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19-letter words containing p, a, n, t, d

  • 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 linear tape — (storage)   (DLT) A kind of magnetic tape drive originally developed by DEC and now marketed by Quantum. DLT drives implement the Digital Lempel Ziv 1 (DLZ1) compression algorithm in a combination of hardware and firmware. They use a popular chip by Stac (now hi/fn) to do the string searching. Counting, sorting and Huffman coding are done in firmware (with hardware support for the Huffman algorithm?). In April 1997 DLT drives can transfer 5 megabytes per second and can store 35 gigabytes on a single cartridge. Compression might roughly double these figures.
  • diplomatic immunity — exemption from taxation, searches, arrest, etc., enjoyed by diplomatic officials and their dependent families under international law, and usually on a reciprocal basis.
  • directional coupler — (communications)   (tap) A passive device used in cable systems to divide and combine radio frequency signals. A directional coupler has at least three ports: line in, line out, and the tap. The signal passes between line in and line out ports with loss referred to as the insertion loss. A small portion of the signal power applied to the line in port passes to the tap port. A signal applied to the tap port is passed to the line in port less the tap attenuation value. The tap signals are isolated from the line out port to prevent reflections. A signal applied to the line out port passes to the line in port and is isolated from the tap port. Some devices provide more than one tap output line (multi-taps).
  • disambiguation page — a page on a website that lists various websites or web pages that have or could have the same title. The user is able to select from the list that page, site etc that he or she actually wants
  • disciplinary action — punishment or caution
  • dispatch department — the department of an organization responsible for the dispatch of orders
  • dispersion relation — the relationship between the angular frequency (ω;) of a wave and the magnitude of its wave vector (k). Thus the wave's speed is ω/k
  • displacement engine — any engine employing the rectilinear motion of one or more pistons in cylinders.
  • display advertising — display ads taken collectively.
  • diversional therapy — the structured use of leisure time in recreation and play as a form of or supplement to conventional therapy
  • dobsonian telescope — a relatively inexpensive Newtonian telescope, suitable for visual but not photographic use, in which the tube assembly slips freely in the lower base.
  • duplicating machine — a duplicator, especially one for making identical copies of documents, letters, etc.
  • dynamic positioning — Dynamic positioning is the use of computers to control the position of a semi-submersible rig.
  • electrode potential — the potential difference developed when an electrode of an element is placed in a solution containing ions of that element
  • expeditionary force — An expeditionary force is a group of soldiers who are sent to fight in a foreign country.
  • gedanken experiment — thought experiment.
  • get one's dander up — to become or to cause someone to become annoyed or angry
  • gigabits per second — (unit)   (Gbps) A unit of information transfer rate equal to one billion bits per second. Note that, while a gigabit is defined as a power of two (2^30 bits), a gigabit per second is defined as a power of ten (10^9 bits per second, which is slightly less) than 2^30).
  • grade point average — a measure of scholastic attainment computed by dividing the total number of grade points received by the total number of credits or hours of course work taken.
  • highways department — the department of a state, council, etc, responsible for the upkeep of roads and highways
  • hop, step, and jump — triple jump.
  • hydropneumatization — utilization of air pressure in the housing of a water turbine to keep the level of water that has been used from rising to interfere with the rotor blades.
  • hyperfocal distance — the distance, at a given f number, between a camera lens and the nearest point (hyperfocal point) having satisfactory definition when focused at infinity.
  • in the second place — secondly
  • incidental expenses — costs outside those budgeted
  • index expurgatorius — a list of books now included in the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, forbidden to be read except from expurgated editions.
  • indian paint fungus — a common woody hoof-shaped fungus, Echinodontium tinctorium, found on conifers in western North America and believed to have been used as a dye by Pacific Northwest Indians.
  • industrial capacity — the amount of resources (workforce, factories, etc) present in a place that will enable an industry or industries to produce goods
  • instantaneous speed — a scalar measure of the rate of movement of a body expressed as the rate of change of position with respect to time at a particular point. It is measured in metres per second, miles per hour, etc
  • intercardinal point — any of the four points of the compass midway between the cardinal points; northeast, southeast, southwest, or northwest.
  • interdepartmentally — involving or existing between two or more departments: interdepartmental rivalry.
  • interdisciplinarity — Any academic or scientific study that draws on the expertise of more than one discipline.
  • iterative deepening — (algorithm)   A graph search algorithm that will find the shortest path with some given property, even when the graph contains cycles. When searching for a path through a graph, starting at a given initial node, where the path (or its end node) has some desired property, a depth-first search may never find a solution if it enters a cycle in the graph. Rather than avoiding cycles (i.e. never extend a path with a node it already contains), iterative deepening explores all paths up to length (or "depth") N, starting from N=0 and increasing N until a solution is found.
  • judicial separation — a decree of legal separation of spouses that does not dissolve the marriage bond.
  • keep one's distance — the extent or amount of space between two things, points, lines, etc.
  • kellogg-briand pact — a treaty renouncing war as an instrument of national policy and urging peaceful means for the settlement of international disputes, originally signed in 1928 by 15 nations, later joined by 49 others.
  • land of opportunity — Arkansas (used as a nickname).
  • landscape architect — A landscape architect is the same as a landscape gardener.
  • leave the door open — a movable, usually solid, barrier for opening and closing an entranceway, cupboard, cabinet, or the like, commonly turning on hinges or sliding in grooves.
  • limited partnership — a partnership formed by at least one general partner and at least one special partner.
  • load-bearing printf — (programming, humour)   The kind of bug present in a program which works correctly when producing debug output but fails when the debugging is turned off. The expression combines load-bearing wall and printf as used in debugging by printf.
  • longitudinal parity — (storage, communications)   An extra byte (or word) appended to a block of data in order to reveal corruption of the data. Bit n of this byte indicates whether there was an even or odd number of "1" bits in bit position n of the bytes in the block. The parity byte is computed by XORing the data bytes in the block. Longitudinal parity allows single bit errors to be detected.
  • magnetic tape drive — (storage)   (Or "tape drive") A peripheral device that reads and writes magnetic tape.
  • managed competition — a strategy for healthcare delivery whereby costs are reduced by fostering competition between providers of managed-care contracts for large employers.
  • manned space flight — space travel in vehicles with a human crew
  • means of production — resources: equipment, workers
  • megabits per second — (unit)   (Mbps, Mb/s) Millions of bits per second. A unit of data rate. 1 Mb/s = 1,000,000 bits per second (not 1,048,576). E.g. Ethernet can carry 10 Mbps.
  • midafternoon prayer — the fifth of the seven canonical hours; none
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