Capsules are fundamental informative units that are introduced into capsule networks to manipulate the hierarchical presentation of patterns. The part-hole relationship of an entity is learned through capsule layers, using a routing-by-agreement mechanism that is approximated by a voting procedure. Nevertheless, existing routing methods are computationally inefficient. We address this issue by proposing a novel routing mechanism, namely “shortcut routing”, that directly learns to activate global capsules from local capsules. In our method, the number of operations in the routing procedure is reduced by omitting the capsules in intermediate layers, resulting in lighter routing. To further address the computational problem, we investigate an attention-based approach, and propose fuzzy coefficients, which have been found to be efficient than mixture coefficients from EM routing. Our method achieves on-par classification results on the Mnist (99.52%), smallnorb (93.91%), and affNist (89.02%) datasets. Compared to EM routing, our fuzzy-based and attention-based routing methods attain reductions of 1.42 and 2.5 in terms of the number of calculations.

Many scientific and technological resources (STR) cannot meet the needs of real demand-based industrial services. To address this issue, the characteristics of scientific and technological resource services (STRS) are analyzed, and a method of the optimal combination of demand-based STR based on multi-community collaborative search is then put forward. An optimal combined evaluative system that includes various indexes, namely response time, innovation, composability, and correlation, is developed for multi-services of STR, and a hybrid optimal combined model for STR is constructed. An evaluative algorithm of multi-community collaborative search is used to study the interactions between general communities and model communities, thereby improving the adaptive ability of the algorithm to random dynamic resource services. The average convergence value CMCCSA=0.00274 is obtained by the convergence measurement function, which exceeds other comparison algorithms. The findings of this study indicate that the proposed methods can preferably reach the maximum efficiency of demand-based STR, and new ideas and methods for implementing demand-based real industrial services for STR are provided.

Multiple-valued bent functions are functions with highest nonlinearity which makes them interesting for multiple-valued cryptography. Since the general structure of bent functions is still unknown, methods for construction of bent functions are often based on some deterministic criteria. For practical applications, it is often necessary to be able to construct a bent function that does not belong to any specific class of functions. Thus, the criteria for constructions are combined with exhaustive search over all possible functions which can be very CPU time consuming. A solution is to restrict the search space by some conditions that should be satisfied by the produced bent functions. In this paper, we proposed the construction method based on spectral subsets of multiple-valued bent functions satisfying certain appropriately formulated restrictions in Galois field (GF) and Reed-Muller-Fourier (RMF) domains. Experimental results show that the proposed method efficiently constructs ternary and quaternary bent functions by using these restrictions.

Blockchain-based voting, including liquid voting, has been extensively studied in recent years. However, it remains challenging to implement liquid voting on blockchain using Ethereum smart contract. The challenge comes from the gas limit, which is that the number of instructions for processing a ballot cannot exceed a certain amount. This restricts the application scenario with respect to algorithms whose time complexity is linear to the number of voters, i.e., O(n). As the blockchain technology can well share and reuse the resources, we study a model of liquid voting on blockchain and propose a fast algorithm, named Flash, to eliminate the restriction. The key idea behind our algorithm is to shift some on-chain process to off-chain. In detail, we first construct a Merkle tree off-chain which contains all voters' properties. Second, we use Merkle proof and interval tree to process each ballot with O(log n) on-chain time complexity. Theoretically, the algorithm can support up to 21000 voters with respect to the current gas limit on Ethereum. Experimentally, the result implies that the consumed gas fee remains at a very low level when the number of voters increases. This means our algorithm makes liquid voting on blockchain practical even for massive voters.

As an important type of science and technology service resource, energy consumption data play a vital role in the process of value chain integration between home appliance manufacturers and the state grid. Accurate electricity consumption prediction is essential for demand response programs in smart grid planning. The vast majority of existing prediction algorithms only exploit data belonging to a single domain, i.e., historical electricity load data. However, dependencies and correlations may exist among different domains, such as the regional weather condition and local residential/industrial energy consumption profiles. To take advantage of cross-domain resources, a hybrid energy consumption prediction framework is presented in this paper. This framework combines the long short-term memory model with an encoder-decoder unit (ED-LSTM) to perform sequence-to-sequence forecasting. Extensive experiments are conducted with several of the most commonly used algorithms over integrated cross-domain datasets. The results indicate that the proposed multistep forecasting framework outperforms most of the existing approaches.

