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15-letter words containing s, c, r, i, m

  • comptrollership — controller (def 1).
  • computer ethics — (philosophy)   Ethics is the field of study that is concerned with questions of value, that is, judgments about what human behaviour is "good" or "bad". Ethical judgments are no different in the area of computing from those in any other area. Computers raise problems of privacy, ownership, theft, and power, to name but a few. Computer ethics can be grounded in one of four basic world-views: Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism, or Existentialism. Idealists believe that reality is basically ideas and that ethics therefore involves conforming to ideals. Realists believe that reality is basically nature and that ethics therefore involves acting according to what is natural. Pragmatists believe that reality is not fixed but is in process and that ethics therefore is practical (that is, concerned with what will produce socially-desired results). Existentialists believe reality is self-defined and that ethics therefore is individual (that is, concerned only with one's own conscience). Idealism and Realism can be considered ABSOLUTIST worldviews because they are based on something fixed (that is, ideas or nature, respectively). Pragmatism and Existentialism can be considered RELATIVIST worldviews because they are based or something relational (that is, society or the individual, respectively). Thus ethical judgments will vary, depending on the judge's world-view. Some examples: First consider theft. Suppose a university's computer is used for sending an e-mail message to a friend or for conducting a full-blown private business (billing, payroll, inventory, etc.). The absolutist would say that both activities are unethical (while recognising a difference in the amount of wrong being done). A relativist might say that the latter activities were wrong because they tied up too much memory and slowed down the machine, but the e-mail message wasn't wrong because it had no significant effect on operations. Next consider privacy. An instructor uses her account to acquire the cumulative grade point average of a student who is in a class which she instructs. She obtained the password for this restricted information from someone in the Records Office who erroneously thought that she was the student's advisor. The absolutist would probably say that the instructor acted wrongly, since the only person who is entitled to this information is the student and his or her advisor. The relativist would probably ask why the instructor wanted the information. If she replied that she wanted it to be sure that her grading of the student was consistent with the student's overall academic performance record, the relativist might agree that such use was acceptable. Finally, consider power. At a particular university, if a professor wants a computer account, all she or he need do is request one but a student must obtain faculty sponsorship in order to receive an account. An absolutist (because of a proclivity for hierarchical thinking) might not have a problem with this divergence in procedure. A relativist, on the other hand, might question what makes the two situations essentially different (e.g. are faculty assumed to have more need for computers than students? Are students more likely to cause problems than faculty? Is this a hold-over from the days of "in loco parentis"?).
  • computer vision — a robot analogue of human vision in which information about the environment is received by one or more video cameras and processed by computer: used in navigation by robots, in the control of automated production lines, etc.
  • computerisation — (chiefly, British) alternative spelling of computerization.
  • comrade in arms — a fellow soldier.
  • comrade-in-arms — A comrade-in-arms is someone who has worked for the same cause or purpose as you and has shared the same difficulties and dangers.
  • concertmistress — the first violinist in an orchestra
  • conglomerations — Plural form of conglomeration.
  • conservationism — A movement that supports conservation, especially that of natural resources.
  • constructionism — an educational theory holding that children learn most effectively when actively doing, or constructing, things, rather than being taught information in a traditional schooling method
  • consulting room — A doctor's or therapist's consulting room is the room in which they see their patients.
  • consumer choice — the range of competing products and services from which a consumer can choose
  • consumer credit — Consumer credit is money that is lent to people by organizations such as banks, building societies, and shops so that they can buy things.
  • consumer strike — a boycott of a product by consumers, often in protest over a raise in its price.
  • continuous-form — of or relating to paper, blank forms, checks, etc., supplied in a folded stack or roll to a device, as a computer printer, generally with perforations between sheets for later separation and often with detachable punched edges used to advance the sheets through the device.
  • contrast medium — a radiopaque substance, such as barium sulphate, used to increase the contrast of an image in radiography
  • conversationism — a colloquialism
  • corpus striatum — a striped mass of white and grey matter situated in front of the thalamus in each cerebral hemisphere
  • costermansville — former name of Bukavu.
  • coumarone resin — any of the group of thermosetting resins derived by the polymerization of mixtures of coumarone and indene: used chiefly in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and printing inks.
  • court of claims — (in the US) a court that hears claims against the federal government
  • craftswomanship — The body of skills, techniques, and expertise of (a) feminine craft(s).
  • creme de cassis — a sweet, purplish-red liqueur flavored with black currants
  • creme de fraise — a liqueur flavored principally with strawberries.
  • criminalisation — (chiefly, British) Alternative form of criminalization.
  • crimson rosella — an Australian parrot, Platycercus elegans, often kept as a cage bird
  • cromolyn sodium — a substance, C 23 H 14 Na 2 O 11 , used as a preventive inhalant for bronchial asthma and hay fever.
  • croque-monsieur — a sandwich filled with ham and cheese, either dipped in egg batter or buttered on the outside, and toasted or grilled
  • cryptosporidium — any parasitic sporozoan protozoan of the genus Cryptosporidium, species of which are parasites of birds and animals and can be transmitted to humans, causing severe abdominal pain and diarrhoea (cryptosporidiosis)
  • cucumber mosaic — a viral disease of cucumbers and many other plants, characterized by a mosaic pattern and distortion of leaves and fruits.
  • cuisine minceur — a style of cooking, originating in France, that limits the use of starch, sugar, butter, and cream traditionally used in French cookery
  • cum grano salis — with a grain of salt; not too literally
  • customer-facing — interacting or communicating directly with customers
  • customs officer — a person employed by a customs service
  • customs service — The Customs Service is a United States federal organization which is responsible for collecting taxes on imported and exported goods. Compare Customs and Excise.
  • cytomegalovirus — a virus of the herpes virus family that may cause serious disease in patients whose immune systems are compromised
  • dartmouth basic — (language)   The original BASIC language, designed by John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz at Dartmouth College in 1963. Dartmouth BASIC first ran on a GE 235 [date?] and on an IBM 704 on 1964-05-01. It was designed for quick and easy programming by students and beginners using Dartmouth's experimental time-sharing system. Unlike most later BASIC dialects, Dartmouth BASIC was compiled.
  • decriminalising — Present participle of decriminalise.
  • democratisation — Alternative spelling of democratization.
  • dendrochemistry — (chemistry) the science, related to dendrochronology, that uses the analysis of trace minerals in tree rings to study air pollution in past times.
  • dermatoglyphics — the lines forming a skin pattern, esp on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet
  • deuteronomistic — one of the writers of material used in the early books of the Old Testament.
  • diffractometers — Plural form of diffractometer.
  • disconfirmation — to prove to be invalid.
  • disconformities — Plural form of disconformity.
  • discount market — a trading market in which notes, bills, and other negotiable instruments are discounted.
  • discriminations — Plural form of discrimination.
  • disentrancement — the act of setting free from a trance
  • disjecta membra — scattered fragments, esp parts taken from a writing or writings
  • dysmorphophobic — relating to or affected with dysmorphophobia
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