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Ethical Issues in Engineering Practice

Regardless of the goal (i.e. either protecting human health or protecting the overall health of the biosphere for its own sake), there are multiple approaches that can be taken to resolving environmental problems.

General

Question

Applications of Autonomous computers .....

* For example: by the 1980s. Computers were widely used to automate trading on the major U.S stock exchanges. Some brokerages and institutional invertors utilized computers that were programmed to sell stocks automatically under certain condition, among them when prices drop sharply

N-RAY CASE *

X-Rays were discovered in the 19th Century , at that time Scientifics focused their attention in discovering similar types of rays.

Such searches was joined by a French physics *Rene blondlot, his case was discussed in an article published in 1980 by American Scientific (Klotz) at the University of Nancy

* Cold fusion : term for any nuclear fusion reaction that occurs substantially below normal temperatures, but is most often used to describe a low-temperature reaction that can be achieved using relatively normal experimental conditions

-One of biggest impediments to the successful completion of a research or experimental project is simply self deception.

-Self deception in research is a frequent occurrence in many areas of science and has lead to some notorious cases throughout history.

-Irving Langmuir a well-known physicist working at General Electric Research Laboratories coined a term for this phenomenon “ pathological science”

Making false claims about the results of experiments is certainly a form of dishonesty.

Pathological

Science

We should seek to enhance virtues such as honesty within ourselves and others, so virtue ethics clearly tells us that the inaccurate reporting of experimental results is unethical.

Likewise, not giving credit to everyone who has participated in a project is dishonest, and virtue ethics indicates that this practice is unacceptable.

PATHOLOGICAL

SCINCE

He proposed the following six characteristics of pathological science

The term “Pathological Science” doesn’t imply any intentional dishonesty. but only that the researcher comes to false conclusions based on a lack of understanding about how easy it is to trick yourself through wishful thinking and subjectivity.

1-The maximum effect is produced by a causative agent .

2-The effect is of a magnitude that remains close to the limit of detectability.

3-Claims of great accuracy.

4-Fantastic theories contrary to experience.

5- Criticisms are met by ad hoc excuses thought up on the spur of the moment.

6-Ratio of supporters to critics rises up to somewhere near 50% & then falls to oblivion

Several ethical theories can be used to analyze issues involving research. Utilitarianism or rights and duty ethics can be applied to research, but it is perhaps easiest to examine research issues using virtue ethics.

This shows that a great deal of objectivity and care in the pursuit of research or testing is required. Drawing conclusions on very subtle effects is very tricky, and these conclusions should he confirmed by as many colleagues as possible. Ultimately, the goal of research is not publicity and fame, but rather the discovery of new knowledge.

One of the virtues is honesty. Honesty facilitates trust and good relations between individuals, whereas dishonesty leads to doubts and misgivings about others.

People rarely want to associate with those who they feel don’t behave fairly and can’t be trusted.

E

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A

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P

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How can ethical issues relating to research best be analyzed?

The easiest means to determine the best ethical course in performing research and experiment is to consult the codes of ethics of the engineering professional societies.

The code of the American Institute of Chemical Engineeers

Sequence of Discovery

Analyzing Ethical Problems in Research

Spark Gap was the use apparatus for detecting the rays consist of two close electrodes which develop a spark in air hence it result a large electric potential . This formed electromagnetic radiation (x-ray) increased the ionization in the gap increasing the current flow hence the brightness of the spark which used to measure the intensity of the radiation in the Gap.

IS N-RAY REAL OR NOT ???

** Way to the new rays discovery

Establishing measuring environment is major to detect changes in brightness .Professor Blodlot worked to discover if x-rays were a wave or particle by determining if they could be polarized as visible light can be. He used in this a Spark Gap and same instrument used by Roentgen to discover X-rays. Initially he discovered that Spark gap become brighter when rotated to a certain angle with respect to the discharge tube

* Blondlot responded to the criticism and continued presenting of more controlled experiments, he even published a” Set of instructions for observing the phenomenon .”

