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The article analyzes existing and proposed American and foreign standards for one inch perforated paper tape for information interchange. This standard covers the physical dimensions of the paper tape and its perforations. The unpunched tape shall have an overall nominal width of 1,000 inch and shall have a nominal thickness of .004 inch. The tape shall be used for recording up to eight levels of information across the tape. The longitudinal center line of the feed holes shall be parallel with the reference edge of the tape and located .392 inch plus or minus .004 inch from the reference edge. The feed holes in the tape shall be fully punched and round with a diameter of .046 inch plus .002 minus .001 inch. The code holes in the tape shall be fully punched and round with a diameter of .072 inch plus or minus .002 inch. All holes punched in the tape shall nominally center on the true intersection of longitudinal and perpendicular transverse center lines spaced .100 inch apart.

The article presents several research papers relating to algorithms. The paper "Greatest Common Divisor of n Integers and Multipliers" presents an algorithm which calculates the greatest common divisor, IGCD, of n integers. Details of the method and comparisons to other algorithms are also given. The algorithm is a new version of the Euclidean algorithm for n integers. The n-1 calculations of the greatest common divisor of two integers is accomplished by means of a modified version of the Blankinship algorithm. The paper "Exponential Integral Ei (x)" presents the results of one phase of research carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under Contract NAS7-100, sponsored by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It presents an algorithm which was compiled and executed without any modification on a UNIVAC 1108 computer. An unfortunate precedent has been set in several recent algorithms of using an illegal FORTRAN construction.

The article presents information on various chapters of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) across the U.S. The Greater Rio Grande Chapter of ACM has recently extracted from its files a list of the titles of all technical papers presented at Chapter meetings since its inception in 1957. Using a program developed by D.K. Robbins of Sandia Corp., a KWIC-type listing of permuted titles of these papers has been made. This listing has been distributed to all members of the Chapter. Topics and speakers at ACM Chapters across the U.S. indicate the current trends of interest in computer science and data processing. The ACM Tidewater Chapter is sponsoring this spring a professional development course on "Real-Time Computing." The course is given by the Chapter's professional development chairman, Cecil Frost, who is applications staff specialist for Control Data Corp. At its April 21, 1966 meeting, the Westchester-Fairfield Chapter heard William Orchard-Hays speak on "Linear Programming of Computational Techniques."

The article presents information on the report "Outlook for Computer Process Control," prepared by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The report discusses the effects of computers on employment of office personnel. According to the report, no signs have been found of the long-feared technological unemployment caused by the use of computers. The BLS report covered applications in six process industries. They included: control of ammonia and ethylene processes in chemical plants; basic oxygen and hot strip mill operations in steel mills; catalytic cracking and reforming, and crude distillation units in petroleum refineries; electric generating equipment in power plants; and papermaking machines in paper plants. The study found that improved cost benefit ratios were the chief incentive for installation of process control at all survey plants. These outweighed heavy initial investments in time and money, ranging from $200,000 to $1,5 million, and from 2 to 21 years for individual projects.

This section presents news briefs related to the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in the U.S. Editor-in-chief William S. Dorn is soliciting papers for the tutorial and survey journal of the ACM. The ACM has decided to reprint "Proceedings of the Decision Tables Symposium, 1926." Paul Armer of RAND Corp. was elected president of the American Federation of Information Processing Societies.

Presents the proposed standards for the shapes and sizes of alphanumeric characters and symbols to be used in Optical Character Recognition (OCR) systems in the United States. Information on the specifications and quality' control criteria pertaining to individual OCR characters and marks; Specification that the printed character should present as high a contrast as possible to the background document; Presentation of paper characteristics and measurements.

The article reports on developments concerning the activities of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) in the United States as of February 1971. ACM has responded to the dip in employment of computer professionals by initiating a program of professional placement seminars. Each seminar consists of three segments: a presentation by the seminar director; a panel discussion by placement and employer personnel followed by a question and answer period; and mock interview sessions conducted on an individual basis between panel members and attendees. Patrick C. Fischer has accepted from Editorial Board Chairman Eric Weiss appointment as Editor-in-Chief, Special Publications. Editor-in-Chief M. Stuart Lynn has announced that, to encourage interest in computer technology among college undergraduates, Communications will annually sponsor a Student Paper Competition.

The article reports that at the invitation of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Association for Computing Machinery has recently cosponsored a three-and-one-half day technical conference in Tokyo, in conjunction with Commerce's six-day exhibition of U.S. computer equipment. Computer '70 and the Computer '70 Colloquium, as the show and conference were called, were held at Tokyo's Harumi Pier, from October 12-14, 1970. Over 19,000 members of Japan's data processing community queued up to view at the open admission exhibition the products of 65 U.S. manufacturers. In addition, over 350 persons, most in key managerial and research positions, attended the Colloquium where, to defray expenses, attendance was on a fee basis--about $100 for the full conference and $25 for one day. Also participating in the seven half-day sessions were 27 U.S. computing experts and 10 leading Japanese professionals, whose papers were presented simultaneously in English and Japanese. The timeliness of the topics and the caliber of the participants can be recognized from the program.

The article provides information on the upcoming symposiums related to the computer engineering in 1966. A one-day symposium will be sponsored by ACM, SIAM and Florida State University on March 14 on "The Recommended Impact of Computer Applications on the Undergraduate Mathematics Curriculum." The four New York Metropolitan Area chapters will hold a one-day symposium in New York City on March 18. A session of invited papers will be devoted to "The Application of Computers to the Problems of a Metropolitan Society." In addition, a session of contributed papers on any topics in the computer field is now in the process of being organized . Automatic Data Processing exhibits and workshops headline the Federal Government Accountants Association 15th National Symposium, in Minneapolis, June 15-17. Topics include "Case Studies in ADP," "Programming: The Modern Budget Officer's Tool," and "The Future of Computers in the Federal Government." The Instrument Society of America (ISA) has invited papers for presentation at the 21st Annual ISA Conference and Exhibit, to be conducted October 24-27 in New York City. Theme of the meeting is "Instrumentation for an Urban Society."

