special economic zone (SEZ), any of several localities in which foreign and domestic trade and investment are conducted without the authorization of the Chinese central government in Beijing. Special economic zones are intended to function as zones of rapid economic growth by using tax and business

special education, the education of children who differ socially, mentally, or physically from the average to such an extent that they require modifications of usual school practices. Special education serves children with emotional, behavioral, or cognitive impairments or with intellectual,

special effects, Artificial visual or mechanical effects introduced into a movie or television show. The earliest special effects were created through special camera lenses or through tricks such as projecting a moving background behind the actors. Greater flexibility came with the development of

military aircraft: Air transport and training: At the RFC School of Special Flying at Gosport, England, Maj. Robert Smith-Barry introduced a curriculum based on a balanced combination of academic classroom training and dual flight instruction. Philosophically, Smith-Barry’s system was based not on avoiding potentially dangerous maneuvers—as had been the case theretofore—but on exposing the…

Green Berets, elite armed force and unit of the U.S. Army specializing in counterinsurgency. The Green Berets (whose berets can be colours other than green) came into being in 1952. They were active in the Vietnam War, and they have been sent to U.S.-supported governments around the world to help

special function, any of a class of mathematical functions that arise in the solution of various classical problems of physics. These problems generally involve the flow of electromagnetic, acoustic, or thermal energy. Different scientists might not completely agree on which functions are to be

interest group, any association of individuals or organizations, usually formally organized, that, on the basis of one or more shared concerns, attempts to influence public policy in its favour. All interest groups share a desire to affect government policy to benefit themselves or their causes.

blue-ribbon jury, a group, chosen from the citizenry of a district, that has special qualifications to try a complex or important case. The blue-ribbon jury is intended to overcome the problems of ordinary juries in interpreting complex technical or commercial questions. In the United States

ketamine, general anesthetic agent related structurally to the hallucinogen phencyclidine (PCP). Ketamine was first synthesized in 1962 at Parke Davis Laboratories by American scientist Calvin Stevens, who was searching for a new anesthetic to replace PCP, which was not suitable for use in humans

library: Special libraries: The national, university, and public libraries form the network of general libraries more or less accessible to the general public. They take pride in special collections, which are built around a special subject interest. Beyond this network are a large number of libraries…

Indian law: …example of the changes, the Special Marriage Act (1954) provided that any couple might marry, irrespective of community, in a civil, Western-type manner, and their personal law of divorce and succession automatically would become inapplicable. In the new divorce law they have, in addition, a right of divorce by mutual…

special education, the education of children who differ socially, mentally, or physically from the average to such an extent that they require modifications of usual school practices. Special education serves children with emotional, behavioral, or cognitive impairments or with intellectual,

If you are caring for a family member with special needs or facing a diagnosis that may require special care, your responsibilities extend beyond today’s needs. Establishing a plan now will help ensure access to resources, care, and financial stability even as circumstances change. Estate planning

security: Trading procedures: A special offering is the offering of a block through the facilities of the exchange at a price not in excess of the last sale or the current offer, whichever is lower, but not below the current bid unless special permission is obtained. The terms of…

Special Olympics, international program to provide individuals with intellectual disabilities who are eight years of age or older with year-round sports training and athletic competition in more than 20 Olympic-type summer and winter sports. Inaugurated in 1968, the Special Olympics was officially

resistance: …in contact with the British Special Operations Executive, which was in charge of aiding and coordinating subversive activities in Europe; and the British, Americans, and Soviets supported guerrilla bands in Axis-dominated territories by providing arms and air-dropping supplies. After the Allied landing in France on June 6, 1944, the FFI…

special operations warfare, unconventional military actions against enemy vulnerabilities that are undertaken by specially designated, selected, trained, equipped, and supported units known as special forces or special operations forces (SOF). Special operations are often conducted in conjunction