* For example, the instructions stated that :

“ The observer had to avoid gazing directly at the spark gap & look obliquely , remain silent , avoid smoke, look at the detector in the “way an impressionist painter would view a landscape“

* Acquisition of this ability required a great deal of practice in other words “” the key to the measurement was the sensitivity of the observer rather than the validity of the phenomena “”.

* As more research performed it became clear even to the French that there Were No N-Rays!!!.

**Result of several experiment

Followed experiments found that the radiation affecting the spark gap could be bent by a quartz prism and as X-rays already shown unaffected by lenses and prisms, that lead him to find that he has discovered a new form of radiation that he called N-RAYS on behalf of University of Nancy.

Honesty in reporting the results

Results must also be accurately reported. Once an experiment or test has been performed, the results of the experiment must not be overstated, but rather an accurate assessment and interpretation of the data must be given.

The N- RAY

Spreading N-Rays:

The environment that most researchers work in fosters temptations and rewards for overstating research results.

Academic researchers must publish significant research results in order to get tenure at their universities.

Even for researchers in industrial environments or faculty who are already tenured, the quest for fame or the desire to be the first with new results can be overwhelming and can lead to falsification of data

Wood also observed a different experiment designed to spread the N-Rays into a spectrum .

the dispersion of it was accomplished using an aluminum prism and was observed using a thin phosphor strip painted onto a cardboard screen , he was unable to observe the variations in intensity from the phosphor that the French team claimed to see.

Indeed, when wood surreptitiously removed the prism from the apparatus the researchers still claimed to see the effect!! He was convinced after this incident that there were no N-Rays and that the researchers had deluded themselves

* The reports of the new ray set off a flurry of activity in other labs and blondlot continued to study the phenomenon. Many discovers were made :

1. materials transmitted them ( metals, wood, mica) others not (water, rock salt)

2. Natural sources of N-Rays.

* There was doubt about blondlot’s findings many French scientists & lord Kelvin in England has been unable to produce the same result.

* P.J.W.Wood of johns Hopkins university was also unable to reproduce the result & traveled to Nancy to observe the experiments firsthand.

* In a published paper in Nature he said :’’ his eyes weren’t sensitive enough he exchanged positions with the French researchers and placed his hand in the path , the research team incorrectly reported wheather his hand was in or out of the beam as they claimed to see the changes in intensity. Wood reported that there was no correlation between the position of his hand and their repots of intensity

Often, the pressure to get a new product to market leads the test engineer to “fudge” data to qualify the product.

It is important to note the distinction between intentional deception and results or interpretations that are simply incorrect.

It is also important to ensure that proper credit is given to everyone who participated in a research project.

Rarely is research performed by a single investigator working alone in her laborator

Generally, there is participation by other people. who should be acknowledged for their contributions such as discussions or guidance, construction of experimental apparatus. or substantial help with performing experiments or interpreting data.

ETHICS & RESEARCH

Use of Autonomous Computers in Manufacturing process.

It is tempting to think that fraud and deception in research are rare and only perpetrated by lower level scientists, but this perception is decidedly untrue.

There are many examples of well-known and even Nobel prize—winning scientists who have had lapses of ethical judgment with respect to their research.

For example. Robert Millikan was a physicist from the University of Chicago who won the 1923 Nobel Prize in physics for experiments that measured the electrical charge of the electron.

Automation of Trading on most U.S Stock Exchange

This scenario actually occurred on October 19. 1987 when the Dow Jones industrial Average ( a widely used market- price indicator) dropped by 508 points a 22.6% drop in the overall value of the market. Interestingly. During the famous October 1929 stock market crash that launched the great Depression, the percent drop in overall market value was only half of this amount. The 1987 crash was widely attributed to automated computer trading. Federal regulations have since been implemented to help prevent a recurrence of this problem.

Other ethical concerns arise because of the increasingly autonomous nature of computers.

