We consider the problem of placing resources in a distributed computing system so that certain performance requirements may be met while minimizing the number of resource copies needed. Resources include special I/O processors, expensive peripheral devices, or such software modules as compilers, library routines, and data files. Due to the delay in accessing each of these resources, system performance degrades as the distance between each processor and its nearest resource copy increases. Thus, every processor must be within a given distance k1 of at least one resource copy, which is called the k-bounded placement problem. The structure of a distributed computing system is represented by a graph. The k-bounded placement problem is first transformed into the problem of finding smallest k-dominating sets in a graph. Searching for smallest k-dominating sets is formulated as a state-space search problem. We derive heuristic information to speed up the search, which is then used to solve the problem with the well-known A* algorithm. An illustrative example and some experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the heuristic search.

A novel adaptive motion vector quantization algorithm is presented in this letter. The algorithm effectively updates the set of motion vectors using gold-washing technique for block-matching according to the features of input image sequences. Simulation results show that the algorithm has both robust performance and low computational complexity for video coding.

In visual servoing, most studies are concerned with robotic application with known objects. In this paper, the problem of controlling a motion by visual servoing around an unknown object is addressed. In this case, the approach is interpreted as an initial step towards a perception goal of an unmodeled object. The main goal is to perform motion with regard to the object in order to discover several viewpoint of the object. An adaptive visual servoing scheme is proposed to perform such task. The originality of our work is based on the choice and extraction of visual features in accordance with motions to be performed. The notion of invariant feature is introduced to control the navigational task around the unknown object. During experimentation, a cartesian robot connected to a real time vision system is used. A CCD camera is mounted on the end effector of the robot. The experimental results present a linkage of desired motion around different kind of objects.

In this paper, a modified neural network approach called the Guided Neural Network is proposed for the longitudinal dynamics identification of a vehicle using the well-known gradient descent algorithm. The main contribution of this paper is to take account of the known information about the system in identification and to enhance the convergence of the identification errors. In this approach, the identification is performed in two stages. First, the Guiding Network is utilized to obtain an approximate dynamic characteristics from the known information such as nonlinear models or expert's experiences. Then the errors between the plant and Guiding Network are compensated using the Compensating Network with the gradient descent algorithm. With this approach, the convergence speed of the identification error can be enhanced and more accurate dynamic model can be obtained. The proposed approach is applied to the longitudinal dynamics identification of a vehicle and the resultant performance enhancement is given.

Thin films of carbon (C)-sulfur (S) compound were formed by plasma CVD (PCVD) at the special chemical condition. The reactor has a parallel plate electrode system and was operated at a discharge frequency of 13.56 MHz with using a mixture gas of argon (Ar), methane (CH4) and SF6. The deposition was performed on a substrate placed on the grounded electrode. Atomic composition of the film was observed to depend on the gas mixture ratio. The sulfur atom density was increased up to 30% with using a mixture gas at a pressure of 0.1 Torr and at a flow rate of 20, 20 and 50 SCCM for Ar, CH4 and SF6, respectively. It was expected that the C-S compounds were deposited under the condition of F atom elimination by forming HF.

This paper theoretically analyzed the performance of the RAKE combining (in the time domain), maximal ratio combining (in the spatial domain), and two-dimensional RAKE combining (in the spatial and time domains) techniques for multipath fading environments, where multipath waves are distributed in the spatial and time domains. The analysis was based on a diversity combining technique that employed the eigenvalues of the covariance matrix between branch signals. It was found that the performance of the fading mitigation was normalized by the beamwidth of an array antenna, for various parameters such as the number of antenna elements, angular spread, and angle of arrival.

In high-speed data networks, it is important to execute high-speed address resolution for packets at a router. To accomplish high-speed address resolution, address cache is effective. For HTTP accesses, it has been discussed that the Dual Zipfian Model can describe the distribution of the destination IP addresses, and it enabled us to derive the cache miss ratio in the steady state, i. e. , the cache miss ratio when the cache has full entries. However, at the time that systems are initialized or network topology is changed, the address cache has no address information or invalid address information. This paper shows the compulsory miss ratio which is the cache miss ratio when the cache has no address entry. In addition, we discuss the replacement policies of cache entries, for fast recovery of packet reachability, when the cache has information of unreachable address.

