Environmental ethics for engineers

In the past engineers have generally sought and implemented technical solutions to problems posed by other people and not considered ethical issues related to the environmental and social impacts of solving these problems. Engineering ethics has largely been concerned with professionalism and responsibility for technical competence rather than wider social and environmental issues. This article considers the role and relevance of environmental ethics for engineers, criteria that a code or other system of environmental ethics should meet and how best the engineering profession can be encouraged to adopt environmental ethics     

Using Academic Integrity to Teach Engineering Ethics

Ethics can be taught by using case studies to which students can relate. Since all students appreciate and understand problems of academic dishonesty, the nature of ethical problems in academics can be used to illustrate ethical problems encountered in professional engineering. If students can be sensitized to the value of ethical behavior while in school, they will carry this understanding over to their profession. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that academic integrity can be used to introduce the basic concepts of professional engineering ethics. A videotape and instructor's manual using this pedagogical technique is described.     

Ethics and the Development of Professional Identities of Engineering Students

How do undergraduate students in engineering conceive of themselves as professionals? How can a course on engineering ethics affect the development of an undergraduate student's professional identity? In this project, students responded to questions about the characteristics and responsibilities of professional engineers. The results indicate that students learn about professionalism primarily from relatives and co‐workers who are engineers, and rarely from technical engineering courses. Even before they study engineering ethics, students put honesty and integrity on par with technical competence as an essential characteristic of engineers. In the course, students benefit from cases of actual incidents and from classroom activities that encourage diverse perspectives on moral problems. By analyzing cases in groups and by hearing different perspectives, students build self‐confidence in moral reasoning. By the end of the course, some students understand professional responsibility not only as liability for blame but in a capacious sense as stewardship for society.     

Experiences of First‐Year Engineering Students Working on Ill‐Structured Problems in Teams

Background

As engineers solve problems that are ill‐structured and require collaboration, a common goal of engineering programs is to develop students' competencies for solving such problems in teams, often using cornerstone design experiences.

Purpose

With the goal of designing effective learning environments, this study identifies qualitatively different ways that engineering students experienced ill‐structured problems while working in teams.

Design/Method

This phenomenographic study employs interview data from 27 first‐year engineering students. Iterative data analysis resulted in categories of student experiences and their logical relationships.

Results

Seven categories describing collaborative, ill‐structured problem‐solving experiences emerged: completion, transition, iteration, organization, collaboration, reasoning, and growth. These categories are organized in an outcome space along dimensions we call reaction to ambiguity and use of multiple perspectives that can be used to frame students' perspectives from less comprehensive to more comprehensive.

Conclusions

First‐year engineering students experience team‐based, ill‐structured problem solving in a variety of ways. The resulting outcome space is of practical use to educators who teach courses involving collaborative, ill‐structured problem solving.     

超文本可用性的两种实用评价方法

超文本可用性涉及到多种因素，可从不同的角度进行评价。文章概述了国外在这方面的研究进展，简要介绍了目前较常用的几种评价超文本可用性的方法，并对其优点与局限性进行了评价。     

Experiences in Discussing Ethics with Undergraduate Engineers

In this paper, we describe a successful framework for discussing ethical issues with undergraduate students. Our approach is based on the idea that academic integrity is a prerequisite for professional ethics. Key features of our approach include a reliance on student-to-student interactions in a small-group environment and a focus on academic integrity. We have tested our approach on our entering students using group leaders who are juniors and seniors. We have found a large (and increasing) number of students who have a heightened awareness of ethical issues and an interest in improving the awareness of their peers. We believe the model can be applied successfully to other institutions.     

A Hopfield Neural Network Approach to the Dual Response Problem

The application of neural networks to optimization problems has been an active research area since the early 1980s. Unconstrained optimization, constrained optimization and combinatorial optimization problems have been solved using neural networks. This study presents a new approach using Hopfield neural networks (HNNs) for solving the dual response system (DRS) problems. The major aim of the proposed method is to produce a string of solutions, rather than a ‘one‐shot’ optimum solution, to make the trade‐offs available between the mean and standard deviation responses. This gives more flexibility to the decision‐maker in exploring alternative solutions. The proposed method has been tested on two examples. The HNN results are very close to those obtained by using the NIMBUS (Nondifferentiable Interactive Multiobjective Bundle‐based Optimization System) algorithm. Choosing an appropriate solution method for a certain multi‐objective optimization problem is not easy, as has been made abundantly clear. Unlike the NIMBUS method, the HNN approach does not set any specific assumptions on the behaviour or the preference structure of the decision maker. As a result, the proposed method will still work and generate alternative solutions whether or not the decision maker has enough time and capabilities for co‐operation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Teaching engineering design: Can reading a textbook make a difference?

