Glossary of the key notions in Bionics and beyond

CAS → ~ (Chemical Abstracts Service) is a division of the American Chemical Society.

Catabolism → Part of intermediary metabolism dealing with the energy-yielding degradation of nutrient molecules

Catalyst → A~ is a substance that increases the rate of a reaction without modifying the overall standard Gibbs energy change in the reaction. The process itself is called ‘catalysis’. The catalyst is both a reactant and product of the reaction. The words catalyst and catalysis should not be used when the added substance reduces the rate of reaction or if the substance is consumed in the reaction.

Cataract → Opacity in the lens of the eye

Catheter → A ~ is a tube that can be inserted into a body cavity, duct, or vessel. Catheters thereby allow drainage, administration of fluids or gases, or access by surgical instruments.

Cathode → A ~ is an electrode through which electric current flows out of the biological tissue.

Cathode ray → Cathode rays are streams of electrons observed in vacuum tubes, i.e. evacuated glass tubes that are equipped with at least two metal electrodes to which a voltage is applied.

Cathode ray experiments → Thomson’s first experiment proved that the negative charge and the ray were inseparable and intertwined. The second stage of the experiment proved beyond doubt that the rays were made up of charged particles carrying a negative charge. In the third experiment Thomson found that the charge to mass ratio was so large that the particles either carried a huge charge, or were a thousand times smaller than a hydrogen ion. He came up with the idea that the cathode rays were made of particles that emanated from within the atoms themselves.

Causal (system) → Causality is a system property. A system is causal if it is not dependent on the future values of it’s input.

Cavity → A ~ resonator is a hollow conductor blocked at both ends and along which an electromagnetic wave can be supported. The cavity has interior surfaces which reflect a wave of a specific frequency.

Cavity mode → Cavity modes for a cavity are combinations of standing waves with a spectrum of discrete frequencies.

Cavity resonance → The resonance is the tendency of a system to oscillate with larger amplitude at some frequencies than at others. The cavity has interior surfaces which reflect a wave of a specific frequency. When a wave that is resonant with the cavity enters, it bounces back and forth within the cavity, with low loss (standing wave). As more wave energy enters the cavity, it combines with and reinforces the standing wave, increasing its intensity.

CCD camera → Charge-coupled device (CCD) image sensor technology for digital imaging.

CDNA → A complementer DNA copy of a mRNA.

Cellular → It is an attribute of discrete models studied in computability theory, mathematics, physics, complexity science, theoretical biology and microstructure modeling. The model consists of a regular grid of cells. The grid can be in any finite number of dimensions. For each cell, a set of cells called its neighborhood is defined relative to the specified cell. Cellular engineering is a new field that addresses issues related to understanding and manipulating cell structure-function relationships.

Cellular automaton → A ~ consists of a regular grid of cells, each in one of a finite number of states, such as “On” and “Off”. This state is changed in every time instant, depending on a state transtition rule.

Cellular Neural /Nonlinear Networks (CNN) → ~ is any spatial arrangement of locally-coupled cells, where the cells are in a dynamical system which have an input, an output, and a ~ ~are state evoling according to some prescribed dynamical laws (state equation).

Cellular principle → In cellular systems a given spatial area is divided into nonoverlapping cells. Different channel sets are assigned to different cells, with channel sets reused at spatially separated locations.

Cellular system → A ~ is based on the cellular principle. The base station is located near the center of each cell.

Center of mass → The center of mass of a system is defined as the average of the positions of objects in the system, weighted by their masses.

Central fovea → A small pit on the retina, which is the site of clearest vision.

Central Limit Theorem (CLT, math) → ~ states that the distribution of an average of a large number of independent observation (from the same distribution, as a random variable) tends to be Normal, even when the distribution from which it is computed is decidedly non-Normal. ~ is fundamental in probability theory and statistics.

Central Nervous System (CNS) → The brain and the spinal cord.

Central pattern generator → Neuronal network, which is capable to maintain a rhythmic output without rhythmic sensory or central input.

Central Processing Unit (CPU) → The main processing unit of the computer architecture

Centripetal force → Centripetal force (Latin centrum + petere ~ to seek) is a force that makes a body follow a curved path: it is always directed orthogonal to the velocity of the body, toward the instantaneous center of curvature of the path.

Cerebellar glomerulus → A complex synaptic unit established by mossy fibers, dendrites of granule cells, axons and dendrite of Golgi II neurons in the granular layer of the cerebellar cortex.

