PID control schemes have been widely used in most of process control systems. Most of these processes are often treated as first-order systems with dead times. And also, in many cases, PID parameters are usually tuned based on the process parameters, i. e. , the time constant, the dead time and the process gain. However, since these process parameters can not be obtained exactly, it is well known that it is difficult to find the suitable PID parameters in practice. In this paper, we propose a genetic tuning scheme of PID parameters for first-order systems with large dead times. The authors have already proposed a tuning method of PID parameters using a genetic algorithm (GA), which was based on the relationship between PID control and generalized minimum variance control(GMVC) laws. In practice, for large dead time systems, first-order low pass pre-filters are often used. The proposed method is an extended version of the previously proposed method mentioned above to the system with a pre-filter due to the large dead time, i. e. , a tuning method of both PID parameters and the pre-filter using a GA. The proposed control scheme is numerically evaluated on some simulation examples.

Biological object could be trapped by a single laser beam from an optical fiber end inserted at an angle to a sample chamber. Separation/coupling of an individual biological cell was easily achieved using plural optical fibers. From these experimental results, we verify that fiber optic trapping technology can provide new and novel tools for the manipulation of microorganisms and cells without physical contact.

The long spikes have been often recorded at the multiples of the electron cyclotron frequency in the ionograms of the topside sounders observed in low latitudes. There has not been sufficient explanation for the physical cause for occourrence of the long spike so far. Here, by interpreting this phenomenon as receiving the trapped cyclotron harmonic wave, some analyses for the length of spike are done not only from the viewpoint of the sweeping property of the frequency spectrum of the transmitted pulse but also from that of the mutual positional relation between the propagation path and the orbit of the sounder. The cause of forming a single spike and a graphical calculation method for the long spike are proposed, respectively. Thus, the cause and the fine structure of long spike consisting of superposed spikes are clarified.

The relationship between the change in transistor operation regions and the fault behavior of a mixed-signal circuit having a bridging fault was investigated. We also discussed determination of transistors to be observed for estimating the fault behavior. These results will be useful for modeling faulty behaviors and analyzing and diagnosing faults in mixed-signal circuits.

An efficient scheme for establishing the multicast-path on ATM network is to configure the tree-shaped path via several intermediate copy nodes. This scheme needs the multicast routing control. Thus, restricting the number of copy nodes was proposed since it make this control fast and simple. However, if restricted number of copy nodes is fixed in the network design, multicast traffic will concentrate around copy nodes, and as a result, the possibility of occurring congestion will be higher. In our research, we permit restricted number of nodes as intermediate nodes which branch the tree-shaped path at routing, and name this permission "copy-token. " Namely, the node which has "copy-token" is defined as the copy node. Our research purpose is to distribute the multicast traffic by adaptively allocating "copy-token" to nodes which satisfy the conditions of both the priority for multicasting such as lower offered load and the geographical distribution at the same time. Finally, we evaluate the performance of our proposed routing scheme on the blocking probability through computer simulations.

We propose a wideband CELP-type speech coder at 16 kb/s based on a mel-generalized cepstral (MGC) analysis technique. MGC analysis makes it possible to obtain a more accurate representation of spectral zeros compared to linear predictive (LP) analysis and take a perceptual frequency scale into account. A major advantage of the proposed coder is that the benefits of MGC representation of speech spectra can be incorporated into the CELP coding process. Subjective tests show that the proposed coder at 16 kb/s achieves a significant improvement in performance over a 16 kb/s conventional CELP coder under the same coding framework and bit allocation. Moreover, the proposed coder is found to outperform the ITU-T G. 722 standard at 64 kb/s.

Mathematical proof for the equivalent edge currents for physical optics (POEECs) is given for plane wave incidence and the observer in far zone; the perfect accuracy of POEECs for plane wave incidence as well as the degradation for the dipole source closer to the scatterer is clearly explained for the first time. POEECs for perfectly conducting plates are extended to those for impedance plates.

The conventional shape from focus (SFF) methods have inaccuracies because of piecewise constant approximation of the focused image surface (FIS). We propose a more accurate scheme for SFF based on representation of three-dimensional FIS in terms of neural network weights. The neural networks are trained to learn the shape of the FIS that maximizes the focus measure.

In this paper, we propose a method for detecting conserved domains from a set of amino acid sequences that belong to a protein family. This method detects the domains as follows: first, generate fixed-length subsequences from the sequences; second, construct a weighted graph that connects any two of the subsequences (vertices) having higher similarity than a pre-defined threshold; third, search for the maximum-density subgraph for each connected component of the graph; finally, explore conserved domains in the sequences by combining the results of the previous step. From the performance results obtained by applying the method to several protein families that have complex conserved domains, we found that our method was able to detect those domains even though some domains were weakly conserved.