Autonomy is the ability of a computer to make decisions without the intervention of humans

Autonomy computers with military weapons

2001: A Space Odyssey. by Arther C.Clarke, in which an autonomous computer responsible for running a spaceship headed for Jupiter begins to turn against the humans it was desired to work for

Many weapons systems rely heavily on computer sensors and computer controls

* Due to the speed with which events can happen on a modern battlefield, it would seem valuable to have weapons that can operate autonomously

* weapons systems operating without human intervention can suffer from the instability problems described with regard to the financial markets .

* For example: malfunctioning sensor might lead a computer to think that an enemy has increased its military activity in a certain area, this would lead to an increase readiness on our part, followed by increased activity by the enemy.

* This unstable situation could lead to conflict and the loss of life when really there was nothing happening

Computer Autonomuos

Honesty in approaching

the research problem

This relates to a state of mind essential to successfully performing research.

This state of mind includes avoiding preconceived notions about what the results will be, being open to changing the hypothesis when such action is warranted by the evidence, and generally ensuring that an objective frame of mind is maintained

"The best way is to keep it a Trade secret"

One of the most important assets a high-technology company can have is its intellectual property

* intellectual property protection scheme has been slowly developing 

* federal patent law has changed to allow software to be patented, but in order to gain this protection, a software developer must divulge the code.

*The best way to protect intellectual property is to keep it a trade secret.

Intellectual Property protection scheme has been slowley developing.

1. At first, Software couldn't be patented, and it was unclar wether it could recieved a copyright either.

2. Fedral patent law has changed to allow software to be patented.

Avanti

corp. vs. Cadence

design system

At the end five of the defendants faced jail time, one up to six years. All received various fines, some in the millions of dollars. In a separate civil case, Cadence sought hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation from Avanti for the use of cadence`s intellectual property.

Computer as an Engineering Tool

Guidelines for getting a design without any flaws:

There are Two Unique Uses of computers for Engineers:

1. Computer Design Tools

2. Integration of computers into engineered systems

COMPUTER

ETHICS

Problems associated with the cost—benefit

approach

1.Engineers must make sure that the software being used is appropriate with the problem being worked on.

2. Engineers must keep the software up to date, and make sure that it’s the most recent version.

3.Engineers must sit down to review his output (design) to see if it makes sense and gives the right answer.

UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR

An implicit assumption that cost is an important issue

Computer can be used to more efficiently steal money from a bank

Decide how engineering

practice is impacted by computer technology

Objectives

** Engineers invent the future and their

work affect the lives of millions

of people, for better or worse,

That raises enormous ethical issues in

Every branch of engineering…….

Determine what ethical issues arise

in engineering practice with regard

to the environment.

Learn about ethical issues

that arise in the course

of research

ENVIRONMENTAL

ETHICS

CASE STUDIES

It is difficult to accurately assess costs and benefits,and much guesswork must go into these calculations.

ETHICS & RESEARCH

Out lines .....

Analyzing Ethical Problems

In Research

Pathological Science

There are two major ethical issues related to research:

1.Honesty in approaching the research Problem.

2.Honesty in reporting the results

COMPUTER ETHICS

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

Computers have rapidly become a ubiquitous tool in engineering and business.

There are ways in which computers have brought benefits to society. Unfortunately, there are also numerous ways in which computers have been misused, leading to serious ethical issues

In 20th century many environmental movements or organizations has a sought to control the introduction toxic and unnatural substances to environment.

Computers as a tool for unethical Behavior

Engineers responsibility

Computers as an engineering tool

1- Find solution for problems appear

2- Use their knowledge and skills to help in environmental protection

There two categories of computer ethics problems:

The responsibility of engineers appears through focusing on:

Sustainable design :

such as green engineering which means design will not harm the environment and quality of life can be better and ensured .

computer use relate to unauthorized use of information stored on computer databases and thus related to issues of confidentiality** The engineer roles as designer ,manager ,and user of computers bring with tresponsibility to he help foster the ethical use of computer

Fundamental to discussing ethical issues in environmentalism is a determination of the moral standing of the environment. Our Western ethical tradition is an anthropocentric. meaning that only human beings have moral standing.

