A gain-phase detector differentially processes the outputs from two logarithmic amplifiers to provide ratiometric gain measurement, thereby eliminating intercept as a parameter. Hard-limited outputs from the dual amplifiers are multiplied in a logarithmic scalable phase detector core to provide a calibrated phase measurement output. In the preferred embodiment, two logarithmic amplifiers and other circuitry are co-integrated on a single substrate to provide a high degree of matching between the amplifiers, thereby canceling errors in the individual frequency responses of the individual amplifiers, extending the usable frequency response, and improving effective noise figure. Other numbers of logarithmic amplifiers can be used, and their various outputs can be added, subtracted, multiplied and combined in other manners to produce continuous products, continuous quotients, mixtures of products and quotients, etc., all of RF demodulated signals.

FIG. 1 illustrates a chain of gain stages 2 for a prior art logarithmic amplifier (log amp). A series of detector cells 4 combine the outputs from the gain stages to generate a logarithmic output VOUT. The gain stages are typically implemented as limiting amplifiers having the form A/0. That is, for small inputs, the gain stages have an incremental gain of A, but at a certain point, the output is limited, and the incremental gain becomes zero as shown in FIG. 2. The response of the system of FIG. 1 is:
                              V          OUT                =                              V            y                                                                                log                                      (                                                V                  IN                                                  V                  x                                            )                                                          (                  Eq          .                                                    1                )            where Vy and Vx are parameters that are built into the system and define its calibration. Referring to FIG. 3, Vy scales the slope, and Vx is the intercept along the horizontal axis. The intercept is usually an extrapolated parameter because in practice, it is unlikely that the output will drop below the nose floor as shown with the broken line in FIG. 3. Both Vx and Vy may be temperature dependent, and must therefore be temperature compensated to maintain the accuracy of the log amp. These are matters that have received close attention in prior invention.

Gain and phase detector having dual logarithmic amplifiers


Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) data is transmitted in Available Bit Rate (ABR) service over a network path including a spacecraft. The spacecraft payload switches do not provide an indication of congestion, so conventional ABR feedback control using Resource Management cells is ineffective. In one avatar of the invention, the Network Control Center coacting with the spacecraft produces signals representative of congestion in services other than ATM ABR service, and these congestion signals are coupled to the terrestrial source terminal, where return or back Resource Management cells are modified with data derived from the congestion signals, to close a feedback loop including the source of ATM ABR signals, the source terminal, and the spacecraft. The feedback loop tends to maintain excess bandwidth in use for ABR purposes, and tends to prevent congestion. In another embodiment, congestion information derived from locations downstream of the spacecraft are coupled in the upstream direction, through the spacecraft, by way of return RM cells. The spacecraft congestion information is combined with the upstream RM cell information and flows to the source of ABR service ATM data.

There have been various proposals to use Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) as the transfer method to provide a variety of services to end users by satellite or spacecraft networks. ATM is a standardized service, which defines a number of service categories. The service category which is provided to each customer depends upon the quality-of-service agreement with the customer. One of the categories of service is the Available Bit Rate (ABR) service, which provides access to network or transmission path bandwidth which is not used for other services. Naturally, within such a class of service, the available bandwidth may vary substantially from time to time. A measure of quality in ATM service is the number or percentage of data cells which are lost or damaged during transmission. It will be understood that, if the source of ATM signals produces signals having a bandwidth greater than that which can be accommodated within the ABR bandwidth at the time of transmission of the data, some data will be lost or distorted, which is the equivalent of lost. In order to prevent overloading of the ABR-available bandwidth, a feedback scheme is used in ATM ABR service, in which Resource Management cells are interspersed with the data cells at the ATM signal source. According to ATM standards, these Resource management cells follow every 32 data cells. These Resource Management cells have bit locations for aiding in control of the ABR transmission rate, so as to accommodate the currently available bandwidth of the ABR service. At various locations along the ATM transmission path, the various switches through which the data flows can mark the bit locations of the Resource Management cells to indicate the existence of congestion. The Resource Management cells have locations for explicit forward congestion indication (EFCI) marking, for relative rate marking, and for explicit rate marking.
The Explicit Forward Congestion Indication marking bit locations associated with the Resource Management cells are intended to provide backward compatibility with one type of congestion control mechanism in which a switch through which the ATM data passes is capable of setting the state of a header bit which represents, by a first state, the lack of congestion, and the second state represents the existence of congestion. Once set to the "congestion" state, downstream switches do not restore the "no congestion" state. Such information, when fed back to the source of ATM data by a stream of return or back Resource Management (BRM) cells, can be used to repeatedly decrease the data rate, until such time as the back Resource Management cells no longer indicate the existence of congestion. The response of this type of feedback control depends, at least in part, on the length of the transmission path, and the delay occurring before return of the Resource Management cells carrying the congestion information. The Relative Rate marking bit locations associated with Resource Management cells are intended to provide backward compatibility with another type of congestion control mechanism, in which the switch through which the ATM data passes sets a congestion indication (CI) bit and a bit representing an increase or no increase (NI) of the Allowable Cell Rate (ACR). The CI bit is equivalent to the EFCI bit in this convention, and the source of data should decrease its bit rate when the CI bit is set. The NI bit, when set, indicates to the source of data that it should not increase its Available Cell Rate. The explicit rate marking bit of a Resource Management cell specifies the actual ACR that the source should use, although it should be noted that each switch of the system may decrease the indicated rate, depending upon the conditions which it experiences.
While Asynchronous Transfer Mode protocols provide for bandwidth control by setting of one of the various EFCI, CI, and Relative rate bits of the Resource Management cells, existing spacecraft have simple switches which are incapable of setting bandwidth control bits. Because of cost considerations, even new spacecraft may not be equipped with switches which have bandwidth control bit setting capability.
It would be desirable to be able to extend ATM ABR service to spacecraft with simple switches.

Available-bit-rate service in an asynchronous transfer mode based spacecraft network


An indicator particularly useful for indicating the increase in temperature for a bus bar joint, includes a first sheet-like member hingedly attached to a second sheet-like member. The first member is magnetically or adhesively attached to the bus duct cover. The second member is attached to the first member by a heat-sensitive adhesive. When the adhesive loses its adhesive properties upon reaching a predetermined temperature, the second member pivots down from the first member to provide an indication of an abnormal bus bar joint temperature.

This invention is related to an indicator particularly useful for indicating the temperature of a bus duct reaching an abnormal level. A bus duct is metal raceway the supports and contains a group of electrical bus bars. The duct comes in standard 10 foot lengths. Occasionally the bus bar joints become hot because of loosening of their compressed bolted connections which must be torqued and kept at a set foot pound value. Bolted joint connections must be re-torqued or re-tightened yearly, or as a bus bar manufacturer may specify. The problem is that it is not visually apparent that the bar temperature is rising to an abnormal level at the joint. Some electrical devices tend to give such an indication, but they are inadequate for a variety of reasons.
Some visual indicators of the prior art include U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,749 which was issued Nov. 6, 1984, to Peter K. Laucis and Robert Terry. This patent discloses a thermally sensitive indicator which uses a temperature sensitive liquid which changes color in response to a temperature of no less than 150.degree. . The indicator visually indicates whether an excessive amount of heat has been applied to the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,711 which was issued Sept. 18, 1984, to Dennis I. Graham, discloses a conduit which experiences a color change to indicate that the conduit has been exposed to excessive heat. Smoke, dust, dirt and oil film which are the results of a manufacturing process, make it difficult to detect a color change.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,320 which was issued Jun. 22, 1971, to John A. Mace, discloses a sign that drops due to a high flame applied to wax.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,595,734 which was issued Aug. 10, 1926, to William H. Scherer, discloses a thermal-release temperature indicator.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,983,247 which was issued May 9, 1961, to Seymour A. Greehspon discloses a high temperature tell-tale which releases a weight in response to a temperature increase.


An ornamental surround is positioned around the base of an upright structure, such as a plant, shrub, tree, post, or pole. When assembled, the ornamental surround has the outward appearance of a plant pot or planter. Further provided is a combination comprising the ornamental surround, a kit comprising the ornamental surround, and a method of installing the ornamental surround around the base of an upright structure.

The base of upright structures such as trees and posts is frequently plain and often unsightly. There is also a desire for residential or commercial properties to have a clean and finished look. One way to enhance the visual appearance of a property is to add potted plants. However, potted plants can be expensive and require ongoing maintenance; for example watering, fertilizing, and transplanting. In-ground plants, for example trees and shrubs, are easier to maintain than potted plants but do not have the tidy appearance of a potted plant. Further, the base of in-ground plants may be subject to damage from a variety of sources such as animals, insects, and yard maintenance equipment.
A variety of planters designed to attach to or wrap around upright objects such as posts and trees are known in the art. For example, various planters are taught in U.S. D386114, U.S. D416214, U.S. D480986, U.S. Pat. No. 1,499,473, U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,741, U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,589, U.S. Pat. No. 6,381,902, U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,665, U.S. Pat. No. 7,797,880, US2007227068, US2011083364, US2012131851, and WO0135722. All of these items are designed for use as plant pots or planters that hold potting material and plants. As mentioned previously, potted plants can be expensive, they are often seasonal, and they typically require ongoing maintenance to survive and look their best. Using plant pots or planters to enhance the look of a tree or post base brings with it expense and labour.


