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Appropriate Technology for Access to Universal Basic Services: A Case Study on Basic Electricity Service Provision to Remote Communities in the Napo River Basin. SUSTAINABILITY 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/su14010132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Appropriate technologies (ATs) refer to technologies that are controlled by the communities that benefit from their implementation. Technologies have become a fundamental element in projects aiming to solve problems related to poverty and access to basic needs in some areas in emerging countries, and appropriation of these technologies is necessary to ensure effective transfer of knowledge and sustainability. However, due to the lack of consensus on the definition of ATs, there is a need to clarify and define the scope and boundaries of the term to facilitate the implementation of technology in projects in developing countries. This study addresses this gap by means of a scoping review, which presents a detailed analysis of 17 journal articles (from an initial selection of 95 articles) and provides a comprehensive definition of ATs. To guide AT-oriented interventions in technology-intensive cooperation projects, this study proposes an Action Framework based on that definition of ATs. The Action Framework provides guidance on how to implement technology in these projects to ensure that the technology is appropriated. To facilitate the understanding of the Action Framework, the study showcases its application in a real project of rural electrification in the Peruvian Amazon Rainforest.
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Verharen C, Bugarin F, Tharakan J, Wensing E, Gutema B, Fortunak J, Middendorf G. African Environmental Ethics: Keys to Sustainable Development Through Agroecological Villages. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 2021; 34:18. [PMID: 34121845 PMCID: PMC8179697 DOI: 10.1007/s10806-021-09853-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/23/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This essay proposes African-based ethical solutions to profound human problems and a working African model to address those problems. The model promotes sustainability through advanced agroecological and information communication technologies. The essay's first section reviews the ethical ground of that model in the work of the Senegalese scholar, Cheikh Anta Diop. The essay's second section examines an applied African model for translating African ethical speculation into practice. Deeply immersed in European and African ethics, Godfrey Nzamujo developed the Songhaï Centers to solve the problem of rural poverty in seventeen African countries. Harnessing advanced technologies within a holistic agroecological ecosystem, Nzamujo's villages furnish education spanning the fields of ethics, information communication technology, microbiology, international development, and mechanical, electrical, civil and biological engineering in a community-based and centered development enterprise. The essay proposes a global consortium of ecovillages based on Nzamujo's model. The final section explores funding methods for the consortium. The conclusion contemplates a return to Africa to supplement environmental ethics that enhance life's future on earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Verharen
- Department of Philosophy, Howard University, Washington, D.C USA
| | - Flordeliz Bugarin
- Department of African Studies, Howard University, Washington, D.C USA
| | - John Tharakan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Howard University, Washington, D.C USA
| | - Enrico Wensing
- Center for Global Health, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA USA
| | - Bekele Gutema
- Department of Philosophy, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Joseph Fortunak
- Departments of Chemistry and Pharmacology, Howard University, Washington, D.C USA
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Reijers W, Wright D, Brey P, Weber K, Rodrigues R, O'Sullivan D, Gordijn B. Methods for Practising Ethics in Research and Innovation: A Literature Review, Critical Analysis and Recommendations. SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ETHICS 2018; 24:1437-1481. [PMID: 28900898 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-017-9961-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2017] [Accepted: 08/14/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
This paper provides a systematic literature review, analysis and discussion of methods that are proposed to practise ethics in research and innovation (R&I). Ethical considerations concerning the impacts of R&I are increasingly important, due to the quickening pace of technological innovation and the ubiquitous use of the outcomes of R&I processes in society. For this reason, several methods for practising ethics have been developed in different fields of R&I. The paper first of all presents a systematic search of academic sources that present and discuss such methods. Secondly, it provides a categorisation of these methods according to three main kinds: (1) ex ante methods, dealing with emerging technologies, (2) intra methods, dealing with technology design, and (3) ex post methods, dealing with ethical analysis of existing technologies. Thirdly, it discusses the methods by considering problems in the way they deal with the uncertainty of technological change, ethical technology design, the identification, analysis and resolving of ethical impacts of technologies and stakeholder participation. The results and discussion of our literature review are valuable for gaining an overview of the state of the art and serve as an outline of a future research agenda of methods for practising ethics in R&I.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wessel Reijers
- ADAPT Centre, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland.
