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

democratic republic of congo — a republic in S central Africa, with a narrow strip of land along the Congo estuary leading to the Atlantic in the west: Congo Free State established in 1885, with Leopold II of Belgium as absolute monarch; became the Belgian Congo colony in 1908; gained independence in 1960, followed by civil war and the secession of Katanga (until 1963); President Mobutu Sese Seko seized power in 1965; declared a one-party state in 1978, and was overthrown by rebels in 1997. The country consists chiefly of the Congo basin, with large areas of dense tropical forest and marshes, and the Mitumba highlands reaching over 5000 m (16 000 ft) in the east. Official language: French. Religion: Christian majority, animist minority. Currency: Congolese franc. Capital: Kinshasa. Pop: 75 507 308 (2013 est). Area: 2 344 116 sq km (905 063 sq miles)
department of transportation — the department of the U.S. federal government that coordinates and institutes national transportation programs. Abbreviation: DOT.
desktop management interface — (standard, operating system) (DMI) A specification from the Desktop Management Task Force (DMTF) that establishes a standard framework for managing networked computers. DMI covers hardware and software, desktop systems and servers, and defines a model for filtering events and describing interfaces. DMI provides a common path for technical support, IT managers, and individual users to access information about all aspects of a computer - including processor type, installation date, attached printers and other peripherals, power sources, and maintenance history. It provides a common format for describing products to aid vendors, systems integrators, and end users in enterprise desktop management. DMI is not tied to any specific hardware, operating system, or management protocols. It is easy for vendors to adopt, mappable to existing management protocols such as Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and can be used on non-network computers. DMI's four components are: Management Information Format (MIF) - a text file containing information about the hardware and software on a computer. Manufacturers can create their own MIFs specific to a component. Service layer - an OS add-on that connects the management interface and the component interface and allows management and component software to access MIF files. The service layer also includes a common interface called the local agent, which is used to manage individual components. Component interface (CI) - an application program interface (API) that sends status information to the appropriate MIF file via the service layer. Commands include Get, Set, and Event. Management interface (MI) - the management software's interface to the service layer. Commands are Get, Set, and List. CI, MI, and service layer drivers are available on the Internet. Intel's LANDesk Client Manager (LDCM) is based on DMI. Version: 2.0s (as of 2000-01-19).
direct-access storage device — DASD.
discretionary service charge — A discretionary service charge is an amount that is added to your bill in a restaurant to pay for the work of the person who comes and serves you. You can decide if you want to pay it.
documentary letter of credit — a document issued by a bank which guarantees the payment of a customer's drafts for a specified period and up to a specified amount
dos protected mode interface — (DPMI) The method which Microsoft prescribes for a DOS program to access extended memory under a multitasking environment, e.g. Microsoft Windows. This service is provided by the HIMEM.SYS driver on IBM PCs. The DPMI specification was finalized in 1990. The specification itself is available from Intel Literature Sales. VCPI (Virtual Control Program Interface), which was an alternative, and incompatible method for doing the same thing.
dow jones industrial average — a stock market index based upon the current prices of thirty selected industrial stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange
drink yourself into a stupor — If you drink yourself into a stupor or drink yourself into oblivion, you drink so much alcohol that you lose consciousness or fall deeply asleep.
drive someone to distraction — If you say that something or someone drives you to distraction, you are emphasizing that they annoy you a great deal.
dulles international airport — airport in N Virginia, just west of Washington, D.C., used mainly for international flights.
