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interference

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Constructive interference: Two crests or two troughs meet and combine (A, B, C). Destructive interference: A crest and a trough meet and cancel each other (D, E, F). interference, in physics, ...

smart card

(Encyclopedia)smart card, small device that resembles a credit card but contains an embedded microprocessor to store and process information. Magnetic-stripe cards, which store a very small amount of information (m...

Miró, Joan

(Encyclopedia)Miró, Joan zhōänˈ mērōˈ [key], 1893–1983, Spanish surrealist painter. After studying in Barcelona, Miró went to Paris in 1919. In the 1920s he came into contact with cubism and surrealism. H...

Mwanamutapa

(Encyclopedia)Mwanamutapa mwäˌnämo͞otäˈpä [key], former state, SE Africa. The Mwanamutapa empire, headed by a ruler of the same name, was founded c.1420 among the Karanga people (a subgroup of the Bantu-spea...

Goldberg, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Goldberg, Arthur, 1908–90, American labor lawyer and jurist, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1962–65), b. Chicago. He received his law degree from Northwestern Univ. in 1929. A corpor...

flextime

(Encyclopedia)flextime, system of assigning hours for work that permits employees to choose, within specified limits, the hours that they will be at their place of employment. In many companies, there is a “core ...

foot-and-mouth disease

(Encyclopedia)foot-and-mouth disease or hoof-and-mouth disease, highly contagious disease almost exclusive to cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and other cloven-hoofed animals. It is caused by a virus, specifically an a...

Kaesong

(Encyclopedia)Kaesong or Kaisong both: kăˈsŭngˈ [key], Jap. Kaijo, city (1993 pop. 334,433), S North Korea. A long-time commercial center, it is important for its exports of ginseng, a valuable medicinal root. ...

trachoma

(Encyclopedia)trachoma trəkōˈmə [key], infection of the mucous membrane of the eyelids caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Trachoma affects at least 86 million people worldwide. An estimated 1.9 mill...

Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch

(Encyclopedia)Verwoerd, Hendrik Frensch hĕnˈdrək frĕnsh fərvo͞ortˈ [key], 1901–66, South African political leader, b. Holland. He was taken as an infant to South Africa when his parents emigrated as missio...