The rendering mechanism plays an indispensable role in browser-based Web application. It generates active webpages dynamically and provides human-readable layout through template engines, which are used as a standard programming model to separate the business logic and data computations from the webpage presentation. The client-side rendering mechanism, owing to the advances of rich application technologies, has been widely adopted. The adoption of client side rendering brings not only various merits but also new problems. In this paper, we propose and construct “pagelet”, a segment-based template engine for developing flexible and extensible Web applications. By presenting principles, practice and usage experience of pagelet, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of possible advantages and disadvantages brought by client-side rendering mechanism from the viewpoints of both developers and end-users.

The dynamic characteristics of the class E power amplifier with frequency modulation are derived. Such an analysis is essential for designing amplitude and frequency modulated amplifier systems such as an EER scheme. Conventionally, an analytical expression for the frequency response of a frequency modulated class E amplifier has not been derived yet. This omission is rectified here by modeling the circuit with both a low-frequency model and a high-frequency model. Further, a time domain waveform is derived from the frequency domain transfer function for some typical time varying drive signals. The analytical results for the frequency response of a 1-MHz class E amplifier are shown to match PSpice simulations and measured values well.

Recently, we proposed a weak-form discretization scheme to derive second-order difference equations from the governing equation of the scattering problem. In this paper, under the scope of the proposed scheme, numerical expressions for the waveguide boundary conditions are derived as perfectly absorbing conditions for input and output ports. The waveguide boundary conditions play an important role in extracting the quasi-localized wave as an eigenstate with a complex eigenvalue. The wave-number dependence of the resonance curve in Fano resonance is reproduced by using a semi-analytic model that is developed on the basis of the phase change relevant to the S-matrix. The reproduction confirms that the eigenstate with a complex eigenvalue does cause the observed Fano resonance.

In this paper, a low-complexity precoding scheme for minimizing the bit error rate (BER) subject to fixed power constraint for distributed antenna systems with non-Kronecker correlation over spatially correlated Rayleigh fading channels is presented. Based on an approximated BER bound and a newly defined compressed signal-to-noise ratio (CSNR) criterion, closed-form expressions of power allocation and beamforming matrix are derived for the developed precoding scheme. This scheme not only has the calculation of the power allocation less than and also obtain the BER performance close to that of the existing optimal precoding scheme. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can provide BER lower than the equal power allocation and single mode beamforming scheme, has almost the same performance as the existing optimal scheme.

Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) are widely deployed for internet access. Multiple interfering Access Points (APs) lead to a significant increase in collisions, that reduces throughput and affects media traffic. Thus, interference mitigation among different APs becomes a crucial issue in Multi-Cell WLAN systems. One solution to this issue is to assign a different frequency channel to each AP so as to prevent neighboring cells from operating on the same channel. However, most of the existing WLANs today operate in the unlicensed 2.4GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band, which suffers from lack of the available channels. Therefore, effective channel assignment to minimize the interference in Multi-Cell WLANs is necessary. In this article, we formulate the channel assignment problem as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) problem that minimizes the worst case total interference power. The main advantage of this algorithm is that it provides a global solution and at the same time guarantees a non-overlapping channel assignment. We also propose a Lagrangian relaxation approach to transform the MILP into a low complexity linear program which can be solved efficiently in real time, even for large sized networks. Simulation results reveal that both the MILP algorithm and the Lagrangian relaxation approach provide a total interference reduction below the default setting of having all APs assigned the same channel. In addition, simulation results on cumulative density function (CDF) of the SINR at the user level prove the validity of the proposed algorithms.

Scheduling is a key problem in high level synthesis, as the scheduling results affect most of the important design metrics. In this paper, we propose a novel scheduling method to simultaneously optimize the leakage power of functional units with dual-Vth techniques and the number of registers under given timing and resource constraints. The mobility overlaps between operations are removed to eliminate data dependencies, and a simulated-annealing-based method is introduced to explore the mobility overlap removal solution space. Given the overlap-free mobilities, the resource usage and register usage in each control step can be accurately estimated. Meanwhile, operations are scheduled so as to optimize the leakage power of functional units with minimal number of registers. Then, a set of operations is iteratively selected, reassigned as low-Vth, and rescheduled until the resource constraints are all satisfied. Experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.

A challenge faced by the video game industry is to develop believable and more intelligent Non-Playable Characters (NPCs). To tackle this problem a low-cost and simple approach has been proposed in this research, which is the development of a gossip virtual social network for NPCs. The network allows simple individual NPCs to communicate their knowledge amongst themselves. The communication within this social network is governed by social-psychological rules. These rules are categorized into four types: Contact, whether the NPC are within a contactable range of each other; Observation, whether the NPCs actually want to talk to each other based on their personal traits; Status, the current representation of the NPCs; and Relationships which determines the long term ties of the NPCs. Evaluations of the proposed gossip virtual social network was conducted, both through statistical analysis and a survey of real users. Highly satisfactory results have been achieved.