dynamic random-access memory — (storage) (DRAM) A type of semiconductor memory in which the information is stored in capacitors on a MOS integrated circuit. Typically each bit is stored as an amount of electrical charge in a storage cell consisting of a capacitor and a transistor. Due to leakage the capacitor discharges gradually and the memory cell loses the information. Therefore, to preserve the information, the memory has to be refreshed periodically. Despite this inconvenience, the DRAM is a very popular memory technology because of its high density and consequent low price. The first commercially available DRAM chip was the Intel 1103, introduced in 1970. Early DRAM chips, containing up to a 16k x 1 (16384 locations of one bit each), needed 3 supply voltages (+5V, -5V and +12V). Beginning with the 64 kilobit chips, charge pumps were included on-chip to create the necessary supply voltages out of a single +5V supply. This was necessary to fit the device into a 16-pin DIL package, which was the preferred package at the time, and also made them easier to use. To reduce the pin count, thereby helping miniaturisation, DRAMs generally had a single data line which meant that a computer with an N bit wide data bus needed a "bank" of (at least) N DRAM chips. In a bank, the address and control signals of all chips were common and the data line of each chip was connected to one of the data bus lines. Beginning with the 256 kilobit DRAM, a tendency toward surface mount packaging arose and DRAMs with more than one data line appeared (e.g. 64k x 4), reducing the number of chips per bank. This trend has continued and DRAM chips with up to 36 data lines are available today. Furthermore, together with surface mount packages, memory manufacturers began to offer memory modules, where a bank of memory chips was preassembled on a little printed circuit board (SIP = Single Inline Pin Module, SIMM = Single Inline Memory Module, DIMM = Dual Inline Memory Module). Today, this is the preferred way to buy memory for workstations and personal computers. DRAM bit cells are arranged on a chip in a grid of rows and columns where the number of rows and columns are usually a power of two. Often, but not always, the number of rows and columns is the same. A one megabit device would then have 1024 x 1024 memory cells. A single memory cell can be selected by a 10-bit row address and a 10-bit column address. To access a memory cell, one entire row of cells is selected and its contents are transferred into an on-chip buffer. This discharges the storage capacitors in the bit cells. The desired bits are then read or written in the buffer. The (possibly altered) information is finally written back into the selected row, thereby refreshing all bits (recharging the capacitors) in the row. To prevent data loss, all bit cells in the memory need to be refreshed periodically. This can be done by reading all rows in regular intervals. Most DRAMs since 1970 have been specified such that one of the rows needs to be refreshed at least every 15.625 microseconds. For a device with 1024 rows, a complete refresh of all rows would then take up to 16 ms; in other words, each cell is guaranteed to hold the data for 16 ms without refresh. Devices with more rows have accordingly longer retention times. Many varieties of DRAM exist today. They differ in the way they are interfaced to the system - the structure of the memory cell itself is essentially the same. "Traditional" DRAMs have multiplexed address lines and separate data inputs and outputs. There are three control signals: RAS\ (row address strobe), CAS\ (column address strobe), and WE\ (write enable) (the backslash indicates an active low signal). Memory access procedes as follows: 1. The control signals initially all being inactive (high), a memory cycle is started with the row address applied to the address inputs and a falling edge of RAS\ . This latches the row address and "opens" the row, transferring the data in the row to the buffer. The row address can then be removed from the address inputs since it is latched on-chip. 2. With RAS\ still active, the column address is applied to the address pins and CAS\ is made active as well. This selects the desired bit or bits in the row which subsequently appear at the data output(s). By additionally activating WE\ the data applied to the data inputs can be written into the selected location in the buffer. 3. Deactivating CAS\ disables the data input and output again. 4. Deactivating RAS\ causes the data in the buffer to be written back into the memory array. Certain timing rules must be obeyed to guarantee reliable operation. 1. RAS\ must remain inactivate for a while before the next memory cycle is started to provide sufficient time for the storage capacitors to charge (Precharge Time). 