It is awaiting regulatory approval of its hybrid plan, which would increase electronic trading of listed stocks but still preserve its 200-year-old auction system using specialists on the exchange floor.

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But Ditmire from Fox-Pitt Kelton says the so-called hybrid half-human, half-electronic system at NYSE "is at a relative disadvantage" on days like Thursday.

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Thain has attempted to work out a hybrid model that promotes greater use of electronic trading, especially among the most liquid stocks, while preserving a role for the floor.

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Ultimately, the invisible, under-the-hood electronic architecture of the plug-in hybrid will become as commonplace as automatic transmissions and anti-lock brakes.

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Unlike two-way, three-way, four-way or so-called "hybrid" armature driver (hearing aid type) earphones, there are no electronic or comb filtering artifacts, no phase issues, and no crossover dropouts.

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On Tuesday, floor traders wound up the day processing orders manually, using paper, pencil and in some cases white board to keep track of buy and sell orders, instead of using the electronic trading system that is supposed to be the show-piece of the hybrid model.

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Business Daily said Thursday the electronic and industrial giant planned to raise production capacity of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid cars seventyfold to 700, 000 units by 2015.

FORBES: Magazine Article

For an example, in a hybrid car, a radiator works to cool the combustion engine while a second radiator cools the power electronic system that runs the electric motor.

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