Let S be a set of n points in the plane and CH(S) be the convex hull of S. We consider the problem of constructing an approximate convex hull which contains CH(S) with strong convexity. An ε-convex δ-superhull of S is a convex polygon P satisfying the following conditions: (1) P has at most O(n) vertices, (2) P contains S, (3) no vertex of P lies farther than δ outside CH(S), and (4) P remains convex even if its vertices are perturbed by as much as ε. The parameters ε and δ represent the strength of convexity of P and the degree of approximation of P to CH(S), respectively. This paper presents the first parallel method for the problem. We show that an ε-convex (8+42)ε-superhull of S can be constructed in O(log n) time using O(n) processors, or in O(log n) time using O(n/log n) processors if S is sorted, in the EREW-PRAM model. We implement the algorithm and find that the average performance is even much better: the results are more strongly convex and much more approximate to CH(S) than the theoretical analysis shows.

There are many public key cryptosystems that require random inputs to encrypt messages and their security is always discussed assuming that random objects are ideally generated. Since cryptosystems run on computers, it is quite natural that these random objects are computationally generated. One theoretical solution is the use of pseudorandom generators in the Yao's sense. Informally saying, the pseudorandom generators are polynomial-time algorithms whose outputs are computationally indistinguishable from the uniform distribution. Since if we use the Yao's generators then it takes much more time to generate pseudorandom objects than to encrypt messages in public key cryptosystems, we relax the conditions of pseudorandom generators to fit public key cryptosystems and give a minimal requirement for pseudorandom generators within public key cryptosystems. As an example, we discuss the security of the ElGamal cryptosystem with some well-known generators (e. g. , the linear congruential generator). We also propose a new pseudorandom number generator, for random inputs to the ElGamal cryptosystem, that satisfies the minimal requirement. The newly proposed generator is based on the linear congruential generator. We show some evidence that the ElGamal cryptosystem with the proposed generator is secure.

Formal description techniques (FDTs) such as VDM, Z, LOTOS, etc are powerful to develop safety-critical systems since they have strict semantics and mathematical reasoning basis. However, they have no methods or guides how to construct specifications unlike specification and design methods such as Object-Oriented Modeling and Technique (OMT), and that makes it difficult for practitioners to compose formal specifications. One of the solutions is to connect formal description techniques with some existing methods. This paper discusses a technique how to integrate FDTs with specification and design methods such as OMT so that we can have new methods to support writing formal specifications. The integration mechanism is based on transformation rules of specification documents produced following methods into the descriptions written in formal description techniques. The transformation rules specify the correspondences on two meta models; of methods and of formal description techniques, and are described as graph rewriting rules. As an example, we pick up OMT as a method and LOTOS as a FDT and define the transformation rule on their meta models.

We present an architecture of a VOD system employing proxy servers. The proposed VOD system provides efficient and reliable VOD services and solves the problems caused by traditional VOD systems of centralized, hierarchical or distributed architecture. The proxy servers are placed between video servers and user systems. The proxy server is a small size video server that has not only caching function but also intelligence such as VCR-like video stream control or navigation of other proxy/video servers to search for a selected video program. Using a VOD system of the proposed architecture, the VOD services can be provided to more users because it reduces the workload of video servers and network traffic. We provide the performance model of the system. Service availability is also analyzed. The proposed architecture shows better performance and availability than the traditional VOD architectures.

A new elliptic curve scalar multiplication algorithm is proposed. The algorithm offers about twice the throughput of some conventional OEF-base algorithms because it combines the Frobenius map with the table reference method based on base-φ expansion. Furthermore, since this algorithm suits conventional computational units such as 16, 32 and 64 bits, its base field Fpm is expected to enhance elliptic curve operation efficiency more than Fq (q is a prime) or F2n.

