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28-letter words containing a, d, r, e

  • multimedia personal computer — (multimedia)   (MPC) A specification published by the Multimedia PC Marketing Council in 1990 to encourage the adoption of a standard multimedia computing platform. In May 1993, the MPC Marketing Council published a new specification called MPC Level 2 Specification as an enhanced multimedia computer standard. The original MPC specification, now also known as the MPC Level 1 Specification, continues in full effect. The appearance of the MPC or MPC2 certification mark on a computer system or upgrade kit indicates that the hardware meets the corresponding (Level 1 or Level 2) MPC Marketing Council specification. Software bearing the Multimedia PC mark has been designed to work on Multimedia PC licensed hardware. By establishing a standard platform, certifying hardware compliance and providing inter-operability between software and hardware for the consumer, the MPC Marketing Council is encouraging widespread use of multimedia applications and hardware.
  • munchausen syndrome by proxy — Psychiatry. a form of Munchausen syndrome in which a person induces or claims to observe a disease in another, usually a close relative, in order to attract the doctor's attention to herself or himself.
  • national bureau of standards — National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • national semiconductor 32000 — (processor)   (NS32000) The first of a series of microprocessors from National Semiconductor. The 320xx processors have an interface which allows coprocessors such as FPUs and MMUs to be attached in a chain. The 320xx was the predecessor of the Swordfish processor.
  • new revised standard version — a thorough revision of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible sponsored by the National Council of Churches in the U.S. and published in 1989
  • newly industrialized country — a country that has recently become, or is now in the process of becoming, industrialized
  • numerical weather prediction — a method of predicting weather through the use of high-speed computers, specifically by the time integration of the fundamental equations of hydrodynamics in a mathematically modeled atmosphere.
  • object data management group — (body, database)   (ODMG, previously ".. Database ..") An independent consortium that specifies universal object storage standards. ODMG's members include object-oriented database management system (ODBMS) vendors and other interested parties. They aim to increase portability of customer software across products. On 1998-04-27 ODMG changed its name from the Object Database Management Group to reflect the expansion of its efforts beyond merely setting storage standards for object databases.
  • on (or upon) someone's head — as someone's burden, responsibility, or misfortune
  • ordinary-language philosophy — linguistic analysis.
  • organic light-emitting diode — a cell that emits light when voltage is applied: used as a display device replacing LCD technology in handheld devices such as mobile phones because it is brighter, thinner, faster,and cheaper
  • ousterhout's false dichotomy — Ousterhout's dichotomy
  • packet in plastic grid array — (integrated circuit)   (PPGA) The package used for Intel's Celeron Socket 370 CPU.
  • paged memory management unit — Memory Management Unit
  • paper feed control character — (PFCC) An obscure mechanism used in Fortran run-time systems whereby the first character of a line of output to a line-printer caused various actions after the line was printed:
  • paradox application language — (PAL) The programming language for Paradox, Borland's relational database.
  • peaches-and-cream complexion — a pale complexion with rosy cheeks
  • playboy of the western world — a satiric comedy (1907) by John Millington Synge.
  • presidencia roque saenz pena — a city in N Argentina.
  • probability density function — a function of a continuous variable whose integral over a region gives the probability that a random variable falls within the region.
  • put one's cards on the table — a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, as to write information on or printed as a means of identifying the holder: a 3″ × 5″ file card; a membership card.
  • quaternary ammonium compound — any of a class of salts derived from ammonium in which the nitrogen atom is attached to four organic groups, as in benzalkonium chloride; the salts are cationic surface-active compounds used as antiseptics and disinfectants.
  • radio frequency interference — (hardware, testing)   (RFI) Electromagnetic radiation which is emitted by electrical circuits carrying rapidly changing signals, as a by-product of their normal operation, and which causes unwanted signals (interference or noise) to be induced in other circuits. The most important means of reducing RFI are: use of bypass or "decoupling" capacitors on each active device (connected across the power supply, as close to the device as possible), risetime control of high speed signals using series resistors and VCC filtering. Shielding is usually a last resort after other techniques have failed because of the added expense of RF gaskets and the like. The efficiency of the radiation is dependent on the height above the ground or power plane (at RF one is as good as the other) and the length of the conductor in relationship to the wavelength of the signal component (fundamental, harmonic or transient (overshoot, undershoot or ringing)). At lower frequencies, such as 133 MHz, radiation is almost exclusively via I/O cables; RF noise gets onto the power planes and is coupled to the line drivers via the VCC and ground pins. The Rf is then coupled to the cable through the line driver as common node noise. Since the noise is common mode, shielding has very little effect, even with differential pairs. The RF energy is capacitively coupled from the signal pair to the shield and the shield itself does the radiating. At higher frequencies, usually above 500 Mhz, traces get electrically longer and higher above the plane. Two techniques are used at these frequencies: wave shaping with series resistors and embedding the traces between the two planes. If all these measures still leave too much RFI, sheilding such as RF gaskets and copper tape can be used. Most digital equipment is designed with metal, or coated plastic, cases. Switching power supplies can be a source of RFI, but have become less of a problem as design techniques have improved. Most countries have legal requirements that electronic and electrical hardware must still work correctly when subjected to certain amounts of RFI, and should not emit RFI which could interfere with other equipment (such as radios). See also Electrostatic Discharge, Electromagnetic Compatibility.
