Individual Automobile Safety Technology
Engineering Ethics
The overarching contribution of the automobile industry to the United States economy is considerable. Approximately 1.067 million intermediate job are engaged in the direct support of the industry. The spin-off jobs that are associated with the industry -- those people who are employed in direct and intermediate positions -- adds an additional 1.765 million to the total job count associated with U.S. motor vehicle manufacturing activities. This brings the total number of jobs to nearly 3.145 million jobs. The ratio of direct employment to total jobs created has a multiplier of 10.0 (3,145,000 / 313,000) -- an excellent ratio in any investment. To put it in simpler, more comprehensible terms, for every single job in the automobile manufacturing industry, there are an additional nine jobs in the entire sector.
Private sector compensation that is associated with the total number of jobs is about $206 billion, with personal…...
mlaReferences
Bazerman, M.H. And Tensbrunsel, A.E. (2011, April). Ethical Breakdown. Harvard Business Review (HBR). Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business Review. Retrieved http://hbr.org/2011/04/ethical-breakdowns/ar/1
Cutler, D. And Massy-Beresford, H,(2012, October 10). Timeline: Major global recalls in the auto industry. Reuters. Retreived http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/10/us-toyota-recall-cars-timeline-idUSBRE8990RK20121010
Isidore, C. (2010, February 4). Toyota recall costs: $2 billion. New York, NY: CNN Money.com. Retrieved http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/04/news/companies/toyota_earnings.cnnw/
KPMG Global Automotive Executive Survey (2012). Retreived http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CDsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kpmg.com%2FGE%2Fen%2FIssuesAndInsights%2FArticlesPublications%2FDocuments%2FGlobal-automotive-executive-survey-2012.pdf&ei=h36hUOOnA4ftrQHvsYHgCA&usg=AFQjCNHFFrlHnbbP8lH8KvHajjYCitUIhA&sig2=48RlntQ7K-3iW5M_Pe_0iw
engineering ethics websites were reviewed: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Code of Ethics (IEEE), the American Council of Engineering Companies Ethical Guidelines, and the Institution of Engineers Australia Code of Ethics. All three websites cover a wide assortment of ethical issues including conflicts of interest, unfair and dishonest appraisal of projects, incompetent performance, and improper solicitation of work, among others. Of the three, the IEEE website contains very little information regarding its ethics code, while both the American Council and Australia websites go into specific details about their general ethical principles.
The IEEE, which approved its code in August 1990, lists ten general principles that comprise its overall ethics code; these principles are briefly stated and discuss about a variety of far-reaching matters, ranging from IEEE's commitment to the safety, health, and welfare of the public, to its providing support towards co-workers and colleagues in their professional development.…...
mlaWorks Cited
"American council of engineering companies ethical guidelines." The Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science. October 1980. Case Western Reserve University. Oct. 22, 2005: http://www.onlineethics.com/codes/acec1980.html
'IEEE (Institute of electrical and electronic engineers) code of ethics." The Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science. August 1990. Case Western Reserve University. Oct. 22, 2005: http://www.onlineethics.com/codes/IEEEcode.html
'The institution of engineers, Australia code of ethics." The Online Ethics Center for Engineering and Science. Case Western Reserve University. Oct. 22, 2005: http://www.onlineethics.com/codes/IEAcode.html
Space Shuttle Ethics
The Challenger Space Shuttle's final flight ended in disaster nearly 30 years ago in early 1986. This fateful journey ended the lives of 7 brave astronauts and provided the revelation of the vulnerability of NASA and the ability for humans to safely travel outside this planet's atmosphere. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the facts of this case as well as the engineering ethical issues that are related to this incident. Ultimately this essay will argue that this disaster while tragic, may be ultimately beneficial for future efforts if the lessons learned are taken seriously and applied in new developments
The purpose of NASA and the space program appears to have always been rooted in a political effort. The roots of the Cold War put America and the U.S.S.. In a competition for space dominance and large amounts of resources became allocated to NASA to prove to…...
mlaReferences
Berkes, H. (2006). Challenger: Reporting a Disaster's Cold, Hard Facts. NPR,28 Jan 2006.
Disaster Synopsis.
