Epos – an instrument for the assessment of the ethical position in software development

Digital technology becomes more powerful, intelligent, pervasive and ubiquitous. Ethical aspects of this development have not yet drawn the appropriate attention of researchers and engineers. This paper presents an instrument that aims at measuring the individual ethical position with regard to the design and development of computer software. The development of the Epos tool was based on two data collections. The data of the first survey (n₁ = 147 participants) were used to select items and to determine the factorial structure of the questionnaire. Results show that the Epos instrument reliably assesses peoples’ ethical opinion with respect to five central components: (1) regulation, (2) data privacy, (3) domain specific knowledge, (4) societal responsibility and (5) company responsibility. In the second survey, we determined the stability of the instruments factor structure by assessing a sample of n₂?=?196 participants. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the initial factor structure. Next steps and further implications are discussed regarding the final version of the questionnaire.     

A study of three techniques used in the diffraction analysis ofshaped dual-reflector antennas

An examination is presented of three techniques used for the efficient computation of fields diffracted by a subreflector that has been shaped by geometrical optics synthesis. It is found that these techniques, which are based on the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD), produce errors in the computed fields that are specific to shaped reflectors. These errors are examined for a reflector system shaped to produce maximum gain from a tapered feed illumination. The discrepancies are directly related to the caustic being located near an observation point of the GTD calculations. The errors found are localized, and they increase in magnitude as the caustic approaches the main reflector. In a general offset geometry, the location of the caustic may be located arbitrarily close to the main reflector given a prescribed output aperture distribution. For the specific case considered here-the common situation of shaping to produce maximum gain-the caustic is located near the edge of the main reflector and on the reflection shadow boundary. A local correction is derived which creates a uniform solution through the caustic and across the reflection shadow boundary. Away from this point the calculation recedes to the standard GTD solution     

Editorial

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Issues in nonlinear stochastic grey box identification

Grey box identification refers to the practice of identifying dynamical systems in model structures exploiting partial prior information. This contribution reviews a method for stochastic grey box identification and surveys experiences and lessons of applying it to a number of industrial processes. Issues to be addressed include advantages and costs of introducing stochastics into the model, the question of what contribution must be expected from the model designer as opposed to what can be formalized in computer algorithms, and an outlook on future plans to resolve present shortcomings.     

Dissection of the carotid artery and vertebral artery--diagnosis and therapy

Carotid and vertebral artery dissections typically occur in young adults after major trauma, although they can arise spontaneously or after trivial injury. Many patients with carotid dissections have minor symptoms such as a subject bruit or Horner's syndrome. Cephalic pain is also frequent and often inaugural in carotid dissection. However, extracranial dissection is a well recognised cause of ischaemic stroke. The diagnosis of dissection was based on angiographic findings. Noninvasive imaging also allows prompt and reliable diagnosis. Our goal was to demonstrate the spectrum of neuroradiologic (CT, MR and angiographic) findings in craniocervical arterial dissection and compare the diagnostic utility of CT, MR, MR angiography. Clinical data imaging studies, and outcome were reviewed and compared with the results in four patients with carotid artery dissection.