y symb. yocto-. See yocto-. Y 1. symb. admittance.

The ease with which alternating current (AC) flows through a circuit, as opposed to impedance. See impedance. 2. Symbol for yttrium. See YAG, YIG. 3. symb. yotta-. See yotta-. 4. A general purpose programming language distributed from the University of Arizona in the early 1980s that is semantically similar to C, but without C pointers and structures. Y antenna A single-wire antenna with leads connected in a Y shape, with the top part of the Y corresponding to the transmission line. Since the top of the Y is closed, causing it to resemble the Greek D (delta), the Y antenna is sometimes also known as a delta matched antenna. This style of antenna is commonly used for very high frequency (VHF) and frequency modulated (FM) signals. Y axis, y axis A reference baseline or vector within a coordinate system, most often associated with rectangular or Cartesian coordinates. The Y axis is oriented vertically by convention, perpendicular to a horizontal X axis in a two-dimensional system, and perpendicular to the Z and X axes in a three-dimensional system. See Cartesian coordinates, X axis, Z axis. Y bar A type of cut used with piezoelectric crystals in which the plane of the long direction is parallel to the crystals Y axis. See Y cut.

Y cables are commonly used in audio and video applications to split or join signals. Shown here are two Y cables with common RCA connectors, male connectors on the left and female on the right.

Y cable, Y connector A cable or cable connector that

splits from a single line or bundle into two usually equivalent lines or bundles. Sometimes called a Y splitter. Y cables are frequently used in audio applications to split a mono signal into two jacks (not the same as real stereo) to connect systems with different inputs and outputs, or to combine a stereo signal onto one jack. Y cables are also used to split power sources, as when adding an extra drive to a computer system. Depending upon the application, the Y cable may or may not cause a degradation of the transmission once the signal is split. A Y cable may or may not be combined with other connectors or converters. A Y cable is usually functionally the same as a T cable, except that the Y angle of the split is narrower than 180 degrees. See converter. Y cut A type of cut used with piezoelectric crystals. Crystals are used in radio wave detection and timing applications, and their piezoelectric properties are partly determined by their shape and size. A Y cut creates a crystal plate with the plane perpendicular to the crystals Y axis. See crystal, detector, quartz, piezoelectric, X cut, X-ray goniometer, Y bar. Y Series Recommendations A series of ITU-T recommendations providing guidelines for global information insfrastructure and Internet protocol aspects. These guidelines are available as publications from the ITU-T for purchase on the Net. Since ITU-T specifications and recommendations are widely followed by vendors in the telecommunications industry, those wanting to maximize interoperability with other systems need to be aware of the information disseminated by the ITU-T. A full list of general categories is listed in Appendix C and specific series topics are listed under individual entries in this dictionary, e.g., G Series Recommendations. See Y Series Recommendations chart. Y signal A monochrome (its actually more descriptive to say grayscale) signal luminance transmission. When combined with a color signal, luminance provides brightness to the image. The relative absence of a luminance signal is used to represent black, while the highest level of power applied to the luminance signal is used to represent white, with shades of gray in between. See Y/C. Y-dimension of recorded spot In facsimile transmissions, the X-dimension of recorded spot is a

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ITU-T Y Series Recommendations

Recom. Description Y.100 General overview of the Global Information Infrastructure standards development Y.101 GII Terminology - Terms and definition Y.110 Global Information Infrastructure principles and framework architecture Y.120 Global Information Infrastructure scenario methodology Y.130 Information communication architecture Y.140 Global Information Infrastructure (GII): Reference points for interconnection framework Y.801 Relationships among ISDN, Internet protocol, and GII performance recommendations Y.1001 IP Framework - A framework for convergence of telecommunications network and IP network technologies Y.1231 IP Access Network Architecture Y.1241 Support of IP based Services Using IP Transfer Capabilities Y.1301 Framework of Optical Transport Network Recommendations Y.1302 Requirements for Automatic Switched Transport Networks (ASTN) Y.1310 Transport of IP over ATM in public networks Y.1311.1 Network-based IP VPN over MPLS architecture Y.1321 IP over SDH using LAPS Y.1322 Network node interface for the Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) Y.1331 Interfaces for the optical transport network (OTN) Y.1401 General requirements for interworking with Internet protocol (IP)-based networks Y.1402 General arrangements for interworking between Public Data Networks and the Internet Y.1501 Relationships among ISDN, Internet protocol, and GII performance recommendations Y.1710 Requirements for OAM functionality for MPLS networks

