Both Viterbi decoding with labels (i.e., the Yamamoto-Itoh scheme) and the soft-output Viterbi algorithm (SOVA) evaluate the metric difference between the maximum-likelihood (ML) path and the discarded path at each level in the trellis. Noting this fact, we show that the former scheme also provides information about the reliability values for decoded information bits.

BaAl2S4:Eu thin-film EL device using a new blue emitting EL phosphor was prepared by the two targets pulse-electron-beam evaporation. The maximum luminance level was 65 cd/m2 under the 50 Hz pulse voltage. The EL spectrum had blue emission with a peak around 470 nm due to the transition for Eu2+ ion. The CIE color coordinates of BaAl2S4:Eu EL device were x = 0.12 and y = 0.10. The performance of blue-emitting BaAl2S4:Eu EL devices is shown to be sufficient for commercial color EL display in color purity and luminance level.

Loop optimization plays an important role in compiler optimization and program transformation. Many sophisticated techniques such as loop-invariance code motion, loop restructuring and loop fusion have been developed. This paper introduces a novel technique called loop quasi-invariance code motion. It is a generalization of standard loop-invariance code motion, but based on loop quasi-invariance analysis. Loop quasi-invariance is similar to standard loop-invariance but allows for a finite number of iterations before computations in a loop become invariant. In this paper we define the notion of loop quasi-invariance, present an algorithm for statically computing the optimal unfolding length in While-programs and give a transformation method. Our method can increase the accuracy of program analyses and improve the efficiency of programs by making loops smaller and faster. Our technique is well-suited as supporting transformation in compilers, partial evaluators, and other program transformers.

We propose knockout ATM switches with two speedup factors under non-uniform traffic with variable hot-spot ports in order to handle flexibly when the number and port of hot-spot change. The proposed models have a function that the maximum cell transmission number called a speedup factor L2 is set to be large when the arrival cells are more than L1. By using this function, it is useful to decrease the cell loss probability of hot-spot ports. First, we propose a knockout ATM switch with two speedup factor in order to reduce the number of accesses from a concentrator to a parallel buffer as a proposed model 1. Moreover, we propose a shared knockout ATM switch in order to decrease the switch elements as a proposed model 2. We evaluate the cell loss probability by means of computer simulations and numerical calculations. As a result, we show that the proposed model 2 satisfy the reqirement of the cell loss probability due to contention at outoput of a batcher network with decreasing the hardware.

This paper presents an application of Complex-Valued Associative Memory Model(CAMM) for image processing. An image association system applying CAMM, combined with a 2-dimensional discrete Fourier transform (2-D DFT) process is proposed. Discussed are how a gray level image can be expressed using CAMM, and the image association that can be performed by CAMM. In the proposed system, input images are transformed to phase matrices and the image association can be performed by making use of the phase information. Practical examples are also presented.

This paper presents an efficient graph-based evolutionary optimization technique called Evolutionary Graph Generation (EGG), and its application to the design of fast constant-coefficient multipliers using parallel counter-tree architecture. An important feature of EGG is its capability to handle the general graph structures directly in evolution process instead of encoding the graph structures into indirect representations, such as bit strings and trees. This paper also addresses the major problem of EGG regarding the significant computation time required for verifying the function of generated circuits. To solve this problem, a new functional verification technique for arithmetic circuits is proposed. It is demonstrated that the EGG system can create efficient multiplier structures which are comparable or superior to the known conventional designs.

Meteor storms and showers are now considered as potential hazard in the space environment. Radar observations of meteors has an advantage of a much higher sensitivity over optical observations. The MU radar of Kyoto University, Japan has a unique capability of very fast beam steerability as well as a high sensitivity to the echoes from ionization around the meteors. We developed a special observation scheme which enables us to determine the orbit of individual meteors. The direction of the target is determined by comparing the echo intensity at three adjacent beams. The Doppler pulse compression technique is applied to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the echoes from the very fast target, and also to determine the range accurately. The developed scheme was applied to the observation made during the Leonid meteor storm on November 18, 1998 (JST). Estimated orbital distribution seems to suggest that the very weak meteors detected by the MU radar are dominated by sporadic meteors rather than the stream meteors associated with the Leonids storm.

An optimization of the smoothing preprocessing for the correlated signal parameter estimation was considered. Although the smoothing factor (the number of subarrays) is a free parameter in the smoothing preprocessing, a useful strategy to determine it has not yet been established. In this paper, we investigated thoroughly about the smoothing factor and also proposed a new scheme to optimize it. The proposed method, using the smoothed equivalent diversity profile (SED profile), is able to evaluate the effect of smoothing preprocessing without any a priori information. Therefore, this method is applicable in the real multipath parameter estimation.

