pregnancy: The uterus and the development of the placenta: …of cells known as the decidua basalis, the maternal component of the mature placenta; it is cast off when the placenta is expelled. The fetal part of the placenta—the villi and their contained blood vessels—is separated from the decidua basalis by a lakelike body of fluid blood. This pool was…

mammal: Implantation, gestation, and birth: …as “afterbirth” (a condition called deciduate) or may be resorbed by the female (nondeciduate). Placentas have been classified on the basis of the relationship between maternal and embryonic tissues. In the simplest nondeciduate placental arrangement, the chorionic villi are in contact with uterine epithelium (the inner surface layer). In the…

deciduous forest, vegetation composed primarily of broad-leaved trees that shed all their leaves during one season. Deciduous forest is found in three middle-latitude regions with a temperate climate characterized by a winter season and year-round precipitation: eastern North America, western

Emma Lucy Braun: Her classic book, Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America (1950), thoroughly describes the plants of the deciduous forest biome and the evolution of the forest community from the most recent ice age to the middle of the 20th century.

scrubland: Biological productivity: The dominant shrubs may be deciduous, losing their leaves for significant periods of time when moisture is in short supply; if they are evergreen their leaves are small and tough and total leaf area is relatively low. They also typically have a substantial proportion of their biomass (dry weight of…

human digestive system: The teeth: …as the deciduous, milk, or primary dentition, is acquired gradually between the ages of six months and two years. As the jaws grow and expand, these teeth are replaced one by one by the teeth of the secondary set. There are five deciduous teeth and eight permanent teeth in each…

plant development: Seasonal adaptations: …resting buds are formed, and deciduous trees lose their leaves. The resting bud consists of a short axis, with the stem apex surrounded by modified unexpanded leaves, which protect the stem, especially from drying. The cells show marked frost resistance, similar to that of the embryo of the seed. Corresponding…

Moonlight: …is bullied by Terrel (Patrick Decile). His mother has sunk deeper into addiction, and he continues to be cared for by Teresa, though his mentor Juan is dead. One night on the beach, Chiron has a sexual encounter with Kevin (now played by Jharrel Jerome). Terrel then manipulates Kevin…

Simon Stevin: …elementary and thorough account of decimal fractions and their daily use. Although he did not invent decimal fractions and his notation was rather unwieldy, he established their use in day-to-day mathematics. He declared that the universal introduction of decimal coinage, measures, and weights would be only a question of time.…

decimal system, in mathematics, positional numeral system employing 10 as the base and requiring 10 different numerals, the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. It also requires a dot (decimal point) to represent decimal fractions. In this scheme, the numerals used in denoting a number take

decimal system: …also requires a dot (decimal point) to represent decimal fractions. In this scheme, the numerals used in denoting a number take different place values depending upon position. In a base-10 system the number 543.21 represents the sum (5 × 102) + (4 × 101) + (3 × 100) +…

decimal system, in mathematics, positional numeral system employing 10 as the base and requiring 10 different numerals, the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. It also requires a dot (decimal point) to represent decimal fractions. In this scheme, the numerals used in denoting a number take

Jupiter: Radio emission: …their characteristic wavelengths—decametre radiation and decimetre radiation.

Děčín, city, northwestern Czech Republic, in the gorge of the Elbe (Labe) River and near the German border. Dominated by its 18th-century castle on a 165-foot (50-metre) crag, it is the economic and cultural centre of a scenic tourist region noted for its deep valleys and rock formations. Founded

data encryption: Conversely, decryption, or decipherment, is the process of converting ciphertext back into its original format. Manual encryption has been used since Roman times, but the term has become associated with the disguising of information via electronic computers. Encryption is a process basic to cryptology.

boxing: Ring, rules, and equipment: …may also end in a decision when the bout has gone the scheduled number of rounds and the scoring officials decide the winner. Several conditions can cause a bout to end in a draw: all three judges awarding identical scores to both contestants results in a draw, as does two…

decision theory, in statistics, a set of quantitative methods for reaching optimal decisions. A solvable decision problem must be capable of being tightly formulated in terms of initial conditions and choices or courses of action, with their consequences. In general, such consequences are not known

Lewis Allen: …filmed in West Germany, and Decision at Midnight (1963), a political thriller starring Martin Landau.

