28-letter words containing t, r, a, c, s, e
- environmental health service — (in Britain) a service provided by a local authority, which deals with prevention of the spread of communicable diseases, food safety and hygiene, control of infestation by insects or rodents, etc
- financial services authority — (in the United Kingdom) a regulatory body that oversees London's financial markets, each of which has its own self-regulatory organization: it succeeded the Securities and Investments Board
- floating-point specbaseratio — SPECbase_fp92
- follicle-stimulating hormone — FSH.
- formal description technique — (specification, protocol) (FDT) A formal method for developing telecomunications services and protocols. FDTs range from abstract to implementation-oriented descriptions. All FDTs offer the means for producing unambiguous descriptions of OSI services and protocols in a more precise and comprehensive way than natural language descriptions. They provide a foundation for analysis and verification of a description. The target of analysis and verification may vary from abstract properties to concrete properties. Natural language descriptions remain an essential adjunct to formal description, enabling an unfarmiliar reader to gain rapid insight into the structure and function of services and protocols. Examples of FDTs are LOTOS, Z, SDL, and Estelle.
- general packet radio service — (communications) (GPRS) A GSM data transmission technique that transmits and receives data in packets. This contrasts with systems that set up a persistent channel. GPRS makes very efficient use of available radio spectrum, and users pay only for the volume of data sent and received. See also: packet radio.
- greatest happiness principle — the ethical principle that an action is right in so far as it promotes the greatest happiness of the greatest number of those affected
- high performance file system — (file system) (HPFS) The native file system for IBM's OS/2.
- imperial software technology — (company) A software engineering company which emerged from Imperial College in about 1982. It enjoys a world-wide reputation for technical excellence as a software product and technology provider in the Open Systems market. Its flagship product is X-Designer, the award-winning graphical user interface builder. It also has considerable expertise in the Z language and Formal Methods.
- in (good, poor, etc. ) taste — in a form, style, or manner showing a (good, poor, etc.) sense of beauty, excellence, fitness, propriety, etc.
- infectious laryngotracheitis — a viral disease of adult chickens, characterized by inflammation and hemorrhage of the larynx and trachea and, in many cases, resulting in asphyxiation.
- instruction address register — (architecture) (IAR) The IBM name for program counter. The IAR can be accessed by way of a supervisor call in supervisor state, but cannot be directly addressed in problem state.
- instruction set architecture — (architecture) (ISA) The parts of a processor's design that need to be understood in order to write assembly language, such as the machine language instructions and registers. Parts of the architecture that are left to the implementation, such as number of superscalar functional units, cache size and cycle speed, are not part of the ISA. The definition of SPARC, for example, carefully distinguishes between an implementation and a specification.
- integrated drive electronics — Advanced Technology Attachment
- internet research task force — (IRTF) The IRTF is chartered by the Internet Architecture Board to consider long-term Internet issues from a theoretical point of view. It has Research Groups, similar to Internet Engineering Task Force Working Groups, which are each tasked to discuss different research topics. Multi-cast audio/video conferencing and privacy enhanced mail are samples of IRTF output.
- just what the doctor ordered — sth needed and welcomed
- karelian autonomous republic — an autonomous republic in the NW Russian Federation in Europe. 66,500 sq. mi. (172,240 sq. km). Capital: Petrozavodsk.
- level premium term insurance — Level premium term insurance is term insurance with premiums that remain the same throughout the life of the contract.
- like water off a duck's back — You say that criticism is like water off a duck's back or water off a duck's back to emphasize that it is not having any effect on the person being criticized.
- local mail transfer protocol — (messaging, protocol) (LMTP) A protocol designed as an alternative to ESMTP for cases where the mail receiver does not manage a queue. LMTP is an application level protocol that runs on top of TCP/IP. It was initially defined in RFC 2033, and uses (with a few changes) the syntax and semantics of ESMTP. It should be used only by specific prior arrangement and configuration, and it must not be used on TCP port 25 (the SMTP port).
- machine-assisted translation — translation done by a human translator who uses computer software to assist with the translation
- magnetic particle inspection — a method of testing for cracks and other defects in a magnetic material, such as steel, by covering it with a magnetic powder and magnetizing it: any variation in the concentration of the powder indicates a flaw in the material
- medical specialist registrar — a hospital doctor senior to a house officer but junior to a consultant, specializing in medicine
- meter-kilogram-second-ampere — of or relating to the system of units in which the meter, kilogram, second, and ampere are the principal units of length, mass, time, and electric current. Abbreviation: mksa, MKSA.
- microsoft foundation classes — (programming) (MFC) Software structures in C++, the Windows base classes which can respond to messages, make windows, and from which application specific classes can be derived.
- mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — a method of artificial respiration in which a person rhythmically blows air into the victim's lungs, either directly, by placing the mouth over the patient's, or through a tube.