All these charters that have clearly defined the boundaries of what both the positive i.e. natural rights and negative i.e. The unjust exploitative rights of the people are and how no institution or research domains have the right or power to violate them (Dierkes, Hoffmann and Marz, 1996).
Based on the above fact, we have to consider all the concerns related towards security of an individual as well as his rights, societal principles and considerations, national strategies, the financial system and market of the country as well as the social-educational-traditional structure that might be put in jeopardy due to a scientific research of nanomedicine. Hence we have to carefully consider that the researchers who are investing their time and effort in to the nano-medical research are treated with value while still securing the human rights of the society i.e. awareness of and protection against the hazardous effects of nanoparticles on…...
mlaReferences
Beauchamp TL, Childress JF. (2001). Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press.
Brennan, M. et al. (2002). Communication, Cultural and Media Studies. Routledge. London.
Chambers, T. (1996). From the ethicist's point-of-view: The literary nature of ethical inquiry. Hastings Center Report 26(1): 25-32.
Chang K. (2005). Tiny is beautiful: translating 'nano' into practical. New York Times; p. A1.
.....men and women behind everything from public infrastructure to consumer product design, engineers have a distinct ethical obligation to uphold standards of safety. However, there is more to engineering ethics than the assurance that safety standards are met or exceeded. Engineers also need to ascribe to a policy resonant with corporate social responsibility: working in accordance with global values like environmental conservation and sustainability. Another key component of engineering ethics is related to the globalized nature of the work that engineers do: engineers frequently find themselves working in countries and cultures that are different from their own. The occasional conflicts that arise between local and home values may present unique ethnical conundrums that engineers can overcome with critical thinking and cultural awareness.
Safety
Safety is the most apparent of all ethical obligations place upon engineers throughout their careers. The first provision of the American Society of Civil Engineers, as with other engineering…...
Ethics
Interstate -35 West Mississippi River Bridge
The collapse of the Interstate-35 West Mississippi River Bridge, which is also known as Bridge 9340, was one of the most dramatic cases of structural engineering failure in the history of the United States within the past five years. The abrupt collapse of the eight-lane structure in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 1, 2007, which killed approximately 13 people and injured upwards of over 100 travelers, brought to mind several of the traditional ethical issues of engineering in the workplace as many of the deceased and their loved ones agonized over how such a structural failure could take place. Unfortunately, the bridge had a long history of safety issues dating back to 1990 in which it was determined to be deficient by the federal government. Subsequent reports as recent as 2006 found substantial amounts of cracking and weakening in the girders and approach spans, while the…...
Ethics
Imagine that it's your responsibility to select an ethics officer for your organization. What qualities, background, and experience would you look for? Why? Would you ever be interested in such a position? Why or why not?
An ethics officer plays a significant role for an organization. In the selection of the right ethics officer for my organization, I would have to consider several major factors such as the personal qualities, background and experience. First of all, the ethics officer should posses the following qualities: honesty, truthfulness, integrity, fairness, accuracy, and significance of moral values. These qualities are the basic ingredients that should be searched thoroughly in the ethics officer during the selection process.
The background of the ethics officer should be related to any field such as business, medicine, engineering, sociology, psychology or armed forces, but it should be kept in mind that the ethics officer belongs to a specialized field with…...
mlaReferences
Luthans, F. (2003). Organizational Behavior."Ethics," 2nd Ed, .pp.441-494.
Trevino, L.K. & Nelson, K.A. (2007). Managing Business Ethics -- Straight talk about how to Do it Right -- Fourth Edition John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Copyright 2007 ISBS 0-471-75525-7
The CDM is meant to award the developers 'credits' for supporting projects in developing countries which avoid greenhouse gas emissions (Joy, 2000). Provided that these credits can be bought and sold, effectively the price of the project is decreased. It has been anticipated that this may decrease the price of nuclear plants by as much as 20 or 30 per cent. On the other hand it was decided, after pressure from the EU, that nuclear projects should not be eligible for CDM credits, with opponents to nuclear inclusion arguing that it was not a clean, safe or sustainable option, nor a useful tool for economic development, at the reconvened Conference of Parties to the Kyoto agreement held in Bonn in 2001 (Ferguson, 2010).
