Noise properties in cascaded erbium-doped fiber amplifiers used in subcarrier multiplexed analog video distribution systems are experimentally examined. The noise dependency on signal wavelength is measured for a 4 stage EDFA cascade, and it is shown that an optical narrow bandpass filter is not necessary after each fiber amplifier for signal wavelength of 1.5511.560µm and that optical bandpass filters are necessary for shorter wavelength than 1.551µm to avoid the noise degradation by spontaneous-spontaneous beat noise. Finally, the attainable distribution loss is estimated for AM and FM video distribution systems.

A high resolution iterative algorithm for estimating the direction-of-arrival of multiple wide band sources is proposed in this paper. For equally spaced array structure, two Unitary Transform based approaches are proposed in frequency domain for signal subspace processing in both coherent multipath and incoherent environment. Given a priori knowledge of the initial estimates of DOA, with proper spatial prefiltering to separate multiple groups of closely spaced sources, our proposed algorithm is shown to have high resolution capability even in coherent multipath environment without reducing the angular resolution, compared with the use of subarray. Compared with the conventional algorithm, the performance by the proposed algorithm is shown by the simulations to be improved under low Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) while the performance is not degraded under high SNR. Moreover the computation burden involved in the eigencomputation is largely reduced by introducing the Pesudo-Hermitian matrix approximation.

Optical interconnection is a rapidly expanding field of optical signal transmission, but it places some stringent requirements on optical devices. This paper introduces the current device characteristics of lasers and photodiodes and discusses the possibility of intra/inter wafer optical interconnection.

This paper describes design issues of a speech dialogue system, the evaluation of the system, and the data collection of spontaneous speech in a transportation guidance domain. As it is difficult to collect spontaneous speech and to use a real system for the collection and evaluation, the phenomena related with dialogues have not been quantitatively clarified yet. The authors constructed a speech dialogue system which operates in almost real time, with acceptable recognition accuracy and flexible dialogue control. The system was used for spontaneous speech collection in a transportation guidance domain. The system performance evaluated in the domain is the understanding rate of 84.2% for the utterances within the predefined grammar and the lexicon. Also some statistics of the spontaneous speech collected are given.

In this paper, we investigate the round complexity of zero-knowledge interactive proof systems of possession of knowledge, and mainly show that if a relation R has a three move blackbox simulation zero-knowledge interactive proof system of possession of knowledge, then there exists a probabilistic polynomial time algorithm that on input x{0,1}*, outputs y such that (x,y)R with overwhelming probability if xdom R, and outputs "" with probability 1 if x dom R. The result above can not be generalized to zero-knowledge interactive proof systems of possession of knowledge with more than four moves, because it is known that there exists a "four" move blackbox simulation perfect zero-knowledge interactive proof system of possession of knowledge for a nontrivial relation R.

This paper reviews the development of low temperature poly Si TFT, scattering light valves addressed by TFTs and a brighter video projection system using them, with the attensin of their optical aspects. The first includes main feature which are laser induced crystallization of PECVD a-Si in almost entirely solid phase by high speed scanning CW Ar laser beam. The second includes photo-polymerization induced phase separation method for the preparation of liquid crystal polymer composite (LCPC) material and scattering light valve with low driving voltage of 6 Vrms. The last gives a brighter video screen image with high contrast ratio and includes higher light efficiency through LCPC light valves and projection lens unit by about four times than that of conventional LC light valves with polarizers.

A system is constructed for the processing of question-answer dialogue as a subsystem of the speech response device. In order to increase the adaptability to dialogue topics, rules for dialogue processing are classified into three groups; universal rules, topic-dependent rules and task-dependent rules, and example-based description is adopted for the second group. The system is disigned to operate only with information on the content words of the user input. As for speech synthesis, a function is included in the system to control the focal position. Introduction and guidance of ski areas are adopted as the dialogue domain, and a prototype system is realized on a computer. The dialogue example performed with the prototype indicates the propriety of our method for dialogue processing.

This paper describes issues on dialogue corpora for speech and natural language research. Speech and text corpora of dialogue have recently become more important for the development and the evaluation of speech and text-based dialogue systems. However, the design and the construction of dialogue corpora themselves still remain research issues and many problems have not yet been clarified. Many kinds of corpus are necessary to study various aspects of dialogues. On the other hand, each corpus should contain a certain quantity for each purpose in order to make it statistically meaningful. This paper presents the issues related with design and creation of dialogue corpora; the selection of a task domain, transcription conventions, situations for the collection, syntactic and semantic ill-formedness, and politeness. Future directions for dialogue corpora creation are also discussed.

