Encyclopedia

Pro-European Pro-European is a subjective term applied to a person who supports the European Union (EU) and generally further 'deepening' of European integration, specifically in the context of political argument over the current and future status of the EU and its policies. Since very few political parties in EU member states propose its abolition, and since there is no indication of major support at present for this drastic step, the majority of the EU population can be vaguely described as pro-European.
Pro-feminism Pro-feminism refers to support of the cause of feminism without implying that the supporter is a member of the feminist movement. The term is most often used in reference to men who are actively supportive of feminism and of efforts to bring about gender equality.
Pro-feminist men Pro-feminist men are considered by some to be a stream of the modern men's movement sympathetic towards feminism. Pro-feminist men seek to add male voices to feminism and advocate change by men in their gender relations and social, political and institutional structures.
Pro-form A pro-form is a type of function word or expression that stands in for another (expresses the same content as) a word, phrase, clause, or sentence whose meaning is recoverable from the context. They are used to avoid repetitive expressions and in quantification.
Pro-choice Pro-choice describes the political and ethical view that a woman should have total control over her fertility and pregnancy. This entails the guarantee of reproductive rights, which includes access to sexual education; access to safe and legal abortion, contraception, and fertility treatments; and legal protection from forced abortion.
Pro-Choice Action Network The Pro-Choice Action Network is a Canadian pro-choice organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Founded in 1987, as the BC Coalition for Abortion Clinics, the group changed to its current name in 1998.
Pro-Indonesia militia Pro-Indonesia militias (also pro-Indonesian militias) were East Timorese paramilitary militia groups that formed to show loyalty to the Indonesian government during the movement for East Timorese independence in the late 1990s. Many believed that the independence movement would be unsuccessful, and that those loyal to Indonesia would be rewarded when they regained control of the area.
Pro-Keds In the 1960s and 1970s, Keds introduced a line of athletic shoes called Pro-Keds, which were intended for more serious use, specifically for basketball. Over the years many basketball players and teams wore Pro-Keds shoes while playing.
Pro-life Pro-life is a term representing a variety of perspectives and activist movements in bioethics. It can be used to indicate opposition to practices such as euthanasia, human cloning, research involving human embryonic stem cells, and the death penalty, but most commonly (especially in the media and popular discourse) to abortion, and support for fetal rights.
Pro-life activism Pro-life activism is a term for activities, by individuals or groups, intended to influence public policy, or other's opinions, beliefs and behavior, in opposition to abortion and euthanasia. The efforts sometimes involve the dissemination of literature and services and civil disobedience.
Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians (PLAGAL) is an interest group of gay and lesbian Americans that support the pro-life position that life begins at conception and thus abortion is murder. However, they differ from some other pro-life interest groups because they also support gay marriage.
Pro-MPEG Pro-MPEG – the Professional-MPEG Forum – is an association of broadcasters, program makers, equipment manufacturers, and component suppliers with interests in realizing the interoperability of professional television equipment, according to the implementation requirements of broadcasters and other end-users. The Forum has been in existence for approximately six years and has over 130 members.
Pro-Slavery Thought in the Old South The following aritcle aims to objectively outline Pro-Slavery Thought as concieved in the Antebellum Southern States. It is in no way meant to present slavery and/or racism as morally or otherwise acceptable institutions/practices within today's society.
Pro-Test Pro-Test is a British group that promotes and supports animal testing in medical research. It was founded on January 29, 2006 to counter SPEAK, an animal-rights campaign opposing the construction by Oxford University of a biomedical and animal-research facility,University of Oxford News Release: High Court Ruling (10 November 2004) which SPEAK believes may include a primate-testing centre.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor In a university, an assistant to a Vice-Chancellor is called a Pro-Vice-Chancellor (also Pro Vice-Chancellor or Deputy Vice-Chancellor). These are sometimes teaching academics who take on additional responsibilities.
Pro-war rhetoric Rhetorical genre is important today because it explains how and why text is important in our lives. Rhetoric is the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience, while genres are credible common themes found within mass communications.
