Integral equation method is used to compute three-dimension-structure capacitance in this paper. Since some multi-conductor structures present regular periodic property, the periodic cell is used to reduce the computational domain with adding appropriate magnetic and electric walls. The periodic Green's function in the integral equation method is represented in the form of infinite series with slow convergence. In this paper, Shanks transformation is used to accelerate the convergence. Numerical examples show that the proposed method is accurate with a much higher efficiency in capacitance extraction for 3-D periodic structures.

In this paper, we proposed the novel method for the recognition of English calling cards by using the contour tracking algorithm and the enhanced fuzzy RBF (Radial Basis Function) neural networks. The recognition of calling cards consists of the extraction phase of character areas and the recognition phase of extracted characters. In the extraction phase, first of all, noises are removed from the images of calling cards, and the feature areas including character strings are separated from the calling card images by using the horizontal smearing method and the 8-directional contour tracking method. And using the image projection method the feature areas are split into the areas of individual characters. We also proposed the enhanced fuzzy RBF neural network that organizes the middle layer effectively by using the enhanced fuzzy ART neural network adjusting the vigilance parameter dynamically according to the similarity between patterns. In the recognition phase, the proposed fuzzy neural network was applied to recognize individual characters. Our experiment result showed that the proposed recognition algorithm has higher success rate of recognition and faster learning time than the conventional RBF network based recognitions.

This paper presents the improvement of the transient response and stability for a two-stage DC-DC converter by removing the output inductor. The conventional two-stage converter consists of a buck converter used as the first stage and a half-bridge converter used as the second stage. The proposed circuit topology removing the output inductor and the conventional topology are compared. Removing the output inductor results in the system-order reduction of the transfer function. As a result, the stability is improved, and the crossover frequency of the open-loop transfer function becomes higher. The effectiveness of the proposed circuit topology was experimentally confirmed.

The non-individualized head related transfer function (HRTF) is known to have a few problems, which are referred to as the 'hole in the middle' phenomenon and 'front-back reversals.' To overcome these problems, an HRTF refinement technique was introduced, but unfortunately, this refinement technique causes sudden degradation in sound quality and difficulty in cross-talk cancellation because of notch frequency exaggeration. In this paper, an HRTF refinement using directional weighting function is proposed. This newly proposed technique weights ordinary HRTF according to its direction to amplify frontal sound intensity. Since the proposed technique does not exaggerate the notch frequency, spectral differences in the 'cone-of-confusion' region become more pronounced within overall audible frequencies, resulting in mitigating the sound degradation. In addition, the cross-talk cancellation can be done more easily. We verified the superiority of the proposed technique over the existing one by means of the sound localization and sound quality tests in headphone and loudspeakers.

We have proposed a new low-IF transceiver architecture to simultaneously achieve both a small chip area and good minimum input sensitivity. The distinctive point of the receiver architecture is that we replace the complicated high-order analog filter for channel selection with the combination of a simple low-order analog filter and a sharp digital band-pass filter. We also proposed a high-speed convergence AGC (automatic gain controller) and a demodulation block to realize the proposed digital architecture. For the transceiver, we further reduce the chip area by applying a new form of direct modulation for the VCO. Since conventional VCO direct modulation tends to suffer from variation of the modulation index with frequency, we have developed a new compensation technique that minimizes this variation, and designed the low-phase noise VCO with a new biasing method to achieve large PSRR (power-supply rejection ratio) for oscillation frequency. The test chip was fabricated in 0.35-µm BiCMOS. The chip size was 3 3 mm2; this very small area was realized by the advantages of the proposed transceiver architecture. The transceiver also achieved good minimum input sensitivity of -85 dBm and showed interference performance that satisfied the requirements of the Bluetooth standard.

In this letter, we investigate a decimated selective mapping (SLM) method for the peak-to-mean envelope power ratio (PMEPR) reduction in an OFDM system. Under the condition of the same side information (SI) bits, the SLM can be implemented by decimating OFDM samples, which is less complex compared to the ordinary SLM incurring a slight degradation of the PMEPR performance. The decimated SLM (DSLM) approach can be generalized to a multiple-antenna OFDM system employing a space-time block coding (STBC).

