29-letter words containing a, m, t
- more trouble than it is worth — If you say that someone or something is more trouble than they are worth, you mean that they cause you a lot of problems or take a lot of time and effort and you do not achieve or gain very much in return.
- multics relational data store — (database) (MRDS) The first commercial relational database, implemented as part of Multics by Jim Weeldreyer and Oris Friesen of Honeywell Phoenix in about 1977. MRDS included a report writer called LINUS written by Jim Falksen.
- multimedia messaging services — (messaging) (MMS) A feature of some mobile telephones that allows them to send messages including text, sound, images and video.
- multiple personality disorder — psychiatric illness: split personality
- multiprotocol label switching — (networking) (MPLS) A packet switching protocol developed by the IETF. Initially developed to improve switching speed, other benefits are now seen as being more important. MPLS adds a 32-bit label to each packet to improve network efficiency and to enable routers to direct packets along predefined routes in accordance with the required quality of service. The label is added when the packet enters the MPLS network, and is based on an analysis of the packet header. The label contains information on the route along which the packet may travel, and the forwarding equivalence class (FEC) of the packet. Packets with the same FEC are routed through the network in the same way. Routers make forwarding decisions based purely on the contents of the label. This simplifies the work done by the router, leading to an increase in speed. At each router, the label is replaced with a new label, which tells the next router how to forward the packet. The label is removed when the packet leaves the MPLS network. Modern ASIC-based routers can look up routes fast enough to make the speed increase less important. However, MPLS still has some benefits. The use of FECs allows QoS levels to be guaranteed, and MPLS allows IP tunnels to be created through a network, so that VPNs can be implemented without encryption.
- ningxia hui autonomous region — an administrative division in N China. 25,640 sq. mi. (66,400 sq. km). Capital: Yinchuan.
- non-governmental organization — activism: independent group
- non-uniform rational b spline — (graphics, mathematics) (nurbs) A common term in Mechanical CAD. The NURBS has excellent continuity characteristics which make it useful for creating accurate models in 3D geometry generation and computer modelling.
- not with a bang but a whimper — If you say that something happens not with a bang but a whimper, you mean that it is less effective or exciting than was expected or intended.
- nuclear regulatory commission — an independent agency, created in 1975, that licenses and regulates the nonmilitary use of nuclear energy. Abbreviation: NRC.
- object compatibility standard — (OCS) An 88open standard for compilers and linkers.
- opportunity management system — (business) (OMS) A system that stores sales opportunities and related information. Each sales lead can be tracked with information such as source, type, worth, status, likelihood of closure etc. An OMS can perform other related tasks such as prioritising sales calls and generating analyses that assist the fine-tuning of marketing strategies. See also Customer Relationship Management.
- optimal flexible architecture — (database) (OFA) Recommendations for logical and physical allocation of database files to disks. The OFA principles can be summarised as: isolate redo, rollback, temp, data and index files as much as possible. OFA can be combined with SAME (Stripe And Mirror Everything).
- posttraumatic stress disorder — a mental disorder, as battle fatigue, occurring after a traumatic event outside the range of usual human experience, and characterized by symptoms such as reliving the event, reduced involvement with others, and manifestations of autonomic arousal such as hyperalertness and exaggerated startle response. Abbreviation: PTSD.
- presidential medal of freedom — a medal awarded by the president of the U.S. to any citizen who has made an exceptionally meritorious contribution to the security or national interest of the U.S., to world peace, or to cultural or other significant endeavors.
- programmable logic controller — (hardware) (PLC) A device used to automate monitoring and control of industrial plant. Can be used stand-alone or in conjunction with a SCADA or other system.
- put someone through his paces — to test the ability of someone
- put the cat among the pigeons — to introduce some violently disturbing new element
- put the moves (or a move) on — to attempt to seduce by the use of deceptive tricks or devices
- quantum-dot cellular automata — (electronics, computing) (QCA) Quantum logic circuits created by orientating pairs of quantum cells so that their relative positions determine their affect on each other. This is functionally analogous but structurally different from how individual gates in integrated circuits are combined to create logical and memory circuitry. The advantages of quantum-dot cellular automata over conventional circuitry are extremely small size/high density, low power requirements, and potentially high processing speeds. Disadvantages (in 2000) are difficulty of fabrication and low yield. See also: quantum cell wire.
- rapid application development — (programming) (RAD) A loose term for any software life-cycle designed to give faster development and better results and to take maximum advantage of recent advances in development software. RAD is associated with a wide range of approaches to software development: from hacking away in a GUI builder with little in the way of analysis and design to complete methodologies expanding on an information engineering framework. Some of the current RAD techniques are: CASE tools, iterative life-cycles, prototyping, workshops, SWAT teams, timebox development, and Re-use of applications, templates and code.
- real-time structured analysis — (programming) (RTSA) Any version of structured analysis capable of modelling real-time aspects of software.
- recommended dietary allowance — the amount of an essential nutrient, as a vitamin or mineral, that has been established by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academy of Sciences as adequate to meet the average daily nutritional needs of most healthy persons according to age group and sex. Abbreviation: RDA.