This paper investigates a constrained distributed online optimization problem over strongly connected communication networks, where a local cost function of each agent varies in time due to environmental factors. We propose a distributed online projected subgradient method over unbalanced directed networks. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated by a regret which is defined by the error between the cumulative cost over time and the cost of the optimal strategy in hindsight. We show that a logarithmic regret bound can be achieved for strongly convex cost functions. We also demonstrate the validity of the proposed method through a numerical example on distributed estimation over a diffusion field.

Accurate and automatic quantitative cephalometry analysis is of great importance in orthodontics. The fundamental step for cephalometry analysis is to annotate anatomic-interested landmarks on X-ray images. Computer-aided automatic method remains to be an open topic nowadays. In this paper, we propose an efficient deep learning-based coarse-to-fine approach to realize accurate landmark detection. In the coarse detection step, we train a deep learning-based deformable transformation model by using training samples. We register test images to the reference image (one training image) using the trained model to predict coarse landmarks' locations on test images. Thus, regions of interest (ROIs) which include landmarks can be located. In the fine detection step, we utilize trained deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs), to detect landmarks in ROI patches. For each landmark, there is one corresponding neural network, which directly does regression to the landmark's coordinates. The fine step can be considered as a refinement or fine-tuning step based on the coarse detection step. We validated the proposed method on public dataset from 2015 International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI) grand challenge. Compared with the state-of-the-art method, we not only achieved the comparable detection accuracy (the mean radial error is about 1.0-1.6mm), but also largely shortened the computation time (4 seconds per image).

With the development of power market demand response capability, load aggregators play a more important role in the coordination between power grid and users. They have a wealth of user side business data resources related to user demand, load management and equipment operation. By building a business model of business data resource utilization and innovating the content and mode of intelligent power service, it can guide the friendly interaction between power supply, power grid and load, effectively improve the flexibility of power grid regulation, speed up demand response and refine load management. In view of the current situation of insufficient utilization of business resources, low user participation and imperfect business model, this paper analyzes the process of home appliance enterprises participating in peak shaving and valley filling (PSVF) as load aggregators, and expounds the relationship between the participants in the power market; a business service model of smart home appliance participating in PSVF based on cloud platform is put forward; the market value created by home appliance business resources for each participant under the joint action of market-oriented means, information technology and power consumption technology is discussed, and typical business scenarios are listed; taking Haier business resource analysis as an example, the feasibility of the proposed business model in innovating the content and value realization of intelligent power consumption services is proved.

In this letter, a method for the construction of polar codes based on the mutual information approximation (MIA) is proposed for the 4Tb/in2 two-dimensional inter-symbol interference (2D-ISI) channels, such as the bit-patterned magnetic recording (BPMR) and two-dimensional magnetic recording (TDMR). The basic idea is to exploit the MIA between the input and output of a 2D detector to establish a log-likelihood ratio (LLR) distribution model based on the MIA results, which compensates the gap caused by the 2D ISI channel. Consequently, the polar codes obtained by the optimization techniques previously developed for the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels can also have satisfactory performances over 2D-ISI channels. Simulated results show that the proposed polar codes can outperform the polar codes constructed by the traditional methods over 4Tb/in2 2D-ISI channels.

In this paper, we focus on developing efficient multi-configuration selection mechanisms by exploiting the spatial degrees of freedom (DoF), and leveraging the simple design benefits of spatial modulation (SM). Notably, the SM technique, as well as its variants, faces the following critical challenges: (i) the performance degradation and difficulty in improving the system performance for higher-level QAM constellations, and (ii) the vast complexity cost in precoder designs particularly for the increasing system dimension and amplitude-phase modulation (APM) constellation dimension. Given this situation, we first investigate two independent modulation domains, i.e., the original signal- and spatial-constellations. By exploiting the analog shift weighting and the virtual spatial signature technologies, we introduce the signature spatial modulation (SSM) concept, which is capable of guaranteing superior trade-offs among spectral- and cost-efficiencies, and system bit error rate (BER) performance. Besides, we develop an analog beamforming for SSM by solving the introduced unconstrained Lagrange dual function minimization problem. Numerical results manifest the performance gain brought by our developed analog beamforming for SSM.

