The forwarding address plays an important role in constructing a communication network. In this paper, a new forwarding address suitable for next generation networks named the vector address (VA) is proposed which is different from the forwarding address coding methods of current networks. The characteristics of the VA are analyzed. Complex network theory and a theoretical analysis method are introduced to study the average address length of the VA when used to construct a global network. Simulation experiments in a practical network topology model are carried out to validate the results. The results show that not only can the VA construct a simpler, more secure, and more scalable network, but it also can accommodate many more users than an Internet Protocol (IP) network with the same address length.

We propose a new multipurpose audio watermarking scheme in which two complementary watermarks are used. For audio copyright protection, the watermark data with copyright information or signature are first encrypted by Arnold transformation. Then the watermark data are inserted in the low frequency largest significant discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients to obtain robustness performance. For audio authentication, a chaotic signal is inserted in the high frequency insignificant DCT coefficients to detect tampered regions. Furthermore, the synchronization code is embedded in the audio statistical characteristics to resist desynchronization attacks. Experimental results show that our proposed method can not only obtain satisfactory detection and tampered location, but also achieve imperceptibility and robustness to common signal processing attacks, such as cropping, shifting, and time scale modification (TSM). Comparison results show that our method outperforms some existing methods.

Various 3D modeling software has been developed for design and manufacturing. Most of the commercially available software uses native file formats, which may not be able to be read or understood by other software. This paper deals with the development of a generic approach of a 3D model conversion program for virtual manufacturing (VM), using a lexical analyzer generator Lex and the Open Graphic Library (OpenGL). The program is able to convert 3D mesh data between four universal file formats, i.e., Stereolithography (STL), Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), eXtensible Markup Language (XML), and Object (OBJ). Simple assembly functions can be applied to the imported models. The quaternion angle is used for object rotation to overcome the problem of gimbal lock or a loss of one degree of rotational freedom. The program has been validated by importing the neutral format models into the program, applying the transformation, saving the new models with a new coordinate system, and lastly exporting into other commercial software. The results showed that the program is able to render and re-arrange accurately the geometry data from the different universal file formats and that it can be used in VM. Therefore, the output models from a VM system can be transferred or imported to another VM system in a universal file format.

A high-resolution relaxed scheme which requires little information of the eigenstructure is presented for the multi-class Lighthill-Whitham-Richards (LWR) model on an inhomogeneous highway. The scheme needs only an estimate of the upper boundary of the maximum of absolute eigenvalues. It is based on incorporating an improved fifth-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) reconstruction with relaxation approximation. The scheme benefits from the simplicity of relaxed schemes in that it requires no exact or approximate Riemann solvers and no projection along characteristic directions. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated in several numerical examples.

A portfolio records achievements in the personal growth process. A personal development e-Portfolio assists an individual in planning his/her development path and reflecting upon his/her own learning. In this article, we propose an approach to constructing a personal development portfolio. An abstract information model is presented to support such a portfolio. The information model is proposed based upon and according to IMS standards. The use of this approach is illustrated by way of a prototype e-Portfolio system. The usage scenario and limitations of such a portfolio are also discussed.

Transmission pricing has become a major issue in the discussions about the deregulated electricity markets. Consequently, open access to the transmission system is one of the basic topics to allow competition among participants in the energy market. Transmission costs have an important impact on relative competition among participants in the energy market as well as on short- and long-term economic efficiencies of the whole electricity industry, although they represent only close to 10% of the energy market price. This paper deals with the design and tests of a transmission pricing method based on the optimal circuit prices derived from the economically adapted network (EAN). Prices derived from the EAN have the advantage of being in tune with the maximum revenue allowed to the owner of transmission assets and simplifying the optimal allocation of transmission costs among participants. Beginning from the conceptual design, the proposed method is tested on a three-bus network and on the IEEE 24-bus reliability test system.

We propose an accurate model to describe the I-V characteristics of a sub-90-nm metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) in the linear and saturation regions for fast analytical calculation of the current. The model is based on the BSIM3v3 model. Instead of using constant threshold voltage and early voltage, as is assumed in the BSIM3v3 model, we define these voltages as functions of the gate-source voltage. The accuracy of the model is verified by comparison with HSPICE for the 90-, 65-, 45-, and 32-nm CMOS technologies. The model shows better accuracy than the nth-power and BSIM3v3 models. Then, we use the proposed I-V model to calculate the read static noise margin (SNM) of nano-scale conventional 6T static random-access memory (SRAM) cells with high accuracy. We calculate the read SNM by approximating the inverter transfer voltage characteristic of the cell in the regions where vertices of the maximum square of the butterfly curves are placed. The results for the SNM are also in excellent agreement with those of the HSPICE simulation for 90-, 65-, 45-, and 32-nm technologies. Verification in the presence of process variations and negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) shows that the model can accurately predict the minimum supply voltage required for a target yield.

Geometry based block partitioning (GBP) has been shown to achieve better performance than the tree structure based block partitioning (TSBP) of H.264. However, the residual blocks of GBP mode after motion compensation still present some non-vertical/non-horizontal orientations, and the conventional discrete cosine transform (DCT) may generate many high-frequency coefficients. To solve this problem, in this paper we propose a video coding approach by using GBP and reordering DCT (RDCT) techniques. In the proposed approach, GBP is first applied to partition the macroblocks. Then, before performing DCT, a reordering operation is used to adjust the pixel positions of the residual macroblocks based on the partition information. In this way, the partition information of GBP can be used to represent the reordering information of RDCT, and the bitrate can be reduced. Experimental results show that, compared to H.264/AVC, the proposed method achieves on average 6.38% and 5.69% bitrate reductions at low and high bitrates, respectively.