The purpose of the present invention is to provide: a sliding mechanism having a lubricating film formed on the sliding surface thereof, and capable of exhibiting friction-reducing performance; and a friction reduction method for the same. Performance data is gathered for the SOA. The evaluation unit is activated when the threshold value is exceeded and determines a feature of incoming signals suitable for identifying andor classifying a sound causing the incoming signals. This Abstract is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. Also provided are methods for minimizing wastage of drugs administered by nebulizer, and for the achievement of quantitative dosing with diluent from a mass marketed formulations, which because of the mass market is much less costly per dose than formulations manufactured specifically for much lower volume medical use. To store data into a register of a slave device, a master device sends the register address using more than n rising edges of the ENSET signal.