Ethical decision making in technology development: a case study of participation in a large-scale information systems development project

Advanced systems engineering has traditionally paid little attention to ethical concerns relative to other technical and non-technical issues. This is particularly evident in systems analysis, design, and development methodologies. This paper asks if it is possible that the lack of emphasis upon ethical considerations in development methodologies can result in the failure of advanced technology development projects? In order to explore this contention, the paper sets out the findings of a case study of a large-scale advanced technology project in a multinational engineering company involving the implementation of an enterprise resource planning system. The research examined the extent to which ethical issues emerged in the project and assesses the impact of ethical considerations upon the technology development process and its outcomes. Evidence is presented which shows how ethical concerns clearly impacted upon the outcome of the project, supporting the contention that ethics was a success factor in the case presented. However, it was also clear that the kinds of ethical considerations that emerged were highly complex, and associated with an “ethics of care”. The findings suggested that researchers should examine the potential of an “ethics of care” as a way of complimenting the “ethics of rights” currently dominant within engineering ethics.     

An efficient crest factor reduction technique for wideband applications

This paper describes a new efficient crest factor reduction technique for wideband applications. The technique is based on using peak cancellation to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of the input signal. Conventional iterative peak cancellation requires several iterations so as to converge into the targeted PAPR, since filtering causes peak re-growth. The proposed algorithm is able to eliminate several iterations, which subsequently saves hardware resources. In numerical simulations using four WCDMA carriers, it achieves a PAPR of 5.7 dB with a fixed EVM of 10%. A 240 W PEP Class AB power amplifier was utilized to verify the performance of the proposed technique and demonstrate the efficiency gains. The measured results demonstrate that this algorithm can enhance the efficiency of our PA by up to 6.6%, when compared to the efficiency without the PAPR technique.     

GaAs monolithic analogue frequency halver

A new 12 GHz GaAs monolithic analogue frequency halver is presented. The circuit uses two FETs to parametrically produce the subharmonic output frequency. A bandwidth of 650 MHz was obtained for an input power level of 14 dBm. The typical conversion loss was 9 dB.     

Applying mixed reality to entertainment

The lack of compelling content has relegated many promising entertainment technologies to laboratory curiosities. Although mixed-reality techniques show great potential, the entertainment business is not about technology. To penetrate these huge markets, MR technology must become transparent for the content to have full effect. To achieve this goal, we have devised a framework that lets us integrate concepts from disparate areas such as theme parks, theater, and film into a comprehensive research methodology. We believe that our framework, which has already helped us create content for MR entertainment systems, can provide these benefits to other developers as well.     

Core Self-Evaluations and Job Burnout: The Test of Alternative Models.

Research on job burnout has traditionally focused on contextual antecedent conditions, although a theoretically appropriate conception implicates person-environment relationships. The authors tested several models featuring various combinations of personal and contextual influences on burnout and job satisfaction. Measures of core self-evaluations, organizational constraints, burnout, and job satisfaction were collected from 859 health care employees. Results from structural equations modeling analyses revealed an influence of core self-evaluations and perceived organizational constraints on job burnout and satisfaction, suggesting personal and contextual contributions. These results favor a broadening of current thinking about the impact of situational constraints on the expression of job burnout, as well as for the role of disposition for affective responding to effectively address occupational health problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)