Net auctions have been widely utilized with the recent development of the Internet. However, it is a problem that there are too many items for bidders to select the most suitable one. We aim at supporting the bidders on net auctions by automatically generating a table which contains the features of several items for comparison. We construct a system called NTM-Agent (Net auction Text Mining Agent). The system collects web pages of items and extracts the items' features from the pages. After that, it generates a table which contains the extracted features. This research focuses on two problems in the process. The first problem is that if the system collects items automatically, the results contain the items which is different from the items of the user's target. The second problem is that the descriptions in net auctions are not uniform (There are different formats such as sentences, items and tables. The subjects of some sentences are omitted. ). Therefore, it is difficult to extract the information from the descriptions by conventional methods of information extraction. This research proposes methods to solve the problems. For the first problem, NTM-Agent filters the items by correlation rules about the keywords in the titles and the item descriptions. These rules are created semi-automatically by a support tool. For the second problem, NTM-Agent extracts the information by distinguishing the formats. It also learns the feature values from plain examples for the future extraction.

We propose a new method to recover scene points from a single calibrated view using a subset of distances among the points. This paper first introduces the problem and its relationship with the perspective n point problem. Then the number of distances required to uniquely recover scene points are explored. The result is then developed into a practical vision algorithm to calculate the initial points' coordinates using distance constraints. Finally SQP (Sequential Quadratic Programming) is used to optimize the initial estimations. It can minimize a cost function defined as the sum of squared reprojection errors while keeping the specified distance constraints strictly satisfied. Both simulation data and real scene images have been used to test the proposed method, and good results have been obtained.

Evaluation of cyclic transitions in the discrete-time neural networks with antisymmetric and circular interconnection weights has been derived in an asymptotic mathematical form. The type and the number of limit cycles generated by circular networks, in which each neuron is connected only to its nearest neurons, have been investigated through analytical method. The results show that the estimated numbers of state vectors generating n- or 2n-periodic limit cycles are an exponential function of (1.6)n for a large number of neuron, n. The sufficient conditions for state vectors to generate limit cycles of period n or 2n are also given.

We propose a novel mobility reduction cancellation technique for an OTA (Operational Transconductance Amplifier). The proposed technique can be easily realized by using conventional OTAs. The proposed OTAs have good linearity. The simulation results show that the THD is less than 1% for 1.8 Vp-p at 3 V supply voltage.

In this paper, a simple and practical corresponding-color reproduction model based on the chromatic adaptation of the human visual system (HVS), named a modified von Kries chromatic-adaptation model, is proposed for TV and PC monitors under a variety of viewing conditions. We derived the proposed corresponding-color reproduction model based on Breneman's corresponding-color data. The proposed model has a 1-2% less error than Fairchild's and Breneman's model, 11.5% less error than von Kries' model and 60% less error than CIECAM97s' model in terms of color reproduction errors, (). Also, these tendency is similar in color reproduction errors, . We implemented a corresponding-color reproduction system using the proposed model under a variety of viewing conditions. For the determination of viewing conditions, illuminant correlated color temperatures (CCTs) are measured by yellow/cyan sensors. These measured surround illuminant CCTs can estimate an adaptated neutral point of the HVS in TV viewing conditions. Experiments were carried out to assess the proposed model performance in terms of color fidelity by comparing complex images on a LCD monitor under illuminants from 2500 K to 7500 K. We confirmed that the implemented system using the proposed model can predict corresponding-color data very well under a variety of viewing conditions. Therefore, by applying the proposed model and system to the LCD, the reproduction colors viewed in real surrounding viewing conditions on the LCD could appear the same as the original object colors under standard viewing conditions. Furthermore, they could be applied to any other color display device such as a CRT, a PDP, and a DLP in order to get better reproduction colors.

In this paper, the effects of visual information on associated auditory information were investigated when presented simultaneously under dynamic conditions on a wide screen. Experiments of an auditory-visual stimulus presentation using a computer graphics movie of a moving patrol car and its siren sound, which were combined in various locations, were performed in 19 subjects. The experimental results showed the following: the visual stimulus at the beginning of the presentation captured the sound image stronger than that at the end (i.e., beginning effect), the sound image separated from the visual image even when both stimulus locations were exactly at the same place and then when both stimuli moved in opposite directions from each other, the visual stimulus tended to capture the sound image stronger in the peripheral visual field than in the central visual field, and the visual stimulus moving toward the sound source captured the sound image stronger than that moving away from the sound source.

