Mobile computing networks make it possible to offer information access to mobile users. In order to transfer data over mobile networks efficiently, appropriate data transmission control methods for mobile terminals must be established. This paper focuses on spot communication systems to transmit data at high speeds between base stations and mobile terminals. It proposes a flexible and efficient data transmission method that is suitable for spot communication systems. The proposed method transfers subsets of the data to the base stations that are best sited relative to the mobile terminal. This helps to reduce the traffic load of the network significantly. Simulation results confirm the validity of the proposed method. Furthermore, the data receiving time of the mobile terminal, which is an important measure in evaluating the Quality of Service (QoS) for data transmission is analyzed. The result shows that the traffic load in the network is reduced significantly while the QoS is well maintained.

A new technique is proposed to generate the executable and synchronizable (i. e. , e-synchronizable) test sequence for the protocol implementation to be conformable to its data portion specification. The protocol's control portion is specified as a finite state machine (FSM), and its data portion is specified as a set of rules. The technique involves converting the FSM and the rules into the DuplexSelect digraph, from which we can generate test sequences which are both synchronizable (i. e. , encounter no synchronization problems) and executable (i. e. , associated with parameter values which do not violate the rules). The Selecting Chinese Postman Algorithm is then used for minimizing the cost of the e-synchronizable test sequence that verifies each rule at least once.

The k-mutual exclusion problem is the problem of guaranteeing that no more than k computing nodes enter a critical section simultaneously. The use of a k-coterie, which is a special set of node groups, is known as a robust approach to this problem. In general, k-coteries are classified as either dominated or nondominated, and a mutual exclusion mechanism has maximal availability when it employs a nondominated k-coterie. In this paper, we propose two new schemes called VOT and D-VOT for constructing nondominated k-coteries. We conduct a comparative evaluation of the proposed schemes and well-known previous schemes. The results clearly show the superiority of the proposed schemes.

A new method for measuring the scattering coefficient using a metal-plate reflector was developed in order to provide a non-destructive way for the assessment of microwave materials in free space. By displacing the position of the metal-plate reflector on the specimen to be tested, the incident wave and the scattered wave from the measured area were determined without the influence of extraneous waves such as the direct coupling between transmitting and receiving antennas and scattered waves from background objects. Because the behavior of a metal-plate reflector is similar to that of an optical shutter in optics, our new scattering measurement system enables us to measure both backward- and forward-scattering coefficients of small regions of the specimen for various types of materials in a non-destructive manner. Our study examined the metal-plate size dependence of the complex reflection and transmission coefficients of some dielectric sheet samples. The measured data indicated that the reflection and transmission coefficients of a Bakelite flat plate and Styrofoam sheet were constant for various sizes of metal plates at the X-band.

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for computing the characteristic polynomial of a matrix, which utilizes Cayley-Hamilton's theorem. The algorithm requires no condition on input matrix and can be performed only with basic matrix operations except only one computation of inverse of constant matrix. Though the algorithm can be applied to a constant matrix, it is the most effective when applied to a matrix with polynomial entries. Computational tests are given to compare the algorithm with conventional ones.

Luminance and luminous efficiency of EL devices have been improved considerably by inserting double buffer layers composed of two types of Phthalocyanine deposited by the LB technique. This is considered to be caused by hole injection through relatively smooth energy levels.

We present a new basis for discrete representation of stereo correspondence. This center referenced basis permits a more natural, complete and concise representation of constraints in stereo matching. In this context a MAP formulation for disparity estimation is derived and reduced to unconstrained minimization of an energy function. Incorporating natural constraints, the problem is simplified to the shortest path problem in a sparsely connected trellis structure which is performed by an efficient dynamic programing algorithm. The computational complexity is the same as the best of other dynamic programming methods, but a very high degree of concurrency is possible in the algorithm making it suitable for implementation with parallel procesors. Experimental results confirm the performance of this method and matching errors are found to degrade gracefully in exponential form with respect to noise.

A high speed 3D shape reconstruction method with multiple video cameras and multiple computers on LAN is presented. The video cameras are set to surround the real 3D space where people exist. Reconstructed 3D space is displayed in voxel format and users can see the space from any viewpoint with a VR viewer. We implemented a prototype system that can work out the 3D reconstruction with the speed of 10.55 fps in 313 ms delay.