Teaching design is an integral part of most engineering curricula. Often, students are introduced to the engineering design process through a chapter in a textbook. Does this passive approach to teaching an active process aid the students' learning? An experiment was conducted to assess what students learn about the design process when they read a text. Here, 10 students enrolled in a freshman course were asked to read aloud from a freshmen engineering textbook. Half of the subjects read the text prior to solving three open-ended engineering design problems and the other half solved the same problems before they read the text. Both the subjects' process in solving the problems, as well as the quality of their solutions (the product), are assessed. Results show that subjects that read the text before they solved the three problems spent significantly more time solving the problems and were more sophisticated in their problem solving strategies. These subjects also scored better when judged on the quality of their approach to the problem (including the number of design criteria considered, communications, assumptions, and technical accuracy). However, these subjects did not score better on a quality measure of the final solution.     

An alternative approach for numerical solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations

Conventional approaches for solving the Navier–Stokes equations of incompressible fluid dynamics are the primitive‐variable approach and the vorticity–velocity approach. In this paper, an alternative approach is presented. In this approach, pressure and one of the velocity components are eliminated from the governing equations. The result is one higher‐order partial differential equation with one unknown for two‐dimensional problems or two higher‐order partial differential equations with two unknowns for three‐dimensional problems. A meshless collocation method based on radial basis functions for solving the Navier–Stokes equations using this approach is presented. The proposed method is used to solve a two‐ and a three‐dimensional test problem of which exact solutions are known. It is found that, with appropriate values of the method parameters, solutions of satisfactory accuracy can be obtained. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Ethics Instruction in Engineering Education: A (Mini) Meta‐Analysis

What are the objectives of engineering ethics? How is it being taught and how might instruction be more effective? The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) annual conference proceedings (1996–1999) contain 42 papers that treat engineering ethics as a coherent educational objective. Some of these papers disclose small components that seem to be part of a larger ethics curriculum. Other papers discuss engineering courses that are clearly the department's major ethics commitment. While it would be inappropriate to assume that the 42 papers represent the only means by which engineering students receive ethics instruction, these papers do present a variety of more‐or‐less defensible approaches and certainly the major intentional approaches of engineering curricula. This paper will develop an analysis of the 42 articles, including a discussion of where ethics is being taught (from both a chronological, and disciplinary perspective), and the six pedagogical approaches used to transfer an understanding of ethics to the student. These approaches include professional codes, humanist readings, theoretical grounding, ethical heuristics, case studies, and service learning. These six approaches will also be analyzed in terms of their promise to develop the ethical competencies needed by engineers.     

基于设计伦理理念的公共服务设施探析

目的从设计伦理学的角度对公共服务设施设计艺术进行研究。方法以设计伦理为基础,针对当前市场经济主导下的社会发展中出现的、在公共服务设施设计中存在的伦理问题,展开产品设计与伦理观念的矛盾研究,运用一定的伦理学观念与发展规律,研究公共服务设施设计艺术与伦理之间的辩证关系,并通过伦理标尺和道德砝码来衡量和评价公共服务设施的设计成果。结论从伦理学角度来对公共服务设施设计艺术进行重新审视,用伦理道德来规范和引导人的行为,将伦理问题作为设计的限制因素来制约影响设计艺术,从而引导产品设计者,肩负起社会责任,遵循伦理道德标准,站在以人为本的立场,树立人性化设计理念,使公共服务设施的产品设计达到人与自然、环境、资源利用的和谐统一。     

Development of a Work Sampling Methodology for Behavioral Observations: Application to Teamwork

Engineering programs must assess students' abilities to master “criteria 3 a‐k.” Skills such as teamwork, problem solving, design, and ethical understanding entail learning various processes; hence, assessing these outcomes is better accomplished by focusing on the process rather than the result. Methods for observing students' performance, such as 100 percent behavioral observation, are ideal but expensive. We extend work sampling, an economic industry‐based alternative, to observe cognitive and behavioral processes. Specifically, we describe a work sampling methodology to assess students engaged in teamwork. We then determine attributes of teamwork, establish target time proportions using 100 percent observation, and statistically compare the targets to proportions obtained from work sampling intervals to determine the effective interval. The robustness of work sampling is tested in four learning environments. Results indicate that sampling provides a statistically valid alternative for assessing teamwork. However, when observing design and ethical understanding processes, additional research is needed to make work sampling viable.     

