The goal of this study was to design a practical fuzzy controller of the cycle-to-cycle control for multi-joint movements of swing phase of functional electrical stimulation (FES) induced gait. First, we designed three fuzzy controllers (a fixed fuzzy controller, a fuzzy controller with parameter adjustment based on the gradient descent method, and a fuzzy controller with parameter adjustment based on a fuzzy model) and two PID controllers (a fixed PID and an adaptive PID controllers) for controlling two-joint (knee and ankle) movements. Control capabilities of the designed controllers were tested in automatic generation of stimulation burst duration and in compensation of muscle fatigue through computer simulations using a musculo-skeletal model. The fuzzy controllers showed better responses than the PID controllers in the both control capabilities. The parameter adjustment based on the fuzzy model was shown to be effective when oscillating response was caused due to the inter-subject variability. Based on these results, we designed the fuzzy controller with the parameter adjustment realized using the fuzzy model for controlling three-joint (hip, knee, and ankle) movements. The controlled gait pattern obtained by computer simulation was not significantly different from the normal gait pattern and it could be qualitatively accepted in clinical FES gait control. The fuzzy controller designed for the cycle-to-cycle control for multi-joint movements during the swing phase of the FES gait was expected to be examined clinically.

This work proposes a new method for RLCG interconnect model-order reductions in consideration with the adjoint network. Relationships between an original MNA network and its corresponding adjoint MNA network will be explored first. It will be shown that the congruence transformation matrix used in the one-sided projection can be constructed by using the bi-orthogonal bases developed from the Lanczos-type algorithms. In particular, if the multi-port driving-point impedance of RLCG interconnect circuits is the main concern, the transfer functions and system moments of the adjoint network can be directly calculated from those of the original RLCG interconnect network by exploring symmetric properties of the MNA formulation. Therefore, the cost of constructing the congruence transformation matrix can be simplified by up to 50% of the previous methods. Comparative studies among various standard methods and the proposed methods are also investigated. Experimental results on large-scale RLCG interconnect circuits will demonstrate the accuracy and the efficiency of the proposed method.

An algorithm is described for solving the node-to-set disjoint paths problem in bi-rotator graphs, which are obtained by making each edge of a rotator graph bi-directional. The algorithm is of polynomial order of n for an n-bi-rotator graph. It is based on recursion and divided into three cases according to the distribution of destination nodes in the classes into which the nodes in a bi-rotator graph are categorized. We estimated that it obtains 2n-3 disjoint paths with a time complexity of O(n5), that the sum of the path lengths is O(n3), and that the length of the maximum path is O(n2). Computer experiment showed that the average execution time was O(n3.9) and, the average sum of the path lengths was O(n3.0).

In this paper, Information-Spectrum characterization is derived for the reliable transmission of general correlated sources over the general multiple-access channels. We consider the necessary and sufficient conditions for the transmission of general correlated sources over the general multiple-access channels by using Information-Spectrum methods which are introduced by Han and Verdu.

This paper clarifies a necessary condition and a sufficient condition for transmissibility for a given set of general sources and a given general broadcast channel. The approach is based on the information-spectrum methods introduced by Han and Verdu. Moreover, we consider the capacity region of the general broadcast channel with arbitrarily fixed error probabilities if we send independent private and common messages over the channel. Furthermore, we treat the capacity region for mixed broadcast channel.

This paper aims at challenging Bernstein's problem called the "Degrees-of-Freedom problem," which remains unsolved from both the physiological and robotics viewpoints. More than a half century ago A.N. Bernstein observed that "dexterity" residing in human limb motion emerges from accumulated involvement of multi-joint movements in surplus DOF. It is also said in robotics that redundancy of DOFs in robot mechanisms may contribute to enhancement of dexterity and versatility. However, kinematic redundancy incurs a problem of ill-posedness of inverse kinematics from task-description space to joint space. In the history of robotics research such ill-posedness problem of inverse-kinematics has not yet been attacked directly but circumvented by introducing an artificial performance index and determining uniquely an inverse kinematics solution by minimizing it. Instead of it, this paper introduces two novel concepts named "stability on a manifold" and "transferability to a submanifold" in treating the case of human multi-joint movements of reaching and shows that a sensory feedback from task space to joint space together with a set of adequate dampings enables any solution to the overall closed-loop dynamics to converge naturally and coordinately to a lower-dimensional manifold describing a set of joint states fulfilling a given motion task. This means that, without considering any type of inverse kinematics, the reaching task can be accomplished by a sensory feedback with adequate choice of a stiffness parameter and damping coefficients. It is also shown that these novel concepts can cope with annoying characteristics called "variability" of redundant joint motions seen typically in human skilled reaching. Finally, it is pointed out that the proposed control signals can be generated in a feedforward manner in case of human limb movements by referring to mechano-chemical characteristics of activation of muscles. Based on this observation, generation of human skilled movements of reaching can be interpreted in terms of the proposed "Virtual-Spring" hypothesis instead of the traditional "Equilibrium-Point" hypothesis.

