ExpertGlossary terms starting with D

2,757 terms

dielectric strength Of an insulating material, the maximum electric field strength that it can withstand intrinsically without breaking down, i.e.
dielectric waveguide A waveguide that consists of a dielectric material surrounded by another dielectric material, such as air, glass, or plastic, with a lower refractive…
DIEP flap A type of breast reconstruction in which blood vessels called deep inferior epigastric perforators (DIEP), and the skin and fat connected to them are…
Diesel engine A compression-ignition piston engine in which fuel is ignited by injecting it into air that has been heated (unlike a spark-ignition engine).
diet The things a person eats and drinks.
Diet Control See Balanced Diet
dietary counseling (DY-uh-TAYR-ee KOWN-suh-ling) A process by which a health professional with special training in nutrition helps people make healthy food choices and form…
dietary protocol (DY-uh-TAYR-ee PROH-tuh-KOL) A detailed diet plan that states what, how, and when a person will eat and drink.
Dietary Reference Intakes (DY-uh-TAYR-ee REH-feh-rens ...) A set of guidelines developed by U.S. and Canadian scientists to give information about the role of nutrients in human…
dietary supplement (DY-uh-TAYR-ee SUH-pleh-ment) A product that is added to the diet. A dietary supplement is taken by mouth, and usually contains one or more dietary…
diethylstilbestrol (dye-EH-thul-stil-BES-trol) A synthetic form of the hormone estrogen that was prescribed to pregnant women between about 1940 and 1971 because it was…
dietitian (dy-eh-TIH-shun) A health professional with special training in nutrition who can help with dietary choices. Also called nutritionist.
Diferimiento, aplazamiento, prórroga Posponer temporalmente o proyectar el procedimiento de un caso para una fecha futura.
difference frame Synonym delta frame.
Difference of Potential The difference in electrical pressure (voltage) between any two points in an electrical system or between any point in an electrical system and the earth.
Difference Score A value returned by a biometric algorithm that indicates the degree of difference between a biometric sample and a reference.
differencing virtual hard disk A virtual hard disk that stores the changes to an associated parent virtual hard disk for the purpose of keeping the parent intact.
Differential An electrical signal characteristic which transmits information through a current loop to minimize signal noise and allow the SCSI bus to operate reliably…
differential centrifugation A method for separating sub-cellular particles according to their sedimentation coefficients, which are roughly proportional to their size.
Differential compaction May occur over a large area when the compaction of soil or deeper sediments occurs at different rates and degrees.
differential display A method to identify mRNAs which are present at different levels in different tissues, or in response to specific treatments.
differential encoding Encoding in which signal significant conditions represent binary data, such as "0" and "1", and are represented as changes to succeeding values rather…
Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) A positioning procedure that uses two receivers, a rover at an unknown location and a base station at a known, fixed location.
Differential head (unbalanced head) The condition in which the water pressure on the upstream and downstream sides of an object differ.
differential Manchester encoding Encoding in which (a) data and clock signals are combined to form a single self-synchronizing data stream, (b) one of the two bits, i.e.
differential mode attenuation In an optical fiber, the variation in attenuation among the propagating modes.
differential mode delay In an optical fiber, the variation in propagation delay that occurs because of the different group velocities of different modes.
differential mode interference Interference that causes a change in potential of one side of a signal transmission path relative to the other side. 2.
differential modulation Modulation in which the choice of the significant condition for any signal element is dependent on the significant condition for the previous signal…
Differential Motion Cloud motion that appears to differ relative to other nearby cloud elements, e.g.
differential phase-shift keying (DPSK) Phase-shift keying that is used for digital transmission in which the phase of the carrier is discretely varied (a) in relation to the phase of the…
Differential Power Analysis (DPA) An analysis of the variations of the electrical power consumption of a cryptographic module, using advanced statistical methods and/or other techniques…
differential pulse-code modulation (DPCM) Pulse-code modulation in which an analog signal is sampled and the difference between the actual value of each sample and its predicted value, derived…
differential quantum efficiency In an optical source or detector, the slope of the curve relating output quanta to input quanta.
Differential Rotation In solar-terrestrial terms, the change in solar rotation rate with latitude. Low latitudes rotate at a faster angular rate (approx.
Differential Thermostat A type of automatic thermostat (used on solar heating systems) that responds to temperature differences (between collectors and the storage components) so…
differentially coherent phase-shift keying See coherent differential phase-shift keying.
differentially encoded baseband Synonym non-return-to-zero mark.
differentially permeable Referring to a membrane, through which different substances diffuse at different rates.
differentiating network A network, or circuit, that produces an output waveform that is the time derivative of the input waveform.
Differentiation In cancer, refers to how mature (developed) the cancer cells are in a tumor. Differentiated tumor cells resemble normal cells and tend to grow and spread…
Differientiated (dif fer ren' che ay ted) tumor cells look very similar to normal cells. Pathologists look to see if tumor cells are well differentiated or poorly…
Diffraction The spreading out of electromagnetic radiation as it leaves an aperture. The angle of spread, which cannot be eliminated by focusing, is proportional to…
diffraction grating An array of fine, parallel, equally spaced grooves ("rulings") on a reflecting or transparent substrate, which grooves result in diffractive and mutual…
diffraction limited In optics, pertaining to a light beam in which the far-field beam divergence is equal to that predicted by diffraction theory. 2.
diffraction region In radio propagation, a region that is in the geometric shadow of an electromagnetic source, but into which propagation nonetheless takes place by virtue…
diffuse Widely spread; not localized or confined.
