stilt Any of certain species of shorebirds (family Recurvirostridae) that have long thin legs and a long slen¬ der bill and inhabit warm regions worldwide. Stilts, 14-18 in. (35-45 cm) long, live around ponds, probing in mud and weedy shallows for crus¬ taceans and other small aquatic ani¬ mals. The common stilt ( Himantopus himantopus) is variably black-and- white with pink legs and red eyes.
Stilwell, Joseph W(arren) (b.
March 19, 1883, Palatka, Fla.,
U.S.—d. Oct. 12, 1946, San Fran¬ cisco, Calif.) U.S. army officer. He graduated from West Point and served in World War I. He studied Chinese and served in Tianjin (1926-29) and as a military attache in Beijing (1935-39). At the outbreak of World War II, he became chief of staff to Gen. Chiang Kai-shek and commanded Chinese armies in Burma (1939-42). He became commander of U.S. forces in China, Burma, and India and oversaw construction of the Ledo, or Stilwell, Road, a strategic military link with the Burma Road. Promoted to general (1944), he com¬ manded the U.S. 10th Army in the Pacific (1945-46).
Stilwell Road formerly Ledo Road Former military highway, Asia. It was 478 mi (769 km) long and linked northeastern India with the Burma Road. In World War II, U.S. Army engineers and Chinese troops con¬ structed it to link the railheads of Ledo, India, and Mogaung, Burma. Named for Gen. Joseph Stilwell, it crossed into Burma (Myanmar) through the difficult Pangsau Pass of the Patkai Range.
Stimson, Henry L(ewis) (b. Sept. 21, 1867, New York, N.Y., U.S.—d. Oct. 20, 1950, Huntington, N.Y.) U.S. statesman. A lawyer, he served as U.S. secretary of war (1911-13), governor of the Philippines (1927-29), and U.S. secretary of state (1929-33). After the Japanese occu¬ pation of Manchuria (1931), he sent to Japan a diplomatic note, the con¬ tents of which became known as the Stimson Doctrine, refusing to recognize territorial changes and reaffirming U.S. treaty rights. As secre¬ tary of war (1940^15), he oversaw the expansion and training of U.S. forces in World War II. He was the chief adviser on atomic policy to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman and recommended use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Stimulant Any drug that excites any bodily function; usually one that stimulates the central nervous system, inducing alertness, elevated mood, wakefulness, increased speech and motor activity, and decreased appetite. Their mood-elevating effects make some stimulants (e.g., amphetamines, caffeine and its relatives, cocaine, nicotine) potent drugs of abuse (see drug addiction). Ritalin, prescribed for attention deficit disorder in children, is a mild stimulant.
"Card Players," oil painting by De Stijl artist Theo van Doesburg, 191 7; in the collection of the Haags Gemeentemu- seum, The Hague
COURTESY OF THE HAAGS GEMEENTEMUSEUM, THE HAGUE
Black-necked stilt (Himantopus himan¬ topus mexicanus)
G.W. ROBINSON-ROOT RESOURCES
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1824 I stingray ► Stockhausen
stingray or whip-tailed ray Any of various species (family Dasyatidae) of rays noted for their slender, whiplike tail with barbed, usu¬ ally venomous spines. Most species inhabit warm seas; a few live in the rivers of South America. Species range in width from 10 in. (25 cm) to 7 ft (2 m). Stingrays eat worms, mollusks, and other invertebrates. These bottom-dwellers often lie partially buried in the shallows, lashing their tail when disturbed. Large stingrays can drive their tail spines into a wooden boat. The spines cause serious, extremely painful wounds that, if abdominal, may be fatal.
Stirling Town and council area (pop., 2001: 86,212), south-central Scot¬ land. Located on the River Forth, Stirling has evidence of early settle¬ ment by the British Picts. Made a royal burgh c. 1130 and a royal residence in 1226, it was the birthplace of James II of Scotland and site of the coro¬ nations of Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI of Scotland (later James I of England). Two battles were fought nearby: the Battle of Stirling Bridge (1297), where Scottish troops routed the English, and the Battle of Ban¬ nockburn (1314). The town flourished until the mid-16th century and shared with Edinburgh the privileges of a capital city. After the union of the Scottish and English crowns in 1603, it ceased to play an important national role. The town is now a commercial centre for an agricultural region. The council area is a centre for electronics manufacture, and there are also papermaking, malting, brewing, and distilling industries. Stirling is the council area’s administrative centre and largest town.
Stirling, Sir James (Frazer) (b. April 22, 1926, Glasgow, Scot.—d. June 25, 1992, London, Eng.) Scottish architect. He began working (1956-63) in the New Brutalist style with his partner James Gowan (see Brutalism). His engineering building at Leicester University (1963), with its precise crystalline forms, brought him early fame. From 1971 he worked with Michael Wilford. In the 1970s Stirling developed his own brand of postmodernism that made use of complex geometric abstraction, bold colours, and Classical elements. The Neue Staatsgalerie (1977-84) in Stuttgart, Ger., is among his finest statements. In 1981 Stirling received the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Stirling, William Alexander, 1st earl of (b. c. 1576, Menstrie, Clackmannan, Scot.—d. Feb. 12, 1640, London, Eng.) Scottish poet and colonizer of Canada. He was a member of the court of James I, where he wrote his sonnet sequence Aurora (1604). In 1621 he obtained a grant for territory in North America that he named New Scotland (Nova Scotia), despite French claims to part of the land. He offered baronetcies to Scots¬ men who would sponsor settlers, but the region was not colonized until his son established a settlement at Port Royal (Annapolis Royal). Alex¬ ander was compelled to surrender the territory under the Treaty of Susa (1629), which ended an Anglo-French conflict. Scottish settlers were ordered to withdraw by 1631.
stoa Vsto-oV In Greek architecture, a freestanding colonnade or covered walkway; also, a long open building with its roof supported by one or more rows of columns parallel to its rear wall. Stoas lined marketplaces and sanctuaries and formed places of business and public promenades. Rooms might back onto the colonnade, and a second story was some¬ times added. The Stoa of Attalus in Athens (2nd century bc), a large, elaborate, two-story building with a row of shops at the rear, was a prime example.
stochastic process \sto-'kas-tik\ In probability theory, a family of ran¬ dom variables indexed to some other set and having the property that for each finite subset of the index set, the collection of random variables indexed to it has a joint probability distribution. It is one of the most widely studied subjects in probability. Examples include Markov pro¬ cesses (in which the present value of the variable depends only upon the immediate past and not upon the whole sequence of past events), such as stock-market fluctuations, and time series (in which temperature or rain¬ fall measurements, for example, are taken at the same time each day over several days).
stock In finance, the subscribed capital of a corporation or limited- liability company, usually divided into shares and represented by trans¬ ferable certificates. Many companies have only one class of stock, called common stock. Common stock, as a share of ownership in the company, entitles the holder to an interest in the company’s earnings and assets. It carries voting rights that enable the holder to participate in the running of the company (unless such rights are specifically withheld, as in spe¬ cial classes of non voting shares). Dividends paid on common stock are often unstable because they vary with earnings; they are also usually less
than earnings, the difference being used by the management to expand the firm. To appeal to investors who want to be sure of receiving dividends regularly, some companies issue preferred stock, which has a prior claim to dividends paid by the company and, in most cases, to the company’s assets in case of its dissolution. Preferred-stock dividends are usually set at a fixed annual rate that must be paid before dividends are distributed to common stockholders. See also security, stock exchange.