Cerebellum → A large dorsally projecting part of the brain behind the telencephalon and on top of the brain stem, involved in control of muscle tone, coordination of movements coordination and maintenance of equilibrium

Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) → The flow of capillary blood through the cortex, measured in units of flow (milliliters per minute) per unit mass of cortex.

Cerebral Blood Volume (CBV) → The volume of blood in a given volume of cerebral cortex, measured in units of volume.

Cervical injuries → the general result of ‘C’ region is the full or in some cases partial tetraplegia

Channel impulse responses → The mobile radio channel may be modeled as a linear filter with a time varying impulse response, where the time variation is due to receiver motion in space.

Channels → Transmembrane proteins through which passive transport can occur. ~ are permanently open toward both sides. The most important channels are for ions and water.

Charge → Electric ~ (coulomb, C) is a physical property of matter which causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric ~ comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively or negatively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force. Positively charged objects and negatively charged objects experience an attractive force.

Cheletropic reaction → ~ is a form of cycloaddition across the terminal atoms of a fully conjugated system with formation of two new σ-bonds to a single atom of the (‘monocentric’) reagent. In this reaction, the substrate formally loss a π-bond and the coordination number of the relevant atom of the reagent increases.

Chemical compound → pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements

Chemical potential → Partial molar free energy. Formally μi=(∂G/∂ni)T,p,nj≠i where μi is the chemical potential of the i’th substance, G is the free energy and ni is the number of moles of the I’th substance.

Chemical shift → ~ is the variation of the resonance frequency of a nucleus in NMR spectroscopy in consequence of its magnetic environment. The ~ of a nucleus, δ, is expressed in ppm by its frequency, relative to a standard.

Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVP) reactors → ~ may be classified by pressure: Atmospheric pressure CVD (APCVD) reactors operate at atmospheric pressure, and are thereforethe simplest in design. Low-pressure CVD (LPCVD) reactors operate at medium vacuum (30-250 Pa) and higher temperature than APCVD reactors. Plasma Enhanced CVD (PECVD) reactors also operate under low pressure, but do not depend completely on thermal energy to accelerate the reaction processes. They also transfer energy to the reactant gases by using an RF-induced glow discharge.

Chemistry → ~ is the science of matter and the changes it undergoes. While it is a physical science (which takes a more general and fundamental approach), chemistry is more specialized, being concerned with the composition, behavior (or reaction), structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions, studies various substances, atoms, molecules, crystals and other aggregates of matter whether in isolation or combination, and which incorporates the concepts of energy and entropy in relation to the spontaneity of chemical processes.

Chemotherapy → A type of treatment which uses chemicals to weaken and/or destroy micro-organisms or cancer cells.

Chiral center (Chiral carbon) → An atom (or grouping of atoms) within a molecule where interchange of any two substituents results to the opposit enantiomer of the original molecule. A chiral carbon atom with four different atoms or groups of atoms bonded to it.

Chirality → A kind of symmetry where a central carbon atom has four different groups connecting to it and thus two different arrangements of connecting group can occur. The two arrangements are the mirror images of each other.

Chord conductance → The ratio of the membrane current and the difference between the membrane potential and the resting potential.

Chorea → Uncontrolled movement of the fingers, trunk, feet, face in Huntington’s disease

Choroid plexus → Structure producing the cerebrospinal fluid

Chromatography → ~ is a separation method based on the selective distribution of the components of a mixture between the stationary and the mobile phase. The components of the mixture move by different rate along the stationary phase, the component having stronger interaction with the stationary phase remains behind (retention).

Chromosome → The combination of supercoiled DNA and DNA-bound proteins.

Chronaxy → The minimum time over which an electric current double the strength of the rheobase needs to be applied, in order to generate an action potential.

Chronic → Lasting for a long period of time. Chronically implanted electrodes are fixed to the skull and multiple recording sessions can be performed with them.

Chylomicron → Particle present in blood plasma during the absorption of dietary lipid. It consists of phospholipids, triacylglycerol, cholesteryl esters, lipid-soluble vitamins and apolipoprotein B48. It is synthesized and secreted by cells in the intestine and enters the blood via the lymphatic duct.

Cineole → A fragrant, colorless liquid, which is the main constituent of eucalyptus oil.

Circuit element → It is a basic electronic element

Circuit paradigm → In electronics, modeling, simulation and design of a system are based on the “circuit paradigm”. Equivalent circuit models of devices and their interfaces are developed, and the models of systems are composed of the equivalent circuits of their building blocks. The circuit paradigm assumes that the designer is able to build a system-architecture from blocks in such a way that the equivalent circuits of the building blocks do not depend on the neighboring blocks.