Budd Boetticher: Westerns: Decision at Sundown (1957) was more pedestrian, possibly because Kennedy was not involved with the script. However, Scott gave a memorable performance as a gunman seeking revenge against the man (John Carroll) who stole his wife. Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) had a semi-comical undertone, with…

Anatole Litvak: The Hollywood years: …was followed by the thriller Decision Before Dawn (1951), with Oskar Werner as a German prisoner of war who agrees to spy on the Nazis for the United States during World War II. Litvak, having returned to living in France in 1949, used authentic German locations to lend verisimilitude to…

government economic policy: The problem of time lags: The decision lag is the period between the time when the need for action is recognized and the time when action is taken. Although the recognition lag is presumably of about the same duration for both monetary and fiscal policies, the decision lag is usually considerably…

decision making, process and logic through which individuals arrive at a decision. Different models of decision making lead to dramatically different analyses and predictions. Decision-making theories range from objective rational decision making, which assumes that individuals will make the same

George W. Bush: Postpresidential activities: …2010 Bush published the memoir Decision Points, in which he defended the Iraq War, stated that he personally approved the waterboarding of a captured member of al-Qaeda, reasserted his belief that waterboarding does not constitute torture, and acknowledged the federal government’s slow response to Hurricane Katrina. In 2014 he issued…

decision problem, for a class of questions in mathematics and formal logic, the problem of finding, after choosing any question of the class, an algorithm or repetitive procedure that will yield a definite answer, “yes” or “no,” to that question. The method consists of performing successively a

decision problem, for a class of questions in mathematics and formal logic, the problem of finding, after choosing any question of the class, an algorithm or repetitive procedure that will yield a definite answer, “yes” or “no,” to that question. The method consists of performing successively a

statistics: Decision analysis: A decision strategy is a contingency plan that recommends the best decision alternative depending on what has happened earlier in the sequential process.

instinct: Tinbergen: hierarchy of motivation: …introduced at this time was decision theory, according to which an animal selects among alternative courses of action in accordance with assessments of present and past costs and benefits in a given situation.

decision theory, in statistics, a set of quantitative methods for reaching optimal decisions. A solvable decision problem must be capable of being tightly formulated in terms of initial conditions and choices or courses of action, with their consequences. In general, such consequences are not known

statistics: Decision analysis: A decision tree is a graphical device that is helpful in structuring and analyzing such problems. With the aid of decision trees, an optimal decision strategy can be developed. A decision strategy is a contingency plan that recommends the best decision alternative depending on what has…

Thea Musgrave: …culminating in the three-act opera The Decision (first performed 1967), a drama on the ordeal of a trapped miner told in abstract instrumental terms. She continued to write operas, often on historical or classical themes, among them The Voice of Ariadne (1974), Harriet, the Woman Called Moses (1984), Simón Bolívar…

competence, a person’s ability to make and communicate a decision to consent to medical treatment. Competence is thus central to the determination of consent and reflects the law’s concern with individual autonomy. A person’s decision regarding medical treatment must be respected when that person

information system: Decision support systems and business intelligence: …decision making, however indirectly, but decision support systems are expressly designed for this purpose. As these systems are increasingly being developed to analyze massive collections of data (known as big data), they are becoming known as business intelligence, or business analytics, applications. The two principal varieties of decision support systems…

Henri Cartier-Bresson: …and perhaps the best known, Images à la sauvette, contains what is probably Cartier-Bresson’s most comprehensive and important statement on the meaning, technique, and utility of photography. The title refers to a central idea in his work—the decisive moment—the elusive instant when, with brilliant clarity, the appearance of the subject…

