Quality of Service (QoS)-constrained policy has an advantage in that it satisfies QoS requirements requested by users. We propose a Quorum based resource management scheme in Grid and resource reconfiguration algorithm based on temporal execution time estimation for satisfying QoS. We compare and evaluate the processing time and deviation of the resource reconfiguration algorithm using a Heart Hemodynamics analysis.

Recently, Juang proposed an efficient password authenticated key agreement scheme using smart cards for the multi-server architecture. Juang's scheme was intended to provide mutual authentication and session key agreement. Herein, we show that Juang's scheme is vulnerable to a privileged insider's attack and is not easily reparable. Furthermore, it does not provide forward secrecy and the user eviction mechanism.

In this paper, we propose a new multimodal interaction description language, MIML (Multimodal Interaction Markup Language), which defines dialogue patterns between human and various types of interactive agents. The feature of this language is three-layered description of agent-based interactive systems. The high-level description is a task definition that can easily construct typical agent-based interactive task control information. The middle-level description is an interaction description that defines agent's behavior and user's input at the granularity of dialogue segment. The low-level description is a platform dependent description that can override the pre-defined function in the interaction description. The connection between task-level and interaction-level is realized by generation of interaction description templates from the task level description. The connection between interaction-level and platform-level is realized by a binding mechanism of XML. As a result of the comparison with other languages, MIML has advantages in high-level interaction description, modality extensibility and compatibility with standardized technologies.

The RGB signals generated by different cameras are not equal for the same scene. Therefore, cameras are characterized based on a CIE standard colorimetric observer. One method of deriving a colorimetric characterization matrix between camera RGB output signals and CIE XYZ tristimulus values is least squares polynomial modeling. Yet, this involves tedious experiments to obtain a camera transfer matrix under various white balance points for the same camera. Accordingly, the current paper proposes a new method for obtaining camera transfer matrices under different white balances using a 33 camera transfer matrix under a specific white balance point.

A supervisor proposed by Ramadge and Wonham controls a discrete event system (DES) so as to satisfy logical control specifications. However a precise description of both the specifications and the DES is needed for the control. This paper proposes a synthesis method of the supervisor for decentralized DESs based on reinforcement learning. In decentralized DESs, several local supervisors exist and control the DES jointly. Costs for disabling and occurrence of events as well as control specifications are considered. By using reinforcement learning, the proposed method is applicable under imprecise specifications and uncertain environment.

We are developing a helper robot that carries out tasks ordered by the user through speech. The robot needs a vision system to recognize the objects appearing in the orders. It is, however, difficult to realize vision systems that can work in various conditions. Thus, we have proposed to use the human user's assistance through speech. When the vision system cannot achieve a task, the robot makes a speech to the user so that the natural response by the user can give helpful information for its vision system. Our previous system assumes that it can segment images without failure. However, if there are occluded objects and/or objects composed of multicolor parts, segmentation failures cannot be avoided. This paper presents an extended system that tries to recover from segmentation failures using photometric invariance. If the system is not sure about segmentation results, the system asks the user by appropriate expressions depending on the invariant values. Experimental results show the usefulness of the system.

The pulsed backlight system has been introduced for reducing motion blurs of LCDs in high motion pictures. But applying the pulsed backlight, full screen flicker and inconsistency of transmissivity for entire frame at a lightening time should be considered. This paper discusses the analysis of blurs in high motion pictures and proposes the design method for more suitable display terminal of LCDs.

A CMOS low noise amplifier (LNA) for low-power ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless applications is presented. To achieve low power consumption and wide operating bandwidth, the proposed LNA employing stagger tuning technique consists of two stacked common-source stages with different resonant frequencies. This work is implemented in 0.18-µm CMOS process and shows a 2.4-9.4-GHz bandwidth. The amplifier provides a maximum forward gain (S21) of 10.9 dB while drawing 7.1 mW from a 1.8-V supply. A noise figure as low as 4.1 dB and an IIP3 of -3.5 dBm have been demonstrated.

