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.

The three dimensional (3D) packing problem is to arrange given rectangular boxes in a rectangular box of the minimum volume without overlapping each other. As an approach, this paper introduces the system of three sequences of the box labels, the sequence-triple, to encode the topology of the 3D-packing. The topology is the system of relative relations in pairs of boxes such as right-of, above, front-of, etc. It will be proved that the sequence-triple represents the topology of the tractable 3D-packings which is a 3D-packing such that there is an order of the boxes along which all the boxes are extracted one by one in a certain fixed direction without disturbing other remaining boxes. The idea is extended to the system of five ordered sequences, the sequence-quintuple. A decoding rule is given by which any 3D-packing is represented. These coding systems are applied to design heuristic algorithms by simulated annealing which search the codes for better 3D-packings. Experimental results were very convincing its usefulness as automated packing algorithms.

This paper discusses a framework for automating fault management using distributed software agents. The management function is distributed among multiple agents that can carry out advanced reasoning activities on the network domain. Network domain modeling using Bayesian network is introduced. The agent detects, correlates and selectively seeks to derive a clear explanation of the alarms generated in its domain. Depending on the network's degree of automation, the agent can even carry out local recovery actions. The ideas of the paper are implemented in a software for inference in Bayesian network. We identify the potentialities of learning in the agent model, and present the class of problems to be addressed.

We propose a learning algorithm for simple deterministic languages from queries and a priori knowledge. To the learner, a special finite subset of the target language, called a representative sample, is provided at the beginning and two types of queries, equivalence queries and membership queries, are available. This learning algorithm constructs nonterminals of a hypothesis grammar based on Ishizaka(1990)'s idea. In Ishizaka(1990)'s algorithm, the learner makes rules as many as possible from positive counterexamples, and diagnoses wrong rules from negative counterexamples. In contrast, our algorithm guesses a simple deterministic grammar and diagnoses them using positive and negative counterexamples based on Angluin(1987)'s algorithm.

A software requirements specification (SRS) is a document at the first phase of software development. Since it is difficult to make an accurate SRS at the beginning of software development, we propose a supporting method to detect and interpret the inconsistency of SRS. First, we classify and define the inconsistency of SRS. Next, we describe how to detect and interpret the inconsistency of SRS. We use the Requirements Frame Model to detect the inconsistency of SRS. We apply the Dempster and Shafer's theory to interpret the inconsistency of SRS. We illustrate our method with an example.

Distributed shared memory (DSM) systems on top of network of workstations are especially vulnerable to the impact of false sharing because of their higher memory transaction overheads and thus higher false sharing penalties. In this paper we develop a dynamic-granularity shared memory management scheme that eliminates false sharing without sacrificing the transparency to conventional shared-memory applications. Our approach utilizes a special threaded splay tree (TST) for shared memory information management, and a dynamic token-based path-compression synchronization algorithm for data transferring. The combination of the TST and path compression is quite efficient; asymptotically, in an n-processor system with m shared memory segments, synchronizing at most s segments takes O(s log m log n) amortized computation steps and generates O(s log n) communication messages, respectively. Based on the proposed scheme we constructed an experimental DSM prototype which consists of several Ethernet-connected Pentium-based computers running Linux. Preliminary benchmark results on our prototype indicate that our scheme is quite efficient, significantly outperforming traditional schemes and scaling up well.

This paper discusses the characteristics of human design knowledge. By studying a number of actual human made designs of excellent designers, the most frequent basic mental operations of a typical human designer have been found. They are: a design rule for hierarchical detailing reported previously, a micro design rule for generating a hierarchical expansion, dictionary operations to build a micro design rule and dictionaries. This study assumes a multiplicity of knowledge based on Zipf's theory, "the principle of least effort. " Zipf's principle may be proved and it becomes possible to understand the fundamental nature of human design.

This paper proposes a method of automatically eliciting knowledge which is used to detect feature interactions in telecommunication services. With conventional methods, the knowledge is provided manually. With the proposed method, the knowledge is automatically elicited as service constraints. In telecommunication systems, when a new service is added, new state transitions are created. In case of new service, the new state should be reached in the state transitions. On the other hand, some states of existing services should not be reached. These constraints can be considered as knowledge for detecting feature interactions. This paper also proposes a scenario for detecting feature interactions using elicited knowledge. This scenario was confirmed as effective.

To bridge a wide gap between the end users and the requirements engineers, we propose a business flow diagram for acquiring users' requirements of the object oriented software development in the business application domain. Each field of this diagram shows either a role or a responsibility of a particular person or an organization. This paper proposes a development method that the engineers acquire the requirements by using our diagrams. We have implemented a supporting tool based on this study for collaborating the requirements engineers with their users. At first, the end users of an information system to be developed draw diagrams representing the flows of information and physical objects in their work from their own points of view. Sometimes the engineers write them with the users. If all users submit their diagrams, then our tool collects them and constructs a total diagram. The requirements engineers analyze the total diagram for improving the business flow. After the engineers complete this diagram, our tool can automatically transform it into an initial version of the class diagram. We show the effectiveness of our approach with some experiments. Comparing the related works, we discuss some issues of the practical aspects of this proposal.

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.

Continuous-wave operation at room-tempera-ture has been demonstrated for InGaN multi-quantum-well (MQW) laser diodes (LDs) grown on FIELO GaN substrates with a backside n-contact. This was made possible by introducing important new concept of reducing threading dislocations that occur during the growth of the GaN substrates. We found that InGaN active layers grown on FIELO GaN are superior to those grown on conventional sapphire substrates in terms of their growth mode and the resultant In compositional fluctuation. The fabricated laser diode shows the threshold current, the threshold current density and the threshold voltage were 36 mA, 5.4 kA/cm2 and 7.5 V, respectively, with the lasing wavelength of 412 nm and internal quantum efficiency as high as 98%.