Decius was a Roman emperor (249–251) who fought the Gothic invasion of Moesia and instituted the first organized persecution of Christians throughout the empire. Although Decius’s origins are not known, it is certain that he was a senator and a consul before acceding to the throne. About 245 the

ship: Types of sails: …ships had to have clear decks amidships to permit the shifting of the sail and its boom; most of the deck space was thus monopolized by a single swinging sail. Large sails also required a sizable gang of men to raise and lower the sail (and, when reef ports were…

dock: …of two main parts: the deck and its supporting system. The deck is usually built of reinforced concrete, though timber may be used. The supporting system is an assembly of beams, girders, and bearing piles, framed together to form a series of bents or trestles. The framing material may be…

playing cards: International deck: The most successful and universally recognized deck of cards is that based on a complement of 52, divided into four suits, each containing 13 ranks, so that each card is uniquely identifiable by suit and rank.

ship: Structural integrity: …keel, transverse frames, and cross-ship deck beams that join the frame ends—all supporting a relatively thin shell of deck, sides, and bottom. This structural scheme, which became prevalent with European ships during the Middle Ages, has continued into the age of steel shipbuilding. However, it has a significant drawback in…

Kaare Klint: His teak deck chair of 1933, for example, is unquestionably functional and is designed to provide the maximum amount of comfort, yet in itself a clean and beautiful piece.

ship: Crewing: …three distinct groups: (1) the deck department, which steered, kept lookout, handled lines in docking and undocking, and performed at-sea maintenance on the hull and nonmachinery components, (2) the engine department, which operated machinery and performed at-sea maintenance, and (3) the stewards department, which did the work of a hotel…

deck tennis, game for two or four players, designed for the limited space aboard ship and also played as a garden game. It combines lawn tennis and quoits. A rubber ring, or quoit, is thrown across a net. It must be caught using one hand and returned immediately with the same hand from the point of

Karl Klaus von der Decken was a German explorer in eastern Africa and the first European to attempt to scale Mount Kilimanjaro. Decken explored in the region of Lake Nyasa on his first expedition in 1860. The following year, together with a geologist, he visited the Kilimanjaro massif. Returning in

Zola Budd: Collision and Controversy: …collision with her idol—and rival—American Mary Decker (later Mary Decker Slaney). Earlier that year Budd had broken Decker’s world record in the 5,000 metres, setting up a much-anticipated showdown in the 3,000-metre race at the Olympics. Budd’s image, however, was tarnished before she ever stepped onto the track in Los…

Zola Budd: Collision and Controversy: …collision with her idol—and rival—American Mary Decker (later Mary Decker Slaney). Earlier that year Budd had broken Decker’s world record in the 5,000 metres, setting up a much-anticipated showdown in the 3,000-metre race at the Olympics. Budd’s image, however, was tarnished before she ever stepped onto the track in Los…

Lorenzo Valla: His Declamatio (Treatise of Lorenzo Valla on the Donation of Constantine), written in 1440, attacked the crude Latin of its anonymous author and from that observation argued that the document could not possibly have dated from the time of Constantine. As King Alfonso was at war…

complaint, in law, the plaintiff’s initial pleading, corresponding to the libel in admiralty, the bill in equity, and the claim in civil law. The complaint, called in common law a declaration, consists of a title, a statement showing venue or jurisdiction, one or more counts containing a brief

Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the [Female] Citizen, pamphlet by Olympe de Gouges published in France in 1791. Modeled on the 1789 document known as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the [Male] Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen), Gouges’s manifesto

Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet: The Gallican controversy. of Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet: …up its final statement, the Déclaration des quatre articles (“Declaration of Four Articles”), which was delivered, along with his famous inaugural sermon on the unity of the church, to the assembly of the French clergy in 1682. The articles asserted the king’s independence from Rome in secular matters and proclaimed…

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), foundational document of international human rights law. It has been referred to as humanity’s Magna Carta by Eleanor Roosevelt, who chaired the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights that was responsible for the drafting of the document. After

Declaration of Independence, in U.S. history, document that was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and that announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. It explained why the Congress on July 2 “unanimously” by the votes of 12 colonies (with

