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23-letter words containing a, c, o

  • black-throated whipbird — an Australian whipbird, Psophodes nigrogularis
  • block started by symbol — (memory)   (BSS) The uninitialised data segment produced by Unix linkers. Objects in the bss segment have only a name and a size but no value. Executable code is located in the code segment and initialised data in the data segment.
  • border gateway protocol — (BGP) An Exterior Gateway Protocol defined in RFC 1267 and RFC 1268. Its design is based on experience gained with Exterior Gateway Protocol (EGP), as defined in STD 18, RFC 904 and EGP usage in the NSFNet backbone, as described in RFCs 1092 and 1093.
  • branch coverage testing — (programming)   A test method which aims to ensure that each possible branch from each decision point (e.g. "if" statement) is executed at least once, thus ensuring that all reachable code is executed.
  • branch on chip box full — (humour)   (BCBF) A mythical IBM 1130 instruction whose action depended on the contents of the chip box. This was one of a long list of fake assembly language instructions that went around Indiana University in the 1970s.
  • broadcast quality video — (communications, multimedia)   Roughly, video with more than 30 frames per second at a resolution of 800 x 640 pixels. The quality of moving pictures and sound is determined by the complete chain from camera to receiver. Relevant factors are the colour temperature of the lighting, the balance of the red, green and blue vision pick-up tubes to produce the correct display colour temperature (which will be different) and the gamma pre-correction to cancel the non-linear characteristic of cathode-ray tubes in television receivers. The resolution of the camera tube and video coding system will determine the maximum number of pixels in the picture. Different colour coding systems have different defects. The NTSC system (National Television Systems Committee) can produce hue errors. The PAL system (Phase Alternation by Line) can produce saturation errors. Television modulation systems are specified by ITU CCIR Report 624. Low-resolution systems have bandwidths of 4.2 MHz with 525 to 625 lines per frame as used in the Americas and Japan. Medium resolution of 5 to 6.5 MHz with 625 lines is used in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia. High-Definition Television (HDTV) will require 8 MHz or more of bandwidth. A medium resolution (5.5 MHz in UK) picture can be represented by 572 lines of 402 pixels. Note the ratio of pixels to lines is not the same as the aspect ratio. A VGA display (480n lines of 640 pixels) could thus display 84% of the height of one picture frame. Most compression techniques reduce quality as they assume a restricted range of detail and motion and discard details to which the human eye is not sensitive. Broadcast quality implies something better than amateur or domestic video and therefore can't be retained on a domestic video recorder. Broadcasts use quadriplex or U-matic recorders. The lowest frame rate used for commercial entertainment is the 24Hz of the 35mm cinema camera. When broadcast on a 50Hz television system, the pictures are screened at 25Hz reducing the running times by 4%. On a 60Hz system every five movie frames are screened as six TV frames, still at the 4% increased rate. The six frames are made by mixing adjacent frames, with some degradation of the picture. A computer system to meet international standard reproduction would at least VGA resolution, an interlaced frame rate of 24Hz and 8 bits to represent the luminance (Y) component. For a component display system using red, green and blue (RGB) electron guns and phosphor dots each will require 7 bits. Transmission and recording is different as various coding schemes need less bits if other representations are used instead of RGB. Broadcasts use YUV and compression can reduce this to about 3.5 bits per pixel without perceptible degradation. High-quality video and sound can be carried on a 34 Mbaud channel after being compressed with ADPCM and variable length coding, potentially in real time.
  • cachoeiro do itapemirim — a city in SE Brazil.
  • calcium channel blocker — any drug that prevents the influx of calcium ions into cardiac and smooth muscle: used to treat high blood pressure and angina
  • calorie-controlled diet — a diet that restricts a person to a limited number of calories per day
  • camillo benso di cavour — Camillo Benso di [kah-meel-law ben-saw dee] /kɑˈmil lɔ ˈbɛn sɔ di/ (Show IPA), 1810–61, Italian statesman: leader in the unification of Italy.
  • capitalize on something — to use something to one's own advantage or profit
  • casemaking clothes moth — any of several small moths of the family Tineidae, the larvae of which feed on wool, fur, etc., especially Tinea pellionella (casemaking clothes moth)
  • cast in someone's teeth — (in most vertebrates) one of the hard bodies or processes usually attached in a row to each jaw, serving for the prehension and mastication of food, as weapons of attack or defense, etc., and in mammals typically composed chiefly of dentin surrounding a sensitive pulp and covered on the crown with enamel.
  • catch cold/catch a cold — If you catch cold, or catch a cold, you become ill with a cold.
  • catch someone off guard — If someone catches you off guard, they surprise you by doing something you do not expect. If something catches you off guard, it surprises you by happening when you are not expecting it.
  • catherine of alexandria — Saint, a.d. c310, Christian martyr.
  • cauchy integral formula — a theorem that gives an expression in terms of an integral for the value of an analytic function at any point inside a simple closed curve of finite length in a domain.
