curule chair, a style of chair reserved in ancient Rome for the use of the highest government dignitaries and usually made like a campstool with curved legs. Ordinarily made of ivory, with or without arms, it probably derived its name from the chariot (currus) in which a magistrate was conveyed to

pituitary tumour: …cause of enlargement of the sella turcica, the bone cavity in the head in which the pituitary gland is located. There are two general types of pituitary tumours—hormone secreting and nonsecreting. There are five types of hormone-secreting pituitary tumours, named according to the cells that produce the particular hormone. They…

Quintino Sella was a statesman who helped place the new national government on a firm financial footing after the unification of Italy. Educated for the engineering profession, Sella taught at Turin for several years before entering politics. In 1860 he was elected to the Piedmontese Chamber of

joint: Sellar joint: The sellar joint has already been described in the section Articular cartilage. It has two types of movement, both swings: flexion-extension and abduction-adduction. In addition to these it allows movements combining these two—that is, swings accompanied by rotation of the moving bone. An…

cholera: Development of treatments: …at Calcutta Medical College, and Andrew Sellards, an American in Manila. Rogers developed a replacement fluid that contained a much higher salt content than had previously been used and that resulted in a halving of cholera deaths—from a 60 percent mortality rate down to 30 percent. Sellards suggested that sodium…

Peter Sellars is an American stage director. He is best known for staging plays and operas for numerous international theatres in settings far different than those suggested by the text. Sellars attended Harvard University, where he began developing his innovative style of directing. His

Wilfrid Sellars was an American philosopher best known for his critique of traditional philosophical conceptions of mind and knowledge and for his uncompromising effort to explain how human reason and thought can be reconciled with the vision of nature found in science. Although he was one of the

Wilfrid Sellars was an American philosopher best known for his critique of traditional philosophical conceptions of mind and knowledge and for his uncompromising effort to explain how human reason and thought can be reconciled with the vision of nature found in science. Although he was one of the

African literature: Ethiopian: Heruy Walda Sellasse, an Ethiopian foreign minister who became the country’s first major writer, wrote two novels that are critical of child marriage and that extol Christianity and Western technology. But he was also critical of the Christian church and proposed in one of his…

Sierra de Baoruco, mountain range in the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic. It extends about 50 miles (80 km) east from the Haitian border to the Caribbean Sea and lies parallel to the Cordillera Central. Its highest peak is 5,348 feet (1,630 meters). Straddling the Haitian border, the

Hispaniola: …southwestern peninsula, which rises to Mount Selle at 8,773 feet (2,674 metres). In contrast to the highlands, the basin of Lake Enriquillo in southwestern Dominican Republic is quite low, the surface of the lake being about 150 feet (45 metres) below sea level. The main rivers are the Yaque del…

Passion music: Matthew Passion setting of Thomas Selle (1599–1663) uses a double chorus extensively, while his setting of the St. John Passion incorporates instruments and a “distant choir.” Contrast between the interlocutors is achieved by assigning particular instruments or groups to different characters. Chorales, or hymn tunes, were introduced into the…

monopoly and competition: Concentration of sellers: Seller concentration refers to the number of sellers in an industry together with their comparative shares of industry sales. When the number of sellers is quite large, and each seller’s share of the market is so small that in practice he cannot,…

Carry Back: His jockey, John Sellers, found himself and the colt in a scramble of horses early on and sent Carry Back to the outside, where he had room to put his speed to work. The colt ran down the opposition with a spectacular burst in the homestretch to…

Peter Sellers was a versatile English comic actor whose astonishing range of characters earned him international stardom at a time when rigid typecasting was usual. Sellers was a descendant of legendary Portuguese-Jewish prizefighter Daniel Mendoza and the son of British vaudeville performers.

Peter Sellers was a versatile English comic actor whose astonishing range of characters earned him international stardom at a time when rigid typecasting was usual. Sellers was a descendant of legendary Portuguese-Jewish prizefighter Daniel Mendoza and the son of British vaudeville performers.