The invention relates to a motor vehicle seat, in particular a rear row of seats of a motor vehicle, that is displaceable between a seat position and a functional position, having a seat part (3) adjustable relative to a seat frame (2), a back rest (4) foldable relative to the seat part, a front handle (11) for unlocking a seat longitudinal locking unit (8) of the seat part (3), a handle (24) operated from a rear position of the back rest (4), by means of which the seat longitudinal locking (8) of the seat part (3) can be unlatched; it is possible to check, whether the seat part (3) is in a rear position; if the seat part (3) is in the rear position, a rest blocking unit of the back rest (4) can be released. According to the invention, a simple displacement of the motor vehicle seat, in particular also from the rear side, is achieved.

In the aforementioned type of longitudinally displaceable motor vehicle seat of a rear, in particular second or third seat row the functional position can used with the essentially horizontal rear support foldable forward as a table support or for extending a cargo space situated behind it, for example. If the motor vehicle seat, however, is in a forward position time of the folding movement, its headrest can collide with a seat situated in front of it and possibly be damaged.
DE 199 66 242 C1 discloses a motor vehicle seat with a seat frame that is longitudinally adjustable vis-à-vis a lower rail that is integral with the motor vehicle. A back rest is foldable hinged to the seat frame and secured by means of back rest blocking device. A seat cushion frame can be pivoted between a sitting position and a stowing position, whereby said pivot movement is coupled with the folding movement of the back rest over a bar having protection against excessive travel, in order to prevent damage due to careless positioning of the seat despite blocking of the back rest.
The drawback in such seats is, however, that the user becomes aware initially only during folding forward, whether the seat in a reliable rear position is or not and consequently, if necessary, must first fold the back rearwards and must then move the seat frame into the rear option, in order to be able to again move the seat forward. Furthermore, generally out of safety considerations, an additional locking of the seat part to the seat frame is required, which must then be released by means of an additional operating device. Also, neither the seat part or the rest nor the rest can be unblocked from the rear; that is, by way of the trunk.
A seat assembly having two rest parts is known from Toyota Yaris, wherein in the separation plane between the rest parts a handle is arranged that can be operated from the front and the rear, by means of which the one of the rests can be unlatched.
DE 100 55 432 A1 discloses a motor vehicle seat, whose back rest and seat part are coupled by means of a connection member, which controls the movement of the back rest relative to the seat part. The seat part is longitudinally adjustable relative to the vehicle floor by means of rails, whereby, in order to do this, a locking member must be unlocked by manual lifting movement of a rail release handle.
The object of the invention is to provide a vehicle seat that can be adjusted with relatively little effort and wherein the damages by careless folding forward of the back rest into a forward position of the seat part is avoided. Accordingly and advantageously, adjustment of the vehicle seat from the rear is possible.
According to the invention a forward grip for releasing the seat longitudinal latching is provided, which can be operated by a user seated in the seat and, further a rear handle that can be operated from the vehicle trunk—a lanyard, for example—for releasing the seat longitudinal latching and the rest locking uniting. Advantageously, a further handle is arranged, for example, on the side of the rest locking unit for unlatching the rest locking unit by the user sitting in the seat. In this fashion, a high level of user comfort and convenience is achieved, since for enlarging the cargo space the user can achieve a complete displacement of the motor vehicle seat from the vehicle trunk zone. According to the invention, at least three functions are achieved by the rear handle, namely: the unlocking of the seat longitudinal latch; a verification, whether the seat is in a rearward position that will allow the folding forward of the back rest, and an unlocking of the rest locking unit. Also the rear positioning of the released seat part can be achieved from a forward to a rearward positioning by means of the handle, so that a complete repositioning of the seat b means of a continuous course of movement of the rear handle, whereby the back rest can automatically fold into the functional position and be locked therein.
The unlocking system for the seat longitudinal latching and rest locking unit can preferably be connected to a device transmitting pulling but not pressure forces such as, for example, a cable, in order to prevent releasing the rest locking unit upon operation of the forward handle.
The folding forward of the back rest into the forward position can be prevented, in that a further pivoting movement of the adjustment lever, after unlocking the seat longitudinal latching, is prevented by a stop. In this case, the adjustment lever can slide or roll with a bolt onto the stop, until it is released for the further pivoting movement for release of the rest locking unit.
In order to prevent a excessive lift of the forward unlocking device by the rear handle when unlocking the rest locking unit, the forward unlocking unit has an overtravel protection device, whose spring force is greater than the required unlocking force.
The invention will be more completely described in the following with reference to the annexed drawings and an embodiment, wherein:

Vehicle seat and its application to a rear seat


A straddle vehicle includes a main frame obliquely extending downward and rearward from a head pipe. Right and left sub-frames obliquely extend downward and rearward from the main frame, and seat rails obliquely extend upward and rearward from the sub-frames. A cross member extends between the seat rails. A rear cushion unit is supported by the cross member and an upper portion of the rear arm and slants forward. A lower portion of a fuel tank projects downward to a space defined between the rear cushion unit and a rear wheel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a straddle type vehicle such as a motorcycle, for example.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in straddle type vehicles such as motorcycles etc., some vehicles are known to include a structure that has a single rear cushion unit, i.e., the so-called mono suspension structure as a rear cushion unit (for example, see following Patent Document 1).
The motorcycle disclosed in following Patent Document 1 includes a main frame obliquely extending downward rearward from a head pipe, and a pair of a right and a left seat rail obliquely extending upward rearward from a rear portion of the main frame. A fuel tank is mounted on the seat rails to be positioned under a seat. A rear wheel is supported by a rear end of a rear arm extending in a fore to aft direction. A front end of the rear arm is supported by a pivot shaft for swinging. A cross pipe extends between the right and left seat rails. This cross pipe has a cushion bracket. A top end of the rear cushion is coupled with the cushion bracket, while a bottom end of the rear cushion is coupled with a lower portion of a middle section of the rear arm in the fore to aft direction via a bracket. The rear cushion is entirely positioned below the fuel tank.
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2002-37169, laid-open application publication
However, in the motorcycle described above, if the rear cushion extends along a locus of the pivotal movement of the rear arm about an axis of the pivot shaft so as to improve the suspension performance, a slant angle of the rear cushion needs to be small, and the rear cushion needs to extend generally vertically to be attached. Thus, a space defined under the seat is inevitably small to restrict layout under the seat.
Also, in the motorcycle described above, the depth of the fuel tank cannot be designed to be larger because it is needed to ensure below the fuel tank a mount space for the rear cushion. Therefore, in order to ensure a necessary capacity of the fuel tank, the fuel tank needs to be elongated in the fore to aft direction or in a transverse direction. Thus, the layout under the seat is restricted by the large area size of the fuel tank in a top plan view.


Systems and methods include a number of optical pulses are transmitted by transmitting, by a distributed acoustic sensor (DAS), where the optical pulses are transmitted at an input port associated with a multimode fibers (MMF) used by the DAS, and where the fundamental mode of the MMF is excited. A number of backscattered Rayleigh signals are collected by the DAS. The Rayleigh signals are recorded as an output intensity profile. A position along the MMF that is subject to vibrations and corresponding vibration parameters are determined by analyzing the recorded output intensity profile.

Optical fiber DAS systems have been widely employed in a myriad of industrial applications, such as the oil and gas industry and real-time structural health monitoring. Optical fiber DAS system is designed using the Φ-OTDR, and exploits the Rayleigh scattering to sense acoustic vibrations by transmitting a pulse of laser light into the fiber optic. As this pulse of light travels down the fiber optic, interactions within the fiber result in light reflections known as backscatter. Such reflections can be determined by strain (or vibration) events within the fiber optic that are caused by localized acoustic energy. The backscattered light travels backwards to the DAS system where it is sampled at the Rayleigh frequencies. The time it takes to accurately map the backscatter event to a fiber distance is known as optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR). As a result, each point of the resulting OTDR trace corresponds to a unique spatial position along the optical fiber's length. If an acoustic vibration makes physical contact with the optical fiber at some points along its length, the phase of the backscatters will change proportionally. In this way, by measuring the phase of the Rayleigh backscatters in concert with the time of alight analysis, a signal of the acoustic vibrations (such as amplitude and frequency) can be sensed at any point along the optical fiber's length.

Quasi-fundamental-mode operated multimode fiber for distributed acoustic sensing

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology


An interaction method in a call and a device, where the method includes displaying a voice assistant icon on a call screen of the wearable device when a phone number of a communication peer device is a service number converting received voice information into a dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) tone when the voice assistant icon is activated, and sending the DTMF tone to the communication peer device. Therefore, in a process of making or answering a service call using the wearable device, under a specific trigger condition, voice information of a user is converted into a DTMF tone to be sent to the communication peer device. In this way, when the user needs to enter a digit or a symbol in a call process, it can be ensured that the user enters correct information, and user experience is improved.

With development of a wearable device, a conventional telephone call function can be implemented on the wearable device. When the wearable device is used to make a service call, a user usually needs to manually enter a digit or a symbol. For example, when dialing a bank service number, the user needs to manually enter a bank card account or a corresponding password. The digit or the symbol manually entered by the user is sent to a call peer end in a dual tone multi frequency (Dual Tone Multi Frequency, DTMF for short) manner. However, a dial pad may not be disposed on the wearable device, and the user cannot select a digit or a symbol of a service phone number; or a screen of the wearable device is quite small, and a misoperation is easily caused when the user enters a digit or a symbol by using the dial pad.


