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19-letter words containing a, f, e, c, t, i

  • difference equation — (mathematics)   A relation between consecutive elements of a sequence. The first difference is D u(n) = u(n+1) - u(n) where u(n) is the nth element of sequence u. The second difference is u(n+2) + a u(n+1) + b u(n) = 0 can be converted to a difference equation (in this case, a second order linear difference equation): D2 u(n) + p D u(n) + q u(n) = 0 and vice versa. a, b, p, q are constants.
  • differential backup — (operating system)   A kind of backup that copies all files that have changed since the last full backup. Each differential backup will include all files in previous differential backups since the full backup so to restore a version of a file, you only need to search the full backup and the relevant differential backup. Some systems support differential backup by associating an "Archive" flag with each file and setting this flag whenever the file is modified to indicate that it should be included in the next backup. A differential backup does not change this flag, whereas an incremental backup resets it.
  • diffraction pattern — the phenomenon exhibited by wave fronts that, passing the edge of an opaque body, are modulated, thereby causing a redistribution of energy within the front: it is detectable in light waves by the presence of a pattern of closely spaced dark and light bands (diffraction pattern) at the edge of a shadow.
  • digital certificate — (communications, security)   An attachment to an electronic mail message used for security purposes, e.g. to verify that a user sending a message is who he or she claims to be, and to provide the receiver with the means to encode a reply. An individual wishing to send an encrypted message applies for a digital certificate from a certificate authority (CA). The CA issues an encrypted digital certificate containing the applicant's public key and a variety of other identification information. The CA makes its own public key readily available on the Internet. The recipient of an encrypted message uses the CA's public key to decode the digital certificate attached to the message, verifies it as issued by the CA and then obtains the sender's public key and identification information held within the certificate.
  • disenfranchisements — Plural form of disenfranchisement.
  • distinctive feature — a feature of the sound system of a language that serves as the crucial distinguishing mark between two phonemes, as the distinctive feature of voicing, which distinguishes b from p in English, or nasality, which distinguishes m from b and p.
  • effective half-life — the time required for half of a quantity of radioactive material absorbed by a living tissue or organism to be removed by both elimination and decay
  • elastic deformation — In elastic deformation a material changes shape when a stress is applied to it but goes back to its original state when the stress is removed.
  • electrostatic field — an electric field associated with static electric charges
  • engineering factory — a factory where engineering products are made
  • entry qualification — the qualifications and conditions required to join an organization, club, etc
  • expeditionary force — An expeditionary force is a group of soldiers who are sent to fight in a foreign country.
  • factitious disorder — any of various syndromes, as Münchausen syndrome, characterized by physical or psychological symptoms intentionally produced by a person and under voluntary control.
  • facultative apomict — a plant that can reproduce sexually or asexually.
  • family practitioner — medical specialization in general practice, requiring training beyond that of general practice and leading to board certification.
  • family-sized packet — a large packet
  • farmers cooperative — an organization of farmers for marketing their products or buying supplies.
  • feast of dedication — Hanukkah.
  • financial statement — a document that records the financial activities and state of an organization or person
  • first-sale doctrine — a legal principle allowing the purchaser of a lawfully made copy of a copyright-protected work to sell or give away that copy without permission but not to reproduce it.
  • fixed cost contract — a contract in which the costs do not vary
  • fixed exchange rate — finance: set rate of exchange
  • fixed-term contract — a contract for a particular and fixed period
  • fixed-wing aircraft — a heavier-than-air aircraft capable of flight whose lift is generated not by wing motion relative to the aircraft, but by forward motion through the air
  • forensic accountant — an accountant who specializes in applying accountancy skills to the purposes of the law
  • forensic psychiatry — the use of psychiatric knowledge and techniques in questions of law, as in determining legal insanity.
  • fortification agate — an agate, used as a gem, having polygonal banding such that it suggests the plan of a bastion.
  • foundation subjects — the subjects studied as part of the National Curriculum, including the compulsory core subjects
  • fractal compression — (algorithm)   A technique for encoding images using fractals.
  • fractional currency — coins or paper money of a smaller denomination than the basic monetary unit.
  • fraternal insurance — insurance underwritten by a fraternal society, under either a legal reserve plan or an assessment plan.
  • frederick the great — Frederick I (def 2).
  • french north africa — the former French possessions of Algeria, French Morocco, and Tunisia
  • from rags to riches — a worthless piece of cloth, especially one that is torn or worn.
  • front-end financing — money or costs required or incurred in advance of a project in order to get it under way
  • full-wave rectifier — a rectifier that transmits both halves of a cycle of alternating current as a direct current.
  • functional currency — Functional currency is the main currency used by a business.
  • functional database — (database, language)   A database which uses a functional language as its query language. Databases would seem to be an inappropriate application for functional languages since, a purely functional language would have to return a new copy of the entire database every time (part of) it was updated. To be practically scalable, the update mechanism must clearly be destructive rather than functional; however it is quite feasible for the query language to be purely functional so long as the database is considered as an argument. One approach to the update problem would use a monad to encapsulate database access and ensure it was single threaded. Alternative approaches have been suggested by Trinder, who suggests non-destructive updating with shared data structures, and Sutton who uses a variant of a Phil Wadler's linear type system. There are two main classes of functional database languages. The first is based upon Backus' FP language, of which FQL is probably the best known example. Adaplan is a more recent language which falls into this category. More recently, people have been working on languages which are syntactically very similar to modern functional programming languages, but which also provide all of the features of a database language, e.g. bulk data structures which can be incrementally updated, type systems which can be incrementally updated, and all data persisting in a database. Examples are PFL [Poulovassilis&Small, VLDB-91], and Machiavelli [Ohori et al, ACM SIGMOD Conference, 1998].
  • functional language — (language)   A language that supports and encourages functional programming.
  • functional medicine — individualized medical care that recognizes the interactions between genetic and environmental factors and between the body's interconnected systems.
  • general post office — (in the U.S. postal system) the main post office of a city, county, etc., that also has branch post offices. Abbreviation: G.P.O., GPO.
  • grandfather's chair — wing chair.
  • great wall of china — a system of fortified walls with a roadway along the top, constructed as a defense for China against the nomads of the regions that are now Mongolia and Manchuria: completed in the 3rd century b.c., but later repeatedly modified and rebuilt. 2000 miles (3220 km) long.
  • greenstick fracture — an incomplete fracture of a long bone, in which one side is broken and the other side is still intact.
  • gulf of carpentaria — a shallow inlet of the Arafura Sea, in N Australia between Arnhem Land and Cape York Peninsula
  • half wave rectifier — A half wave rectifier removes the negative component of an alternating signal leaving only the positive part.
  • half-wave rectifier — a rectifier that changes only one half of a cycle of alternating current into a pulsating, direct current.
  • halt and catch fire — (humour, processor)   (HCF) Any of several undocumented and semi-mythical machine instructions with destructive side-effects, supposedly included for test purposes on several well-known architectures going as far back as the IBM 360. The Motorola 6800 microprocessor was the first for which an HCF opcode became widely known. This instruction caused the processor to read every memory location sequentially until reset.
  • hatfield-mccoy feud — a blood feud between two mountain clans on the West Virginia–Kentucky border, the Hatfields of West Virginia and the McCoys of Kentucky, that grew out of their being on opposite sides during the Civil War and was especially violent during 1880–90.
  • hospital facilities — the equipment and services provided by a hospital
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