In long-haul wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) transmission systems, signals with shorter and longer wavelengths have self-phase modulation group-velocity-dispersion (SPM-GVD) penalty caused by to the dispersion slope even after the dispersion-compensation at the receiver has been optimized. As a countermeasure, we have already proposed both pre-compensation and post-compensation of chromatic dispersion at the transmitter and receiver for each channel. This method can decrease the channel variation of path-averaged chromatic dispersion along the transmission line, and it can improve the eye opening of the waveform after transmission. We investigated the optimized parameter of chromatic dispersion and chirping at the transmitter. The optimized pre-dispersion compensation parameter R was about 50%. The optimized chirping parameter α was about 3 when the signal wavelength was less than the mean zero-dispersion wavelength. In a single-channel, 5.3-Gbit/s NRZ signal transmission experiment over a 4,760-km straight line, this method decreased SPM-GVD penalty. In a 32-channel, 5.3-Gbit/s WDM transmission experiment over 9,879 km using a circulating loop, this method improved Q-factors for the 1st and 32nd channels by more than 1.5 dB.

Saltiness elicited by salt is one of the basic tastes. However, components of salt on the market differ depending on manufacturing processes and its taste as well. Salt manufactured by ion-exchange membrane process is composed of more than 99% pure sodium chloride, while bay salt contains trace coexisting components. Despite reports on sensory evaluation, the differences in taste are still uncertain because of a small amount of coexisting components. We studied the taste of salt with trace coexisting components; the bittern ("nigari" in Japanese) was evaluated objectively and quantitatively using a multichannel taste sensor with lipid/polymer membranes. A taste sensor is comprised of several types of lipid/polymer membranes for transforming information of taste substances into electric signals. The model samples were composed of sodium chloride and trace coexisting components such as magnesium sulfate, magnesium chloride, calcium chloride and sodium chloride. The taste sensor clearly discriminated each sample according to the response patterns. Based on the sensor outputs, we evaluated the taste by means of the combination of principal component analysis and ionic strength. The results show the taste of salt with nigari has a correlation with ionic strength.

I describe a software reliability growth model that yields accurate parameter estimates even with a small amount of input data. The model is based on a proposed discrete analog of a Gompertz equation that has an exact solution. The difference equation tends to a differential equation on which the Gompertz curve model is defined, when the time interval tends to zero. The exact solution also tends to the exact solution of the differential equation when the time interval tends to zero. The discrete model conserves the characteristics of the Gompertz model because the difference equation has an exact solution. Therefore, the proposed model provides accurate parameter estimates, making it possible to predict in the early test phase when software can be released.

In this paper, a new network structure called generalized Hierarchical Completely-Connected networks (HCCs) is proposed, and its properties and features are evaluated. Simple routing strategies for HCCs are also developed for shortest-paths routing algorithms. A set of HCCs constructed by the proposed method includes some conventional hierarchical networks, then it is called generalized one. The construction of an HCC starts from a basic block (a level-1 block) which consists of n nodes of constant degree. Then a level-h block for h 2 is constructed recursively by interconnecting any pair of macro nodes (n level-(h-1) blocks) completely. An HCC has a constant node-degree regardless of an increase in its size (the number of nodes). Furthermore, since an HCC has a hierarchically structured topology and the feature of uniformity, a wide variety of inter-cluster connections is possible. Evaluation results show that an HCC is suitable for very large computer systems.

A simple phase compensation technique with improved power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) for CMOS opamps is proposed. This technique is based on feeding back a current proportional to a derivative of the voltage difference between an output and an input, and does not require a common-gate circuit or a noise-free bias for the circuit. The proposed technique requires only two additional transistors, which are connected to the differential pair of transistors in a cascade manner, and the compensation capacitor is connected to the source node of the additional transistor. Experimental results show an improvement of more than 20 dB in the PSRR at high frequencies, comparing the technique with a Miller compensation. This technique also improves the unity gain frequency and the phase margin from 0.9 MHz and 17 to 1.8 MHz and 44 for 200 pF load capacitance, respectively.

In this paper, a realization of an imaginary resistor using an ideal transformer is proposed. In the same fashion as the conventional method, a signal path is divided into a real signal path and an imaginary path. We name circuits which constitute a real signal path and an imaginary signal path, a real circuit and an imaginary circuit, respectively. An imaginary resistor is converted into an ideal transformer embedded between the imaginary circuit and the real circuit. The imaginary circuit becomes a dual circuit of the real circuit. This filter consists of terminating resistors, inductors, capacitors and ideal transformers. This prototype circuit is simulated by using operational amplifiers. A 3rd-order complex Chebyshev bandpass filter is designed and its frequency response is measured. Finally, the sensitivity property of the proposed filter is evaluated by a computer simulation.