John Trumbull: …and, best known of all, Declaration of Independence. This series, which he completed in 1824, was based on the small and superior originals of these scenes that he had painted in the 1780s and ’90s. In 1831 Benjamin Silliman, a professor at Yale, established the Trumbull Gallery at Yale, the…

John Trumbull: …and, best known of all, Declaration of Independence. This series, which he completed in 1824, was based on the small and superior originals of these scenes that he had painted in the 1780s and ’90s. In 1831 Benjamin Silliman, a professor at Yale, established the Trumbull Gallery at Yale, the…

Carl Becker: …of the Revolution (1918) and The Declaration of Independence (1922), he further probed the relationship between 18th-century natural-rights philosophy and the American Revolution.

Declaration of Pillnitz, joint declaration issued on August 27, 1791, by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and King Frederick William II of Prussia, urging European powers to unite to restore the monarchy in France; French King Louis XVI had been reduced to a constitutional monarch during the French

Declaration of Sentiments, foundational document in U.S. women’s rights movement history, outlining the rights that American women should be entitled to as citizens, that emerged from the Seneca Falls Convention held at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, July 19–20, 1848. The

Georg Jellinek: …probably his best-known work is The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens (1895; originally in German), in which he hypothesized that the French Revolutionary declaration (approved by the National Constituent Assembly on August 26, 1789) was derived not so much from the writings of the French Enlightenment…

Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, one of the basic charters of human liberties, containing the principles that inspired the French Revolution. Its 17 articles, adopted between August 20 and August 26, 1789, by France’s National Assembly, served as the preamble to the Constitution

Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the [Female] Citizen, pamphlet by Olympe de Gouges published in France in 1791. Modeled on the 1789 document known as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the [Male] Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen), Gouges’s manifesto

Nostra aetate, Roman Catholic declaration that was proclaimed by Pope Paul VI on October 28, 1965, during the final session of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65; commonly called Vatican II). Vatican II was an ecumenical council convened to foster spiritual renewal for the Roman Catholic Church

computer programming language: Declarative languages: Declarative languages, also called nonprocedural or very high level, are programming languages in which (ideally) a program specifies what is to be done rather than how to do it. In such languages there is less difference between the specification of a program and…

memory: Long-term memory: …be classified as either “declarative” or “nondeclarative,” depending on whether their content is such that it can be expressed by a declarative sentence. Thus, declarative memories, like declarative sentences, contain information about facts and events. Nondeclarative memory, also known as procedural memory, is the repository of information about basic…

Declaratory Act, (1766), declaration by the British Parliament that accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. It stated that the British Parliament’s taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britain. Parliament had directly taxed the colonies for revenue in the Sugar Act (1764) and the

Ireland: The 18th century: …trade, and in 1720 the Declaratory Act affirmed the right of the British Parliament to legislate for Ireland and transferred to the British House of Lords the powers of a supreme court in Irish law cases. By the end of the first quarter of the 18th century, resentment at this…

declaratory judgment, in law, a judicial judgment intended to fix or elucidate litigants’ rights that were previously uncertain or doubtful. A declaratory judgment is binding but is distinguished from other judgments or court opinions in that it lacks an executory process. It simply declares or

international law: Recognition: According to the “declaratory” theory of recognition, which is supported by international practice, the act of recognition signifies no more than the acceptance of an already-existing factual situation—i.e., conformity with the criteria of statehood. The “constitutive” theory, in contrast, contends that the act of recognition itself actually creates…

Greek language: Morphology: …the vocative case, the Greek declension in the Mycenaean period still contained five cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative-locative, and instrumental. Between the Mycenaean period and the 8th century the instrumental ceased to exist as a distinct case, its role having been taken over by the dative.