William Sellers was an American engineer and manufacturer. Sellers was born into a distinguished scientific family. The first of his firms manufactured machinists’ tools and mill gearing. His formulas for matching screw threads and nuts (1864) became the U.S. standards. In 1868 he founded Edge Moor

property: “Sale,” the voluntary exchange of property for money, is the most common of these. A “donation,” or gift, is another voluntary form. Succession to property upon death of the previous owner is a central concept in nearly all property systems and falls into the category…

Looking to sell your house? There’s a whole host of to-do tasks to accomplish before putting up that “For Sale” sign—chores that go well beyond choosing a selling price. Selling a home—particularly if you’ve lived there for many years—can be emotionally draining. Part of the stress comes from the

When most people first learn about options, it’s in the context of buying call and put options to speculate on the direction of (or hedge a position in) an underlying stock, exchange-traded fund (ETF), or other security (called “the underlying” in trader jargon). The option contract gives you the

If you’re familiar with option basics, you know that a put option contract gives the owner (i.e., the buyer) the right, but not the obligation, to sell 100 shares of the underlying stock or ETF at a specific price (the “strike” or “exercise” price) by a certain date (the option’s “expiration

Television in the United States: Media versus the federal government: …day, the most controversial was The Selling of the Pentagon (CBS, 1971), which reported on pro-Vietnam War government propaganda and on the relationship between the Pentagon and its corporate contractors. Controversy over the show—especially accusations that interviews had been edited in a way that distorted the meaning of what had…

The Selling of the President, 1968, nonfictional book about the 1968 presidential campaign of Richard M. Nixon written by American author Joe McGinniss that became one of the most-influential books on the campaigns of American presidential candidates. The book became a New York Times best seller in

bear market: …price, a speculative transaction called selling short. The term bear may derive from the proverb about “selling the bearskin before one has caught the bear” or perhaps from selling when one is “bare” of stock. Compare bull market.

If you have experience trading single option contracts, you may be ready to jump to the next level. Maybe you like the prospect of selling options and collecting premium, but can’t (or your broker won’t allow you to) accept the open-ended risk. So what’s that next level? Selling vertical spreads.

Selma, city, seat (1866) of Dallas county, central Alabama, U.S. It lies on the Alabama River about 50 miles (80 km) west of Montgomery. The site was first recorded on a map in 1732 as Ecor Bienville; it was later called Moore’s Bluff, for a settler who arrived about 1815. It was renamed about 1819

Tarana Burke: …consultant on Ava DuVernay’s film Selma (2014). Later Burke served as director of the Brooklyn, New York, organization Girls for Gender Equality. The organization assists African American girls in building personal development skills. Burke also taught empowerment workshops, and she edited (with Brené Brown) the essay collection You Are Your…

Selma March, political march from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery, that occurred March 21–25, 1965. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the march was the culminating event of several tumultuous weeks during which demonstrators twice attempted to march but were stopped, once

Selma March, political march from Selma, Alabama, to the state’s capital, Montgomery, that occurred March 21–25, 1965. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., the march was the culminating event of several tumultuous weeks during which demonstrators twice attempted to march but were stopped, once

Selma March: How Long, Not Long: Selma to Montgomery: …act of Congress created the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail. An interpretive centre operated by the National Park Service is located in Lowndes county at roughly the halfway point between Selma and Montgomery.

Francesco Selmi was an Italian chemist and toxicologist who is considered one of the founders of colloid chemistry. Selmi held several teaching positions in Turin and Modena before accepting the post of professor of chemical pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Bologna in 1867. He

Macedonian literature: …of the first Macedonian novel, Selo zad sedumte jaseni (1952; “The Village Beyond the Seven Ash Trees”). His most ambitious work was a cycle of six novels that deals with Macedonian history and includes Tvrdoglavi (1965; “The Stubborn Ones”), a novel articulating the Macedonian people’s myths and legends of remembering…

Halang language, language spoken chiefly in the central highlands of south-central Vietnam near Kon Tum. The number of speakers in Vietnam is estimated at some 10,000. Halang is a member of the North Bahnaric subbranch of the Mon-Khmer language family, which is a part of the Austroasiatic stock.

Baltic states: Early Middle Ages: …Latvia was inhabited by the Selonians and Latgalians. At least four major principalities can be distinguished among the latter.