A rotator graph was proposed as a topology for interconnection networks of parallel computers, and it is promising because of its small diameter and small degree. However, a rotator graph is a directed graph that sometimes behaves harmfully when it is applied to actual problems. A bi-rotator graph is obtained by making each edge of a rotator graph bi-directional. In a bi-rotator graph, average distance is improved against a rotator graph with the same number of nodes. In this paper, we give an algorithm for the container problem in bi-rotator graphs with its evaluation results. The solution achieves some fault tolerance such as file distribution based information dispersal technique. The algorithm is of polynomial order of n for an n-bi-rotator graph. It is based on recursion and divided into two cases according to the position of the destination node. The time complexity of the algorithm and the maximum length of paths obtained are estimated to be O(n3) and 4n-5, respectively. Average performance of the algorithm is also evaluated by computer experiments.

Bandpass sampling algorithm is effectively adopted to obtain the digital signal with significantly reduced sampling rate for a single radio frequency(RF) signal. In order to apply the concept to multiple RF signals, we propose bandpass sampling algorithms with the normal and the inverse placements since we are interested in uniform order of the spectrum in digital domain after bandpass sampling. In addition, we verify the propose algorithms with generalized equation forms for the multiple RF signals.

The purpose of this study is to provide a new approach for detection using bio-impedance. This impedance is measured by the four-electrode method. As the impedance changes resulting from ankle, knee, and hip movements depended heavily on electrode placement, we determined the optimal electrode configurations for those movements by searching for high correlation coefficients, large impedance changes, and minimum interferences in ten subjects (Age: 204). Our optimal electrode configurations showed very strong relationships between the ankle joint angle and ankle impedance (γ = -0.9130.03), between the knee joint angle and knee impedance (γ = 0.9440.02), and between the hip joint angle and hip impedance (γ = 0.8230.08). This study showed the possibility that lower leg movement could be easily measured by impedance measurement system with two pairs of skin-electrodes.

Sensor networks, in which a large number of sensor nodes are connected with each other through communication networks, are potential to provide extensive new applications with various research and technical challenges and attracting much attention all over the world. In this paper we describe information and signal processing for sensor networks with emphasis on the concepts of collaboration and fusion as one of the most important issues for the sensor networks. We also review some basic aspects of sensor networks in terms of their features and the network architecture.

In this paper a new watermarking technique which is combined with joint photographic experts group (JPEG) encoding system is presented. This method operates in the frequency domain by embedding a pseudo-random sequence of real numbers in a selected set of discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients. The embedded sequence is extracted without restoring the original image to fit the trend in the digital still camera (DSC) system. The proposed technique represents a major improvement on methods relying on the comparison between the watermarked and original images. Experimental results show that the proposed watermarking method is robust to several common image processing techniques, including JPEG compression, noise, and blurring. We also implement the whole design by synthesizing with TSMC 1P4M 0.35 µm standard cell. The chip size is 3.0643.064 mm2 for 46374 gate counts. The simulation speed can reach 50 MHz. The power dissipation is 69 mW at 3.3 V 50 MHz.

This paper proposes a new method, EC-MDC that can detect and correct bit errors in the bitstream generated by multiple description coding. The proposed method generates two sub-bitstreams having a few redundancies as much as conventional multiple description coding. If a sub-bitstream at one side has bit error, the bit error can be corrected by using sub-bitstream of the other side. In BER-SNR experiments, reconstruction quality of the proposed method shows about 11dB higher than that of the conventional MDC at BER < 10-3 when a sub-bitstream is corrupted.

