Key terms & definitions

A cell that has not yet developed the structures needed for a particular function and may be able to differentiate.

An emulsion that separates again on standing, such as a vinaigrette salad dressing.

A nucleus that can spontaneously emit radiation and change into a more stable nucleus.

An atomic nucleus that can undergo radioactive decay, emitting particles or electromagnetic radiation.

An interview without a fixed sequence of questions, allowing the researcher to explore participants’ answers in depth.

An interview without a fixed sequence of questions, in which the researcher develops questions in response to what the participant says.

Using a resource at a rate, or in a way, that cannot be maintained without depleting or damaging it.

Using or polluting water faster than natural processes can replenish usable supplies, reducing its availability in the future.

The discriminatory practice of treating certain people as polluting and excluding them from ordinary social contact or shared facilities.

An energy transfer that does not contribute to the device's intended output.

An energy transfer that does not contribute to the intended purpose of a device or process.

An unintended change elsewhere in a program caused by running a piece of code, such as a subroutine changing a shared variable.

A social convention learned through socialisation and experience rather than formally documented.

A sacred-thread initiation ceremony associated with beginning religious education in some Hindu traditions.

A Hindu sacred text containing teachings about spiritual reality; Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.28 includes a prayer for movement from darkness to light and death to immortality.

The care, teaching and experiences that shape a child as they grow.

The environment, care, examples and guidance a person experiences while growing up.

Turning an existing product or discarded material into a new product with greater usefulness or value.

An SQL command that changes values in existing rows of a table.

Equanimity: a balanced, impartial attitude towards beings, without favouritism or hostility.

An area of relatively high land, often with steep slopes and rugged terrain.

The raising of part of the Earth’s crust, which can contribute to mountain building.

A regular Buddhist observance day linked to the phases of the moon, devoted to renewed ethical discipline and religious practice.

The boundary at the top of the range of possible original values; for ordinary rounding, this boundary is excluded from the error interval.

A value found using limits of accuracy so that no possible result lies above it.

The wealthiest and highest-status section of society, including aristocratic landowners and some wealthy industrialists.

A small, privileged social class at the top of the class hierarchy, associated with substantial wealth, often inherited, and access to high status and influence.

The largest measurement or value permitted by a tolerance.

The value about three-quarters of the way through an ordered dataset; also written as $Q_3$.

A value that divides ordered data so that approximately three quarters of the observations lie at or below it.