Analysis of the trust network proves beneficial to the users in Online Social Networks (OSNs) for decision-making. Since the construction of trust propagation paths connecting unfamiliar users is the preceding work of trust inference, it is vital to find appropriate trust propagation paths. Most of existing trust network discovery algorithms apply the classical exhausted searching approaches with low efficiency and/or just take into account the factors relating to trust without regard to the role of distrust relationships. To solve the issues, we first analyze the trust discounting operators with structure balance theory and validate the distribution characteristics of balanced transitive triads. Then, Maximum Indirect Referral Belief Search (MIRBS) and Minimum Indirect Functional Uncertainty Search (MIFUS) strategies are proposed and followed by the Optimal Trust Inference Path Search (OTIPS) algorithms accordingly on the basis of the bidirectional versions of Dijkstra's algorithm. The comparative experiments of path search, trust inference and edge sign prediction are performed on the Epinions data set. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can find the trust inference path with better efficiency and the found paths have better applicability to trust inference.

High-speed learning of neural networks using the multifrequency oscillation method is demonstrated for first time. During the learning of an analog neural network integrated circuit implementing the exclusive-OR' logic, weight and threshold values converge to steady states within 2 ms for a learning speed of 2 mega-patterns per second.

The present paper introduces a novel construction of ternary sequences having a zero-correlation zone. The cross-correlation function and the side-lobe of the auto-correlation function of the proposed sequence set is zero for the phase shifts within the zero-correlation zone. The proposed sequence set consists of more than one subset having the same member size. The correlation function of the sequences of a pair of different subsets, referred to as the inter-subset correlation function, has a wider zero-correlation zone than that of the correlation function of sequences of the same subset (intra-subset correlation function). The wide inter-subset zero-correlation enables performance improvement during application of the proposed sequence set. The proposed sequence set has a zero-correlation zone for periodic, aperiodic, and odd correlation functions.

A perfect array is an array for which the autocorrelation function is impulsive. A parameterization of perfect arrays of real numbers is presented. Perfect arrays are represented by trigonometric functions. Three formulae are obtained according to the parities of the size of the array. Examples corresponding to each formula are shown. In the case of 66 arrays, the existence of a set of perfect arrays having integer components is shown.

This paper describes a two-dimensional clustering scheme-based analysis of audible noises induced at telephone terminals. To analyze EMI sources that cause telephone-audible noise, we use a self-organizing map, which provides a way to map high-dimensional data onto a two-dimensional domain. Also, in order to discriminate EMI sources without using particular resonance frequencies that have peaks in the frequency domain, we use the energy spectra of telephone-audible noises as input for training the self-organizing map. In applying this method in actual environments, we measured ten kinds of telephone-audible noises (due to Radio waves and cross-talk noises, etc.) and then derived their energy spectra for eight frequency bands: 1-250 Hz, 250-500 Hz, 500-1 kHz, 1 k-1.5 kHz, 1.5 k-2 kHz, 2 k-3 kHz, 3 k-4 kHz, and over 4 kHz. We visually confirmed that the measured telephone-audible noise data could be projected onto the map in accordance with their properties, resulting in a combined depiction of the composition of derived energy spectra in the frequency bands. The proposed method can deal with multi-dimensional parameters, projecting its results onto a two-dimensional space in which the projected data positions give us an effective depiction of EMI sources that cause disturbances at telephone terminals.

In this paper, we consider the crosscorrelation of two interleaved sequences of period 4N constructed by Gong and Tang which has been proved to possess optimal autocorrelation. Results show that the interleaved sequences achieve the largest crosscorrelation value 4.

Weissman introduced a coding problem for channels with action-dependent states. In this coding problem, there are two encoders and a decoder. An encoder outputs an action that affects the state of the channel. Then, the other encoder outputs a codeword of the message into the channel by using the channel state. The decoder receives a noisy observation of the codeword, and reconstructs the message. In this paper, we show an exponential error bound for channels with action-dependent states based on the random coding argument.