An adaptive service framework is expected to support real-time multimedia services in wirless/mobile cellular networks with various classes of traffic and diverse bandwidth requirements. Quality of service (QoS) provisioning in an adaptive framework is another challenging consideration, such as quantifying the level of bandwidth degradation of an ongoing calls and guaranteeing stable QoS levels. Considering both the period and the depth of degradation, the degradation area ratio (DAR) represents the average ratio of a call's degradation and is one of the meaningful measures for adaptive service in call level analysis. In this paper, analytical models for estimating the DAR and finding the optimal control parameters are presented in multi-class traffic call management situations. In complete partitioning capacity based threshold-type call admission control (CAC), a one-dimensional Markov chain with an absorbing state is proposed for estimating the DAR in each traffic class. We formulate a two-leveled optimization problem minimizing the total blocking probabilities subject to QoS requirements and present the procedures required in finding the optimal capacities and threshold values by using modified dynamic programming. In complete sharing capacity based threshold-type CAC, the multidimensional Markov model is approximately reduced to a one-dimensional model in order to reduce complexity and hence calculation time. The reduced model is compared with multidimensional Markov model in numerical examples. The optimization problem is formulated minimizing the total blocking probabilities subject to QoS requirements and the optimal threshold parameters are found by using a genetic algorithm. Performance of two adopted admission policies in adaptive framework situations is illustrated by numerical results.

This paper highlights some of our recent research efforts in designing and evaluating life-like characters that are capable of entertaining affective and social communication with human users. The key novelty of our approach is the use of human physiological information: first, as a method to evaluate the effect of life-like character behavior on a moment-to-moment basis, and second, as an input modality for a new generation of interface agents that we call 'physiologically perceptive' life-like characters. By exploiting the stream of primarily involuntary human responses, such as autonomic nervous system activity or eye movements, those characters are expected to respond to users' affective and social needs in a truly sensitive, and hence effective, friendly, and beneficial way.

A new technique incorporating combinatorial deposition to develop thin-film phosphors by r.f. magnetron sputtering is demonstrated using subdivided powder targets. In comparison with development using conventional r.f. magnetron sputtering, the atomic ratios of Si and Ge as well as the Mn content in Zn2Si1-XGeXO4:Mn thin film phosphors could be more efficiently optimized in order to obtain the highest intensity in electroluminescent and photoluminescent emissions. High luminances of 11800 and 1536 cd/m2 were obtained in Zn2Si0.6Ge0.4O4:Mn thin-film electroluminescent devices fabricated under optimized conditions and driven at 1 kHz and 60 Hz, respectively.

This paper proposes a new detection ordering scheme, which minimizes average error rate of the MIMO system with per antenna rate control. This paper shows an optimal scheme minimizing average error rate expressed by the Q function, and simplifies the optimal scheme by using the minimum equivalent SINR scaled by modulation indices, based on approximated error rate. In spite of reduced complexity, the simplified scheme demonstrates the almost same performance as the optimal scheme. Owing to the diversity of detection ordering, the proposed scheme has over 2 dB higher SNR gain at the BER of 10-3 than the existing ordering schemes in balanced array size systems.

A range top-k query returns the topmost k records in the order set by a measure attribute within a specified region of multi-dimensional data. The range top-k query is a powerful tool for analysis in spatial databases and data warehouse environments. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to answer the query by selectively traversing an aggregate R-tree having MAX as the aggregate values. The algorithm can execute the query by accessing only a small part of the leaf nodes within a query region. Therefore, it shows good query performance regardless of the size of the query region. We suggest an efficient pruning technique for the priority queue, which reduces the cost of handling the priority queue, and also propose an efficient technique for leaf node organization to reduce the number of node accesses to execute the range top-k queries.

Horn functions are Boolean functions where each of the prime implicants contains at most one negative literal. A class of Boolean functions is considered in this letter where a single term containing two negative literals is added by logical-or operation to a Horn function. We show that the function does not have any prime implicant containing three negative literals. We also show that if two terms containing two negative literals are added to a Horn function, then it may have many prime implicants all of which contain three negative literals. We show that it is P-complete to determine whether a given Boolean function in disjunctive normal form of the considered class is a tautology.