- respiratory distress syndrome — Also called hyaline membrane disease. an acute lung disease of the newborn, occurring primarily in premature babies and babies born to ill mothers, characterized by rapid breathing, flaring of the nostrils, inelastic lungs, edema of the extremities, and in some cases the formation of a hyaline membrane on the lungs caused by a lack of surfactant in the immature lung tissue. Abbreviation: RDS.
- royal canadian mounted police — Canadian police on horseback
- run something up the flagpole — to pursue a tentative course of action in order to gauge the reaction it receives
- scanning tunneling microscope — a device that uses a moving needle and the tunnel effect to generate a maplike image of the atomic surface structure of matter, thereby achieving even greater magnification than the scanning electron microscope.
- sexually transmitted diseases — any disease characteristically transmitted by sexual contact, as gonorrhea, syphilis, genital herpes, and chlamydia. Abbreviation: STD.
- simple mail transfer protocol — (messaging) (SMTP) A protocol defined in STD 10, RFC 821, used to transfer electronic mail between computers, usually over Ethernet. It is a server to server protocol, so other protocols are used to access the messages. The SMTP dialog usually happens in the background under the control of the message transfer agent, e.g. sendmail but it is possible to interact with an SMTP server using telnet to connect to the normal SMTP port, 25. E.g. telnet mhs-relay.ac.uk 25 You should normally start by identifying the local host: HELO wombat.doc.ic.ac.uk You can then issue commands to verify an address or expand an alias: VRFY [email protected] VRFY postmaster or expand a mailing list: EXPN c-help You can even send a message: MAIL From:<[email protected]> RCPT To:<[email protected]> DATA What is the point? . QUIT This is useful if you want to find out exactly what is happening to your message at a certain point. See also Post Office Protocol, RFC 822, sendmail.
- simple object access protocol — (protocol) (SOAP) A minimal set of conventions for invoking code using XML over HTTP.
- sing from the same hymn sheet — If you say that people, especially people in the same organization, are singing from the same hymn sheet or are singing from the same song sheet, you mean that they are saying the same things in public about something and appear to agree about it.
- sing from the same song sheet — to say the same things about a subject in order to give the impression of unity or agreement
- small business administration — a federal agency, created in 1953, that grants or guarantees long-term loans to small businesses. Abbreviation: SBA, S.B.A.
- someone has raised their game — If you say that someone has raised their game, you mean that they have begun to perform better, usually because they were under pressure to do so.
- suppressed carrier modulation — an amplitude-modulated wave in which only the sidebands are transmitted, the carrier being removed
- symbolic automatic integrator — (mathematics, tool) (SAINT) A symbolic mathematics program written in Lisp by J. Slagle at MIT in 1961.
- system v interface definition — (SVID) A standard allowing source code portability between different platforms running Unix System V.
- the northern ireland assembly — the devolved legislature of Northern Ireland, located at Stormont in Belfast
- the royal shakespeare company — a British theatre company based mainly in Stratford-upon-Avon
- thinking machines corporation — (company) The company that introduced the Connection Machine parallel computer ca 1984. Four of the world's ten most powerful supercomputers are Connection Machines. Thinking Machines is the leader in scalable computing, with software and applications running on parallel systems ranging from 16 to 1024 processors. In developing the Connection Machine system, Thinking Machines also did pioneering work in parallel software. The 1993 technical applications market for massively parallel systems was approximately $310 million, of which Thinking Machines Corporation held a 29 percent share. Thinking Machines planned to become a software provider by 1996, by which time the parallel computing market was expected to have grown to $2 billion. Thinking Machines Corporation has 200 employees and offices worldwide. Address: 245 First Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1264, USA. Telephone: +1 (617) 234 1000. Fax: +1 (617) 234 4444.
- throw cold water on something — to be unenthusiastic about or discourage something
- thyrotropin-releasing hormone — a small peptide hormone, produced by the hypothalamus, that controls the release of thyrotropin by the pituitary. Abbreviation: TRH.
- to be mentioned in dispatches — If a soldier is mentioned in dispatches, he or she is considered to have been extremely brave in a battle, and is recommended for a medal.
- to draw a veil over something — If you draw a veil over something, you stop talking about it because it is too unpleasant to talk about.
- to have the time of your life — If you have the time of your life, you enjoy yourself very much indeed.
- to laugh someone out of court — If you laugh someone out of court, you say that their opinions or ideas are so ridiculous that they are not worth considering.
- to lead someone a merry dance — If someone leads you a merry dance, they make you do things over a long period of time which cause you problems and do not benefit you in any way.
- to make someone's flesh creep — If something makes your flesh creep or makes your flesh crawl, it makes you feel disgusted, shocked or frightened.
- to run the gamut of something — To run the gamut of something means to include, express, or experience all the different things of that kind, or a wide variety of them.
- to throw good money after bad — If you say that someone is throwing good money after bad, you are critical of them for trying to improve a bad situation by spending more money on it, instead of doing more thoughtful or practical things to improve it.