In order to improve the critical current density (Jc) of c-axis-oriented EuBa2Cu3O7 (c-EBCO) thin films deposited on R-plane sapphires (R-Al2O3) with a CeO2 buffer layer, insertion of an Sm2O3 buffer layer and optimization of its deposition condition were attempted. The effects of substrate temperature and film thickness of an Sm2O3 buffer layer on the orientation, crystallinity, surface morphology and superconducting properties of EBCO thin films were examined. As a result, EBCO thin films with Jc = 5.7 MA/cm2 at 77.3 K were obtained on a sapphire with a CeO2(80 )Sm2O3(200 ) buffer layer. Epitaxial relations of sputter-deposited films were clarified.

The sputter-deposition process of TiO2 thin films was investigated. When an oxide target is used, high-rate deposition above 57 nm/min can be realized by sputtering under a condition of low oxygen gas content. Under this sputtering condition, a Ti rich surface layer is formed by selective sputtering of oxygen atoms, and a large amount of Ti atoms are sputtered from this layer. The deposition rate, however, decreases steeply as the oxygen gas content increases. This decrease can be explained as follows. When a sufficient amount of oxygen gas is supplied into the chamber during sputtering, the oxygen atoms which are missing from the target surface by selective sputtering are filled up immediately. This leads to a very low deposition rate of the film, because only oxygen atoms are sputtered from the target. Therefore, the suppression of the incidence of oxygen gas to the target surface and a sufficient of oxygen supply to the substrate are necessary to realize the high-rate deposition of stoichiometric TiO2 films. From this point of view, using an oxide target instead of a metal target is useful for realizing a stable high-rate deposition of the film, since the amount of oxygen gas introduced in to the sputtering chamber can be reduced significantly. In addition, it was confirmed that pulse sputtering method is a useful technique for the deposition of TiO2 thin films. Meanwhile, low-voltage sputtering technique was difficult to use for the film deposition because of its low deposition rate.

We propose a simple and novel technique for mapping vector spatial fields using electro-optic (EO) sampling. Our technique utilizes a sandwich-like EO crystal in which a dielectric mirror is inserted into the EO crystal. Three-dimensional field measurements at several given heights above a two-dimensional RF resonant structure were successfully demonstrated. Field scanning at any height is possible if the sandwich-like EO crystal is appropriately constructed.

Range resolution for radar is determined by bandwidth. One of the various super-resolution techniques for improving resolution is bandwidth extrapolation (BWE). In this technique, a linear prediction model is fitted to the data, and the model is used to extrapolate the bandwidth. In this paper, we extend BWE, and propose a new algorithm that we call polarimetric bandwidth extrapolation (PBWE) applicable to polarimetric radar data. We show through numerical simulations that utilization of fully polarimetric information allows PBWE to improve the resolution beyond the conventional BWE method. Some results of a physical simulation experiment using a W-band polarimetric FMCW radar and corner reflectors are shown to confirm the advantage of PBWE.

In this letter, we present an adaptive hopping technique for a wireless personal area network (WPAN) system employing a frequency hop spread spectrum (FH/SS). Analytical results based on the closed-form solutions for the aggregate throughput show that the proposed hopping algorithm using two defined hopping criteria is more friendly towards all kinds of interferers and gives an enhanced throughput with a moderate computational complexity.

This letter presents a new concatenated code and a new criterion for the new concatenated code in fast Rayleigh fading channel. The new concatenated code consists of the cascade of a new space-time trellis code (STTC) as an inner code and a new convolutional code as an outer code. The new criterion maximizes the minimum free distance for the new convolutional code and both the minimum trace and the average trace of distance matrix for the new STTC. The new concatenated code improves the frame error rate (FER) performance significantly with low complexity. The new STTC and convolutional code are designed so as to satisfy the new criterion for 4-state 4 phase shift keying (PSK). The results of the suggested concatenated code are obtained using two transmit antennas, and shown to be significantly superior to the new and existing STTCs. As the number of receive antennas increases, the performance of the new concatenated code significantly improves, for instance, reaches FER = 10-3 at signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) = 5.2 dB for four receive antennas. Note that the proposed concatenated code also improves significant FER performance by using only one receive antenna for high SNR.

We propose binary-quantized and spatio-temporally discretized network models of linear diffusion systems and investigate their filtering effect on single-bit sigma-delta (ΣΔ) modulated signals. The network consists of only one kind of elements that add ΣΔ modulated signals and quantize the sum in the form of single-bit signal. A basic one-dimensional network is constructed first. Then, the network is extended into two dimensions. These networks have characteristics equivalent to those of linear diffusion systems in both time and frequency domains. In addition, network noise caused by the quantization in the elements contains low-level low-frequency components and high-level high-frequency components. Therefore, the proposed networks have possibility to be used as signal propagation and diffusion media of ΣΔ domain filters.

