Searching minimax game trees under memory space constraint

Games such as CHESS, GO and OTHELLO can be represented by minimax game trees. Among various search procedures to solve such game trees,- and SSS^* are perhaps most well known. Although it is proved that SSS^* explores only a subset of the nodes explored by-, - is commonly believed to be faster in real applications, since it requires very little memory space and hence its storage management cost is low. Contrary to this folklore, however, this paper reports, using the OTHELLO game as an example, that SSS^* is much faster than-. It is also demonstrated that SSS^* can be modified to make the required memory space controllable to some extent, while retaining the high efficiency of the original SSS^*.This research was partially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Japan, under a Scientific Grant-in-Aid.     

Effect of Elastic Energy due to Atomic Size Factor on Ordering and Decomposition Behaviour of Binary Solid Solutions

A theory recently developed by the present authors is applied to the study of the effect of elastic energy due to atomic size factor on the transformation behaviour of binary solid solutions. lt is found that elastic interaction energy (EIE), which is a part of the total elastic energy plays a key role in both ordering elastic interaction ordering (EIO) and spinodal decomposition. The present study gives a reasonable explanation to the historical dilemmas, "elastic energy paradox" and "atomic size factor paradox . By solving these confusing problems, the coexistence of ordering (EIO) and decomposition, which has been regarded as impossible by conventional theories. can be well understood. The mechanism is as follows: lowering of elastic energy demands EIO, and such an ordering provides a driving force for spinodal decomposition. Therefore, in alloys with large atomic size factor, spinodal decomposition is preceded and induced by ordering. Ordering and spinodal decomposition are thus closely related processes to each other     

Solving the irregular strip packing problem via guided local search for overlap minimization

The irregular strip-packing problem (ISP) requires a given set of non-convex polygons to be placed without overlap within a rectangular container having a fixed width and a variable length, which is to be minimized. As a core sub-problem to solve ISP, we consider an overlap minimization problem (OMP) whose objective is to place all polygons into a container with given width and length so that the total amount of overlap between polygons is made as small as possible. We propose to use directional penetration depths to measure the amount of overlap between a pair of polygons, and present an efficient algorithm to find a position with the minimum overlap for each polygon when it is translated in a specified direction. Based on this, we develop a local search algorithm for OMP that translates a polygon in horizontal and vertical directions alternately. Then we incorporate it in our algorithm for OMP, which is a variant of the guided local search algorithm. Computational results show that our algorithm improves the best-known values of some well-known benchmark instances.     

Theoretical comparisons of search strategies in branch-and-bound algorithms

Four known search strategies used in branch-and-bound algorithms-heuristic search, depth-first search, best-bound search, and breadth-first search-are theoretically compared from the viewpoint of the performance of the resulting algorithms. Heuristic search includes the other three as special cases. Since heuristic search is determined by a heuristic functionh, we first investigate how the performance of the resulting algorithms depends onh. In particular, we show that heuristic search is stable in the sense that a slight change inh causes only a slight change in its performance. The best and the worst heurstic functions are clarified, and also discussed is how the heuristic functionh should be modified to obtain a branch-and-bound algorithm with an improved performance. Finally, properties and limitations of depth-first search, best-bound search, and breadth-first search viewed as special cases of heuristic search are considered. In particular, it is shown that the stability observed for heuristic search no longer holds for depth-first search.     

浸没式光刻的优势和可行性

浸没式光刻通过高折射率的液体充入透镜底部和片子之间的空间使光学系统的数值孔径具有显著的优势。在193nm曝光系统中,水(折射率为1.44)被选作最佳的浸入液体。通过成像模拟,现已证明ArF穴193nm雪浸没式光刻(NA=1.05～1.23)与F2穴157nm雪干法穴NA=0.85～0.93雪光刻具有几乎相同的成像性能。结合流体力学和热模拟结果,讨论了ArF浸没式曝光设备的优势和可行性。     

Inhibition of char deposition using a particle bed in heating section of supercritical water gasification

Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) has attracted attention as a technology for utilizing wet biomass. We used a fluidized bed of alumina particles to prevent blockage of a SCWG reactor. A glucose solution was heated in the reactor with and without fluidized alumina particles. In the absence of alumina particles, char particles formed homogeneously in the reactor, but the use of a fluidized bed resulted in accumulation of char particles at the reactor’s exit rather than inside the reactor. Therefore, the fluidized bed was effective at preventing blockage of the reactor. However, the alumina particles did not remove deposits from the reactor’s walls. Instead, the fluidized bed caused larger char particles to form, preventing their adhesion to the reactor’s wall.     

Construction of an error map of rotary axes on a five-axis machining center by static R-test

This paper proposes an efficient and automated scheme to calibrate error motions of rotary axes on a five-axis machining center by using the R-test. During a five-axis measurement cycle, the R-test probing system measures the three-dimensional displacement of a sphere attached to the spindle in relative to the machine table. Location errors, defined in ISO 230-7, of rotary axes are the most fundamental error factors in the five-axis kinematics. A larger class of error motions can be modeled as geometric errors that vary depending on the angular position of a rotary axis. The objective of this paper is to present an algorithm to identify not only location errors, but also such position-dependent geometric errors, or “error map,” of rotary axes. Its experimental demonstration is presented.     

Quantitative evaluation of display characteristics of AMOLED displays

Abstract— Understanding the display characteristics of OLEDs is not only of general interest but also of technological importance for expanding the application of OLEDs. The display characteristics of AMOLEDs were quantitatively evaluated and compared with LCD or CRT performance. The fast response time and high contrast ratio, which are attractive characteristics of OLEDs, were also retained under low temperature and bright ambient, respectively. Moreover the luminance and color barely changed with viewing angle at any gray‐scale level. The optical design of OLED diodes is important for the emission characteristics, luminance, and color reproducibility.     

Analysis of four change detection algorithms in bi-temporal space with a case study

Although change detection algorithms for temporal remote sensing images have been compared using various datasets, there is no general agreement on their performance for separating change and no-change. This study compared image differencing, image ratioing, image regression, and principal component analysis (PCA) from a mathematical perspective. Error analysis showed that no-change pixels with errors are expected to be located within an error zone in bi-temporal space. Bi-temporal space consists of two temporal axes of target pixel values observed successively. All algorithms confine a no-change area to a zone delineating change and no-change pixels in the space. Image ratioing defines a fan-like sector as a no-change area, generally unsuitable for change detection. The other algorithms confine a no-change area to a strip-like zone. Image differencing defines a no-change zone with a fixed slope, leading to its inability to specify flexibly the error zone that varies with different conditions. In the examined case, image regression and standardized PCA (SPCA) achieved the best performance for change detection, followed by PCA, image differencing, and image ratioing.