In this paper, we attempt to construct practical secret sharing schemes, which scheme has smaller share size and can detect cheating with high probability. We define two secure ramp schemes, secure ramp scheme and strongly secure ramp scheme. Then, we propose two constructions of secure ramp scheme. These schemes both have small share size and the cheating can be detected with high probability. So, they are practical secret sharing schemes.

Terahertz radiation imaging has been employed to diagnose the supercurent and vortex distribution in high-Tc superconductive thin film strips. We observe them in the YBCO films patterned into the strip with and without ordered arrays of small antidots. Comparison with the theoretically expected distribution reveals that the present technique can provide a powerful tool for the noncontact, nondestructive, and free-space evaluation of the supercurrent and the vortex distribution with good quantitative agreement. The effect of the antidot formation in the strips is explained by the decrease of the effective critical current. The remanent state after removal of the relatively large magnetic field cannot be explained by the conventional model for the superconductive thin films, and the discrepancy is more notable in the antidot-formed area.

This paper proposes a statistical method to estimate the optimal software release time which minimizes the expected total software cost incurred in both testing and operation phases. It is shown that the underlying cost minimization problem can be reduced to a graphical one. This implies that the software release problem under consideration is essentially equivalent to a time series forecasting for the software fault-occurrence time data. In order to predict the future fault-occurrence time, we apply three extraordinary auto-regressive models by Singpurwalla and Soyer (1985) as the prediction devices as well as the well-known AR and ARIMA models. Numerical examples are devoted to illustrate the predictive performance for the proposed method. We compare it with the classical exponential software reliability growth model based on the non-homogeneous Poisson process, using actual software fault-occurrence time data.

We propose a blind source separation algorithm for the mixture of finite alphabet sources where sensors are less than sources. The algorithm consists of an update equation of an estimated mixing matrix and enumeration of the inferred sources. We present the bound of a step size for the stability of the algorithm and two methods of assignment of the initial point of the estimated mixing matrix. Simulation results verify the proposed algorithm.

For physically disabled persons, the conventional computer keyboard is insufficient as a useable communication device. In this paper, Morse code is selected as a communication adaptive device for persons with impaired hand coordination and dexterity. Morse code is composed of a series of dots, dashes, and space intervals. Each element is transmitted by sending a signal for a defined length of time. Maintaining a stable typing rate by the disabled is difficult. To solve this problem, a suitable adaptive automatic recognition method, which combines a variable degree variable step size LMS algorithm with a learning vector quantization method, was applied to this problem in the present study. The method presented here is divided into five stages: space recognition, tone recognition, learning process, adaptive processing, and character recognition. Statistical analyses demonstrated that the proposed method elicited a better recognition rate in comparison to alternative methods in the literature.

We formalize a model of "demonstration of program result-correctness," and investigate how to prove this fact against possible adversaries, which naturally extends Blum's theory of program checking by adding zero-knowledge requirements. The zero-knowledge requirements are universal for yes and no instances alike.

We have quantitatively and systematically investigated the effect of parasitic inductance on rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) circuits by numerical simulation. While a parasitic inductance in parallel to a junction has virtually no effect on the circuit performance, a parasitic inductance in series with a junction significantly reduces the operating margins and speeds of circuits that have been optimized with the assumption that no parasitic inductance exists. To improve the reduced margins and speeds we have re-optimized the circuits for operation with parasitic inductance. While the speeds are sufficiently improved by the re-optimization procedure, the margins do not reach those without the parasitics. This suggests that the parasitic inductance shrinks the operating regions of the circuits and improvement of the margins by changing only the values of the parameters is limited. For further improvement of the margins it is important to employ processes and layouts that minimize the series parasitic inductance.

The diffraction problem of a Gaussian beam by finite number of periodic slots in a parallel-plate waveguide filled with a homogeneous dielectric is considered. The integro-differential equation for the unknown equivalent surface magnetic current density over the slots is derived and solved by the method of moments (piecewise sinusoidal Galerkin method). From some theoretical results for the angular diffraction pattern, the present geometry is observed to simulate well the previous rectangular groove geometry from the viewpoint of scattering behaviour. In addition, two types (resonance and non-resonance types) of Bragg blazing phenomena are discussed. Simultaneous Bragg and off-Bragg blazing is also demonstrated.

This paper treats meta-heuristics for combinatorial optimization problems. The parallelization of meta-heuristics is then discussed in which we show that parallel processing has possibility of not only speeding up but also improving solution quality. Finally we extend the discussion of the combinatorial optimization into autonomous decentralized systems, say autonomous decentralized optimization. This notion becomes very important with the advancement of the network-connected system architecture.