The present invention relates to a radio communications base station antenna. In a first embodiment, the arrangement comprises a plurality of antennas each capable of forming a separate narrow beam in azimuth, wherein the antennas are positioned such that the beams formed by the antennas overlap and the centre of each beam falls midway between the centre and first null of the adjacent beam to provide a uniform coverage in azimuth. The present invention can be deployed in mobile wireless terminals. The use of downlink beam-forming is proposed for systems such as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS). A downlink beam-former typically consists of a number of narrow beams formed by either multiple narrow beamwidth antennas or an array of elements in conjunction with a fixed beam-former. Signal processing techniques can then be used to select an appropriate beam directed towards the subscriber.

Cellular Radio systems are currently in widespread use throughout the world providing telecommunications to mobile users. In order to meet capacity demand, within the available frequency band allocation, cellular radio systems divide a geographic area to be covered into cells. A base station having one or more antennas communicates with the mobile stations enabling them to communicate with other mobile stations or to subscribers of other communications networks. The available communication channels are divided between the cells such that the same group of channels are reused by certain cells. The distance between the reused cells is planned such that co-channel interference is maintained at a tolerable level.
When a new cellular radio system is initially deployed, operators are often interested in maximising the uplink (mobile station to base station) and downlink (base station to mobile station) range. The range in many systems are uplink limited due to the relatively low transmitted power levels of hand portable mobile stations. Any increase in range means that less cells are required to cover a given geographical area, hence reducing the number of base stations and associated infrastructure costs. Although, concomitant with the reduction in the number of base stations, is a requirement for an increase in the call handling capacity of each base station.
When a cellular radio system is mature the capacity demand can often increase, especially in cities, to a point where more smaller size cells are needed in order to meet the required capacity per unit area. The process used to create these smaller cells is known as cell splitting. Any technique which can provide additional capacity without the need for cell-splitting will again reduce the number of base station sites and associated infrastructure costs.
The antenna used at the base station site can potentially make significant improvements to the range and capacity of a cellular radio system. The ideal base station antenna pattern is a beam of narrow angular width as shown in FIG. 1a. The narrow beam is directed at the wanted mobile, is narrow in both the azimuth and elevation planes, and tracks the mobiles movements. When compared to an omni-directional antenna, such a beam will have the dual benefits of having high gain, leading to increased range in thermal noise limited initial deployments, and rejecting interference from co-channel reuse cells allowing higher capacity without cell splitting in mature deployments. The narrow beam reduces interference in a balanced manner on the uplink and downlink. On the uplink the base station receiver is protected from interference generated by mobile station transmitters in the co-channel reuse cells, FIG. 1b. On the downlink the mobile is unlikely to be in the beams of the base station transmitters in the co-channel reuse cells. The extent of the advantage of a narrow beam antenna over an omni-directional antenna is a function of the beamwidth: The narrower the beamwidth, the greater the advantage, but this must be traded off against the increased size and complexity of the antenna. When the narrow beams are contrasted with an omni-directional antenna, it can easily be realised that the narrow beams create high quality transmission paths with minimal interference.
Some of the potential benefits of narrow beam antennas for cellular radio have been recognised in the literature, see for example "A Spectrum Efficient Cellular Base Station Antenna Architecture", S C Swales and M A Beach, Personal & Mobile Radio Communications Conference, Warwick, 1991 and "Proposed Advanced Base Station Antennas for Future Cellular Mobile Radio Systems", W S Davies, R J Long and E Vinnal, Australian Telecomms Research, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp 53-60. Within current systems the manner in which directive antennas are used allows relatively small benefits to be obtained. The use of directive antennas in current cellular radio systems is based on the principle of sectorisation as illustrated in FIG. 2.
The capacity of a cellular system is in general limited by the amount of interference received from other cells. The carrier to interference ratio, C/I, performance of the system determines the frequency re-use strategy, by which the same frequency channels are used in neighbouring cells. The use of narrower beams produces an increase in the carrier to interference performance of the system, allowing a tighter frequency re-use pattern to be used, which in turn provides increased traffic capacity. Conventional cell sites are either omnidirectional, tri-sectored or hex-sectored, with each beam spanning 360.degree., 120.degree. and 60.degree. sectors respectively.
The main sources of interference in a cellular system come from the so called first tier reuse cells. An omni-directional base station antenna will receive interference from all six first tier reuse cells (FIG. 2a). If an antenna with nominally 120.degree. beamwidth is used, corresponding to a tri-sectored configuration, interference will be received from only two first tier reuse cells (FIG. 2b). If an antenna with 60.degree. beamwidth is used, corresponding to a hex-sectored configuration, interference will be received from only one of the first tier cells (FIG. 2c). In sectored cells the cellular radio transceivers at the base station are only connected to one sector (or antenna) and cannot be used in other sectors within the same cell.
The sectored approach to the use of directive antennas has reached its useful limit at 60.degree. beamwidth and can go no further. There are two key disadvantages of the approach: firstly, the cellular radio transceivers are dedicated to particular sectors which leads to significant levels of trunking inefficiency. In practice this means that many more transceivers are needed at the base station site than for an omni-directional cell of the same capacity; and, secondly, each sector is treated by the cellular radio network (i.e. the base station controller and mobile switches) as a separate cell. This means that as the mobile moves between sectors, a considerable interaction is required between the base station and the network to hand off the call between sectors of the same base station. This interaction, comprising signalling and processing at the base station controller and switch represents a high overhead on the network and reduces capacity.
An alternative method of improving system traffic capacity is to provide downlink beam-forming. The use of downlink beam-forming is proposed for systems such as Digital AMPS (D-AMPS). D-AMPS, also referred to as IS-54, IS-136 and TDMA-3, is the North American digital TDMA mobile telephony standard that is compatible with the AMPS analogue mobile standard. The description shall hereinafter refer to the D-AMPS as an example of a downlink beam-forming system.
A downlink beam-former typically consists of a number of narrow beams formed by either multiple narrow beamwidth antennas or an array of elements in conjunction with a fixed beam-former. Signal processing techniques can then be used to select an appropriate beam directed towards the subscriber. Alternatively, a fully adaptive beam-forming array may be employed, which allows a narrow beam to be steered towards an individual subscriber, and provides the ability to null interferers.
The D-AMPS radio standard includes a constraint on the downlink which precludes the use of the latter option of individually steered beams for each subscriber. The standard dictates that on the downlink the base station must maintain a constant level transmission during the full duration of the frame on any particular bearer channel whenever at least one mobile has been assigned to that bearer. Each traffic channel contains three time slots, and this constraint means that it is not possible to devise a scheme which allows beams to be dynamically moved from one mobile direction to another from one time slot to the next. Thus a downlink beam-former for D-AMPS has to use a fixed beam approach, where the optimum beam is deduced from uplink measurements of signal quality.
The use of a common orthogonal array aperture allows a set of narrow beams to be formed that cover the sector. However, as the beams are orthogonal, the power in each beam will be -4 dB down at the crossover points. This cusping loss leads to a decrease in the mean C/I performance of the system.
An additional traffic capacity loss is realised as a result of the trunking loss caused by tighter sectorisation. For a fixed frequency assignment scheme, where the available carriers are partitioned in a permanent manner across the beam set, the Erlang capacity of the system will decrease as the number of beams per sector increases, assuming the number of traffic channels is constant.


A vehicle includes: an antenna; a polarization adjuster configured to change a first polarized wave emitted through the antenna; and a controller configured to receive a wireless signal from a portable user device through the antenna, to identify a second polarized wave emitted from the portable user device based on the wireless signal, and to control the polarization adjuster such that the first polarized wave matches the second polarized wave.

Generally, a vehicle refers to a device for movement or a device for transportation, designed to run on a road or railway using fossil fuel, electric power, and the like as a power source.
Such a vehicle is not only able to transport commodities and passengers but also provides various functions, for example, a function that allows a driver to listen to music and watch an image while driving, and a function that allows a driver to navigate, using an audio video navigation (AVN) system.
In addition, there is an increasing need for a vehicle to communicate with an external device such as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. For example, a vehicle may acquire traffic information on a road through a communication with transportation infrastructure such as vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, and may acquire running information of another vehicle through communication with another vehicle such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication.
In addition, a vehicle may acquire information about movement of a pedestrian through communication with a pedestrian, that is, vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) communication.
Particularly, the V2P communication for communicating with a pedestrian relies on a user device that may vary in position and posture every moment, unlike the V2I communication for communicating with transportation infrastructure having a fixed posture and a fixed position or the V2V communication for communicating with another vehicle having a fixed posture. Accordingly, the communication between the vehicle and the user device, i.e., V2P communication, may have poor stability.

Vehicle including antenna apparatus and control method thereof


A simple, low cost, easy to clean adaptive furniture set is provided, affording a variety of furniture configurations including a bed, a chair or a shelf storage unit. This modular set is particularly useful for students, low-income families, and transient or refugee populations.

With recent economic trends, people are increasingly being dislocated from traditional nuclear family living into the need for more flexible living arrangements. Not only are young family members leaving home for college, but also these same folks are often unable to find employment that avails them of their own homes as adults. The relative cost of home maintenance versus personal income is changing, and with it the need for low cost, easily transported and reconfigurable furniture.