Despite the fact that there are some scenarios for a nuclear revitalization in estern countries, this does not appear probable to be on a big level, and…...
mlaWorks Cited
Martin, M.W. And Schinzinger, R. Ethics in Engineering, 2d Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2008.
Brantley, C.J. Survey of Ethics Code Provisions by Subject-Matter Area, American Association of Engineering Societies, Washington, D.C., 2009.
Doyle, Thomas E. The Moral Implications of the Subversion of the Nonproliferation Treaty Regime, Ethics and Global Politics 2, no. 2. 2009.
Ferguson, Charles D. The Long Road to Zero: Overcoming the Obstacles to a Nuclear-Free World, Foreign Affairs 89, no. 1. January/February 2010.
Ethics and Computing in Computer Science
EMPOWERMENT AND RESPONSIILITY
Errors and Hazards and Their Consequences
Despite the best of care and talent, computation is subject to uncertainties, which experts call "errors (Landau, 2008)." Some of these errors are man-made and some are produced by the computer itself. The four classes of errors are blunders or bad theory, random errors, approximation or algorithm errors, and round-off errors. lunders are typographical errors or errors caused by running or using the wrong program or similar errors. Random errors are results of occurrences like fluctuations in electronics or cosmic rays running through the computer. Algorithm or approximation errors include the substitution of finite by infinite figures or variable inputs by constants. And round-off errors are inaccuracies as the finite number of digits for storing floating numbers (Landau). Peter Neumann at the SRI International identified more than 400 incidents of these errors, hazards and other problems, which can…...
mlaBIBLIOGRAPHY
Jacky, J. (1989). Safety-critical computing, hazards, practices, standards and regulation.
Vol. 29, # 5, "Programmed for Disaster: Software Errors that Imperil Lives."
Department of Radiation: University of Washington. Retrieved on March 22, 2014
from http://staff.washington.edu/jon/pubs/safety-critical.html
In 2003, he resigned both posts as news of the twin scandals emerged. The Air Force froze the contract that Druyun had negotiated, precipitating Condit's resignation and retirement.
Condit had joined Boeing in 1965 as an engineer and moved into management in 1973, working on marketing the 727. He completed an MBA at Sloan in 1975 and returned to Boeing, progressing rapidly up the ranks. By 1983, he became VP and General Manager of the 757 division before moving on to other VP posts. In 1996, he moved from President to CEO and a year later was named Chairman.
There is little to indicate that Condit himself was a significant contributor to the governance problems at Boeing. Although he was an engineer by training, he spent much of his time at Boeing in marketing. The hiring manager, Bill Erskine, who had hired Ken Branch in the first place, had just completed…...
mlaWorks Cited:
MSN Moneycentral: Boeing. (2009). Retrieved April 6, 2009 from http://moneycentral.msn.com/companyreport?Symbol=BA
Boeing Form 10-K (December 2008).
Boeing 2002 Annual Report. Retrieved April 6, 2009 from http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/financial/finreports/annual/02annualreport/ci_cg.html
Boeing 2006 Annual Report. Retrieved April 6, 2009 from http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/financial/finreports/annual/06annualreport/assets/Boeing_06AR_00.pdf
The inclusion of deaf persons other than the parents may defuse some of the hostility that they have displayed towards Ms.W. During the meeting, the parents should be given the first opportunity to state their case, with all the reasons for wishing to have a deaf child. I would suggest that Ms.W. bring up the issue of the hearing child by means of questions beginning with phrases such as "Do you think..." Or "How would you feel if..." It is important to open the discussion in a way that will minimize hostility. When Ms.W. feels that the discussion is open and honest, the issue can be discussed at great length and from all angles.
Whatever the conclusion of the discussion, if one is indeed reached, the parents should be allowed time to make a final decision. Furthermore, they need to understand that the final choice is with them. They should…...
d.).