In recent years, studies on multi-hop wireless networks have been made by many brilliant researchers. Such a network consists of a set of mobile nodes having wireless communication devices, and is constructed by the nodes autonomously. The most serious problem on the network is the difficulty of network topology management. All nodes are freely movable and their topology is dynamically changing continuously, so it is difficult to determine the paths to any nodes in the network. Although a classical flooding algorithm is a robust algorithm in that situation, the number of retransmitting nodes increases beyond what is necessary. In this paper, a new and more efficient information dissemination algorithm called WDD is proposed, which can substitute for various broadcasting algorithms by just selecting an appropriate waiting-time function. The algorithm is implemented and its applicability is evaluated on a network simulator.

Applications for transforming money or personal information are increasingly common on the Internet and in mobile communications. These applications require user authentication for confirming legal users. One-time password authentication methods change the verifier every time by sending the present verifier along with the next verifier. However, such methods risk attacks because those protocols use two verifiers every session. The SAS (Simple And Secure password authentication protocol) is a one-time password authentication method that the method uses a hash function five times, but it requires high overhead on low spec machines. In this paper, we propose a new method, SAS-2, which reduces overhead of hash function adaptation by 40%. This method has a mutual authentication phase, which maintains synchronous data communications in its authentication procedure. Moreover, SAS-2 can be applied to key-free systems.

A method for automatic and fast shot detection for the MPEG video is proposed. Shot detection is the first step in analyzing and searching a large amount of video data. Our proposed method is based on activity of images as well as intra MBs in the video frame. It is possible to detect scene changes rapidly by using information from the compressed MPEG video data without the need for full-frame decoding. Experimental results show that the proposed method can provide good performance at a low computational cost.

As one of control command input methods for functional electrical stimulation (FES) system, using the head movements was considered in this paper. In order to detect the head movements, we designed a prototype control command input device using acceleration sensors and verified its validity in experiments. The experimental results showed that the head movements in the lateral flexion and in the flexion/extension were highly detected and separated by the acceleration sensors.

Connectedness oriented communication denotes a mode of communication in which the activities of communication are more important than the contents of communication. It is targeted at maintaining and enhancing human social relationships. As our lifestyles and societies are shifting along with the progress of Information Technology, communication media that are connectedness oriented will play an important role. In this paper we propose a media called FaintPop, which is an example of such new media that are suitable for connectedness oriented communication. It is a communication media designed for a community, with which the sense of connectedness can be shared among members. Furthermore, it provides a general overview of the communication activities occurring in the community. We discuss several principles and points in designing the media, especially about the interaction of the users. Results and findings from the experiment using the media are reported.

We compared two edge-blending methods for multi-projection displays, elliptic and rectangular blending, by simulating three common situations: (1) an inaccurately estimated calibration parameter, (2) a worn projector lamp, and (3) a shifted viewpoint. We used a two-level-of-detail display including a high-gain rear-projection screen in the simulation to demonstrate an extreme case. The comparisons showed how strongly inaccurate elements affect a composite besides affecting the appearance itself. A subjective assessment was also carried out to obtain the evaluations of actual users. The simulation results showed that in many cases elliptic blending is more effective than rectangular blending.

A novel thresholding algorithm for change detection in video sequences is proposed. The method is based on image differencing and the intensity distribution of a difference image. With a difference image between two consecutive images, we prepare a new image model for the distribution of stationary pixels. The distribution of moving pixels is then separated by extracting the distribution of stationary pixels from the overall distribution of the difference image. Pixels that exhibit a significant change in intensity are classified using a likelihood criterion. The proposed algorithm is tested on the standard MPEG sequences and verified to have reliable performance.

This paper proposes two alternative approaches that do not make use of a dictionary but instead utilizes different types of learned features to segment words in a language that has no explicit word boundary. Both methods utilize decision trees as knowledge representation acquired from a training corpus in the segmentation process. The first method, a language-dependent technique, applies a set of constructed features patterns based on character types to generate a set of heuristic segmentation rules. It separates a running text into a sequence of small chunks based on the given patterns, and constructs a decision tree for word segmentation. The second method extracts statistics of character sequences from a training corpus and uses them as features for the process of constructing a set of rules by decision tree induction. The latter needs no linguistic knowledge. By experiments on Thai language, both methods achieve relatively high accuracy but the latter performs much better.