An electrical connector includes a base, a contact housing plate and a cover. The contact housing plate is coupled to the base and includes an electrical receptacle which is adapted to engage an electrical plug. The cover is also coupled to the base and overlies the contact housing plate. The cover has an inclined surface which extends toward the base and an opening therein forming a recess for receiving the electrical plug that is engageable with the electrical receptacle. The electrical connector may further include a plurality of electrical receptacles and openings for receiving multiple electrical plugs. The electrical connector may also include a circuit board which may contain an on/off switch and a circuit breaker with surge suppression. In addition, the plug of the power cord for the electrical connector may contain a built-in GFCI circuit.

In general, power strips and surge protectors, which enable a number of electrical appliances to be connected to a single power source, are well known. The most common power strip includes an elongate strip with a plurality of outlets aligned in a single row along a top surface of the strip. Each outlet is configured to receive an electrical plug of an appliance. When coupled to the power strip, the plug extends upward, transverse to the top surface. The power strip or surge protector may further include a power switch and a circuit breaker also located on a surface of the strip.
Power strips of this type have several disadvantages. First, since the outlets are located along the top surface of the strip and lack any sort of cord management feature, the cords of attached electrical plugs project upward from the strip and are prone to creating loops on which people may trip or objects may be snagged. If the power strip is stepped on, connections between the electrical plugs and their respective outlets may become fully or partially dislodged. When a plug is fully dislodged from the outlet, the connection is broken, cutting off power to the appliance. A partially dislodged plug exposes the metal prongs of the plug which may come into contact with living things and cause electrical shock. In addition, partially dislodged plugs are prone to bending, disfigurement or breakage. Second, metal shavings, filings and dirt may affect the integrity of the uncovered outlets. Falling metal shavings and filings, in particular, may short the circuit and cause an electrical fire.
Another type of power strip has a trapezoidal cross-section. This power strip includes two rows of outlets, each row located on an inclined surface of the trapezoid, with the outlets facing upward. The orientation of these outlets also encourages the cords of attached plugs to project upward and to form dangerous loops. A plug with its cord extending upward and forming a loop is susceptible to being detached from the connector. In addition, the outlets of this power strip are uncovered, leaving them exposed to falling metal shavings, filings and dirt, such as sawdust.
In light of the foregoing, it is desirable to provide an attractive electrical connector in which the electrical receptacles or outlets, and also the connections between plugs and the receptacles, are protected from the environment and from being stepped on or dislodged. In addition, it is desirable to provide an electrical connector that is stable even when several plugs are coupled to the connector and run in different directions. Another desirable feature of the electrical connector is a system for organizing the cords of electrical plugs attached to the connector.


A high-throughput bidirectional data communication channel is formed of a pipelined plurality M of stages, connected to the input/output (I/O) port of each of the pair of devices using the channel, and configured to allow interruptibility of data transmission by either device connected to the channel; either device may be sender or receiver and transmission of data may be interrupted by either device for any number of cycles and resumed without loss or duplication of data at the receiver. The channel uses pipelining to achieve longer distance parallel transmission of N plural data bits, while maintaining the maximum high speed throughput. The channel, and its associated data transfer protocol, supports bidirectional transmission of data between the two sourcing/terminating devices with maximum throughput being achieved by transmitting a word of parallel data during every clock cycle.

The present invention relates to data communication between separated devices and, more particularly, to a novel pipelined data communications channel structure for facilitating high-throughput bidirectional and interruptible data transmission between a pair of spaced-apart data devices.
It is well known to communicate data between different devices in a system; at any one instant in a single data communication channel, there is generally a single source device transmitting data from its output, although there may be more than one recipient device receiving that data at its input. High-speed data transfers may be enhanced by hardwired connection of the input/output (I/O) ports of a pair of devices together via a dedicated communications channel. It is our desire to provide such a data communications channel as a high-data-throughput bidirectional channel with sufficient robustness so as to allow not only relatively long distance communications between the associated pair of devices, but also facilitate interruption, by either device, of the data flow without loss of data, regardless of which device originated that flow.

High-throughput pipelined communication channel for interruptible data transmission


A workpiece engaging apparatus includes a drive having a linearly reciprocal drive member. Two pairs of arms are arranged in opposed, inverted relationship with respect to each other and are pivotally connected at one end to the drive. Each arm has a cam formed therein. The cams in each of the pairs of arms are identically constructed, but the cams in one pair are disposed in opposed, inverted relationship with respect to the cams in the opposed pair of arms. Cam follower members mounted on the linear drive member engage the cams during reciprocal movement of the drive member to pivot the pairs of arms between an open, spaced-apart position and a closed workpiece engaging position. Each of the cams includes a first arcuate shaped first end portion which smoothly merges into a substantially linear second end portion. The arcuate shaped first end portion is disposed at a generally obtuse angle with respect to the pivot pin connecting each of the pairs of arms to the drive to provide smooth, non-locking pivotal movement of the arms as the linear drive member moves from the first end of the cams.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to workpiece engaging tools used in manufacturing operations and, specifically, to gripping, clamping, piercing and hemming devices for engaging and/or performing work on workpieces.
2. State of the Art
In manufacturing operations, various types of tools are employed to engage workpieces and/or to perform work on such workpieces. Typically, grippers and clamps are used to engage workpieces at the completion of one manufacturing operation and to remove such workpieces from one work station for subsequent transport to another work station or to a storage location.
In a typical stamping operation in which metal sheets are progressively formed to a final shape through a series of work operations in adjacently disposed stamping presses, grippers are employed to remove the metal sheet from each press and, in combination with additional parts handling equipment, to deposit the workpiece in an adjacent press or an intermediate idle station located between adjacent presses.
Typically, such grippers are formed of a number of interconnected pins and links which effect opening and closing of gripper jaws. Such mechanisms are complicated in construction and high in cost. Further, the pins and links of such grippers are employed to drive the gripper jaws into a position engaging the workpiece. This provides an inefficient and variable force to grip such workpieces.
In hemming applications, such as the manufacture of vehicle doors, deck lids, etc., the edge of one sheet of metal is bent around the edge of an upper disposed sheet to join the two sheets of metal together Typically, a complex and elaborate machine is employed to bend the edge of the lower sheet about the upper sheet. Such machines utilize a complex arrangement of fluid cylinders and links to effect the bending of the metal sheet edge.
In piercing operations, a punch is brought under high force into engagement with a workpiece, typically in the form of one or more metal sheets. The workpiece or metal sheets are supported on a die which has a through bore extending therethrough. The punch is forced through the workpiece or sheet metal into the bore in the die to form an aperture in the workpiece.
In a previous pierce apparatus devised by the Applicant, a pierce unit was constructed utilizing two pairs of opposed upper and lower arms pivotally mounted to a housing. A drive pin mounted on the end of an extensible, fluid operated, cylinder piston rod extended through a pair of central guide plates having linear cams formed therein to guide the drive pin in a linear path. The drive pin also engaged cams formed in each of the upper and lower arms, FIG. 10, to pivot the arms between a spaced-apart open position and a closed, workpiece engaging position. A punch or pierce unit was mounted on the upper arms and a die was mounted on the lower arms.
The cams in each of the upper and lower arms had a generally open L-shape with the two substantially linear portions of each cam being disposed at an interior obtuse angle with respect to each other. While this cam shape effectively moved the arms between open and closed positions during movement of the drive pin therealong and generated sufficient force to drive the punch through the workpiece, a problem occurred when the arms were moved to the full open position by retraction of the piston rod and drive pin attached thereto. When the drive pin reached the extreme end, the leftmost end in FIG. 1, the drive pin was directly in line with the pivot pin connecting the pivotal arms to the surrounding guide housing. The cam through which the drive pin was to be urged during subsequent extension of the drive pin and cylinder piston rod was thus disposed at a substantially 90.degree. angle with respect to a line extending between the drive pin and the pivot pin. This resulted in frequent locking of the pivotal arms in the open position and, even if the drive pin was able to be driven from the end of the cam, a non-smooth operation of the pierce unit resulted.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a workpiece engaging apparatus for manufacturing operations which has a high workpiece engaging force and, yet, is simple in design. It would also be desirable to provide a workpiece engaging apparatus for manufacturing operations which overcomes the problems encountered with previously devised pierce apparatus. It would also be desirable to provide a workpiece engaging apparatus particularly suited for piercing applications which has a smooth, non-locking operation.


A hair clip for heating and styling clasped hair, whether damp or dry, into a linear configuration in the scalp area of a user. The clip comprises a pair of biasable jaws including a pair of plates for storing heat and releasing such heat to style clasped hair held between the pair of plates. Supports extend laterally from the hair clip to permit it to freestand and heat and style the hair in a perpendicular fashion to the scalp, giving the remaining hair lift away from the scalp. The hair clips are heated by biasably gripping a heated plate positioned within a base structure of an electric heating unit. The heated hair clips are used in a method of styling dry or damp hair into a linear configuration generally perpendicular to the scalp.

Hair that is heated generally retains the configuration it had during the heating process. One current hair fashion is hair having lift or volume, that is, hair that stands out from the scalp so that it appears to have a full-bodied, natural look rather than either a flat or a curled look.

Hair clip for heating and shaping root-area hair perpendicular to the scalp and an electric heating unit for heating the clips


A method to inhibit inflammation in a mammal is disclosed. The method includes administering to the mammal a composition comprising a phospholipid, which can be lysophosphatidic acid. The administration of a phospholipid is believed to down regulate expression of adhesion molecules on the surface of vascular endothelial cells and circulating leukocytes of the mammal.