A burnt pancake graph is a variant of Cayley graphs and its topology is suitable for massively parallel systems. However, for a burnt pancake graph, there is much room for further research. Hence, in this study, we focus on n-burnt pancake graphs and propose an algorithm to obtain n disjoint paths from a source node to n destination nodes in polynomial order time of n, n being the degree of the graph. In addition, we estimate the time complexity of the algorithm and the sum of path lengths. We also give a proof of correctness of the algorithm. Moreover, we report the results of computer simulation to evaluate the average performance of the algorithm.

We have developed a novel self-alignment process using the surface tension of the liquid resin for assembly of electronic and optoelectronic devices. Due to their characteristics of low surface tension, however, the parametric design guidelines are necessary for resin self-alignment capability. In this paper, a shape prediction mathematical model and a numerical method are developed. The developed system is capable of achieving the liquid joint geometry and the parametric design for self-alignment capability. The influences of geometric parameters such as liquid volume, component weight, pad radius, liquid surface tension on the shape of liquid joint are investigated. Furthermore, the parametric design guidelines considered the process-related practical matters of misalignment level, distribution of the supplied liquid volumes and coplanarity deviation includes difference of the height between the pads are provided.

In this paper, we give an algorithm for the node-to-set disjoint paths problem in pancake graphs with its evaluation results. The algorithm is of polynomial order of n for an n-pancake graph. It is based on recursion and divided into two cases according to the distribution of destination nodes in classes into which all the nodes in a pancake graph are categorized. The sum of lengths of paths obtained and the time complexity of the algorithm are estimated and the average performance is evaluated based on computer simulation.

This paper focuses on the investigation of RoF link noise influence in an ubiquitous antenna system, which is composed of multiple radio base stations (RBSs) deployed over the service area, central control station (CCS) and radio-on-fiber (RoF) link that connects RBSs to the CCS. The ubiquitous antenna system is capable of receiving multiple mobile terminals simultaneously operating at the same frequency channel by making effective use of joint detection. However, in the ubiquitous antenna system, since signals are transmitted from RBSs to CCS via the RoF link, the noise generated at the RoF link, such as relative intensity noise, inter modulation distortion, optical shot noise and thermal noise, may become dominant factors degrading the performance. The performance evaluations considering optical link noise is given by computer simulations. Computer simulation results show that more than 19 dB of RoF link Eb/N0 is required for achieving sufficient performance.

This paper proposes a disjoint path selection scheme for Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) networks with Shared Risk Link Group (SRLG) constraints. It is called the weighted-SRLG (WSRLG) scheme. It treats the total number of SRLG members related to a link as part of the link cost when the k-shortest path algorithm is executed. In WSRLG, a link that has many SRLG members is rarely selected as the shortest path. Simulation results show that WSRLG finds more disjoint paths than the conventional k-shortest path algorithm. In addition, since WSRLG searches for the weight of the SRLG factor by using a modified binary search algorithm while satisfying the required number of disjoint paths between source and destination nodes, it can find cost-effective disjoint paths.

In this letter, we study the performance of the iterative receiver as applied to the space division multiplexing/orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (SDM/OFDM) systems. The iterative receiver under consideration employs the soft in/soft out (SISO) decoding process, which operates iteratively in conjunction with channel estimation for performing data detection and channel estimation at the same time. As opposed to the previous studies in which the perfect channel state information is assumed, the effects of channel estimation are taken into account for evaluating the performance of the iterative receiver and it is shown that the channel estimation applied in every iteration step of the iterative receiver plays a crucial role to warrant the performance, especially at a low signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR).

For any pair of distinct nodes in an n-pancake graph, we give an algorithm for construction of n-1 internally disjoint paths connecting the nodes in the time complexity of polynomial order of n. The length of each path obtained and the time complexity of the algorithm are estimated theoretically and verified by computer simulation.

In this letter, we address geometry coding of 3-D mesh models. Using a joint prediction, the encoder predicts vertex positions in the layer traversal order. After we apply the joint prediction algorithm to eliminate redundancy among vertex positions using both position and angle values of neighboring triangles, we encode those prediction errors using a uniform quantizer and an entropy coder. The proposed scheme demonstrates improved coding efficiency for various VRML test data.