Mobile radio and Internet communications services are penetrating our society at an exponential rate of growth. The Internet is the most important driving force towards establishing a multimedia society. Mobile communication systems add an important capability to our communications society, i. e. , mobility. The third generation mobile communications system called IMT-2000 is expected to play an important role in this soon-to- arrive multimedia society. Wideband mobile services based on IMT-2000 will soon become a reality (early 2001). First, we look at the trends of wireless access technologies, centering on IMT-2000. Wideband direct sequence code division multiple access (W-CDMA) will be a major component of a global IMT-2000 standard. Then, we address advanced wireless techniques, i. e. , interference cancellation and employing an adaptive antenna array, which can enhance W-CDMA at a later date. Finally, requirements are discussed for future wireless techniques that will support a fully mobile multimedia communications society.

When the inter-slice resolution of tomographic image slices is large, it is necessary to estimate the locations and intensities of pixels, which would appear in the non-existed intermediate slices. This paper presents a new method for generating the missing medical slices from two given slices. It uses the contours of organs as the control parameters to the intensity information in the physical gaps of sequential medical slices. The Snake model is used for generating the control points required for the elastic body spline (EBS) morphing algorithm. Contour information derived from this segmentation pre-process is then further processed and used as control parameters to warp the corresponding regions in both input slices into compatible shapes. In this way, the intensity information of the interpolated intermediate slices can be derived more faithfully. In comparison with the existing intensity interpolation methods, including linear interpolation, which only considers corresponding points in a small physical neighborhood, this method warps the data images into similar shapes according to contour information to provide a more meaningful correspondence relationship.

Layered Multicomposites by Sequential Adsorption (LAMSA) is layer by layer approach for ultrathin film fabrication that has been applied to a variety of organic and inorganic materials. In this paper, we present our objectives and work on the fabrication and modification of display devices and sensors primarily using LAMSA techniques. The term supramolecular layer assembly denotes the selective incorporation of processing techniques, layer configuration and molecular ordering that is achieved within planar devices. The first application involves modifying a polymer light emitting diode (PLED) device fabricated using the ITO/MEH-PPV/Ca protocol with ultrathin polyaniline derivatives. The second example involves photoinduced alignment in a hybrid LC cell configuration using polarized light with azo dye/polyelectrolyte ultrathin films. A supramolecular concept on substrates for opto- bioelectronic sensor configurations is described.

We have developed a new type electrical probing system based on an atomic force microscope. This method enables us to measure simultaneously the surface topography and surface potential of thin films containing the crystal grains. The obtained local potential changes give an insight into conduction through the grains and their boundaries.

In this paper, a method of fusing ground-based laser range image and CCD images for the reconstruction of textured 3D urban object is proposed. An acquisition system is developed to capture laser range image and CCD images simultaneously from the same platform. A registration method is developed using both laser range and CCD images in a coarse-to-fine process. Laser range images are registered with an assumption on sensor's setup, which aims at robustly detecting an initial configuration between the sensor's coordinate system of two views. CCD images are matched to refine the accuracy of the initial transformation, which might be degraded by improper sensor setup, unreliable feature extraction, or limited by low spatial resolution of laser range image. Textured 3D model is generated using planar faces for vertical walls and triangular cells for ground surface, trees and bushes. Through an outdoor experiment of reconstructing a building using six views of laser range and CCD images, it is demonstrated that textured 3D model of urban objects can be generated in an automated manner.

A number of parallel algorithms have been developed to solve large-scale real world problems. Although there has been much work on the design of parallel algorithms, there has been little on the design of languages for expressing these algorithms. This paper describes the BPL, a new parallel language designed for butterfly networks. The purpose of this language is to help designers in hiding the complexity of the algorithm and leaving details of mapping between data and processors for lower level. BPL provides a simpler virtual machine for the designer , in order to avoid thinking about control of processors and data. From another point of view, BPL helps designer to logically check the algorithm and correct any possible error in it. The paper gives some examples implemented by this language. In addition, we have also implemented a software tool which simulates the running of the algorithm on the network. The results lead us to believe that this language would be useful in representing all kinds of algorithms on this network including normal algorithms and others.

We developed a new water repellent coating consisting of PTFE particles dispersed in PVDF resin. This coating exhibited a contact angle of 150 degrees. By ice accreting test, the intensity of reflected microwave on the water-repellent coated plate did not decrease, whereas that on uncoated one decreased.

