stainless steel Any of a family of alloy steels usually containing 10-30% chromium. The presence of chromium, together with low carbon content, gives remarkable resistance to corrosion and heat. Other ele¬ ments, such as nickel, molybdenum, titanium, aluminum, niobium, cop¬ per, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and selenium, may be added to increase corrosion resistance to specific environments, enhance resistance to oxi¬ dation (see oxidation-reduction), and impart special characteristics.
stairway or staircase Series or flight of steps that provides a means of moving from one level to another. The earliest stairways seem to have been built with walls on both sides, as in Egyptian pylons dating from the 2nd millennium bc. The Romans were noted for their monumental stairs. The modem use of steel and reinforced concrete has made possible the curves and sweeps of contemporary design. Staircases have traditionally been built of wood, marble or stone, and iron or steel. A step’s horizon¬ tal surface is called its tread, the vertical front its riser. Traditional wooden staircases are constructed with stringers, beams inclined to the angle of the staircase. Stringers are supported by newel posts, which also support the handrail, forming a balustrade.
Staked Plain See Liano Estacado
stalactite and stalagmite \st3-Tak- 1 tIt...st3-Tag- 1 m!t\ Elongated forms of various minerals deposited from solution by slowly dripping water. A stalactite hangs like an icicle from the ceiling or side of a cav¬ ern. A stalagmite rises from the floor of a cavern. The two are not nec¬ essarily paired; when they are, continual elongation of one or both may eventually join them into a column. The dominant mineral in such depos¬ its is calcite (calcium carbonate), and the largest displays are formed in caves of limestone and dolomite.
stalactite work or muqarnas \mu-'kar-nas\ Honeycomb-like Islamic architectural ornamentation formed by the intricate corbeling (see corbel) of squinches (see Byzantine architecture), brackets, and inverted pyramids in overlapping tiers. It appeared in the early 12th century throughout the Islamic world; a frequent use was to overlay the transi¬ tional zone between domes and their supports. It reached its highest devel¬ opment in the 14th— 15th century, when it became the usual decoration for door heads, niches, and the bracketing under cornices and minaret galler¬ ies. Rich examples are found in the Alhambra and other Moorish works in Spain.
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1810 I Stalin ► standard of living
Stalin, Joseph orig. Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (b.
Dec. 21, 1879, Gori, Georgia, Russian Empire—d. March 5, 1953, Mos¬ cow, Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet politician and dictator. The son of a cob¬ bler, he studied at a seminary but was expelled for revolutionary activity in 1899. He joined an underground revolutionary group and sided with the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party in 1903. A disciple of Vladimir Lenin, he served in minor party posts and was appointed to the first Bolshevik Central Committee (1912). He remained active behind the scenes and in exile (1913-17) until the Russian Revolu¬ tion of 1917 brought the Bolsheviks to power. Having adopted the name Stalin (from Russian stal, “steel”), he served as commissar for nationali¬ ties and for state control in the Bolshevik government (1917-23). From 1922 he became secretary-general of the party’s Central Committee, a post that later provided the power base for his dictatorship, and was also a member of the Politburo. After Lenin’s death (1924), Stalin overcame his rivals, including Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinovyev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolay Bukharin, and Aleksey Rykov, and took control of Soviet politics. In 1928 he inaugurated the Five-Year Plans that radically altered Soviet economic and social structures and resulted in the deaths of many millions. In the 1930s he contrived to eliminate threats to his power through the purge tri¬ als and through widespread secret executions and persecution. In World War II he signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (1939), attacked Finland (see Russo- Finnish War), and annexed parts of eastern Europe to strengthen his western frontiers. When Germany invaded Russia (1941), Stalin took control of military operations. He allied Russia with Britain and the U.S.; at the Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam conferences, he demon¬ strated his negotiating skill. After the war he consolidated Soviet power in eastern Europe and built up the Soviet Union as a world military power. He continued his repressive political measures to control internal dissent; increasingly paranoid, he was preparing to mount another purge after the so-called Doctors' Plot when he died. Noted for bringing the Soviet Union into world prominence, at terrible cost to his own people, he left a legacy of repression and fear as well as industrial and military power. In 1956 Stalin and his personality cult were denounced by Nikita Khrushchev.
Stalin Peak See Imeni Ismail Samani Peak Stalina bad See Dushanbe Stalingrad See Volgograd
Stalingrad, Battle of (1942-43) Unsuccessful German assault on the Soviet city in World War II. German forces invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 and had advanced to the suburbs of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) by the summer of 1942. Met by a determined Red Army defense commanded by Vasily Chuikov, they reached the city’s centre after fierce street fight¬ ing. In November the Soviets counterattacked and encircled the German army led by Friedrich Paulus, who surrendered in February 1943 with 91,000 troops. The Axis forces (Germans, Romanians, Italians, and Hun¬ garians) suffered 800,000 deaths; in excess of 1,000,000 Soviet soldiers died. The battle marked the farthest extent of the German advance into the Soviet Union.
Stalinism Method of rule, or policies, of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union and his imitators elsewhere in the Soviet bloc. On taking power, Stalin brooked no dissent from party policies, of which he assumed the role of sole infallible interpreter. He postponed the struggle for world pro¬ letarian revolution, focusing instead on “socialism in one country.” He decreed the wholesale collectivization of Russian agriculture and a pro¬ gram of rapid industrialization, which, though broadly effective, resulted in the deaths of many millions. Purges in the 1930s (see Purge Trials) resulted in the deaths of millions more, as opponents were branded trai¬ tors and executed or sent to the Gulag. After Stalin’s death Nikita Khrush¬ chev repudiated Stalinism (1956) as an aberration. See also Leninism, Trotskyism.
Stalino See Donetsk
Stamboliyski \,stam-bo-Te-ske\, Aleksandur (b. March 1, 1879, Slavovitsa, Bulg.—d. June 14, 1923, near Slavovitsa) Bulgarian politician and premier (1919-23). Editor of the Agrarian League’s newspaper, he entered the National Assembly in 1908 as head of the Agrarian Union (Peasant Party). He opposed the pro-German king Ferdinand and supported the Allies in World War I, for which he was imprisoned (1915-18). He led the 1918 insurrection that forced Ferdinand’s abdication, and he was cho¬ sen premier of the new Bulgarian republic in 1919. Favouring a pro¬ agrarian policy, he redistributed land to the peasants and reformed the
judicial system. Stamboliyski’s pacifist leanings and advocacy of a militia alienated the army, and he was overthrown in a military coup and executed.
stamen Male reproductive part of a flower. Stamens produce pollen in terminal saclike structures called anthers. The number of stamens is usu¬ ally the same as the number of petals. Stamens usually consist of a long slender stalk, the filament, with the anthers at the tip. Some stamens are similar to leaves, with the anthers at or near the margins. Small secretory structures called nectaries are often found at the base of the stamens and provide food rewards for insect and bird pollinators (see pollination). See also PISTIL.