To improve throughput of Electron Beam Direct Writing (EBDW) with Character Projection (CP) method, a structured routing architecture (SRA) has been proposed to restrict VIA placement and wire-track transition. It reduces possible layout patterns in the interconnect layers, and increases VIA and metal figure numbers in the EB shots while suppressing the CP character number explosion. In this paper, we discuss details of the SRA design methodology, and demonstrate the CP performance by SRA in comparison with other EBDW techniques. Our experimental results show viable CP performance for practical use, and prove SRA's feasibility in 14nm mass fabrication.

Because dielectrics between active layers have low thermal conductivities, there is a demand to reduce the temperature increase in three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D ICs). This paper demonstrates that, in the design of 3D ICs, different layer assignments often lead to different temperature increases. Based on this observation, we are motivated to perform temperature-aware layer assignment. Our work includes two parts. Firstly, an integer linear programming (ILP) approach that guarantees a minimum temperature increase is proposed. Secondly, a polynomial-time heuristic algorithm that reduces the temperature increase is proposed. Compared with the previous work, which does not take the temperature increase into account, the experimental results show that both our ILP approach and our heuristic algorithm produce a significant reduction in the temperature increase with a very small area overhead.

The second edition of the international standard of IEC 61508, functional safety of electrical/electronic/programmable electronic safety-related system (SRS), was published in 2010. This international standard adopts a risk-based approach by which safety integrity requirements can be determined. It presents a formula to estimate the hazardous event rate taking account of non-perfect proof-tests. But it is not clear how to derive the formula. In the present paper, firstly, taking account of non-perfect proof-tests, the relationship between the dangerous undetected failure of SRS, the demand on the SRS and hazardous event is modeled by a fault tree and state-transition diagrams. Next, the hazardous event rate is formulated by use of the state-transition diagrams for the determination of the safety integrity requirements. Then, a comparison is made between the formulas obtained by this paper and given in the standard, and it is found that the latter does not always present rational formulation.

This paper presents an experimental study that analyzes how conversational agents activate human communication in thought-evoking multi-party dialogues between multi-users and multi-agents. A thought-evoking dialogue is a kind of interaction in which agents act to provoke user thinking, and it has the potential to activate multi-party interactions. This paper focuses on quiz-style multi-party dialogues between two users and two agents as an example of thought-evoking multi-party dialogues. The experimental results revealed that the presence of a peer agent significantly improved user satisfaction and increased the number of user utterances in quiz-style multi-party dialogues. We also found that agents' empathic expressions significantly improved user satisfaction, improved user ratings of the peer agent, and increased the number of user utterances. Our findings should be useful for activating multi-party communications in various applications such as pedagogical agents and community facilitators.

In this paper we present a cognitive architecture inspired on the biological functioning of the motor system in humans. To test the model, we built a robotic hand with a Lego Mindstorms™ kit. Then, through communication between the architecture and the robotic hand, the latter was able to perform the movement of the fingers, which therefore allowed it to perform grasping of some objects. In order to obtain these results, the architecture performed a conversion of the activation of motor neuron pools into specific degrees of servo motor movement. In this case, servo motors acted as muscles, and degrees of movement as exerted muscle force. Finally, this architecture will be integrated with high-order cognitive functions towards getting automatic motor commands generation, through planning and decision making mechanisms.

Shadow mapping is an efficient method to generate shadows in real time computer graphics and has broad variations from hard to soft shadow synthesis. Soft shadowing based on shadow mapping is a blurring technique on a shadow map or on screen space. Blurring on screen space has an advantage for efficient sampling on a shadow map, since the blurred target array has exactly the same coordinates as the screen. However, a previous blurring method on screen space has a drawback: the generated shadow is not correct when a view direction has a large angle to the normal of the shadowed plane. In this paper, we introduce a new screen space based method for soft shadowing that is fast and generates soft shadows more accurately than the previous screen space soft shadow mapping method. The resultant images show shadows produced by our method just stand in the same place, while shadows by the previous method change in terms of penumbra while the view moves. Surprisingly, although our method is more complex than the previous method, the measurement results of the calculation time show our method is almost the same performance. This is because it controls the blurring area more accurately and thus successfully reduces multiplications for blurring.

Most existing outlier detection algorithms only utilized location of trajectory points and neglected some important factors such as speed, acceleration, and corner. To address this problem, we present a Trajectory Outlier Detection algorithm based on Multi-Factors (TODMF). TODMF is improved in terms of distance-based outlier detection algorithms. It combines multi-factors into outlier detection to find more meaningful trajectory outliers. We resort to Canonical Correlation Analysis (CCA) to optimize the number of factors when determining what factors will be considered. Finally, the experiments with real trajectory data sets show that TODMF performs efficiently and effectively when applied to the problem of trajectory outlier detection.

