22-letter words containing al
- central locking device — a small device that controls the central locking on a motor vehicle
- central nervous system — Your central nervous system is the part of your nervous system that consists of the brain and spinal cord.
- challenge to the array — an objection by counsel to the whole panel of jurors called to a trial
- challenge to the polls — an objection by counsel to one or more of the individual jurors called to a trial
- chebyshev's inequality — the fundamental theorem that the probability that a random variable differs from its mean by more than k standard deviations is less than or equal to 1/k2
- chemical sympathectomy — the chemical destruction of one or more parts of the sympathetic nervous system
- chemical-sympathectomy — sympathectomy (def 2).
- chromosomal aberration — any irregularity or abnormality of chromosome distribution, number, structure, or arrangement.
- classical conditioning — the alteration in responding that occurs when two stimuli are regularly paired in close succession: the response originally given to the second stimulus comes to be given to the first
- collateral circulation — circulation of blood through a network of minor vessels that become enlarged and joined with adjacent vessels when a major vein or artery is impaired, as by obstruction.
- combinatorial analysis — the branch of mathematics concerned with the theory of enumeration, or combinations and permutations, in order to solve problems about the possibility of constructing arrangements of objects which satisfy specified conditions
- combinatorial topology — the branch of topology that deals with the properties of geometric figures by considering the figures as being composed of elementary geometric figures, as points or lines.
- comma separated values — (file format) (CSV) A file format used as a portable representation of a database. Each line is one entry or record and the fields in a record are separated by commas. Commas may be followed by arbitrary space and/or tab characters which are ignored. If field includes a comma, the whole field must be surrounded with double quotes.
- common external tariff — the common tariff of charges imposed by the members of a customs union on imports from non-members
- complete quadrilateral — a polygon consisting of four lines and their six points of intersection
- compound annual return — the total return available from an investment, deposit, etc, when the interest earned is used to augment the capital
- computational geometry — (mathematics) The study of algorithms for combinatorial, topological, and metric problems concerning sets of points, typically in Euclidean space. Representative areas of research include geometric search, convexity, proximity, intersection, and linear programming.
- computational learning — grammatical inference
- congressional district — (in the US) an electoral division of a state, entitled to send one member to the US House of Representatives
- constitutional monarch — the sovereign in a constitutional monarchy
- constructive dismissal — If an employee claims constructive dismissal, they begin a legal action against their employer in which they claim that they were forced to leave their job because of the behaviour of their employer.
- contextual advertising — a form of targeted advertising used on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers
- continental philosophy — a general term for related philosophical traditions that originated in 20th-century continental Europe, including critical theory, deconstruction, existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and structuralism (contrasted with analytic philosophy).
- conversational quality — (in public speaking) a manner of utterance that resembles the spontaneity and informality of relaxed personal conversation.
- cosmological principle — the theory that the universe is uniform, homogenous, and isotropic, and therefore appears the same from any position
- criminal investigation — an investigation by the police into a crime
- critical path analysis — a technique for planning complex projects by analysing alternative systems with reference to the critical path, which is the sequence of stages requiring the longest time
- cylindrical coordinate — Usually, cylindrical coordinates. a member of a system of coordinates for locating a point in space by its polar coordinates and its perpendicular distance to the polar plane.
- d'alembert's principle — the principle that for a moving body the external forces are in equilibrium with the inertial forces; a generalization of Newton's third law of motion
- dalton's atomic theory — the theory that matter consists of indivisible particles called atoms and that atoms of a given element are all identical and can neither be created nor destroyed. Compounds are formed by combination of atoms in simple ratios to give compound atoms (molecules). The theory was the basis of modern chemistry
- database normalisation — (database) A series of steps followed to obtain a database design that allows for efficient access and storage of data in a relational database. These steps reduce data redundancy and the chances of data becoming inconsistent. A table in a relational database is said to be in normal form if it satisfies certain constraints. Codd's original work defined three such forms but there are now five generally accepted steps of normalisation. The output of the first step is called First Normal Form (1NF), the output of the second step is Second Normal Form (2NF), etc. First Normal Form eliminates repeating groups by putting each value of a multi-valued attribute into a new row. Second Normal Form eliminates functional dependencies on a partial key by putting the fields in a separate table from those that are dependent on the whole key. Third Normal Form eliminates functional dependencies on non-key fields by putting them in a separate table. At this stage, all non-key fields are dependent on the key, the whole key and nothing but the key. Fourth Normal Form separates independent multi-valued facts stored in one table into separate tables. Fifth Normal Form breaks out data redundancy that is not covered by any of the previous normal forms.
- decimal classification — a system of classifying books in libraries by the use of numbers with decimals
- decompartmentalization — the act of decompartmentalizing
- dehiwala-mount lavinia — a city in SW Sri Lanka, on the Indian Ocean.
- deinstitutionalisation — Alternative spelling of deinstitutionalization.
- deinstitutionalization — to release (a person with mental or physical disabilities) from a hospital, asylum, home, or other institution with the intention of providing treatment, support, or rehabilitation primarily through community resources under the supervision of health-care professionals or facilities.
- denominational college — a college associated with a particular religious denomination
- denotational semantics — (theory) A technique for describing the meaning of programs in terms of mathematical functions on programs and program components. Programs are translated into functions about which properties can be proved using the standard mathematical theory of functions, and especially domain theory. Compare axiomatic semantics, operational semantics, standard semantics.
- descriptive cataloging — the aspect of cataloging concerned with the bibliographic and physical description of a book, recording, or other work, accounting for such items as author or performer, title, edition, and imprint as opposed to subject content.
- developmental disorder — any condition, such as autism or dyslexia, that appears in childhood and is characterized by delay in the development of one or more psychological functions, such as language skill
- 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 radio mondiale — (communications) (DRM) A form of monaural digital broadcast using carrier frequencies below 30 MHz. DRM uses MPEG-4 AAC Main Profile and SBR at data rates of 16-25 kbps.
- digital standard mumps — (DSM) DEC's version of MUMPS.
- 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.
- digital video recorder — See DVR.
- dihydroxyphenylalanine — dopa.
- directional derivative — the limit, as a function of several variables moving along a given line from one specified point to another on the line, of the difference in the functional values at the two points divided by the distance between the points.
- directional microphone — a microphone that has a greater sensitivity to sounds coming from a particular area in front of it: used to eliminate unwanted sounds.
- double blackwall hitch — a kind of knot
- draft-quality printing — low-quality, high-speed output in printed form from a printer linked to a word processor