means of describing variation density in terms of the minimum density. The largest center-to-center space between recorded spots is measured in the direction of the recorded line. When it is assessed perpendicular to the recorded line, it is the Y-dimension of recorded spot. The same principles can be applied to assess the scanning spot. Y/C A color image information encoding scheme in which the chroma (color) signals (C) are separated from the luminance (brightness) signals (Y). A Y/C splitter cable enables the two signals to be handled separately. YAG yttrium-aluminum-garnet. A substance used in laser electronics. See YIG. Yagi, Hidetsugu (1886-1976) A Japanese researcher, lab director, and educator who worked with his lab engineer, Shintaro Uda, to develop and describe a new, more sensitive directional antenna structure. See Yagi-Uda antenna. Yagi-Uda antenna A narrow bandwidth, linear, directional antenna array that resembles a driven dipole antenna with branches (passive directors), usually along one plane. The Yagi-Uda antenna improves gain through the use of reflectors and directors (the branches extending out from the main rods) and works in high frequency ranges (radar, television, etc.). Rooftop television aerials commonly use Yagi-Uda configurations. This important antenna was designed and built ca. 1924-1926 by Shintaro Uda and possibly also by Hidetsugu Yagi, Udas lab director at Tohoku University. The relative contributions of the two engineers are not clear. It was first described in a paper by Yagi and Uda in 1926, but did not come to international attention until it was described again by Yagi in an English language Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) paper in 1928. Following this wider dissemination of information, many called it the Yagi antenna and, ironically, it came to be more widely used in Japan than abroad. Uda continued to refine the design and adapted it for television reception in the mid-1950s. An original Yagi-Uda antenna is housed in the Japan Broadcasting Corporations Broadcast Museum. In 1995, the antenna was awarded an IEEE Electrical Engineering Milestone. Yahoo A significant, high-profile, extensive search and information site originally developed at Stanford University and established on the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s. Yahoo provides general search capabilities as well as a large database of sites organized according to popular categories and topics. Yahoo also sponsors Yahoo Groups (formerly EGroups), discussion lists conducted through email and Web interfaces. http://www.yahoo.com/ Year 2000, Y2K A designation for the electronic changeover to the new century, a circumstance that was not anticipated and accounted for by all programmers when designing hardware, operating systems, spreadsheets, databases, backup software, schedulers, and the like. Many software programs and hardware clocks accommodated only up to the year 1999 and were not capable of rolling over to

2002 by CRC Press LLC

2000. A significant number took into consideration only the last two or three digits of the year, and thus were unable to resolve a 00 that followed a 99, for example, causing potential file and data problems for backup systems as well as various application programs. Further problems may be encountered with software that doesnt take into consideration the extra day that is added to February every four years in a leap year. As the year 2000 was a leap year, there may have been a combination of problems with data storage and retrieval resulting from the failure to accommodate this aspect of the changeover as well. Some operating systems were designed without taking the year 2000 changeover into consideration; others, like the Macintosh OS, were intended from the beginning to be Year 2000 compliant. YEL Abbreviation for yellow. yellow alarm See yellow signal. Yellow Book CD-ROM A CD-ROM authored and written according to Yellow Book standards in ISO 9660 format, a format very common in computer multimedia applications. Yellow Book 1. Standard for the physical format of a CD-ROM or audio CD disk (as opposed to the logical format). DVD drives are able to read CD-ROMs created according to Yellow Book standards. The Yellow Book followed from the original Red Book digital audio (CD-DA) standards. Yellow Book made it possible to store computer data in addition to audio data and supported up to about 650 MBytes of data. There are two subcategories, Mode 1 and Mode 2, for data with and without logical error correction (LECC). Mode 2 can support both Mode 2 and Mode 1 on a disc. See CD-ROM, ISO 9660. 2. Standards for audits of U.S. government organizations, programs, and functions, and of government assistance received by nonprofit organizations, contractors, and others. Yellow Book, Jargon This is a common name for the illustrated printed publication The New Hackers Dictionary, which is descended from the infamous Jargon File. See Jargon File. Yellow Box An Apple Computer Inc. designation for an object-oriented, OS-independent developer platform that was initiated after NeXT was folded into Apple Computer. The Yellow Box technology is based upon OpenStep, Apple technologies, and Java. The Yellow Box was the development environment basis for Apples new operating system efforts in the late 1990s, code-named Rhapsody. Rhapsody was being designed around the Mach Unix kernel to run on PowerPC- and Intel-based machines. See Blue Box, Red Box, Rhapsody. yellow pages 1. colloq. A common name for a number of business/advertising sections in various phone directories printed on yellow paper to distinguish the section from residential and government listings. Many online electronic business directories are colloquially called the yellow pages, although British Telecom has a trademark on the name. 2. A Sun Microsystems client/server protocol for system