We describe an index for estimating the level of interest in Web pages. This "time-based interest" (TBI) index combinates an equation reflecting page accesses and an equation reflecting the decrease in interest over time. These equations work simultaneously by using a parameter that is based on the time since the last access. We experimentally estimated the decrease ratio of the TBI index and evaluated the characteristics of the TBI equation. We found that the index follows Zipf's distribution, indicating that reflects the change in popularity. We also introduce an access-log analysis system called CyberRanking that includes TBI analysis. CyberRanking analyzes the access logs of Web servers and presents the results in 2-D or 3-D graph on a Web browser.

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.

Several methods have be proposed or used to optimize the phase distribution of a kinoform. In this paper, we proposed a fast algorithm for optimization of the kinoform based on simulated annealing to reduce the large computation cost. This method uses a simplified equation to calculate the energy function after perturbation.

A novel technique has been developed for in situ sensing of thin film growth. In this method, a fiber optic probe is placed at an appropriate position in a deposition chamber, and the thin film builds up on the end of the fiber. This film is either the same as on the wafer where deposition occurs, or it bears a fixed relationship to the film on the wafer. By an analysis of the intensity of the light reflected from the film and guided by the fiber, information on the film may be obtained. With interference causing maxima, minima and a point of inflection as the film grows, it is possible to obtain near real time information on the following quantities: the real and imaginary parts of the refractive index of the film, a Gaussian parameter characterizing surface roughness, and the film thickness itself. To demonstrate this technique, we have studied the deposition of silicon nitride films in a CVD reactor and how reactor temperature and reactant flow rates influence film growth. This technique may be applied to measure in situ reflectivity of multi layer films, so that reflectance as a function of temperature and time may be obtained. Because the measurement is simple and direct and the information is optical, we believe that this technique has the potential to supplant quartz oscillators in the measurement of thin film growth.

A new sensing method for measuring directly flow velocity by using low coherence interference techniques is proposed and demonstrated. In this method, a temporally fluctuating signal, not the Doppler frequency shift, is detected. Theoretical analysis shows that a spectrum of light backscattered from a particle takes a Gaussian form whose width is simply proportional to the flow velocity. The measured velocity is in good agreement with the actual flow velocity derived from the flow rate. The dynamic range of this sensing method is governed by the frequency range of the FFT processor used and is estimated to be 1.4 10-4 14 m/s. The depth position can be adjusted with an accuracy of approximately 30 µm which is determined by the coherence length of the light source. The velocity distribution along the depth is easily measured by changing mechanically the length of the reference arm in the low coherence interferometer.

We review public-key cryptosystems from lattice problems, which are inspired by Ajtai's remarkable result, and consider their security from the point of view of both theory and practice. We also survey recent results on the power of the lattice reduction algorithm in cryptanalysis.

This paper describes the mechanisms of power-distribution-plane resonance in multilayer printed circuit boards and the techniques to control the resonance. The power-distribution-plane resonance is responsible for high-level emissions and circuit malfunctions. Controlling the resonance is an effective technique, so adequate characterization of the resonance is necessary to achieve control. The resonance characteristics of four-layer printed circuit boards are investigated experimentally and theoretically by treating the power-distribution planes as a parallel-plate transmission line with decoupling circuits. Analysis of the forward traveling wave shows that the resonance frequency is determined by the phase delay due to wave propagation and by the phase progress of interconnect inductance in the decoupling circuit. Techniques to control the resonance characteristics are investigated. The resonance can be shifted to a higher frequency by adding several decoupling circuits adjacent to the existing decoupling capacitor or by increasing the number of via holes connecting the capacitor mounting pads to the power-distribution planes.

In digital signal processing, bit width of intermediate variables should be longer than that of input and output variables in order to execute intermediate operations with high precision. Then a processor core for digital signal processing is required to have two types of register files, one of which is used by input and output variables and the other one is used by intermediate variables. This paper proposes a hardware/software cosynthesis system for digital signal processor cores with two types of register files. Given an application program and its data, the system synthesizes a hardware description of a processor core, an object code running on the processor core, and software environments. A synthesized processor core can be composed of a processor kernel, multiple data memory buses, hardware loop units, addressing units, and multiple functional units. Furthermore it can have two types of register files RF1 and RF2. The bit width and number of registers in RF1 or RF2 will be determined based on a given application program. Thus a synthesized processor core will have small area with keeping high precision of intermediate operations compared with a processor core with only one register file. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system.

This paper presents a new technique for accurately modeling uni-directional High-Voltage lightly-doped- drain MOS (HV MOS) devices by extending the bi- directional HV MOS model and adopting a new parameter extraction method. We have already reported on a SPICE model for bi-directional HV MOS devices based on BSIM3v3. However, if we apply this bi- directional HV MOS model and its parameter extraction technique directly to uni-directional HV MOS devices, there are large discrepancies between the measured and simulated I-V characteristics of the uni- directional devices. This paper extends the bi- directional HV MOS model, and adopts a new parameter extraction technique. Using parameters extracted with the new method, the simulated I-V characteristics of the uni-directional n-channel HV MOS device match the measured results well. Since our method does not change any model equations of BSIM3v3, it can be applied to any SPICE simulator on which the BSIM3v3 model runs.