22-letter words containing s, a, c, d

digital control system — (systems) (DCS) A digital computer used for real-time control of a dynamic system, usually in an industrial environment, possibly as part of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. A DCS samples feedback from the system under control and modifies the control signals in an attempt to achieve some desired behaviour. Analysis of such digital-analogue feedback systems can involve mathematical methods such as difference equations, Laplace transforms, z transfer functions, state space models and state transition matrices.
digital versatile disc — (storage) (DVD, formerly "Digital Video Disc") An optical storage medium with improved capacity and bandwidth compared with the Compact Disc. DVD, like CD, was initally marketed for entertainment and later for computer users. [When was it first available?] A DVD can hold a full-length film with up to 133 minutes of high quality video, in MPEG-2 format, and audio. The first DVD drives for computers were read-only drives ("DVD-ROM"). These can store 4.7 GBytes - over seven times the storage capacity of CD-ROM. DVD-ROM drives read existing CD-ROMs and music CDs and are compatible with installed sound and video boards. Additionally, the DVD-ROM drive can read DVD films and modern computers can decode them in software in real-time. The DVD video standard was announced in November 1995. Matshusita did much of the early development but Philips made the first DVD player, which appeared in Japan in November 1996. In May 2004, Sony released the first dual-layer drive, which increased the disc capacity to 8.5 GB. Double-sided, dual-layer discs will eventually increase the capacity to 17 GB. Write-once DVD-R ("recordable") drives record a 3.9GB DVD-R disc that can be read on a DVD-ROM drive. Pioneer released the first DVD-R drive on 1997-09-29. By March 1997, Hitachi had released a rewritable DVD-RAM drive (by false analogy with random-access memory). DVD-RAM drives read and write to a 2.6 GB DVD-RAM disc, read and write-once to a 3.9GB DVD-R disc, and read a 4.7 GB or 8.5 GB DVD-ROM. Later, DVD-RAM discs could be read on DVD-R and DVD-ROM drives.
director of admissions — a member of a university staff who is in overall charge of admissions to the university and its courses
directory system agent — (DSA) The software that provides the X.500 Directory Service for a portion of the directory information base. Generally, each DSA is responsible for the directory information for a single organisation or organisational unit.
disciplinary committee — a committee charged with examining alleged breaches of discipline within an organization, profession, etc and adjudicating on them
dishonorable discharge — the discharge of a person from military service for an offense more serious than one for which a bad-conduct discharge is given.
distributive education — a special program of vocational education at the high-school level in which a student is employed part-time, receiving on-the-job training, and also attends classes, most of which pertain directly to the student's vocational field.
dominant seventh chord — a chord consisting of the dominant and the major third, perfect fifth, and minor seventh above it. Its most natural resolution is to a chord on the tonic
dyadic systems limited — Dyalog Limited
earth inductor compass — a compass actuated by induction from the earth's magnetic field.
east greenland current — a cold ocean current of low salinity flowing south along the east coast of Greenland.
economy-class syndrome — Economy-class syndrome is a serious medical condition caused by blood clots in the legs moving up to the lungs; used especially in connection with long-haul flights.
educational psychology — a branch of psychology concerned with developing effective educational techniques and dealing with psychological problems in schools.
educational television — television of informational or instructional content.
emergency road service — a form of motoring insurance that sends assistance to drivers when their vehicles break down on a journey; it is provided either by the national or regional automobile association or by a private insurance company
enchanter's nightshade — any of several onagraceous plants of the genus Circaea, esp C. lutetiana, having small white flowers and bristly fruits
end transmission block — (character) (ETB) The mnemonic for ASCII character 23.
federal crop insurance — insurance against the failure of certain crops provided to farmers and producers by the Federal Government
federal district court — district court (def 2).
fermi-dirac statistics — the branch of quantum statistics used to calculate the permitted energy arrangements of the particles in a system in terms of the exclusion principle
fetal alcohol syndrome — a pattern of birth defects caused by maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy: considered as one of the fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Abbreviation: FAS.
forced place insurance — Forced place insurance is insurance taken out by a bank or creditor on an uninsured debtor's behalf on a property that is being used as collateral.
free and common socage — Medieval History. land held by a tenant who rendered certain honorable and nonservile duties to his lord.
