Fuzzy rule-based signal processing and its application to imagerestoration

A novel signal processing technique based on fuzzy rules is proposed for estimating nonstationary signals, such as image signals, contaminated with additive random noises. In this filter, fuzzy rules concerning the relationship between signal characteristics and filter design are utilized to set the filter parameters, taking the local characteristics of the signal into consideration. The fuzzy rules are found to be quite effective, since the rules to set the filter parameters are usually expressed in an ambiguous style. The high performance of this filter is demonstrated in noise reduction of a 1-D test signal and a natural image with various training signals     

ISDN and new services in Poland: opportunities and obstacles

Presents an overview of problems involved in introducing ISDN and new services in the public network of Poland. The technical aspects of the assumed network and services development strategy are considered. The focus is on development alternatives and the process of establishing national requirements for the development     

Advanced service provisioning in a partly digitalized networkenvironment

Considering the given situation in the Hungarian telecommunications infrastructure and the prompt demands for advanced services, this paper describes an individual solution to provide intelligent services in the mixed analog and partly digitalized Hungarian public telephone network. The preIN system is based on co-located stand-alone units equipped with SSP/SCP functionality     

Error monitoring issues for common channel signaling

Motivated by field data which showed a large number of link changeovers and incidences of link oscillations between in-service and out-of-service states in common channel signalling (CCS) networks, a number of analyses of the link error monitoring procedures in the SS7 protocol were performed by the authors. This paper summarizes the results obtained thus far and include the following: (a) results of an exact analysis of the performance of the error monitoring procedures under both random and bursty errors; (b) a demonstration that there exists a range of error rates within which the error monitoring procedures of SS7 may induce frequent changeovers and changebacks; (c) an analysis of the performance of the SS7 level-2 transmission protocol to determine the tolerable error rates within which the delay requirements can be met; (d) a demonstration that the tolerable error rate depends strongly on various link and traffic characteristics, thereby implying that a single set of error monitor parameters will not work well in all situations; and (e) some recommendations on a customizable/adaptable scheme of error monitoring with a discussion on their implementability. These issues may be particularly relevant in the presence of anticipated increases in SS7 traffic due to widespread deployment of advanced intelligent network (AIN) and personal communications service (PCS) as well as for developing procedures for high-speed SS7 links currently under consideration by standards bodies     

A time domain approach for avoiding crosstalk in optical blockingmultistage interconnection networks

Crosstalk in multistage interconnection networks can be avoided by ensuring that a switch is not used by two connections simultaneously, in order to support crosstalk-free communications among N inputs and N outputs, a space domain approach dilates an N×N network into one that is essentially equivalent to a 2N×2N network. Path conflicts, however may still exist in dilated networks. This paper proposes a time domain approach for avoiding crosstalk. Such an approach can be regarded as “dilating” a network in time, instead of space. More specifically, the connections that need to use the same switch are established during different time slots. This way, path conflicts are automatically avoided. The time domain dilation is useful for overcoming the limits on the network size while utilizing the high bandwidth of optical interconnects. We study the set of permutations whose crosstalk-free connections can be established in just two time slots using the time domain approach. While the space domain approach trades hardware complexity for crosstalk-free communications, the time domain approach trades time complexity. We compare the proposed time domain to the space domain approach by analyzing the tradeoffs involved in these two approaches     

P-N double quantum well resonant interband tunneling diode withpeak-to-valley current ratio of 144 at room temperature

The current-voltage characteristics of the P-N double quantum well resonant interband tunneling (RIT) diodes in InAlAs-InGaAs system have been improved in this letter. The peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) is as high as 144 at room temperature. As we know, this is the highest room temperature PVCR ever reported in any tunneling devices. Moreover, the influence of the central barrier thickness varying from 10 Å to 30 Å on the device characteristics is also studied     

Yeast sequencing reports. Isolation and sequence analysis of a gene from the linear DNA plasmid pPAC1–2 of Pichia acaciae that shows similarity to a killer toxin gene of Kluyveromyces lactis