2. It takes some time from the falling edge of the RAS\ or CAS\ signals until the data appears at the data output. This is specified as the Row Access Time and the Column Access Time. Current DRAM's have Row Access Times of 50-100 ns and Column Access Times of 15-40 ns. Speed grades usually refer to the former, more important figure. Note that the Memory Cycle Time, which is the minimum time from the beginning of one access to the beginning of the next, is longer than the Row Access Time (because of the Precharge Time). Multiplexing the address pins saves pins on the chip, but usually requires additional logic in the system to properly generate the address and control signals, not to mention further logic for refresh. Therefore, DRAM chips are usually preferred when (because of the required memory size) the additional cost for the control logic is outweighed by the lower price. Based on these principles, chip designers have developed many varieties to improve performance or ease system integration of DRAMs: PSRAMs (Pseudo Static Random Access Memory) are essentially DRAMs with a built-in address multiplexor and refresh controller. This saves some system logic and makes the device look like a normal SRAM. This has been popular as a lower cost alternative for SRAM in embedded systems. It is not a complete SRAM substitute because it is sometimes busy when doing self-refresh, which can be tedious. Static Column DRAM is similar to Page Mode DRAM, but to access different bits in the open row, only the column address needs to be changed while the CAS\ signal stays active. The row buffer essentially behaves like SRAM. DRAM used for Video RAM (VRAM) has an additional long shift register that can be loaded from the row buffer. The shift register can be regarded as a second interface to the memory that can be operated in parallel to the normal interface. This is especially useful in frame buffers for CRT displays. These frame buffers generate a serial data stream that is sent to the CRT to modulate the electron beam. By using the shift register in the VRAM to generate this stream, the memory is available to the computer through the normal interface most of the time for updating the display data, thereby speeding up display data manipulations. SDRAM (Synchronous DRAM) adds a separate clock signal to the control signals. It allows more complex state machines on the chip and high speed "burst" accesses that clock a series of successive bits out (similar to the nibble mode). CDRAM (Cached DRAM) adds a separate static RAM array used for caching. It essentially combines main memory and cache memory in a single chip. The cache memory controller needs to be added externally. RDRAM (Rambus DRAM) changes the system interface of DRAM completely. A byte-wide bus is used for address, data and command transfers. The bus operates at very high speed: 500 million transfers per second. The chip operates synchronously with a 250MHz clock. Data is transferred at both rising and falling edges of the clock. A system with signals at such frequencies must be very carefully designed, and the signals on the Rambus Channel use nonstandard signal levels, making it incompatible with standard system logic. These disadvantages are compensated by a very fast data transfer, especially for burst accesses to a block of successive locations. A number of different refresh modes can be included in some of the above device varieties: RAS\ only refresh: a row is refreshed by an ordinary read access without asserting CAS\. The data output remains disabled. CAS\ before RAS\ refresh: the device has a built-in counter for the refresh row address. By activating CAS\ before activating RAS\, this counter is selected to supply the row address instead of the address inputs. Self-Refresh: The device is able to generate refresh cycles internally. No external control signal transitions other than those for bringing the device into self-refresh mode are needed to maintain data integrity.
electronic design automation — (application) (EDA) Software tools for the development of integrated circuits and systems. Companies selling EDA tools include Cadence, Intergraph, Mentor, Synopsys, Viewlogic. Zuken-Redac Dazix has been acquired by Intergraph.
electronic transfer of funds — the transfer of money from one bank or building-society account to another by means of a computer link using the telephone network
emergency medical technician — paramedic
external data representation — (XDR) A standard for machine independent data structures developed by Sun Microsystems for use in remote procedure call systems. It is defined in RFC 1014 and is similar to ASN.1.
favourable pressure gradient — a decrease of pressure in the direction of flow
federal information exchange — (networking) (FIX) One of the connection points between the American governmental internets and the Internet.
federal republic of cameroon — official name of Cameroon.
for all intents and purposes — something that is intended; purpose; design; intention: The original intent of the committee was to raise funds.
for one's life/for dear life — If you say that someone does something for dear life or for their life, you mean that they do it using all their strength and effort because they are in a dangerous or urgent situation.
formal description technique — (specification, protocol) (FDT) A formal method for developing telecomunications services and protocols. FDTs range from abstract to implementation-oriented descriptions. All FDTs offer the means for producing unambiguous descriptions of OSI services and protocols in a more precise and comprehensive way than natural language descriptions. They provide a foundation for analysis and verification of a description. The target of analysis and verification may vary from abstract properties to concrete properties. Natural language descriptions remain an essential adjunct to formal description, enabling an unfarmiliar reader to gain rapid insight into the structure and function of services and protocols. Examples of FDTs are LOTOS, Z, SDL, and Estelle.
from the cradle to the grave — throughout the whole of one's life
general packet radio service — (communications) (GPRS) A GSM data transmission technique that transmits and receives data in packets. This contrasts with systems that set up a persistent channel. GPRS makes very efficient use of available radio spectrum, and users pay only for the volume of data sent and received. See also: packet radio.
