In this paper, a Micro-Step-Separating System is realized for investigating phenomena of initial state of separating contacts. This system can control the contact separation in a discrete way with about 0.5 µm step. By using this system, we observed a relationship between contact voltage and contact separation gap. Ag contacts were observed. The observation showed that the contact voltage rose up and then fell down to the stable voltage at each step separation. From this observation, we expect to elucidate the contact bridge phenomena with more sophisticated way because we can approach them under the thermal equilibrium condition.

We report a new approach to creating a 'solid ink' and direct patterning of InAs nanowires on a Si substrate using dip-pen nanolithography (DPN). The normal method to prepare an 'ink' is a solution-based process using sonication to liquidize nanoparticles, which we call 'liquid ink' in this paper. As ink-solution-based DPN patterning has been prevalent in most studies, herein we propose a new method, 'solid inking', by which the inking process is solution-free. In our work, InAs nanowires were transferred to an AFM tip by directly scanning the tip over an InAs nanowire wafer at humidity over 80%. By this method, the preparation of ink and the 'inking' process is combined into one step, and a large amount of nanowires can be collected onto the tip to ensure the formation of a continuous ink flow for the direct patterning.

The mechanism of dark bridge formed with very slow contact separating speed was empirically shown with some discussions from the experimental results which the authors have obtained by using the cantilever system for controlling contact gap. By analyzing the obtained results, we will assume some concept of formation mechanism of dark bridge. Since the thermal effect is inevitable in the bridge formation, this will be inferred from two points; one is the a-spot change at initial state of bridge forming, and another one is the thermal expansion due to bridge current that affects the shape of bridge. This paper will show from these two points the conceptual bridge formation mechanism in case of non-melting state of contact bridge which is called here dark bridge.

From the authors' investigations on the initial instantaneous phenomena in breaking contacts, we have found the two types of bridge, i.e. one is a brightened (luminous) bridge and another one is a dark (non-luminous) one. This paper discusses on the dark bridge formed between contacts when the separation speed is very small. The following items are mentioned in this paper: a) bridge model and theory on the relationship between bridge length and diameter. b) thermal flow from bridge to its vicinity, c) deduction of a thermal equilibrium condition from the calculation of thermal flow time constant. d) experimental works, e) discussions and f) conclusions. In conclusion, we see the coincidence of the tendency of the theory and experiment carried out on the relationship between bridge diameter and length.

We present a novel training method for recognizing traffic sign symbols. The symbol images captured by a car-mounted camera suffer from various forms of image degradation. To cope with degradations, similarly degraded images should be used as training data. Our method artificially generates such training data from original templates of traffic sign symbols. Degradation models and a GA-based algorithm that simulates actual captured images are established. The proposed method enables us to obtain training data of all categories without exhaustively collecting them. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method for traffic sign symbol recognition.

Using the chirped grating with temperature control, we demonstrated the adaptive dispersion compensation at 40 Gbit/s RZ transmission. The simple monitoring of the 40 GHz frequency component enables us to automatic control of the adaptive dispersion compensator.

Using the chirped grating with temperature control, we demonstrated the adaptive dispersion compensation at 40 Gbit/s RZ transmission. The simple monitoring of the 40 GHz frequency component enables us to automatic control of the adaptive dispersion compensator.

In this paper, we developed the latest IoT honeypots to capture IoT malware currently on the loose, analyzed IoT malware with new features such as persistent infection, developed malware removal methods to be provided to IoT device users. Furthermore, as attack behaviors using IoT devices become more diverse and sophisticated every year, we conducted research related to various factors involved in understanding the overall picture of attack behaviors from the perspective of incident responders. As the final stage of countermeasures, we also conducted research and development of IoT malware disabling technology to stop only IoT malware activities in IoT devices and IoT system disabling technology to remotely control (including stopping) IoT devices themselves.

All-optical wavelength conversion and modulation format conversion will be needed in the next generation high-speed optical communication networks. We have proposed and successfully demonstrated the error free operation of all-optical modulation format conversion from NRZ-OOK to RZ-BPSK using SOA based MZI wavelength converter. In this paper, we experimentally investigate the wavelength conversion characteristics of the proposed NRZ-OOK/RZ-BPSK modulation format converter. The results show that error free modulation format conversion is possible over the entire C band.

A new algorithm for the LogMAP decoding of linear block codes is considered. The decoding complexity is evaluated analytically and by computer simulation. The proposed algorithm is an improvement of the recursive LogMAP algorithm proposed by the authors. The recursive LogMAP algorithm is more efficient than the BCJR algorithm for low-rate codes, but the complexity grows considerably large for high-rate codes. The aim of the proposed algorithm is to solve the complexity explosion of the recursive LogMAP algorithm for high-rate codes. The proposed algorithm is more efficient than the BCJR algorithm for well-known linear block codes.

Methodologies for more efficient Raman amplification and a more suitable modulation format for 40 Gbit/s WDM unrepeatered transmission are investigated. Management of the fiber effective area is proposed to realize low noise distributed Raman amplification. An Aeff management technique in which low-Aeff fiber is located in a median section instead of the last section, was confirmed numerically and experimentally to improve the OSNR and Q-factor. Carrier-suppressed-return-to-zero (CS-RZ) modulation has the advantage of reducing fiber-nonlinearity effects and permitting denser multiplexing of the wavelengths. 40 Gbit/s 32-channel unrepeatered WDM transmission over 202 km was demonstrated employing the proposed methodologies.

In this paper, experimental data of non-arcing circuit breaking phenomena in electrical contacts are presented. A dark bridge that is a non-luminous bridge between electrical contacts is an effective factor for the non-arcing circuit break. A facility of a cantilever system was established to precisely control a position of an electrode. By using this facility, dark bridges between contacts were made and the dark bridges were observed by a microscopic camera system.