Pro-yo party The Pro-Yo Party is a regional, independent, not-for-profit organization based in Youngstown, Ohio working to improve the quality of life in Youngstown proper and in the entire Steel Valley Area. Their work is carried out through urban revitalization and beautification, inner-city activism, public art, murals, and advertisements.
Pro/DESKTOP Pro/DESKTOP (commonly referred to as Pro/D) is a Computer-aided design (CAD) program from Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), that allows users to design and model in 3D and create 2D drawings. It can transfer a 3D design into a 2D engineering drawing format and also create photo-realistic views using Album Views.
Proa A Proa is a multihull vessel consisting of two (usually) unequal parallel hulls, superficially similar to an outrigger canoe. Found in many configurations and forms, it was developed as a sailing vessel in Micronesia (Pacific Ocean), and forms of it may be found as far as Madagascar and Sri Lanka.
Proactionary principle The proactionary principle, a phrase coined in 2004 by cultural strategist Natasha Vita-More (known for her writings and multi-media transhumanist works), is an ethical principle intended as a pro-innovation counterbalance to the more famous precautionary principle.
Proactive The word proactive was originally coined by the psychiatrist Victor Frankl in his book Man's Search for Meaning to describe a person who took responsibility for his or her life, rather than looking for causes in outside circumstances or other people. Much of this theory was formed in Nazi concentration camps where Frankl lost his wife, mother, father and family, but decided that even under the worst circumstances, people can make and find meaning.
Proactive and Preemptive Operations Group The Proactive and Preemptive Operations Group (aka PPOG or P2OG), is reported to be a clandestine military intelligence agency established in 2002. Although the actual status of the project is not entirely clear, P20G is said to have been created to thwart potential terrorist attacks on the United States, according to a classified document, Special Operations and Joint Forces in Countering Terrorism.
Proactive maintenance Proactive maintenance is a maintenance strategy for stabilizing the reliability of machines or equipment. Its central theme involves directing corrective actions aimed at failure root causes, not active failure symptoms, faults, or machine wear conditions.
Proanthocyanidin Proanthocyanidin (also known as oligomeric proanthocyanidin (OPC), pycnogenol, leukocyanidin and leucoanthocyanin) is a class of flavonoids. It was discovered in 1936 by Professor Jacques Masquelier and called Vitamin P, although this name did not gain official category status and has since fallen out of usage.
Proarrhythmia Proarrhythmia is a new or more frequent occurrence of pre-existing arrhythmias, paradoxically precipitated by antiarrhythmic therapy, which means it is a side-effect associated with the administration of some existing antiarrhythmic drugs, as well as drugs for other indications. In other words, it is a tendency of antiarrhythmic drugs to facilitate emergence of new arrhythmias.
Proastiakos Proastiakós (Greek: Προαστιακός, meaning "Suburban") is the name used by the suburban railway network of Athens, Greece. It currently connects Larissa station (Athens Central Railway Station) with Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport and Corinth.
Proaza Proaza is a municipality in the Autonomous Community of the Principality of Asturias, Spain. It is bordered on the north by Santo Adriano and Grado, on the south by Teverga and QuirĂłs, on the west by Yernes y Tameza and Teverga, and on the east by QuirĂłs.
Probabilistic encryption Probabilistic encryption is the use of randomness in an encryption algorithm, so that when encrypting the same message several times it will, in general, yield different ciphertexts. The term "probabilistic encryption" is typically used in reference to public key encryption algorithms, however various symmetric key encryption algorithms achieve a similar property (e.
Probabilistic forecasting Probabilistic forecasting is a technique for weather forecasting which relies on different methods to establish an event occurrence/magnitude probability. This differs substantially from giving a definite information on the occurrence/magnitude (or not) of the same event, technique used in deterministic forecasting.
Probabilistic logic The aim of a probabilistic logic (or probability logic) is to combine the capacity of probability theory to handle uncertainty with the capacity of deductive logic to exploit structure. The result is a richer and more expressive formalism with a broad range of possible application areas.
Probabilistic number theory Probabilistic number theory is a subfield of number theory, which uses explicitly probability to answer questions of number theory. One basic idea underlying it is that different prime numbers are, in some serious sense, like independent random variables.
