Recent developments in primality proving

While proving compositeness of a natural number is a computational task that can be easily done in polynomial time, proving primality of an arbitrary positive integer is a harder task. Only two main streams of useful algorithms are known in this direction: elliptic curve primality provers (ECPPs, [F. Morain, Advances in Cryptology, EUROCRYPT '90, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 473, 1990, pp. 110–123]) and cyclotomy [W. Bosma, M. Der Hulst, Primality proving with cyclotomy, Ph.D. Thesis, 12278 University van Amsterdam, Holland, 1990; P.M. Mihăilescu, Cyclotomy of rings and primality testing, Ph.D. Thesis, Dissertation no., ETH Zürich, 1997].We shall give here an overview of the properties of the primality proving algorithms together with some data illustrating the state of the art performance of these methods.     

Recent developments in subterranean robotics

Robotic systems exhibit remarkable capability for exploring and mapping subterranean voids. Information about subterranean spaces has immense value for civil, security, and commercial applications where problems, such as encroachment, collapse, flooding and subsidence can occur. Contemporary method for underground mapping, such as human surveys and geophysical techniques, can provide estimates of void location, but cannot achieve the coverage, quality, or economy of robotic approaches. This article presents the challenges, mechanisms, sensing, and software of subterranean robots. Results obtained from operations in active, abandoned, and submerged subterranean spaces will also be shown. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Recent developments in machine translation

This paper describes developments in the area of machine translation (MT). First, the paper gives an overview of developments in Germany in general; then, special problems are discussed. The system taken as an example is METAL (Machine Translation and Analysis of Natural Language), where recent development work has centered around two main topics. (i) Efforts have been made to make the system really multilingual. The German-to-English prototype had to be expanded, some system components had to be readjusted, and additional problems had to be solved. Currently, analysis and synthesis components for German, English, French, Spanish, and Dutch are under development. All these languages use a common system kernel and a standard interface structure. (ii) The system had to be made user-friendly. This was an even more important task as, up to now, MT systems have not been well accepted by users. METAL tries to be more realistic, and also tries to support the main user interfaces in a much better way than has been done before. This is based on the conviction that there are several parameters which determine the real success of an MT system. It is not just translation quality which is decisive, it is also the integration of an MT system into the whole process of preparing and translating documents.Gregor Thurmair is head of the Linguistics Department at Siemens Nixdorf Information Systems and project leader of the machine translation group, METAL. He is involved in projects in information retrieval (morphological analysis), speech understanding (parsing, semantics) and machine translation (METAL system). He has presented papers on morphology, semantics in speech understanding, transfer problems in MT, and grammar checking.     

Recent developments within Euronet

The features of the telecommunications network are reviewed, and the problems arising from the heterogeneous offer of approximately 25 information services (hosts) giving access to about 100 bibliographical databases and factural databanks in Europe using different hardware, software and natural languages are discussed.The telecommunications costs for use of the network, which are based particularly on data volume, will be 5 – 15% of the total cost of a search. The tariffs, which are distance-independent, have been announced by the PTT administrations.The total cost of the implementation of Euronet is about $5M. Operations will start at the end of 1978.     

Recent developments in ergonomics in China

Ergonomic thought and practice were introduced in ancient China in relation to modern developments in Chinese ergonomics. Despite the ten-year interruption of the 'cultural revolution’ in the late 1960s and 1970s, ergonomics has made great progress in China in the last decade. In this paper some general developments in recent ergonomics’ teaching and in professional organizations are described. Four major areas of ergonomics research are illustrated: (1) Visual displays and signal design; (2) Human-computer interface with Chinese computers; (3) Cognitive strategies and decision support; (4) Mental workload and occupational stress. The main characteristics of Chinese ergonomics are discussed and new directions are highlighted, based on recent developments and progress.     

Recent developments in the theory of data structures

This paper surveys some of the recent theoretical work on data structures. Work employing abstract graph models is covered as well as work on specific structures such as arrays and string patterns. Also included is work treating algorithms on complex structures and proving properties of programs that manipulate such structures. The paper concludes with a section on results using program schemata models to compare the utility of various data structures.     

Recent developments in the theory of thin-walled beams

In the past years noticeable disagreements between classical thin walled beams theory and experimental results have been reported, which are partially due to the classical assumption on the shear strain pattern. In this paper a method is described which avoids any assumption on the shear strain pattern and leads to the calculation of the stiffness matrix of the beam element. The complete analysis of the stress-strain behaviour of a thin walled beam is performed and a numerical example is given.     

Recent developments in the lusas finite element system

This paper focuses on some of the recent developments implemented in the LUSAS finite element system. These developments include: a composite/laminated shell model formulated using a general multilayer semiloof shell element that permits arbitrary composite layups of isotropic, orthotropic, elastoplastic and concrete materials, backward Euler stress return algorithms for efficient elastoplastic analysis using von Mises criterion, slideline procedures for modelling impact and large relative deformation between two or more surfaces of a structure, nonlinear thermal capabilities including the effects of phase changes and nonlinear radiative heat transfer, and a fully coupled thermo-mechanical functionality.     