This paper focuses on introducing a highly efficient data structure that effectively captures the multipath phenomenon needed for accurate propagation modeling and fast propagation prediction. We propose a new object representation procedure called circular representation (CR) of microwave masking objects such as buildings, to improve over the conventional vector representation (VR) form in fast ray tracing. The proposed CR encapsulates a building with a circle represented by a center point and radius. In this configuration, the CR essentially functions as the basic building block for higher geometric structures, enhancing the efficiency more than when VR is used alone. Only one CR is needed to represent one building while several wall vectors are required in VR. As a result, a significant computational reduction can be achieved in ray tracing by the proposed method. Our aim is to show CR as a solution to achieving efficiency in data structuring for effective propagation prediction modeling. We show that the computational load is reduced by the proposed method. Further reduction is shown attainable using the hierarchical structure of CR in a deterministic propagation model, undergoing ray tracing. The simulation results indicate that the proposed CR scheme reduces the computational load proportionally to the number of potential scattering objects while its hierarchical structure achieves about 50% of computational load reduction in the hierarchical octree structure.

We have already proposed a regional PC communication network system that provides a LAN environment and group communication services to the customers. A Low-end Card (LECard) is set up in the subscriber's household and provides the popular Ethernet interface (10Base-T). A multiplex-port brouter (MBR) was developed to accommodate a lot of customers in a cost-effective manner. Ethernet packets are transferred through each subscriber channel between the LECard and the MBR using the HDLC protocol. The LECard and the MBR are controlled by the group management server (GMS) to realize the group communication system. The performance of an experimental system in ordinary use must be evaluated before bringing the system into practical use. However, it is difficult to prepare a number of PCs and to use them at the same time to evaluate the performance degradation seen in multiple-access. This paper presents a newly developed multiple-access simulator for evaluating MBR performance. The simulator connects to the MBR under test through a multiplexed signal interface. It simulates the conditions in which many LECards and PCs are connected to an MBR and they access the network at the same time. The basic function of the LECard, passing the MAC addresses of subordinate PCs to GMS, and the packet generating function of the PCs are implemented in the simulator. Ethernet packets are transmitted to all ports of the multiplexed interface. MBR throughput in the experimental system was evaluated by transmitting Ethernet packets from/to the simulator. The results show that the MBR package has a processing speed of about 4000 PPS. They also show that the degradation in user port performance is slight up to approximately 20% of the active ratio, i. e. 20% of the users access at the same time.

In this paper, we analytically study the effects of overlap and overlay structure on the quality of service (QoS) of Low Earth-Orbital Satellite (LEOS) communication systems. We consider two-layered overlay of cells and intentional overlap of neighboring small cells. In order to measure the QoS, the probabilities of rejection of a newly arrived call (blocking) and forced termination due to failure of a handover (call dropping) are derived. In addition to these measures, the largest traffic intensity which guarantees the required blocking and dropping probabilities is also used.

In this paper, we present a new approach for the design of partially adaptive broadband beamformers with the generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) as an underlying structure. The approach designs the blocking matrix involved by utilizing a set of P-regular, M-band wavelet filters, whose vanishing moment property is shown to meet the requirement of a blocking matrix in the GSC structure. Furthermore, basing on the subband decomposition property of these wavelet filters, we introduce a new dynamic subband selection scheme succeeding the blocking matrix. The scheme only retains the principal subband components of the blocking matrix outputs based on a prescribed statistical hypothesis test and thus further reduces the dimension of weights in adaptive processing. As such, the overall computational complexity, which is mainly dictated by the dimension of adaptive weights, is substantially reduced. The furnished simulations show that this new approach offers comparable performance as the existing fully adaptive beamformers but with reduced computations.

The quality of an architectural design of a software system has a great influence on achieving non-functional requirements to the system, so formal evaluation and validation techniques to designed architectures are necessary in the early phase of development processes. In this paper, we present a technique for describing software architectures formally based on Coloured Petri Nets (CPNs) and a technique for reusing architectural constituents. Architectural descriptions are essentially written with a CPN language, so that the evaluation and analysis on the architectural descriptions can be made in architectural design phrase. We extract reusable architectural parts from standard architecture styles and architectural patterns so that a designer can construct an architecture by only retrieving the parts and combine them. We also designed the language for describing the combination of the architectural parts. To show the effectiveness of our techniques, we illustrate how a blackboard architecture can be composed of reusable parts and be simulated on a CPN tool (Design/CPN).

There are the following three targets to be achieved in a software project from the three viewpoints of process management (or progress management), cost management, and quality management for software project to be successful: (a) drafting a software development plan based on accurate estimation, (b) early detection of risks that the project includes based on correct situation appraisal, (c) early avoidance of risks that the project includes. In this paper, the authors propose a method and facilities to project risks in a software project through Kepner-Tregoe program, and propose schedule re-planning by using genetic algorithm for avoiding the projected risks. Furthermore the authors show, from the results of execution of the system, that the system is effective in early avoidance of risks that the software project includes.