Battle of Antietam: Lee’s invasion of Maryland: …on September 9 Lee issued Special Order 191, in which he detailed the division and disposition of forces for the campaign ahead. Gen. Thomas (“Stonewall”) Jackson would lead one of three columns that were tasked with the capture of Harpers Ferry, while the remainder of Lee’s forces would advance to…

independent counsel, Official appointed by the court at the request of the U.S. attorney general to investigate and prosecute criminal violations by high government officials, members of Congress, or directors of a presidential election campaign after an investigation by the attorney general finds

A special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) offers entrepreneurs a way to take their companies public without an initial public offering (IPO). The SPAC itself goes public to raise money that will be used to acquire a private company that’s ready for the public market. The acquisition turns a

Enron scandal: Downfall and bankruptcy: …company were transferred to so-called special purpose entities (SPEs), which are essentially limited partnerships created with outside parties. Although many companies distributed assets to SPEs, Enron abused the practice by using SPEs as dump sites for its troubled assets. Transferring those assets to SPEs meant that they were kept off…

collapse of the Soviet Union: The end of Soviet communism: Among the troops used were Special Purpose Police Units, known by the Russian acronym OMON, the feared “black berets” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. These troops were under the command of Pugo, one of the coup plotters, and his deputy, Gromov, one of the signatories of the Sovetskaya Rossiya…

special relativity, part of the wide-ranging physical theory of relativity formed by the German-born physicist Albert Einstein. It was conceived by Einstein in 1905. Along with quantum mechanics, relativity is central to modern physics. Special relativity is limited to objects that are moving with

expressway: In Great Britain the Special Roads Act of 1949 provided a network of about 700 miles (1,130 km) of new “motorways,” a total subsequently extended to more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km). France built several short express highways, or autoroutes, in the 1950s to facilitate egress from its major…

general staff: …in character and functions from special staffs (in the U.S. Army) consisting of technical specialists in the various services: medical, police, communications, supply, and others.

special relativity, part of the wide-ranging physical theory of relativity formed by the German-born physicist Albert Einstein. It was conceived by Einstein in 1905. Along with quantum mechanics, relativity is central to modern physics. Special relativity is limited to objects that are moving with

Italy: The end of constitutional rule: A Special Tribunal for the Defense of the State, run by militia and army officers, was set up to try anti-Fascist “subversives”; it imprisoned or sent to exile on remote islands thousands of political opponents, including the Communist leader Antonio Gramsci, and it imposed 31 death…

procedural law: Types of verdict: …the decision-making process is the special verdict, which requires the jury to answer a series of specific factual questions proposed by the judge, who will then himself determine the proper conclusion, based upon the jury’s responses to the questions asked. Because of the difficulty in drawing up questions that cover…

Japan: Local government: Tokyo has 23 tokubetsu ku (special wards), the chiefs of which are elected by the residents. These special wards, created after the metropolitan prefecture was established in 1943, demarcate the city of Tokyo from the other cities and towns that make up the metropolitan prefecture; the city proper,…

warranty: Warranty of title: A special warranty deed ensures that no claims were made against the property while in the possession of the current owner. As to buildings, warranties may be made about the quality of materials, the adherence to building codes, and its ability to accommodate residents. The latter…

doxing: Types of doxing: …Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, in the United States) to the house of the doxed individual. Doxing can also include the spread of revenge porn or sexually explicit images released without consent.

Textron Inc., American multi-industry company that pioneered the conglomerate concept. Its present-day core organization includes aircraft, automotive, and industrial manufacturing segments. The firm was established in 1923 as a textile maker and acquired its present name in 1956. Headquarters are

biography: Special-purpose biography: In addition to these six main categories, there exists a large class of works that might be denominated “special-purpose” biography. In these works the art of biography has become the servant of other interests. They include potboilers (written as propaganda or as a…

biodiversity loss: Ecological effects: Specialist species (i.e., those adapted to narrow habitats, limited food resources, or other specific environmental conditions) are often the most vulnerable to dramatic population declines and extinction when conditions change. On the other hand, generalist species (those adapted to a wide variety of habitats, food…

