A spectral atmospheric general circulation model called AFES (AGCM for Earth Simulator) was developed and optimized for the architecture of the Earth Simulator (ES). The ES is a massively parallel vector supercomputer that consists of 640 processor nodes interconnected by a single stage crossbar network with its total peak performance of 40.96 Tflops was achieved for a high resolution simulation (T1279L96) with AFES by utilizing the full 640-node configuration of the ES. The resulting computing efficiency is 64.9% of the peak performance, well surpassing that of conventional weather/climate applications having just 25-50% efficiency even on vector parallel computers. This remarkable performance proves the effectiveness of the ES as a viable means for practical applications.

This paper describes the necessary functions and the basic structure of a tele-micro-surgery system. In particular, the system is comprised of a vision system which is focused at the end of a surgical tool and a slave manipulator, the rotational axes of which intersect at the same focal point. These mechanisms realize high positionability that is independent of the approach angle from the microscope and the manipulator to the small object that is being operated on. The system also incorporates the transformation of multi-axis force information to sounds that can be easily interpreted by the operator to indicate the contact state between the tool and the object. Furthermore, an inter-world tele-micro-handling experiment has been executed successfully from a remote site using the Internet and two artificial satellites.

Describes the construction of a tele-operated handling/machining system which operates in the micrometer to millimeter range. The system is equipped with a pair of three dimensional force sensors and can be controlled remotely using a three dimensional joystick. The paper presents a transformation method for converting multi-axis force information to auditory information. Such a transformation conveys a realistic sense of the state of the operation and allows high operability of the system. Experimental results are presented which demonstrate the effectiveness of the implemented system.

One of the most important techniques introduced into the recent facsimile is redundancy-reduction coding. The CCITT already standardized the coding schemes to be employed in Group 3 and Group 4. There are, however, left for further study the optional non-information-preserving coding scheme for black-and-white pictures and the coding scheme for multilevel and color pictures. Much work has been carried out with respect to these kinds of coding, including pattern-matching coding for black-and-white pictures and various information-preserving and non-information-preserving coding for multilevel and color pictures. The Group 4 apparatus is a new generation facsimile apparatus, which is mainly operated on public switched data networks. This kind of facsimile apparatus features higher resolution and error-free reception, and has the teletex-facsimile mixed mode capability as an option. The most important technical problem in the standardization of the Group 4 facsimile is the communication protocol which has been developed based on the existing teletex protocol. Facsimile communication is carried out not only on general public switched telephone or data networks, but also on specialized networks dedicated to it. Some sorts of communication processing such as speed conversion, automatic appending function, repeated delivery attempt, etc., are incorporated into these networks. The development of facsimile equipment has also shown progress in these few years. For example, a very compact apparatus has been developed using a new contact type imager and a codec built by special-purpose LSIs. The press fax apparatus employing flat-bed scanner and multicolor facsimile apparatus have also been put into market. This paper describes the outline of recent advances in facsimile, including the above-mentioned items.