In this paper, we consider a source coding with side information partially used at the decoder through a codeword. We assume that there exists a relative delay (or gap) of the correlation between the source sequence and side information. We also assume that the delay is unknown but the maximum of possible delays is known to two encoders and the decoder, where we allow the maximum of delays to change by the block length. In this source coding, we give an inner bound and an outer bound on the achievable rate region, where the achievable rate region is the set of rate pairs of encoders such that the decoding error probability vanishes as the block length tends to infinity. Furthermore, we clarify that the inner bound coincides with the outer bound when the maximum of delays for the block length converges to a constant.

This letter proposes a mechanical single-mode fiber-optic switch which interconnects a pair of probe fibers and pairs of line fibers to perform fault testing. The 16-channel switch array is fabricated and the switching performance is confirmed to be excellent.

This paper describes an analysis of IP-network traffic in terms of the time variation of self-similarity. To get a comprehensive view in analyzing the degree of long-range dependence (LRD) of IP-network traffic, this paper used a self-organizing map, which provides a way to map high-dimensional data onto a low-dimensional domain. Also, in the LRD-based analysis, this paper employed detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA), which is applicable to the analysis of long-range power-law correlations or LRD in non-stationary time-series signals. In applying this method to traffic analysis, this paper performed two kinds of traffic measurement: one based on IP-network traffic flowing into NTT Musashino R&D center (Tokyo, Japan) from the Internet and the other based on IP-network traffic flowing through at an interface point between an access provider (Tokyo, Japan) and the Internet. Based on sequential measurements of IP-network traffic, this paper derived corresponding values for the LRD-related parameter α of measured traffic. As a result, we found that the characteristic of self-similarity seen in the measured traffic fluctuated over time, with different time variation patterns for two measurement locations. In training the self-organizing map, this paper used three parameters: two α values for different plot ranges, and Shannon-based entropy, which reflects the degree of concentration of measured time-series data. We visually confirmed that the traffic data could be projected onto the map in accordance with the traffic properties, resulting in a combined depiction of the effects of the degree of LRD and network utilization rates. The proposed method can deal with multi-dimensional parameters, projecting its results onto a two-dimensional space in which the projected data positions give us an effective depiction of network conditions at different times.

We normally hold a lot of confidential information in hard disk drives and solid-state drives. When we want to erase such information to prevent the leakage, we have to overwrite the sequence of information with a sequence of symbols independent of the information. The overwriting is needed only at places where overwritten symbols are different from original symbols. Then, the cost of overwrites such as the number of overwritten symbols to erase information is important. In this paper, we clarify the minimum cost such as the minimum number of overwrites to erase information under weak and strong independence criteria. The former (resp. the latter) criterion represents that the mutual information between the original sequence and the overwritten sequence normalized (resp. not normalized) by the length of the sequences is less than a given desired value.

Optical time- and wavelength-domain paths in future very-high-speed optical communications networks are discussed taking into account trends in current optical transmission and optical signal processing technologies. It is important to investigate optical STM cross-connect systems for time-domain paths in the earlier research phase to ensure the deployment of optical cross-connect technology. The configuration of an optical cross-connect system and the issues that need to be investigated are presented. We also report, for the first time, a preliminary experiment of an optical STM cross-connect system, using 20 Gbit/s optical signals.

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes become very popular in channel coding, since they can achieve the performance close to maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding with linear complexity of the block length. Recently, Muramatsu et al. proposed a code using LDPC matrices for Slepian-Wolf source coding, and showed that their code can achieve any point in the achievable rate region of Slepian-Wolf source coding. However, since they employed ML decoding, their decoder needs to know the probability distribution of the source. Hence, it is an open problem whether there exists a universal code using LDPC matrices, where universal code means that the error probability of the code vanishes as the block length tends to infinity for all sources whose achievable rate region contains the rate pair of encoders. In this paper, we show the existence of a universal Slepian-Wolf source code using LDPC matrices for stationary memoryless sources.