configuration data distribution now known as Network Information Service (NIS). See Network Information Service. Yellow Pages A trademark of British Telecommunications. yellow signal In telecommunications, a signal for indicating an alarm condition, warning, or failure, usually in a network. The signal is often a yellowcolored light, though it may be an auditory or textual signal or a specific data value or sequence. On gauges, there may be a yellow band indicating a warning level, with a red band for more serious problems, such as danger levels or stop indicators. Color-coded signals are industry and even product specific but, in general, red signals are used for more serious conditions and yellow signals for localized failures or less serious warnings (conventions similar to those used in railroad and traffic signals). Warnings may even be associated with a specific segment of a network (e.g., fiber optic transmission link). In ATM networks alarm interfaces indicate whether alarm conditions are present. Data values are used to indicate a no alarm condition or that an incoming yellow signal, for example, has been received. Loss of frame failures are commonly signaled by alarms. Detection of a yellow or red signal alarm in a data network may trigger other signals, such as unavailable signal states, and timers to log the duration of an unavailable signal event. In SONET networks, a yellow signal may remotely signal a failure and may be used for trunk conditioning. A far end receive failure is a more specific instance of a failure detection signal in the downstream direction. In DS3 network interfaces, a yellow signal may trigger a yellow alarm, described in ANSI T1.107-1989. A loss of signal, loss of frame, or alarm indication signal (AIS) may trigger a red alarm, which is cleared if there are no severely errored seconds (SESs). Commonly, in data networks, alarms are declared after a certain number of consecutive seconds have elapsed (e.g., 2 seconds) and cleared after a certain number of seconds have elapsed (e.g., 10 seconds). yellow wire 1. A color designation used by IBM to indicate wires used to re-establish a broken connection in traces or flat cables (ribbon cables). See blue wire, purple wire, red wire. 2. A color commonly used for ring on the second phone in four-wire phone installations (two wires for each phone). The corresponding tip wire is usually black. Yerk An object-oriented programming language somewhat like a very extended Forth, originally sold as a commercial product of Kriya Systems until the late 1980s. It is named after the Yerkes Observatory and is now maintained at the University of Chicago. See Forth. Yes A Novell product-compatibility certification program. Yes, yes key A pushbutton shortcut key on some appliances or keyboards (e.g., teletype-style) to provide an affirmative response transmission without typing in the whole word yes.

