-tron, -tronic, -tronics +

An electron microscopic technique that involves freezing the biological sample in order to view the sample with the least possible distortion and the fewest possible artifacts. Abbreviated as cryo-EM.

In cryoelectron microscopy, the freezing of the sample is done in ethane slush to produce vitreous, or non-crystalline, ice. The frozen sample grid is then kept at liquid nitrogen temperature in the electron microscope and digital micrographs are collected with a camera.

The advantages of cryo-EM over traditional EM techniques include the preservation of the sample in a near-native hydrated state without the distortions from stains or fixatives needed for traditional EM. With image processing and averaging of multiple images, cyroelectron microscopy provides high resolution information (below 10 angstroms).

An angstrom is a metric unit of length equal to one ten billionth of a meter (or 0.0001 micron); used to specify wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation.

1. A cryogenic device that uses the principle that a varying magnetic field can cause the resistance of a superconducting element to change rapidly between its high normal and low superconductive values: used as a switch and as a computer-memory element.
2. A superconductive device in which current in one or more input circuits magnetically controls the superconducting-to-normal transition in one or more output circuits.

1. An accelerator in which particles are propelled in spiral paths by the use of a constant magnetic field.
2. A circular particle accelerator in which charged subatomic particles generated at a central source are accelerated spirally outward in a plane perpendicular to a fixed magnetic field by an alternating electric field.

A cyclotron is capable of generating particle energies between a few million and several tens of millions of electron volts.

3. An accelerator that imparts energies of several million electron-volts to rapidly moving particles.

1. A vacuum tube device which has three electrodes: a thermionic cathode, a perforated anode, and a supplementary anode or plate.
2. A multi-electrode thermionic valve often used as an oscillator.

A sub-atomic particle with a negative quantized charge.

A flow of electrical current consists of the unidirectional (on average) movement of many electrons. The more mobile electrons are in a given material, the greater its electrical conductance (or equivalently, the lower its resistance).

Electrons are the primary charge carriers in electric currents.

A stream of electrons emitted from a given source and traveling under the influence of an electric or magnetic field in the same direction and at approximately the same speed.

1. Relating to devices, systems, or circuits that employ components; such as, vacuum tubes, integrated circuits, or transistors in their design; an electronic sensor. 2. Using, or accessed through a computer or computer network; for example, internet electronic banking.

A device in which electrons are conducted through a vacuum or gaseous medium within a gas-tight chamber; used to generate, to amplify, and to rectify electric oscillations and AC currents.

A single-anode mercury-vapor rectifier in which current passes as an arc between the anode and a mercury-pool cathode, used in power recification.

A segment of a gene situated between exons that is removed before translation of messenger RNA and does not function in coding for protein synthesis.

1. A device for separating isotopes.
2. A type of antenna that is physically short as compared to a dipole (separation of positive and negative charges) for a given frequency.

1. An electron tube used to amplify or generate ultrahigh frequency by means of velocity modulation.
2. An electron tube that uses an electric field to generate and amplify microwaves.

A high-speed solid-state switching device triggered by light pulses and used in nuclear devices.

1. A vacuum tube in which the flow of electrons is manipulated by electric and magnetic fields to generate microwaves.

The microwave radiation produced is either pulsed, for use in radar applications, or continuous, as required for microwave cooking.

2. A diode vacuum tube in which the flow of electrons is controlled by an externally applied magnetic field to generate power at microwave frequencies.

A blend of mechanics and electronics, mechatronics has come to mean the combined use of precision engineering, control theory, computer science, and sensor and actuator technology to design and to improve products and processes.

The word was first coined by a senior engineer of a Japanese company; Yaskawa, in 1969, as a combination of mecha of "mechanisms" and tronics of "electronics" and the company was granted the trademark rights to the word in 1971.

The word soon received broad acceptance in industry and, in order to allow its free use, Yaskawa elected to abandon its rights to the word in 1982.

Mechatronics has taken a wider meaning since then and is now being widely used as a technical jargon to describe a philosophy in engineering technology, more than the technology itself.

For this wider concept of mechatronics, a number of definitions has been proposed, differing in the particular characteristics that the definition is intended to emphasize.

The most commonly used term emphasizes synergy: "Mechatronics is the synergistic integration of mechanical engineering with electronics and intelligent computer control in the design and manufacture of products and processes."