This paper presents a novel scale-rotation invariant generative model (SRIGM) and a kernel sparse representation classification (KSRC) method for scene categorization. Recently the sparse representation classification (SRC) methods have been highly successful in a number of image processing tasks. Despite its popularity, the SRC framework lucks the abilities to handle multi-class data with high inter-class similarity or high intra-class variation. The kernel random coordinate descent (KRCD) algorithm is proposed for 1 minimization in the kernel space under the KSRC framework. It allows the proposed method to obtain satisfactory classification accuracy when inter-class similarity is high. The training samples are partitioned in multiple scales and rotated in different resolutions to create a generative model that is invariant to scale and rotation changes. This model enables the KSRC framework to overcome the high intra-class variation problem for scene categorization. The experimental results show the proposed method obtains more stable performances than other existing state-of-art scene categorization methods.

Known an a criterion that solves the trade-off between fairness and efficiency, proportional fairness is well-studied in cellular networks in the Qualcomm High Data Rate System. In multi-hop wireless networks, proportional fairness is solved by maximizing the logarithmic aggregate utility function. However, this approach can deal with instantaneous rates only where long term fairness is to be targeted. In this case, cumulative rates are more suitable. This paper proposes a framework for multi-hop wireless networks to guarantee fairness of cumulative data rates. The framework can be extended to other kinds of fairness such as max-min fairness, and to more complex networks, multi-channel multi-radio wireless networks.

In this paper, a symbol-rate clock recovery scheme for a receiver that uses an integrating decision feedback equalizer (DFE) is proposed. The proposed clock recovery using expected received signal amplitudes as the criterion realizes minimum mean square error (MMSE) clock recovery. A receiver architecture using an integrating DFE with the proposed symbol-rate clock recovery is also proposed. The proposed clock recovery algorithm successfully recovered the clock phase in a system level simulation only with a DFE. Higher jitter tolerance than 0.26 UIPP at 10 Gb/s operation was also confirmed in the simulation with an 11 dB channel loss at 5 GHz.

In recent years, technologies and markets related to data centers have been rapidly changing and growing. Data centers are playing an important role in ICT infrastructure deployment and promise to become common platforms for almost all social infrastructures. Even though research has focused on networking technologies, various technologies are needed to develop high-performance, cost-efficient, and flexible large-scale data centers. To understand those technologies better, this paper surveys recent research and development efforts and results in accordance with a data center network taxonomy that the authors defined.

We propose a novel network traffic matrix decomposition method named Stable Principal Component Pursuit with Frequency-Domain Regularization (SPCP-FDR), which improves the Stable Principal Component Pursuit (SPCP) method by using a frequency-domain noise regularization function. An experiment demonstrates the feasibility of this new decomposition method.

In this paper, an energy- and traffic-balance-aware mapping algorithm from IP cores to nodes in a network is proposed for application-specific Network-on-Chip(NoC). The multi-objective optimization model is set up by considering the NoC architecture, and addressed by the proposed mapping algorithm that decomposes mapping optimization into a number of scalar subproblems simultaneously. In order to show performance of the proposed algorithm, the application specific benchmark is applied in the simulation. The experimental results demonstrate that the algorithm has advantages in energy consumption and traffic balance over other algorithms.

The Start-frame-delimiter (SFD) is crucial in packet-based communications system since it indicates the end of preamble and the start of a frame. In 802.15 smart utility network system, the function of SFD is extended. Two different SFDs are used for achieving frame synchronization and at the same time, to differentiate coded and uncoded packets. This paper proposes a systematic method for the selection of SFD pair for FSK based systems. The design method is adopted by 802.15.4g Task Group with the backward compatibility to IEEE 802.15.4d systems taken into account. Four selection criteria are specified and discussed to determine the pair of sequences providing least packet error detection rate with the consideration of eliminating the adjacent channel image signal commonly occurred in the low IF receiver. The probability of false alarm and miss detection is analyzed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed selection method. The simulation results confirm that error frame detection rate of 1e-3 can be achieved with selected SFD sequences. The proposed method for selection of SFD pairs ensures a robust packet header and thus better payload protection. The SFD design approach is applicable to other packet-based wireless communication FSK systems with the support of more than one SFD sequence.

