Adapter

An adapter or adaptor is a device that converts attributes of one electrical device or system to those of an otherwise incompatible device or system. Some modify power or signal attributes, while others merely adapt the physical form of one electrical connector to another.

An electric power adapter may enable connection of a power plug, sometimes called «travel plug», used in one region to a AC power socket used in another, by offering connections for the disparate contact arrangements, while not changing the voltage. An AC adapter, also called a "recharger", is a small power supply that changes household electric current from distribution voltage (in the range 100 to 240 volts AC) to low voltage DC suitable for consumer electronics.

For computers and related items, one kind of serial port adapter enables connections between 25-contact and nine-contact connectors, but does not affect electrical power- and signalling-related attributes.

See also

Adapter pattern

In software engineering, the adapter pattern is a software design pattern that allows the interface of an existing class to be used from another interface. It is often used to make existing classes work with others without modifying their source code.

Definition

An adapter helps two incompatible interfaces to work together. This is the real world definition for an adapter. Interfaces may be incompatible but the inner functionality should suit the need. The Adapter design pattern allows otherwise incompatible classes to work together by converting the interface of one class into an interface expected by the clients.

Structure

There are two types of adapter patterns:

Object Adapter pattern

In this type of adapter pattern, the adapter contains an instance of the class it wraps. In this situation, the adapter makes calls to the instance of the wrapped object.

Class Adapter pattern

This type of adapter uses multiple polymorphic interfaces implementing or inheriting both the interface that is expected and the interface that is pre-existing. It is typical for the expected interface to be created as a pure interface class, especially in languages such as Java (before jdk 1.8) that do not support multiple inheritance of classes.

Adapter (rocketry)

In rocketry, an adapter is a hollow cylindrical or conical segments between rocket stages or between the top rocket stage and the shroud that houses a spacecraft. They transfer the thrust from the lowest stage and are discarded during staging. This usage, which may appear overelaborate in that such adapters are inert structural elements rather than dynamic converters of signals or electrical power, actually derives from French.

Gallery

Gallery may refer to:

Buildings and spaces

Adit

An adit (from Latin aditus, entrance) is an entrance to an underground mine which is horizontal or nearly horizontal, by which the mine can be entered, drained of water, ventilated, and minerals extracted at the lowest convenient level. Adits are also used to explore for mineral veins.

Construction

Adits are driven into the side of a hill or mountain, and are often used when an ore body is located inside the mountain but above the adjacent valley floor or coastal plain. In cases where the mineral vein outcrops at the surface, the adit may follow the lode or vein until it is worked out, in this case the adit is rarely straight. The use of adits for the extraction of ore is generally called drift mining.

Adits can only be driven into a mine where the local topography permits. There will be no opportunity to drive an adit to a mine situated on a large flat plain, for instance. Also if the ground is weak, the cost of shoring up a long adit may outweigh its possible advantages.

Access and ventilation

491 Gallery

The 491 Gallery was a squatted social centre and multi-disciplinary gallery in Leytonstone, London, England, that operated from 2001 to 2013. Taking its name from its street number, 491 Grove Green Road, the former factory was home to a community-led art organisation and served as an exhibition space for a diverse range of artists of different origins working in varied media. It contained a range of art and music studios, which were used to host workshops, classes and musical rehearsals.

Origin

The building, originally a factory, was later used as a storage space and warehouse for materials being used to construct the A12 that cuts through Leytonstone and the surrounding areas. Unlike the rest of the surrounding buildings, it and the few neighbouring houses were not subject to compulsory purchase orders and demolition for the A12 site. When in late 2000 the building was abandoned, it became occupied by a group of homeless drug users, who remained in it for some six months. Within a month of their vacating the premises, the building was reoccupied by a group of artists, who spent the next several years turning it into a community space. The neighbouring building, formerly houses, was also occupied, and named Vertigo, after the film by Alfred Hitchcock, a famous resident of Leytonstone.