  • cauchy integral theorem — the theorem that the integral of an analytic function about a closed curve of finite length in a finite, simply connected domain is zero.
  • caught in the crossfire — If you are caught in the crossfire, you become involved in an unpleasant situation in which people are arguing with each other, although you do not want to be involved or say which person you agree with.
  • cellular neural network — (architecture)   (CNN) The CNN Universal Machine is a low cost, low power, extremely high speed supercomputer on a chip. It is at least 1000 times faster than equivalent DSP solutions of many complex image processing tasks. It is a stored program supercomputer where a complex sequence of image processing algorithms is programmed and downloaded into the chip, just like any digital computer. Because the entire computer is integrated into a chip, no signal leaves the chip until the image processing task is completed. Although the CNN universal chip is based on analogue and logic operating principles, it has an on-chip analog-to-digital input-output interface so that at the system design and application perspective, it can be used as a digital component, just like a DSP. In particular, a development system is available for rapid design and prototyping. Moreover, a compiler, an operating system, and a user-friendly CNN high-level language, like the C language, have been developed which makes it easy to implement any image processing algorithm.
  • center-pivot irrigation — a method of irrigation, used mainly in the western U.S., in which water is dispersed through a long, segmented arm that revolves about a deep well and covers a circular area from a quarter of a mile to a mile in diameter.
  • central processing unit — the part of a computer that performs logical and arithmetical operations on the data as specified in the instructions
  • certificate of registry — a document issued to a U.S. vessel engaged in foreign trade, stating its name, nationality, ownership, etc., and claiming for it all privileges pertaining to U.S. nationality.
  • character assassination — A character assassination is a deliberate attempt to destroy someone's reputation, especially by criticizing them in an unfair and dishonest way when they are not present.
  • characteristic equation — Mathematics. the characteristic polynomial of a given matrix, equated to zero. Also called auxiliary equation. an equation with one variable and equated to zero, which is derived from a given linear differential equation and in which the coefficient and power of the variable in each term correspond to the coefficient and order of a derivative in the original equation.
  • characteristic function — a function that assigns the value 1 to the members of a given set and the value 0 to its nonmembers
  • characteristic velocity — a measure of the effectiveness with which the combustion in a rocket engine produces high temperature and pressure, equal to the exhaust velocity divided by the thrust coefficient.
  • cheyne-stokes breathing — alternating shallow and deep breathing, as in comatose patients
  • chi-square distribution — a continuous single-parameter distribution derived as a special case of the gamma distribution and used esp to measure goodness of fit and to test hypotheses and obtain confidence intervals for the variance of a normally distributed variable
  • chief education officer — an official who is the chief administrative officer of a Local Education Authority
  • chief operating officer — the executive in charge of day-to-day operations in an organization
  • chorionic gonadotrophin — a hormone secreted by the chorionic villi of the placenta in mammals, esp human chorionic gonadotrophin. It promotes the secretion of progesterone by the corpus luteum and its presence in the urine is an indication of pregnancy
  • chronic wasting disease — a disease found among members of the deer family, a type of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy
  • civil aeronautics board — the former federal agency (1938–85) that regulated airline fares and assigned routes. Abbreviation: CAB, C.A.B.
  • classification schedule — the printed scheme of a system of classification
  • collision damage waiver — a form of optional collision insurance cover for a vehicle that is being rented
  • columbus air force base — U.S. Air Force installation in NE Mississippi, NW of Columbus.
  • combinatorial chemistry — the use of chemical methods to generate all possible combinations of chemicals
  • come apart at the seams — come unstitched
  • come hell or high water — If you say that you will do something come hell or high water, you are emphasizing that you are determined to do it, in spite of the difficulties involved.
  • come to sb's assistance — If you come to someone's assistance, you take action to help them.
  • commercial exploitation — unethical business practices
  • common lisp in parallel — (language, parallel)   (CLIP) A version of Common LISP from Allegro for the Sequent Symmetry.
  • commonwealth of england — commonwealth (def 5).
  • commonwealth of nations — a voluntary association of independent nations and dependent territories linked by historical ties (as parts of the former British Empire) and cooperating on matters of mutual concern, especially regarding economics and trade.
  • communication breakdown — a lack of communication; a failure to exchange information
  • communication interface — an electronic circuit, usually designed to a specific standard, that enables one machine to telecommunicate with another machine
  • communications software — (communications, software)   Application programs, operating system components, and probably firmware, forming part of a communication system. These different software components might be classified according to the functions within the Open Systems Interconnect model which they provide. Typical applications include a web browser, Mail User Agent, chat and telnet.
  • communist international — Third International.
  • communist-international — an international organization (1919–43), founded in Moscow, uniting Communist groups of various countries and advocating the attainment of their ends by violent revolution. Also called Comintern, Communist International. Compare international (def 6).
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