Francis Selormey was a Ghanaian writer and teacher whose semiautobiographical novel, The Narrow Path: An African Childhood (1966), was hailed as a distinguished addition to African literature. Selormey began his career as a physical-education teacher and administrator. His first published work was

Selous Game Reserve, huge game reserve, southeastern Tanzania. It is named after Frederick Selous, a naturalist, explorer, and soldier. It covers an area of more than 17,000 square miles (44,000 square km) and bestrides a complex of rivers including the Kilombero, Ruaha, and Rufiji. Its vegetation

Frederick Courteney Selous was a hunter and explorer whose south-central African travels added substantially to knowledge of the country later known as Rhodesia. In 1871–72 Selous traveled from Cape Town to Matabeleland, where he was given permission to hunt freely. For 18 years Selous explored and

Selket, in Egyptian mythology, goddess of the dead. Her symbolic animal was the scorpion. She was one of the underworld deities charged with protecting the canopic jar in which the intestines of the deceased were stored after

weather forecasting: Predictive skills and procedures: …with severe thunderstorms, sometimes called severe local storms (SELS) or simply severe weather. Forecasts and warnings also are made for tornadoes, those intense, rotating windstorms that represent the most violent end of the weather scale. Destruction of property and the risk of injury and death are extremely high in the…

Herāt: …largest of these is the Selseleh-ye Safīd Kūh (Paropamisus Range). The province is traversed from east to west by the Harīrūd River, along which most of the people live in agricultural oases. The capital, located in the largest oasis, is a centre of Afghan trade with Iran and Turkmenistan and…

Reinhard Selten was a German mathematician who shared the 1994 Nobel Prize for Economics with John F. Nash and John C. Harsanyi for their development of game theory, a branch of mathematics that examines rivalries between competitors with mixed interests. Selten’s father was Jewish, and as a

Reinhard Selten was a German mathematician who shared the 1994 Nobel Prize for Economics with John F. Nash and John C. Harsanyi for their development of game theory, a branch of mathematics that examines rivalries between competitors with mixed interests. Selten’s father was Jewish, and as a

Shurugwi, town, central Zimbabwe. Shurugwi was established in 1899 by the British South Africa Company and Willoughby’s Consolidated Company. Its name was derived from a nearby bare oval granite hill that resembled the shape of a pigpen (selukwe) of the local Venda people. The town is the terminus

Precambrian: Age and occurrence of greenstone-granite belts: …over three successive periods: the Selukwe belt about 3.8 to 3.75 billion years ago, the Belingwean belts about 2.9 billion years ago, and the Bulawayan-Shamvaian belts about 2.7 to 2.6 billion years ago. The Barberton belt in the Kaapvaal craton and the Warrawoona belt in the Pilbara block are 3.5…

Status of the World’s Tropical Forests: As recently as the 19th century tropical forests covered approximately 20 percent of the dry land area on Earth. By the end of the 20th century this figure had dropped to less than 7 percent. The factors contributing to deforestation are numerous, complex, and often…

rat opossum, (family Caenolestidae), any of six species of South American marsupials in the order Paucituberculata. Rat opossums include the common shrew opossums (genus Caenolestes) with four species, the Incan caenolestid (Lestoros inca), and the Chilean shrew opossum (Rhyncholestes raphanurus).

José Maria Ferreira de Castro: Two novels—Emigrantes (1928; “Emigrants”) and A selva (1930; “The Jungle,” translated into more than a dozen languages)—launched Ferreira de Castro’s literary career and offered an almost photographic portrayal of an exotic region and its human tensions and high drama.

weaving: …avoids raveling; these are called selvages. They run lengthwise, parallel to the warp yarns. The three basic weaves are plain, twill, and satin. Fancy weaves—such as pile, Jacquard, dobby, and leno—require more complicated looms or special loom attachments for their construction.

cable: Selvage cables composed of parallel wires are ideally suited for the main cables of a suspension bridge. Marine ropes are used for rigging, mooring, and towing.

Madeira Islands: …groups, the Desertas and the Selvagens. The islands are the summits of mountains that have their bases on an abyssal ocean floor. Administratively, they form the autonomous region of Madeira. The regional capital, Funchal, is located on Madeira Island.