Recent developments in human motion analysis

Visual analysis of human motion is currently one of the most active research topics in computer vision. This strong interest is driven by a wide spectrum of promising applications in many areas such as virtual reality, smart surveillance, perceptual interface, etc. Human motion analysis concerns the detection, tracking and recognition of people, and more generally, the understanding of human behaviors, from image sequences involving humans. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of research on computer-vision-based human motion analysis. The emphasis is on three major issues involved in a general human motion analysis system, namely human detection, tracking and activity understanding. Various methods for each issue are discussed in order to examine the state of the art. Finally, some research challenges and future directions are discussed.     

适体电化学生物传感器研究进展

蛋白、基因和药物的快速、灵敏、特异性检测对疾病的预防、诊断和治疗具有十分重要的意义.适体是一类能与蛋白、药物等靶物质特异性、选择性结合的寡核苷酸片段.在总结适体电化学生物传感器的原理基础上,将适体电化学生物传感器分为非标记型适体电化学生物传感器和标记型适体电化学生物传感器,介绍了近三年来这两类传感器在蛋白和有机小分子等分析方面的研究进展.     

Recent developments in analytic solid modeling

Solid modeling has improved communications among the three major elements of an engineering process: design, analysis and manufacture. Recent developments in analytic solid modeling are reviewed that extend these improvements to conceptual design and to the representation of materials with internal geometry. Vector fields, Boolean operations on sculpted solids and new data links to engineering tomography in the PATRAN system are representative of these developments. Applications are reviewed using new advanced materials that indicate extensions of the current IGES system are needed to define material geometry for solids that include one or more fibrous phases. Working with these materials is a challenge facing an increasing number of designers and analysts in almost all fields of engineering.     

Recent developments in structural sensitivity analysis

The present paper reviews recent developments in two major areas of structural sensitivity analysis: sensitivity of static and transient response; and sensitivity of vibration and buckling eigenproblems. Recent developments from the standpoint of computational cost, accuracy, and ease of implementation are presented.In the area of static response, current interest is focused on sensitivity to shape variation and sensitivity of nonlinear response. Two general approaches are used for computing sensitivities: differentiation of the continuum equations followed by discretization, and the reverse approach of discretization followed by differentiation. It is shown that the choice of methods has important accuracy and implementation implications.In the area of eigenproblem sensitivity, there is a great deal of interest and significant progress in sensitivity of problems with repeated eigenvalues. The paper raises the issue of differentiability and continuity that is inherent to the repeated eigenvalue case.     

Recent developments in computer-integrated manufacturing in Japan

This paper reviews recent progress in the field of computer-integrated manufacturing in Japan. In addition to the introduction of many turnkey CAD/CAM systems in mechanical industries, various VAD/CAE/CAM systems have been successfully developed in the automobile and electrical appliance industries. These systems drastically reduce the time required for the manufacturing of new products and improve their quality. Productivity of batch production has been increased through installment of unattended flexible manufacturing systems. Similar systems have been applied to medium-size lot and medium-size volume production. The operations of spot welding, arc welding, painting and assembling have been automated by the use of industrial robots. Very recently, much effort is being devoted to the construction of computer network systems for the coordination of all the production activities. This will allow for reduction in production lead times and decrease in stock items in factory inventory.     

基于SUMO的应急组织本体模型及应用

应急组织是突发公共事件应急处置与指挥调度的核心.为了消除应急组织表达中的语义歧义,以SUMO为上位本体,构建了应急组织本体模型.用UML描述了该模型中的应急组织、应急资源和突发事件等概念及其之间的关系,详细分析了模型中的概念、关系、函数、公理和实例等5个本体要素,最后应用该模型对天津市突发公共事件总体应急预案的知识进行了表达,并运用该模型开发了应急预案管理系统原型.实验结果表明,该模型可以很好地表达应急组织相关概念及概念问的关系,消除了语义歧义.     

Recent developments in the computational aspects of MHD stability

In recent years variational methods have been applied successfully to the numerical determination of the spectra for simple linearized ideal magnetohydrodynamic models. Currently, several extensive efforts have been undertaken to implement these approaches to determine the normal modes for general axisymmetric toroidal equilibria, especially those applicable to the Tokamak experimental program. This paper reviews the motivation, the difficulties, and the various numerical approaches employed. Several simple illustrative results are given.     

Recent developments in computer-aided design and engineering

Developments in CAD and CAE are described, with particular reference to the area of solid modelling. This paper also outlines the efforts and successes (or otherwise) of some of the leading CAD companies. The need for standards and the problems inherent in their development are discussed. Finally, future trends in CAD are anticipated.