The toxin-encoding linear plasmid systems found in Pichia acaciae and Kluyveromyces lactis yeasts appear to be quite similar, both in function and structural organization. By Southern hybridization, a linear plasmid of P. acaciae, pPac1–2, was found to hybridize to the second open reading frame (ORF2) of K. lactis plasmid pGKL1, known to encode the α and β subunits of the K. lactis toxin. A 1·7 kbp segment of pPac1–2 DNA was cloned, sequenced and shown to contain four regions of strong homology to four similarly oriented regions of K. lactis ORF2. This 1·7 kbp fragment also contained an ORF of 1473 bp that could encode a protein of ～ 55·8 kDa. Like the α subunit gene of K. lactis ORF2, a very hydrophobic region occurs at the N-terminus, perhaps representing a signal sequence for transport out of the cell. Unlike K. lactis ORF2, however, the encoded polypeptide is much smaller and lacks a recognizable domain common to chitinases. The structure of a toxin that includes the translation product of this P. acaciae ORF would likely be quite different from that of the K. lactis toxin. Analysis of the upstream region of the P. acaciae ORF revealed an upstream conserved sequence identical to that found before ORFs 8 and 9 of pGKL2. A possible hairpin loop structure, as has been described for each of the four K. lactis pGKL1 ORFs, was found just upstream of the presumed start codon. The similarity of the promoter-like elements found in the linear plasmid genes of these diverse yeasts reinforces the idea of the existence of a unique, but highly conserved, expression system for these novel plasmids. The sequence has been deposited in the GenBank data library under Accession Number U02596.     

Development of a Trans-Mucosal Controlled-Release Device for Systemic Delivery of Antianginal Drugs Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics

Oral mucosa is well-known to be one of the best routes for drug absorption. But very few R & D works have been initiated to investigate the feasibility of using this site to control drug delivery. A transmucosal controlled-release device, which is capable of achieving excellent absorption and controlled release of drugs, has been developed. The device is a tabletshaped mucoadhesive system which is composed of two layers. The upper layer is a fast-release layer and the lower layer is a sustained-release layer, and designed to be applied between buccal and gingival mucosae. Both layers are formulated from synthetic polymers to control the release of drugs.

Isosorbide dinitrate(ISDN), a well-documented antianginal drug, is known to be susceptible to extensive presystemic elimination when taken orally. It was used as the candidate drug and the systemic bioavailability was studied in human and observed to be improved by as much as 5 fold when compared to a marketed oral sustained-release tablet; On the other hand, much smaller amount of metabolites was formed. The plasma profile of ISDN has also been observed to be substantially prolonged (12 hrs as compared to less than 1 hr for sublingual tablet and spray product on the market). These observations have demonstrated that this device is capable of not only bypassing hepatic “first-pass” metabolism but also having a sustainedrelease property of prolonging the release of ISDN.

Clinical studies performed in the anginal patients for up to one year have demonstrated the therapeutic benefits of this device in achieving a substantial reduction in the frequency of anginal attacks.

This type of device was also applied to the systemic delivery of another antianginal drug, Nifedipine, by employing a formulation with longer sustained drug release property. Again, the clinical results demonstrated that a prolonged duration of therapeutic plasma concentration has also been accomplished.     

The origin and features of information referenced in pharmaceutical patents

50 pharmaceutical patents granted to firms, residing in US, GB, DE and HU each, were surveyed and the average numbers of scientific as well as patent itemsReferenced by the inventors were calculated. The sum of impact factors of the journals referenced (Total Weighted Impact) was calculated by scientific fields. About 50–60 per cent of scientific information referred to in the patents was found to originate from Life Sciences journals. It was found that 10 per cent of the journals referenced contained 55 per cent of the papers.Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Bibliometrics, Informetrics and Scientometrics in Berlin (Germany), September 11–15, 1993.     

R-Kurven von energiedissipativen Werkstoffen mit Schädigungszone Teil 2: Experimentelle Ermittlung von J-R Kurven

R-curves of energy dissipative materials Part 2: Experimental evaluation of J-R curves A hypothesis regarding the conversion of mechanical into thermal energies within the nonlocal damage region is formulated to model the fracture behaviour of energy dissipative materials with rising crack resistance characteristics. The material's capacity to develop nonlocal damage beyond blunting is assumed to decrease with the actual damage level. This decrease relates linearly with the remaining resources of the material in dissipating energy. The hypothesis, wich proposes a square root function for theoretical J-R curves, is verified by the regression analysis of experimental data regarding a European round robin test of different steels.