In this paper, we first investigate the characteristics of movie contents over the Internet. As in the previous studies, we found the lognormal-distribution well fits the distribution of file size for the whole set of general movie contents. When we specifically focus on the subset that consists of movie trailers, however, it shows different distribution from the lognormal-distribution. Our analysis shows it is similar to an exponential-distribution. We here assume that movie trailers are one of the relevant contents for Contents Delivery Networks (CDN) or Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file exchange communities. We further studies the relationship between playing duration and file size for the movie trailers and we did not find any linear correlation among them. We next consider bandwidth requirements to retrieve movie trailer contents. Our objective is to make it possible for user to view the contents in real-time. Many previous studies investigate bandwidth requirement based only on the file size distribution. In this paper, we analyze the traffic design criteria for CDN or P2P by taking into account both of the results for the file size distribution and the relationship between playing duration and file size for movie trailers. Simulation studies reveal the impact for the bandwidth requirement.

In this paper, we present a novel approach for efficient search of high-dimensional databases, such as video shots. The idea is to map feature vectors from the high-dimensional feature space into a point in a low-dimensional distance space. Then, a spatial access method, such as an R-tree, is used to cluster these points based on their distances in the low-dimensional space. Our mapping method, called topological mapping, guarantees no false dismissals in the result of a query. However, the result of a query might contain some false alarms. Hence, two refinement steps are performed to remove these false alarms. Comparative experiments on a database of video shots show the superior efficiency of the topological mapping method over other known methods.

Large number of electronic connectors are widely used in various electronic and telecommunication systems. No matter whether it is optical telecommunications or mobile phone systems, connectors are important links for electronics. Unfortunately connector contacts are exposed in air, they are different from any other electronic components, the contacts are greatly influenced by the environment where they operate. In China, dust and corrosion products are the main contaminants to cause contact failure. Evidently the failed contacts seriously deteriorate the reliability of electronic and telecommunication systems. This paper summarizes the recent achievements obtained by our Lab on the effect of dust and corrosion products to the connector contact failure. Since dust contamination is a very complex problem which is not only popular in China, but also happened in many countries. Continuous studies will be very useful to improve the contact reliability of connectors, setting up new and effective testing methods and standards, building up experimental and computer simulation systems.

Discrete cosine transform (DCT) coding has been proven to be an efficient means of image compression coding. A lot of efforts have been made to improve the coding efficiency of DCT based coding. This paper presents an adaptive DCT coding based on geometrical edge representation. This scheme is designed to properly exploit the correlation between edge direction and distribution of DCT coefficients. Edges are extracted from original images first. Then, sub-optimal block-size and scanning order are determined at each block based on the extracted edges. In this way an adaptive DCT scheme taking account of local characteristics of image can be achieved. It is shown through the simulations that the proposed algorithm outperforms a conventional coding scheme in terms of coding efficiency by 10-15%.

The equidistortion principle[1] has recently been proposed as a basic principle for design of an optimal vector quantization (VQ) codebook. The equidistortion principle adjusts all codebook vectors such that they have the same contribution to quantization error. This paper introduces a novel VQ codebook design algorithm based on the equidistortion principle. The proposed algorithm is a variant of the law-of-the-jungle algorithm (LOJ), which duplicates useful codebook vectors and removes useless vectors. Due to the LOJ mechanism, the proposed algorithm can establish the equidistortion condition without wasting learning steps. This is significantly effective in preventing performance degradation caused when initial states of codebook vectors are improper to find an optimal codebook. Therefore, even in the case of improper initialization, the proposed algorithm can achieve minimization of quantization error based on the equidistortion principle. Performance of the proposed algorithm is discussed through experimental results.

Wireless LAN (WLAN) systems transmit and receive via a common frequency band. In this band, signals of other wireless applications operate on a WLAN beamformer as interferences, and so the problem in adaptive antenna is increasing the canceling performance in the presence of moving interference sources. The performance of conventional adaptive beamformer is severely degraded and the robust adaptive beamformer must be equipped with additional sensors to obtain desired performances. Therefore, in order to avoid having to install additional sensors, an efficient algorithm is necessary. In this paper, we introduce a fast adaptive algorithm with variable forgetting factor, which does not require any further additional modifications. Through computer simulations, we can obtain better performances than those of other techniques under a variety of operating conditions.