Missing data which inevitably occurs in observed time series may lead to an erroneous result based on the correlation integral analysis. Effects of data, missing at regular and irregular times, on the analyzed result are estimated. A model estimation is obtained for the Lorenz time series. The effects of the missing data in economic and astronomical time series are estimated using the correlation integral analysis. A convenient method of choosing a time lag is proposed to minimize the effect of regularly missing data.

In the letter, the fast one-dimensional (1-D) and two-dimensional (2-D) algorithms for realizing low-complexity 44 discrete cosine transform (DCT) for H.264 applications are developed. Through applying matrix utilizations with Kronecker product and direct sum, the efficient fast 2-D 44 DCT algorithm can be developed from the proposed fast 1-D 44 DCT algorithm by matrix decompositions. The fast 1-D and 2-D low-complexity 44 DCT algorithms requires fewer multiplications and additions than other fast DCT algorithms. Owing to regular modularity, the proposed fast algorithms can achieve real-time H.264 video signal processing with VLSI implementation.

We developed material and process technologies concerned to DDF, which is formed on MgO surface around the inter-pixel gap to prevent vertical crosstalk discharge in stripe rib structure. First we tried with thin film deposition and lift-off patterning to find Al2O3 and TiO2 are both available for DDF material. Next we tried with thick film printing in favor of mass productivity for large size PDPs. In case DDF included PbO glass, we met serious hardship in generating discharge. The problem was perfectly solved by having thick film DDF composed of 100 nm sized Al2O3 grains without glass component. Its γi was about 1/5 that of MgO, suggesting that the thick film DDF is almost compatible with thin film Al2O3 in electron emission characteristics. Such very small grain size contributes to DDF transparency, which is excellently high. In addition to it, such DDF is equipped with cushioning effect to prevent dot defects caused by rib breakage. Furthermore the DDF functions as getter during panel exhaustion to bring deep blue color by promoting deoxidization of blue phosphor provided that its volume is small enough. Transparent DDF may be rather better than black one with respect to bright room contrast ratio, not to mention to avoiding terrible sparking discharge. Thus material and process technologies for DDF have been almost fixed in success.

This paper develops an efficient multi-user bit and power allocation algorithm in an iterative fashion for discrete multi-tone systems. The model of the interference channel is considered, where the transmit signal from each user causes interference to the other users. The scheme aims to minimize the total transmit power while satisfying the required data rate of each user. The proposed algorithm is shown to greatly reduce the computational complexity of the existing algorithm with negligible amount of transmit power increment as demonstrated in the simulation results. The proposed methodology can be applied to the DMT-based system, but is also feasible for either wired or wireless communication systems with the model of the interference channel and another type of modulation scheme.

In this study, the new signal model suitable for ultrawide band (UWB) indoor environments with random angle spread is proposed to estimate the angle-of-arrivals (AOAs) of clusters in a UWB wireless communication. The subspace based estimation technique adopted for this model is investigated and the estimates of the AOA and distribution parameter on the received clusters are obtained. The proposed model and estimation technique are verified using computer simulations, and the performance of the estimation error is analyzed.

Eye contact is an effective means of controlling human communication, such as in starting communication. It seems that we can make eye contact if we simply look at each other. However, this alone does not establish eye contact. Both parties also need to be aware of being watched by the other. We propose a method of bidirectional eye contact satisfying these conditions for human-robot communication. When a human wants to start communication with a robot, he/she watches the robot. If it finds a human looking at it, the robot turns to him/her, changing its facial expressions to let him/her know its awareness of his/her gaze. When the robot wants to initiate communication with a particular person, it moves its body and face toward him/her and changes its facial expressions to make the person notice its gaze. We show several experimental results to prove the effectiveness of this method. Moreover, we present a robot that can recognize hand gestures after making eye contact with the human to show the usefulness of eye contact as a means of controlling communication.