The present invention relates to the use of phospholipid compositions to attenuate inflammation.
The inflammatory response is characterized by increased leukocyte rolling, adherence and transmigration following an inflammatory stimulus. The early hallmark of endothelial dysfunction is reduced release of nitric oxide (NO), which not only regulates vascular tone, but also modulates leukocyte-endothelium interaction. Leukocyte-endothelium interaction represents a multistep process involving sequential activation of specific cell adhesion glycoproteins such as integrins, immunoglobulin superfamily members and selectins (Bevilacqua and Nelson, 1993; McEver, 1992). Two of these adhesion molecules are particularly important in the regulation of cell-to-cell interaction (i.e., P-selectin on the microvascular endothelium and CD18 on circulating neutrophils).
In particular, P-selectin, a member of the selectin family of adhesion glycoproteins, is rapidly translocated from the Weibel-Palade bodies to the endothelial cell surface upon hypoxia-reoxygenation or activation with inflammatory mediators such as thrombin, histamine, or oxygen-derived free radicals (Lorant et al., 1991; McEver et al., 1989; Patel et al., 1991). P-selectin is believed to play a significant role in the initial phase of leukocyte capture, which is rolling of leukocytes along the vascular endothelial surface (McEver et al., 1989; Davenpeck et al., 1994). PMN rolling serves to tether the unstimulated neutrophil to the activated endothelium, thus bringing the neutrophil in closer contact with the endothelial cells, allowing firm adherence to occur (Lorant et al., 1991; Davenpeck et al., 1994). Rolling PMNs are able to engage in firm adhesion to the endothelium mainly by xcex22-integrin interacting (i.e., CD11/CD18) with intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (CAM-1)(Butcher, 1991). Following adhesion, PMNs are further activated, change their shape, and some undergo transendothelial migration mediated in large part by PECAM-1 (Vaporciyan et al., 1993). Finally, activated leukocytes can release superoxide radicals, which can directly quench endogenous NO released by endothelial cells (Rubanyi and Vanhoutte, 1986; Ma et al., 1993), a process known to exacerbate endothelial dysfunction.
A functional relationship between the loss of endothelium-derived NO and the expression of P-selectin has been established (Davenpeck et al., 1994). Similarly, it has been shown that blocking NO synthesis via NG-monomethy-[-L-arginine or NG-nitro-LCarginine methyl ester (L-NAME) increases leukocyte adherence and emigration in the mesenteric microcirculation (Scalia and Leer, 1998) as well as enhances microvascular permeability (Kubes and Granger, 1992).
Thus, a need exists for methods of attenuating the inflammation process by modulating the expression of adhesion molecules in endothelial cells or circulating neutrophils. The present invention satisfies this needs and provides related advantages as well.

Method of regulating expression of adhesion molecules on circulating leukocytes


This invention relates to the field of Pasteurella haemolytica vaccines. More particularly, the invention relates to a bacterin-toxoid vaccine capable of inducing immunity in bovine species in one dose against Pasteurella haemolytica Type A-1 infection comprising Pasteurella haemolytica derived leukotoxoid, capsular antigen, soluble antigens and cells, methods to make the vaccine and methods of vaccinating bovine animals.

Approximately 40% to 80% of all diseases of cattle involve the respiratory system (Lillie L E: "The bovine respiratory disease complex." Can Vet J 15:233-242, 1974). Bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC) is a major problem in the U.S. cattle industry. BRDC consists of several clinical syndromes, the two most common being shipping fever of feedlot cattle and enzootic calf pneumonia usually seen in dairy calves. While it is now recognized that numerous viruses, stressful management practices, and environmental factors are important in the genesis of shipping fever, P. haemolytica biotype A, serotype 1 (Type A-1) is the main bacterial agent responsible for the clinical disease and pathophysiologic events leading to acute fibrinous lobar pleuropneumonia and subsequent death (Yates W D G: "A review of infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, shipping fever pneumonia and viral-bacterial synergism in respiratory disease of cattle." Can J Comp Med 46:225-263, 1982).
In a two year study conducted in Saskatchewan, Canada, P. haemolytica Type A-1 isolated from the lungs of 74% of cattle that died of shipping fever pneumonia (Schiefer B, Ward G E, Moffatt R E: "Correlation of microbiological and histological findings in bovine fibrinous pneumonia." Vet Pathol 15:313-321, 1978). Annual progress reports during the five year period 1987 to 1991 from the Department of Veterinary Science at South Dakota State University (South Dakota State University, Department of Veterinary Science, Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory: Annual Progress Reports 1987-1991. Submitted to the NC107 Technical Committee on Bovine Respiratory Disease.) revealed that P. haemolytica Type A-1 was isolated from 48.7% of bovine pneumonic lungs. Thus, it appears to be the major bacterial agent causing pneumonia in cattle.
P. haemolytica serotype Type A-1 is the pathogen responsible for the fibrinous necrotizing lobar pleuropneumonia seen in shipping fever and purulent bronchopneumonia associated with enzootic calf pneumonia. Interestingly, other P. haemolytica serotypes (frequently ST2 and ST4 and occasionally ST7 and ST11) are innocuous inhabitants in many areas of the nasal cavity or upper respiratory tract (URT) of clinically normal feedlot cattle (Frank G H: "When Pasteurella haemolytica colonizes the nasal passages of cattle." Vet Med 83:1060-1064, 1988 and Wilkie B N, Shewen P E: "Defining the role that Pasteurella haemolytica plays in shipping fever." Vet Med 83:1053-1058, 1988). In clinically normal dairy calves, P. multocida may predominate in the URT flora, in which various serotypes of P. haemolytica can also be found. In contrast, P. haemolytica Type A-1 is barely detectable in the URT of feedlot and dairy calves (Frank G H: supra (1988) and Wilkie B N, Shewen P E: supra (1988)).
Exposure of calves to stress factors such as viral infection, marketing, shipping, processing at feedlots, and abrupt changes in climate leads to an explosive growth and colonization by P. haemolytica Type A-1 in all areas of the URT (Frank G H: supra (1988) and Wilkie B N, Shewen P E: supra (1988)). No other serotype of P. haemolytica is known to exhibit this type of increase. In shipping fever pneumonia, colonization of the URT with P. haemolytica Type A-1 is an important prerequisite to the development of the clinical disease and the ensuing fibrinous necrotizing lobar pleuropneumonia. Id.
In spite of its potential importance in the pathogenesis of the pneumonia, the mechanism of colonization that facilitates the explosive proliferation of P. haemolytica Type A-1 in the URT is poorly understood. It is nevertheless apparent that these organisms enter the lung via aspiration of droplet nuclei, colonized desquamated epithelial cells, or pharyngeal secretions. At the University of Minnesota (Whiteley L O, et al: "Pasteurella haemolytica and bovine respiratory disease: Current thoughts on its pathogenesis." Vet Int Med 6:1-12, 1992), large numbers of rapidly growing bacteria entering the alveolar spaces were found to interact with alveolar macrophages. The endotoxin released from the bacteria crosses the alveolar wall and activates the pulmonary intravascular macrophages, endothelium, neutrophils, platelets, complement, and Hageman factor leading to complex interactions of cells and inflammatory mediators. Progression of this inflammatory response with neutrophil influx is responsible for the acute lung injury that is associated with the disease. Leukotoxin, one of the major virulence factors of P. haemolytica, may enable the bacteria to survive by destroying phagocytic cells and impairing lung clearance mechanisms. Id.
Prevention of pneumonic pasteurellosis has been attempted in the past by the use of killed bacterins of P. haemolytica. However, it has been demonstrated that vaccination with bacterins may enhance the development of fibrinous pneumonia after challenge exposure. (Sanford, S. E., "Some Respiratory and Enteric Diseases of Cattle; An Update" Mod Vet Prac, 65(4): 265-268 (1984)). Immunization with live vaccines have been generally unsuccessful because of the low antigenicity of P. haemolytica and rapid inactivation by the healthy animal. (Henry, C. W., "Shipping fever pneumonia: a new look at an old enemy" Veterinary Medicine, 1200-1206 September (1984)).
More recently, attempts to develop a Pasteurella haemolytica vaccine have focused on the P. haemolytica leukotoxin. In a study to determine the interaction of P. haemolytica with bovine neutrophils, results demonstrated that optimal cytotoxin production occurred during the logarithmic phase of bacterial growth for P. haemolytica that was grown in a standard tissue culture medium (Baluyut, C. S., et al. "Interaction of Pasteurella haemolytica with Bovine Neutrophils: Identification and Partial Characterization of a Cytotoxin", Am J Vet Res, Vol. 42, No. 11, pages 1920-1926 (1982)). The authors concluded that ". . . s!ince this toxin affected the phagocytic cells, it was considered to be a virulence factor." Id. at page 1925.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,739 teaches a vaccine containing a purified P. haemolytica antigen, such as a leukotoxin component, where the antigen is purified from a cell-free supernatant or obtained by recombinant DNA technology. WO 91/15237 discloses a vaccine composition containing at least one immunogenic polypeptide from the group of P. haemolytica fimbrial protein, plasmin receptor protein, a 50K outer membrane protein and leukotoxin. U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,400 discloses DNA encoding P. haemolytica A-1 leukotoxin which is used to produce recombinant protein for the preparation of vaccines. U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,400 refers to the protective capability of cytotoxic supernate from P. haemolytica and cites U.S. Ser. No. 821,197 filed 27 Jan. 1986 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,924 as an example of such a vaccine.
Vaccination of calves with bacteria-free cytotoxic culture supernatant from P. haemolytica Type A-1 induced resistance to experimental challenge. (Shewen, P. E., et al. "Immunity to Pasteurella haemolytica Serotype 1." In Proceedings of the North American Symposium on Bovine Respiratory Disease (R. W. Loan, ed.). Texas A & M University Press, College Station, Tex. pp 480-481 (1984)). A cell-free vaccine containing leukotoxin and serotype specific surface antigens (PRESPONSE.RTM. Pasteurella haemolytica toxoid: American Cyanamid Co., Wayne, N.J.) was shown to be efficacious in preventing pneumonia in calves vaccinated twice followed by intratracheal challenge with live P. haemolytica. (Bechtol, D. T., et al., "Field Trial of a Pasteurella haemolytica Toxoid Administered at Spring Branding and in the Feedlot" Agri-Practice, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.6-14 (March/April 1991)).
There remains a need in the art for improved Pasteurella haemolytica vaccines, such as a vaccine that confers active immunity in a single dose thereby eliminating the requirement of costly repeat administration and a vaccine that offers the convenience of being administered subcutaneously or intramuscularly.

