Point Contact Spectroscopy and Temperature Dependence of Resistivity of Metallic Sodium Tungsten Bronzes - Role of Optical Phonons

In this paper we report the results of electrical resistivity (1.5≤ T ≤ 300K) and point contact spectroscopy (PCS) measurements on single crystals of metallic sodium tungsten bronze with varying sodium content. We have shown that the electron-phonon coupling function as measured through PCS can explain quantitatively the large temperature dependence of resistivity ρ seen in these materials over the entire temperature range. The electron-phonon coupling function shows predominately large peaks for phonon frequency range of 30 meV ≤ ω ≤ 100 meV which match well with the calculated optical phonons for WO₆ octahedron. The integrated electron-phonon coupling constant λ from this data is ≈ 0.25-0.45, depending on the Na content. PACS numbers: 72.15.-v, 72.80.Ga     

ATM-based transport architecture for multiservices wirelesspersonal communication networks

This paper presents an ATM-based transport architecture for next-generation multiservices personal communication networks (PCN). Such “multimedia capable” integrated services wireless networks are motivated by an anticipated demand for wireless extensions to future broadband networks. An ATM compatible wireless network concept capable of supporting a mix of broadband ISDN services including constant bit-rate (CBR), variable bit-rate (VBR), and packet data transport is explored from an architectural viewpoint. The proposed system uses a hierarchical ATM switching network for interconnection of PCN microcells, each of which is serviced by high-speed, shared-access radio links based on ATM-compatible cell, relay principles. Design issues related to the physical (modulation), media access control (MAC), and data-link layers of the ATM-based radio link are discussed, and preliminary technical approaches are identified in each case. An example multiservice dynamic reservation (MDR) TDMA media access protocol is then considered in further detail, and simulation results are presented for an example voice/data scenario with a proportion of time-critical (i.e., multimedia) packet data. Time-of-expiry (TOE) based queue service disciplines are also investigated as a mechanism for improving the quality-of-service (QoS) in this scenario     

Bandwidth renegotiation for VBR video over ATM networks

A scheme for delivery or variable bit-rate (VBR) video over asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks where bandwidth can be renegotiated during the duration of a call between the video source and the network is considered. Renegotiation can be initiated by either the video source or the network. The video bandwidth requirement is characterized by a usage parameter control (UPC) consisting, in general, of peak rate, burst length, and sustained rate. A baseline design is outlined where rate-control adjusts the source's rate while a new UPC is requested from the network. When granted, the new UPC allows the source to maintain its target quantization and delay requirements. Rate control epochs may be extended when the network blocks UPC requests or sets a lower UPC value to temporally deal with congestion. Simulation results are presented for VBR MPEG video. The results show that with a moderate renegotiation rate the scheme tracks the bandwidth requirements of the source. As a result, the video quality and bandwidth efficiency can be maintained     

SWGMM: a semi-wrapped Gaussian mixture model for clustering of circular–linear data

Finite mixture models are widely used to perform model-based clustering of multivariate data sets. Most of the existing mixture models work with linear data; whereas, real-life applications may involve multivariate data having both circular and linear characteristics. No existing mixture models can accommodate such correlated circular–linear data. In this paper, we consider designing a mixture model for multivariate data having one circular variable. In order to construct a circular–linear joint distribution with proper inclusion of correlation terms, we use the semi-wrapped Gaussian distribution. Further, we construct a mixture model (termed SWGMM) of such joint distributions. This mixture model is capable of approximating the distribution of multi-modal circular–linear data. An unsupervised learning of the mixture parameters is proposed based on expectation maximization method. Clustering is performed using maximum a posteriori criterion. To evaluate the performance of SWGMM, we choose the task of color image segmentation in LCH space. We present comprehensive results and compare SWGMM with existing methods. Our study reveals that the proposed mixture model outperforms the other methods in most cases.     

Design and Uncertainty Evaluation of a Strain Measurement System

Strain measurement is very important in various industrial applications as well as different disciplines of science and technology for direct and indirect observations of certain parameters. Designing signal conditioning circuit is always a challenging and important task for satisfactory and reliable performance of a sensor as well as the system. The design and implementation details of a signal conditioning circuit of resistive sensor (strain gauge) for strain measurement are presented in this paper. Also the important aspects in designing a signal conditioning circuit for resistive sensor are presented and a novel method for the measurement of strain is discussed. Quarter bridge configuration with AC voltage excitation is used for the measurement along with the necessary circuitry to get a suitable and measurable output DC voltage. The measurement system is calibrated using a cantilever of stainless steel and the details of calibration are presented in the paper. The uncertainty associated with the measurement system is evaluated.     

EMERS: a tree matching–based performance evaluation of mathematical expression recognition systems

Performance evaluation of mathematical expression recognition systems is attempted. The proposed method assumes expressions (input as well as recognition output) are coded following MathML or T_EX/LaT_EX (which also gets converted into MathML) format. Since any MathML representation follows a tree structure, evaluation of performance has been modeled as a tree-matching problem. The tree corresponding to the expression generated by the recognizer is compared with the groundtruthed one by comparing the corresponding Euler strings. The changes required to convert the tree corresponding to the expression generated by the recognizer into the groundtruthed one are noted. The number of changes required to make such a conversion is basically the distance between the trees. This distance gives the performance measure for the system under testing. The proposed algorithm also pinpoints the positions of the changes in the output MathML file. Testing of the proposed evaluation method considers a set of example groundtruthed expressions and their corresponding recognized results produced by an expression recognition system.     

Dependence of the flux flow viscosity coefficient on the Ginzburg-Landau parameter κ in superconducting indium films

The flux flow viscosity coefficient b ^–1 (in units of ₀ H _{c n} ^–1 c ^–2) of vacuum-deposited indium thin films with low values (1.0–2.8) is measured at temperatures between 0.5T _cand 0.98T _cin the weak magnetic field region. At each temperature, b ^–1 decreases as increases for larger than 1.7. The decrease of b ^–1 with increasing is more rapid as the temperature increases. From an analysis of the present results as well as the existing data on intermediate- and high- superconducting alloys, the relation between b ^–1 and is established over a wide range of . The dependence of b ^–1 on is qualitatively explained by taking into account the contribution of the normal electron dissipation to the viscosity coefficient in the Bardeen-Stephen model.Financial support provided by the Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique.On leave from the Department of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kyushu Industrial University, Fukuoka, Japan.