Fluoropolymer thin films were prepared by the ion-assisted vapor deposition polymerization (IAD) of 2-(perfluorohexyl)ethylacrylate (Rf-6). The adhesion strength of the film to substrates was estimated by sonicating the films in water and by immersing the films into dichloro-pentafluoro propane (HCFC225). The Rf-6 polymer films by IAD showed stronger adhesion to glass compared to a spin-coated Teflon AF film. The adhesion strength was improved with increasing ion energy Eion of IAD. The IAD films showed superior adhesion to PET surface compared to the glass substrate. The Rf-6 polymer film was effective as a single-layer antireflective coating. The refractive index of the film was 1.368 (λ = 546 nm), which increased slightly with increasing Eion. IAD can be a promising method to prepare fluoropolymer thin films due to the solvent-less process and the flexibility in controlling the film characteristics by the ion energy.

This paper proposes a novel face recognition approach using a centralized gradient pattern image and image covariance-based facial feature extraction algorithms, i.e. a two-dimensional principal component analysis and an alternative two-dimensional principal component analysis. The centralized gradient pattern image is obtained by AND operation of a modified center-symmetric local binary pattern image and a modified local directional pattern image, and it is then utilized as input image for the facial feature extraction based on image covariance. To verify the proposed face recognition method, the performance evaluation was carried out using various recognition algorithms on the Yale B, the extended Yale B and the CMU-PIE illumination databases. From the experimental results, the proposed method showed the best recognition accuracy compared to different approaches, and we confirmed that the proposed approach is robust to illumination variation.

PCA-L1 (principal component analysis based on L1-norm maximization) is an approximate solution of L1-PCA (PCA based on the L1-norm), and has robustness against outliers compared with traditional PCA. However, the more dimensions the feature space has, the more calculation time PCA-L1 consumes. This paper focuses on an initialization procedure of PCA-L1 algorithm, and proposes a fast method of PCA-L1 using Gram-Schmidt orthogonalization. Experimental results on face recognition show that the proposed method works faster than conventional PCA-L1 without decrease of recognition accuracy.

The objective of our research is to build a statistical test that can evaluate different risks of a portfolio selection model with fuzzy data. The central points and radiuses of fuzzy numbers are used to determine the portfolio selection model, and we statistically evaluate the best return by a fuzzy statistical test. Empirical studies are presented to illustrate the risk evaluation of the portfolio selection model with interval values. We conclude that the fuzzy statistical test enables us to evaluate a stable expected return and low risk investment with different choices for k, which indicates the risk level. The results of numerical examples show that our method is suitable for short-term investments.

We outline a number of high temperature superconducting Josephson junction-based devices including superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) developed for a wide range of applications including geophysical exploration, magnetic anomaly detection, terahertz (THz) imaging and microwave communications. All these devices are based on our patented technology for fabricating YBCO step-edge junction on MgO substrates. A key feature to the successful application of devices based on this technology is good stability, long term reliability, low noise and inherent flexibility of locating junctions anywhere on a substrate.

A self-assembled monolayer having a benzophenone unit as a photoreactive terminal group (BP-SAM) was prepared on an indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrode, on which a hole-transport layer of a phenoxazine-dioctylfluorene copolymer (H5) was spin-coated and irradiated with UV light. After washing the physisorbed H5 molecules, contact angle measurement and ellipsometry showed that the H5 molecules can be tethered to the ITO surface via the BP-SAM. Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) were prepared in the structure of ITO/H5 hole transport layer/tris(8-hydroxyquinolato) aluminum/bathocuproin/LiF/Al electrode with and without the BP-SAM layer on the surface of ITO. The device with the BP-SAM showed higher current density and higher luminance due to the improvement of contact at the ITO/H5 interface by forming covalent bonds via the BP-SAM.

We report enhanced photocurrent properties of dye/Au-loaded titanium dioxide (TiO2) films on Au gratings. Au-loaded TiO2 nanopowders were first synthesized by a modified sol-gel method and then prepared by the impregnation method. We also fabricated dye-sensitized solar cells, which were composed of Au grating/Au-TiO2/TMPyP-SCC LbL (20 bilayers)/electrolyte/ITO substrates. Short-circuit photo-current measurements showed that Au-loaded TiO2 with grating-coupled surface plasmon excitation can enhance the short-circuit photocurrentof the fabricated cells.