This letter proposes a new-type electrostatically-driven fiber-optic micromechanical switch by fabrication of a 32-element switch array and examines its switching performances. Low-loss and high-extinction-ratio characteristics are confirmed.

We report a directly deposited dielectric multilayer onto an end face of a fluorinated polyimide optical waveguide by ion beam sputtering process. This dielectric multilayer (Ta2O5/SiO2) acts on a wavelength separation filter which passes 1310 nm wavelength signal and reflects 1550 nm wavelength signal.

A parameterization of perfect sequences over composition algebras over the real number field is presented. According to the proposed parameterization theorem, a perfect sequence can be represented as a sum of trigonometric functions and points on a unit sphere of the algebra. Because of the non-commutativity of the multiplication, there are two definitions of perfect sequences, but the equivalence of the definitions is easily shown using the theorem. A composition sequence of sequences is introduced. Despite the non-associativity, the proposed theorem reveals that the composition sequence from perfect sequences is perfect.

The multiple-access channel (MAC) becomes very popular in various communication systems, because multi-terminal communication systems have been widely used in practical systems, e.g., mobile phones and P2P, etc. For some MACs, it is known that feedback can enlarge the capacity region, where the capacity region is the set of rate pairs such that the error probability can be made arbitrarily small for sufficiently large block length. The capacity region for general MACs, which are not required to satisfy ergodicity and stationarity with perfect feedback was first shown by Tatikonda and Mitter without the proof, where perfect feedback means that the channel output is perfectly fed back to senders. In this paper, we generalize Tatikonda and Mitter's result to the case of deterministic feedback, where the values of deterministic functions of past channel outputs is fed back to senders. We show that the capacity region for general MACs with deterministic feedback can be represented by the information-spectrum formula introduced by Han and Verdu, and directed information introduced by Massey. We also investigate the compound MAC problem, the ε-coding problem, the strong converse property and the cost constraint problem for general MACs with deterministic feedback.

This paper deals with a broadcast network with a server and many users. The server has files of content such as music and videos, and each user requests one of these files, where each file consists of some separated layers like a file encoded by a scalable video coding. On the other hand, each user has a local memory, and a part of information of the files is cached (i.e., stored) in these memories in advance of users' requests. By using the cached information as side information, the server encodes files based on users' requests. Then, it sends a codeword through an error-free shared link for which all users can receive a common codeword from the server without error. We assume that the server transmits some layers up to a certain level of requested files at each different transmission rate (i.e., the codeword length per file size) corresponding to each level. In this paper, we focus on the region of tuples of these rates such that layers up to any level of requested files are recovered at users with an arbitrarily small error probability. Then, we give inner and outer bounds on this region.

The present paper introduces a novel method for the construction of a class of sequences that have a zero-correlation zone. For the proposed sequence set, both the cross-correlation function and the side lobe of the auto-correlation function are zero for phase shifts within the zero-correlation zone. The proposed scheme can generate a set of sequences of length 8n2 from an arbitrary Hadamard matrix of order n and a set of 2n trigonometric-like function sequences of length 4n. The proposed sequence construction can generate an optimal zero-correlation zone sequence set that satisfies the theoretical bound on the number of members for the given zero-correlation zone and sequence period. The auto-correlation function of the proposed sequence is equal to zero for all nonzero phase shifts. The peak factor of the proposed sequence set is √2, and the peak factor of a single trigonometric function is equal to √2. Assigning the sequences of the proposed set to a synthetic aperture ultrasonic imaging system would improve the S/N of the obtained image. The proposed sequence set can also improve the performance of radar systems. The performance of the applications of the proposed sequence sets are evaluated.

We consider the coding problem for lossy source coding with side information at the decoder, which is known as the Wyner-Ziv source coding problem. The goal of the coding problem is to find the minimum rate such that the probability of exceeding a given distortion threshold is less than the desired level. We give an equivalent expression of the minimum rate by using the chromatic number and notions of covering of a set. This allows us to analyze the coding problem in terms of graph coloring and covering.