Pasteurella haemolytica type A-1 bacterin-toxoid vaccine


Systems for automatically controlling a supply of oxygen to a fish pond (122) are disclosed. The systems include a primary aerator (126) under the control of a controller (128), as well as a fish monitor (130) for monitoring the activity of fish in the pond. The controller determines whether the monitored activity of the fish is indicative of oxygen depletion in the volume of water and, in response to the determination, activates the primary aerator. In one embodiment, a sample or reference aerator (175) creates an oxygen-rich sub-volume (172) wherein activity of the fish is monitored.

1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to method and apparatus for supplying oxygen to bodies of water used in aquaculture, and particularly to an automatic system for determining the need for oxygen and controlling the operation of aeration equipment employed therefor.
2. Prior Art and Other Considerations
The aquaculture industry has grown substantially in the last twenty-five years. Since the mid-1960s, the catfish farming industry has grown from a start-up industry to one that has produced over 400 million pounds of fish during 1991. Shrimp farming has also seen a very rapid growth curve, as well as other species of marine animals.
With the growing technology associated with the aquaculture industry, increased poundage is being produced from a given quantity of water. As a result, increased emphasis is placed on the quality of the water. One of the most critical components of water quality is oxygen content.
During daylight hours oxygen is produced in the water by photosynthesis. Oxygen depletion generally occurs during the night or early morning hours. Accordingly, in the catfish industry most of the monitoring for oxygen depletion is conducted by night crews armed with oxygen meters. In this regard, the oxygen level of a catfish pond is monitored periodically and the oxygen reading recorded. As the need for additional oxygen becomes apparent, aeration equipment is manually activated by the personnel of the night crew. Often, once supplemental aeration is begun, the tendency is to continue running it as a precaution long after the need is satisfied. This adds to the cost of aeration.
Several automated prior art devices or meters for monitoring oxygen in ponds have been developed based on an oxygen reading probe tied electronically to systems that turn on aeration equipment and send alarms. These type systems are rather temperamental and require repeated checking and calibration. These systems can be contaminated or otherwise affected by growths in the ponds. In addition, these systems are relatively expensive.
Another serious drawback to aeration systems based on oxygen probes are is the fact that an oxygen probe only determines the oxygen at one location and at one depth. A catfish pond may be ten to twelve acres or more in size, with an average depth of about four feet.
A further drawback is that the oxygen content of the water as measured by an oxygen probe, even if at a level that normally is adequate to avoid stress, may in fact be inadequate to prevent stress, and ultimately death, due to the physical condition of the fish. This situation may result from several common maladies that affect fish such as anemia, nitrite poisoning, parasites on gills, and disease. In other words, fish are sometimes stressed at an oxygen level that is, under normal circumstances, considered quite adequate.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide method and apparatus for automatically determining the need for and controlling aeration for aquaculture.
An advantage of the present invention is the provision of method and apparatus for economically controlling oxygen content for aquaculture without being labor-intensive.
A further advantage of the present invention is enhancement of the quality of aquacultural products.

Automatic oxygenation system for aquaculture


A memory leveling system updates physical memory blocks, or blocks, to maintain generally even wear. The system maintains an update count for each block, incrementing a wear level count when the update count reaches a wear level threshold. The system compares a wear level of blocks to determine whether to update a block in place or move data on the block to a less-worn physical block. The system groups the blocks into wear level groups identified by a common wear level to identify blocks that are being worn at a faster or slower than average rate. If an empty block count of a least worn group drops below a threshold, the system moves data from one of the blocks in the least worn group to an empty block in a most worn group.

Storage Class Memories, SCM, are nonvolatile storage technologies using low cost materials such as chalcogenides, perovskites, phase change materials, or magnetic bubble technologies. Storage class memories exhibit DRAM-like performance at lower cost than DRAM. The extrapolated cost over time can be equivalent to or less than that of enterprise class disk drives. The cost performance of the storage class memories provides a level in the storage hierarchy between the DRAM main system memory and disk storage. This level of storage may be viewed as a very large disk cache in which data can be stored permanently due to the nonvolatile characteristics of storage class memories.
Many storage class memory technologies are physical block addressed; i.e., unlike DRAM, a block of data is read or written. The physical block sizes typically range from 512 bytes to 4K bytes. Hence, storage class memory is suitable as a replacement for block access disk drives.
However, unlike DRAM and disk drives, storage class memory technologies provide a finite number of write cycles. Flash memories also exhibit this characteristic. While flash memories provide 106 to 108 write cycles, storage class memory technologies support 1010 to 1012 write cycles. To optimize the life of a storage device, data are written so that the storage medium is used in a uniform manner even if the write accesses are skewed to use a small set of addresses. The physical device space is divided into physical blocks that are written and read. The number of write cycles is tracked for each physical block so that when a physical block is updated, the data in the physical block (further referenced as a block of data or data) may be written to another physical block with lower wear. Distributing the written block of data to level the write operations prevents the loss of the device due to wear in a subset of physical block address that has frequent updates.
Flash memories use algorithms and file management structures to level the wear in the device. These differ from the storage class memory technologies in that flash memories require data be written into a physical block that has been erased. The erase process takes significant time compared to the read and write cycle time. Flash memories are organized with erase zones containing multiple physical blocks to enable the erasing of a number of physical blocks in parallel so that physical blocks are available for updating physical blocks of data. Thus, in a flash memory, the data moves with each update. Journal file structures have been used for wear leveling; tracking the wear level for each physical block is not required since all physical blocks are uniformly written. While providing even wear, many journal file mechanisms move a significant portion of the data and are actually a major cause of wear. Further, a time delay of milliseconds may be required to erase the physical blocks prior to updating. While useful for current applications, this time delay is unacceptable for most system memory applications.
In contrast to memory management of flash memories, storage class memory technologies provide an update in place capability so data need not be moved for update. A conventional wear leveling mechanism used by storage class memory technologies prolongs the life of the storage class memory device and requires additional data structures and overhead in accessing the physical blocks compared to direct physical block addressing.
A conventional wear leveling mechanism comprises an address translation system and a method for tracking physical block wear and for identifying physical blocks with low usage. Although this technology has proven to be useful, it would be desirable to present additional improvements.
The address translation system uses an address to access a block of data stored in a physical block of memory; the address translation system expects that the address used to access the data is constant independent of the physical block in which the data is stored. The storage class memory device provides a mapping of the system address for a block of data to the physical location of the physical block. When a block of data is accessed, the address translation identifies the physical block. For rapid address translation, an index structure or hash tables may be constructed. When a block of data is written to another physical block location, the map is changed to reflect the address of the newly written physical block. For a hashed or indexed translation table, the hash tables or indices are also changed. However, changing location of the data to another physical block requires address translation updating overhead.
A file system may provide the address translation; in this case the file system directories are updated when a block of data is written in a physical block of lower wear rather than the original physical block for the data.
Conventional storage class memory systems comprise a method for tracking wear of a physical block such that the number of write cycles for each physical block is tracked. For each write operation that requires the data to be moved for even wear, a physical block with a low wear level is identified and used.
One conventional mechanism for identification of empty physical blocks with low wear is an ordered list of physical blocks. The physical block at the end of the list has the lowest wear level. When the physical block with lowest wear is used, the wear level is incremented and the physical block is removed from the list. When the physical block is updated, the data in the physical block is moved to the physical block with least wear and the previously used physical block is inserted into the empty physical block list to maintain the ordered list. This conventional approach is useful for small devices. However, large devices pose a significant problem in maintaining the ordered list. For a device of 10 million physical blocks, the list requires a double linked list in which each link can address 10 million elements. An index structure can be defined for ease of insertion; the index can point to the boundaries between physical blocks with the same count. However, the number of wear level values can be very large since these technologies provide 1010 to 1012 write cycles.
Conventional storage class memory systems further comprise a method for identifying physical blocks with low usage. Some of the physical blocks are written infrequently or contain read-only data. These physical blocks have very low wear levels compared to physical blocks that have an average number of updates. If the percentage of physical blocks with infrequent write activity is low, having physical blocks with low usage does not affect the maximum lifetime of the storage class memory. However, if the percentage of physical blocks with infrequent write activity is significant, the remaining physical blocks experience significant wear compared to the physical blocks with infrequent write activity. For example, if 33% of the physical blocks in a storage class memory device are physical blocks with infrequent write activity, then the other 66% of the storage class memory device experiences 150% of the wear. Consequently, the life of the storage class memory device is 66% of a similar storage class memory device with even wear on most of the physical blocks.
What is therefore needed is a system, a computer program product, and an associated method for updating a memory to maintain even wear. A system is further needed to minimize overhead by minimizing a frequency of physical block moves and address table updates required to level wear on the memory. The need for such a solution has heretofore remained unsatisfied.