Diffuse cystic mastopathy See Fibrocystic breasts
diffuse hyperplastic perilobar nephroblastomatosis (dih-FYOOS HY-per-PLAS-tik payr-ee-LOH-ber NEH-froh-blas-TOH-muh-TOH-sis) A childhood condition in which abnormal tissue grows on the outer part of one or…
Diffuse Ice Poorly defined ice edge limiting an area of dispersed ice; usually on the leeward side of an area of floating ice.
diffuse insolation The solar radiation that is scattered or reflected by atmospheric components (e.g., clouds) to the earth's surface.
diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (lim-FOH-muh) A type of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (cancer of the immune system) that is usually aggressive (fast-growing).
diffuse reflection Reflection from a rough or irregular surface which does not maintain the integrity of the incident wavefront.
diffuse shortwave irradiance All of the solar radiation, across the wavelength range of 0.4 and 4 µm, coming directly from the sky except for solar radiation coming directly from the…
Diffuse Solar Radiation Sunlight scattered by atmospheric particles and gases so that it arrives at the earth's surface from all directions and can not be focused.
diffuse spectral irradiance The narrow spectral range of measurements coming directly from the sky except for solar radiation coming directly from the sun whose wavelength falls…
diffusion The spontaneous movement of molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration.
Diffusion Length The mean distance a free electron or hole moves before recombining with another hole or electron.
Difluence (or diffluence) - A pattern of wind flow in which air moves outward (in a "fan-out" pattern) away from a central axis that is oriented parallel to the…
difluoromethylornithine A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer. Also called DFMO.
Difunto, muerto, occiso Una persona fallecida.
digerati Knowledgeable individuals at the forefront of Internet development and implementation. [Bahorsky] Note: Derived from the word "literati."
digest To cut DNA molecules with one or more restriction endonucleases.
Digest Access authentication Authentication method that transmits user names and passwords in a secure format.
Digest Access Protocol (DAP) A lightweight authentication protocol for parties involved in communications that are based on Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Simple Authentication…
Digest authentication An authentication method that prompts the user for a user name and a password, also called credentials, which are hashed with other data before being…
Digester An airtight vessel or enclosure in which bacteria decomposes biomass in water to produce biogas.
Digester (Anaerobic) A device in which organic material is biochemically decomposed (digested) by anaerobic bacteria to treat the material and/or to produce biogas.
digestion (dy-JES-chun) The process of breaking down food into substances the body can use for energy, tissue growth, and repair.
digestive system (dy-JES-tiv SIS-tem) The organs that take in food and turn it into products that the body can use to stay healthy.
digestive tract (dy-JES-tiv) The organs through which food and liquids pass when they are swallowed, digested, and eliminated.
Digests Legal volumes that contain summaries of cases arranged alphabetically by topic.
Digg Social news site where users vote on which stories get the most exposure and become the most popular. See also: Digg.com
digicash Abbreviation for digital cash. [After ANSDIT] Synonyms digital cash, e-cash, electronic cash.
digit A symbol, numeral, or graphic character that represents an integer. Note 1: Examples of digits include any one of the decimal characters "0" through "9"…
digit time slot In a digital data stream, a time interval that is allocated to a single digit and that can be uniquely recognized and defined.
Digital Information stored as a string of ones and zeros. Opposite of analog.
digital access and cross-connect system (DACS) In communications systems, a digital system in which (a) access is performed by T-1 hardware architecture in private and public networks with centralized…
digital access line An access line composed of digital facilities, containing no analog sections, and having a digital interface at the local digital exchange office (DEO)…
digital alphabet A coded character set in which the characters of an alphabet have a one-to-one relationship with their digitally coded representations.
digital audio tape (DAT) See DAT.
digital cash (digicash) A bank-issued number that can be used in place of cash for Internet transactions.
digital certificate Electronic records that contain keys used to decrypt information, especially information sent over a public network like the Internet.
digital channel A means for conveying information from one point to another in digital form. A digital channel may be implemented on a network composed of digital…
digital circuit A combination of two digital transmission channels permitting bidirectional digital transmission in both directions between two points, to support a…
digital circuit patch bay A patch bay in which low-level digital data circuits can be patched, monitored, and tested.
digital combining A method of interfacing digital data signals, in either synchronous or asynchronous mode, without converting the data into a quasi-analog signal.
digital component (of documentary material) A bit stream which is necessary to reproduce documentary material and requires specific identification because it is stored separately or in a specific…
digital computer A computer that consists of one or more central processing units (CPUs), that is controlled by internally stored programs, and that stores and processes…
digital crossconnect system (DCS) A network element that is used to arrange lower level digital signals among higher level digital bit streams.
digital dashboard A page on a dashboard site. Each dashboard contains a collection of Web Parts in a modular view that can be presented to users in a Web browser.
digital data Data represented by discrete values or conditions, as opposed to analog data. 2. Discrete representations of quantized values of variables, e.g.
digital data service (DDS) A generic description for synchronous digital transmission operating up to 64 kb/s. [T1.Rpt39-1995]
digital data system (DDS) A synchronous system providing for full-duplex, end-to-end transmission of digital data at the subrate data channel rates of 2.4, 4.8, 9.6, 19.
Digital Elevation Model (DEM) A digital representation of a continuous variable over a two- dimensional surface by a regular array of z values referenced to a common datum.
digital end office (DEO) complex A complex that includes the DEO and all connected remote switching units (RSUs), remote digital terminals (RDTS) and optical network units (ONUs). [T1.
digital envelope In cryptosystems, data appended to a message, that allow the intended recipient to verify the integrity of the content of the message. [2382-pt.8]
digital error An inconsistency between the digital signal actually received and the digital signal that should have been received.
Digital Evidence Electronic information stored or transferred in digital form.
digital exchange An exchange that switches digital signals by means of digital switching. [T1.206-1988]