This paper deals with the fundamental problem of automatic assessment of appearance of seam puckers on suits, and suggests possibilities for practical usage. Presently, evaluations are done by inspectors who compare standard photographs of suits to test samples. In order to avoid human errors, however, a method of automatic evaluation is desired. We process the problem as pattern recognition. As a feature we use fractal dimensions. The fractal dimensions obtained from standard photographs are used as template patterns. To make it easier to calculate fractal dimensions, we plot a curve representing the appearance of seam puckers, from which fractal dimensions of the curve can be calculated. The seam puckers in gray-scale images are confused with the material's texture, so the seam puckers must be enhanced for a precise evaluation. By using the concept of variance, we select images with seam puckers and enhance only the images with seam puckers. This is the novel aspect of this work. Twenty suits are used for the evaluation experiment and we obtain a result almost the same to the evaluation gained by inspection. That is, the evaluation of 11 samples is the same as that gained by inspection, the results of 8 samples differ by 1 grade, and the evaluation of 1 sample has a 2-grade difference. The results are also compared to the evaluation of the system using the Daubechies wavelet feature. The result of comparison shows that the present method gives a better evaluation than the system using the Daubechies wavelet.

In many fields such as city administration and facilities management, there are an increasing number of requests for a Geographic Information System (GIS) that provides users with automated mapping functions. A mechanism which displays 3D views of an urban scene is particularly required because it would allow the construction of an intuitive and understandable environment for managing objects in the scene. In this paper, we present a new urban modeling system utilizing both image-based and geometry-based approaches. Our method is based on a new concept in which a wide urban area can be displayed with natural photo-realistic images, and each object drawn in the view can be identified by pointing to it. First, to generate natural urban views from any viewpoint, we employ an image-based rendering method, Image Walkthrough, and modify it to handle aerial images. This method can interpolate and generate natural views by assembling several source photographs. Next, to identify each object in the scene, we recover its shape using computer vision techniques (a geometry-based approach). The rough shape of each building is reconstructed from various aerial images, and then its drawn position on the generated view is also determined. This means that it becomes possible to identify each building from an urban view. We have combined both of these approaches yielding a new style of urban information management. The users of the system can enjoy an intuitive understanding of the area and easily identify their target, by generating natural views from any viewpoint and suitably reconstructing the shapes of objects. We have made a prototype system of this new concept of GIS, which have shown the validity of our method.

Polymeric thin films can be prepared by physical vapor deposition in several manners such as direct evaporation of the polymer, co-evaporation of two monomers followed by polyaddition or polycondensation reaction, or evaporation of single monomer followed by chain polymerization. The ionization-assisted deposition (IAD) was proposed as a new method of polymer deposition that has special features such as activation of polymerization reaction and aligning of the dipole orientation. These mechanisms were utilized for the formation of vinyl polymer and polyurea thin films aiming for such applications as organic light emitting diodes and piezoelectric devices.

A novel chemical sensor for sulfate detection was proposed in this study, utilizing sulfate binding protein (SBP) derived from Escherichia coli as sulfate recognition element. Purified SBP was immobilized on a gold electrode modified with cysteamine and glutaraldehyde. In this study the surface potential change of the SBP modified electrode to sulfate and various ions were investigated. In order to evaluate nonspecific interaction with ionic species, proteins with various isoelectric point were immobilized on the surface of gold electrode and response to ions were measured and compared to sulfate binding protein modified electrode. We made clear that the protein modified electrode shows the potential change to ions and these potential change was effected by the isoelectric point of the protein molecule, and BSA, whose isoelectric point is closest to that of SBP, showed the similar response to ions except sulfate. With use BSA modified electrode as a reference electrode, this sensing system showed selective response to sulfate, probably because of the selective binding sulfate by SBP. This potential change difference between the SBP modified electrode and the BSA modified electrode depended on the concentration of sulfate with in the range of 5 - 150 mM.

Vanadyl-phthalocyanine (VOPc) single crystals were prepared on KBr substrate by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Their maximum size is 1380.16 µm3. The morphology of the VOPc single crystal was investigated from the results of UV/VIS spectra and RHEED. They suggest that the VOPc single crystal may be grown with pseudomorphic layers. The growing process was expained by Volmer-Weber model. The third order nonlinear optical property of VOPc single crystal was measured with Maker fringe method. The value of the third order optical susceptibility (χ(3)) of VOPc single crystal was estimated to be about 10-9 esu from the result of Maker fringe.