This paper describes a general interface system for speech input and output and a dialog management system, MASCOTS, which is a component of the interface system. The authors designed this interface system, paying attention to its generality; that is, it is not dependent on the problem-solving system it is connected to. The previous version of MASCOTS dealt with the dialog processing only for the speech input based on the SR-plans. We extend MASCOTS to cover the speech output to the user. The revised version of MASCOTS, named MASCOTS II, makes use of topic information given by the topic packet network (TPN) which models the topic transitions in dialogs. Input and output messages are described with the concept representation based on the case structure. For the speech input, prediction of user's utterance is focused and enhanced by using the TPN. The TPN compensates for the shortages of the SR-plan and improves the accuracy of prediction as to stimulus utterances of the user. As the dialog processing in the speech output, MASCOTS II extracts emphatic words and restores missing words to the output message if necessary, e.g., in order to notify the results of speech recognition. The basic mechanisms of the SR-plan and the TPN are shared between the speech input and output processes in MASCOTS II.

This paper describes a task-oriented speech dialogue system based on spontaneous speech understanding and response generation (TOSBURG). The system has been developed for a fast food ordering task using speaker-independent keyword-based spontaneous speech understanding. Its purpose being to understand the user's intention from spontaneous speech, the system consists of a noise-robust keyword-spotter, a semantic keyword lattice parser, a user-initiated dialogue manager and a multimodal response generator. After noise immunity keyword-spotting is performed, the spotted keyword candidates are analyzed by a keyword lattice parser to extract the semantic content of the input speech. Then, referring to the dialogue history and context, the dialogue manager interprets the semantic content of the input speech. In cases where the interpretation is ambiguous or uncertain, the dialogue manager invites the user to confirm verbally the system's understanding of the speech input. The system's response to the user throughout the dialogue is multimodal; that is, several modes of communication (synthesized speech, text, animated facial expressions and ordered food items) are used to convey the system's state to the user. The object here is to emulate the multimodal interaction that occurs between humans, and so achieve more natural and efficient human-computer interaction. The real-time dialogue system has been constructed using two general purpose workstations and four DSP accelerators (520MFLOPS). Experimental results have shown the effectiveness of the newly developed speech dialogue system.

In the paper entitled "The effect of varying routing probability in two parallel queues with dynamic routing under a threshold-type scheduling", Kojima et al. derive an expression in the form of a product of powers for the state probabilities of a threshold-type shortest queue problem. In this note it is demonstrated that this expression is essentially more complicated and has the form of an infinite sum of products of powers. In fact, Kojima et al. find the first term in this infinite sum only.

We propose a new randomized version of DES in which a key-dependent swapping is used to strengthen DES and DES-like cryptosystems against differential cryptanalysis. This new scheme, called RDES, decreases the probability of success in differential attack by decreasing the characteristic probability. The characteristic is the effect of particular differences in plaintext pairs on the differences in the resultant ciphertext pairs. The characteristic probability for the n-round RDES is 2-n+1 times that for the n-round DES. As for the differential cryptanalysis based on characteristics, the 16-round RDES is as strong as the about 20-round DES. Encryption/decryption speed of n-round RDES is almost the same as that of the n-round DES.

This paper discusses the problems facing spoken dialogue processing and the prospects for future improvements. Research on elemental topics like speech recognition, speech synthesis and language understanding has led to improvements in the accuracy and sophistication of each area of study. First, in order to handle a spoken dialogue, we show the necessity for information exchanges between each area of processing as seen through the analysis of spoken dialogue characteristics. Second, we discuss how to integrate those processes and show that the memory-basad approach to spontaneous speech interpretation offers a solution to the problem of process integration. The key to this is setting up a mental state affected by both speech and linguistic information. Finally, we discuss how those mental states are structured and a method for constructing them.

