switching

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switching

[′swich·iŋ]
(electricity)
Making, breaking, or changing the connections in an electrical circuit.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

switching

(networking)
Establishing the correct path through a network for a single packet of data (packet switching) or a persistent end-to-end connection (circuit switching).
This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Switching

(in physiology), one of the phenomena in the activity of the nervous system that improves an organism’s ability to adapt to the environment.

Switching can occur in various structures of the nervous system, for example, at the synapses; in the thalamus, where it participates in relay functions; and in the cerebral cortex, where it is involved with the formation of conditioned reflexes. Because of cortical switching, the interpretation of conditioned signals may change rapidly, depending on several factors, including the circumstances under which the signals are perceived. Thus, a conditioned stimulus, for example, the sound of a metronome, produces a feeding response when it is combined in the morning with the act of feeding, while during the day it promotes a defensive reaction when combined with electrical stimulation of an extremity. One signal thus can produce different conditioned responses, depending on the time of day. In this case, time is the factor that determines the conditioned response, as if it had the ability to switch one type of activity to another in the cerebral cortex.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
References in periodicals archive ?
This article proceeds as follows: Section 1 describes the Markov switching method. Section 2 analyzes the performance of indicators during the 1959-2009 period, a larger set of indicators during the 1989-2009 period, and the indicators during the current recession.
In the Markov switching method, time-series data are divided into those that are low regime and high regime.
The bottom line is that--in its current form--the Markov switching method cannot eXtract valid recession signals from many indicators and cannot be used for comparing recession signals across indicators.
I offer the following solution: rather than using the regime probabilities from the Markov switching method, I suggest first converting the regime probabilities into percentiles.
Our findings also suggest that Honduran family planning programs, in their effort to support women's continuing contraceptive use, should encourage them to talk with their partners, family and others about stopping or switching methods before making--and acting on--a decision.
What differentiates method stoppers from switchers? Contraceptive discontinuation and switching among Honduran women
They also have reduced rates of switching to the pill from either the condom or no method and of switching to a long-term method from the condom (there were no switching events), suggesting that a quest for contraceptive effectiveness is not a primary motive for switching methods among Hispanic women.
Contraceptive method switching in the United States

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