Despite the fact that full body scanners may be the most technologically advanced equipment we could realistically put in an airport, they still have their shortcomings. Full body scanners can't see inside your body. Generally, the machines also can't find items stashed in a body cavity. This means that a determined terrorist could potentially store bomb materials or weapons inside their body, specifically in their anus. Since such a low dose of electromagnetic energy is beamed inside the people who enter the scanners, the images are only skin deep. So just how drug traffickers smuggle drugs inside their bodies, terrorists could do the same but with far more dangerous materials. As America witnessed with the failed shoe bomber, it does not take a great deal of free space to hide materials that could overthrow or take a plane down. For instance, C4 explosive, which is military grade, can be fit…...
mlaReferences
Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.tsa.gov/approach/tech/ait/index.shtm
Brain, M. (2012). How Airport Full-Body Scanners Work -- and the huge national debate around the TSA right now. Retrieved from http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2010/11/17/how-airport-full-body-scanners-work-
and-the-huge-national-debate-that-is-accompanying-them-right-now/
Eaton, K. (2009). Full-Body Scanners at Airports: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
Computer system engineers also have the role of identifying risks within the manufacturing industry in which case they serve as proactive troubleshooters, finding out possible problems and making plans on how to solve evade them. Problems are commonly experienced at interfaces, especially internal, thus to carry out this role the computer systems engineers need to closely scrutinize subsystem-to-subsystem interfaces. While these engineers are trying so hard to design subsystems that will work they also have to keep an eye on each subsystem so that it does not interfere with the others. In order to avoid such problems, computer systems engineers need to posses a wide experience, have relevant and useful knowledge of the domain, and have the interest of learning continuously (Sheared 1996).
Due to the broad viewpoint possessed by computer systems engineers there are is a tendency of companies asking them to coordinate groups and help in the resolution of…...
mlaReference list
Alford, R.S. 1988. Computer systems engineering management, Marcel Dekker Inc., New York.
Harris, E.C. 2009. Engineering ethics: Concepts and cases (4th ed.), Cengage Learning, Canada.
Kossiakoff, A. & Sweet, W.N. 2003. Systems engineering principles and practice, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, New Jersey.
Sheared, S.A. 1996. Twelve systems engineering roles, accessed 18 July 2010
Computer and Web Ethics
The term "computer ethics," as coined by Walter Maner in the 1970s, refers to a field of study that examines "ethical problems aggravated, transformed, or created by computer technology" (Maner, 1980). Maner suggested that persons engaged in computer-related actions should apply traditional ethical frameworks, such as Kantianism and Utilitarianism, to govern their decision-making. While Immanuel Kant's virtue ethics are rooted in respect for all people and an inherent respect for virtuous character traits -- such as kindness, honesty, patience and humility -- Utilitarianism judges the morality of an action according to "the greatest good for the greatest number" rule (Stanford Encyclopedia, 2011).
Similar to Maner's definition, Deborah Johnson, author of Computer Ethics (1985), defined computer ethics as a study of how computers "pose new versions of standard moral problems and moral dilemmas, exacerbating the old problems, and forcing us to apply ordinary moral norms to uncharted realms" (Johnson,…...
mlaReferences
Bynum, T. (2006). "Flourishing Ethics," Ethics and Information Technology, 8(4), 157-173.
Gotterbarn, D. (2001). "Informatics and Professional Responsibility," Science and Engineering Ethics, 7(2), 221-30.
Johnson, D. (1985). Computer Ethics, First Edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; Second Edition, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1994; Third Edition Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 2001.
Maner, W. (1980). Starter Kit in Computer Ethics, Hyde Park, NY: Helvetia Press and the National Information and Resource Center for Teaching Philosophy.
Kenneth K. Humphreys' book, hat Every Engineer should Know about Ethics, is a fairly useful and comprehensive guide to the ethics and ethical codes involved in modern engineering. He begins his book with a chapter entitled "Problem-Solving in Engineering Ethics," and he introduces the reader to the topic by first posing an imagined moral dilemma that could occur in engineering: "The dilemma for our engineer, then, is whether to serve his own and his employers' interests by doing what he is told and, thereby, keep his job or serve the public interest by refusing to participate in the development of a device that will help enable activities that are a threat to public safety." (Humphreys, 2). Obviously, the point of this opening chapter is to illustrate the fact that engineers sometimes need to make important ethical decisions and that if they are not equipped with the right tools to make…...
mlaWork Cited:
1. Humphreys, Kenneth K. What Every Engineer should Know about Ethics. New York: Marcel Dekker, 1999.
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