23-letter words containing t, o
- confessional television — television programmes, esp talk shows, in which members of the public reveal their private lives, personal problems, etc
- conformational analysis — the study of the spatial arrangement of atoms or groups of atoms in a molecule and the way in which this influences chemical behaviour
- conjunctive normal form — (logic) (CNF) A logical formula consisting of a conjunction of disjunctions of terms where no disjunction contains a conjunction. Such a formula might also be described as a product of sums. E.g. the CNF of (A and B) or C is (A or C) and (B or C). Contrast Disjunctive Normal Form.
- connection machine lisp — (language) Lisp with a parallel data structure, the 'xapping', an array of values assigned to an array of sites.
- connectionless protocol — (protocol) The data communication method in which communication occurs between hosts with no previous setup. Packets sent between two hosts may take different routes.
- conscientious objection — refusal on moral or religious grounds to serve in the armed forces or to bear arms in a military conflict.
- conservative evaluation — (programming) Under this parallel evaluation strategy, no evaluation is started unless it is known to be needed. The opposite of conservative evaluation is speculative evaluation.
- consolidated deliveries — deliveries of goods to different shops in a common location by a single carrier and in a single vehicle
- conspicuous consumption — Conspicuous consumption means spending your money in such a way that other people can see how wealthy you are.
- constant of gravitation — a law stating that any two masses attract each other with a force equal to a constant (constant of gravitation) multiplied by the product of the two masses and divided by the square of the distance between them.
- constant of integration — a constant that is added to the function obtained by evaluating the indefinite integral of a given function, indicating that all indefinite integrals of the given function differ by, at most, a constant.
- constant velocity joint — A constant velocity joint is a universal joint in which the output shaft rotates at constant speed if the input shaft speed is constant.
- constant-velocity joint — a universal joint that is used in the drive train of front-wheel-drive cars and operates effectively even when the shafts being connected meet at a sharp angle.
- constitutional monarchy — a monarchy governed according to a constitution that limits and defines the powers of the sovereign
- constraint satisfaction — (application) The process of assigning values to variables while meeting certain requirements or "constraints". For example, in graph colouring, a node is a variable, the colour assigned to it is its value and a link between two nodes represents the constraint that those two nodes must not be assigned the same colour. In scheduling, constraints apply to such variables as the starting and ending times for tasks. The Simplex method is one well known technique for solving numerical constraints. The search difficulty of constraint satisfaction problems can be determined on average from knowledge of easily computed structural properties of the problems. In fact, hard instances of NP-complete problems are concentrated near an abrupt transition between under- and over-constrained problems. This transition is analogous to phase transitions in physical systems and offers a way to estimate the likely difficulty of a constraint problem before attempting to solve it with search.
- constructive cost model — (programming) (COCOMO) A method for estimating the cost of a software package, proposed by Dr Barry Boehm. The Basic COCOMO Model estimates the effort required to develop software in three modes of development (Organic Mode, Semidetached Mode, or Embedded Mode) using only DSIs as an input. The Basic model is good for quick estimates. The Intermediate Model extends the Basic Model with an Effort Adjustment Factor (EAF) and different coefficients for the effort equation. The user supplies settings for cost drivers that determine the effort and duration of the software projects. It also allows DSI values and cost drivers to be chosen for individual components instead of for the system as a whole. The Detailed COCOMO Model uses effort multipliers for each phase of the project and provides a three-level product hierarchy and has some other capabilities such as a procedure for adjusting the phase distribution of the development schedule.
- consultant psychiatrist — a psychiatrist who has attained the rank of consultant
- contributory negligence — failure by an injured person to have taken proper precautions to prevent an accident
- convergent technologies — (company) A company formed by a small group of people who left Intel Corporation in 1979. Convergent Technologies' first product was the IWS (Integrated Workstation) based on the Intel 8086, which ran Convergent Technologies Operating System - their first operating system. Unisys bought Convergent Technologies in 1988.