Circumduction → Movement of a limb or extremity so that the distal end describes a circle while the proximal end remains fixed

Cis/Trans configurations → Two groups possess the cis configuration when they are on the same side of the plane containing the π bond, or the plane of a ring. Two groups are trans when they are on opposite sides of the π bond plane or the plane of a ring.

Cis-trans isomerism → ~ is a stereoisomerism of olefins or cycloalkanes (or hetero-analogues) which differ in the positions of atoms (or groups) relative to a reference plane: in the cis-isomer the atoms are on the same side, in the trans-isomer they are on opposite sides.

Citation → ~ is a reference to a published source. A citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of acknowledging the relevance of the works of others to the topic of discussion at the spot where the citation appears.

Citric acid cycle → Is the final common pathway for the oxidation of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. Citric acid cycle generates reducing equivalents for the terminal oxidation.

Classical physics → The branches of physics based on principles developed before the rise of relativity and quantum mechanics.

Classical point mechanics → Classical mechanics is one of the two major sub-fields of mechanics, which is concerned with the set of physical laws describing the motion of bodies under the action of a system of forces. Point mechanics is the basic concept of classical mechanics. For simplicity, it often models real-world objects as point particles, objects with negligible size. The motion of a point particle is characterized by a small number of parameters: its position, mass, momentum and the forces applied to it.

Classification (data mining) → A supervised data mining process that sorts the instances into known categories (classes)

Classification (in general) → ~ is a task to divide objects, points (often in a high-dimensional space) into discrete categories

Clock gating → This method adds more logic to a circuit to prune the clock tree, thus disabling portions of the circuitry.

Cloning vector → A DNA molecule in which foreign DNA sequences can be propagated in a host cell.

Closed system → It can exchange only heat with its environment.

Closed system (isolated) → A physical system that does not interact with other systems. A closed system obeys the conservation laws in its physical description.

CLT (Central Limit Theorem) → ~ states that the distribution of an average of a large number of independent observation (from the same distribution, as a random variable) tends to be Normal, even when the distribution from which it is computed is decidedly non-Normal. ~ is fundamental in probability theory and statistics.

Cluster → Coupled and interconnected computing device with some shared resources.

Clustering → Any of several statistical methods for grouping discrete observation data based on similarity to discrete groups.

Clustering → An unsupervised data mining process that groups the instances a “small” distance away

Coaxial waveguide → ~ is a circular waveguide with an inner conductor and a surrounding tubular conducting shield sharing the same geometric axis.

Cochlea → A coil-shaped part of the inner ear. It is filled with a watery liquid; the movements of this liquid are registered and transformed into neural impulses.

Cochlear implant → The ~ is a device that uses electric stimulation to provide or restore functional hearing in totally deafened persons. An electrode array is inserted into the scala tympany to directly stimulate discrete sectors of the auditory nerve, taking advantage of the tonotopic organization of the cochlea.

Cochlear nerve → The ~ or auditory nerve is the structure that connects the cochlea and brain via transmitting electric signals originating from the cochlea. The cochlear nerve is the part of VIII. cranial nerve or vestibulocochlear nerve.

Cocrystals → Two or more salts are crystallized simultaneously

Coding → Quantization symbols are mapped into binary code words

Codon → Triplet of nucleotides that codes exactly one amino acid in a protein

Coenzyme → A compound which participates in the enzyme-catalyzed reaction and is modified at the end of the reaction acting as a co-substrate, its original form is regenerated in a different reaction typically serving coupling-in-parallel

Coenzyme A (CoA) → A nucleotide coenzyme that contains pantetheine as a constituent. Its terminal sulfhydryl group functions as an acyl carrier in many reactions.

Coexistence systems → Many wireless systems architectures use same license free ISM frequency bands (eg.: Wifi, ZigBee).

Cofactor → A compound (organic or metal ion) which participates in the catalytic action of enzyme and is not changed at the end of the reaction

Cognition cycle → Cognitive radios are employed according to a cognition cycle as the fundamental activities in order to interact to the environment.

Cognitive function → The mental process of knowing, thinking, learning, remembering and judging.

Cognitive map → Map-like reflection of the environment in the brain, established by neurons or neuronal networks encoding the special physical parameters of the environment.

Cognitive radio → It is a paradigm for wireless communication in which a wireless node changes its communication parameters to communicate efficiently avoiding interference. It was initially thought of as a software-defined radio extension.

Cognitive signals → Neural activities related to high-level cognitive function (e.g.,intention, planning, decision making, executive function, thoughts, concepts, and speech).

