Couple

Couple
Couple ( pronunciation (help·info)) may refer to:
Two items of a type, or a small number of items (U.S. usage)
Two members of an intimate relationship
Couple (mechanics), a system of forces with a resultant moment but no resultant force
Thermocouple, a type of temperature sensor.

Coupling (disambiguation)
Coupling can refer to:
Coupling, a connection or joint between two things
Coupling (computer science), the degree to which each program module relies on each one of the other modules
Coupling (electronics), the transfer of energy from one medium to another
Coupling (genetics), a type of genetic linkage
Coupling (physics), a concept in physics; or the interdependence of rotational, vibrational, and electronic states of a molecule
Coupling (piping), a short length of pipe or tube to connect two pipes or tubes together
Coupling (probability), a proof technique in probability theory
Coupling (railway), a mechanism for connecting railway rolling stock
Coupling (UK TV series), a British sitcom written by Steven Moffat for the BBC
Coupling (U.S. TV series), a short-lived American sitcom based on the British series
Angular momentum coupling, the interaction between two nuclei in nuclear magnetic resonance
Coupling reaction, reactions between hydrocarbon fragments in organic chemistry
Hose coupling, a piece on the end of a hose to connect it to extra hoses or hose appliances
Mating or the act of sexual intercourse

Physical cosmology

In physical cosmology, the term decoupling is often used for the moment during recombination when the rate of Compton scattering became slower than the expansion of the universe. At that moment, photons nearly stopped their interactions with charged matter and "decoupled", producing the cosmic microwave background radiation as we know it. The term decoupling is also used to describe the neutrino decoupling which occurred about one second after the Big Bang. Analogous to the decoupling of photons, neutrinos decoupled when the rate of weak interactions between neutrinos and other forms of matter dropped below the rate of expansion of the universe, which produced a cosmic neutrino background.

Software Development

In software development, the term "decoupling" is used to identify the separation of software blocks that shouldn't depend on each other. Some building blocks are generic and shouldn't know details of others. Special design techniques allow software designers to have as little dependencies as possible. This typically reduces the risk of malfunction in one part of a system when the other part changed. It also forces the developer to focus on one thing at a time.

Biology

In biology, decoupling (used interchangeably with uncoupling) refers to the separation of the energy stored in the ion gradients inside mitochondria from the synthesis of ATP. Since this energy is not used to do work, it is dissipated as heat. This strategy is used by hibernating animals and infants to keep warm because their heat energy needs are higher than their ATP needs. Artificial decoupling has been used as a diet aid, often with disastrous results.

Neuropsychopharmacology

In neuropsychopharmacology, uncoupling (or decoupling) is a term often used to describe when receptor or ligand binding sites/domains become separated or move alignments or become internalised as a result of drug tolerance to exposure over a period of time to a pharmacologically active psychoactive substance or toxin.

Electronics

In electronics, decoupling refers to the preventing of undesired coupling between subsystems via the power supply connections. This is commonly accomplished by connecting localized capacitors close to the power leads of integrated circuits to act as a small localized energy reservoir; these supply the circuit with current during transient, high current demand periods, preventing the voltage on the power supply rail from being pulled down by the momentary current load. See decoupling capacitor.

Lossy ferrite beads may also be used to isolate or 'island' sections of circuitry. These add a high series impedance (in contrast to the low parallel impedance added by decoupling capacitors) to the power supply rails, preventing high-frequency currents being drawn from elsewhere in the system.

Rail transport

In rail transport, decoupling is the separation of two railroad cars by manipulation of their couplers.

Inventory management

In Inventory Management, decoupling allows economy of scale within a single facility, and permits each process to operate at maximum efficiency rather than having the speed of the entire process constrained by the slowest.

Nuclear testing

In underground nuclear weapons testing, decoupling refers to the attempt to prevent some of the bomb's energy from transmitting as seismic waves. This makes it more difficult for outside observers to estimate the nuclear yield of the weapon being tested.

Mathematics

In mathematics, decoupling refers to the rearrangement of systems of equations so that they are independent of each other.

Utility Regulation
In public utility regulation, decoupling refers to the disassociation of a utility's profits from its sales of the energy commodity. Instead, a rate of return is aligned with meeting revenue targets, and rates are trued up or down to meet the target at the end of the adjustment period. This makes the utility indifferent to selling less product and improves the ability of energy efficiency and distributed generation to operate within the utility environment.

Ideally, utilities should be rewarded based on how well they meet their customers' energy service needs. However, most current rate designs place the focus on commodity sales instead, tying a distribution company's recovery of fixed costs directly to its commodity sales.

