This paper provides a review of contemporary methodologies and APIs for parallel programming, with representative technologies selected in terms of target system type (shared memory, distributed, and hybrid), communication patterns (one-sided and two-sided), and programming abstraction level. We analyze representatives in terms of many aspects including programming model, languages, supported platforms, license, optimization goals, ease of programming, debugging, deployment, portability, level of parallelism, constructs enabling parallelism and synchronization, features introduced in recent versions indicating trends, support for hybridity in parallel execution, and disadvantages. Such detailed analysis has led us to the identification of trends in high-performance computing and of the challenges to be addressed in the near future. It can help to shape future versions of programming standards, select technologies best matching programmers’ needs, and avoid potential difficulties while using high-performance computing systems.

The paper presents a novel design of a web-based Safe City & Coastal Zone GIS (SCCZ-GIS) which integrates data acquired from different remote sensing and geospatial data sources for monitoring the security of the coastal zone, its inhabitants and Critical Infrastructure. The system utilizes several innovative technologies and directly co-operates with different remote sensing data sources and services, like a satellite ground station or ESA Service Support Environment. The results of analysis are ready in quasi real time, e.g., immediately after receiving the new scene of satellite imagery. Also, the system is accessible for authorized users by a client application oriented either to a browser-based personal computer platform, or to mobile devices.

The article discusses damages of essential tribological associations in crankshaft and piston systems of large power two-stroke engines used as main engines, which take place during transport tasks performed by those ships. Difficulties are named which make preventing those damages impossible, despite the fact that the technical state of engines of this type is identified with the aid of complex diagnostic systems making use of advanced computer technology. It is demonstrated that one of causes of the damages is the lack of research activities oriented on recognising random properties of the loads leading to those damages. A proposal is made for the loads acting at a given time t on tribological associations in crankshaft and piston systems of internal combustion engines used as main engines to be considered as random variables Q t . At the same time the loads examined within a given time interval t r ≤ t ≤ t z would be considered stochastic processes {Q(t): t ≥ 0}. Essential properties of the loads of the abovementioned tribological associations are named and explained by formulating hypotheses which need empirical verification. Interval estimation is proposed for estimating the expected value E(Q t ) of the load Q t acting at time t. A relation is indicated between the mechanical load and the thermal load acting on tribological associations in the ship main engine crankshaft and piston system.A suggestion is formulated that a stochastic form of the relation between these types of load is to be searched for, rather than statistic relation, and a proposal is made to measure the intensity (strength) of the stochastic relation using the Czuprow's convergence coefficient.

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The article presents the client-server approach in the navigation system for the blind-"Voice Maps". The authors were among the main creators of the prototype and currently the commercialization phase is being finished. In the implemented prototype only exemplary, limited spatial data were used, therefore they could be stored and analyzed (for pathfinding process) in the mobile device's memory without any difficulties. The resulting increase of spatial data scale and complexity required a modification of the data storage and operation. Consequently, the decision was made to maintain a central spatial database, which is accessed remotely. After that modification, the mobile application fetches the required batch of spatial data (with the pathfinding and search results) from the central server through the mobile internet connection, which has also become necessary for other purposes (e.g. voice recognition). The authors present the advantages and disadvantages of this new approach along with the results of the server operational tests. http://www.transnav.eu the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation Volume 7 Number 3