The city of Albuquerque vs. Isleta pueblo water case.

Albuquerque, New Mexico located on the Rio Grande River bounded with Indian pueblo which considered as state governments able to self-regulate and are subject to federal laws.

Case content...

The main concern of Isleta related to this case is the dangerous concentration of Arsenic in water, although the Albuquerque sewage treatment plant added water to the river complies the environment protection agency regulations, including the concentration of Arsenic, that doesn’t make it drinking water quality. Actions taken by Isleta toward the Case:Isleta pueblo tried to enforce a stricter standards on the discharged water by Albuquerque using their sovereign situation that makes the water able to be used directly from the river and this involve doubling the strict standards on Arsenic concentration that EPA regulations permit- From the right of Indian reservations given by federal laws to set their own pollution standards EPA has sided with Isleta case.- The Albuquerque argued the EPA claiming that those standards are very strict and unnecessary as the Arsenic Concentration in discharged water is lower than what actually exist in the river upstream. - They also claimed that cost of matching those standards is a violation of prohibition of government-established religion

During religious Ceremonies the Isleta pueblo use the water of the river for drinking but recently this activity became impossible due to many reasons which can be summarized as follows:

1.Runoff entering the river

2.Storm runoff which directly put into the river

3.Treated sewer effluent entering the river by Albuquerque

4.Similar effluents discharged into the river by. other Municipalities

Do we belong to nature, or does nature belong to us? ??,, If animals can suffer and feel pain like humans, should they have moral standing???? If animals have moral standing, how far does this moral standing then extend to other life forms, such as trees?

Results of Investigation

After all the university found that :

1. Intentional spiking couldn’t be ruled out .

2. More probable the results were due to inadvertent contamination or other

unexplained problems with measurement

* It was found lapses in proper scientific procedure caused by the excitement surrounding the study of a new discovery that was receiving media attention. These lapses included categorizing experiments supported the hypothesis of cold fusion as “ successful "and those that didn’t support as “ failures

The Mechanism Of Action:

Many scientist began setting the cells like : John Bockris at The same university , John and his group built same cells in 22/4/1989 they noticed surprising results(Nigel packham) removed samples of 3 cells and took them to another campus he found two of the samples were hot containing 10 tritium atoms/ml more work was done by Kevin Wolf (nuclear chemist) done with control for conditions but no neutrons were found

Packham second experiment

The response

** Packham performed an experiment where

electrolyte samples were taken at 4 intervals

Trillion atoms were increasing rapidly it was

found that someone was spiking the sample

with tritium the middle of the experiment

Bockris and his team couldn’t prove that there was no spiking with tritium and the bottle of triturated water wasn’t locked up or thrown away . Martin took precaution of taking cells to home to ensure it wouldn't be sabotaged Martin cells showed NO sign of tritium .

* IN Late September, 2 cells turned up with tritium it coincided with visit from Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) this incident and the visit brought more suspicion to tritium results .

* 27/11/1989 Packham tested 2 cells they proved to be hot but Bockris dismissed these claims after being told , the university had taken a hands-off approach there had been investigations about Bockris and the anomalous results .

* university allowed the situation to continue in 6/1990 Gary Taubes published an article about it in Science. But the negative publicity prompted an interval investigation by university .

The case of cold fusion at Texas A&M university

Palladium immersed in heavy water (water with hydrogen atoms replaced by deuterium isotope) electric current runs through them ..it gives excess heat due to:1- the break down of heavy water to electrolysis

diffusion of deuterium to palladium “ it was thought that deuterium get to density to release the excess heat.”