Denys Arcand: …Déclin de l’empire américain (The Decline of the American Empire). The movie, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign-language film, centres on a gourmet dinner with a group of intellectuals—the same friends who would be featured in The Barbarian Invasions and starring many of the same…

declination, in astronomy, the angular distance of a body north or south of the celestial equator. Declination and right ascension, an east-west coordinate, together define the position of an object in the sky. North declination is considered positive and south, negative. Thus, +90° declination

navigation: The lodestone and the compass card: …but is now called the variation or declination. For a time, compass makers in northern countries mounted the needle askew on the card so that the fleur-de-lis indicated true north when the needle pointed to magnetic north. This practice died out about 1700 because it succeeded only for short voyages…

telescope: Light gathering and resolution: The polar axis supports the declination axis of the instrument. Declination is measured on the celestial sky north or south from the celestial equator. The declination axis makes it possible for the telescope to be pointed at various declination angles as the instrument is rotated about the polar axis with…

Decline and Fall, first novel of Evelyn Waugh, published in 1928, a social satire based on his own experiences as a teacher. The protagonist, Paul Pennyfeather, accepts passively all that befalls him. Expelled for indecent behaviour from Scone College, Oxford, he becomes a teacher. When taken up by

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, historical work by Edward Gibbon, published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788. A continuous narrative from the 2nd century ce to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it is distinguished by its rigorous scholarship, its historical perspective, and its

Denys Arcand: …Déclin de l’empire américain (The Decline of the American Empire). The movie, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign-language film, centres on a gourmet dinner with a group of intellectuals—the same friends who would be featured in The Barbarian Invasions and starring many of the same…

decline of the Ottoman Empire, period of Ottoman history that followed the empire’s zenith in the 16th century until its dissolution in the 20th century. The Ottoman Empire saw a remarkable expansion in the 14th and 15th centuries. It reached its peak after the momentous capture of Constantinople—a

20th-century international relations: The search for a new stability: Oswald Spengler’s 1918–22 best-seller The Decline of the West mourned the engulfing of Kultur by the cosmopolitan anthill of Zivilisation and argued that only a dictatorship could arrest the decline. Sociologist Max Weber hoped for charismatic leadership to overcome bureaucracy. Much painting, music, and film of the 1920s illustrated…

X: …scene chronicled in the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization (1981). Capable of matching the fury of other punk bands, X excelled at melancholy ballads and flirted with pop music throughout its career, though its efforts to reach a broader audience on a major label were largely unsuccessful.

food preservation: Bacteria: …growth, the population enters the decline phase.

coleopteran: Annotated classification: Family Decliniidae 1 genus (Declinia); found in eastern Russia and Japan. Family Eucinetidae About 25 widely distributed species; in rotten wood; example Eucinetus. Family Scirtidae, or Helodidae (marsh beetles)

accounting: Depreciation: …is recognized each year, and declining-charge depreciation, in which more depreciation is recognized during the early years of life than during the later years, on the assumption that the value of the asset’s service declines as it gets older. It is the responsibility of an independent accountant (the auditor) to…

beer: Mixing the mash: …programming, which is achieved by decoction mashing. After grist is mashed in at 35 to 40 °C (95 to 105 °F), a proportion is removed, boiled, and added back. Mashing with two or three of these decoctions raises the temperature in stages to 65 °C (149 °F). The decoction process,…

telecommunication: Channel encoding: …can be used by the decoder to determine where the errors have occurred and how to correct them. The second method of error control is called automatic repeat request (ARQ). In this method redundant bits are added to the transmitted information and are used by the receiver to detect errors.…

William F. Sharpe’s main contribution to finance was the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), which says that investment portfolios should be optimized to market risk, which he called beta. His later work built on that framework and was almost as influential. Sharpe developed what is now known as

loosestrife: Swamp loosestrife, water willow, or wild oleander (Decodon verticillatus) is a perennial herb native to swamps and ponds of eastern North America.

quantum computer: …interactions with the environment (decoherence), practical methods of detecting and correcting errors need to be devised; and, finally, since measuring a quantum system disturbs its state, reliable methods of extracting information must be developed.

