Self-Driving Vehicles—an Ethical Overview

The introduction of self-driving vehicles gives rise to a large number of ethical issues that go beyond the common, extremely narrow, focus on improbable dilemma-like scenarios. This article provides a broad overview of realistic ethical issues related to self-driving vehicles. Some of the major topics covered are as follows: Strong opinions for and against driverless cars may give rise to severe social and political conflicts. A low tolerance for accidents caused by driverless vehicles may delay the introduction of driverless systems that would substantially reduce the risks. Trade-offs will arise between safety and other requirement on the road traffic system. Over-reliance on the swift collision-avoiding reactions of self-driving vehicles can induce people to take dangerous actions, such as stepping out in front of a car, relying on its fast braking. Children travelling alone can violate safety instructions such as the use of seatbelts. Digital information about routes and destinations can be used to convey commercial and political messages to car users. If fast passage can be bought, then socio-economic segregation of road traffic may result. Terrorists and other criminals can hack into a vehicle and make it crash. They can also use self-driving vehicles for instance to carry bombs to their designed places of detonation or to wreak havoc on a country’s road system.

Optimization of security check efficiency in subway station based on Anylogic: A case study of Nanchang Metro

Rational and orderly passenger organization in subway station can improve travel efficiency and safety. How to improve the efficiency of security check, which has a significant impact on the passenger organization, to reduce passengers staying time in the terminal level has the potential to improve service satisfaction. The Weidong Station of Line 1 of Nanchang Metro was selected as the research object. Anylogic software was used to simulate the process of arrival, ticket purchase, security check, gate-crossing machine etc. The results indicate that the dynamic adjustment of security checkpoints and fast passage for passengers without luggage can improve the security efficiency and relieve the congestion in the station hall.

When Spaces of Transit Fail Their Designers

This chapter looks at the mass housing program launched by the Soviet leadership in the late 1950s from the perspective of urban planning and management. It looks into the transit spaces of new socialist neighborhoods, focusing on the stairwells of Soviet apartment blocks. Designed as utilitarian spaces for the fast passage of people from home to work to leisure activities, they revealed an ability to accumulate people and connect them in various ways, which Soviet authorities and intellectuals often interpreted as threatening to the public good. The Soviet stairwell established different affective regimes of Soviet people's interactions with urban space and provoked some of the hidden social conflicts of late socialism that became reflected in socially dominant structures of the Soviet self. The communities discussed in the chapter are predominantly male. The material and social conditions of late socialism provoked different regimes and forms of masculinity, which is another important topic of this book.

The liquid state of FG-nucleoporins mimics permeability barrier properties of nuclear pore complexes

Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) regulate all cargo traffic across the nuclear envelope. The transport conduit of NPCs is highly enriched in disordered phenylalanine/glycine-rich nucleoporins (FG-Nups), which form a permeability barrier of still elusive and highly debated molecular structure. Here we present a microfluidic device that triggered liquid-to-liquid phase separation of FG-Nups, which yielded droplets that showed typical properties of a liquid state. On the microfluidic chip, droplets were perfused with different transport-competent or -incompetent cargo complexes, and then the permeability barrier properties of the droplets were optically interrogated. We show that the liquid state mimics permeability barrier properties of the physiological nuclear transport pathway in intact NPCs in cells: that is, inert cargoes ranging from small proteins to large capsids were excluded from liquid FG-Nup droplets, but functional import complexes underwent facilitated import into droplets. Collectively, these data provide an experimental model of how NPCs can facilitate fast passage of cargoes across an order of magnitude in cargo size.

Control of traffic lights for the fast passage of rescue vehicles in action - the need for changes in traffic control in cities

The article discusses the problem of passing emergency rescue vehicles in action in urban areas with intersections controlled by traffic lights. Fast travel is necessary while striving to minimize the possibility of adverse events. Traffic lights at intersections give the opportunity to use it to pave the free road for the passage of a privileged emergency vehicle. The quick change of control signals at the intersection (paving the way) must take into account the limitations resulting from the long stop (and thus long time) of public transport vehicles in public transport. Properly generated advance information will allow (in a way not threatened with injuries to passengers) to stop before crossing the bus, tram, trolley bus. The existing concepts do not take into account the need to generate advance information in traffic lights controllers resulting from the restrictions on the stop of a public transport vehicle. The article presents the concept of introducing advance information during the creation of a free road for a rescue vehicle.