Their results were doubtful from scientists in the same field this doubt led to re-doing the experiment

In a press conference on the 23rd of March, 1989, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, two scientists working in relative isolation at the University of Utah, with comparatively simple equipment, announced the discovery of the holy grail of energy researchers: an apparently limitless, pollution free source of power. Otherwise known as “Cold Nuclear Fusion

INTRODUCTION

Between June of 1985 and January of 1987 at least six patients receiving treatment using the Therac-25 (a radiation therapy machine capable of irradiating tumors with either electrons or X-rays ) were exposed to high doses of radiation, leading to serious injury or death.

Engineers frequently use computers and software in performing design and analysis.

Computers don’t really create new ethical issues in engineering practice. However, computers do create news ways in which ethical issues confront engineers.

In this chapter, we will look at the special ethical challenges that computers present to engineering professionals.

The use of radiation for treating cancer is a well-established medical tool and The Therac-25 was one of these machines and was based on earlier models produced by the same company

THANK YOU

DONE BY US

Based on Jim Harvey's speech structures

It doesn’t necessarily take into account who shoulders the costs and who gets the benefits

An engineer should not be compelled by his employer to work on a project that he finds ethically troubling, including projects with severe environmental impacts

ENVIRONMENTAL

PROBLEMS

APPROACHES

Engineers must follow the applicable federal state & have a responsibility to ensure that their work is conducted in the most environmentally safe manner possible.

Cost -oblivious approach

The cost not important but making environment clean as possible . But problems appear to this They are :

- Difficult to uphold

- Difficult to enforce -

And the definition of *as clean as * is hard to agree on .

Cost- benefit analysis

This derived from utilitarianism , that means analysis of problem according to the benefits of reducing pollution and improvement of human-health . And costs required to solve the problem

Doesn’t necessarily take morality

or ethics into account .

Computer as a Tool for Unethical Behavior

what are the responsibilities of the engineers to the environment?

Privacy

Engineer should seek the counsel of others such as biologists, public health experts and physicians, To understand the possible environmental consequences of a project

Copyright Infringement

An engineer should not make decisions in areas in which he isn’t competent

It’s the basic right of individual to control access to and use of information about himself.

Hacking

forms of hacking

1.Copyright gives the creator the exclusive right to profit from his/her creation.

2.The protection of copyright have become increasingly difficult, because computers have made copyright violations easy and hard to detect, still its illegal and unethical.

3.Copying music or software without permission of the owner of the copyright is illegal and unethical.

Why is privacy an ethical issue?

How do computers increase theproblems with privacy protection?

1.Gaining unauthorized access to a database.

2.Implanting false information in a database.

3.Spreading Viruses over the Internet.

The computerization of data (medical, research records) have made the retrieval of files much easier but on the other hand it made the unauthorized use of these files more easier.

1.The leaking of private information can lead to an individual’s being harassed or blackmailed.

2.Personal information can also be

considered as personal property, so any

unauthorized use of this information is theft.

Ethical issues that arise when computers are used

Computer Design Tools

Definition ...

Computer Codes of Ethics was developed by many organizations to aid with decision making regarding Ethical issues that might arise.

The purpose ...

The purposes of ethical codes and the way in which codes of ethics function are equally true for codes related to computer use. But should not used as a substitute for sound moral reasoning and judgment they do

There numerous software packages for the design of engineered devices and structures.

These softwares are designed to aid in the process of testing engineered devices and structures by performing tests, record data, and presenting it for analysis.

These all serve to allow an engineer to work more efficiently. However this type of software also leads to ethical issues.

Integration of computers into engineered systems

Computers have also become a component of many engineered systems so they can operate more efficiently and safely.

(Example: Modern Automobiles that contain multiple computers)

However the ability to control aspects of system performance using software removes humans from the control.

** Who is responsible when a flaw in software used to design a bridge leads to the failure of the bridge???Who is responsible for the fault, the software or the engineer????

- Software could never be a substitute for good engineering judgment. The engineer who uses software in the design process is still responsible for the design he made

Its essential that when designing systems with embedded computers and software that engineers ensure the following:

1.Software is properly tested.

2.Humans can intervene when necessary.

3.Safety systems have enough hardware redundancy without relying solely on software to ensure the safe operation of the system

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