Miguel de Cervantes: Publication of Don Quixote: …of his attendance at the Academia Selvaje, a kind of writers’ salon, in 1612.

Samuel Selvon was a Caribbean novelist and short-story writer of East Indian descent, known for his vivid evocation of the life of East Indians living in the West Indies and elsewhere. He came to public attention during the 1950s with a number of other Caribbean writers, including V.S. Naipaul.

Samuel Selvon was a Caribbean novelist and short-story writer of East Indian descent, known for his vivid evocation of the life of East Indians living in the West Indies and elsewhere. He came to public attention during the 1950s with a number of other Caribbean writers, including V.S. Naipaul.

Radiohead: April 15, 1968, Oxford), drummer Phil Selway (b. May 23, 1967, Hemingford Grey, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire), and guitarist-keyboardist Jonny Greenwood (b. November 5, 1971, Oxford).

Selwyn Mountains, mountain range in Yukon and Northwest Territories, northwestern Canada. Part of the Rockies, they trend northwest-southeast and rise to 9,750 feet (2,972 metres) in Keele

George Augustus Selwyn was the first Anglican bishop of New Zealand. Selwyn was educated at Eton and St. John’s College, Cambridge. In 1833 he was ordained a deacon and became a curate at Windsor. He was made bishop of New Zealand in 1841. He learned to preach in Maori and to sail his own vessel

Selwyn Lloyd was a British Conservative politician who was foreign secretary during Britain’s diplomatic humiliation in the Suez crisis of 1956 and later chancellor of the exchequer under Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Lloyd studied law at Cambridge and was called to the bar in 1930. After World

Hans Selye was an endocrinologist known for his studies of the effects of stress on the human body. Selye was educated at the German University of Prague (M.D., 1929; Ph.D., 1931) and at the universities of Paris and Rome. In 1931 he came to the United States to work as a research fellow at Johns

Hans Selye was an endocrinologist known for his studies of the effects of stress on the human body. Selye was educated at the German University of Prague (M.D., 1929; Ph.D., 1931) and at the universities of Paris and Rome. In 1931 he came to the United States to work as a research fellow at Johns

thought: The process of thought: The German psychologist Otto Selz countered that in many situations this kind of theory would imply the occurrence of errors as often as correct answers to questions and thus was untenable. Selz contended that response selection depends rather on a process of “complex completion” that is set in…

David O. Selznick was an American motion-picture producer who earned a reputation for commercially successful films of high artistic quality before and after World War II. Selznick received his early training in motion pictures from his father, Lewis J. Selznick, a producer of silent films in New

organizational analysis: Theoretical developments: …American sociologist and legal scholar Philip Selznick, like Michels, emphasized the nonrational aspects of organizations. Using the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) as an example, he argued that one of the most important features of organizations is the tendency for structures and processes to become “infused with value beyond the technical…

standard error of measurement (SEM), the standard deviation of error of measurement in a test or experiment. It is closely associated with the error variance, which indicates the amount of variability in a test administered to a group that is caused by measurement error. The standard error of

scanning electron microscope (SEM), type of electron microscope, designed for directly studying the surfaces of solid objects, that utilizes a beam of focused electrons of relatively low energy as an electron probe that is scanned in a regular manner over the specimen. The electron source and

Nagaland: Cultural life: …and hereditary chieftainships of the Semas and Changs to the democratic structures of the Angamis, Aos, Lothas, and Rengmas. A prominent village institution is the morung (a communal house or dormitory for young unmarried men), where skulls and other trophies of war formerly were hung. The pillars are still carved…

cnidarian: Annotated classification: Order Semaeostomeae Most common and best known jellyfishes. Full alternation of polyp and medusa stages. Bell domed or flattened, with the margin scalloped into 8 or more sections. Edges of single mouth drawn out into 4 long arms. Most species in warm, coastal waters, a few…

Adam Ważyk: Ważyk’s earliest volumes of poetry, Semafory (1924; “Semaphores”) and Oczy i usta (1926; “Eyes and Lips”), were written between the ages of 17 and 20 and reflect the instability of life in Poland after World War I and the pervasive sense of loss left in its wake. Ważyk was closely…

semaglutide, drug used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes and to aid weight loss in persons who are severely overweight. Semaglutide was initially approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 to help control blood glucose levels in persons with type 2 diabetes; the drug was

Austroasiatic languages: Morphology: …of noun phrases (possessives in Semai, demonstratives in Mnong), but these do not constitute word suffixes. (2) Infixes and prefixes are common, so that only the final vowel and consonant of a word root remain untouched. It is rare to find more than one or two affixes (i.e., prefixes or…

Guillaume de Salluste, seigneur du Bartas: …Coudons) was the author of La Semaine (1578), an influential poem about the creation of the world.