Simply-typed term rewriting systems (STRSs) are an extension of term rewriting systems. STRSs can be naturally handle higher order functions, which are widely used in existing functional programming languages. In this paper we design recursive and lexicographic path orders, which can efficiently prove the termination of STRSs. Moreover we discuss an application to the dependency pair and the argument filtering methods, which are very effective and efficient support methods for proving termination.

In this paper, a novel description method of the contour of a shape using extended fractal interpolation functions (EFIFs) is presented. Although the scope of application of traditional FIFs has been limited to cases in which a given signal is represented by a single-valued function, the EFIFs derived by the introduction of a new parameter can describe a multiple-valued signal such as the contour of a shape with a high level of accuracy. Furthermore, the proposed description method possesses the useful property that once a given contour has been modeled by the proposed description method, the shape can be easily expanded at an arbitrary expansion rate. Experimental results show the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed description method for representing contours.

Self-stabilization is a theoretical framework of non-masking fault-tolerant distributed algorithms. In this paper, we investigate the Steiner tree problem in distributed systems, and propose a self-stabilizing heuristic solution to the problem. Our algorithm is constructed by four layered modules (sub-algorithms): construction of a shortest path forest, transformation of the network, construction of a minimum spanning tree, and pruning unnecessary links and processes. Competitiveness is 2(1-1/l), where l is the number of leaves of optimal solution.

G.Huet (1980) showed that a left-linear term-rewriting system (TRS) is Church-Rosser (CR) if P Q for every critical pair where P Q is a parallel reduction from P to Q. But, it remains open whether it is CR when Q P for every critical pair . In this paper, we give a partial solution to this problem, that is, a left-linear TRS is CR if Q P for every critical pair where Q P is a parallel reduction with the set W of redex occurrences satisfying that if the critical pair is generated from two rules overlapping at an occurrence u, then the length |w| |u| for every w W. We also show that a left-linear TRS is CR if Q P for every critical pair generated from two rules overlapping at an occurrence u. Here, Q P is either Q = P or a reduction whose redex occurrence is not greater than u. This condition is incomparable with the previous one and a partial solution to the open problem of ascertaining whether it is CR when Q P for every critical pair .

A combination of slides used in a presentation and a video recording of the circumstances of the presentation are quite useful for many applications, such as e-learning. However, to create new content from these with current authoring tools requires considerable effort for the author and the products have reduced flexibility. In this paper, we propose the preparation of a unifying function without creating new content manually. We also propose a new approach to search unified presentation manuscripts for slides matched with given keywords by considering the features peculiar to the presentation slides. We propose impression indicators to express how well a slide matches the given keywords. We also propose a system for retrieving a sequence of desired presentation slides from archives of the combined slides and video. We named the system Unified Presentation Slide Retrieval by Impression Search Engine or UPRISE. We describe the system configuration of UPRISE and the experimentation undertaken to evaluate the effect of the proposed indicators and to compare the results with those of the traditional tf.idf retrieval method.

Although many researchers have verified the superiority of Support Vector Machine (SVM) on text categorization tasks, some recent papers have reported much lower performance of SVM based text categorization methods when focusing on all types of parts of speech (POS) as input words and treating large numbers of training documents. This was caused by the overfitting problem that SVM sometimes selected unsuitable support vectors for each category in the training set. To avoid the overfitting problem, we propose a two step text categorization method with a variable cascaded feature selection (VCFS) using SVM. VCFS method selects a pair of the best number of words and the best POS combination for each category at each step of the cascade. We made use of the difference of words with the highest mutual information for each category on each POS combination. Through the experiments, we confirmed the validation of VCFS method compared with other SVM based text categorization methods, since our results showed that the macro-averaged F1 measure (64.8%) of VCFS method was significantly better than any reported F1 measures, though the micro-averaged F1 measure (85.4%) of VCFS method was similar to them.

We study relationships between the class of Boolean formulas called exclusive-or expansions based on monotone DNF formulas (MDNF formulas, for short) and the class of Horn DNF formulas. An MDNF formula f is a Boolean formula represented by f = f1fd , where f1 > > fd are monotone DNF formulas and no terms appear more than once. A Horn DNF formula is a DNF formula where each term contains at most one negative literal. We show that the class of double Horn functions, where both f and its negation can be represented by Horn DNF formulas, coincides with a subclass of MDNF formulas such that each DNF formula fi consists of a single term. Furthermore, we give an incrementally polynomial time algorithm that transforms a given Horn DNF formula into the MDNF representation.