division of labour: The intensive specialization in industrial societies—the refinement and simplification of tasks (especially associated with a machine technology) so that a worker often produces only a small part of a particular commodity—is not usually found in nonindustrialized societies. There is rarely a division of labour within an industry…

angiosperm: angiosperms have evolved specialized cells and tissues that carry out these functions and have further evolved specialized vascular tissues (xylem and phloem) that translocate the water and nutrients to all areas of the plant body. The specialization of the plant body, which has evolved as an adaptation to…

map: The rise of national surveys: …in 1806, from which the Specialkarte, later considered the most detailed maps of Europe, were derived. In China, under the Communist regime, survey and cartography groups have provided coverage of much of the country with a new 1:50,000-scale map series. Japan established an Imperial Land Survey in 1888, and by…

Two-Tone Movement: …student Jerry Dammers founded the Specials, a self-consciously multiracial group—both in composition and rhetoric—whose initial hit, “Gangsters” (1979), gave them the clout to demand every punk’s dream, their own record label. The sound of that label, 2-Tone, was thin and sharp, dominated by whiny vocals and the kerchunk-kerchunk of the…

surface coating: Specialty additives: The rest of the materials present in coatings are used in weight or volume percentages of 1 percent or less and are therefore known as specialty additives. Though these additives may not be significant by composition percentage, they are very significant to the…

marketing: Specialty goods: Specialty goods have particularly unique characteristics and brand identifications for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special purchasing effort. Examples include specific brands of fancy products, luxury cars, professional photographic equipment, and high-fashion clothing. For instance, consumers who…

specialty hair fibre, any of the textile fibres obtained from certain animals of the goat and camel families, rarer than the more commonly used fibres and valued for such desirable properties as fine diameter, natural lustre, and ability to impart pleasing hand (characteristics perceived by

surface coating: Specialty, functional, and other pigments: This catchall class includes pigments that are very important but are used in relatively low volumes. Included are those specific materials which give unique optical properties to coatings, such as aluminum flake pigments for metallic automotive coatings, pearlescent pigments, fluorescent…

Specialty Records: Little Richard, Lloyd Price, and a Los Angeles Label: Art Rupe, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, started out by recording local black artists for the jukebox market. He soon built a strong roster of small combos led by Roy Milton and brothers Jimmy and Joe Liggins as well as gospel…

Art Rupe, a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, started out by recording local black artists for the jukebox market. He soon built a strong roster of small combos led by Roy Milton and brothers Jimmy and Joe Liggins as well as gospel groups such as the Soul Stirrers and the

plastic: The composition, structure, and properties of plastics: …either “commodity” resins or “specialty” resins. (The term resin dates from the early years of the plastics industry; it originally referred to naturally occurring amorphous solids such as shellac and rosin.) Commodity resins are plastics that are produced at high volume and low cost for the most common disposable…

marketing: Specialty stores: A specialty store carries a deep assortment within a narrow line of goods. Furniture stores, florists, sporting-goods stores, and bookstores are all specialty stores. Stores such as The Athlete’s Foot (sports shoes only) and DXL Big + Tall (clothing for large and tall…

speciation, the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution. Speciation involves the splitting of a single evolutionary lineage into two or more genetically independent lineages. (Read E.O. Wilson’s Britannica essay on mass extinction.) In eukaryotic species—that is, those

conservation: Calculating background extinction rates: To explore the idea of speciation rates, one can refer again to the analogy of human life spans and ask: How old are my living siblings? The answer might be anything from that of a newborn to that of a retiree living out his or her last days. The average…

Specie Circular, (July 11, 1836), in U.S. history, an executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson requiring that payment for the purchase of public lands be made exclusively in gold or silver. In an effort to curb excessive land speculation and to quash the enormous growth of paper money in

specie payment, the redemption of U.S. paper money by banks or the Treasury in metallic (usually gold) coin. (Read Milton Friedman’s Britannica entry on money.) Except for a few periods of suspension (1814–15, 1836–42, and 1857), Americans were able to redeem paper money for specie from the time of

