Write in brief about Technology Transfer and Appropriate Technology?
Technology Transfer: ‘The process of moving technology to a novel setting and implementing there.’ • Novel setting is any situation containing at least one new variable relevant to success or failure of given technology • Transfer of technology from a familiar to a new environment is a complex process Appropriate Technology: ‘Identification, transfer, and implementation of the most suitable technology for a new set of conditions’ • Conditions include social factors that go beyond routine economic and technical engineering constraints • Identifying them requires attention to an array of human values and needs that ma y influence how a technology affects the novel situation • Intermediate technology
What can MNCs do to promote morally just measures? Or what are Richard T. De George’s guidelines for moral promotion by MNCs?
• MNCs business should do more overall good than bad towards the economy of the host country than doing good to a few corrupt leaders in oppressive regimes. • They must respect…
What are the International Rights as enumerated by Thomas Donaldson?
• The right to freedom of physical movement • The right to ownership of property • The right to freedom from torture • The right to a fair deal • The right to non-discriminatory treatment • The right to physical security • The right to freedom of speech and association • The right to minimal education • The right to political participation • The right to subsistence
Which standards should guide engineers’ conduct when working in foreign countries?
Alternate 1: ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ Alternate 2. Follow the identical practices which were followed in the home country. Both are unacceptable. A via media should be found based on the context.
What are the three senses of relative values?
Ethical Relativism • Actions are morally right in a particular society if they are approved by law, custom, or other conventions of the society. Descriptive Relativism • Value beliefs and attitudes differ from culture to culture and this is a fact. Moral Relationalism or Contextualism (Ethical pluralism) • Moral judgements should be made in relation to factors that vary between issues. Hence it is not possible to formulate rules that are simple and applicably to all situations.
What are the benefits of Multi-National corporations doing business in less developed countries for both the MNCs and the host country?
Benefits to MNCs: • Inexpensive labor • Availability of natural resources • Favorable tax conditions • Fresh markets for products Benefits to developing host countries: • New jobs • Greater pay and greater challenge • Transfer of advanced technology • Social benefits from sharing wealth
GLOBAL ISSUES – Give an account of Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
On December 3, 1984, Union Carbide's pesticide-manufacturing plant in Bhopal, India leaked 40 tons of the deadly gas, methyl isocyanate into a sleeping, impoverished community - killing 2,500 within a few days, 10000 permanently disabled and injuring 100,000 people. Ten years later, it increased to 4000 to 7000 deaths and injuries to 600,000. Risks taken: • Storage tank of Methyl Isocyanate gas was filled to more than 75% capacity as against Union Carbide’s spec. that it should never be more than 60% full. • The company’s West Virginia plant was controlling the safety systems and detected leakages thro’ computers but the Bhopal plant only used manual labour for control and leak detection. • The Methyl Isocyanate gas, being highly concentrated, burns parts of body with which it comes into contact, even blinding eyes and destroying lungs. Causal Factors: • Three protective systems out of service • Plant was understaffed due to costs. • Very high inventory of MIC, an extremely toxic material. • The accident occurred in the early morning. • Most of the people killed lived in a shanty (poorly built) town located very close to the plant fence. Workers made the following attempts to save the plant: • They tried to turn on the plant refrigeration system to cool down the environment and slow the reaction. (The refrigeration system had been drained of coolant weeks before and never refilled -- it cost too much.) • They tried to route expanding gases to a neighboring tank. (The tank's pressure gauge was broken and indicated the tank was full when it was really empty.) • They tried to purge the gases through a scrubber. (The scrubber was designed for flow rates, temperatures and pressures that were a fraction of what was by this time escaping from the tank. The scrubber was as a result ineffective.) • They tried to route the gases through a flare tower -- to burn them away. (The supply line to the flare tower was broken and hadn't been replaced.) • They tried to spray water on the gases and have them settle to the ground -- by this time the chemical reaction was nearly completed. (The gases were escaping at a point 120 feet above ground; the hoses were designed to shoot water up to 100 feet into the air.) In just 2 hours the chemicals escaped to form a deadly cloud over hundreds of thousands of people incl. poor migrant labourers who stayed close to the plant.
Effect of Patent
A patentee gets the exclusive monopoly right against the public at large to use, sell or manufacture his patented device. A patentee can enforce his monopoly right against any infringement…
Need For a Patent System
Encourages an inventor to disclose his invention Encourages R & D activities as the industries can make use of the technology, & avoids redundant research Provides reasonable assurance for commercialization.…
COPY RIGHTS
The right to original literary and artistic works • Literary, written material • Dramatic, musical or artistic works • Films and audio-visual materials • Sound recordings • Computer Programmes/software • SOME databases Example: Picasso’s Guernica, Microsoft code, Lord of the Rings
