Abstract: Nuclear weapons and nuclear power have greatly influenced history from 1945 to the present. This digital library provides an annotated bibliography of over 2,700 books, articles, films, CDs, and websites about a broad range of nuclear issues.
Subject:
Business, Humanities, Science and Technology, Social Sciences
Abstract: Explores the changing roles, ethical conflicts, and public perceptions of science and scientists in American society from World War II to the present. Studies specific historical episodes focusing on debates between scientists and the contextual factors influencing their opinions and decisions. Topics include the atomic bomb project, environmental controversies, the Challenger disaster, biomedical research, genetic engineering, (mis)use of human subjects, scientific misconduct and whistleblowing.
Abstract: This assessment is used in a class titled Ethical Leadership as part of a graduate level principal preparation program. The assessment has been approved by NCATE as meeting all of the stipulated ELCC standards for which it is designed (ELCC 5.1, 5.1. & 5.3). The assignment has two sections. In the first section candidates are asked to interview people in the field about a difficult decision or dilemma they had to deal with and analyze the responses. In the second section candidates interview each other about moral failures they have experienced in their own decision making and analyze the responses through the lens of two key concepts taught in class: schema theory and a moral decision-making model.
Abstract: This student module has been developed to help students in the practical and professional areas become aware of the ethical issues that often arise in the pursuit of employment. The point of departure is the "Guidelines to Professional Employment for Engineers and Scientists" set forth by the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and republished by Stephen Unger in his book, Controlling Technology: Ethics and the Responsible Engineer, 2nd Ed. Each intermediate moral concept set forth in the guidelines is challenged by a case. Students from past professional and occupational classes at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez have provided the cases. While realistic, these cases are not necessarily representative of actual historical events since in some occasions confidentiality concerns have led to the altering and generalizing of some facts. To add another dimension to this module, each case requires a decision as well as the application of concepts to realistic situations. This student module is being developed as part of an NSF-funded project, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF SES 0551779.
Abstract: Secrets: The Ethics of Concealment and the Ethics of Science in Synthetic Biological Research
Dr. Laurie Zoloth, Center for Bioethics, Science and Society, Northwestern University
Increasingly sophisticated techniques allow for increasing powerful and creative tools of biology to create new or altered forms of life. Such synthetic biology may offer unprecedented avenues for drug development, alternate energy sources, and medical therapeutics. Yet increasing unease also mounts about the possible misuse of such biology, and governments, scientists and citizens turn their attention to the question of how protect academic freedom in an age of terror. Are the fears of dual use of synthetic biology overblown? Or are such fears prudent? Who should protect the secrets of science, or is it simply inappropriate to conceal knowledge from the broadest possible community? What are the fair limits of concealment in science? Are the arguments of the marketplace and the need for competitive secrecy applicable to open source knowledge? How can the core ethical principle and praxis of veracity be balanced with the problem of security? How can the core ethical principle of confidentiality be reconciled with open source research? What is the difference between holding secrets and deceit? This lecture will raise some preliminary framing questions in the emerging field of synthetic biology, a field that has been a subject of attention and concern since its inception.
Abstract: Many difficult ethical questions have arisen from the explosive growth of biomedical research and the health-care industry since World War II. When and how should doctors be allowed to help patients end their lives? Should embryos be cloned for research and/or reproduction? Should parents be given control over the genetic make-up of their children? What sorts of living things is it appropriate to use as research subjects? How should we distribute scarce and expensive medical resources? While some of these questions are genuinely new, products of rapid changes in biomedical technology, others have been debated for centuries. Drawing on philosophy, history, and anthropology, this course will show students how problems in bioethics can be approached from a variety of perspectives, with the aim of understanding how we have gotten where we are, and how we should decide where to go next.
Abstract: This module is being tested by Business Ethics students at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Biomatrix was a biotechnology company that manufactured Synvisc, a lubricant injected into the knee to take the place of natural lubricants that disappear with age. From April 1999 to August 2000, a series of messages (16,000 in all) highly critical of this company were posted on the Yahoo financial bulletin board. These postings may have led to a sharp drop in the company's stock value during this period. Three individuals were identified as the authors of these messages. When they were unable to substantiate the accusations made in the messages, they were found guilty of defamation. This module provides a time line and exercises that allow students to explore the details of this case. Research for this case was carried out in conjunction with Computing Cases, an NSF-funded project devoted to developing and displaying cases studies in computer ethics in an online format. Biomatrix along with nine other cases will be published by Jones and Bartlett as Good Computing: A Virtue Approach to Computer Ethics, a textbook in computer ethics. This module is being developed as a part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF-SES-0551779.