Recently, cerebral disease is being a serious problem in an aging society. But, rank evaluation of cerebral disease is not developed and therefore rehabilitation is hard. In this study, we try to assess slight cerebral disease by taking notice of recognition mechanism of face and realizing face image synthesis using computer technology. If we can find a slight cerebral disease and rank evaluation, we can apply to rehabilitation, and a load of medical doctor and patient decreases. We have obtained a result by the experiment, so we report it.

This paper focuses on a single BSA (Basic Service Area) in an infrastructure network and studies the performance of the IEEE 802.11 standard MAC protocol by means of simulation. The MAC protocol supports DCF (Distributed Coordination Function) and PCF (Point Coordination Function). The simulation model includes both data transmission with the DCF and H.263 video transmission with the PCF. In the simulation we assume that the channel transmission rate is 2 Mbps and use the system parameters specified in the standard for the DSSS (Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum) physical layer. We evaluate the performance of this protocol in terms of throughput and MPDU (MAC Protocol Data Unit) delay for various values of the CFP (Contention Free Period) repetition interval and the CFP maximum duration. Numerical results show that if the CFP repetition interval is set too long, video MPDU delay becomes very large periodically; therefore, average video MPDU delay deteriorates. We also find that as the CFP maximum duration decreases, the number of video terminals that can be accommodated in the system decreases. Furthermore, how channel transmission errors affect the performance of the protocol is examined. A two-state continuous-time Markov model is used as a burst error model. As a result, we see that for a small number of video terminals, the average video-MPDU-delay performance does not deteriorate drastically for larger values of bit error rate.

An electronic model of the coronary vessel consisting of resistor, capacitor and Field Effect Transistor (FET) is proposed in order to perform a dynamic simulation of the left coronary circulation and to clarify its mechanisms. Based on this model, an equivalent circuit of the coronary circulation is constructed that is divided into subepicardial and subendocardial layers and consists of segments of artery, arteriole, capillary, venule and vein for both the layers. In this simulation, the observed flow waveform of the left main artery showed dominance of flow in diastole as compared to that in systole. In epicardium, inverse venous flow was observed in early systole. These simulated waveforms are similar to those in real left coronary circulation observed by physiological and clinical researchers. Among all the segments of intramyocardium, only the venules were found to possess a time-varying resistance characteristics. From the results of this study, it is considered that the combination of resistance and capacitance of the vessel acts as an integrator and a differentiator for blood pressure and intramyocardial pressure, respectively and that the effects of integration of blood pressure and differentiation of intramyocardial pressure play a very important role in determining the factors influencing the left coronary circulation.

A Co/Pd multilayer film with perpendicular coercivity of 2.2 kOe and remanence ratio (SQ) of unity was prepared by electron beam evaporation in vacuum. In the MFM image of signal patterns of 4 kFRPI recorded using a ring-type MIG head, many reversed domains were observed. However, when the film was magnetized along the film normal direction using an electromagnet (H = -13 kOe), only few reversed magnetic domains were observed, which was consistent with SQ = 1. Therefore, the reversed domains in the signal patterns were induced in the recording process. dc erasing was also studied with the magnetic field inclined to the film normal. The domain structures were almost the same when the perpendicular component of the field was kept constant while the in-plane component was varied, implying that the in-plane field component did not contribute to the formation of the reversed domains. It was found that reversed magnetic domains were easily induced even by a weak reversing magnetic field applied along the film normal. Hence, although the possibility of an insufficient recording head field was not excluded, it seemed more likely that the reversed magnetic domains in the signal patterns were caused by some erasing effect of the ring-type MIG head. For a Co/Pd multilayer medium with a negative nucleation field in the perpendicular M-H loop, a stronger reversing field was needed to induce the reversed magnetic domains. No reversed magnetic domains were observed in the MFM image for signal patterns of 4 kFRPI in this medium, indicating that a negative nucleation field was effective to suppress the formation of reversed magnetic domains.

In this paper, the distributions of two spectral intensities along the axis of an arc column of the breaking arc are measured by using a combination of a CCD color camera and an additional filter, and arc temperature and metal-vapor quantity are calculated, when copper electrodes interrupt circuits of dc 50 V/3.3 A and 5.0 A. As results; The spectral intensities of excited copper atoms are the strongest near the cathode and become weaker with distance from the cathode in the small number of breaking arcs. The spectral intensities become strong near the anode in the large number of breaking arcs. The average arc temperature in the cross-section of an arc column is high near both the cathode and the anode, and the temperature distribution in the cross-section of the arc column is high at the axis of the arc column, and the arc temperature along the axis of the arc column is high near both the cathode and the anode. The metal-vapor quantity is low near both the cathode and the anode, and it is much at the center of the arc column.

Magnetic layer thickness dependences of magnetic properties are investigated for Co-Cr-Pt polycrystalline thin films with different Cr-alloy underlayers (Cr-Ti, Cr-W, Cr-Mo, Cr-V, Cr-Mo-V). The specimens with Cr-Ti, Cr-V, and Cr-Mo-V underlayers show higher coercivities by about 30% and lower activation magnetic moments than those with Cr-Mo underlayer. The effective diameter of activation volume increases by 10-20% when the magnetic layer thickness is decreased from 12 to 8 nm. Temperature dependences of magnetic properties are also determined and discussed by referring to the data obtained using single crystal magnetic thin films with similar composition.