Banda: Age grades and initiations called semali assured intergroup unity in time of war. Marriage traditionally required bridewealth, often in iron implements. Polygyny, although still practiced, has declined with the rise of a money-based economy.

Modernismo: …gained wide recognition with its Semana de Arte Moderna (“Week of Modern Art”), an event held in São Paulo in 1922, provoking controversy with lectures on the aims of Modernism and readings from works by such Modernist poets as Mário de Andrade (q.v.).

Semang, people who live mostly in peninsular Malaysia and speak an Austro-Asiatic language. In the early 21st century their population was estimated to be approximately 2,000. They are traditional nomadic hunters, using blowguns to hunt small game, and gatherers of wild roots and fruits. Most

Jahaic languages, a subbranch of the Aslian branch of the Mon-Khmer family, itself a part of the Austroasiatic stock. The group includes Bateg, Che’ Wong, Jahai, Kensiw, Kenta’, and Menriq. The language group is a small one, with total speakers estimated at some 5,000. They are located mainly in

Malaysia: Malaysia from independence to c. 2000: Mahathir’s opponents countered by forming Semangat ’46 (Spirit of ’46), which claimed to embody the ideals of the original UMNO (established in 1946) and attempted to unite the disparate opposition groups against the ruling BN coalition headed by UMNO.

percussion instrument: Idiophones: …percussion beams, such as the semanterion; percussion disks and plaques, single and in sets; xylophones, lithophones (sonorous stones), and metallophones (sets of tuned metal bars); percussion tubes, such as stamping tubes, slit drums, and tubular chimes; and percussion vessels varying from struck gourds and pots to gongs, kettle gongs, steel…

philosophy of biology: The structure of evolutionary theory: Supporters of the “semantic” conception argue that scientific theories are rarely, if ever, hypothetico-deductive throughout, and that in any case the universal laws presupposed by the hypothetico-deductive model are usually lacking. Especially in biology, any attempt to formulate generalities with anything like the necessity required of natural laws…

cyberwar: Attacks in cyberspace: Finally, semantic cyberattacks, also known as social engineering, manipulate human users’ perceptions and interpretations of computer-generated data in order to obtain valuable information (such as passwords, financial details, and classified government information) from the users through fraudulent means. Social-engineering techniques include phishing—in which attackers send seemingly…

Hilary Putnam: Realism and meaning: This conception, known as semantic externalism, can therefore serve as a basis for an objective account of truth and knowledge. Consequently, it can also support realism—and was indeed employed by Putnam (and many others after him) to that end.

memory: Long-term memory: …an association, known as “semantic” memories. The latter category includes definitions and many kinds of factual knowledge, such as knowledge of the name of the current pope, which one might not recall having learned at any particular time or place.

information processing: Semantic content analysis: In a so-called semantic network, conceptual entities such as objects, actions, or events are represented as a graph of linked nodes (Figure 4). “Frames” represent, in a similar graph network, physical or abstract attributes of objects and in a sense define the objects. In “scripts,” events and actions…

formal logic: Semantic tableaux: Since the 1980s another technique for determining the validity of arguments in either PC or LPC has gained some popularity, owing both to its ease of learning and to its straightforward implementation by computer programs. Originally suggested by the Dutch logician Evert W.…

