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23-letter words containing a, c, o

  • community health centre — a medical centre that serves a particular area
  • compact disc read-write — Compact Disc Rewritable
  • compact disc recordable — (storage)   (CD-R) A write-once version of CD-ROM. CD-Rs can hold about 650 megabytes of data. They are very durable and can be read by normal CD-ROM drives, but once data has been written it cannot be altered. Standard prerecorded CDs have their information permanently stamped into an aluminium reflecting layer. CD-R discs have a dye-based recording layer and an additional golden reflecting layer. Digital information is written to the disc by burning (forming) pits in the recording layer in a pattern corresponding to that of a conventional CD. The laser beam heats the substrate and recording layer to approximately 250 C. The recording layer melts and the substrate expands into the space that becomes available. See also CD-RW and DVD-RAM.
  • compact disc rewritable — (storage)   (CD-RW) A rewritable version of CD-ROM. A CD-RW drive can write about 650 megabytes of data to CD-RW media an unlimited number of times. Most CD-RW drives can also write once to CD-R media. CD-RW media cannot be read by CD-ROM drives built prior to 1997 due to the reduced reflectivity (15% compared to 70%) of CD-RW media. CD-RW drives and media are currently (1999) more expensive than CD-R drives and media. CD-R is sometimes considered a better technology for archival purposes as the data cannot be accidentally modified or tampered with, and encourages better archival practices. Standard prerecorded CDs have their information permanently stamped into an aluminium reflecting layer. CD-WR discs have a phase-change recording layer and an additional silver (aluminium) reflecting layer. A laser beam can melt crystals in the recording layer into a non-crystalline amorphous phase or anneal them slowly at a lower temperature back to the crystalline state. The different reflectance of the areas make them appear as the 'pits' and 'lands' of a standard CD. See also CD-R and DVD-RAM.
  • comparative advertising — a form of advertising in which a product is compared favourably with similar products on the market
  • comparative linguistics — the study of the correspondences between languages that have a common origin.
  • complain about the food — If you complain about the food, you say that you are not satisfied with it.
  • completely normal space — a normal topological space in which every subspace is normal.
  • composite colour signal — a colour television signal in which luminance and two chrominance components are encoded into a single signal
  • computer-aided learning — Computer-Aided Instruction
  • computer-based training — Computer-Aided Instruction
  • computerized tomography — a radiological technique that produces images of cross sections through a patient's body using low levels of radiation
  • concertgebouw orchestra — an Amsterdam orchestra, established in 1888, that has been independent of the Concertgebouw hall since World War II
  • concrete data structure — (theory)   (CDS) A model of programming language terms developed in the context of constructing fully abstract semantics for sequential languages. A CDS is a 4-tuple (C,V,E,|-) where C is a cell, V is a value, E is an event and |- is an "enabling relation". An event is a cell and a value. A cell C is "enabled" by a set of events S if S |- C. A state is a set of events which are consistent in that the values they give for any cell are all equal. Every cell in a state is enabled.
  • conditional convergence — the property of an infinite series that converges while the series formed by replacing each term in the given series with its absolute value diverges; the property of an infinite series that converges when the order of the terms is altered. Compare absolute convergence (def 1).
  • conditional probability — the probability of one event, A, occurring given that another, B, is already known to have occurred: written P(A|B) and equal to P(A and B)|P(B)
  • confessional television — television programmes, esp talk shows, in which members of the public reveal their private lives, personal problems, etc
  • conformational analysis — the study of the spatial arrangement of atoms or groups of atoms in a molecule and the way in which this influences chemical behaviour
  • conjunctive normal form — (logic)   (CNF) A logical formula consisting of a conjunction of disjunctions of terms where no disjunction contains a conjunction. Such a formula might also be described as a product of sums. E.g. the CNF of (A and B) or C is (A or C) and (B or C). Contrast Disjunctive Normal Form.
  • connection machine lisp — (language)   Lisp with a parallel data structure, the 'xapping', an array of values assigned to an array of sites.
  • consciousness-expanding — mind-expanding.
  • conservative evaluation — (programming)   Under this parallel evaluation strategy, no evaluation is started unless it is known to be needed. The opposite of conservative evaluation is speculative evaluation.