Fabrication technology for Nb integrated circuits has been developed. In developing fabrication technology, the key process steps are the etching to form fine Nb electrodes and the formation of reliable insulation layers. The standard process has been developed focusing on reproducibility and reliability. In the process, conventional reactive ion etching and RF bias-sputter deposition are used. The number of Nb wiring layers is two, and standard deviation (σ) of critical current is 0.9%, 2.3%, and 4.7% for the junction sizes of 2 µm, 1.4 µm, and 1 µm, respectively. The advanced process has also been developed focusing on capability of increasing the integration scale. Electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma etching and mechanical polishing planarization have been developed as advanced process technology. The number of Nb wiring layers is three, and σ is improved to 0.8%, 0.7%, and 1.7% for the junction sizes of 2 µm, 1.4 µm, and 1 µm, respectively. Integration limits are discussed and it is estimated that the maximum number of junctions is in the order of 105 and 107 for the standard and the advanced process, respectively. A large-scale superconducting circuit such as a several M-bit RAM can be realized in the future by using these fabrication technologies.

In this paper, we propose a new kind of precoding method, modulated coded vector-TH precoding, to mitigate the channel intersymbol interference. The optimal design of the modulated code in vector TH precoding is presented. The coding gain of modulated coded vector TH precoding over conventional scalar TH precoding scheme is investigated in theory. Some simulation results are reported, which show that the proposed modulated coded vector TH scheme can provide a considerable coding gain compared with the conventional precoding techniques.

Dr. Kenji Koyama, one of the most respected and prominent Japanese researchers in modern cryptography, passed away on March 27, 2000. He left behind him many outstanding academic achievements in cryptography as well as other areas such as emotion transmission theory, learning and mathematical games. In this manuscript, with our deepest sympathy and greatest appreciation for his contribution to our society, we introduce his major works mainly in cryptography, although his papers in other areas are included in the bibliography list.

A minimum classification error formulation based on genetic algorithm is proposed for discriminative training of the bigram language model. Results of Chinese dialect identification were reported which demonstrate performance improvement with use of the genetic algorithm over the generalized probabilistic descent algorithm.

This paper presents a class of binary block codes capable of correcting single synchronization errors and single reversal errors with fewer check bits than the existing codes by 3 bits. This also shows a decoding circuit and analyzes its complexity.

The signed regressor algorithm, a variation of the least mean square (LMS) algorithm, is characterized by the estimation way of using the clipped reference signals, namely, its sign (). This clipping, equivalent to quantizing the reference signal to 1, only increases the estimation error by about 2 dB. This paper proposes to increase the number of the quantization steps to three, namely, 1 and 0, and shows that the 'tri-quantized-x' normalized least mean square (NLMS) algorithm with three quantization steps improves the convergence property.

In the beginning of the new century, many information appliance (IA) products will replace traditional electronic appliances to help people in smart, efficient, and low-cost ways. These successful products must be capable of communicating multimedia information, which is embedded into the electronic appliances with high integration, innovation, and power-throughput tradeoff. In this paper, we develop a codesign procedure to analyze, compare, and emulate the multimedia communication applications to find the candidate implementations under different criteria. The experimental results demonstrate that in general, memory technology dominates the optimal tradeoff and ALU improvements impact greatly on particular applications. The results also show that the proposed procedure is effective and quite efficient.

This paper deals with the decentralized supervisory control problems of uncertain discrete event systems which are represented as a set of some possible models. For a given global specification, this paper provides the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of local supervisors to achieve the specification under model uncertainty.

To extract extrinsic resistances, conventional cold-FET methods require additional DC measurements or channel technological parameters. Additionally, the methods need at least two sets of cold-FET S-parameters measured at different cold-FET bias conditions in order to completely determine gate and drain pad capacitance as well as extrinsic gate, source and drain inductance and their resistances. One set of S-parameters handles the extraction of extrinsic inductances, and the other set extracts the gate and drain pad capacitance. To be free from additional DC measurement or channel technological parameters and reduce the number of sets of cold-FET S-parameters, we propose a cold-FET method that can extract all the extrinsic elements including the gate and drain capacitance, using only one set of cold-FET S-parameters. The method has shown excellent agreement between modeled and measured S-parameters up to 62 GHz at 56 different normal operating bias points.

This paper discusses a gate resizing method for performance enhancement based on statistical static timing analysis. The proposed method focuses on timing uncertainties caused by local random fluctuation. Our method aims to remove both over-design and under-design of a circuit, and realize high-performance and high-reliability LSI design. The effectiveness of our method is examined by 6 benchmark circuits. We verify that our method can reduce the delay time further from the circuits optimized for minimizing the delay without the consideration of delay fluctuation.

Two new algorithms for improving the speed of the LZ77 compression are proposed. One is based on a new hashing algorithm named two-level hashing that enables fast longest match searching from a sliding dictionary, and the other uses suffix sorting. The former is suitable for small dictionaries and it significantly improves the speed of gzip, which uses a naive hashing algorithm. The latter is suitable for large dictionaries which improve compression ratio for large files. We also experiment on the compression ratio and the speed of block sorting compression, which uses suffix sorting in its compression algorithm. The results show that the LZ77 using the two-level hash is suitable for small dictionaries, the LZ77 using suffix sorting is good for large dictionaries when fast decompression speed and efficient use of memory are necessary, and block sorting is good for large dictionaries.