Probabilistic risk assessment Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) (or probabilistic safety assessment/analysis) is a systematic and comprehensive methodology to evaluate risks associated with a complex engineered technological entity (such as airliners or nuclear power plants).
Probability Probability is the extent to which something is likely to happen or be the caseOxford Dictionary of English, Second Edition. Probability theory is used extensively in areas such as statistics, mathematics, science, philosophy to draw conclusions about the likelihood of potential events and the underlying mechanics of complex systems.
Probability and statistics See the separate articles on probability or the article on statistics. Statistical analysis depends on the characteristics of particular probability distributions, and the two topics are normally studied together.
Probability axioms The probability P of some event E, denoted P(E), is defined with respect to a "universe", or sample space Omega, of all possible elementary events in such a way that P must satisfy the Kolmogorov axioms.
Probability current In quantum mechanics, the probability current (sometimes called probability flux) is a useful concept which describes the flow of probability density. In particular, if one pictures the probability density as an inhomogeneous fluid, then the probability current is the rate of flow of this fluid (the density times the velocity).
Probability density function In mathematics, a probability density function (pdf) serves to represent a probability distribution in terms of integrals. A probability density function is any function that is everywhere non-negative whose integral from −∞ to +∞ is equal to 1.
Probability distribution In mathematics and statistics, a probability distribution, more properly called a probability distribution function, assigns to every interval of the real numbers a probability, so that the probability axioms are satisfied. In technical terms, a probability distribution is a probability measure whose domain is the Borel algebra on the reals.
Probability mass function In probability theory, a probability mass function (abbreviated pmf) gives the probability that a discrete random variable is exactly equal to some value. A probability mass function differs from a probability density function in that the values of the latter, defined only for continuous random variables, are not probabilities; rather, its integral over a set of possible values of the random variable is a probability.
Probability of kill Computer games, simulations, models, and operations research programs often require a mechanism to determine statistically whether the engagement between a weapon and a target resulted in a kill, or the probability of kill. Statistical decisions are required when all of the variables that must be considered are not incorporated into the model, similar to the actuarial methods used by insurance companies to deal with large numbers of customers and huge numbers of variables.
Probability-generating function In probability theory, the probability-generating function of a discrete random variable is a power series representation (the generating function) of the probability mass function of the random variable. Probability-generating functions are often employed for their succinct description of the sequence of probabilities Pr(X = i), and to make available the well-developed theory of power series with non-negative coefficients.
Probable cause In United States criminal law, probable cause refers to the standard by which a police officer may make an arrest, conduct a personal or property search or obtain a warrant. It is also used to refer to the standard to which a grand jury believes that a crime has been committed.
Probainognathia Probainognathia are mammal-like cynodonts, and are one of the two main branches of the Eucynodontia infraorder, with the other being the Cynognathia - a group that includes Cynognathus and the Tritylodonts. They were mainly meat-eaters, while the Cynognathians were plant-eaters.
Probainognathus Probainognathus is a genus of meat-eating mammal-like reptile (Therapsids) that lived during the lower Upper Triassic of South America. This creature had an incipient squamosal-dentary jaw-cranium joint, which is a clearly mammalian anatomical feature.
Probands Proband is a term used most often in medical genetics and other medical fields to denote a particular subject (person or animal) being studied or reported on. On pedigrees, the proband is noted with an arrow and the box (male) or circle (female) shaded accordingly.
Probate Probate is the legal process of settling the estate of a deceased person; specifically, resolving all claims and distributing the decedent's property. It is also a term that is commonly used within the Canadian judiciary system to signify “prove to be worthy.
Probate Court Probate Court is a court found in some jurisdictions which is primarily concerned with the proper distribution of the assets of a decedent. Probate Court exists to determine the validity of wills, enforce the provisions of valid wills, to prevent malfeasance by executors and administrators of estates, and to provide for an equitable distribution of the assets of persons who die intestate (without a valid will).
Probate research Probate research deals with finding heirs and proving their right to inheritances. Intestacy laws vary enormously from one country to another, however, a common factor is that a minority of estates exist where no entitled persons are known.