Resumption Act of 1875, in U.S. history, culmination of the struggle between “soft money” forces, who advocated continued use of Civil War greenbacks, and their “hard money” opponents, who wished to redeem the paper money and resume a specie currency. By the end of the Civil War, more than $430

species, in biology, classification comprising related organisms that share common characteristics and are capable of interbreeding. This biological species concept is widely used in biology and related fields of study. There are more than 20 other different species concepts, however. Some examples

epistemology: St. Thomas Aquinas: …form but also the “species” of an object is in the intellect. A species is a combination of form and something like a general idea of matter, which Aquinas called “common matter.” Common matter is contrasted with “individuated matter,” which is the stuff that constitutes the physical bulk of…

species abundance, typically, the sum total of individuals from a given species within a given area. A species is considered abundant when it has a high population relative to the size of the area it inhabits. It can also include other measures of performance for plants, animals, or other forms of

biomass: or plant species (species biomass) or of all the species in a community (community biomass), commonly referred to a unit area or volume of habitat. The weight or quantity of organisms in an area at a given moment is the standing crop. The total amount of organic material…

biodiversity, the variety of life found in a place on Earth or, often, the total variety of life on Earth. A common measure of this variety, called species richness, is the count of species in an area. Colombia and Kenya, for example, each have more than 1,000 breeding species of birds, whereas the

autecology, the study of the interactions of an individual organism or a single species with the living and nonliving factors of its environment. Autecology is primarily experimental and deals with easily measured variables such as light, humidity, and available nutrients in an effort to understand

Johann Hedwig: …on his most important contribution, Species Muscorum Frondosorum (1801; “Species of Leafy Mosses”), which became the official basis for the nomenclature of the mosses.

Species Plantarum, (1753), two-volume work by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus, in which he established a precise and workable two-word, or binomial, system for naming plants. This system forms the basis of modern plant taxonomy. In this master work Linnaeus described 6,000 species of plants

philosophy of biology: The species problem: One of the oldest problems in philosophy is that of universals. The world seems to be broken up into different kinds of things. But what are these kinds, assuming they are distinct from the things that belong to them? Historically, some philosophers, known as…

geographic range, in ecology, the collective area in which all members of a particular species are found during their lifetime. The term geographic range has often referred to the natural extent of a species’ distribution; however, it also includes areas where a species was introduced by human

species richness, the count, or total number, of unique species within a given biological community, ecosystem, biome, or other defined area. While species richness does not consider the population sizes of individual species in the area (see species abundance) or how even the distribution of each

philosophy of biology: Levels of selection: …group? Could there be “species selection”? This was the view of the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941–2002), who argued that selection at the level of species is very important in macro-evolution—i.e., the evolution of organisms over very long periods of time (millions of years). It is important to…

epistemology: Aristotle: That stimulation causes a “sensible species” to be generated in the sense organ itself. The “species” is some sort of representation of the object sensed. As Aristotle describes the process, the sense organ receives “the form of sensible objects without the matter, just as the wax receives the impression…

ecosystemic approach: …approach is contrasted with the species-by-species approach, both of which coexist today in natural resource management. The species-by-species approach is associated with the preservationist perspective, which tends to single out individual species for protection. The species-by-species approach has been criticized for offering too narrow a model of natural resource management.…

conservation: Predictions of extinctions based on habitat loss: …next question is whether this relationship of species to area holds for “islands” of human-created fragmented habitat. If one were to conduct an experiment to test such an idea, one would take a continuous forest, cut it up into isolated patches, and then wait for species to become locally extinct…

speciesism, in applied ethics and the philosophy of animal rights, the practice of treating members of one species as morally more important than members of other species; also, the belief that this practice is justified. The notion has been variously formulated in terms of the interests, rights,