To improve the resolution capability of the directions-of-arrival (DOA) estimation, some subspace-based methods have recently been developed by exploiting the specific signal properties (e.g. non-Gaussian property and cyclostationarity) of communication signals. However, these methods perform poorly as the ordinary subspace-based methods in multipath propagation situations, which are often encountered in mobile communication systems because of various reflections. In this paper, we investigate the direction estimation of coherent signals by jointly utilizing the merits of higher-order statistics and cyclostationarity to enhance the performance of DOA estimation and to effectively reject interference and noise. For estimating the DOA of narrow-band coherent signals impinging on a uniform linear array, a new higher-order cyclostationarity based approach is proposed by incorporating a subarray scheme into a linear prediction technique. This method can improve the resolution capability and alleviate the difficulty of choosing the optimal lag parameter. It is shown numerically that the proposed method is superior to the conventional ones.

In this article, an efficient vector quantization (VQ) scheme called side-match finite-state vector quantization with adaptive block classification is presented for image compression. It makes use of edge information contained in image in additional to the average values of blocks forming the image. In order to achieve low bit rate coding while preserving good quality images, neighboring blocks are utilized to predict the class of current block. Image blocks are mainly classified as edge blocks and non-edge blocks in this coding scheme. To improve the coding efficiency, edge blocks and non-edge blocks are further reclassified into different classes, respectively. Moreover, the number of bits for encoding an image is greatly reduced by foretelling the class of input block and applying small state codebook in corresponding class. The improvement of the proposed coding scheme is attractive as compared with other VQ techniques.

A surface extraction algorithm with NURBS has been developed for the mesh generation from the scattered data after a cell-based simulation. The triangulation of a surface is initiated with a step of describing the geometry along the polygonal boundary with multiple points. In this work, an NURBS surface can be generated with scattered data for each polygonal surface by employing a multilevel B-spline surface approximation. The NURBS mesh in accordance with our algorithm excellently represents the surface evolution of the topography on the wafer. A dynamically allocated topography model, so-called cell advancing model, is proposed to resolve an extensive memory requirement for the numerical simulation of a complicated structure on the wafer. A concave cylindrical DRAM cell capacitor was chosen to test the capability of our model. A set of capacitance present in the cell capacitor and interconnects was calculated with three-dimensional tetrahedral meshes generated from the NURBS surface on CRAY T3E supercomputer. A total of 5,475,600 (130 156 270) cells was employed for the simulation of semiconductor regions comprising four DRAM cell capacitors with a dimension of 1.3 µm 1.56 µm 2.7 µm . The size of the required memory is about 22 Mbytes and the simulation time is 64,082 seconds. The number of nodes for the FEM calculation was 70,078 with 395,064 tetrahedrons.

This paper proposes a novel configuration of an elevated base station using an adaptive array for TDMA systems, which can simultaneously decrease the CCI (co-channel interference) and form a circular cell. The proposed base station comprises two sets of transceivers and antenna arrays, and an adaptive beam control unit. The transceivers work in different time slots. The circular cell that suppresses the interference is achieved by integrating the pattern control of the two antenna arrays. The effectiveness of the proposed base station configuration is evaluated by field measurements using an adaptive array testbed. We confirm that the proposed base station achieves a channel capacity that is approximately 30% greater than that of a base station employing an omni-directional antenna and generates an omni-zone with reduced CCI in an actual microcell system. Furthermore, we confirm by computer simulation that the proposed base station establishes a communicable area that is approximately 1.8 times larger than that of a base station employing an omni-directional antenna.

As scaling has been continued more than 20 years, it has yielded faster and denser chips with ever increasing functionality. The scaling will continue down to or beyond 0.1 µm as proposed in SIA Technical Road map. With scaling, device performance improves, however, interconnect performance is degraded. In this scaled deep submicron technology, however, interconnects limit the performance, packing density and yield, if not properly modeled. In order to properly model and design the interconnect-dominated circuits, accurate and proper interconnect modeling is a must to assure the performance and functionality of ever-increasing complex multi-million transistor VLSI circuits. In this paper, the overall flow of interconnect modeling in IC design is reviewed including interconnect characterization, various 2-D/3-D field solvers, 2-D/3-D interconnect model library generation, and parameter extraction. And advanced topics of interconnect modeling in deep submicron are reviewed; statistical interconnect modeling.

The orbital portrait of quasi-periodic oscillation shows transition like change with the amplitude of external force in periodically forced van der Pol oscillator. This phenomenon originates from frequency pulling between self-sustained and periodic external oscillations induced by the frequency shift of former. We estimate this shift and succeed in deriving the transition points at which the portrait changes.