This paper describes a rhythm pattern accuracy diagnosis system based on the rhythm pattern matching algorithm and a diagnosis feedback method by employing the SVM technique. A beat rhythm pattern is recorded by a PC and analyzed with an algorithm including cluster-analysis-based pattern matching. Rhythm performance is represented by a performance feature vector, which features note length deviation, note length instability, and tempo instability. The performance feature vector is effective for objectively evaluating the accuracy of rhythm patterns objectively. In addition, this system has the music experts' knowledge base, which is calculated from the performance feature vectors associated with the experts' subjective evaluation by listening to the performance. The system generates both an objective measuring report, and experts' comments for learners. Reproductivity of experts' comments is statistically indicated to be excellent for eight rhythm patterns, two tempo levels, and eight users. Reliability of experts' comments are also described considering the threshold of the decision function of SVM. Subjective evaluation of the system is carried out by fifteen users by a questionnaire using the SD method. As a result of factor analysis for the sixteen questions, four factors named "Audio-visual representation," "User-friendliness," "Reliability," and "Window representation," are extracted. Users' four factor scores indicate that the system is reliable and easy to use.

The electromagnetic disturbance that leaks from ICT (information and communications technology) equipment might contain important information. Our measurements show that the information hidden inside of the electromagnetic disturbance can be monitored. First, we measured the level of the electromagnetic disturbance that leaks from laser printers and collected the waveform in the time domain. Then, we reconstructed the printed image from the data. As a result of our measurements, we found that at points 200 cm away or beyond it is difficult to reconstruct the printed image, and therefore the threat to electromagnetic security is not significant.

A free-space method is in wide spread use for the reflectivity measurement of electromagnetic wave absorbers (EMA) in VHF and UHF range. In the free-space method, the reflection levels from EMA and from the metal plate with same size as the EMA are measured, and the reflectivity is calculated from their ratio. The incident angle such as normal or oblique must be defined, and the polarization of electromagnetic (EM) wave must be specified to be TE, TM, or circularly-polarized mode. In this paper, a parallel EM wave beam method using dielectric lenses in front of horn antennas was studied experimentally. Electromagnetic wave absorption was measured with the vertical and the oblique incidence by using this parallel EM wave beam. This measurement system has following features:• It is compact because equiphase parallel EM wave beam was obtained in a short distance from the dielectric lens.• It requires no anechoic chamber because of little multi-reflection due to high directivity of parallel EM wave beam.• It allows a large oblique incident measurement by using high directive parallel EM wave beam.

We measured the complex permittivities of whole blood and blood plasma in quasi millimeter and millimeter wave bands using a coaxial probe method. The validity of these measurements was confirmed by comparing with those of a different measurement method, i.e., a dielectric tube method. It is shown that the complex permittivities of the blood samples are similar to those of water in quasi millimeter and millimeter wave bands. Furthermore, the temperature dependences of the complex permittivities of the samples were measured.

In this study, we propose a new acoustic model including the human ear canal and a thin tube earphone. The use of a tube earphone enables simultaneous listening of both virtual and real surrounding sound. First, we perform acoustic FDTD (finite difference time domain) simulations using an MRI head model with ear canals. The calculated external impedance viewed from the eardrum numerically shows that the influence of the inserted tube is small. A listening experiment with six subjects also confirms the effectiveness of a tube earphone. Second, we calculate HRTFs (head-related transfer functions) for eight directions in the horizontal plane to realize sound localization with a tube earphone. We also design inverse filters based on the propagation calculations including the characteristics of tube earphones. Finally we evaluate the localization system by another listening experiment with six subjects. The results reveal that the applicability of a system with tube earphones and inverse filters, particularly for the front directions.

We propose a new swept-frequency measurement method for the electromagnetic characterization of materials. The material is a multilayer cylinder that pierces a rectangular waveguide through two holes in the narrow waveguide walls. The complex permittivity and permeability of the material are calculated from measured S-parameters as an inverse problem. To this aim, the paper develops a complete electromagnetic formulation of the problem, where the effects of material insertion holes are taken into consideration. The formulation is validated through the measurement of ferrite and water samples in the S-band.

