Sims, William Sowden (b. Oct. 15, 1858, Port Hope, Ont., Can.—d. Sept. 28, 1936, Boston, Mass., U.S.) U.S. naval officer. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and later wrote a navigation textbook that became widely used. As naval attache to U.S. embassies in Paris and St. Petersburg, he observed the superiority of foreign navies. As inspector of naval target practice (1902-09), he revolutionized U.S. naval gunnery. In World War I he commanded the U.S. fleet in Europe and helped develop the convoy system to protect Allied ships from German submarine attack. He was president of the Naval War College (1917-18, 1919-22).
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1756 I simulation ► Singapore
simulation, computer Use of a computer-generated system to rep¬ resent the dynamic responses and behaviour of a real or proposed system. A mathematical description of a system is developed as a computer pro¬ gram that uses equations to represent the functional relationships within the system. When the program is run, the resulting mathematical dynam¬ ics form an analog, usually represented graphically, of the behaviour of the modeled system. Variables in the program can be adjusted to simu¬ late varying conditions in the system. Computer simulations are used to study the behaviour of objects or systems that cannot be easily or safely tested in real life, such as weather patterns or a nuclear blast. Simpler simulations performed by personal computers are business models and geo¬ metric models. See also scientific visualization.
simultaneous equations See system of equations
Sin \'sen\ Sumerian Nanna In Mesopotamian religion, the god of the moon. He was the father of Shamash and, in some myths, of Ishtar. Sin was thought to confer fertility and prosperity on cowherds by governing the rise of waters and the growth of reeds, particularly in the marshes along the lower Euphrates River, where his worship originated. In the 6th century bc, attempts were made to elevate Sin to a supreme position in the Babylonian pantheon.
sin Wrongdoing, particularly the breaking of moral or religious rules. In the Hebrew scriptures, sin is viewed as a hatred of God or defiance of his commandments. The New Testament regards sinfulness as the inherent state of humanity, which Jesus came into the world to heal. Christian theo¬ logians divide sin into actual and original sin. Actual sin, consisting of evil acts, words, and deeds, is in turn divided into mortal sin, in which the perpetrator deliberately turns away from God, and venial sin, a less serious transgression committed without full awareness of wrongdoing. In Islam, sin is a straying from God’s path; the prophets were sent to guide people back to the true path. In Hinduism and Buddhism, the good and evil deeds one commits in this life affect one’s rebirth in the next.
his flagging career, and he later starred in many acclaimed films, includ¬ ing musicals such as Guys and Dolls (1955) and dramas such as The Manchurian Candidate (1962). After 1953 he performed and recorded using arrangements by Nelson Riddle, Billy May, and Gordon Jenkins, reaching his peak in albums such as Only the Lonely (1958). In 1961 he founded Reprise Records. His masterly performances, alternately swing¬ ing and affectingly melancholic, brought him a success unparalleled in the history of American popular music.
Sinclair, Upton (Beall) (b. Sept. 20, 1878, Baltimore, Md., U.S.—d. Nov. 25, 1968, Bound Brook, N.J.) U.S. novelist. He was supporting him¬ self as a journalist when an assignment led him to write The Jungle (1906), a best-selling muckraking expose of conditions in the Chicago stockyards. A landmark among naturalistic, proletarian novels, it aroused great public indignation and resulted in the passage of the U.S. Pure Food and Drug Act. Many other topical novels followed, as well as the successful Lanny Budd series of 11 contemporary historical novels featuring an antifascist hero, beginning with World’s End (1940) and including Dragon’s Teeth (1942, Pulitzer Prize). In the 1930s Sinclair organized a socialist reform move¬ ment and won the Democratic nomination for governor of California.
Sind or Sindh Province (pop., 1998: 29,991,000), southeastern Paki¬ stan. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the south. The capital is Kara¬ chi. The centre of the ancient Indus civilization, it was annexed to the Persian Achaemenian Empire in the 6th century bc. Conquered by Alex¬ ander the Great in 325 bc, it was part of the Mauryan empire in the 3rd century bc. It fell to the Arabs c. ad 711. In the 16th—17th centuries it was ruled by the Mughals. It came under British control in 1843. After Paki¬ stan’s independence, Sind was integrated into the province of West Paki¬ stan but in 1970 was reestablished as a separate province. It is arid except in the irrigated Indus River valley, where cotton, wheat, and rice are grown and where the population is concentrated.
sine See trigonometric function
Sinai, Mount or Mount Horeb Peak, south-central Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. It rises to 7,497 ft (2,285 m) in elevation and is especially renowned in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions as the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Though not positively identified as the place referred to in biblical texts, it is an important pilgrimage site. St. Catherine’s, founded in 527 and thought to be the world’s oldest con¬ tinuously inhabited Christian monastery, is at its northern base.
Sinai k'sI-.nlN Peninsula Peninsula, northeastern Egypt. Located between the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba at the northern end of the Red Sea, it covers some 23,500 sq mi (61,000 sq km). Its southern region is moun¬ tainous and includes Mount Sinai, while its northern two-thirds is an arid plateau known as the Sinai Desert. Inhabited since prehistoric times, it is famous as the purported route of the Israelite Exodus from Egypt. For centuries, its northern coast was the main trade route between Egypt and Palestine. From the 1st century ad until the rise of Islam in the 7th cen¬ tury, it was part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire. It was ruled by various Islamic dynasties until the 16th century, when it became part of the Ottoman Empire. Turned over to Egypt at the end of World War I in 1918, it was the scene of heavy fighting during the Suez Crisis (1956), the Six-Day War, (1967), and the Yom Kippur War (1973) and was occupied by Israel from 1967 until 1982, when it was then returned to Egypt. See Arab-Israeli wars.
Sinaloa \,se-na-To-a\ State (pop., 2000: 2,536,844), northwestern Mexico. It has an area of 22,521 sq mi (58,328 sq km), and its capital is Culiacan. It was made a state in 1830 and consists of a tropical coastal plain along the Gulf of California that rises inland to the Sierra Madre Occidental. The popular resort city of Mazatlan is on its coast. It is pri¬ marily an agricultural area, producing wheat, cotton, tobacco, and sugar¬ cane. Salt, graphite, manganese, and gold are mined.
Sinatra, Frank orig. Francis Albert Sinatra (b. Dec. 12, 1915, Hoboken, N.J., U.S.—d. May 14, 1998, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. singer and actor. Sinatra began his singing career in the mid-1930s and was “discovered” by trumpeter Harry James, who immediately recruited him. Sinatra achieved sweeping national popularity in 1940-42 while singing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He sang on the radio program Your Hit Parade (1943-45), while becoming a favourite performer in theatres and nightclubs. In the 1940s he co-starred in a number of musical films with dancer Gene Kelly. His popularity suddenly declined about 1948, but his performance in From Here to Eternity (1953, Academy Award) revived