Semantic Web, extension of the World Wide Web (WWW) in which data are given meaning (semantics) to enable computers to look up and “reason” in response to user searches. One of the strongest proponents of the Semantic Web is Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the British inventor of the WWW and the director of

semantics, the philosophical and scientific study of meaning in natural and artificial languages. The term is one of a group of English words formed from the various derivatives of the Greek verb sēmainō (“to mean” or “to signify”). The noun semantics and the adjective semantic are derived from

semaphore, method of visual signaling, usually by means of flags or lights. Before the invention of the telegraph, semaphore signaling from high towers was used to transmit messages between distant points. One such system was developed by Claude Chappe in France in 1794, employing a set of arms

Southeast Asian arts: Characters: …the chief Javanese clown figure, Semar, is derived from an ancient Javanese god who was deposed from his supreme position by the introduction into the drama of the later Hindu gods. In the midst of mythological plays, the clowns comment irreverently on political or social issues of the day, seemingly…

Western Sahara: History: …1902 constructed the town of Semara at an inland oasis. Cape Juby (Ṭarfāyah) was occupied for Spain by Col. Francisco Bens in 1916, Güera was occupied in 1920, and Semara and the rest of the interior were occupied in 1934.

Semarang, kota (city), port, and capital of Central Java (Jawa Tengah) propinsi (or provinsi; province), Indonesia. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Java. The city, divided into old and new sections, is just inland from the port and on the banks of the Baru River and the West Banjir

semantics, the philosophical and scientific study of meaning in natural and artificial languages. The term is one of a group of English words formed from the various derivatives of the Greek verb sēmainō (“to mean” or “to signify”). The noun semantics and the adjective semantic are derived from

Robert Noyce: Statesman: …an important role in establishing Sematech, a joint industry-government consortium formed with sometimes conflicting goals—research to keep the American semiconductor industry at the forefront and efforts to maintain a domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity. Noyce became Sematech Inc.’s first president in 1988.

mammal: Skin and hair: … or hamadryas baboon, warning (sematic), as seen in the bold pattern of skunks, or concealing (cryptic), perhaps the most common adaptation of pelage colour.

Ōsaka-Kōbe metropolitan area: Settlement patterns: …of Ōsaka railway station; the Semba Centre Building, which although only four floors in height extends about three-fifths of a mile along Chūō Ōdōri and is constructed under an elevated expressway and over a subway; and the convention centre built on the man-made Port Island in Kōbe Harbour.

Thousand Cranes, novel by Kawabata Yasunari, published serially in several newspapers beginning in 1949 and published as Sembazuru with the novel Yama no Oto (The Sound of the Mountain) in 1952. One of Kawabata’s finest works, Thousand Cranes was written in part as a sequel to Yukiguni (1948; Snow

Ousmane Sembène was a Senegalese writer and film director known for his historical and political themes. (Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.) Sembène spent his early years as a fisherman on the Casamance coast. He studied at the School of Ceramics at Marsassoum and then

Marcella Sembrich was a Polish coloratura known for both her operatic and her concert work. Marcelina Kochańska learned to play the violin and piano from her father and performed on both instruments in recital when she was 12 years old. She also studied piano and voice with Wilhelm Stengel, whom

Kru languages: …groups is another Kru language, Seme (Sεmε), which is spoken in Burkina Faso hundreds of miles away from any other Kru language. Its location is of particular interest as it lends support to the hypothesis that in earlier times the Kru population had lived farther north; but, under pressure from…

Ignazio Silone: …seme sotto la neve (1940; The Seed Beneath the Snow, 1942), portray socialist heroes who try to help the peasants by sharing their sufferings in a Christian spirit. Pane e vino was dramatized in 1944 as Ed egli si nascose (London, And He Did Hide Himself, New York, And He…

Sapindales: Distribution and abundance: …genera of comparable size, but Semecarpus (occurring from Indo-Malaysia to Micronesia) has about 60 species, Mangifera (occurring in Southeast Asia and Indo-Malaysia to Solomon Islands) has about 40 species, and Schinus (occurring from Mexico to Argentina) has about 30 species.

Sapindales: Anacardiaceae: Semecarpus anacardium (dhobi nut) has young fruits with a black resin that is insoluble in water and is used as a marking ink in Southeast Asia.

nightjar: The pennant-winged nightjar (Semeiophorus vexillarius) of Africa gets its name from its boldly patterned black and white wing, which has greatly lengthened innermost primary flight feathers (50 to 70 cm [20 to 28 inches]).