The article presents a list of forthcoming events related to computer science scheduled to held in various parts of the United States. A Forum on the PL/I Language will take place in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1967 under the aegis of the ACM Special Interest Committee on Programming Languages. The meeting has been organized to further the understanding and improvement of PL/I by providing an open forum for serious discussion of the language. Participants in the forum should have an active interest in PL/I, be familiar with the current language manual. Those who wish to contribute short papers are urged to reply as promptly as possible so that advance distribution of the papers can be arranged. A Symposium on the design and implementation of interactive systems for experimental applied mathematics will be held on August 26-28, 1967. The theme of the Symposium concerns the development of new hardware and software on interactive computer systems for online mathematical assistance.

Several letters to the editor about the inequality of justice and legal proceedings in the U.S., the social security number, and the criteria for accepting paper in publications of the Association for Computing Machinery are presented.

The article presents new briefs related to latest developments related to computer science in the United States. It reports that the legislation to classify computer-produced bills and statements of accounts as first class mail was introduced by Senator A. S. Monroney of Oklahoma. The Academic Computer Center at the United States Military Academy, West Point, would like to establish contact with persons having a strong programming and computer science background who are entering the army. The installation is highly student-oriented, has an operational in-house, 15-terminal, time sharing/remote batch system and has run over 150,000 programs this academic year. It is primarily interested in persons who will enter the service as enlisted men rather than officers. The Australian Computer Society, which was formally organized by a combination of a number of state societies, is establishing a journal at the professional level in the data, information processing, and computing fields. Papers are invited for publication in the inaugural and following issues of the Journal.

The article presents news on the uses of computer technologies in the various departments and industries of the United States. It reports about the uses of computer in the U.S. Congress. As part of an overall reorganization, the U.S. Congress is looking at the use of data processing in the Legislative Reference Service, the part of the Library of Congress that serves as a research arm of the Congress. Bills introduced in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House will permit several computer applications in the Legislative Reference Service. Fisher-Stevens Inc., a data processing firm in Clifton, New Jersey, has been selected by the American Physical Society, headquartered at Brookhaven National Laboratories, to study and make recommendations on automation of its editorial procedures. The Society expects to use a computer to aid in the selection of qualified referees for hundreds of technical papers, which are submitted each month. The U.S. National Bureau of Standard's Institute for Applied Technology has analyzed the tufted carpet industry by means of a mathematical model, which stimulates operations of the industry and makes it possible to explore the consequences of change in policy.

The article presents information on congresses related to the computer and information processing industry in the U.S. The first annual IEEE Computer Conference will be held at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago on September 6-8. The conference will be sponsored by the IEEE Computer Group in cooperation with Northwestern University and the IEEE Chicago section. GUIDE International, an organization for large-scale IBM computer users, will hold its next regular session at the Americana Hotel in New York City, May 23-26. The Instrument Society of America (ISA) has invited papers for presentation at the 22nd Annual ISA Conference and Exhibit, to be conducted in Chicago, Illinois, during September 11-14, 1967. The four-day conference will highlight "Instrumentation in the Service of Man." The Eighth International Electronic Circuit Packaging Symposium will be held concurrently with WESCON 67 in San Francisco, during August 21-22, 1967, one week before ACM's National Conference in Washington D.C.

This article presents information related to the 5th Annual Symposium of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of ACM. On October 29, 1965, the topic "Computers--Software for Online Systems," was discussed. Over 300 people attended this symposium which reflects the great interest in the topic. The papers given represented the broad interests in the time-sharing field of the diverse organizations from government, business and universities. The impact of online systems has been felt in each of these areas. The Octopus operating system for the Control Data 6600 is one of the first steps at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Livermore, California, to interconnect various types of computers and storage devices. This system provides a response within reasonable time to users located at remote teletypes. Up to 100 programs are known to the system at one time, of which ten are active and in main core. Programming the Octopus system has required two calendar-years and fifteen man-years.

The article discusses the reaction of the Uniformed Firefighters Association (UFA) on the claim made by the New York City Fire Department that by the use of a computerized model, the association has achieved a savings of $7 million. The deployment of men and equipment under all possible situations is stimulated and evaluated by the model. The UFA's president, Michael J. Maye, calls the claim of $7 million saving a paper figure. He says that $600,000 spent on computer studies might better have been spent on more manpower and latest tools.

The article reports on certain developments pertaining to the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). The Special Interest Committee on Programming Languages of the ACM will issue an information bulletin on the string manipulation language SNOBOL. This bulletin will be distributed as an occasional supplement to SICPLAN Notices, the Committee's informal newsletter. The bulletin will also be used as a forum for the discussion of problems associated with the use and implementation of the language. At a recent meeting of the ACM Committee for Professional Activities of the Blind, it was decided that Science for the Blind, a small nonprofit organization, should act as a central depository for all literature in the computing field that is recorded for the blind. ACM will hold its 20th anniversary meeting- at the Sheraton Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. on August 29-31, 1967. Papers to be presented will stress historical perspective, present significant new developments, or explore trends and potential developments.

The article discusses the latest developments related to the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). An interdepartmental Federal Government panel or task force has been organized by Burton W. Adkinson of the National Science Foundation's Office of Science Information Service to look into the scientific information activities of the U.S. The ACM Southeast region will offer prize for the best paper presented by an undergraduate at the national conference which is going to be held on August 24-26, 1965.