The lossy magnetic composite material made from soft magnetic metal powder and rubber is widely used as an EMI countermeasure material, due to its higher magnetic loss than those of spinel ferrites in microwave frequencies. In this paper, we clarify the material characteristics by measuring the relative complex permeability r and relative complex permittivity r of two kinds of composite materials in microwave frequencies. Since the composite materials are anisotropic, both r and r are measured as diagonal tensors by utilizing extended S-parameter method. The results show that the imaginary part of r of flaky-powder composite exceeded the Snoek's limit for the spinel ferrites which has been reported so far. The measured r and r are partially compared with those measured by cavity resonator method, and good agreement is obtained.

The Waveguide-Penetration method is a permittivity measurement technique where a columnar object pierces a rectangular waveguide through a pair of holes at the center of its broad walls. The permittivity of the object is estimated from measured S-parameters . This paper demonstrates a scheme for analyzing permittivity measurement errors in the Waveguide-Penetration method. The sources of errors are categorized into systematic and random error sources. Systematic errors in the values of the sample and waveguide holes diameters, the effect of sample's length, and the influence of ambient temperature are investigated and corrected for. Potential random error sources such as imperfect TRL calibration elements, VNA thermal noise, sample loading, and test-port cable flexure are analyzed and their contribution to random errors are estimated.

In this paper, a new swept-frequency method for the measurement of the complex permittivity and permeability of materials is proposed. The method is based on the S-parameters measurement of a cylindrical material placed inside a rectangular waveguide, where the axis of the cylinder is perpendicular to the narrow waveguide walls. The usage of cylinders in measurement is beneficial because they are easy to fabricate and handle. A novel exact solution of the field scattered by the cylinder is developed. The solution is based on expanding the field in a sum of orthogonal modes in cylindrical coordinates. Excitation coefficients relating the cylindrical scattered field to the waveguide modes are derived, and are used to rigorously formulates the S-parameters. Measurement are performed in the S-band with two dielectric materials (PTFE, nylon), and in the X-band with one magnetic material (ferrite epoxy). The measurement results agree with those from the literature.

Theoretical and actual experimental investigations are made on a Loop Antenna System (LAS) consisting of N-gap loop antennas. A general formula for the LAS response to an external EM field is derived by using both the method of moments and techniques for transmission-line analysis. Numerical evaluation verifies that the LAS has favorable characteristics, such as invariable response within a wide frequency range. In addition, differences between the LAS method and the present open-field method in the results of measurement are evaluated. It should be noted that the LAS gives a much lower output for an electrical source than for a magnetic source, even if both sources produce the same value with the open-field method. It is concluded that conversion factors for the results from the LAS method to the open-field method strongly depend on the orientation of the source as well as its characteristics. Consequently, new conversion factors are proposed to obtain practical EMI measurements.

To clarify the correspondence between Shielding Effectiveness (SE) of shielding materials and their physical property, we propose an equivalent circuit for a shielding effectiveness test apparatus using a dual TEM cell, and show its validity. By considering the structure of dual TEM cell that consists of a pair of cells coupled via an aperture in their common wall, we defined the capacitance C and mutual inductance M, that respectively express the electric coupling and magnetic coupling between two center conductors. By the measurement of unloaded S-parameter, we determined the values of C and M for a dual TEM cell in hand. Next, the shielding material was approximated by the apparent sheet resistivity Rs, and was used in the equivalent circuit of loaded aperture. As a result, the coupling level calculated from the equivalent circuit agreed well with the measured data in frequencies below 300 MHz.

The waveguide-penetration method is a method to measure the electrical properties of materials. In this method, a cylindrical object pierces a rectangular waveguide through a pair of holes at the centre of its broad walls. Then, the complex permittivity and permeability of the object are estimated from measured S-parameters after TRL calibration. This paper proposes a new calibration algorithm for the waveguide-penetration method. Reference materials with known electrical properties are fabricated in cylindrical shapes to fit into the holes in the waveguide and are used as calibration standards. The algorithm is formulated using the property of equal traces in similar matrices, and we show that at least two reference materials are needed to calibrate the system. The proposed algorithm yields a simpler means of calibration compared to TRL and is verified using measurements in the S-band. Also, the error sensitivity coefficients are derived. These coefficients give valuable information for the selection of reference materials.