electro-, electr-, electri-

1. A circuit which contains active electric parts; such as, electron tubes, electron transistors, and magnetic amplifiers, etc., as opposed to a circuit that contains only passive components; such as, resistors and switches.
2. An electric circuit in which the balance of electrons in a given electric part; such as, a tube, transistor, or amplifier, is disturbed by something other than an applied electric voltage.
3. An electric circuit having at least one element that manipulates the voltage or current in the circuit.

1. A clock which uses electronic circuits to count the number of oscillations (movements going backward and forward) in quartz crystal to determine the timekeeping impulses that activate a digital display.
2. A clock in which the timekeeping impulse is provided by the oscillations (alternating current and associated electric and magnetic fields) of a tiny tuning fork attached to an electronic circuit.

The use of a block cipher (encryption method), usually employing the data encryption standard (DES), in which each 64-bit block of data is enciphered or deciphered separately, and every bit in a given output block depends on every bit in its respective input block and on every bit in the key, but on no other bits.

1. A type of switch that provides a continuous switching or sampling of a number of circuits by means of a radial-beam electronic tube or electronic switching circuit that reverses or exchanges the external connections in a transducer at a high rate of speed, and so it eliminates noise and wear.
2. An electron-tube or transistor circuit which switches one circuit connection rapidly and in sequence or following in an uninterrupted order to many other circuits, without the wear and noise of mechanical switches.

An example is the radial-beam tube, in which a rotating magnetic field causes an electron beam to sweep over one anode after another anode and produces the desired switching actions.

1. A instrument; such as, an electron tube or a transistor, which does not use mechanical procedures to control electrical current and voltage in a circuit.Examples include electron tubes, transistors, and other solid-state devices.

Typesetting during which characters are generated by electron or laser beams at speeds exceeding about 6,000 words per minute.

A tool for setting type electronically with characters generated by laser beams.

1. A programmable machine that receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful format.
2. An apparatus that receives, processes, and presents information.

The two basic types of computers are analog and digital.

Although generally not regarded as such, the most prevalent computer is the simple mechanical analog computer, in which gears, levers, ratchets, and pawls perform mathematical operations; for example, the speedometer and the watt-hour meter (used to measure accumulated electrical usage).

The general public has become much more aware of the digital computer with the rapid proliferation of the hand-held calculator and a large variety of intelligent devices and especially with exposure to the Internet and the World Wide Web.

1. In card punch technology, the section of a tabulating instrument designed to ensure that it will process the data on punch cards in a prescribed method.
2. The sensing sections of tabulating equipment that enable a machine to process the contents of punched cards in a specified procedure.

1. An area on a radar screen which a target appears to occupy according to a particular radar beam.
2. The amount of space in which a target appears to occupy in a radar resolution cell, as it appears to that radar beam.

1. A term for any embedded system that controls one or more of the electrical systems or subsystems in a motor vehicle.
2. A microprocessor and memory with electronic maps, forming the central part of an engine management system or of subsystems; such as, a fuel injection or ignition system.

1. The control of a machine or a process by circuits using electron tubes, transistors, magnetic amplifiers, or other devices having related functions.
2. The control of a machine or condition by electronic devices.

1. An electronic device incorporating vacuum tubes or solid-state devices that are used to control the actions or positions of equipment; for example, a valve operator.
2. An electric controller in which some or all of the basic functions are performed by electron appliances.

1. A house, usually in the country, equipped with computers, etc. so people can work there without having to travel to a regular company office.
2. A situation in which employees use their home computer terminals and communicate with a central office and other workers who are in a regular working environment or with other home employees.

1. An instrument that uses electronic elements to count the number of pulses (short durations of electrical current flows) applied to it.
2. An electronic circuit using electron tubes or equivalent devices for counting electric pulses or transient sharp changes in voltage, currents, or some other normally constant quantities in an electronic system.
3. An instrument capable of counting up to several million electrical pulses per second.