A two-year measurement of rainfall attenuation of CW microwaves inSingapore

The authors present two-year statistics on the rainfall attenuation of 21.225 GHz vertically polarized CW microwave signals in Singapore. The CCIR recommendation is found to underestimate the microwave specific attenuation (dB/km) per path average rain rate (mm/h) as well as the accumulated time of attenuation exceeding preset levels. A negative exponential raindrop size distribution based on spherical droplets is constructed from the measured data     

The near-zone field characteristics of an E-polarization plane wavepenetrating through cylindrical multiple apertures (non) coated withlossy and lossless media

The direct integral equation is formulated for describing the current on the multiple perfectly conducting strips in cylindrical geometries for an E-polarization plane wave of normal incidence. By using the Galerkin's method, the surface currents on the conducting strips are expanded in the form of a series of Chebyshev polynomials of the first kind, while the unknown expanding coefficients are solved by a set of matrix equations of finite order with a fast convergence rate and a high accuracy. Furthermore, numerical results are presented to demonstrate the variation of the penetrated near-zone field in the presence of one, two, three, four and six cylindrical apertures, and the hybrid effects of both aperture number and aperture angular widths on the penetrated fields are investigated in detail     

Effect of microporosity on tensile properties of as-cast AZ91D magnesium alloy

In the present study, the effect of microporosity on the tensile properties of as-cast AZ91D magnesium alloy was investigated through experimental observation and numerical prediction. The test specimens were fabricated by die-casting and gravity-casting. For gravity-casting, the inoculation and use of various metallic moulds were applied to obtain a wide range of microporosity. The deficiency of the interdendritic feeding of the liquid phase acted as a dominant mechanism on the formation of the micropores in the Mg?Al-alloys, rather than the evolution of hydrogen gas. Although tensile strength and elongation has a nonlinear and very intensive dependence upon microporosity, the yield strength appeared to have a linear relationship with microporosity. However, it was possible to quantitatively estimate the linear contribution of microporosity on the individual tensile property for a range of microporosity, which was below about 1%. The numerical prediction suggests that the effect of microporosity on fractured strength and elongation decreased as the strain hardening exponent increased. Furthermore, the shape and distribution of micropores may play a more dominant role than local plastic deformation on the tensile behavior of AZ91D alloy.     

Computation of the average power pattern of a reflector antennawith random surface errors and misalignment errors

To specify manufacturing tolerances of a reflector antenna, various errors such as random surface errors and misalignment errors must be considered at one time because superposition of the effects of those errors may not hold. Based on the Rahmat-Samii's formulation (1983), a method for computing efficiently the average power pattern of a reflector antenna with those errors is presented. Simulation results show that superposition of the effects of errors does not generally hold and demonstrate how those errors degrade the peak-gain and sidelobe levels     

Exploratory analysis of brain connectivity with ICA.

Covariance-based methods of exploration of functional connectivity of the brain from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments, such as principal component analysis (PCA) and structural equation modeling (SEM), require a priori knowledge such as an anatomical model to infer functional connectivity. In this research, a hybrid method, combining independent component analysis (ICA) and SEM, which is capable of deriving functional connectivity in an exploratory manner without the need of a prior model is introduced. The spatial ICA (SICA) derives independent neural systems or sources involved in task-related brain activation, while an automated method based on the SEM finds the structure of the connectivity among the elements in independent neural systems. Unlike second-order approaches used in earlier studies, the task-related neural systems derived from the ICA provide brain connectivity in the complete statistical sense. The use and efficacy of this approach is illustrated on two fMRI datasets obtained from a visual task and a language reading task.     

Comment on raindrop size distribution model

The parameter set for the exponential raindrop size distribution model presented by Yeo, Kooi and Leong (see ibid. vol.41, P.709, 1993) was derived using a data set measured in Singapore. A limitation to the model is that it is accurate only for small rain rate or when the rain medium consists predominantly of small droplets with diameter D is < λ/π . A new parameter set that enables accurate computation of rain attenuation for droplets with diameter D = λ/π has since been derived using the same data set. This new parameter set has been proven to be more accurate in the computation of rain attenuation     

An improved prediction of series resistance in spiral inductormodeling with eddy-current effect

Based on an earlier study by Kuhn and Ibrahim (see IEEE J. Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 49, no. 1, p. 31-38, 2001) on current crowding, an improved expression incorporating the skin effect for the prediction of series resistance in spiral inductor modeling has been derived. A modified model for the spiral inductor, which accounts for the eddy-current effect, is thus proposed. Relatively good agreements between the measured data and the results generated from the model are obtained     

A QoS management framework for distributed multimedia systems

This paper proposes a high‐performance connection management architecture to design a common QoS framework applied to an ATM network based on the Open Distributed Processing (ODP) concept. We design the QoS framework in accordance from the RM‐ODP information and computational viewpoints. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pseudorandomness of Basic Structures in the Block Cipher KASUMI

The notion of pseudorandomness is the theoretical foundation on which to consider the soundness of a basic structure used in some block ciphers. We examine the pseudorandomness of the block cipher KASUMI, which will be used in the next‐generation cellular phones. First, we prove that the four‐round unbalanced MISTY‐type transformation is pseudorandom in order to illustrate the pseudorandomness of the inside round function FI of KASUMI under an adaptive distinguisher model. Second, we show that the three‐round KASUMI‐like structure is not pseudorandom but the four‐round KASUMI‐like structure is pseudorandom under a non‐adaptive distinguisher model.