analysis can be used to determine the maximum net benefit. Internal rates of return. 9. How to consider multiple possible futures and use simple rules to help pick optimal solutions and to determine the value of more information. 10. Once quantitative analysis is used it becomes possible to use operations research methods to analyse large numbers of possible solutions. Linear programming and the simplex method. 11. How sensitivity analysis is conducted using linear programming. 12. How to use operations research to solve problems that consist of discrete values, as well as how to exploit the structure of networks to find optimal solutions to network problems. 13. How to set up and solve problems when there are multiple objectives. The course uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lecture notes | • The lecture materials consist of a script, the slides, example calculations in Excel, Moodle quizzes, and excercises. • The lecture materials will be distributed via Moodle before each lecture. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literature | Appropriate literature in addition to the lecture materials will be handed out when required via Moodle. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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851-0723-10L | Environmental Law ![]() | O | 4 credits | 3V | M. Pflüger, A. Gossweiler, C. Jäger | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Abstract | This class introduces students to the fundamentals of legal systems, focusing on environmental law. It covers the fundamentals of constitutional and administrative law, as opposed to private and criminal law. The class will focus on concepts, terminology and procedures of Swiss environmental law, supplemented through case studies. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Learning objective | Students learn fundamental structures of the legal system, understand core concepts and selected problems of public law, focusing on Swiss and European environmental law. These insights can be applied in further law courses, in particular in the course "Environmental law: Areas and Case Studies." | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Content | Die Vorlesung vermittelt eine kurze allgemeine Einführung in das Recht, insbesondere in die Grundlagen des öffentlichen Rechts, und ordnet das Umweltrecht in die schweizerischen Rechtsordnung ein. Die Studierenden lernen die grundlegenden Schritte der Rechtsanwendung bzw. eines Verwaltungsverfahrens und deren Einbettung in den umweltrechtlichen Kontext kennen. Die Vorlesung behandelt sodann die Ziele, Prinzipien und Grundsätze des Umweltrechts und beleuchtet die umweltrechtlichen Instrumente und Handlungsformen. Die Studierenden erhalten Einblicke in verschiedene umweltrechtliche Spezialthemen. Ein Überblick über das dem Umweltrecht nahestehende und mit ihm verzahnte Bau- und Planungsrecht rundet die Vorlesung thematisch ab. Der Vorlesungsstoff wird anhand von Fallbeispielen vermittelt, deren Diskussion Gelegenheit zur aktiven Mitarbeit der Studierenden bietet. Vereinzelte Gastvorträge bieten wertvolle Praxiseinblicke. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lecture notes | Christoph Jäger/Andreas Bühler, Schweizerisches Umweltrecht, Bern 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literature | Weitere Literaturangaben folgen in der Vorlesung | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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