In order to motivate utilities to consider all the options when planning and making resource decisions on how to meet their customers' needs, the sales-revenue link in current rate design must be broken. Breaking that link between the utility's commodity sales and revenues, removes both the incentive to increase electricity sales and the disincentive to run effective energy efficiency programs or invest in other activities that may reduce load. Decision-making then refocuses on making least-cost investments to deliver reliable energy services to customers even when such investments reduce throughput. The result is a better alignment of shareholder and customer interests to provide for more economically and environmentally efficient resource decisions.

As an added benefit, breaking the sales-revenue link streamlines the regulatory process for rate adjustments. Contention over sales forecasts consumes extensive time in every rate case. If the sales-revenue link is broken, these forecasts carry no economic weight, so the incentive to game forecasts of electricity sales is removed and rate cases become less adversarial.

For in-depth discussion on decoupling see: [1]

Economics

In economics, decoupling is often used in the context of economic production and environmental quality. In this context, it refers to the ability of an economy to grow without corresponding increases in environmental pressure. In many economies increasing production (GDP) would involve increased pressure on the environment. An economy that is able to sustain GDP growth, without also experiencing a worsening of environmental conditions, is said to be decoupled. Exactly how, if, or to what extent this can be achieved is a subject of much debate.

Similarly, decoupling can refer to "breaking" the link between a dependent variable and its cause for a specific industry or activity. For instance, decoupling green house gas emissions from increasing electrical power generation.

The OECD has made decoupling a major focus of the work of its Environment Directorate. The OECD defines the term as follows:
The term 'decoupling' refers to breaking the link between “environmental bads”and “economic goods.”

The same document then, in the following sentence, redefines the term in implementation language as meaning to have the rates of increasing wealth greater than the rates of increasing impacts. That alteration skirts the clear meaning of the term and the entire dilemma of continually accelerating our remaking of the earth from its effects. (OECD, 2002)[1]

Decoupling and the stock market declines of January 2008

Decoupling holds that European and Asian economies, especially emerging ones, have broadened and deepened to the point that they no longer depend on the United States for growth, leaving them insulated from a severe slowdown there, even a fully fledged recession. Faith in the concept has generated strong outperformance for stocks outside the United States. In January 2008 as fears of recession mounted in the United States, stocks declined heavily. Contrary to what the decouplers would have expected, the losses were greater outside the United States, with the worst experienced in emerging markets and developed economies like Germany and Japan. Exports make up especially large portions of economic activity in those places, but that was not supposed to matter anymore in a decoupled world because domestic activity was thought to be so robust.[2]

Advertising

Decoupling in advertising is the process whereby advertisers buy services direct from suppliers which were previously sub-contractors to their advertising agencies. Decoupling is discussed in "Magic and Logic" www.magicandlogic.co.uk, the booklet prepared for the Value Framework Steering Group which is a joint venture by the UK trade bodies CIPS, IPA and ISBA. The original concept came from Charles Kirchner, Chairman of Marketing Supply Chain Ltd (www.marketingsupplychain.com). Decoupling is part of the unbundling of the services previously provided by traditional full service advertising agencies, which originally began with the creation of standalone media buying agencies such as Zenith from Saatchi & Saatchi Group in the '80's and Mindshare from WPP group in the '90's. For the same reasons as media (focus, economies of scale and dedicated software) press production is now increasingly handled by standalone Production Agencies, which trade direct with advertisers and not through their advertising agencies.

Organizational Studies

In organizational studies, and particularly new institutional theory, the term "decoupling" refers to the creation and maintenance of gaps between formal policies and actual organizational practices.[3] Organizational researchers have documented decoupling in a variety of organizations, including schools[4][5], corporations[6], government agencies[7], and social movement organizations[8]. Scholars have proposed a number of explanations for why organizations engage in decoupling. Some researchers have argued that decoupling enables organizations to gain legitimacy with their external constituents while simultaneously maintaining internal flexibility to address practical considerations.[3] More recently, scholars have noted that decoupling may occur because it serves the interests of powerful organizational leaders,[6] or because it allows organizational decision-makers to avoid implementing policies that conflict with their ideological beliefs.[7]

Coupler

Coupler is a word used to describe any of a number of things:
A railway coupling device;
An electronic device, more properly, an acoustic coupler;
A telecommunications device known as a directional coupler;
A kind of laser mirror known as an output coupler;
A connector between two moving parts to relay the motion, such as a Universal joint or an Oldham coupler.
A device used on a pipe organ or harpsichord to allow a player to play multiple divisions at once, by means of "coupling" a division to another at either sub, super, or octave pitches;
A valve, specifically a tap, for controlling the release of beer out of a keg;
A short length of pipe with two female threads, see coupling (piping);
A sound artisu coupling (sound);