This paper describes the design of a 2.7 V operational, 200 MS/s, 14-bit CMOS D/A converter (DAC). The DAC consists of 63 current cells in matrix form for an upper 6-bit sub-DAC, and 8 current cells and R-2R ladder resistors for a lower 8-bit sub-DAC. A source degeneration resistor, for which a transistor in the triode operational region is used, is connected to the source of a MOS current source transistor in a current cell in order to reduce the influence of threshold voltage (Vth) variation and to satisfy the differential nonlinearity error specification as a 14-bit DAC. In conventional high-speed and high-resolution DACs that have the same design specifications described here, spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) characteristics commonly deteriorate drastically as the frequency of the reconstructed waveform increases. The causes of this deterioration were carefully examined in the present study, finding that the deterioration is caused in part by the input-data-dependent time-constant change at the output terminal. Unexpected current flow in parasitic capacitors associated with current sources causes the change in the output current depending on the input data, resulting in time-constant change. In order to solve this problem, we propose a new output circuit to fix the voltage at the node where the outputs of the current sources are combined. SPICE circuit simulation demonstrates that 63 dB of SFDR characteristics for the 90 MHz reconstructed waveform at the output can be realizable when the supply voltage is 2.7 V, the clock rate is 200 MS/s, and the power dissipation is estimated to be 300 mW.

We can easily access a remote database as well as a local database with HTML forms. Although implementing a database application with HTML forms is much simpler than implementing it with a proprietary graphical user-interface system, HTML forms and CGI programs still must be coded. We implemented a software tool that automatically generates the SQL statements that create a database for an application, the forms that are used as a user interface, and the Java servlets that retrieve the data requested through the forms. The database tables to be created and the forms to be generated are determined by the class diagram for the application. Our software tool, which we call WebSiteGen, thus simplifies the implementation of a Web-based database application.

We are concerned with semantic views on an extended version of SLD resolution with negation as failure (SLDNF resolution) for normal logic programs, which Eshghi and Kowalski (1989) presented by making the SLDNF resolution capable of keeping negated predicates in memory and of extracting abducible predicates. This paper deals with its formal representation in relational form, for the purpose of interpreting the normal goal as an acquisitor of negated predicates stored in memory. Some set acquired by the derivations which the normal goal evokes is defined to be a semantics of the goal, under the constraint that the set is as large as possible and does not violate consistency in model theory. The semantics is discussed with relation to the 3-valued logic model theory, where the model theory is represented by alternating fixpoint semantics (Van Gelder, 1993). For simplicity of treatment, this paper is concerned with the normal logic program in the propositional logic.

Many feature tracking algorithms have been proposed for motion segmentation, but the resulting trajectories are not necessarily correct. In this paper, we propose a technique for removing outliers based on the knowledge that correct trajectories are constrained to be in a subspace of their domain. We first fit an appropriate subspace to the detected trajectories using RANSAC and then remove outliers by considering the error behavior of actual video tracking. Using real video sequences, we demonstrate that our method can be applied if multiple motions exist in the scene. We also confirm that the separation accuracy is indeed improved by our method.

Design patterns can be regarded as an approach to encapsulate and reuse good design practices. However, most design patterns are specified using informal text and examples. To obtain all of the benefits of patterns, formal specification and tool support are indispensable. This paper proposes a Design Pattern Specification Language (DPSL) that is both manageable and effective. The DPSL provides software developers with the capability to treat design patterns as concrete design units without lowering abstraction. To demonstrate the usability of our DPSL and its application in design modeling, we have developed a prototype tool that supports the DPSL in UML diagrams. This prototype allows us to demonstrate the tool's support possibilities and the usability of patterns for software development applications.

This paper describes an efficient face recognition method using a combination of the Radon transform and the KL expansion. In this paper, each facial image is transformed into many sets of line integrals resulting from the Radon transform in 2D space. Based on this transformation, a new face-recognition method is proposed by using many subspaces generated from the vector spaces of the Radon transform. The efficiencies of the proposed method are proved by the classification rate of 100% in the experimental results, and the reduction to O(n4) instead of O(n6) of the operation complexity in KL(Karhunen-Loeve) expansion, where n is the size of sample images.

Heart sound is an acoustic wave generated by the mechanical movement of the heart and blood flow, and is a complicated, non-stationary signal composed of many signal sources. It can be divided into normal heart sounds and heart murmurs. Murmurs are abnormal signals that appear over wider ranges of frequency than normal heart sounds. They are generated at random spots in the whole period of heart sounds. The recognition of heart sounds is to differentiate heart murmurs through patterns that appear according to the generation time of murmurs. In this paper, a group of heart sounds was classified into normal heart sounds, pre-systolic murmurs, early systolic murmurs, late systolic murmurs, early diastolic murmurs, and continuous murmurs. The suggested algorithm was standardized by re-sampling and then added as an input to the neural network through wavelet transform. The neural network used Error Back - Propagation algorithm, which is a representative learning method, and controlled the number of hidden layers and the learning rate for optimal construction of networks. As a result of recognition, the suggested algorithm obtained a higher recognition rate than that of existing research methods. The best result was obtained with the average of 88% of the recognition rate when it consisted of 15 hidden layers. The suggested algorithm was considered effective for the recognition of automatic diagnosis of heart sound recognition programs.