| | - David Wright
- Trilateral Research and Consulting, 72 Hammersmith Rd, London, W14, UK
| | - Philip Brey
- Department of Philosophy, University of Twente, Drienerlolaan 5, 7522NB, Enschede, The Netherlands
| | - Karsten Weber
- Institute for Social Research and Technology Assessment (IST), OTH Regensburg, Galgenbergstraße 24, 93053, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Rowena Rodrigues
- Trilateral Research and Consulting, 72 Hammersmith Rd, London, W14, UK
| | - Declan O'Sullivan
- ADAPT Centre, Department of Computer Science, Trinity College Dublin, O'Reilly Institute, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Bert Gordijn
- Institute of Ethics, Dublin City University, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, Ireland
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Hess JL, Fore G. A Systematic Literature Review of US Engineering Ethics Interventions. SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ETHICS 2018; 24:551-583. [PMID: 28401510 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-017-9910-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2017] [Accepted: 03/23/2017] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Promoting the ethical formation of engineering students through the cultivation of their discipline-specific knowledge, sensitivity, imagination, and reasoning skills has become a goal for many engineering education programs throughout the United States. However, there is neither a consensus throughout the engineering education community regarding which strategies are most effective towards which ends, nor which ends are most important. This study provides an overview of engineering ethics interventions within the U.S. through the systematic analysis of articles that featured ethical interventions in engineering, published in select peer-reviewed journals, and published between 2000 and 2015. As a core criterion, each journal article reviewed must have provided an overview of the course as well as how the authors evaluated course-learning goals. In sum, 26 articles were analyzed with a coding scheme that included 56 binary items. The results indicate that the most common methods for integrating ethics into engineering involved exposing students to codes/standards, utilizing case studies, and discussion activities. Nearly half of the articles had students engage with ethical heuristics or philosophical ethics. Following the presentation of the results, this study describes in detail four articles to highlight less common but intriguing pedagogical methods and evaluation techniques. The findings indicate that there is limited empirical work on ethics education within engineering across the United States. Furthermore, due to the large variation in goals, approaches, and evaluation methods described across interventions, this study does not detail "best" practices for integrating ethics into engineering. The science and engineering education community should continue exploring the relative merits of different approaches to ethics education in engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin L Hess
- STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
| | - Grant Fore
- STEM Education Innovation and Research Institute, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, USA
- Department of Anthropology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
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Verharen C, Kadoda G, Bugarin F, Fortunak J, Tharakan J, Schwartzman D, Wensing E, Middendorf G. Appropriate technology and ethical obligations of the university: W.E.B. Du Bois on the Africana university mission. AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2017.1347338] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- C. Verharen
- Department of Philosophy, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - G. Kadoda
- Independent Researcher, Khartoum, 13314 Sudan
| | - F. Bugarin
- Department of African Studies, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - J. Fortunak
- Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - J. Tharakan
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - D. Schwartzman
- Department of Biology (Professor Emeritus), Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
| | - E. Wensing
- Department of Human Development, Columbia University, New York, 10027, USA
| | - G. Middendorf
- Department of Biology, Howard University, Washington, DC 20059, USA
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Génova G, González MR. Teaching Ethics to Engineers: A Socratic Experience. SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING ETHICS 2016; 22:567-580. [PMID: 26026967 DOI: 10.1007/s11948-015-9661-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2015] [Accepted: 05/23/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
In this paper we present the authors' experience of teaching a course in Ethics for Engineers, which has been delivered four times in three different universities in Spain and Chile. We begin by presenting the material context of the course (its place within the university program, the number of students attending, its duration, etc.), and especially the intellectual background of the participating students, in terms of their previous understanding of philosophy in general, and of ethics in particular. Next we set out the objectives of the course and the main topics addressed, as well as the methodology and teaching resources employed to have students achieve a genuine philosophical reflection on the ethical aspects of the profession, starting from their own mindset as engineers. Finally we offer some results based on opinion surveys of the students, as well as a more personal assessment by the authors, recapitulating the most significant achievements of the course and indicating its underlying Socratic structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gonzalo Génova
- Departamento de Informática, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
- Instituto de Filosofía, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
| | - M Rosario González
- Departamento de Teoría e Historia de la Educación, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Departamento de Filosofía, Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Santiago, Chile
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Verharen C, Gutema B, Tharakan J, Bugarin F, Fortunak J, Kadoda G, Liu M, Middendorf G. African philosophy: a key to African innovation and development. AFRICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, INNOVATION AND DEVELOPMENT 2014. [DOI: 10.1080/20421338.2014.902565] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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