An optical disc changer having a main body, a tray slidably installed in the main body, a roulette rotatably installed at the tray to accommodate a plurality of optical discs, an optical pickup device to selectively reproduce one of the optical discs accommodated on the roulette, and a damping unit to absorb shock when the tray is loaded in and unloaded from the main body to prevent defective reproduction of data from the optical disc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc changer, and more particularly, to an optical disc changer in which the structure of a damping unit to absorb shock when a tray is loaded in or unloaded from a main body is improved.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, optical disc drives reproduce information recorded on optical discs such as CDs or DVDs which are optical recording media by using optical pickup devices. When an optical disc is placed on a tray and loaded in a drive, a drive unit rotates the optical disc. An optical pickup device mounted at the lower end of the tray reproduces data recorded on the optical disc while being transferred in a radial direction of the optical disc.
Since only one optical disc is accommodated on the tray of the optical disc drive, if a user wishes to reproduce data from a plurality of optical discs, the user must inconveniently repeat operations of ejecting the tray, placing a new optical disc that the user wishes to reproduce data from on the tray, and loading the tray in the disc drive.
To solve the above problems, optical disc changers used to selectively reproduce one of a plurality of optical discs accommodated on a tray, so as not to repeatedly change the optical discs, have been developed.
FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a conventional front loading type optical disc changer to select a desired one of a plurality of optical discs accommodated on a tray and to reproduce the selected optical disc by using an optical pickup device. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional optical disc changer 100 includes a main body 110, a tray 150 installed to be capable of being inserted into the main body 110, a roulette 160 rotatably installed on the tray 150 and where a plurality of optical discs are accommodated, an optical pickup device 120 to read information from a desired one of the optical discs accommodated on the roulette 160, and a damper support unit 131 installed above the optical pickup device 120 to support a damper 130 which clamps the optical disc against the optical pickup device 120.
In the optical disc changer 100 having the above structure, there is a need to load or unload the tray 150 while one of the optical discs is selected and being reproduced by using the optical pickup device 120. When the tray 150 is unloaded, the optical disc being reproduced by the optical pickup device 120 continues to be reproduced while the remaining optical discs being accommodated on the roulette 160 are unloaded together with the tray 150.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the optical disc changer of FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 2, a hooking member 151 is formed at both sides of the bottom of the tray 150 in a direction in which the tray is loaded and a hooking protrusion 111 is formed at each of corresponding positions of a main body 110. Thus, when the tray 150 is unloaded from the main body 110, the hooking member 151 is hooked by the hooking protrusion 111 and the tray 150 is refrained from further unloading. Here, as the hooking member 151 is caught by the hooking protrusion 111, the tray 150 receives a shock. Meanwhile, when the tray 150 is completely loaded in the main body 110, the tray 150 bumps against the clamp support member 131 and receives a shock. The shock is delivered to the optical pickup device 120 which reproduces one of the optical discs so that reproduction of the optical disc deteriorates.
Thus, a damper 112 to absorb shock is provided on the clamp support portion 131. Since the damper 112 is formed of rubber, it absorbs shock when the tray being loaded bumps against the clamp support portion 131.
When the tray 150 is unloaded, the hooking portion 151 directly bumps against the hooking protrusion 111, causing shock. However, there is no separate damping means to absorb shock, resulting in a deterioration of the reproduction of data from an optical disc.


The present invention provides an in vitro method for monitoring interphase nuclear envelope rupture events in a eukaryotic cell or screening or identifying compound capable of increasing or decreasing the intensity and/or frequency of interphase nuclear envelope rupture events in a eukaryotic cell. These methods relate on a protein having a cytosolic non-nuclear localization in interphase and a non-sequence specific DNA binding activity. Interphase nuclear envelope rupture events are characterized by the presence of the protein of the invention in the nucleus of the eukaryotic cell.

The nuclear envelope is a physical barrier that separates the nucleus from the cytoplasm. It has a complex structure consisting of two nuclear membranes, the inner and the outer nuclear membranes, an underlying nuclear lamina, and nuclear pore complexes. It fulfills at least three essential functions in eukaryotic cells: first it regulates the movements of molecules between the nucleus and the cytoplasm by active, signal-dependent transport via aqueous channels that are formed by the nuclear pore complexes, second it creates a permeability barrier that prevents the passive diffusion of molecules larger than ˜60 kDa across the nuclear envelope and, third it provides the structural framework of the nucleus. In particular, the nuclear lamina is an intimately connected meshwork of intermediate filament proteins, providing structural support to the nuclear envelop and having a central role in defining nuclear organization.
The nuclear envelope is not aimed to remain intact during the whole cell cycle. It's indeed a dynamic structure that undergoes complete disassembly and reformation during mitosis. The nuclear envelope breakdown occurs at the onset of mitosis and facilitates the equal segregation of the genome and other cellular components into two daughter cells. However, an intact nuclear permeability barrier is generally considered to be a prerequisite for nuclear transport and to be critical for proper cell compartmentalization during interphase.
Under pathological circumstances, it has been shown that the nuclear envelope can be breached in non-mitotic cells. Indeed, the nuclear envelope can bud during viral infection (Lee C P et al, Plos Pathog, 2012, 8(9), e1002904) or be completely breached in laminopathies, pathologies associated to mutations in genes coding for nuclear lamina proteins, especially in LMN A/C (Hatch E et al, J Cell Biol, 2014, 205(2), pp. 131-141; De Vos W H et al, Hum Mol Genet, 2011, 20(21), pp. 4175-4186). The nuclear envelope can also be transiently breached during interphase of cancer cells (Vargas D J et al, Nucleus, 2012, 3(1), pp. 88-100). This tendency of breaches in cancer cells might be correlated to mutations in LMN A/C, such mutations have been found in many cancer cells. The cancer cells which express lower levels of LMN A/C, also present a higher degree of metastatic potential (Harada T et al, J Cell Biol, 2014, 204(5), pp. 669-682), potentially because it makes their nuclei more deformable, and thus allow them to migrate through narrower pores and to invade tissues. Importantly, a recent study demonstrated that complete removal of this protein leads to an increase in cell death during transmigration, and eventually reduces the extent of metastasis (Harada T et al).
Similarly to cancer cells, several types of immune cells have also been reported to express lower levels of LMNA/C.
Despite evidences that connect interphase nuclear envelope rupture events to cancer and immunity, there is actually no reliable method to study nuclear envelope breaching events.
Indeed, breaches in the nuclear envelope are too small and transient to be directly studied. However, when a breach occurs in the nuclear envelope, molecules can transiently diffuse from the nucleus to the cytoplasm or from the cytoplasm to the nucleus.
Many proteins possess a localization signal for either the nucleus (Nuclear Localization Signal, NLS), or the cytoplasm (Nuclear Export Signal, NES). These localization signals allow the proteins who express them to be addressed to the proper compartment or to go back to it in case of abnormal localization.
A fusion protein of EGFP (Enhanced Green Fluorescent Protein) and NLS has been used to study interphase nuclear envelope rupture events (Vargas D J et al). If it is possible to follow the movements of such a protein out of the nucleus after a breach in the nuclear envelope, the signal is very transitory since these proteins will be redirected to their normal compartment as soon as the breach will be repaired. To be able to efficiently quantify, in a population of cells, the intensity and/or frequency of interphase nuclear envelope rupture events, the signal need to be strong and persistent, even after nuclear envelope reparation. Indeed, with the method developed by Vargas D J et al, it's not possible to count, in a population of fixed cells, the proportion of cells which have recently experienced a nuclear envelope rupture event. It's a huge limitation for experimental studies and it makes it impossible to develop any screening test.
There is thus still a strong need to provide new methods that allow to study efficiently interphase nuclear envelope rupture events and to screen new compounds that can modulate the intensity and/or frequency of these events. The present invention seeks to meet these and other needs.

Method to monitor and quantify interphase nuclear envelope rupture events

INSERM (INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE)

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE


Projection systems and components thereof are described that are well suited to miniaturization. These systems and components may use one or more of the following features: a folded optical path, as in a reflective cavity or a beamsplitter; an illumination beam that is converging at the place where it impinges upon the spatial light modulator; a beamsplitter that uses opposed prisms of substantially different sizes; a beamsplitter whose obliquely disposed partial reflector defines a first rectangular reference space, and where at least a portion of the light source or at least a portion of the projector lens is disposed within such first rectangular reference space; a system in which a ratio of areas of the first rectangular reference space and a second rectangular reference space is within a specified range, where the second rectangular reference space is just large enough to encompass the optical components of the projector; a system in which the projector lens is small compared to the spatial light modulator.

Projection systems and components such as illuminators and beamsplitters, including polarized illuminators and polarizing beamsplitters, are known. However, many such systems and components are not designed to provide high efficiency or high brightness in a small physical size suitable for use in compact applications, such as wearable or pocket-sized electro-optical devices.