Abstract: Seminars exploring current research and topical issues in the biomedical sciences, addressed at the general theme of innovation. Seminars are organized in blocks with related content, and are presented by prominent outside speakers as well as by HST faculty members and graduate students. Each seminar block includes several semi-weekly presentations, in addition to wide-ranging discussions among speakers, faculty, and students. Discussions involve issues such as relations between presented research areas, requirements for further advances in the "state of the art", the role of enabling technologies, the responsible practice of biomedical research, and career paths in the biomedical sciences.
Abstract: This module, designed for the Ethics Across the Curriculum Toolkit (EAC Toolkit), provides business, science, and engineering instructors with various templates that they can use to integrate ethics into their classes. Using general exercise formats such as an ethics pre-test and a modified Gray Matters exercise, instructors can add material to integrate these general exercise formats into their specific courses. This module is being developed as a part of a project funded by the National Science Foundation, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF-SES-0551779.
Abstract: Bruce Kent, ordained a Catholic minister in 1958, became general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1980 and chairman in 1987, the year he resigned from the ministry. In this video segment, he challenges the damaging spin that secretary for defense Lord Michael Heseltine used to undermine CND rather than engage in public debate about nuclear policy. Kent also refutes accusations that CND was in support of 'one-sided,' full unilateral disarmament. Instead, he argues for 'sufficiency' to replace 'parity' of nuclear forces. In the interview Kent conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age: 'Zero Hour,' he describes the forces that converged to revive CND and the rallies that drew hundreds of thousands of marchers to the center of London in the early 1980s. He recounts the spread of peace movements to other Western European capitals, the partnership among protest leaders from these other countries, and some of the differences in their national agendas. The 1983 Conservative Party's rise to power on the heels of the Falklands War, coupled with its forceful campaign to mischaracterize CND, halted the movement's momentum. At this point, Kent recalls, CND shifted its agenda to 'the long haul,' prioritizing long-term, international public education over large demonstrations. Kent critiques 'flexible response' what he calls 'the Achilles' heel' of the Western alliance. Nuclear war is so clearly unwinnable, he maintains, that 'parity' must yield to 'sufficiency.' As Kent sees positions like these echoed in public discourse and arms negotiations, he concludes that CND's key contribution is helping 'some serious rethinking of the basics of the whole business.'
Abstract: Business Ethics is a derived copy from the Corporate Governance course. It takes an interdisciplinary approach to ethics in business and provides modules in Ethical Leadership, Ethical Decision-Making, Social Responsibility, and Corporate Governance to respond to AACSB accreditation requirements. Students will actively study ethical theory by carrying out exercises to help them build theory-based tools for encountering ethical problems in business practice. They will also work with cases in business ethics designed to give them practice in developing skills of ethical leadership, ethical decision-making, and carrying out socio-technical analyses to respond to issues of social responsibility. Business Ethics culminates in a peer reviewed Ethics Bowl competition in which students will practice ethics advocacy in a variety of moral ecologies in business. Business Ethics has been developed through the NSF-funded project, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF SES 0551779.
Subject:
Business, Science and Technology, Humanities, Social Sciences
Abstract: In Connexions, a course is both a course (what is offered in a school curriculum) and a collection of modules. This course as a collection of modules has been designed to pull together the modules published in Connexions by this author for the purpose of showing different aspects of the Ethics Bowl competition and how it can be used in a university course on practical and professional ethics. The Ethics Bowl concept comes from Robert Ladenson of the Illinois Institute of Technology. Through the Association of Practical and Professional Ethics, the Ethics Bowl competition has been carried out nationally for thirteen years now. (More on the history of this competition can be found in Ladenson's article which is referenced in this course's first module.) Thanks to Robert Ladenson and Michael Davis for suggesting using the ethics bowl in engineering ethics classes at UPRM during a visit by the author to IIT in 2001. Special thanks to Vivian Weil who has served as a mentor for those at UPRM committed to implementing ethics instruction and institutionalizing ethics across the curruciculum. This course and its modules have been developed as a part of the EAC Toolkit funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, NSF SES 0551779.