petroleum refining: Visbreaking, thermal cracking, and coking: Decoking is a routine daily occurrence accomplished by a high-pressure water jet. First the top and bottom heads of the coke drum are removed. Next a hole is drilled in the coke from the top to the bottom of the vessel. Then a rotating stem…

decolonization, process by which colonies become independent of the colonizing country. Decolonization was gradual and peaceful for some British colonies largely settled by expatriates but violent for others, where native rebellions were energized by nationalism. After World War II, European

sugar: Clarification and decolorization: Melt syrup is clarified either by phosphatation, in which phosphoric acid and lime are added to form calcium phosphates, which are removed by surface scraping in a flotation clarifier, or by carbonatation, in which carbon dioxide gas and lime form calcium carbonate, which is…

carbon cycle: …as CO2 by decay, or decomposer, organisms (chiefly bacteria and fungi) in a series of microbial transformations.

soap and detergent: Raw materials: …and, because the foam retards biological degradation of organic material in sewage, it caused problems in sewage-water regeneration systems. In countries where sewage water is used for irrigation, the foam was also a problem. Intensive research in the 1960s led to changes in the alkylbenzene sulfonate molecules. The tetrapropylene, which…

chemical reaction: Decomposition reactions: Decomposition reactions are processes in which chemical species break up into simpler parts. Usually, decomposition reactions require energy input. For example, a common method of producing oxygen gas in the laboratory is the decomposition of potassium chlorate (KClO3) by heat

hyperbaric chamber, sealed chamber in which a high-pressure environment is used primarily to treat decompression sickness, gas embolism, carbon monoxide poisoning, gas gangrene resulting from infection by anaerobic bacteria, tissue injury arising from radiation therapy for cancer (see cancer:

decompression sickness, physiological effects of the formation of gas bubbles in the body because of rapid transition from a high-pressure environment to one of lower pressure. Pilots of unpressurized aircraft, underwater divers, and caisson workers are highly susceptible to the sickness because

local government: …the distinction sometimes drawn between deconcentration and decentralization. Local government is often, but not necessarily, related to the former; local self-government to the latter. These distinctions are important, even if they are blurred. Deconcentration broadly means that, for the sake of convenience, some functions have been devolved from a central…

decongestant, any drug used to relieve swelling of the nasal mucosa accompanying such conditions as the common cold and hay fever. When administered in nasal sprays or drops or in devices for inhalation, decongestants shrink the mucous membranes lining the nasal cavity by contracting the muscles of

lymphedema: …treatment for lymphedema is complete decongestive therapy (CDT), which has a two-phase course The first phase lasts several weeks and consists of a combination of skin care, compressive bandaging, exercise, and a form of massage called manual lymph drainage. The second phase of CDT favours self-treatment and the use of…

Captain Marvel: From Ms. Marvel to Captain Marvel and back: …crossover events, and, when writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artist Dexter Soy relaunched Captain Marvel in July 2012, it was with Danvers in the title role. DeConnick did much to flesh out Danvers’s backstory, and Captain Marvel soon became the most prominent female hero in the Marvel Universe. In addition…

Woody Allen: The 1990s and sexual-abuse allegations: In the darkly comic Deconstructing Harry (1997), Allen played a writer who has used his own life as the basis for his art, much to the displeasure of his friends and family. Celebrity (1998) followed. Shot in black-and-white by Nykvist—with a cast that included Kenneth Branagh, Leonardo DiCaprio, Winona…

deconstruction, form of philosophical and literary analysis, derived mainly from work begun in the 1960s by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, that questions the fundamental conceptual distinctions, or “oppositions,” in Western philosophy through a close examination of the language and logic

American literature: Theory: …publish a group of essays, Deconstruction and Criticism (1979). Two of the contributors, Paul de Man and J. Hillis Miller, became leading exponents of deconstruction in the United States. The other two, Harold Bloom and

chemical weapon: On the battlefield: …have been found useful in decontaminating areas and people covered with chemical agents, including spraying with super tropical bleach (chlorinated lime) or washing contaminated surfaces or garments with warm soapy water. The challenge is finding and using a decontamination solution that is strong enough to neutralize the chemical agent without…