sound: Impedance: For example, specific acoustic impedance (z), the ratio of acoustic pressure to particle speed, is an inherent property of the medium and of the nature of the wave. Acoustic impedance, the ratio of pressure to volume velocity, is equal to the specific acoustic impedance per unit area.…

radiation measurement: Interactions of heavy charged particles: A second property is the specific energy loss at a given point along the particle track (path). This quantity measures the differential energy deposited per unit pathlength (dE/dx) in the material; it is also a function of the particle energy. In general, as the particle slows down and loses energy,…

jet engine: The prime mover: …of specific fuel consumption (SFC) for an engine producing gas horsepower is 0.336 (pound per hour)/horsepower, or 0.207 (kg per hour)/kilowatt. In actual practice, the SFC is even higher than this lower limit because of inefficiencies, losses, and leakages in the individual components of the prime mover.

specific gravity, ratio of the density of a substance to that of a standard substance. The usual standard of comparison for solids and liquids is water at 4 °C (39.2 °F), which has a density of 1.0 kg per litre (62.4 pounds per cubic foot). Gases are commonly compared with dry air, which has a

specific heat, the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one Celsius degree. The units of specific heat are usually calories or joules per gram per Celsius degree. For example, the specific heat of water is 1 calorie (or 4.186 joules) per gram per Celsius

specific heat, the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one Celsius degree. The units of specific heat are usually calories or joules per gram per Celsius degree. For example, the specific heat of water is 1 calorie (or 4.186 joules) per gram per Celsius

specific humidity, mass of water vapour in a unit mass of moist air, usually expressed as grams of vapour per kilogram of air, or, in air conditioning, as grains per pound. The specific humidity is an extremely useful quantity in meteorology. For example, the rate of evaporation of water from any

immune system: Specific, acquired immunity: It has been known for centuries that persons who contract certain diseases and survive generally do not catch those illnesses again. Greek historian Thucydides recorded that, when the plague was raging in Athens during the 5th century bce, the sick and dying…

rocket: General characteristics and principles of operation: …which is referred to as specific impulse. Values in seconds are obtained by dividing the effective exhaust velocities by the constant factor 9.81 metres per second squared (32.2 feet per second squared).

dielectric constant, property of an electrical insulating material (a dielectric) equal to the ratio of the capacitance of a capacitor filled with the given material to the capacitance of an identical capacitor in a vacuum without the dielectric material. The insertion of a dielectric between the

lien: …two kinds of possessory liens: specific liens and general liens. The specific lien extended only to the indebtedness of the property owner for the value of services rendered to or in connection with his property—that is, the price for the repair or improvement of the property. The general lien extends…

angiosperm: Process of phloem transport: …tissue is referred to as specific mass transfer and is expressed as grams per hour per square centimeter of phloem or sieve tubes. With a given specific mass transfer, the velocity with which a liquid of a certain concentration flows can be calculated; in eudicotyledonous stems, for example, specific mass…

Myspace: …to Specific Media (after 2015, Viant) and singer Justin Timberlake for about $35 million. Time Inc. bought Viant in 2016. Time Inc. was purchased in 2018 by the Meredith Corporation, which then spun off Viant and its holdings like Myspace as Viant Technology in 2019. By mid-2024 the site existed…

toponymy: A specific name serves to restrict or modify the meaning of the place-name. Most of the world’s languages can be divided into two groups based on the general tendency to have the specific either precede or follow the generic. In English the specific usually comes first,…

Hermann von Helmholtz: Early life: …he called the law of specific nerve energies. Müller discovered that sensory organs always “report” their own sense no matter how they are stimulated. Thus, for example, a blow to the eye, which has nothing whatsoever to do with optical phenomena, causes the recipient to “see stars.” Obviously, the eye…