Probatio diabolica Probatio diabolica is a legal requirement to achieve an impossible proof. Where a legal system would appear to require an impossible proof, the remedies are reversing the burden of proof, or giving additional rights to the individual facing the probatio diabolica.
Probation Probation is the suspension of a jail sentence - the criminal who is "on probation" has been convicted of a crime, but instead of serving jail time, has been found by the Court to be amenable to probation and will be returned to the community for a period in which they will have to abide to certain conditions set forth by the Court under the supervision of a probation officer. General conditions may include maintaining employment, abiding to a curfew, living where directed, abstaining from unlawful behavior, following the probation officer's orders and not absconding.
Probation (workplace) In a workplace setting, probation is a status given to new employees of a company or business. This status allows a supervisor or other company manager to closely evaluate the progress and skills of the newly hired worker, determine appropriate assignments and monitor other aspects of the employee – such as how he/she interacts with co-workers, supervisors and/or customers.
ProbCons ProbCons is an open source probabilistic consistency-based multiple alignment of amino acid sequences. It is an efficient protein multiple sequence alignment program, which has demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in accuracy compared to several leading alignment tools.
Probe (Philippine TV series) Probe (formerly known as The Probe Team and The Probe Team Documentaries) is a Philippine public affairs program being aired on ABS-CBN and on its sister cable channel, the ANC. It is hosted by Cheche Lazaro and is produced by Probe Productions Inc.
Probe card A probe card is an interface between an electronic test system and a semiconductor wafer. Its purpose is to provide an electrical path between the test system and the circuits on the wafer, thereby permitting the testing and validation of the circuits at the wafer level, usually before they are diced and packaged.
Probe droid Probe droids, also known as Probots, are a fictional type of droid found in the Star Wars movies. They are automated reconnaissance and information-gathering vehicles that can be launched in special pods over great distances and will land on their intended target, usually a planet.
Probert Encyclopaedia The Probert Encyclopaedia is a concise online encyclopedia containing over 110,000 entries organized topically, written and published by Matthew Probert under the name Probert Publishing. It has unusual search functions which create pages containing the text of all the articles matching the search, rather than giving a list of results.
Probištip The town of Probistip (Macedonian: Пробиштип) is nestled in the southwest corner of the Osogovo Mountains, in northeastern Republic of Macedonia. The region has been well-known since Roman times for its mineral wealth and mining industry, which flourished during Yugoslav times.
Probing amendment In legislative debate, a probing amendment is an amendment tabled by a legislator without the intention of seeing the amendment carried. The purpose of proposing the amendment is to provide an opportunity for discussion of a specific point.
Probing Lensing Anomalies Network The Probing Lensing Anomalies NETwork (PLANET) collaboration coordinates a network of telescopes to rapidly sample photometric measurements of the magnification of stars in the galactic bulge undergoing gravitational microlensing by intervening foreground stars (or other compact massive objects). This network is comprised
Probiotic Probiotics are dietary supplements containing potentially beneficial bacteria or yeast, with lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as the most common microbes used. LAB have been used in the food industry for many years, because they are able to convert sugars (including lactose) and other carbohydrates into lactic acid.
Problem bank list In American finance, the problem bank list is a confidential list created and maintained by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation which lists banks that are in jeopardy of failing. The list is closely monitored, and if problems continue with a listed bank, the FDIC takes control of the bank; it may then sell the problem bank to a stronger one, or liquidate the bank and pay off the depositors.
Problem domain A problem domain is a domain where the parameters defining the boundaries of the domain and sufficient mappings into a set of ranges including itself are not well enough understood to provide a systematic description of the domain.
Problem gambling Problem gambling is an urge to gamble despite harmful negative consequences or a desire to stop. The term is preferred to Compulsive Gambling among many professionals, as few people described by the term experience true compulsions in the clinical sense of the word.
Problem Child (song) "Problem Child" is a song by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It is the fourth track of their Australian album Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, released in September 1976 (see 1976 in music), and was written by Angus Young, Malcolm Young, and Bon Scott.
Problem novel Problem novel is a term used to refer to a sub-genre of young adult literature that deal exclusively with an adolescent's first confrontation with a social or personal ill. The term was first used in the late 1960s to differentiate contemporary works like The Outsiders and Mr.
