This paper proposes a Japanese continuous speech recognition mechanism in which a full-sentence-level context-free-grammar (CFG) and one kind of semantic constraint called dependency relationships between two bunsetsu (a kind of phrase) in Japanese" are used during speech recognition in an integrated way. Each dependency relationship is a modification relationship between two bunsetsu; these relationships include the case-frame relationship of a noun bunsetsu to a predicate bunsetsu, or adnominal modification relationships such as a noun bunsetsu to a noun bunsetsu. To suppress the processing overhead caused by using relationships of this type during speech recognition, no rigorous semantic analysis is performed. Instead, a simple matching with examples" approach is adopted. An experiment was carried out and results were compared with a case employing only CFG constraints. They show that the speech recognition accuracy is improved and that the overhead is small enough.

This paper describes a novel shared file system, whose main features are enhanced security and its concurrency control mechanism. The system is especially suitable for access from mobile hosts. Users can edit their shared files concurrently. Shared files are encrypted and decrypted only by clients, and the file server cannot know the contents. The server asynchronously receives the edited parts, which are already encrypted, and merges them into the current version, deciphering neither the stored file nor the encrypted editing data. We call the mechanism 'privacy enhanced merging'. The mechanism and the underlying encryption algorithm, shared file data structure and procedures followed by clients and the server are shown.

This paper presents a generalized new approach for testing interconnects (for boundary scan architectures) as well as field programmable interconnect chips (FPICs). This approach relies on a structured walking-1 test set in the sense that a structural analysis based on the layout of the interconnect system, is carried out. The proposed structural test method differs from previous approaches as it explicitly avoids aliasing and confounding and is applicable to dense as well as sparse layouts and in the presence of faults in the programmable devices of a FPIC. The proposed method is applicable to both one-step and two-step test generation and diagnosis. Two algorithms with an execution complexity of O(n2), where n is the number of nets in the interconnect, are given. New criteria for test vector compaction are proposed; a greedy condition is exploited to compact test vectors for one-step and two-step diagnosis. For a given interconnect, the two-step diagnosis algorithm requires a number of tests as a function of the number of faults present, while the one-step algorithm requires a fixed number of tests. Simulation results for benchmark and randomly generated layouts show a substantial reduction in the number of tests using the proposed approaches compared with previous approaches. The applicability of the proposed approach to FPICs as manufactured by [1] is discussed and evaluated by simulation.

Semi-Orthogonally Associative Memory neural network model (SAM) uses the orthogonal vectors in Un = {-1, 1}n as its characteristic patterns. It is necessary to select the optimum characteristic parameter n so as to increase the efficiency of this model used. This paper investigates the dynamic behavior and error correcting capability of SAM by statistical neurodynamics, and demonstrates that there exists a convergence criterion in tis recalling processes. And then, making use of these results, its optimum characteristic parameter is deduced. It is proved that, in the statistical sense, its recalling outputs converge to the desired pattern when the initial similar probability is larger than the convergence criterion and not true otherwise. For a SAM with N neurons, when its characteristic parameter is optimum, its memory capacity is N/2 ln ln N, the information storage capacity per connection weight is larger than 9/23 (bits/weight) and the radius of attractive basin of non-spurious stable state is about 0.25N. Computer simulations are done on this model and the simulation results are consistent with the results of theoretical analyses.

In this paper we analyze the reliability of a simple broadcasting scheme for hypercubes (HCCAST) with random faults. We prove that HCCAST (n) (HCCAST for the n-dimensional hypercube) can tolerate Θ(2n/n) random faulty nodes with a very high probability although it can tolerate only n - 1 faulty nodes in the worst case. By showing that most of the f-fault configurations of the n dimensional hypercube cannot make HCCAST (n) fail unless f is too large, we illustrate that hypercubes are inherently strong enough for tolerating random faults. For a realistic n, the reliability of HCCAST (n) is much better than that of the broadcasting algorithm described in [6] although the latter can asymptotically tolerate faulty links of a constant fraction of all the links. Finally, we compare the fault-tolerant performance of the two broadcasting schemes for n = 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and we find that for those practical valuse, HCCAST (n) is very reliable.

Based on a simple model for the statistical error characteristics of range sensing, a numerical scheme called renormalization is presented for optimally fitting a planar surface to data points obtained by range sensing. The renormalization method has the advantage that not only an optimal fit is computed but also its reliability is automatically evaluated in the form of the covariance matrix. Its effectiveness is demonstrated by numerical simulation. A scheme for visualizing the reliability of computation by means of the primary deviation pair is also presented.