Donald Judd: …texts of the movement, “Specific Objects” (1965). The article laid out the Minimalist platform of stressing the physical, phenomenological experience of objects rather than representing any metaphysical or metaphoric symbolism. Judd’s sculpture was based almost exclusively on the box form—either alone or in series of modules, on the wall…

jet engine: The prime mover: …the prime mover is its specific power—the amount of power that it generates per unit of airflow. This quantity is a very strong function of the peak gas temperature in the core at the discharge of the combustion chamber. Modern engines generate from 150 to 250 horsepower/(pound per second), or…

reaction rate: The rate constant, or the specific rate constant, is the proportionality constant in the equation that expresses the relationship between the rate of a chemical reaction and the concentrations of the reacting substances. The measurement and interpretation of reactions constitute the branch of chemistry known as…

resistivity, electrical resistance of a conductor of unit cross-sectional area and unit length. A characteristic property of each material, resistivity is useful in comparing various materials on the basis of their ability to conduct electric currents. High resistivity designates poor conductors.

optical activity: …terms of a quantity, called specific rotation, defined by an equation that relates the angle through which the plane is rotated, the length of the light path through the sample, and the density of the sample (or its concentration if it is present in a solution). Because the specific rotation…

turbine: Turbine selection on the basis of specific speed: …design variables known as the power specific speed. In U.S. design practice this is given bywhere n is in revolutions per minute, P is the output in horsepower, and H is the head of water in feet. Turbine types can be classified by their specific speed, N, which always applies…

international trade: How tariffs work: ), they are called specific tariffs. If they are levied according to the value of the import, they are known as ad valorem tariffs.

specific heat, the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of a substance by one Celsius degree. The units of specific heat are usually calories or joules per gram per Celsius degree. For example, the specific heat of water is 1 calorie (or 4.186 joules) per gram per Celsius

immune system: Specific, acquired immunity: It has been known for centuries that persons who contract certain diseases and survive generally do not catch those illnesses again. Greek historian Thucydides recorded that, when the plague was raging in Athens during the 5th century bce, the sick and dying…

Roman law: The law of property and possession: Specificatio was somewhat different. If A made a thing out of material belonging to B, one school of thought held that ownership went to A, and another held that it remained with B. Justinian adopted a “middle opinion”: B retained ownership if reconversion to the…

exercise: Specificity: The principle of specificity derives from the observation that the adaptation of the body or change in physical fitness is specific to the type of training undertaken. Quite simply this means that if a fitness objective is to increase flexibility, then flexibility training must…

sensitivity and specificity: specificity, two measures used to determine the validity of a test, typically in a clinical setting in healthcare. Sensitivity is a measure of how well a given test identifies the disease or trait in question (i.e., how well it avoids false negatives), while specificity is…

Karl Landsteiner: Landsteiner summarized his work in The Specificity of Serological Reactions (1936), a classic text that helped establish the field of immunochemistry.

extradition: Under the principle of specificity, the demanding state can prosecute the extraditee only for the offense for which the extradition was granted and may not extradite the detainee to a third country for offenses committed before the initial extradition. Although states have recognized certain exceptions to this principle—and some…

Islamabad: …of hinterland, known as the Specified Areas, is subject to planning control, with the Margala Hills, 3,000 to 5,000 feet (900 to 1,500 metres) high, in the north and northeast. The southern portion is an undulating plain. It is drained by the Kurang River, on which the Rawal Dam forms…

Walt Whitman: Civil War years: …Civil War, published later in Specimen Days & Collect (1882–83), are no less effective in their direct, moving simplicity.

Charles Lamb: In 1808 Lamb also published Specimens of English Dramatic Poets Who Lived About the Time of Shakespear, a selection of scenes from Elizabethan dramas; it had a considerable influence on the style of 19th-century English verse. Lamb also contributed critical papers on Shakespeare and on William Hogarth to Hunt’s Reflector.…

Frank Gouldsmith Speck was an American cultural anthropologist known for his work on the Algonquin Indian tribes of the eastern United States. Speck studied under Franz Boas at Columbia University. He founded the anthropology department at the University of Pennsylvania and was its chairman for