Subject:
Business, Science and Technology, Humanities
Abstract: This module contains the Machado case analysis exercises already published in CNX under the title "Case Analysis Module: Machado" by the same author. In addition, this version includes a Powerpoint presentation. This module is being developed as a part of
Abstract: This module is founded on two insights: the analogy between problem-solving in ethics and design methodology and the effectiveness of case analysis for practicing skills in ethical problem-solving. Students will practice using a four-stage decision-making framework developed on analogy from the software development cycle. They will also learn socio-technical system analysis and how to use this to formulate and solve ethical problems that arise in everyday engineering practice. This module has been developed to test the capacity of the EAC Toolkit to add value to engineering ethics modules and to draw together interdisciplinary teams in designing and modifying EAC modules. This module is being developed as a part of an NSF-funded project, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF SES 0551779.
Abstract: This module, designed for the EAC Toolkit, will test the Toolkit and Connexion's ability to network different online and offline sources for ethics across the curriculum. It consists of four components designed to provide students with tools for carrying out an in-depth analysis of the cases found at www.computingcases.org; it also makes substantial references to the draft manuscript of a textbook in computer ethics entitled Good Computing: A Virtue Approach to Computer Ethics under contract with Jones and Bartlett Publishing Company. The module presents the case abstract and timeline. It then refers students to computingcases.org where they will find the case narrative, history, and supporting documents that provide background information necessary for analysis. The case abstract and timeline introduce students to the basic outlines of the case. The accompanying decision point taken from the case provides students with the necessary focus to carry out an in-depth analysis. Students respond to the decision-point by working through the four stages: problem specification, solution generation, solution testing, and solution implementation.
Abstract: This module is founded on two insights: the analogy between problem-solving in ethics and design methodology and the effectiveness of case analysis for practicing skills in ethical problem-solving. Students will learn socio-technical system analysis and how to use this analysis to predict the problems likely to accompany the implementation of a new technology or computing system. This module has been developed to test networking potentialities of the EAC Toolkit and Connexions by linking to the materials posted at the Computing Cases website. This module is being developed as a part of an NSF-funded project, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF SES 0551779.
Abstract: This module is founded on two insights: the analogy between problem-solving in ethics and design methodology and the effectiveness of case analysis for practicing skills in ethical problem-solving. Students will practice using a four-stage decision-making framework developed on analogy from the software development cycle. They will also learn socio-technical system analysis and how to use this to formulate and solve ethical problems that arise in everyday engineering practice. This module has been developed to test the capacity of the EAC Toolkit to add value to engineering ethics modules and to draw together interdisciplinary teams in designing and modifying EAC modules. This module is being developed as a part of an NSF-funded project, "Collaborative Development of Ethics Across the Curriculum Resources and Sharing of Best Practices," NSF SES 0551779.
Abstract: This module, designed for the EAC Toolkit (NSF SES 0551779) will test the Toolkit and Connexion's ability to network different online and offline sources for ethics across the curriculum. It consists of four components designed to provide students with tools for carrying out an in-depth analysis of the cases found at www.computingcases.org; it also makes substantial references to the draft manuscript of a textbook in computer ethics entitled Good Computing: A Virtue Approach to Computer Ethics. (The book will consist of the cases displayed at Computing Cases--Therac-25, Hughes Aircraft, and Machado--plus seven additional cases all developed through NSF projects DUE-9972280 and DUE 9980768.)The module presents the case abstract and timeline. It then refers students to Computing Cases where they will find the case narrative, history, and supporting documents that provide background necessary for analysis. The case abstract and timeline introduce students to the basic outlines of the case. The accompanying decision point taken from the case provides students with the necessary focus to carry out an in-depth analysis. Students respond to the decision point by working through four stages: problem specification, solution generation, solution testing, and solution implementation.
Abstract: This course provides a historical, theoretical and practical overview of the principles and themes of the Roman Catholic social encyclical tradition. It explores views on Christian social responsibility through classic texts and contemporary problems.