With the fully depleted ultra-thin-film SOI CMOS, one important issue is controlling the threshold voltage (Vth) while maintaining high speed operation and low power consumption. To control the Vth, applying a bias voltage to the substrate is one of the most practical methods. We suggest a fully depleted ultra-thin-film SOI CMOS with a floating back gate, which is formed at the lower part of the channel field inside the substrate and stores electrons injected into it. This device can eliminate the necessity of an extra circuit or a separate power supply to apply a negative voltage. The silicon wafer direct bonding technique is used to construct this device. With the prototyped devices, we can successfully control the Vth for both the nMOSFET and pMOSFET at around 0.5 V by controlling the quantity of the electric charges injected into the floating back gate.

In this paper, we propose a new method to measure the 3D object shape without special purpose lighting based upon the Backprojection of Pixel Data.This method need not extract feature points such as edges from images at all and can measure not only the feature points but the whole object surface. It is simply done by project all pixel data back into the object space from each image. Actually, we first assign all pixel data of images into voxels in the object space, and evaluate the variance of assigned data for all voxels. This process is based on the idea that a point on the object surface gives the similar color information or gray level when it is observed from different view points. Then, two kinds of voting are executed as an enhancement process to eliminate the voxels containing the false points. We present experimental results under the circular constraint of camera movement and show the possibility of the proposed method.

Overview of Improved Limb Atmospheric Spectrometer (ILAS) instrument design, band selection studies, and operation plan is described. The ILAS is a solar occultation instrument onboard ADEOS spacecraft with two grating spectrometers: one is for measurement for O3, HNO3, NO2, N2O, H2O, CH4 CFC11 and CFC12 in the infrared band (850-1610cm-1, 11.76µm-6.21m), and another is for aerosols, temperature and air density measurement in the visible band (753-784nm, O2 atmospheric A band). The ILAS will observe the ozone layer over high-latitudes (N55-70, S63-87) regions with a high vertical resolution (2km) for a period of 3 years after launch in 1996.

In this paper we describa a system for Off-line Recognition of Arabic characters and Numerals. This is based on expressing the machine printed Arabic alpha-numerical text in terms of strokes obtained by MCR (Minimum Covering Run) expression. The strokes are rendered meaningful by a labeling process. They are used to detect the baseline and to provide necessary features for recognition. The features selected proved to be effective to the extent that with simple right to left analysis we could achieve interesting results. The recognition is achieved by matching to reference prototypes designed for the 28 Arabic characters and 10 numerals. The recognition rate is 97%.

The aliasing probability was analyzed for MISRs when the error probability for each input was different. A closed form expression was derived by applying the complete weight distributions of linear codes over a Galois field and its dual codes. The aliasing probability for MISRs characterized by non-primitive polynomials was also analyzed. The inner product for binary representation of symbols was used instead of multiplication over a Galois field. The results show the perfect expression for analyzing the aliasing probability of MISRs.

Ordered binary decision diagrams (OBDDs) have been widely used in many CAD applications as efficient data structures for representing and manipulating Boolean functions. For the efficient use of the OBDD, it is essential to find a good variable order, because the size of the OBDD heavily depends on its variable order. Dynamic variable reordering is a promising solution to the variable ordering problem of the OBDD. Dynamic variable reordering with the sifting algorithm is especially effective in minimizing the size of the OBDD and reduces the need to find a good initial variable order. However, it is very time-consuming for practical use. In this paper, we propose two new implementation techniques for fast dynamic variable reordering. One of the proposed techniques reduces the number of variable swaps by using the lower bound of the OBDD size, and the other accelerates the variable swap itself by recording the node states before the swap and the pivot nodes of the swap. By using these new techniques, we have achieved the speed-up ranging from 2.5 to 9.8 for benchmark circuits. These techniques have reduced the disadvantage of dynamic variable reordering and have made it more attractive for users.

A continuous-wave ultrasonic Doppler system using wide field ultrasound transducers was applied to telemeter blood velocity from the carotid artery of exercising subjects. Velocity spectrogram was obtained by Hanning windowed fast Fourier transformation of the telemetered data. Distortion caused by a high-pass filter and transducers in the telemetry system was discussed in the paper. As the maximum Reynolds number in our experiment was 1478 which is smaller than the critical level of 2000, the blood flow should be laminar. Spatial velocity profiles were then reconstructed from the velocity spectrogram. In this paper, we defined a converging index Q of the velocity spectrum to measure the bluntness of the spatial velocity distribution across the blood vessel. Greater Q, the blunter the velocity profile will be. Simulation results for spatial velocity distributions of theoretical parabolic flow and Gaussian-distribution spectra with varied Q value showed that the cut-off effect by a high-pass filter of cut-off frequency fc=200Hz in our system could be ignored when the axial velocity is larger than 0.30 m/s and Q is greater than 2.0. Our experimental results, in contrast to those obtained from phantom systems by us and by Hein and O'Brien, indicate that the distribution of blood velocity is much blunter than previously thought. The Q index exceeded 10 during systole, whereas it was 0.5 in parabolic flow. The peak of Q index lagged behind that of axial blood velocity by approximately 0.02s. The phase delay of the Q index curve might be due to the time needed for the red blood cells to form the non-homogeneous distribution.