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YIG yttrium-iron-garnet. A crystal used in the manufacture of YIG devices (amplifiers, filters, multiplexors, etc.) that, in conjunction with a variable magnetic field, is used to tune wideband microwave circuits. YIG filter A wide bandwidth filter in which a YIG crystal is positioned within the field of a permanent magnet associated with a solenoid and tuned to the center of the frequency band. YIQ A color model originating from hardware characteristics that is used in color television transmission and for some computer monitors. Y is luminosity; I and Q provide chroma signals separate from the luminosity in order to provide backward compatibility with black and white standards. On black and white (grayscale) televisions, only the Y component of the signal is displayed. See Y signal. YMMV An abbreviation for your mileage may vary which is frequently seen online in email and on public discussion lists to indicate that the information provided is very generalized and must be adjusted to a particular situation. In other words, the user may get a different transfer rate, different processing speed, different number of replies, different price quote, etc., according to circumstances and context. YModem A data transfer protocol commonly used with modems developed by Chuck Forsberg as a successor to XModem. Typically faster than XModem or Kermit, though not as well supported on BBSs and at services bureaus as XModem and ZModem. YModem comes in two flavors, batch and nonstop (YModem-G). The batch version allows multiple files to be sent in a transmission session and wildcard characters for filenames are supported. When errors in transmission are frequent, YModem is able to fall back automatically to smaller packets, thus accommodating a poor line connection, but is not compatible with the error correction of XModem. YModem supports the various XModem characteristics, including 128-byte and 1024-byte frames and both types of error checking (checksum and CRC), and so may often be used in conjunction with XModem. YModem was eventually succeeded by ZModem, also by Chuck Forsberg. See XModem, ZModem. YModem-G A nonstop streaming variation of the batch-oriented YModem developed by Chuck Forsberg. YModem-G does not wait for receiver acknowledgments and does not have built-in error correction, instead it relies on an error-correcting modem to supply the error logic. Its appropriate in situations where a good clean connection is available and speed is desired. If a problem with a bad block is encountered, the entire transfer is aborted. Unlike ZModem, it cannot resume a transmission in a second session at the point at which errors and termination of the initial session occurred. See YModem, ZModem. yocto- y. A prefix for an SI unit quantity of 10-24, or .000 000 000 000 000 000 000 001. Its a mindbogglingly small quantity. See yotta-, zepto-

yoke 1. A clamp or frame that unites or holds two parts or assemblies firmly together. 2. A coil assembly installed over the neck of a cathode-ray tube (CRT) to deflect the electron beam as currents pass through it. 3. A ferromagnetic assembly, without windings, that forms a permanent connection between two magnetic cores. yotta- Y. A prefix for an SI unit quantity of 1024, or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 or 10008. Its a mind-bogglingly large quantity. See yocto-, zetta-. YP See Yellow Pages. yttrium Yttrium oxide is used in conjunction with Europium to create the red phosphors for color cathode-ray tubes. When combined with aluminum and garnet in YAG devices, it is used in laser technology. See europium, gadolinium, yttrium. Yukawa, Hideki (1907-1981) A Japanese physicist who proposed a new nuclear force-field theory and a massive nuclear particle, the meson. The existence of the meson was verified by Cecil Powell a couple of decades later. Yukawa furthered the nuclear process of K capture, the absorption of an innermost encircling electron. This theory, too, was subsequently confirmed. Yukawa received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1949 for his significant contributions to our understanding of quantum mechanics. yuppie young urban/upwardly mobile professional. A takeoff on the term hippie from the sixties, a yuppie was generally someone born into a home with good financial resources or who was ambitious and had good prospects for a well-paying job and who focused his or her energies and values upon material gain. The word became prominent in the 1980s when the birth control revolution of the early 1960s resulted in smaller families in the 1980s and Moms who could work and, thus, the kids had more stuff and were less pressured to share with (smaller numbers of) siblings. In other words, a yuppie was someone who had the resources and desire to keep up with the Joneses and could afford to buy techie toys and SUVs when they were first becoming popular as well as indulging in fast modems (which were $500 at the time for 2400 baud) for playing multiplayer network games, joining in chat rooms, and other network-related social activities. yurt A sturdy, circular, temporary, mobile shelter of Asian origin. Yurts range from simple tent-like shelters to lavishly furnished mountain-top ski resort hideaways. Yurts can be used on work sites where shelter for equipment and workers is needed during construction or installation work. In the authors town, little yurts have been popping up around the various road construction sites under which new fiber optic cables are being installed. YUV A color encoding scheme designed to accommodate the characteristics of human visual systems. Human visual perception is less sensitive to color variations than to intensity variations (particularly in individuals who are color blind). Thus, YUV uses full bandwidth to encode luminance (Y) and half bandwidth to encode chroma (UV). See Y/C. yV Y-matrix of a vacuum tube.

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