- conversion to iteration — A transformation applied to functional programs to replace recursion with iteration. A tail-recursive function can be compiled to an iterative loop where the recursive call becomes a jump back to the start and the parameters are held in registers which are updated with new values each time around the loop. See Iteration, Tail recursion optimisation.
- cordillera de talamanca — a mountain range running SE from central Costa Rica to W Panama.
- corporate restructuring — a change in the business strategy of an organization resulting in diversification, closing parts of the business, etc, to increase its long-term profitability
- correct me if i'm wrong — You say 'correct me if I'm wrong' to indicate that you are not entirely sure that what you are about to say is true.
- correlation coefficient — a statistic measuring the degree of correlation between two variables as by dividing their covariance by the square root of the product of their variances. The closer the correlation coefficient is to 1 or –1 the greater the correlation; if it is random, the coefficient is zero
- correlative conjunction — either member of a matched pair of words, of which the second is a coordinating conjunction, as either … or, neither … nor, both … and, or not only … but.
- corridor of uncertainty — an area of a wicket just outside a batsman's off stump, so located that the batsman will have difficulty in deciding whether or not to play a ball bowled into it
- cost-of-living increase — a pay rise that is given because the cost of living has gone up
- court of first instance — a court in which legal proceedings are begun or first heard
- creative writing course — a course in which people are taught creative writing skills
- critique of pure reason — a philosophical work (1781) by Immanuel Kant.
- cryptococcal meningitis — a form of meningitis resulting from opportunistic infection by a cryptococcus fungus, occurring in persons who are immunodeficient.
- current-cost accounting — a method of accounting that values assets at their current replacement cost rather than their original cost
- cut sb's umbilical cord — If you say that one person, organization, or country has cut its umbilical cord with another, you mean that they have done something that makes them more independent.
- cylindrical coordinates — three coordinates defining the location of a point in three-dimensional space in terms of its polar coordinates (r, θ) in one plane, usually the (x, y) plane, and its perpendicular distance, z, measured from this plane
- d'arsonval galvanometer — a galvanometer consisting of a large, fixed magnet and a light coil that swings in the magnetic field.
- dacryocystorhinostomies — Plural form of dacryocystorhinostomy.
- dark-field illumination — illumination of the field of a microscope from the side so that the specimen is viewed against a dark background
- data acquisition system — A data acquisition system is a system that acquires data, generally by digitizing analog channels and storing the data in digital form.
- de-compartmentalization — to divide into categories or compartments.
- decision support system — a system in which one or more computers and computer programs assist in decision-making by providing information
- delayed stress reaction — a post-traumatic stress disorder occurring more than six months after the experience of a traumatic event.
- department of education — the department of the U.S. federal government that administers federal programs dealing with education: created in 1979, largely by transfer from part of the former Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Abbreviation: ED.
- deterministic automaton — (theory) A finite-state automaton in which the overall course of the computation is completely determined by the program, the starting state, and the initial inputs. The class of problems solvable by such automata is the class P (see polynomial-time algorithm).
- development environment — (programming, tool) An integrated suite of tools to aid the development of software in a particular language or for a particular application. Usually, this consists of a compiler and editor and may also include one or more of a debugger, profiler, and source code manager. See also: IDE.
- diamondback rattlesnake — either of two large, highly venomous rattlesnakes of the genus Crotalus, having diamond-shaped markings on the back.
- dichlorodiethyl sulfide — mustard gas.
- dichlorodifluoromethane — a colourless nonflammable gas easily liquefied by pressure: used as a propellant in aerosols and fire extinguishers and as a refrigerant. Formula: CCl2F2
- dictionary of computing — Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
- die with one's boots on — a covering of leather, rubber, or the like, for the foot and all or part of the leg.
- differentiable manifold — a manifold having the property that any two overlapping open sets are homeomorphic to locally Euclidean spaces whose coordinates are related by differentiable functions, a property with wide applications in mathematical physics and differential geometry.