This paper presents a distributed server allocation model with preventive start-time optimization against a single server failure. The presented model preventively determines the assignment of servers to users under each failure pattern to minimize the largest maximum delay among all failure patterns. We formulate the proposed model as an integer linear programming (ILP) problem. We prove the NP-completeness of the considered problem. As the number of users and that of servers increase, the size of ILP problem increases; the computation time to solve the ILP problem becomes excessively large. We develop a heuristic approach that applies simulated annealing and the ILP approach in a hybrid manner to obtain the solution. Numerical results reveal that the developed heuristic approach reduces the computation time by 26% compared to the ILP approach while increasing the largest maximum delay by just 3.4% in average. It reduces the largest maximum delay compared with the start-time optimization model; it avoids the instability caused by the unnecessary disconnection permitted by the run-time optimization model.

The automation of the home through Internet of Things (IoT) devices presents security challenges for protecting the safety and privacy of its inhabitants. In spite of standard wireless communication security protocols, an attacker inside the wireless communication range of the smart home can extract identifier and statistical information, such as the MAC address and packet lengths, from the encrypted wireless traffic of IoT devices to make inferences about the private activities of the user. In this paper, to prevent this breach on privacy in the wireless LAN, we accomplish the following three items. First, we demonstrate that performing traffic shaping simultaneously on the upload and download node is necessary; second, we demonstrate that traffic shaping by random packet generation is impracticable due to the excessive bandwidth requirement; third, we propose traffic shaping by variable padding durations to reduce the bandwidth requirement for injecting dummy traffic during periods of user activity and inactivity to decrease the confidence of the local attacker from identifying genuine user activity traffic. From our performance evaluation, we decreased the data generated on several WiFi and ZigBee-enabled IoT devices by over 15% by our proposal of variable padding durations compared to the conventional method of fixed padding durations at low attacker confidence.

This paper proposes out-of-bound signal demapping for lattice reduction-aided iterative linear receivers in overloaded MIMO channels. While lattice reduction aided linear receivers sometimes output hard-decision signals that are not contained in the modulation constellation, the proposed demapping converts those hard-decision signals into binary digits that can be mapped onto the modulation constellation. Even though the proposed demapping can be implemented with almost no additional complexity, the proposed demapping achieves more gain as the linear reception is iterated. Furthermore, we show that the transmission performance depends on bit mapping in modulations such as the Gray mapping and the natural mapping. The transmission performance is confirmed by computer simulation in a 6 × 2 MIMO system, i.e., the overloading ratio of 3. One of the proposed demapping called “modulo demapping” attains a gain of about 2 dB at the packet error rate (PER) of 10-1 when the 64QAM is applied.

In this paper, we propose a design method for a diplexer using a surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter, a multilayer ceramic filter, chip inductors, and chip capacitors. A controllable transmission zero can be created in the stopband by designing matching circuits based on the out-of-band characteristics of the SAW filter using this method. The proposed method can achieve good attenuation performance and a compact size because it does not use an additional resonator for creating the controllable transmission zero and the matching circuits are composed of only five components. A diplexer is designed for 2.4 GHz wireless systems and a global positioning system receiver using the proposed method. It is compact (8.0 mm × 8.0 mm), and the measurement results indicate good attenuation performance with the controllable transmission zero.

