Moral Responsibility for Harm Caused by Computer System Failures     

Douglas?BirschEmail author 《Ethics and Information Technology》2004,6(4):233-245

When software is written and then utilized in complex computer systems, problems often occur. Sometimes these problems cause a system to malfunction, and in some instances such malfunctions cause harm. Should any of the persons involved in creating the software be blamed and punished when a computer system failure leads to persons being harmed? In order to decide whether such blame and punishment are appropriate, we need to first consider if the people are “morally responsible”. Should any of the people involved in creating the software be held morally responsible, as individuals, for the harm caused by a computer system failure?This article provides one view of moral responsibility and then discusses some barriers to holding people morally responsible. Next, it provides information about the Therac-25, a computer-controlled medical linear accelerator, and its computer systems failures that led to deaths and injuries. Finally it investigates whether two key people involved in the Therac-25 case could reasonably be considered to have some degree of moral responsibility for the deaths and injuries. The conclusions about whether or not these people were morally responsible necessarily rest upon a certain amount of speculation about what they knew and what they did. These limitations, however, should not cause us to conclude that discussions of moral responsibility are fruitless. In some cases, determinations of moral responsibility may be made and in others the investigation is still worthwhile, as the article demonstrates.  相似文献   

On dynamic behavior of a hyperbolic system derived from a thermoelastic equation with memory type     

Jun-Min Wang  Bao-Zhu Guo 《Journal of The Franklin Institute》2007,344(2):75-96

In this paper, we study the Riesz basis property of the generalized eigenfunctions of a one-dimensional hyperbolic system in the energy state space. This characterizes the dynamic behavior of the system, particularly the stability, in terms of its eigenfrequencies. This system is derived from a thermoelastic equation with memory type. The asymptotic expansions for eigenvalues and eigenfunctions are developed. It is shown that there is a sequence of generalized eigenfunctions, which forms a Riesz basis for the Hilbert state space. This deduces the spectrum-determined growth condition for the C₀-semigroup associated with the system, and as a consequence, the exponential stability of the system is concluded.  相似文献   

I would walk 500 miles (if it paid): Vouchers and school choice in Chile   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Rómulo A. Chumacero  Daniel Gómez 《Economics of Education Review》2011,30(5):1103-1114

One of the pillars of the educational voucher system is that competition among schools to attract students would improve the quality of the education. Surveys to parents and previous work suggested that families rank the distance of the school from their home as the most important factor for choosing a school. They also suggest that parents largely ignore the results of standardized tests. We use a novel data-set which includes precise measures of the distance between homes and schools to analyze the determinants of school choice in Chile. Economic theory suggests, and the estimations confirm, that parents consider quality and the location when choosing schools. The paper quantifies the relevant trade-offs.  相似文献   

灰色模型在PM2.5预测中的应用     

冯科展  解建军  张玫  刘金生 《绵阳师范学院学报》2015,(5):75-79

PM2.5对空气质量和能见度等有重要的影响,了解其变化趋势,对制定合理的治理机制具有现实意义.在传统的GM(1,1)模型的基础上,提高数据的光滑度,建立了改进的GM(1,1)模型,并利用MATLAB实现GM(1,1)模型算法.以石家庄市PM2.5浓度作为研究对象,以历史数据预测未来数据,并检验其精度.结果显示,石家庄市PM2.5浓度,在短期内仍将保持较高值,采取措施控制PM2.5浓度不容忽视.  相似文献   

开县大气污染特征与健康危险度评价     

向可翠  罗凌彬 《科教文汇》2012,(30):202-204

据开县2010～2012年的空气质量数据,分析了开县的大气污染特征．并针对不同年龄组人群计算健康危险度（HR）值。结果表明,2010～2012年开县大气主要污染物是PH10,3年的平均值分别为0．12mg／m^2、0．13mg／m^2、0．14mg／m^3。开县大气污染主要是受污染源、气象条件等诸多因素影响。比较HR值可见,儿童组PMlo的HR值最大,因此在大气污染物控制中应以儿童为基准。  相似文献   

Do R&D subsidies affect SMEs’ access to external financing?     

Miguel Meuleman  Wouter De Maeseneire 《Research Policy》2012,41(3):580-591

Many countries spend sizeable sums of public money on R&D grants to alleviate debt and equity gaps for small firms’ innovation projects. In making such awards, knowledgeable government officials may certify firms to private financiers. Using a unique Belgian dataset of 1107 approved requests and a control group of denied requests for a specific type of R&D grant, we examine the impact of subsidies on small firms’ access to external equity, short term and long term debt financing. We find that obtaining an R&D subsidy provides a positive signal about SME quality and results in better access to long-term debt.  相似文献   

New product introduction and product tenure: What effects on firm growth?     

Marco Cucculelli 《Research Policy》2012,41(5):808-821

This study contributes to the recent empirical literature on the innovation-firm performance relationship by investigating the effect of product introduction on firm growth in a sample of Italian firms from 2000 to 2006. We adopted a novel approach that exploits the interpretative content of the tenure of the last product introduced (i.e., the number of years since its first introduction) as an additional variable into the explanatory scheme of firm sales growth rate. This variable aims to capture peculiar characteristics of new goods, such as their novelty and complexity. The estimated results confirmed the relevance of this model specification and helps in understanding the reason why previous studies have failed to find a statistically robust relationship between product innovation and growth. Moreover, we found the following: first, the release of a new product enhances growth opportunity among multiproduct firms; second, product development promotes the growth of firms belonging to sectors with stronger commitment to research and development; and third, new product development enhances firm growth substantially in those sectors that absorb externally originated patents.  相似文献   

Tax incentives and R&D activity: Firm-level evidence from Taiwan     

Chih-Hai Yang  Tony Chieh-Tse Hou 《Research Policy》2012,41(9):1578-1588

This paper investigates the effect of tax incentives on R&D activities in Taiwanese manufacturing firms. The propensity score matching (PSM) estimates show that recipients of R&D tax credits appear on average to have 53.80% higher R&D expenditures than that they do without receiving tax credits, while there is no significantly higher growth rate of R&D expenditure. This study further employs the panel instrumental variable (IV) and generalized method of moment (GMM) techniques to control for endogeneity of R&D tax credits and firm heterogeneity in determining R&D expenditure. The R&D tax credit is witnessed to exhibit a significantly positive influence on R&D expenditure and its growth, especially for electronics firms. The marginal effect is moderate, ranging from 0.094 to 0.120. Specifically, the R&D elasticity concerning tax credits tends to increase gradually along with the approaching expiration of R&D tax credits measure, lending a supportive view on its efficacy.  相似文献   

HSO_3~-异构化的量子化学研究     

胡式洪  覃松 《涪陵师范学院学报》1999,(3)

采用PM3法对HSO3-异构化成HOSO2-的反应进行了研究,得到了互变异构及应过渡态的几何构型。从理论上论证了这一异构化的机理。  相似文献   

从第25届亚锦赛中国与伊朗、黎巴嫩两强比赛略论中国男篮的走向     

韦李 《体育科技》2009,30(4)

采用文献资料法、数理统计法和对比分析法,对中国男篮在第25届亚洲锦标赛与伊朗、黎巴嫩两强的三场比赛进行技术统计分析。统计数据表明中国男篮各项指标与亚洲强队优势不明显,中国男篮整体水平发挥不稳定,没有继承北京奥运会上所表现的精神风貌和战术风格,集体凝聚力不够,作风不顽强,技、战术打法都需要改进。  相似文献