In this paper, we consider a problem of simultaneously optimizing a sequence of graphs and a route which exhaustively visits the vertices from each pair of successive graphs in the sequence. This type of problem arises from repetitive routing of grasp-and-delivery robots used in the production of printed circuit boards. The problem is formulated as follows. We are given a metric graph G*=(V*,E*), a set of m+1 disjoint subsets Ci ⊆ V* of vertices with |Ci|=n, i=0,1,...,m, and a starting vertex s ∈ C0. We seek to find a sequence π=(Ci1, Ci2, ..., Cim) of the subsets of vertices and a shortest walk P which visits all (m+1)n vertices in G* in such a way that after starting from s, the walk alternately visits the vertices in Cik-1 and Cik, for k=1,2,...,m (i0=0). Thus, P is a walk with m(2n-1) edges obtained by concatenating m alternating Hamiltonian paths between Cik-1 and Cik, k=1,2,...,m. In this paper, we show that an approximate sequence of subsets of vertices and an approximate walk with at most three times the optimal route length can be found in polynomial time.

This paper presents a novel decision feedback equalizer (DFE) with block delay detection for the joint transceiver design that uses channel state information (CSI). The block delay detection in the proposed DFE offers a degree of freedom for optimizing the precoder of the transmitter, provided the transmission power is constrained. In the proposed DFE, the feedforward matrix is devised to enable a block-based equalizer that can be cooperated with an intrablock decision feedback equalizer for suppressing the intersymbol interference (ISI) for the transmitted block with a certain block delay. In this design, the interblock interference (IBI) for the delay block is eliminated in advance by applying the recently developed oblique projection framework to the implementation of the feedforward matrix. With knowledge of full CSI, the block delay and the associated block-based precoder are jointly designed such that the average bit-error-rate (BER) is minimized, subject to the transmission power constraint. Separate algorithms are derived for directly determining the BER-minimized block delays for intrablock minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) and zero-forcing (ZF) equalization criteria. Theoretical derivations indicate that the proposed MMSE design simultaneously maximize the Gaussian mutual information of a transceiver, even under the cases of existing IBI. Simulation results validate the proposed DFE for devising an optimum transceiver with CSI, and show the superior BER performance of the optimized transceiver using proposed DFE. Relying on analytic results and simulation cases also builds a sub-optimum MMSE design of the proposed DFE using the BER-minimized block delay for ZF criterion, which exhibits almost identical BER performance as the proposed MMSE design in most of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) range.

The three-bit balanced ternary quantum voltage generator was designed and tested. This voltage generator is based on zero-crossing Shapiro steps (ZCSSs) in asymmetric two-junction SQUID. ZCSSs were observed on the current-voltage curves, and maximum and minimum current of ZCSSs were almost same, respectively for the three bits. 27-step quantum voltages from -13Φ0f to +13 Φ0f were observed by combinations of inputs of bit1, bit2 and bit3.

It is the key concern for service providers that how a web service stands out among functionally similar services. QoS is a distinct and decisive factor in service selection among functionally similar services. Therefore, how to design services to meet customers' QoS requirements is an urgent problem for service providers. This paper proposes an approach using QFD (Quality Function Deployment) which is a quality methodology to transfer services' QoS requirements into services' design attribute characteristics. Fuzzy set is utilized to deal with subjective and vague assessments such as importance of QoS properties. TCI (Technical Competitive Index) is defined to compare the technical competitive capacity of a web service with those of other functionally similar services in the aspect of QoS. Optimization solutions of target values of service design attributes is determined by GA (Genetic Algorithm) in order to make the technical performance of the improved service higher than those of any other rival service products with the lowest improvement efforts. Finally, we evaluate candidate improvement solutions on cost-effectiveness. As the output of QFD process, the optimization targets and order of priority of service design attributes can be used as an important basis for developing and improving service products.

We investigated oxidation time dependence of graphene oxide employing modified Hummer method by dynamic light scattering. Oxidation reaction proceeded rapidly within about 24 hours, and was saturated. It is suggested that graphene oxides were not able to freely fragment. This implies that the oxidation reactions occur at the limited sites.

We study the role of energy conversion in phase regulation of frequency entrainment. For an open dynamical system that interacts with its environment, energy conversion in the system is the key to a wide variety of nonlinear phenomena including frequency entrainment. In this paper, using the standard notion of energy, we study the phenomena of frequency entrainment by periodic forces in two different types of oscillations: libration and rotation. Theoretical analysis shows a relationship between phase regulation and energy conversion in the entrainment phenomena. Both of them are explained as a common phase regulation. On the other hand, no common relationship between transient behaviors and energy conversion is identified for the two different types of oscillations. For libration, the development of frequency entrainment does not depend on the energy conversion. The energy input to the oscillator affects the amplitude of libration. For the rotation, the development of frequency entrainment is governed by the amount of energy conversion. The energy input to the system directly regulates the phase of rotation, in other words, controls the entrainment phenomenon. These results suggest a different dynamical and control origin behind the two types of entrainment phenomena as the energy conversion in the systems.