We design a silicon gate-all-around junctionless field-effect transistor (JLFET) using a step thickness gate oxide (GOX) by the Sentaurus technology computer-aided design simulation. We demonstrate the different gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) mechanism of the traditional inversion-mode field-effect transistor (IMFET) and JLFET. The off leakage in the IMFET is dominated by the parasitic bipolar junction transistor effect, whereas in the JLFET it is a result of the volume conduction due to the screening effect of the accumulated holes. With the introduction of a 4 nm thick-second GOX and remaining first GOX thickness of 1 nm, the tunneling generation is reduced at the channel-drain interface, leading to a decrease in the off current of the JLFET. A thicker second GOX has the total gate capacitance of JLFETs, where a 0.3 ps improved intrinsic delay is achieved. This alleviates the capacitive load of the transistor in the circuit applications. Finally, the short-channel effects of the step thickness GOX JLFET were investigated with a total gate length from 40 nm to 6 nm. The results indicate that the step thickness GOX JLFETs perform better on the on/off ratio and drain-induced barrier lowering but exhibit a small degradation on the subthreshold swing and threshold roll-off.

In this study, we conduct guided mode analyses for chalcogenide glass channel waveguides using As2Se3 core and As2S3 lower cladding to determine their single-mode conditions across the astronomical N-band (8-12µm). The results reveal that a single-mode operation over the band can be achieved by choosing a suitable core-thickness.

Copper sulfide nanoparticles were successfully prepared by laser ablation in liquid. CuS powders in deionized water were irradiated with nanosecond-pulsed laser (Nd:YAG, SHG) to prepare nanoparticles. Prepared nanoparticles were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and fluorospectrometer. According to the results of SEM and DLS, the primary and secondary particle size was decreased with the increase in laser fluence of laser ablation in liquid. The ratio of Cu and S of prepared nanoparticles were not changed. The absorbance of prepared copper sulfide nanoparticles in water was increased with the increase in laser fluence.

This paper theoretically presents that a terahertz (THz) oscillator using a resonant tunneling diode (RTD) and a rectangular cavity, which has previously been proposed, can radiate high output power by the impedance matching between RTD and load through metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitors. Based on an established equivalent-circuit model, an equation for output power has been deduced. By changing MIM capacitors, a matching point can be derived for various sizes of rectangular-cavity resonator. Simulation results show that high output power is possible by long cavity. For example, a high output power of 5 mW is expected at 1 THz.

A classification function maps a set of vectors into several classes. A machine learning problem is treated as a design problem for partially defined classification functions. To realize classification functions for MNIST hand written digits, three different architectures are considered: Single-unit realization, 45-unit realization, and 45-unit ×r realization. The 45-unit realization consists of 45 ternary classifiers, 10 counters, and a max selector. Test accuracy of these architectures are compared using MNIST data set.

Advancements in portable electrocardiographs have allowed electrocardiogram (ECG) signals to be recorded in everyday life. Machine-learning techniques, including deep learning, have been used in numerous studies to analyze ECG signals because they exhibit superior performance to conventional methods. A mobile ECG analysis device is needed so that abnormal ECG waves can be detected anywhere. Such mobile device requires a real-time performance and low power consumption, however, deep-learning based models often have too many parameters to implement on mobile hardware, its amount of hardware is too large and dissipates much power consumption. We propose a design flow to implement the outlier detector using an autoencoder on a low-end FPGA. To shorten the preparation time of ECG data used in training an autoencoder, an unsupervised learning technique is applied. Additionally, to minimize the volume of the weight parameters, a weight sparseness technique is applied, and all the parameters are converted into fixed-point values. We show that even if the parameters are reduced converted into fixed-point values, the outlier detection performance degradation is only 0.83 points. By reducing the volume of the weight parameters, all the parameters can be stored in on-chip memory. We design the architecture according to the CRS format, which is the well-known data structure of a sparse matrix, minimizing the hardware size and reducing the power consumption. We use weight sharing to further reduce the weight-parameter volumes. By using weight sharing, we could reduce the bit width of the memories by 60% while maintaining the outlier detection performance. We implemented the autoencoder on a Digilent Inc. ZedBoard and compared the results with those for the ARM mobile CPU for a built-in device. The results indicated that our FPGA implementation of the outlier detector was 12 times faster and 106 times more energy-efficient.