  • read the riot act to someone — to warn or reprimand someone severely
  • relative index of refraction — a number indicating the speed of light in a given medium as either the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to that in the given medium (absolute index of refraction) or the ratio of the speed of light in a specified medium to that in the given medium (relative index of refraction) Symbol: n.
  • richardson's ground squirrel — a ground squirrel of the NW USA and Canada, Citellus richardsoni
  • rise/come back from the dead — If you say that someone or something rises or comes back from the dead, you mean that they become active or successful again after being inactive for a while.
  • robert william andrew feller — Robert William Andrew ("Bob"; "Bullet Bob") 1918–2010, U.S. baseball player.
  • rocky mountain spotted fever — an infectious disease characterized by high fever, pains in joints, bones, and muscles, and a cutaneous eruption, caused by rickettsii and transmitted by ticks: first reported in the Rocky Mountain area, but now more widely distributed.
  • roundheaded apple tree borer — apple tree borer (def 2).
  • scared to death scared stiff — If you are scared to death or scared stiff, you are extremely scared.
  • second law of thermodynamics — any of three principles variously stated in equivalent forms, being the principle that the change of energy of a thermodynamic system is equal to the heat transferred minus the work done (first law of thermodynamics) the principle that no cyclic process is possible in which heat is absorbed from a reservoir at a single temperature and converted completely into mechanical work (second law of thermodynamics) and the principle that it is impossible to reduce the temperature of a system to absolute zero in a finite number of operations (third law of thermodynamics)
  • second marquis of rockingham — Charles, 2nd Marquis of Rockingham [rok-ing-uh m] /ˈrɒk ɪŋ əm/ (Show IPA), 1730–82, British statesman: prime minister 1765–66, 1782.
  • second-order lambda-calculus — (language)   (SOL) A typed lambda-calculus.
  • secondary sex characteristic — any of a number of manifestations, as development of breasts or beard, muscularity, distribution of fat tissue, and change of pitch in voice, specific to each sex and incipient at puberty but not essential to reproduction.
  • service advertising protocol — (networking)   (SAP) A Novell NetWare protocol. SAP follows the spirit of the Xerox Clearinghouse protocol, it permits file, print, and gateway servers to advertise their services and addresses.
  • sexually transmitted disease — any disease characteristically transmitted by sexual contact, as gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, and chlamydia. Abbreviation: STD.
  • shared-appreciation mortgage — a type of mortgage that carries a smaller down payment or lower interest rate than usual in return for the lender's sharing in the appreciation of the property at some future date, as at the time of its sale. Abbreviation: SAM.
  • sign one's own death warrant — A death warrant is an official document which orders that someone is to be executed as a punishment for a crime.
  • simulation oriented language — (language)   (SOL) An ALGOL extension for discrete simulation by Donald Knuth and McNeley.
  • single sideband transmission — a method of transmitting radio waves in which either the upper or the lower sideband is transmitted, the carrier being either wholly or partially suppressed. This reduces the required bandwidth and improves the signal-to-noise ratio
  • smooth endoplasmic reticulum — a network of tubular membranes within the cytoplasm of the cell, occurring either with a smooth surface (smooth endoplasmic reticulum) or studded with ribosomes (rough endoplasmic reticulum) involved in the transport of materials.
  • software productivity centre — (body)   (SPC) A non-profit organisation based in Vancouver, BC, Canada with the mandate to assist software developers to improve their software engineering process.
  • standard operating procedure — a set of fixed instructions or steps for carrying out usually routine operations. Abbreviation: SOP.
  • strictly decreasing function — a function having the property that for any two points in the domain such that one is larger than the other, the image of the larger point is less than the image of the smaller point.
  • sudden infant death syndrome — death from the sudden cessation of breathing (apnea) of a seemingly healthy infant, almost always during sleep, sometimes traceable to a chronic oxygen deficiency. Abbreviation: SIDS.
  • super video graphics adapter — Super Video Graphics Array
  • super video graphics adaptor — Super Video Graphics Array
  • systems administrators guild — (body, job)   (SAGE) A special technical group of the USENIX Association.
  • television interface adaptor — (hardware, graphics)   (TIA) The graphics chip in the Atari 2600, also used as a sound chip for some arcade game.
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