Today's market share of Intelligent Network (IN) service is growing rapidly in wireless networks due to the rapid advances in wireless telecommunication and IN technology. To guarantee network independent IN services, mobility of IN service subscribers has to be taken into account. This paper proposes new designs of Global Service Logic for the IN service enhancement, which increase call completion rates in wired and wireless intelligent networks. In order to apply this logic to wireless service subscribers as well as wired service subscribers, we implement a Queue Manager applied to the call queuing service feature in the Service Control Point (SCP). In the case of wireless service subscribers, the Home Location Register (HLR) handles the service registration flags to notify the Queue Manager of the corresponding service subscribers' mobility. In addition, we present a dynamic queue management mechanism, which dynamically manages the queue size based on the parallel server queuing model as the wireless subscribers roam the service groups due to their mobility characteristics. In order to determine the queue size allocated by the dynamic queue manager, we simulate the relationship between the number of the subscriber's terminals and the drop rate by considering the service increment rate. Moreover, the appropriate waiting time in the queue as required is simulated according to the above relationship. We evaluate call completion rates of the proposed mechanism in the paper by comparing to that of the existing mechanism.

This paper introduces the construction of a family of complex-valued scaling functions and wavelets with symmetry/antisymmetry, compact support and orthogonality from the Daubechies polynomial, and applies them to solve electromagnetic scattering problems. For simplicity, only two extreme cases in the family, maximum-localized complex-valued wavelets and minimum-localized complex-valued wavelets are investigated. Regularity of root location of the Daubechies polynomial in spectral factorization are also presented to construct these two extreme genus of complex-valued wavelets. When wavelets are used as basis functions to solve electromagnetic scattering problems by the method of moment (MoM), they often lead to sparse matrix equations. We will compare the sparsity of MoM matrices by the real-valued Daubechies wavelets, minimum-localized complex-valued Daubechies and maximum-localized complex-valued Daubechies wavelets. Our research summarized in this paper shows that the wavelets with smaller signal width will result in a more sparse MoM matrix, especially when the scatterer is with many corners.

This paper presents a constant-scale-factor radix-2-4-8 CORDIC algorithm for fast vector rotation and sine/cosine computation. The CORDIC algorithm is a well-known hardware algorithm for computing various elementary functions. Due to its sequential nature of computation, however, significant reduction in processing latency is required for real-time signal processing applications. The proposed radix-2-4-8 CORDIC algorithm dynamically changes the radix of computation during operation, and makes possible the reduction in the number of iterations by 37% for 64-bit precision. This paper also describes the hardware implementation of radix-2-4-8 CORDIC unit that can be installed into practical digital signal processors.

In this paper, a new frequency transformation for complex analog filter design which is suitable for integration is discussed. Arbitrary specified passband and stopband edges are easily transformed into those of the normalized LPF by solving simultaneous equations with four unknowns. Different from previous methods, the proposed transformation provides better performance in active realization of complex filters.

A generalized class of consecutive-k-out-of-n:G systems, referred to as Con/k*/n:G systems, is studied. A Con/k*/n:G system has n ordered components and is good if and only if ki good consecutive components that originate at component i are all good, where ki is a function of i. Theorem 1 gives an O(n) time equation to compute the reliability of a linear system and Theorem 2 gives an O(n2) time equation for a circular system. A distributed computing system with a linear (ring) topology is an example of such system. This application is very important, since for other classes of topologies, such as general graphs, planar graphs, series-parallel graphs, tree graphs, and star graphs, this problem has been proven to be NP-hard.

This paper proposes a private communication system with chaos using fixed-point digital computation. When fixed-point computation is adopted, chaotic properties of the modulated signal should be checked carefully as well as calculation error problems (especially, overflow problems). In this paper, we propose a novel chaos modem system for private communications including a chaotic neuron type nonlinearity, an unstable digital filter and an overflow function. We demonstrate that the modulated signal reveals hyperchaotic property within 10,000 data point fixed-point computation, and evaluate the security of this system in view of the sensitivity of coefficients for demodulation.

In a multihop network, radio packets are often relayed through inter-mediate stations (repeaters) in order to transfer a radio packet from a source to its destination. We consider a scheduling problem in a multihop network using a graphtheoretical model. Let D=(V,A) be the digraph with a vertex set V and an arc set A. Let f be a labeling of positive integers on the arcs of A. The value of f(u,v) means a frequency band assigned on the link from u to v. We call f antitransitive if f(u,v)f(v,w) for any adjacent arcs (u,v) and (v,w) of D. The minimum antitransitive-labeling problem is the problem of finding a minimum antitransitive-labeling such that the number of integers assigned in an antitransitive labeling is minimum. In this paper, we prove that this problem is NP-hard, and we propose a simple distributed approximation algorithm for it.