This paper proposes a new address method to reduce the address power consumption in an AC plasma panel display (AC-PDP). We apply an overlap scan method, in which the scan pulse overlaps with those of the previous scan time and the next scan time. The overlap scan method decreases the address voltage and consequently reduces the address power consumption. However, the drawback of this method is the narrow address voltage margin. This occurs because the maximum address voltage decreases much more than the minimum address voltage does. In order to increase the address voltage margin, we apply a two-step address voltage waveform, in the overlap scan method. In this case, the maximum address voltage increases; however, the minimum address voltage is almost the same. This leads to a wide address voltage margin. Moreover, the two-step address voltage waveform reduces the address power consumption, because the address voltage rises and falls in two steps using an energy recovery capacitor. Consequently, the experimental results show that the new address method reduces the address power consumption by 19.6,Wh (58%) when compared with the conventional method.

Digital map systems can be categorized, based on the support they provide, into map navigation systems and map touring systems. Map navigation systems put more focus on helping travelers finding routes or directions instantly. By contrast, map touring systems such as Google Maps running on desktop computers are built to support users in developing their routes and survey knowledge before they go for travel. In this paper, traveler conceptual models are proposed as an interaction paradigm to enhance user immersion and interaction experience on map touring systems. A map touring system, MapXplorer, is also introduced as a proof of concept with its system design and implementation explained in detail. Twenty participants were invited to join the user study that investigates users' performance and preferences on navigation and exploration tasks. The results of experiments show that the proposed system surpasses traditional map touring systems on both navigation and exploration tasks for about 50 percent on average, and provides better user experience.

This paper presents a new, accurate multi-service model of a queueing system with state-dependent distribution of resources for each class of calls. The analysis of the considered queueing system was carried out at both the microstate and macrostate levels. The proposed model makes it possible to evaluate averaged parameters of queues for individual classes of calls that are offered to the system. In addition, the paper proposes a new algorithm for a determination of the occupancy distribution in the queueing system at the microstate level. The results of the calculations are compared with the results of a digital simulation for multi-service queueing systems with state-independent distribution of resources.

A social network is a useful model for identifying hidden structures and meaningful knowledge among social atoms, which have complicated interactions. In recent years, most studies have focused on the real data of the social space such as emails, tweets, and human communities. In this paper, we construct a social network from literary fiction by mapping characters to vertices and their relationship strengths to edges. The main contribution of this paper is that our model can be exploited to reveal the deep structures of fiction novels by using graph theoretic concepts, without the involvement of any manual work. Experimental evaluation showed that our model successfully classified fictional characters in terms of their importance to the plot of a novel.

Detecting a variety of anomalies caused by attacks or accidents in computer networks has been one of the real challenges for both researchers and network operators. An effective technique that could quickly and accurately detect a wide range of anomalies would be able to prevent serious consequences for system security or reliability. In this article, we characterize detection techniques on the basis of learning models and propose an unsupervised learning model for real-time anomaly detection in computer networks. We also conducted a series of experiments to examine capabilities of the proposed model by employing three well-known machine learning algorithms, namely multivariate normal distribution, k-nearest neighbor, and one-class support vector machine. The results of these experiments on real network traffic suggest that the proposed model is a promising solution and has a number of flexible capabilities to detect several types of anomalies in real time.

We compared two audio output devices for augmented audio reality applications. In these applications, we plan to use speech annotations on top of the actual ambient environment. Thus, it becomes essential that these audio output devices are able to deliver intelligible speech annotation along with transparent delivery of the environmental auditory scene. Two candidate devices were compared. The first output was the bone-conduction headphone, which can deliver speech signals by vibrating the skull, while normal hearing is left intact for surrounding noise since these headphones leave the ear canals open. The other is the binaural microphone/earphone combo, which is in a form factor similar to a regular earphone, but integrates a small microphone at the ear canal entry. The input from these microphones can be fed back to the earphones along with the annotation speech. We also compared these devices to normal hearing (i.e., without headphones or earphones) for reference. We compared the speech intelligibility when competing babble noise is simultaneously given from the surrounding environment. It was found that the binaural combo can generally deliver speech signals at comparable or higher intelligibility than the bone-conduction headphones. However, with the binaural combo, we found that the ear canal transfer characteristics were altered significantly by shutting the ear canals closed with the earphones. Accordingly, if we employed a compensation filter to account for this transfer function deviation, the resultant speech intelligibility was found to be significantly higher. However, both of these devices were found to be acceptable as audio output devices for augmented audio reality applications since both are able to deliver speech signals at high intelligibility even when a significant amount of competing noise is present. In fact, both of these speech output methods were able to deliver speech signals at higher intelligibility than natural speech, especially when the SNR was low.