  • consolidated deliveries — deliveries of goods to different shops in a common location by a single carrier and in a single vehicle
  • constant of gravitation — a law stating that any two masses attract each other with a force equal to a constant (constant of gravitation) multiplied by the product of the two masses and divided by the square of the distance between them.
  • constant of integration — a constant that is added to the function obtained by evaluating the indefinite integral of a given function, indicating that all indefinite integrals of the given function differ by, at most, a constant.
  • constant velocity joint — A constant velocity joint is a universal joint in which the output shaft rotates at constant speed if the input shaft speed is constant.
  • constant-velocity joint — a universal joint that is used in the drive train of front-wheel-drive cars and operates effectively even when the shafts being connected meet at a sharp angle.
  • constitutional monarchy — a monarchy governed according to a constitution that limits and defines the powers of the sovereign
  • constraint satisfaction — (application)   The process of assigning values to variables while meeting certain requirements or "constraints". For example, in graph colouring, a node is a variable, the colour assigned to it is its value and a link between two nodes represents the constraint that those two nodes must not be assigned the same colour. In scheduling, constraints apply to such variables as the starting and ending times for tasks. The Simplex method is one well known technique for solving numerical constraints. The search difficulty of constraint satisfaction problems can be determined on average from knowledge of easily computed structural properties of the problems. In fact, hard instances of NP-complete problems are concentrated near an abrupt transition between under- and over-constrained problems. This transition is analogous to phase transitions in physical systems and offers a way to estimate the likely difficulty of a constraint problem before attempting to solve it with search.
  • consultant psychiatrist — a psychiatrist who has attained the rank of consultant
  • conversion to iteration — A transformation applied to functional programs to replace recursion with iteration. A tail-recursive function can be compiled to an iterative loop where the recursive call becomes a jump back to the start and the parameters are held in registers which are updated with new values each time around the loop. See Iteration, Tail recursion optimisation.
  • cordillera de talamanca — a mountain range running SE from central Costa Rica to W Panama.
  • corporate restructuring — a change in the business strategy of an organization resulting in diversification, closing parts of the business, etc, to increase its long-term profitability
  • correlation coefficient — a statistic measuring the degree of correlation between two variables as by dividing their covariance by the square root of the product of their variances. The closer the correlation coefficient is to 1 or –1 the greater the correlation; if it is random, the coefficient is zero
  • correlative conjunction — either member of a matched pair of words, of which the second is a coordinating conjunction, as either … or, neither … nor, both … and, or not only … but.
  • corridor of uncertainty — an area of a wicket just outside a batsman's off stump, so located that the batsman will have difficulty in deciding whether or not to play a ball bowled into it
  • cost-of-living increase — a pay rise that is given because the cost of living has gone up
  • court of first instance — a court in which legal proceedings are begun or first heard
  • creative writing course — a course in which people are taught creative writing skills
  • criminal records bureau — (in England and Wales) a service offering employers and voluntary organizations access to police, health, and education records
  • critique of pure reason — a philosophical work (1781) by Immanuel Kant.
  • cryptococcal meningitis — a form of meningitis resulting from opportunistic infection by a cryptococcus fungus, occurring in persons who are immunodeficient.
  • current-cost accounting — a method of accounting that values assets at their current replacement cost rather than their original cost
  • cut sb's umbilical cord — If you say that one person, organization, or country has cut its umbilical cord with another, you mean that they have done something that makes them more independent.
  • cyclohexylsulfamic acid — cyclamic acid.
  • cylindrical coordinates — three coordinates defining the location of a point in three-dimensional space in terms of its polar coordinates (r, θ) in one plane, usually the (x, y) plane, and its perpendicular distance, z, measured from this plane
  • dacryocystorhinostomies — Plural form of dacryocystorhinostomy.
  • data acquisition system — A data acquisition system is a system that acquires data, generally by digitizing analog channels and storing the data in digital form.
  • de-compartmentalization — to divide into categories or compartments.
  • delayed stress reaction — a post-traumatic stress disorder occurring more than six months after the experience of a traumatic event.
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