Andrew A. Adams

Computer Algebra Meets Automated Theorem Proving: Integrating Maple and PVS

We describe an interface between version 6 of the Maple computer algebra system with the PVS automated theorem prover. The interface is designed to allow Maple users access to the robust and checkable proof environment of PVS. We also extend this environment by the provision of a library of proof strategies for use in real analysis. We demonstrate examples using the interface and the real analysis library. These examples provide proofs which are both illustrative and applicable to genuine symbolic computation problems.

Perspex Machine VIII: axioms of transreal arithmetic

Transreal arithmetic is a total arithmetic that contains real arithmetic, but which has no arithmetical exceptions. It allows the specification of the Universal Perspex Machine which unifies geometry with the Turing Machine. Here we axiomatise the algebraic structure of transreal arithmetic so that it provides a total arithmetic on any appropriate set of numbers. This opens up the possibility of specifying a version of floating-point arithmetic that does not have any arithmetical exceptions and in which every number is a first-class citizen. We find that literal numbers in the axioms are distinct. In other words, the axiomatisation does not require special axioms to force non-triviality. It follows that transreal arithmetic must be defined on a set of numbers that contains{-∞,-1,0,1,∞,&pphi;} as a proper subset. We note that the axioms have been shown to be consistent by machine proof.

The Japanese sense of information privacy

We analyse the contention that privacy is an alien concept within Japanese society, put forward in various presentations of Japanese cultural norms at least as far back as Benedict in The chrysanthemum and the sword: patterns of Japanese culture. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1946. In this paper we distinguish between information privacy and physical privacy. As we show, there is good evidence for social norms of limits on the sharing and use of personal information (i.e. information privacy) from traditional interactions in Japanese society, as well as constitutional evidence from the late 19th century (in the Meiji Constitution of 1889). In this context the growing awareness of the Japanese public about problems with networked information processing by public sector and commercial organisations from the 1980s (when a law governing public sector use of personal information was first passed) to recent years (when that law was updated and a first law governing commercial use of personal information was adopted) are not the imposition or adoption of foreign practices nor solely an attempt to lead Japanese society into coherence with the rest of the OECD. Instead they are drawing on the experience of the rest of the developed world in developing legal responses to the breakdown of social norms governing interchange and use of personal information, stressed by the architectural changes wrought by networked information processing capabilities. This claim is supported by consideration of standard models of Japanese social interactions as well as of Supreme Court judgements declaring reasonable expectations of protection of privacy to hold in Japan.

Copyright Issues for MKM

We present an overview of the current situation and recent and expected future developments in areas of copyright law and economics relevant to Mathematical Knowledge Management.

The Development of Japanese Data Protection

In 2003, Japan enacted its first private-sector data protection legislation, complementing the concurrent update of the public-sector regulations. The publicly stated goal of the Japanese government was to support trade with Europe by providing suitably strong protection to qualify for European data-export approval. In this paper we examine the internal social and political pressures that led to the adoption of apparently strong private-sector data protection, despite prior long resistance to such a move. The pressures we have identified include direct and indirect effects of Japanese economic difficulties since the early 1990s, media pressure to update public-sector rules because of the introduction of Juki Net, and similar media pressure to apply similar rules to the private sector. We also examine the role that the technology of kanji input systems played on the lack of urgency in demands for private-sector data protection until 2000.