In traditional file systems, data clustering and grouping have improved small file performance. These schemes make it possible for file systems to use large data transfers in accessing small files, reducing disk I/Os. However, as file systems age, disks become too fragmented to support the grouping and clustering. To offer a solution to this problem, we describe a De-Fragmented File System (DFFS), which gradually alleviates fragmentation of small files. By using data cached in memory, DFFS dynamically relocates blocks of small fragmented files, clustering them on the disks contiguously. In addition, DFFS relocates small related files in the same directory, grouping them at contiguous disk locations.

The effect of the silicone vapor on the reliability of the micro-motor was examined. Adsorbed silicone was decomposed to SiO2 by heating due to the discharge between brush and commutator surface. It was found that the operation time until the failure was extremely shortened by the formation of SiO2. The existence of the maximum operation time until the failure was found as depending on the number of revolution. For the higher revolution, many amounts of SiO2 accumulated by the decomposition of the silicone shorten the operation time. For lower revolution, as the torque of the motor reduces, the operation time also shortens. Therefore, the maximum operation time exists for optimum revolution.

In recent years, sliding electric contacts came to be often used under very severe conditions such as high temperature, extremely low temperature, high vacuum, etc. Conventionally, solid lubricants having excellent properties in lubricating performance are generally used compositely with a metal of high electric conductivity, because of their high electrical resistivity. In the present study, we proved that more excellent sliding electrical contacts can be produced with a design made by controlling the distribution on contact surface of a solid lubricant having excellent lubricating performance and of a metal with high electric conductivity through expansion of Greenwood's theory.

The interrupting characteristics of low voltage current limiting circuit breakers have directly relationship with the magnitude and distribution of magnetic field produced by contact system and splitter plates. In order to analyze the influence of configuration of contact system on current limiting characteristics, 3D magnetic field of arc chamber (including contact system, arc, splitter plates) is calculated. Furthermore, the electromagnetic repulsion force of movable contact is also calculated. The results can be used to improve configuration of arc quenching chamber. The cooperation between operating mechanism and electromagnetic repulsion force is also analyzed in this paper.

Arc duration of silver contacts was measured with fixed short gap under the condition of different constant gaps and different constant currents, which are close to the minimum arc current of the contact material. The results indicated that the arc occurred even at the current less than the minimum arc current. The arc duration varies in different operations at the same testing condition and it distributes exponentially in the time range up to 100 microseconds. The time constant τ and the extinction rate λ of the distribution were calculated, and related to the arc current. It was assured by silver electrode arc that, even below the so-called minimum arc current, arc ignition may occur but, in this case, the arc duration is momentary, and, as the arc current decreases, the arc extinction rate becomes large.

An experimental equation of V-I characteristics of breaking arc was investigated in the air at atmospheric pressure. Material of the contact pair is Ag, Au, Cu and Ni. Supply voltage is set to 42, 48 and 54 V. The electrical resistance of experimental circuit is 5 Ω. The time evolutions of arc voltage, arc current and gap length were measured, simultaneously. V-I characteristics were obtained from those measured values. The dependence of the arc voltage on the gap length was represented by an approximate formula as a straight line in order to obtain the experimental equation. And the dependence of the strength of electric field of arc column on the supply voltage was approximated to a straight line. Using these approximate formulae, the experimental equation of the dependence of the arc voltage on the arc current was obtained with the gap length as a parameter. It was shown that the experimental equation agreed with experimental data in the experimental conditions for each contact material.

An effective method for lossless video compression using intra-frame coding algorithms is described. Intra-frame coding is mainly used for still image compression and does not exploit a temporal correlation in video sequences. With the proposed method, multiple frames are combined into one large picture by interleaving all pixel data. In a large generated picture, the temporal correlation of the video sequence is transformed into a spatial correlation. A large picture enables images to be coded more efficiently and decreases the bitrate for lossless coding using intra-frame coding. We demonstrated the effectiveness of this method by encoding video sequences using JPEG 2000 and JPEG-LS.