国潮风包装融合朱子人格美学思想的伦理设计研究

目的 在构建良好人文环境和塑造商业伦理精神的设计视域下,尝试从中国哲学美学范畴中探寻能体现中华民族气质与精神的包装设计依据与策略。方法 首先,分析目前国潮风包装设计存在的文化问题;其次,从社会与经济层面多角度论证国潮风包装设计融合朱子人格美学思想的现实意义;再次,采用古为今用的方法,提出该融合的伦理设计之具体策略。结论 国潮风包装融合朱子人格美学思想的伦理设计,不仅能有效解决国潮风包装设计形式大过内容、文化内涵不足与人文关怀不够等现存问题,还能体现大环境对传统美德的回归应求,消费者对民族情感的审美需求,企业方对产品包装的文化诉求,以及设计师对中国原创的素养追求,并且可通过愉悦引善、鼓舞激善、操作储善、多样完善等策略实现。     

Using Hypertext Metrics to Measure Research Output Levels

Two common ways to measure the "output" of a researcher (or research group) are to count numbers of publications and to count the citations (references to these publications in publications of others). These simple methods are flawed because they cannot easily take into account the differences in publication and citation habits in different scientific communities.An alternative approach is to view citations as hypertext links, and to use or adapt hypertext metrics to compare the scientific output of researchers, in comparison to that of others in areas with similar publication and citation patterns. We show how hypertext metrics, introduced by Botafogo, Rivlin and Shneiderman, can be modified in order to identify comparable research fields based on their publication and citation pattern. An author's performance can then be compared to that of others in research fields with a similar pattern.     

Human genetic engineering

The author addresses the new ethical and conceptual uncertainties posed by the application of gene-splicing techniques to human beings, an application of technology that raises complex ethical and social public policy issues. The author reviews the advances in the medical uses of gene-splicing, and addresses their consequences on (1) human genetic makeup; (2) intergenerational responsibilities; (3) the distribution of social benefits; and (4) the conception of what a person is. He describes the first two effects as posing new ethical uncertainties by being able to change the human gene pool, and with that change affect people's links to-and responsibilities for-their progeny. The latter two raise new questions of conceptual uncertainty concerning how these technologies will be distributed and to whom, and the resulting social and public consequences that arise from the potentially profound genetic changes possible to the individual. The author concludes by noting the need for circumspection to avoid the unfavorable effects of successes with this technology, which can be done, he notes, by using those goals and values that constitute the ethics and practice of medicine, namely, the application of science and art to human needs.     

A Capital Budgeting Heuristic Algorithm Using Exchange Operations

A heuristic algorithm for solving capital budgeting problems is described. The algorithm proceeds from an initial solution, obtained with the use of ranking procedures, and progressively improves the solution through exchange operations. Computational experience in solving a set of 30-variable, 5-constraint problems is described and the approach to optimal values with increasing computation time is shown. The results show considerable time advantage over 0-1 implicit enumeration techniques. In only two of twenty-eight problems were the solutions nonoptimal, and in these two cases the objective function values for the heuristic solutions were within 0.5 percent of those for the optimal solutions. A brief investigation was conducted on larger problems (60 variables, 5 constraints); the time advantage is even greater on problems of that size. Details of the problems and their optimal solutions are available to interested readers upon request to the author.     

Ethics,society, and technology: A Confucian role ethics perspective

This essay provides a very brief overview of Confucian ethics that focuses on the role-based morality. It compares Confucian ethics with two dominant schools of thought in Western ethics deontology and consequentialism. This essay then discusses how Confucian ethics provides a unique way to think about social and political issues such as how the political leaders are selected and evaluated, the ethical justification of political legitimacy, the prioritization of economic, social, and cultural rights over other rights, and moral egalitarianism. Finally, this essay explores the ways in which Confucian ethics serves as a useful intellectual resource for examining the issues arising from the ethical assessment of (emerging) technologies and the professional formation of engineers. The Appendix of this essay includes some teaching resources that instructors can employ to teach students about ethics, society, and technology from a Confucian role ethics perspective.     

Optimal Scheduling of Casting Sequence Using Genetic Algorithms

Scheduling a casting sequence involving a number of orders with different casting weights and satisfying due dates of is an important optimization problem often encountered in foundries. In this article, we attempt to solve this complex, multi-variable, and multi-constraint optimization problem by using different implementations of genetic algorithms (GAs). In comparison with a mixed-integer linear programming solver, GAs with problem-specific operators are found to provide faster (with a subquadratic computational time complexity) and more reliable solutions to very large (more than 1 million integer variables) casting sequence optimization problems. In addition to solving the particular problem, the study demonstrates how problem-specific information can be introduced in a GA for solving complex real-world problems.     

Softlifting and piracy: behavior across cultures

As the use of information technology spreads throughout the world, as software becomes more complex and its cost increases, and as the ease with which software can be copied increases, ethical and financial risks also increase. Software ethics have received considerable attention in the literature, but most studies focus on a few variables or are ethnocentric. Some studies focus on several countries, but little of this research uses primary data, nor does it compare softlifting and piracy, and it makes no attempt to uncover why these activities take place. This study focuses on the attitudes of students in four countries: the United States, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Pakistan. Respondents were asked to evaluate nine ethical scenarios of increasing consequence. An analysis of the data produced three significant findings: software ethics are country-dependent; softlifting and piracy are distinct ethical problems; and Hofstede's cultural dimensions suggest a relationship between one of the four dimensions and softlifting, and between three of the four dimensions and piracy.