I have examined factors for implementing a high-speed, low-power-consumption thermal head. In conventional thermal heads, a heat insulation layer is provided between the heating resistor and the radiator. I found it desirable to implement fast operation and low power consumption to lower the thermal conductivity of the heat insulation layer and to thin the heat insulation layer. I also found there is an optimum heat characteristic to the thickness of one heat insulation layer. I assumed polyimide as a material for the heat insulation layer which could materialize the hypothesis, and studied necessary items based on the thermal calculation. I manufactured a trial thermal head on the basis of this result and confirmed that our assumptions were correct. In addition, to confirm that the assumption is also ultimately correct, I fabricated a trial thermal head only consisting of a heating resistor and without a protective coat and a heat insulation layer. I confirmed that the structure with only the heating resistor exhibited excellent heat response and consumed less power necessary for heating.

An automatic transistor-level performance fault tracing method is proposed which is applicable to the case where only CAD layout data is available in the CAD-linked electron beam test system. The technique uses an integrated algorithm that combines a previously proposed transistor-level fault tracing algorithm and a successive circuit extraction from CAD layout data. An expansion of the algorithm to the fault tracing in a combined focused ion beam and electron beam test system which enables us to measure signals on the interconnections in the lower layers is also described. An application of the technique to a CMOS model layout with about 100 transistors shows its validity.

Flora is a functional-style language for object and relational algebra. It has been designed for efficient support of advanced database languages combining rules and objects using compilation and optimization. Flora is a strongly typed language based on an OO data model and incorporating support for collection-oriented computational capabilities. In this paper, we describe the design and architecture of the Flora optimizer which is rule-based, yet doing cost-based optimization. The optimizer uniformly captures logical, semantic and implementation knowledge regarding the execution system and the applications by means of assertions. This framework eases extensibility and enables efficient query rewriting.

Two method to predict targets which a user is about to point with a mouse on the basis of the trajectory of the mouse cursor were proposed. The effects of the interval between targets, the position of targets, the sampling interval and the number of sampling on the pointing time and the prediction accuracy were investigated. In both methods, the distance between targets had little effects on the pointing time. The prediction accuracy was found to be affected by the position of targets. In both prediction methods, the angle between the cursor movement vector and the vector which connects the current cursor position and the center of each target is calculated every st. As for Prediction Method1 that regards the target which correspond to the minimum angle continuously 5 times as the candidate target, the optimal condition of the sampling interval was found to be 0.06 sec or 0.08 sec. Concerning Prediction Method2 that calculates the angle n times and determines the minimum cumulative value as the candidate, the optimal condition of the number of sampling was 8.

Rewriting logic has been proposed as a unified model of parallel and concurrent computation, especially concurrent object-oriented computation and agent oriented computation. In this paper, we present a category-theoretic technique in which simulation relation between concurrent processes described by rewriting logic is analyzed. In this technique, simulation relation is represented by morphisms in the category of concurrent processes. Moreover, this technique is shown to be applicable to Petri nets by modeling them by rewriting logic. By this method, it is acknowledged that our technique is applicable to Petri nets including multi-loops whose treatment is limited in other techniques.

In this paper, we present for the first time two three-dimensional analytical electrostatic Green's functions for shielded and open arbitrarily multilayered medium structures. The analytical formulas for the Green's functions are simply expressed in the form of Fourier series and integrals, and are applicable to the arbitrary number of dielectric layers. In combination with the complex image charge method, we demonstrate an efficient application to analyze microstrip discontinuities in a three-layered dielectric structure. Numerical results for the capacitance associated with on open-end discontinuity show good agreement with those from a previous paper and the effectiveness of using the analytical Green's functions to analyze three-dimensional electrostatic problems.

We present a framework for the unsupervised segmentation of time series. It applies to non-stationary signals originating from different dynamical systems which alternate in time, a phenomenon which appears in many natural systems. In our approach, predictors compete for data points of a given time series. We combine competition and evolutionary inertia to a learning rule. Under this learning rule the system evolves such that the predictors, which finally survive, unambiguously identify the underlying processes. The segmentation achieved by this method is very precise and transients are included, a fact, which makes our approach promising for future applications.