In this paper, we consider the problem of constructing a multicast tree in the star graph under the single-port communication model. Unlike previous studies for constructing space-efficient multicast trees, we adopt the completion time of each multicast as the objective function to be minimized. In particular, we study a special case of the problem in which all destination vertices are immediate neighbors of the source vertex, and propose a multicast scheme for the star graph of dimension n in 1.3125log2 n + O(log log n) time units. This running time is at most 1.3125 times of that of an optimal scheme.

Our study focuses on an evaluation of a novel speech processing strategy for multi-channel cochlear implant speech processors. Stimulation pulse trains for the Nucleus 24CI speech processor were generated in a way different from the speech processing strategies implemented in this processor. The distinctive features of the novel strategy are: 1) electrode stimulation order driven by location of maximum instantaneous frequency amplitude; 2) variable stimulation rates on electrodes; 3) variable number of selected channels within a cycle of signal processing schema. Within-subject designed tests on Japanese initial, medial and final consonants in CV, VCV and CV/N context tokens were carried out with cochlear implant patients using the Cochlear ACETM strategy, and results were compared with those of normal hearing listeners. Results of the initial and medial consonant tests showed significantly better performance with the novel strategy than with the ACE strategy for both the cochlear implant and normal hearing listener groups. Results of the final consonant tests showed a slightly better performance with the ACE strategy for cochlear implant listeners while showing a slightly better performance with the novel strategy for normal hearing listeners.

This paper describes an efficient method for the macromodel generation of hybrid systems which are composed of electromagnetic systems and lumped RLC circuits. In our method, electromagnetic systems are formulated as finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) equations, and RLC circuits are formulated as nodal equations. Therefore, unlike the partial-element equivalent-circuit (PEEC) method, the technique presented here does not need any 3-dimensional capacitance and inductance parameter extractions to model interconnects, LSI packages and printed circuit boards. Also the lumped RLC elements can be easily included in the hybrid system of equations, thus it is convenient to model some passive components, such as bypass capacitors. The model order reduction technique is utilized in order to construct macromodels from hybrid system of equations. The accuracy of the proposed method is substantiated with some numerical examples.

This paper examines the properties of the greatest subsolution for linear equations in the max-plus algebra. The greatest subsolution is a relaxed solution of the linear equations, and gives a unified and reasonable solution whether there exists a strict solution or not. Accordingly, it forms part of a key algorithm for deriving a control law in the field of controller design, and some effective controllers based on the greatest subsolution have been proposed. However, there remain several issues to be discussed regarding the properties of the greatest subsolution. Hence, the main focus of this paper is on the following fundamental properties: 1) Formulation as an optimization problem, 2) Uniqueness of the greatest subsolution, 3) Necessary and sufficient condition for the correspondence of the greatest subsolution with the strict solution. These results could provide flexibility of the controller design based on the greatest subsolution, and facilitate the performance evaluation of the controller. Finally, the uniqueness of the strict solution of the linear equations is examined, and it is confirmed through illustrative examples.

This work presents a new sigma-delta modulator (SDM) architecture for a wide bandwidth receiver. This architecture contains dual-bandwidth for W-CDMA and GSM system applications. Low-distortion swing-suppressing SDM and interpolative SDM cascaded units are used together. Using the low-distortion swing-suppressing technique, the resolution can be improved even under non-linearity effects. The interpolative SDM extends the signal bandwidth and represses the high-band noise. The SDM used in the W-CDMA and GSM applications was designed and simulated using 0.25-µm 1P5M CMOS technology. The simulated peak SNDR of W-CDMA and GSM are 72/70 dB and 82/84 dB in Low-IF/Zero-IF standards.

A Gm-C filter using multiple-output transconductors suitable for reducing the chip area and power consumption is presented. The novel multiple-output transconductor is based on a translinear gain cell with a linearized input stage. Making good use of the linearized input stage, a simple common-mode feedback is also proposed for this multiple-output transconductor. Using the proposed technique, a 5th-order lowpass filter with two transmission zeros was designed and fabricated as a main part of a lowpass channel selection filter for UMTS receivers. A channel of the filter consumes 7 mA from a 2.7 V power supply and the integrated input-referred noise was 21 dBuV with 20 dB pass band gain. The proposed multiple-output technique saves roughly half the number of transconductors compared with the typical active ladder filter design. The proposed multiple-output transconductors achieve linearization and effective reduction while saving linearized input stages. They are suitable for a filter with small power consumption and small area.