Problem of evil In the philosophy of religion and theology, the problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of evil or suffering in the world with the existence of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent god or gods. A proposed solution to this dilemma is called a theodicy.
Problem of evil in Hinduism Hindu answers to the problem of evil are different from most answers offered in Western philosophy, partly because the problem of evil within Hindu thought is differently structured than Western traditions, mainly Abrahamic traditions.
Problem of change Philosophers who attempt to describe how an entity changes often refer to what they call the problem of change: how can something stay itself through change. In other words, how can an object change, whereby it would cease to be what it was anymore, in order to be a different item, but still remain the same through the change.
Problem of mental causation The problem of mental causation is a conceptual issue in the philosophy of mind. That problem is how to account for the common-sense idea that intentional thoughts or intentional 'mental states' are causes of intentional actions.
Problem of other minds The problem of other minds is the philosophical problem of determining how we know that there are minds associated with the bodies we see walking around among us. This is more specifically a problem of epistemology.
Problem of the futures contingents The problem of the future's contingents is a logical paradox first posed by Diodorus Cronus from the Megarian school of philosophy, under the name of the "dominator", and then reactualized by Aristotle in chapter 9 of De Interpretatione. It was later taken on by Leibniz.
Problem picture A Problem Picture is a genre of art popular in the late Victorian era, characterised by a deliberately ambiguous narrative that can be interpreted in several different ways, or which portrays an unresolved dilemma. It is the pictorial equivalent of the Problem play.
Problem play The problem play is a form of drama that emerged during the 19th century as part of the wider movement of Realism in the arts. A characteristic feature of the problem play is that it deals with problematic social issues through debates between the characters on stage, who typically represent conflicting points of view within a realistic social context.
Problem plays In Shakespeare studies, the term "problem plays" normally refers to three comedies that William Shakespeare wrote between the late 1590s and the first years of the seventeenth century: All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure and Troilus and Cressida, although some critics would extend the term to other plays, most commonly Hamlet, The Winter's Tale, Timon of Athens, and The Merchant of Venice. The term was coined by critic F.
Problem size In the fields of algorithm analysis and computational complexity theory, the running time or space requirements of an algorithm are expressed as a function of the problem size. The problem size measures the size, in some sense, of the input to the algorithm.
Problem solving Problem solving forms part of thinking. Considered the most complex of all intellectual functions, problem solving has been defined as higher-order cognitive process that requires the modulation and control of more routine or fundamental skills (Goldstein & Levin, 1987).
Problem-based learning Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical strategy of "active learning" often used in higher education, but is can be adapted for use in K-12 education. It was pioneered and used extensively at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Problem-oriented policing Problem-oriented policing (POP), coined by University of Wisconsin professor Herman Goldstein, is a policing strategy that involves identifying specific crime and disorder problems, such as occur in crime hot spots. With problem-oriented policing, the problem is analyzed and a strategy devised to tackle the problem.
Problem-Oriented Medical Information System The Problem-Oriented Medical Information System, or PROMIS, was a hypertext system specially designed for maintaining health care records. PROMIS was developed at the University of Vermont in 1976, primarily by Jan Schultz and Dr.
Problematic physics experiments Physics experiments that attempt to be the first in their category tend to have a higher failure rate than normal. Experimenters are sometimes involved in a race to be first or are under other pressures to perform, equipment is often being pushed to its limits, and experimental techniques are sometimes too new for their true reliability rates to be fully appreciated at the time.
Proboscis In general, a proboscis (from Greek pro "before" and boskein "to feed") is an elongated appendage from the head of an animal. The most common usage is to refer to the tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates like insects, worms (including proboscis worms) and mollusks.
Probus and Ladock railway station Probus and Ladock Halt was opened by the Great Western Railway on 1 February 1908 between St Austell and Truro. Characteristic Great Western Railway corrugated iron waiting shelters were provided on both of the wooden platforms.
Procainamide Procainamide (proe-KANE-a-mide) (INN, trade names Pronestyl®, Procan®, Procanbid®) is a pharmaceutical antiarrhythmic agent used for the medical treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, classified by the Vaughan Williams classification system as class Ia.