- multimedia personal computer — (multimedia) (MPC) A specification published by the Multimedia PC Marketing Council in 1990 to encourage the adoption of a standard multimedia computing platform. In May 1993, the MPC Marketing Council published a new specification called MPC Level 2 Specification as an enhanced multimedia computer standard. The original MPC specification, now also known as the MPC Level 1 Specification, continues in full effect. The appearance of the MPC or MPC2 certification mark on a computer system or upgrade kit indicates that the hardware meets the corresponding (Level 1 or Level 2) MPC Marketing Council specification. Software bearing the Multimedia PC mark has been designed to work on Multimedia PC licensed hardware. By establishing a standard platform, certifying hardware compliance and providing inter-operability between software and hardware for the consumer, the MPC Marketing Council is encouraging widespread use of multimedia applications and hardware.
- national labor relations act — an act of Congress (1935) that forbade any interference by employers with the formation and operation of labor unions.
- national savings certificate — (in Britain) a certificate bought from the National Savings department which can be redeemed tax-free with accrued interest, usually after 5 years
- national semiconductor 32000 — (processor) (NS32000)
The first of a series of microprocessors from National Semiconductor. The 320xx processors have an interface which allows coprocessors such as FPUs and MMUs to be attached in a chain. The 320xx was the predecessor of the Swordfish processor. - newly industrialized country — a country that has recently become, or is now in the process of becoming, industrialized
- not have room to swing a cat — to have very little space
- object persistence framework — (programming) (OPF) Any system for storing objects so they can be reloaded into a future session. Typically this will use a relational database along with some kind of object relational mapping. Another typical solution would store objects in XML files (a form of serialisation). One of the trickier problems to solve is how to maintain references between objects, e.g. replacing memory pointers with unique names or identifiers. Virtually identical considerations apply to transferring objects, or indeed any kind of data structure, from one process to another via some communications channel, e.g. a TCP/IP connection.
- osborne computer corporation — (company) The unsucessful computer manufacturer founded by Adam Osborne that produced one of the first laptop computers, the Osborne 1.
- ousterhout's false dichotomy — Ousterhout's dichotomy
- packet in plastic grid array — (integrated circuit) (PPGA) The package used for Intel's Celeron Socket 370 CPU.
- persistent organic pollutant — a toxin resulting from a manufacturing process, which remains in the environment for many years
- personal liability insurance — Personal liability insurance protects the insured if they are sued for claims that are covered by the insurance policy.
- probability density function — a function of a continuous variable whose integral over a region gives the probability that a random variable falls within the region.
- put one's cards on the table — 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.
- quick mail transfer protocol — (communications) (QMTP) An SMTP replacement that works better over high latency links as it doesn't require as much interaction as SMTP. QMTP listens on port 209 and is used by qmail.
- raise specification language — (language) (RSL) (RAISE = Rigorous Approach to Industrial Software Engineering). A wide-spectrum specification and design language developed by ESPRIT Project 315 at CRI A/S, Denmark. Systems may be modular, concurrent and nondeterministic. Specifications may be applicative or imperative, explicit or implicit, abstract or concrete.
- read the riot act to someone — to warn or reprimand someone severely
- real time streaming protocol — (multimedia, networking, protocol) (RTSP) An application layer protocol for controlling delivery of a stream of real-time multimedia content. RTSP allows users to start playing from a certain position. It does not actually deliver the data, but works alongside existing delivery channels such as UDP, TCP, or IP multicast. RTSP was developed by RealNetworks, Netscape Communications, and Columbia University, and is described in RFC 2326, April 1998. RTSP is an IETF proposed standard.
- real-time transport protocol — (protocol) (RTP) An Internet protocol for transmitting real-time data such as audio and video. RTP itself does not guarantee real-time delivery of data, but it does provide mechanisms for the sending and receiving applications to support streaming data. Typically, RTP runs on top of the UDP protocol, although the specification is general enough to support other transport protocols. RTP has received wide industry support. Netscape intends to base its LiveMedia technology on RTP, and Microsoft claims that its NetMeeting product supports RTP.
- reflexive transitive closure — Two elements, x and y, are related by the reflexive transitive closure, R+, of a relation, R, if they are related by the transitive closure, R*, or they are the same element.
- regular expression converter — CONVERT
- rise/come back from the dead — If you say that someone or something rises or comes back from the dead, you mean that they become active or successful again after being inactive for a while.
- rocky mountain spotted fever — an infectious disease characterized by high fever, pains in joints, bones, and muscles, and a cutaneous eruption, caused by rickettsii and transmitted by ticks: first reported in the Rocky Mountain area, but now more widely distributed.
- scanning electron microscope — a device in which the specimen is examined point by point directly in a moving electron beam, and electrons reflected by the specimen are used to form a magnified, three-dimensional image on a television screen. Abbreviation: SEM.