geographic determinism — a doctrine that regards geographical conditions as the determining or molding agency of group life.
gloria in excelsis deo — the hymn beginning, in Latin, Gloria in Excelsis Deo, “Glory in the highest to God,” and in the English version, “Glory be to God on high.”.
gold-exchange standard — a monetary system in one country in which currency is maintained at a par with that of another country that is on the gold standard.
grand duchy of muscovy — Muscovy (def 1).
graphical display unit — an output device incorporating a cathode ray tube on which both line drawings and text can be displayed. It is usually used in conjunction with a light pen to input or reposition data
great glen of scotland — Glen More
gross national product — the total monetary value of all final goods and services produced in a country during one year. Abbreviation: GNP.
hans christian oersted — Hans Christian [hahns kris-tyahn] /hɑns ˈkrɪs tyɑn/ (Show IPA), 1777–1851, Danish physicist.
harvard classification — a classification of stars based on the characteristic spectral absorption lines and bands of the chemical elements present
heat of solidification — the heat liberated by a unit mass of liquid at its freezing point as it solidifies: equal to the heat of fusion.
hereford and worcester — a county in W England. 1516 sq. mi. (3926 sq. km).
horn-rimmed spectacles — spectacles with rims made of material resembling horn
in one's own back yard — close at hand
in sackcloth and ashes — in a state of great mourning or penitence
indeterminate sentence — a penalty, imposed by a court, that has relatively wide limits or no limits, as one of imprisonment for one to ten years.
industrial archaeology — the study of past industrial machines, works, etc
industrialized country — a country characterized by industry on an extensive scale
inland revenue service — In the United States, the Inland Revenue Service is the government authority which collects taxes. The abbreviation IRS is often used.
islamic fundamentalism — the belief or advocating of a conservative adherence to literal or traditional interpretations of the Qu'ran and the Sunnah
it's london to a brick — it is certain
jack and the beanstalk — an English fairy tale about a boy who angers his mother by selling their last cow, not for money, but for magic beans. His mother throws the beans away, but the next day Jack discovers that they have sprouted into a giant beanstalk. He climbs the beanstalk three times, each time stealing some treasure from the giant who lives in a land in the clouds at the top. Jack ultimately kills the giant by chopping down the beanstalk while the giant is climbing down it
jacquard, joseph-marie — Joseph-Marie Jacquard
just around the corner — in the next street
kensington and chelsea — a borough of Greater London, England.
landscape architecture — the art of arranging or modifying the features of a landscape, an urban area, etc., for aesthetic or practical reasons.
limited access highway — expressway
liquid crystal display — (hardware) (LCD) An electro-optical device used to display digits, characters or images, commonly used in digital watches, calculators, and portable computers. The heart of the liquid crystal display is a piece of liquid crystal material placed between a pair of transparent electrodes. The liquid crystal changes the phase of the light passing through it and this phase change can be controlled by the voltage applied between the electrodes. If such a unit is placed between a pair of plane polariser plates then light can pass through it only if the correct voltage is applied. Liquid crystal displays are formed by integrating a number of such cells, or more usually, by using a single liquid crystal plate and a pattern of electrodes. The simplest kind of liquid crystal displays, those used in digital watches and calculators, contain a common electrode plane covering one side and a pattern of electrodes on the other. These electrodes can be individually controlled to produce the appropriate display. Computer displays, however, require far too many pixels (typically between 50,000 and several millions) to make this scheme, in particular its wiring, feasible. The electrodes are therefore replaced by a number of row electrodes on one side and column electrodes on the other. By applying voltage to one row and several columns the pixels at the intersections are set. The pixels being set one row after the other, in passive matrix displays the number of rows is limited by the ratio of the setting and fading times. In the setup described above (known as "twisted nematic") the number of rows is limited to about 20. Using an alternative "supertwisted nematic" setup VGA quality displays (480 rows) can be easily built. As of 1995 most notebook computers used this technique. Fading can be slowed by putting an active element, such as a transistor, on the top of each pixel. This "remembers" the setting of that pixel. These active matrix displays are of much better quality (as good as CRTs) but are much more expensive than the passive matrix displays. LCDs are slimmer, lighter and consume less power than the previous dominant display type, the cathode ray tube, hence their importance for portable computers.

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