give a person his or her due — to give or allow a person what is deserved or right
grand unified (field) theory — any of various theories postulating that the four fundamental forces in the universe (electromagnetism, gravity, the strong interaction, and the weak interaction) are actually types of a single high-energy force
high-level data link control — (networking) (HDLC) A general-purpose data link control protocol defined by ISO for use on both point-to-point and multipoint (multidrop) data links. It supports full-duplex, transparent-mode operation. It is used extensively in both multipoint and computer networks. Some manufacturers and other standards bodies still use their own acronyms, e.g. IBM's SDLC (Synchronous Data Link Control), the forerunner of HDLC and ANSI's ADCCP (Advanced Data Communications Control Procedure).
human immunodeficiency virus — See under AIDS virus. Abbreviation: HIV.
hydrolysed vegetable protein — a powder or liquid that is produced by boiling legumes or cereals in hydrochloric acid and then neutralizing with sodium hydroxide. It is used as a flavouring in some foods, such as soups and bouillon cubes
hydrolyzed vegetable protein — a vegetable protein broken down into amino acids and used as a food additive to enhance flavor, especially in soups, sauces, and processed meats. Abbreviation: HVP, H.V.P.
ieee floating point standard — (standard, mathematics) (IEEE 754) "IEEE Standard for Binary Floating-Point Arithmetic (ANSI/IEEE Std 754-1985)" or IEC 559: "Binary floating-point arithmetic for microprocessor systems". A standard, used by many CPUs and FPUs, which defines formats for representing floating-point numbers; representations of special values (e.g. infinity, very small values, NaN); five exceptions, when they occur, and what happens when they do occur; four rounding modes; and a set of floating-point operations that will work identically on any conforming system. IEEE 754 specifies formats for representing floating-point values: single-precision (32-bit) is required, double-precision (64-bit) is optional. The standard also mentions that some implementations may include single-extended precision (80-bit) and double-extended precision (128-bit) formats.
in (good, poor, etc. ) taste — in a form, style, or manner showing a (good, poor, etc.) sense of beauty, excellence, fitness, propriety, etc.
in one ear and out the other — If you say that something goes in one ear and out the other, you mean that someone pays no attention to it, or forgets about it immediately.
instantaneous sound pressure — sound pressure (def 1).
instruction address register — (architecture) (IAR) The IBM name for program counter. The IAR can be accessed by way of a supervisor call in supervisor state, but cannot be directly addressed in problem state.
integrated drive electronics — Advanced Technology Attachment
java servlet development kit — (web) (JSDK) A suite of software for easing the development of Java servlets.
just what the doctor ordered — sth needed and welcomed
keep one's ear to the ground — the organ of hearing and equilibrium in vertebrates, in humans consisting of an external ear that gathers sound vibrations, a middle ear in which the vibrations resonate against the tympanic membrane, and a fluid-filled internal ear that maintains balance and that conducts the tympanic vibrations to the auditory nerve, which transmits them as impulses to the brain.
knowledge systems laboratory — (KSL) An artificial intelligence research laboratory within the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University. Current work focuses on knowledge representation for sharable engineering knowledge bases and systems, computational environments for modelling physical devices, architectures for adaptive intelligent systems, and expert systems for science and engineering.
krupp von bohlen und halbach — Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. 1870–1950, German steel and armament manufacturer. He was the son-in-law of Friedrich Alfred Krupp
leader of the house of lords — a member of the Government having primary authority in initiating legislative business
like water off a duck's back — You say that criticism is like water off a duck's back or water off a duck's back to emphasize that it is not having any effect on the person being criticized.
linear differential equation — an equation involving derivatives in which the dependent variables and all derivatives appearing in the equation are raised to the first power.
machine-assisted translation — translation done by a human translator who uses computer software to assist with the translation
make one's hair stand on end — any of the numerous fine, usually cylindrical, keratinous filaments growing from the skin of humans and animals; a pilus.
marriage guidance counsellor — a person whose job is to give advice given to couples who have problems in their married life
medical specialist registrar — a hospital doctor senior to a house officer but junior to a consultant, specializing in medicine
meter-kilogram-second-ampere — of or relating to the system of units in which the meter, kilogram, second, and ampere are the principal units of length, mass, time, and electric current. Abbreviation: mksa, MKSA.
microsoft foundation classes — (programming) (MFC) Software structures in C++, the Windows base classes which can respond to messages, make windows, and from which application specific classes can be derived.

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