Procalcitonin Procalcitonin (PCT) is a precursor of the hormone calcitonin, which is involved with calcium homeostasis, and is produced by the C-cells of the thyroid gland. It is there that procalcitonin is cleaved into calcitonin, katacalcin and a protein residue.
Procambarus clarkii Procambarus clarkii is a freshwater crayfish species, native to the Southeastern United States, but found also on other continents, where it is often an invasive pest. It is known variously as the red swamp crawfish, red swamp crayfish, Louisiana crawfish or Louisiana crayfish.
Procan In the World of Greyhawk campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, Procan is the god of Seas, Sea Life, Salt, Sea Weather, and Navigation. His holy symbol is a gold and coral trident above a cresting wave.
Procarbazine Procarbazine (Matulane® (US), Natulan (Canada)) is an antineoplastic chemotherapy drug for the treatment of Hodgkin's lymphoma and certain brain cancers (such as Glioblastoma multiforme). It is a member of a group of medicines called alkylating agents.
Procas granulicollis Procas granulicollis (sometimes known as the climbing corydalis weevil) is a beetle in the family Curculionidae, the true weevils. It was first described in 1848 from a specimen collected in Cumbria and has since been found at a number of other sites in Britain, mainly in the west.
Procatalepsis A procatalepsis is a rhetorical figure or strategy in which the writer raises an objection and then immediately answers it; by doing so, the writer seeks to strengthen his argument by dealing with possible objections before his audience can raise counter-arguments.
Procedural animation A procedural animation is a type of computer animation, used to automatically generate animation in real-time to allow for a more diverse series of actions than could otherwise be created using predefined animations.
Procedural control Procedural control is a method of providing air traffic control services without the use of radar. It is used in regions of the world, specifically sparsely-populated land areas and oceans, where provision of contiguous radar cover is either prohibitively expensive or is simply not feasible.
Procedural defense In jurisprudence, procedural defenses are a form of defense, via which a party argues that they should not be held liable for a legal charge or claim brought against them. In common law jurisdictions the term has applications in both criminal law and civil law.
Procedural democracy Procedural democracy is a democracy in which the people have less influence than in traditional liberal democracies. This type of democracy is characterized by voters choosing, in free and fair elections contested by competing candidates, who fills public offices that are governed by constitutional law.
Procedural law Procedural law comprises the rules by which a court hears and determines what happens in civil or criminal proceedings. The rules are designed to ensure a fair and consistent application of due process (in the U.
Procedural modeling Procedural modeling is an umbrella term for a number of techniques in computer graphics to create 3D models and textures from sets of rules. L-Systems, fractals, and generative modeling are procedural modeling techniques since they apply algorithms for producing scenes.
Procedural programming Procedural programming is sometimes used as a synonym for imperative programming (specifying the steps the program must take to reach the desired state), but can also refer (as in this article) to a programming paradigm based upon the concept of the procedure call. Procedures, also known as routines, subroutines, methods, or functions (not to be confused with mathematical functions, but similar to those used in functional programming) simply contain a series of computational steps to be carried out.
Procedure A procedure is a specification of the series of actions, acts or operations which have to be executed in the same manner in order to obtain always the same result in the same circumstances (for example, emergency procedures). Less precisely speaking, this word can indicate a sequence of activities, tasks, steps, decisions, calculations and processes, that when undertaken in the sequence laid down produces the described result, product or outcome.
Proceed-to-select Proceed-to-select: In communications systems operation, pertaining to a signal or event in the call-access phase of a data call, which signal or event confirms the reception of a call-request signal and advises the calling data terminal equipment to proceed with the transmission of the selection signals.
Proceedings (magazine) Proceedings is a monthly magazine published by the United States Naval Institute since 1874. The 96-page publication features articles about Naval and Military matters written by active and retired military personnel plus renowned authors and scholars of their subject.
Proceedings of science Proceedings of Science (PoS) is an electronic journal for publishing the proceedings of scientific conferences. It is published by the Italian International School for Advanced Studies (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, or SISSA) and evolved from the Journal of High Energy Physics (JHEP) proceedings section.

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