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rapid transit

(Encyclopedia)rapid transit, transportation system designed to allow passenger travel within or throughout an urban area, usually employing surface, elevated, or underground railway systems or some combination of t...

Strategic Defense Initiative

(Encyclopedia)Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), former U.S. government program responsible for research and development of a space-based system to defend the nation from attack by strategic ballistic missiles (se...

air navigation

(Encyclopedia)air navigation, science and technology of determining the position of an aircraft with respect to the surface of the earth and accurately maintaining a desired course (see navigation). Basic to air ...

leather

(Encyclopedia)leather, skin or hide of animals, cured by tanning to prevent decay and to impart flexibility and toughness. Prehistoric and primitive peoples preserved pelts with grease and smoke and used them chief...

Chongqing

(Encyclopedia)Chongqing cho͞ongˈkĭngˈ [key], city and independent municipality, 592 sq mi (1,534 sq km), in SE ...

ultrasonics

(Encyclopedia)ultrasonics, study and application of the energy of sound waves vibrating at frequencies greater than 20,000 cycles per second, i.e., beyond the range of human hearing. The application of sound energy...

Pascal, Blaise

(Encyclopedia)Pascal, Blaise blĕz päskälˈ [key], 1623–62, French scientist and religious philosopher. Studying under the direction of his father, a civil servant, Pascal showed great precocity, especially in ...

futurism

(Encyclopedia)futurism, Italian school of painting, sculpture, and literature that flourished from 1909, when Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's first manifesto of futurism appeared, until the end of World War I. Carlo Ca...

Anhui

(Encyclopedia)Anhui or Anhwei both: änˈhwāˈ [key], province, c.55,000 sq mi (142,450 sq km), E central China. Hefei is the capital. Anhui may be divided into two climatic areas. The north...

Brazzaville

(Encyclopedia)Brazzaville brăzˈəvĭl, Fr. bräzävēlˈ [key], city (1984 pop. 585,812), capital of the Republic of the Congo, on Pool Malebo of the Congo River. It is the nation's largest city and its administr...