Recent progress on photoexcited process applications to fabricating of VLSI and flat panel devices in Japan has been reviewed. The excimer laser melt technique makes it possible to form large-grain poly-Si film on a glass substrate, improving TFT electrical characteristics, and to fill metals into high-aspect-ratio contact holes in VLSI metallization. Scanning of CW laser in poly-Si film led to growth of a single-crystal Si layer on SiO2 to fabricate 3-D (dimensional) devices successfully. Direct writing with pyrolytic reaction was put into practice for interconnection restructuring. In the photochemical process, lower temperature epitaxial growth of Si and dry cleaning of a Si wafer employing Hg lamp irradiation were noted. Directional etching was performed by sidewall film formation, while resolution of better than 0.5 µm was difficult to obtain due to diffraction limit. It was proposed that higher resolution would be obtained by introduction of a nonlinear process which enhanced pattern contrast.

Progress of speech recognition based on the hidden Markov model has made it possible to realize man-machine dialogue systems capable of operating in real time. In spite of considerable effort, however, few systems have been successfully developed because of the lack of appropriate dialogue models. This paper reports on some of technology necessary to develop a dialogue system with which one can converse comfortably. The emphasis is placed on the following three points: how a human converses with a machine; how errors of speech recognition can be recovered through conversation; and what it means for a machine to be cooperative. We examine the first problem by investigating dialogues between human speakers, and dialogues between a human speaker and a simulated machine. As a consideration in the design of dialogue control, we discuss the relation between efficiency and cooperativeness of dialogue, the method for confirming what the machine has recognized, and dynamic adaptation of the machine. Thirdly, we review the research on the friendliness of a natural language interface, mainly concerning the exchange of initiative, corrective and suggestive answers, and indirect questions. Lastly, we describe briefly the current state of the art in speech recognition and synthesis, and suggest what should be done for acceptance of spontaneous speech and production of a voice suitable to the output of a dialogue system.

An integrated optoelectronic multiplier based on GaAs optoelectronic device technology, is proposed. The key element is an optoelectronic half-adder logic gate, which is composed of only two GaAs metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors (MSM-PD's). It operates with a single clock delay, less than 100 ps. An optoelectronic full-adder and a multiplier are also composed of half-adders and surface-emitting laser-diodes (SEL's). Cascadable gates with optical interconnections are integrated. Utilizing improved device fabrication technology, an optoelectronic high-speed multiplier with a minimum number of gates will be realized in LSI.

A precise method for determining AlGaAs/GaAs HBT large-signal circuit parameters is presented. In this method, the parameters are extracted from noise parameters and small-signal S-parameters measured under various bias conditions. The measured noise parameters are fitted to the calculated noise parameters derived from an approximation of Hawkins' equations applied to the macroscopic equivalent circuit. The small-signal S-parameters help to determine the large-signal circuit parameters. The derived large-signal parameters were used to design an HBT oscillator. The simulated results using these parameters were in good agreement with the fabricated device performance.

We show that, if NP language L has an invulnerable generator and if L has an honest verifier standard statistical ZKIP, then L has a 5 move statistical ZKIP. Our class of languages involves random self reducible languages because they have standard perfect ZKIPs. We show another class of languages (class K) which have standard perfect ZKIPs. Blum numbers and a set of graphs with odd automorphism belong to this class. Therefore, languages in class K have 5 move statistical ZKIPs if they have invulnerable generators.

Fabrication of 0.2 to 0.3 µm features is vital for future ultralarge scale integration devices. An area of particular concern is whether optical lithography can delineate such feature sizes, i.e., less than the exposure wavelength. The use of a phase shift mask is one of the most effective means of improving resolution in optical lithography. This technology basically makes use of the interference between light transmitting through adjacent apertures of the mask. Various types of phase shift masks and their imaging characteristics are discussed and compared with conventional normal transmission masks. To apply these masks effectively to practical patterns, a phase shifter pattern design tool and mask repair method must be established. The phase shifting technology offers a potential to fabricate 0.3 µm features by using the current i-line stepper, and 0.2 µm features by using excimer laser stepper.

Breakdown fields and the charges to breakdown (QBD) of oxides increased after UV/Cl2 pre-oxidation cleaning. This is due to decreased residual metal contaminants on silicon surfaces in the bottom of the LOCOS region after wet cleaning. Treatment in NH4OH, H2O2 and H2O prior to UV/Cl2 cleaning suppressed increases in surface roughness and kept leakage currents through the oxides after UV/Cl2 cleaning as low as those after wet cleaning alone. The large junction leakage currents--caused by metal contaminants introduced during dry etching--decreased after UV/Cl2 cleaning which removes the contaminated layer.