This paper proposes bidirectional packet aggregation and coding (BiPAC), a packet mixing technique which jointly applies packet aggregation and network coding in order to increase the number of supportable VoIP sessions in wireless multi-hop mesh networks. BiPAC applies network coding for aggregated VoIP packets by exploiting bidirectional nature of VoIP sessions, and largely reduces the required protocol overhead for transmitting short VoIP packets. We design BiPAC and related protocols so that the operations of aggregation and coding are well-integrated while satisfying the required quality of service by VoIP transmission, such as delay and packet loss rate. Our computer simulation results show that BiPAC can increase the number of supportable VoIP sessions maximum by around 87% as compared with the case when the packet aggregation alone is used, and 600% in comparison to the transmission without aggregation/coding. We also implement BiPAC in a wireless testbed, and run experiments in an actual indoor environment. Our experimental results show that BiPAC is a practical and efficient forwarding method, which can be implemented into the current mesh hardware and network stack.

By applying Wigner distribution, which has high time resolution and high random noise reducing capability, to the acoustic bio–signals, the possibility of early diagnosis in both intracranial vascular deformation and prosthetic cardiac valve malfunction increased. Especially in latter case, 1st–order local moment of the distribution showed its effectiveness.

Quantum computations have so far proved to be more powerful than classical computations, but quantum computers still have not been put into practical use due to several technical issues. One of the most serious problems for realizing quantum computers is decoherence that occurs inevitably since our apparatus are surrounded with environment and open systems. In this paper, we give some surveys on a variety of effects of decoherence in quantum algorithms such as Grover's database search and quantum walks, and we show how quantum algorithms work under decoherence, how sensitive they are against decoherence, and how to implement a robust quantum circuit.

For the purpose of detecting the intracranial vascular deformations noninvasively, transducer for bruit sound emanated from diseased lesion and analyzing system were developed and applied clinically. Several aspects of the bruit signals were clarified and the possibility of early diagnosis was increased.

Intracranial blood flow noise measuring and analyzing system were developed to detect the cerebrovascular diseases such as aneurysm, stenosis and occlusion in their early stage. To realize the effective measuring of the sound known as the 'bruit,' dedicated PVDF-film based sensor working on the closed eyelid was designed. FFT spectrums and Wigner distributions were used as analyzing methods to clarify both the precise spectrum and the time variance of the signals. Thirty normal people without any history of cerebrovascular disease were tested with the system to estimate the characteristics of the background noise. Thirteen patients, including eight stenosis, four aneurysm and one occlusion, were studied with the system. FFT spectral differences between patient and normal existed over the frequency range from 0.5kHz to 1.2kHz. In this range apparent increases of the signal components' power were observed for the patients. Numerically, this tendency was confirmed by the power difference between 750Hz and 1.5kHz, which could be the possible index of the existence diagnosis for cerebrovascular diseases. The shape of the FFT spectral pattern showed some difference between stenosis and aneurysm. In stenosis cases, it seemed that there existed the flat level from 0.4kHz to 1.2kHz, while in aneurysm cases the power decreases smoothly as frequency increases from the peak around 0.7kHz. Time variance of the bruit according to the cardiac cycle could be seen in the cases of stenosis from 30% to 50%, but not in the cases from 40% to 90%. This fact suggested the possibility to diagnose the extent of the stenosis. In most cases, recognizable spectral peak around 0.7 kHz were observed. Although the physical meanings of those peaks were not so clear, still it was the apparent characteristics and might be including important information.

This paper deals with graph colouring games, an example of pseudo-telepathy, in which two players can convince a verifier that a graph G is c-colourable where c is less than the chromatic number of the graph. They win the game if they convince the verifier. It is known that the players cannot win if they share only classical information, but they can win in some cases by sharing entanglement. The smallest known graph where the players win in the quantum setting, but not in the classical setting, was found by Galliard, Tapp and Wolf and has 32,768 vertices. It is a connected component of the Hadamard graph GN with N=c=16. Their protocol applies only to Hadamard graphs where N is a power of 2. We propose a protocol that applies to all Hadamard graphs. Combined with a result of Frankl, this shows that the players can win on any induced subgraph of G12 having 1609 vertices, with c=12. Moreover combined with a result of Godsil and Newman, our result shows that all Hadamard graphs GN (N ≥ 12) and c=N yield pseudo-telepathy games.

Mechanical prosthetic cardiac valves generate not only the widely recognized audible closing clicks but also ultrasonic closing clicks, as previously reported by us. A personal-computer-based measurement and analysis system with the bandwidth of 625 kHz has been developed to clarify the characteristics of these ultrasonic closing clicks. Fifty cases in total were assessed clinically, including cases with tilting disk valves, bileaflet valves, and flat disk valves. The ultrasonic closing clicks are damped vibrations continuing for about two milliseconds, and their frequency range was confirmed to be from 8 kHz to 625 kHz, while that of the audible click was up to 8 kHz. Although the sensitivity of the sensor decreased by approximately 30 dB at 625 kHz, effective power of the ultrasonic closing click was confirmed at this frequency. Moreover, it was shown that, surprisingly, the signal power at 625 kHz was still at the same level as that at around 100 kHz. Those wide bandwidth signal components exist independent of the type of mechanical valve, but the spectral pattern shows some dependence on the valve type.

A new in vitro experimental tool was developed to study the mechanism of the ultrasonic closing clicks' genesis of mechanical heart valves. Since the newly developed tester adopted compressed air flow directly instead of the blood analog fluid to drive the mechanical heart valve, it is not possibe to generate any cavitation. Closing clicks were measured with a small accelerometer at the surface of the valve holder made of silicone rubber. Ultrasonic closing clicks as well as audible closing clicks, similar to those measured clinically, could be observed using this setup. Thus, it was confirmed that the ultrasonic closing clicks can be generated without the existence of cavitation. Simultaneous measurements of the valve motion were made with a high-speed video camera, and the analysis of the video frames and clicks showed that higher frequency signal components of more than 50 kHz could be generated only at the instant of the closure, which means the collision of the occluder with the housing. Eighteen miniature accelerometers with an area of one square millimeter were developed and stuck on the housing to monitor the distribution of the housing vibrations in detail, and it was found that the vibrations correspond to the ultrasonic closing clicks propagated from the valve stop: the collision point of the occluder with the housing. This fact indicated that the generation of ultrasonic closing clicks are limited to the small area of the collision. From those results, it was concluded that the major origin of the ultrasonic closing clicks' genesis should be the collision of the occluder with the housing.