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Wiktionary
attenuator

n. (context physics English) Any device that attenuates a signal, but especially an electronic device that reduces the amplitude of a signal

WordNet
attenuator

n. an electrical device for attenuating the strength of an electrical signal

Wikipedia
Attenuator

An attenuator could mean:

  • Attenuator (electronics), an electronic device that reduces the amplitude of an electronic signal.
  • Optical attenuator, an electronic device that reduces the amplitude of an optical signal.
  • Attenuator (genetics), a specific regulatory sequence transcribed into RNA.
  • Impact attenuator, used on highways as a crumple zone in case of a car crash.
Attenuator (electronics)

An attenuator is an electronic device that reduces the power of a signal without appreciably distorting its waveform.

An attenuator is effectively the opposite of an amplifier, though the two work by different methods. While an amplifier provides gain, an attenuator provides loss, or gain less than 1.

Attenuator (genetics)

Attenuation (in genetics) is a proposed mechanism of control in some bacterial operons which results in premature termination of transcription and is based on the fact that, in bacteria, transcription and translation proceed simultaneously. Attenuation involves a provisional stop signal (attenuator), located in the DNA segment that corresponds to the leader sequence of mRNA. During attenuation, the ribosome becomes stalled (delayed) in the attenuator region in the mRNA leader. Depending on the metabolic conditions, the attenuator either stops transcription at that point or allows read-through to the structural gene part of the mRNA and synthesis of the appropriate protein.

Attenuation is a regulatory feature found throughout Archaea and Bacteria causing premature termination of transcription. Attenuators are 5'-cis acting regulatory regions which fold into one of two alternative RNA structures which determine the success of transcription. The folding is modulated by a sensing mechanism producing either a Rho-independent terminator, resulting in interrupted transcription and a non-functional RNA product; or an anti-terminator structure, resulting in a functional RNA transcript. There are now many equivalent examples where the translation, not transcription, is terminated by sequestering the Shine-Dalgarno sequence (ribosomal binding site) in a hairpin-loop structure. While not meeting the previous definition of (transcriptional) attenuation, these are now considered to be variants of the same phenomena and are included in this article. Attenuation is an ancient regulatory system, prevalent in many bacterial species providing fast and sensitive regulation of gene operons and is commonly used to repress genes in the presence of their own product (or a downstream metabolite).

Usage examples of "attenuator".

Beaming with pride, he continued, "While the composition memory bank primarily programs the sensory synthesizer, the feedback loop controls the sensory attenuator for maximum effectiveness.

We have five of them, the rest are all single manual with relatively primitive synthesizer attenuator and excitor capability.

Beaming with pride, he continued, "While the composition memory bank primarily programs the sensory synthesizer, the feedback loop controls the sensory attenuator for maximum effectiveness.

The entire device was no more than a yard long and was connected by cables to a current attenuator and a marine battery on the sled.

Along with these items, Mac bought a small patch cord with a built-in attenuator that enabled him to transcribe the,spoken material from one tape onto a new one in a second machine, thus duplicating whatever recorded dialogue was stored.

It'll be gone in a single electronic sweep, you with it, unless you take these damned attenuators.

When I took the attenuators, I would be immune to all the controlling images and smells and sounds broadcast out of Globe-Tech.

And the few spared urban centers were to be completely within our control, within the control of the few Globe-Techers who had attenuators, who would not drown in their own mists, who would walk like supermen among the few helpless and powerless that they had spared.

I took the vial of attenuators I'd brought and dumped it into her cup.

Colonel Luisa Chang cut in the attenuators in her bodysuit and felt shafts of coolness spread across her chest, back, belly and crotch.

The attenuators charged, and the ship seemed to elongate as it began its shift into another dimension.

He had just finished attaching a new set of attenuators to a faulty motherboard when his cellular phone sprang to life.

One may find within the Anglican communion, Arians, Unitarians, Atheists, disbelievers in immortality, attenuators of miracles.