Compact projection systems with a folded optical path


A system for accessing broadcast SMS messages over a wireless communication system. A base station transmits SMS messages periodically and aperiodically over a broadcast channel. The base station allocates periodic slots in the broadcast channel for each of the subscriber services providing the SMS messages and transmits slot parameters to mobile units. Using the slot parameter information, the mobile units periodically wake up to scan the broadcast channel. The period for each category of broadcast SMS messages may be different and the period may apply to a single broadcast channel. Messages arriving aperiodically can be queued and transmitted in pre-scheduled broadcast channel frames. Messages with inter-arrival interval greater than the specified transmission period are simply repeated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains generally to the field of communications, and more particularly to the broadcast of short message service for wireless communication systems.
2. Background
In a wireless communication system, the broadcast short message service (SMS) allows the transmission of short messages from a subscription service to a mobile unit. Generally, broadcast SMS messages are messages associated with services subscribed to by a user. Broadcast SMS can comprise entry features, administration features, or information messages. For example, a subscriber may subscribe to a stock quotes service wherein the subscriber will receive stock quotes on a wireless device or a mobile unit, such as a personal data assistant (PDA), laptop computer, a cellular telephone or a PCS telephone, from a subscription service utilizing the wireless communication system.
Various over-the-air interfaces have been developed for wireless communication systems including, e.g., frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and code division multiple access (CDMA). In connection therewith, various domestic and international standards have been established including, e.g., Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and Interim Standard 95 (IS-95).
An exemplary wireless telephony communication system is a code division multiple access (CDMA) system. The IS-95 standard and its derivatives, IS-95A, IS- 95B, IS-2000, proposed high-data-rate CDMA standards exclusively for data, etc. (referred to collectively herein as IS-95), are promulgated by the Telecommunication Industry Association (TIA) and other well known standards bodies to specify the use of a CDMA over-the-air interface for cellular or PCS telephony communication systems. Exemplary wireless communication systems configured substantially in accordance with the use of the IS-95 standard are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,103,459 and 4,901,307, which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and fully incorporated herein by reference.
A problem arises when a broadcast SMS message is transmitted over the wireless communication system. The mobile units that are subscribers to the subscription service must acquire the broadcast SMS message in a timely manner, but in order to do so, the mobile units must be awakened from an idle state. The process of "waking up" from the idle state, demodulating the SMS message broadcast from a base station, and then returning to the idle state involves a power drain on each mobile unit's battery that can measurably diminish the power level of the mobile unit's battery. The length of time in which the mobile unit spends awake is approximately proportional to the power consumption of the mobile unit.
Hence, there is a present need to minimize the total battery drain of the mobile unit while allowing the mobile unit to detect and process broadcast SMS messages in a timely manner.

System for transmitting and receiving short message service (SMS) messages


A film cassette adapted to be opened and closed comprises a film spool supported for rotation, and a lock for inhibiting rotation of the film spool when the cassette is closed and allowing the film spool to rotate when the cassette is opened. According to the invention, a retainer keeps the lock in place to make it inhibit rotation of the film spool when the cassette is opened, but allows the film spool to be initially forcibly rotated to move the lock out of place to then allow the film spool to be freely rotated. Thus, the film spool must be rotated to discontinue the affect of the lock after the cassette is opened.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and in particular to a film cassette containing a film spool about which a filmstrip is coiled. More specifically, the invention relates to a film cassette having a spool lock for preventing unintended rotation of the film spool.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Film cassettes provided with a spool lock for preventing unintended rotation of a film spool inside the cassette are generally known.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,479 issued Sep. 9, 1980 discloses a film cassette adapted to be opened and closed comprising a film spool supported for rotation, and movable locking means for inhibiting rotation of the film spool when the cassette is closed and allowing the film spool to rotate when the cassette is opened. The film cassette has a pair of collar halves at each end of the cassette with respective polygon-shaped bearing halves for receiving polygon-shaped journals at opposite ends of the film spool. When the film cassette is closed, rotation of film spool is inhibited because of the contact between the bearing halves and the journals. Conversely, when the film cassette is opened, the film spool is free to rotate because bearing halves have been moved away from the journals.
According to another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,115,268 issued May 19, 1992 discloses a film cassette comprising a light-trapping plush for preventing ambient light from entering the cassette interior through a film egress/ingress passageway, a film spool supported for rotation in film unwinding and film winding directions, and a locking pawl supported for movement into engagement with the film spool to secure the spool and out of engagement with the spool to release the spool. The film spool has a coaxial ratchet wheel with asymmetrically shaped teeth. The locking pawl appears to be a rigid beam member which is pivotally mounted at one end and has an asymmetrically shaped detent portion at an opposite end. A curved spring arm portion of the locking pawl extends from the end of the rigid beam member that has the detent portion, to bias the detent portion to between any two adjacent ones of the teeth in order to secure the film spool. To remove the detent portion from between two adjacent ones of the teeth, an engagement release portion of the locking pawl is turned to pivot the rigid beam member against the contrary urging of the spring arm portion. The engagement release portion then is held in the turned-to position to maintain the detent portion separated from the ratchet wheel. When the engagement release portion is released, the spring arm portion is free to pivot the rigid beam member to return the detent portion to between any two adjacent ones of the teeth in order to re-secure the spool.


A method is provided for forming a high-capacity, high-rate lithium ion battery cathode material. The method includes providing a synthesized material of electrochemically active plate-shaped nanoparticles and adding a plurality of appropriately sized diluent particles to the plate-shaped nanoparticles to form a suspension. Any liquid is removed from the solution to form a composite material. The method also includes processing the composite material to form a high-capacity, high-rate lithium ion battery cathode material.

The present invention generally relates to a lithium ion battery cathode, and in particular to a method of optimizing granular structure and performance of a lithium ion battery cathode.
The development of lithium-ion batteries with high energy density and discharge/recharge rates is important to their utilization in transportation, energy storage, and portable electronics applications. In addition, development of lithium ion batteries with dense, three-dimensional architectures can enable micro-powered, micro-electromechanical systems and independently powered 'smart dust' particles to enable highly distributed computing.
Lithium cobalt oxide batteries, and in particular LiCoO2-graphite based batteries, have enjoyed commercial success since being introduced to the market. However, the limited availability of cobalt has hindered its economic viability for high-power applications such as hybrid-electric vehicles and portable electronic applications, each of which can require a large amount of charge storage. Due to its limited availability, cobalt can be expensive and thus less commercially viable for these industries. As a result, lithium iron phosphate, LiFePO4, has been analyzed more extensively as a potential replacement for the development of low-cost, environmentally inert lithium iron batteries. As described below, LiFePO4, has different material properties that can affect lithium ion diffusion. In particular, lithium ions can diffuse one-dimensionally and preferentially along one direction in the crystal. This direction is typically the direction in the crystal due to crystal structure and chemical interaction therein.
During a discharging process (e.g., where power is being delivered from the battery), an anode of the battery serves as a source of lithium ions to be inserted into a solid cathode by transporting across an ionically-conducting electrolyte, while electrons flow from the anode to cathode through an external circuit. Anodes are typically composed of a graphite material that is intrinsically, electrically conductive. Cathodes are commonly fabricated with lithium-containing compounds, often referred to as insertion materials. In contrast, lithium oxide compounds have recently become popular cathode materials. Cathode composition limits the amount of ionic charge that can be reversibly stored in the battery.
The one-dimensional nature of ion diffusion in LiFePO4 has been the subject of recent experimental and theoretical studies. In addition, during synthesis of LiFePO4 particles, the particles have shown a tendency to form facets perpendicular to the highly ion conducting direction, namely the [010] direction. Accordingly, attempts have been made to maximize surface area of particles along that direction through the adjustment of synthesis conditions. Despite possessing 10% higher gravimetric energy density than LiCoO2, LiFePO4 can possess 20% lower volumetric energy density than LiCoO2. Therefore, to exceed the effective volumetric energy density of current batteries, it is desirable to fabricate densely packed microstructures which are generally synthesized through a wet chemical process to achieve sufficiently high volumetric density of energy storage. Such requirements, however, may limit the economic viability of cathode architectures exhibiting low packing density. Although the highly porous structure may result in high gravimetric density and high rate performance, visual investigation of SEM images reveals that the solid density is actually less than 30%. The inhibition of electrolyte penetration and subsequent reduction of electrochemical performance has been found due to the agglomeration of particles.
Experimentally, it has been found that if the size of the LiFePO4 particles is reduced, the diffusion length scales through which ions diffuse is also reduced. Thus, higher diffusion rates are possible which enables LiFePO4 particles to be used for battery applications. In addition, different shapes of LiFePO4 particles can be synthesized including nanoplatelets and equiaxed particles. The smallest sized shape that has been synthesized is the [010] platelet. Low aspect ratio plate-shaped particles, however, have shown a tendency to exhibit columnar ordering. As a result of the tendency of LiFePO4 to form facets normal to [010], the fast lithium ion diffusion direction, such ordering can prevent or inhibit access of liquid electrolyte to the highly active surfaces. In other words, columnar ordering can reduce ion transport due to an increase in the diffusion length scales for ions in the material, and thereby a reduction in diffusion rate. A reduction in diffusion rate can negatively impact charge storage and thereby the commercial viability of LiFePO4 particles for use in the cathode material.
A need therefore exists for a method to reduce or eliminate the effects of columnar ordering and provide a means for effective ion diffusion for commercially-viable applications.

Method of exploiting particle morphology to optimize granular structure and charge/discharge performance of lithium ion battery cathodes