28-letter words containing m, r, s
- follicle-stimulating hormone — FSH.
- food and drug administration — a division of the Department of Health and Human Services that protects the public against impure and unsafe foods, drugs, and cosmetics. Abbreviation: FDA.
- 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.
- gcos macro assembler program — (language) (GMAP) The macro assembler for the GCOS 8 operating system on Honeywell/Bull DPS-8 computers.
- get something off your chest — If you get something off your chest, you talk about something that has been worrying you.
- give someone the worst of it — to defeat or get the better of someone
- go from strength to strength — If a person or organization goes from strength to strength, they become more and more successful or confident.
- have something going for one — to have something working to one's advantage
- high performance file system — (file system) (HPFS) The native file system for IBM's OS/2.
- human immunodeficiency virus — See under AIDS virus. Abbreviation: HIV.
- imperial software technology — (company) A software engineering company which emerged from Imperial College in about 1982. It enjoys a world-wide reputation for technical excellence as a software product and technology provider in the Open Systems market. Its flagship product is X-Designer, the award-winning graphical user interface builder. It also has considerable expertise in the Z language and Formal Methods.
- industrial programming, inc. —
The company which developed MTOS. E-mail: <[email protected]>. Telephone: +1 (516) 938 6600. Address: 100 Jericho Quadrangle, Jericho, NY 11753, USA. - information retrieval system — a system for recovering specific information from stored data
- java servlet development kit — (web) (JSDK) A suite of software for easing the development of Java servlets.
- karelian autonomous republic — an autonomous republic in the NW Russian Federation in Europe. 66,500 sq. mi. (172,240 sq. km). Capital: Petrozavodsk.
- 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.
- lempel-ziv welch compression — (LZW) The algorithm used by the Unix compress command to reduce the size of files, e.g. for archival or transmission. LZW was designed by Terry Welch in 1984 for implementation in hardware for high-performance disk controllers. It is a variant of LZ78, one of the two Lempel-Ziv compression schemes. The LZW algorithm relies on reoccurrence of byte sequences (strings) in its input. It maintains a table mapping input strings to their associated output codes. The table initially contains mappings for all possible strings of length one. Input is taken one byte at a time to find the longest initial string present in the table. The code for that string is output and then the string is extended with one more input byte, b. A new entry is added to the table mapping the extended string to the next unused code (obtained by incrementing a counter). The process repeats, starting from byte b. The number of bits in an output code, and hence the maximum number of entries in the table is usually fixed and once this limit is reached, no more entries are added. LZW compression and decompression are licensed under Unisys Corporation's 1984 U.S. Patent 4,558,302 and equivalent foreign patents. This kind of patent isn't legal in most coutries of the world (including the UK) except the USA. Patents in the UK can't describe algorithms or mathematical methods.
- level premium term insurance — Level premium term insurance is term insurance with premiums that remain the same throughout the life of the contract.
- like a lamb to the slaughter — without resistance
- local mail transfer protocol — (messaging, protocol) (LMTP) A protocol designed as an alternative to ESMTP for cases where the mail receiver does not manage a queue. LMTP is an application level protocol that runs on top of TCP/IP. It was initially defined in RFC 2033, and uses (with a few changes) the syntax and semantics of ESMTP. It should be used only by specific prior arrangement and configuration, and it must not be used on TCP port 25 (the SMTP port).
- lotus notes formula language — (language) A macro language for Lotus Notes that uses commands starting with @, e.g. @If, @Left, @Right, @Username. Many Notes applications are built with just this language.
- machine-assisted translation — translation done by a human translator who uses computer software to assist with the translation
- magnetic particle inspection — a method of testing for cracks and other defects in a magnetic material, such as steel, by covering it with a magnetic powder and magnetizing it: any variation in the concentration of the powder indicates a flaw in the material
- 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.
- manpower services commission — (in Britain, formerly) an organization providing training for adult workers
- 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.
- morpheme structure condition — (in generative phonology) a constraint on the occurrence of sounds or sequences of sounds in the phonological representation of morphemes.
- motion picture experts group — (spelling) Incorrect expansion of MPEG, which stands for Moving Picture Experts Group.
- mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — a method of artificial respiration in which a person rhythmically blows air into the victim's lungs, either directly, by placing the mouth over the patient's, or through a tube.
- moving picture experts group — (compression, standard, algorithm, file format, body) (MPEG, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29 WG11) An ISO committee that generates standards for digital video compression and audio. Also the name of their algorithms.
- 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 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. - not have room to swing a cat — to have very little space
- object persistence framework — (programming) (OPF) Any system for storing objects so they can be reloaded into a future session. Typically this will use a relational database along with some kind of object relational mapping. Another typical solution would store objects in XML files (a form of serialisation). One of the trickier problems to solve is how to maintain references between objects, e.g. replacing memory pointers with unique names or identifiers. Virtually identical considerations apply to transferring objects, or indeed any kind of data structure, from one process to another via some communications channel, e.g. a TCP/IP connection.
- object-oriented polymorphism — (programming) The kind of polymorphism found in object-oriented programming languages where a variable can refer to an object whose class is not known exactly until run time. A method can use a variable of a given class - call other methods on it, pass it as an argument, etc. - without needing to know to which subclass it refers, as long as its actual class is compatible with those uses.
- on (or upon) someone's head — as someone's burden, responsibility, or misfortune
- open systems interconnection — (networking) (OSI-RM, OSI Reference Model, seven layer model) A model of network architecture and a suite of protocols (a protocol stack) to implement it, developed by ISO in 1978 as a framework for international standards in heterogeneous computer network architecture. The OSI architecture is split between seven layers, from lowest to highest: 1 physical layer, 2 data link layer, 3 network layer, 4 transport layer, 5 session layer, 6 presentation layer, 7 application layer. Each layer uses the layer immediately below it and provides a service to the layer above. In some implementations a layer may itself be composed of sub-layers. OSI is the umbrella name for a series of non-proprietary protocols and specifications, comprising, among others, the OSI Reference Model, ASN.1 (Abstract Syntax Notation 1), BER (Basic Encoding Rules), CMIP and CMIS (Common Management Information Protocol and Services), X.400 (Message Handling System, or MHS), X.500 (Directory Service), Z39.50 (search and retrieval protocol used by WAIS), and many others. Apart from its actual application to real protocols, it also serves as a useful teaching model.
- osborne computer corporation — (company) The unsucessful computer manufacturer founded by Adam Osborne that produced one of the first laptop computers, the Osborne 1.
- ousterhout's false dichotomy — Ousterhout's dichotomy
- palestinian autonomous areas — the Gaza Strip and the West Bank in Israel: these areas were granted autonomous status under the control of the Palestinian National Authority following the 1993 peace agreement between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization
- peaches-and-cream complexion — a pale complexion with rosy cheeks
- pleuropneumonialike organism — any antibiotic-resistant mycoplasma causing a form of pneumonia in humans. Abbreviation: PPLO.
- positron emission tomography — the process of producing a PET scan.
- potassium antimonyl tartrate — a white, water-soluble, sweet and metallic-tasting, poisonous powder or granules, C 4 H 4 KO 7 Sb, used as a mordant for dyeing textiles and leather, and in medicine as an expectorant, for inducing vomiting, and for infections by schistosomes.
- program composition notation — (PCN) A specification language for parallelism between C and Fortran modules. PCN provides a simple language for specifying concurrent algorithms, interfaces to Fortran and C, a portable toolkit that allows applications to be developed on a workstation or small parallel computer and run unchanged on supercomputers and integrated debugging and performance analysis tools. PCN was developed at Argonne National Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology. It has been used to develop a wide variety of applications, in areas such as climate modelling, fluid dynamics, computational biology, chemistry, and circuit simulation. Version 2.0 runs on networks of workstations: Sun-4, NeXT, RS/6000, SGI; multicomputers: iPSC/860, Touchstone DELTA; and shared memory multiprocessors: Symmetry/Dynix. E-mail: Ian Foster <[email protected]>, Steve Tuecke <[email protected]>.
- quick mail transfer protocol — (communications) (QMTP) An SMTP replacement that works better over high latency links as it doesn't require as much interaction as SMTP. QMTP listens on port 209 and is used by qmail.