Coherence → ~ is a normalized measure of linear correlation as a function of frequency.

Coherence bandwidth → The approximate maximum bandwidth or frequency interval over which two frequencies of a signal are likely to experience comparable or correlated amplitude fading.

Cold emission → An unheated metal surface is subject to a large uniform external electric field of strength, which is directed such that it accelerates electrons away from the surface. (Emission of electrons through tunneling.)

Collateral inhibition → Process resulting in inhibition around an activating brain area

Collector → A bipolar transistor has terminals labeled base, ~, and emitter. A small current at the base terminal (that is, flowing from the base to the emitter) can control or switch a much larger current between the ~ and emitter terminals.

Colligative properties → Properties of a solution the value of which does depend only on the number of particles but do not depend on the properties of them.

Collimator → A device that filters a stream of rays so that only those traveling parallel to a specified direction are allowed through.

Collision → A ~ is an isolated event in which two or more moving bodies exert forces on each other for a relatively short time. Collisions involve forces (there is a change in velocity). All collisions conserve momentum. What distinguishes different types of collisions is whether they also conserve kinetic energy.

Collision cylinder → A cylinder showing the volume with respect to a particle A within which if there is a B particle then it will collide with the particle A. It has the volume V=v_rel·(r_A+r_B)2·π where v_rel is the relative velocity of particle A with respect to the particle B, r_A and r_B are the radii of particle A and B, respectively.

Collision study → During the collision studies the nerves are stimulated on two locations applying two or three stimuli and changing the ISI between the stimuli. This way the proximally generated and orthodromically propagating action potential collides with the distally evoked and antidromically propagating potential and cancel each other out.

Collision theory → A microscopic model describing the rate of reactions based on collisions of particles represented as rigid spheres.

Colorimeter → A ~ is a device used in colorimetry . In scientific fields the word generally refers to the device that measures the absorbance of particular wavelengths of light by a specific solution. This device is most commonly used to determine the concentration of a known solute in a given solution by the application of the Beer-Lambert law , which states that the concentration of a solute is proportional to the absorbance.

Combinatorial optimization → A general optimization task, where the search space is discrete, and hence no analytical solution can be carried out

Common centroid arrangement → Arrangement of devices that makes them immune from cross-chip gradients.

Common mode rejection → Differential amplifier suppresse common mode signal. CMR is the ratio of amplification of differential and common mode signal.

Commutativity → Let denote a binary operation by *. If A * B = B * A, then this operator is called commutative. In other words, commutative means interchangeability

Commutator of operators → Operators (or variables in quantum mechanics) do not necessarily commute. The definition of commutator of two operators x and p is: [p, x] = px - xp. If two operators do not commute you can not know the value of two physical values at the same time. The lack of commutation of the individual components describe what is known in physics as an uncertainty principle.

Comparator → A ~ is a device which compares two voltages or currents and switches its output to indicate which is larger.

Compartment → Homogeneous (isopotential) part of a model neuron, where all spatial properties are constant (ion channel densities, membrane conductance). The basic building block of multicompartmental models.

Compartmentation → Subdivision of the enzymes of a eukaryotic cell into functionally distinct, membrane-enclosed spaces or organelles

Competitive inhibitor → A reversible inhibitor, which increases the K_m value and does not change the Vmax value of the enzyme

Competitive inhibitors → ~ use the same binding site on the enzyme as the substrate and a competition occurs between the substrate and the inhibitor for the binding site.

Complement code → Let us code the sign of the number using 1 bit (if the value is 1, the sign of the number is negative, if it is 0, the sign of the number is positive)

Complement set → The ~ of a set is a set A whose elements does not share the characteristics of set A, so its elements are not in A.

Complex amplitude → The amplitude and phase can be viewed as the magnitude and angle of a single complex number.

Complex conjugate → Complex conjugates are a pair of complex numbers, both having the same real part, but with imaginary parts of equal magnitude and opposite signs.

Complex envelope → It is a representation of a complex signal without carrier since carrier did not convay any information.

Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) → An architecture with several instruction mainly for solving general problems

Complex numbers → A complex number is a number consisting of a real part and an imaginary part. ~ extend the idea of the one-dimensional number line to the two-dimensional complex plane by using the number line for the real part (Re is the real axis) and adding a vertical axis to plot the imaginary part (Im is the imaginary axis), and to enhance the real numbers by adding a number i (imaginary unit) whose square is (−1). Italian mathematician Gerolamo Cardano is the first known to have conceived ~. He introduced it to allow for solutions of certain equations that have no real solution.