CS 3001 MIDTERM 1 EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026

CS 3001 MIDTERM 1 EXAM QUESTIONS WITH CORRECT ANSWERS LATEST UPDATE 2026 What was the Therac 25? - Answers A medical linear accelerator used to treat cancer patients in order to remove tumors What happened with the Therac-25? - Answers In Tyler, TX a patient complained about a bright flash of light and hearing a frying, buzzing sound; signs of radiation overdoes after cancer treatment sessions; two patients died; more accidents occurred How did the Therac-25 accidents happen? - Answers In texas, Operator selected x-rays by mistake and used cursor keys to change to electrons; Causes a malfunction 54 trip; in documentation this is a "does input 2" error; In washington, Operator used hand controls to rotate table to field-light position and check alignment; Set machine but forgot to remove film; Turned beam on and machine showed no dose What were the roots of the Therac 25 accident? - Answers Software code was not independently reviewed; AECL did not consider the design of the software during its assessment of how the machine might produce the desired results and what failure modes existed; The user manual did not explain or even address the error codes; The engineer has reused software from older models What with Boeing 737-MAX? - Answers The planes malfunctioned due to reuse of code and usage of new system MCAS to resolve a minor problem; manuals were not updated to include info What are Leveson's Casual Factors? - Answers Overconfidence in software, confusing reliability with safety, lack of defensive design, failure to eliminate root causes, complacency, unrealistic risk assessments, inadequate investigation/follow-up on accidents, inadequate SW engineering practices, Software reuse naivety, Safety vs friendly UI, user/gov't oversight What is overconfidence in software? - Answers A feeling among nonsoftware professional that software will not or cannot fail, which leads to complacency and overreliance on computer functions; Also stems from engineers ignoring software in their safety checks What is confusing reliability with safety? - Answers When you mistake the consistency of how many times a software has worked to mean that it is safe What is lack of defensive design? - Answers When software does not contain self-checks or error detection/handling What is failure to eliminate root causes? - Answers Protection could've been built into the hardware and software to prevent the accident; Therac-20 hardware had interlocks to mitigate the error, but those were removed in the 25 but the same software was reused; Shouldn't do band aid fixes for each situation need to find the root cause of all the cases What is complacency? - Answers Takes the event of an accident to alert people to the dangers What are unrealistic risk assessments? - Answers When they underestimate the likelihood of a software error or assume all errors are likely to occur What is inadequate investigation/follow-up on accidents? - Answers when companies or regulators don't properly investigate accidents or incidents nor do they inspect after changes are made What are inadequate SW engineering practices? - Answers Not updating or keeping accurate documentation; No QA practices What is software reuse naivety? - Answers when companies don't update software when they make changes elsewhere specifically to hardware What is safety vs friendly UI? - Answers when they value use of ease over safety measures in UI What is user/gov't oversight? - Answers When people don't report or act upon incidents What is authoritarian in political artifacts? - Answers System centered, immensely powerful but inherently unstable What is democratic in political artifacts? - Answers Man-centered, relatively weak, but resourceful and durable What is the social determination of technology? - Answers The social or economic system in which tech is embedded is what matters; Technologies are shaped by social and economic forces What are the ways tech can have politics? - Answers by decision or by necessity What does by decision mean? - Answers when tech arrangements are forms of order used to settle an issue in the affairs of a community; Ex: long island bridge What does by necessity mean? - Answers Inherently politically technologies; The choice to put handles in the middle of park benches What is subjective relativism? - Answers Each person decides right and wrong for himself or herself What is the case for subjective relativism? - Answers Well-meaning and intelligent people disagree on moral issues; Ethical debates are disagreeable and pointless What is the case against subjective relativism? - Answers Blurs lines between doing what you think is right versus what you feel like doing; No moral distinction between people's actions What is ethical relativism? - Answers No universal standards of right and wrong What is utilitarianism? - Answers Greatest good for the greatest number of people; use a cost benefit issue and focus on consequences What is utility? - Answers The tendency of an object to produce happiness or prevent unhappiness for an individual or community What is Act Utilitarianism? - Answers Take the route that maximizes happiness of all beings involved in that particular situation What is the case for Act Utilitarianism? - Answers Focuses on happiness; Practical; Comprehensive What is the case against Act Utilitarianism? - Answers Unclear whom to include in calculations and how far out into the future to consider; Too much work; Cannot predict consequences with certainty What is Rule Utilitarianism? - Answers Adopts moral rules which if followed by everyone will lead to the greatest increase in total happiness; Applies principle of utility to moral rules What is the case for Rule Utilitarianism? - Answers Not every moral decision will require performing utilitarian math; Moral rules survive exceptional situations; Eliminates moral luck and bias What is the case against Rule Utilitarianism? - Answers All consequences are being measured on a single scale; Ignores the problem of an unjust distribution of good consequences