22-letter words containing s, p, e, c, i, n
- geographic determinism — a doctrine that regards geographical conditions as the determining or molding agency of group life.
- gravitational collapse — the final stage of stellar evolution in which a star collapses to a final state, as a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole, when the star's nuclear reactions no longer generate enough pressure to balance the attractive force of gravity.
- high-speed net connect — (hardware, communications) (HNC) A network interface unit for BS2000 mainframes based on Novell NetWare, supporting Ethernet and FDDI.
- horn-rimmed spectacles — spectacles with rims made of material resembling horn
- hybrid multiprocessing — (parallel) (HMP) The kind of multitasking which OS/2 supports. HMP provides some elements of symmetric multiprocessing, using add-on IBM software called MP/2. OS/2 SMP was planned for release in late 1993.
- information processing — processing of information, especially the handling of information by computers in accordance with strictly defined systems of procedure.
- interpretive semantics — a school of semantic theory based on the doctrine that the rules that relate sentences to their meanings form an autonomous system, separate from the rules that determine what is grammatical in a language
- isthmus of tehuantepec — the narrowest part of S Mexico, with the Bay of Campeche on the north coast and the Gulf of Tehuantepec (an inlet of the Pacific) on the south coast
- java community process — (project) (JCP) An organization controlled by Sun Microsystems to further the growth of the Java language and runtime. The JCP produces standards called Java Standard Requests, which are "requests" in the same sense as RFCs.
- landscape architecture — the art of arranging or modifying the features of a landscape, an urban area, etc., for aesthetic or practical reasons.
- lempel-ziv compression — Substitutional compression schemes proposed by Jakob Ziv and Abraham Lempel in 1977 and 1978. There are two main schemes, LZ77 and LZ78. Lempel-Ziv Welch compression is a variant of LZ78.
- lesser prairie chicken — either of two North American gallinaceous birds of western prairies, Tympanuchus cupido (greater prairie chicken) or T. pallidicinctus (lesser prairie chicken) having rufous, brown, black, and white plumage.
- lethargic encephalitis — sleeping sickness (def 2).
- lowest common multiple — the smallest number that is a common multiple of a given set of numbers.
- magnetic pole strength — Electricity. a measure of the force exerted by one face of a magnet on a face of another magnet when both magnets are represented by equal and opposite poles. Symbol: m.
- mcculloch-pitts neuron — (artificial intelligence) The basic building block of artificial neural networks. It receives one or more inputs and produces one or more identical outputs, each of which is a simple non-linear function of the sum of the inputs to the neuron. The non-linear function is typically a threshhold or step function which is usually smoothed (i.e. a sigmoid) to facilitate learning.
- miscellaneous expenses — small expenses of various kinds
- motoring correspondent — a journalist who reviews and writes about cars
- mozilla public license — Open source license
- multiplicative inverse — reciprocal (def 9).
- non-constructive proof — (logic) (Or "existence proof") A proof that something exists that does not provide an example of that thing or a method for finding an example. (A constructive proof does provide such an example or method). For example, for any pair of finite real numbers n < 0 and p > 0 there exists a real number 0 < k < 1 such that f(k) = (1-k)*n + k*p = 0. A non-constructive proof might proceed by observing that as k changes continuously from 0 to 1, f(k) changes continuously from n to p and, since they lie either side of zero, f(k) must pass through zero for some intermediate value of k. This proof does not tell us what that value of k is, only that it exists.
- nonspecific urethritis — nongonococcal urethritis.
- nonspecular reflection — the diffuse reflection of sound or light waves
- oak processionary moth — a moth, (Thaumetopoea processionea), of the family Thaumetopoeidae, the larvae of which leave the communal shelter nightly for food in a V-shaped procession
- object-oriented pascal — Object Pascal
- occupational therapist — professional who assists with rehabilitation
- oceanic whitetip shark — whitetip shark (def 2).
- open source definition — (standard) (OSD) Definition of distribution terms for open source software, promoted by the Open Source Initiative.
- open source initiative — (body) (OSI) An organisation dedicated to managing and promoting the Open Source Definition for the good of the community.
- operating instructions — instructions on how to use something (such an electrical appliance, etc)
- outline specifications — preliminary specifications or plans on which later plans are based
- paranoid schizophrenia — severe psychiatric disorder
- partnerships for peace — a subsidiary organization of NATO, comprising former Warsaw Pact countries that wish to be allied with NATO but have not been granted full NATO membership: established in 1994
- peanut-butter sandwich — a sandwich with a filling of peanut-butter
- percussive maintenance — (jargon) The fine art of whacking a device to get it working, possibly using a fine adjuster.
- physiographic province — a geographic region in which climate and geology have given rise to an array of landforms different from those of surrounding regions.
- play one's cards right — a usually rectangular piece of stiff paper, thin pasteboard, or plastic for various uses, as to write information on or printed as a means of identifying the holder: a 3″ × 5″ file card; a membership card.
- pneumocystis pneumonia — a pulmonary infection caused by the protozoan Pneumocystis carinii, occurring as an opportunistic disease in persons with impaired immune systems, as AIDS victims. Abbreviation: PCP.
- positive reinforcement — encouragement
- post office department — former name of United States Postal Service.
- potassium ferricyanide — a bright-red, crystalline, water-soluble, poisonous solid, K 3 Fe(CN) 6 , used chiefly in the manufacture of pigments, as Prussian blue, and of paper, especially blueprint paper.
- potassium ferrocyanide — a lemon-yellow, crystalline, water-soluble solid, K 4 Fe(CN) 6 ⋅3H 2 O, used chiefly in casehardening alloys having an iron base and in dyeing wool and silk.
- prawn-sandwich brigade — sports fans who are perceived to lack passion and commitment, and who it is supposed attend matches in order to eat food and buy merchandise rather than cheer on their team
- price variation clause — a clause in a contract allowing the seller to vary the selling price under certain conditions
- prince edward islander — a native or inhabitant of Prince Edward Island
- prince of wales island — the largest island in the Alexander Archipelago, in SE Alaska. 1500 sq. mi. (3990 sq. km).
- prisoner of conscience — sb imprisoned for beliefs
- privileged instruction — A machine code instruction that may only be executed when the processor is running in supervisor mode. Privileged instructions include operations such as I/O and memory management.
- process cinematography — cinematography in which the main or foreground action or scene is superimposed on or combined with simulated or separately filmed background action or scenery to produce special visual effects.
- programmed instruction — a progressively monitored, step-by-step teaching method, employing small units of information or learning material and frequent testing, whereby the student must complete or pass one stage before moving on to the next.