World Intellectual Property Organization Treaties (WIPO)

These treaties, negotiated in December 1996 by more than 100 nations at the World Intellectual Property Organization Diplomatic Conference in Geneva, will secure copyright protections in cyberspace and strengthen copyright law in nations around the world. They represent the most important overhaul of international copyright law in the last quarter-century. The treaties bring international copyright standards closer to U.S. law, raising the minimum standards for copyright protection worldwide and making it easier to fight piracy of American products overseas. The only changes in U.S. law required by the treaties involve prohibitions on technologies used to undermine the electronic "locks" protecting copyrighted works online. These prohibitions are included in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act passed this year as the treaties were approved, providing a model for international action and approval of the treaties. Thirty nations must ratify the WIPO treaties for them to take effect.

XOR

Acronym for exclusive OR, a type of logic gate where a logic 1 output is based upon A or B inputs being present - but not both.

Y

The electronic symbol for admittance - the inverse of impedance.

Y-connector

A three-wire circuit that is star connected. Also spelled wye-connector. It is okay to use a Y-connector to split an audio signal from an output to drive two inputs; it is not okay to use a Y-connector to try and sum or mix two signals together to drive one input. See RaneNote 109 for details.

Y/N

Software program "yes/no" response prompt. A "Y" or "N" keystroke is expected.

yield

The number of devices that work as planned, specified as a percentage of the total number actually fabricated. Normally used to quantify a run of integrated circuits.

YUV video

The coding process used in CD-I in which the luminance signal (Y) is recorded at full bandwidth on each line and chroma values (U and V) are recorded at half bandwidth on alternate lines.

Z

The electronic symbol for impedance.

z-transform

A mathematical method used to relate coefficients of a digital filter to its frequency response, and to evaluate stability of the filter. It is equivalent to the Laplace transform of sampled data and is the building block of digital filters.

zap

To eradicate all or part of a program or database, sometimes by lightning, sometimes intentionally.

ZIF (zero insertion force socket)

A standard IC-socket design requiring the user to move a lever to insert or remove the chip -- as opposed to pressing and prying the chip manually -- hence, zero insertion force. The lever actuator (hopefully) eliminates damaging the IC pins.

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