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Possible definitions for quos

quoin
In architecture, both the external corner of a building and, more often, one of the stones used to form that corner. These stones are both structural and decorative in that they often differ in jointing, color, texture, or size from the masonry of the adjoining walls. Usually quoins are toothed (i.e., set in short courses in a regular pattern of alternating lengths). Such construction dates back to ancient Rome.


quota
In international trade, a government-imposed limit on the quantity of goods and services that may be exported or imported over a specified period of time. Quotas are more effective than tariffs in restricting trade, since they limit the availability of goods rather than simply increasing their price. By limiting foreign goods, a quota aims to allow domestic goods to compete more successfully, though the price of the goods may also rise. Quotas restricting trade were first imposed on a large scale during World War I. In the 1920s, quotas were progressively abolished and replaced by tariffs, but their use was revived in the wave of protectionism set off by the Great Depression. After World War II, the Western European countries began a gradual dismantling of quantitative import restrictions, but the U.S. was slower to discard them. See also free trade.


BIOS
Computer program that is typically stored in EPROM and used by the CPU to perform start-up procedures when the computer is turned on. Its two major procedures are determining what peripheral devices (keyboard, mouse, disk drives, printers, video cards, etc.) are available and loading the operating system (OS) into main memory. After start-up, the BIOS program manages data flow between the OS and the peripherals, so neither the OS nor the application programs need to know the details of the peripherals (such as hardware addresses).


Bursa
City (pop., 1990: 835,000), NW Turkey. It was founded in the 3rd cent. BC, at the foot of the Mysian Mt. Olympus near the SE shore of the Sea of Marmara, as the seat of the kings of Bithynia. It flourished under Roman and later Byzantine emperors. After the Crusaders took Constantinople in 1204, it was a seat of Byzantine resistance. The Ottoman empire took it in the early 14th cent. and made it their first great capital. Conquered by Timur in the early 15th cent., it was recovered by the Ottomans. Though the Ottoman capital was later moved to Constantinople, Bursa continued to prosper. Today it is a center for an agricultural area, and is noted for its carpets and its many 15th-cent. mosques.


bus
Device on a computer's motherboard that provides a data path between the CPU and attached devices (keyboard, mouse, disk drives, video cards, etc.). Like a vehicular bus that stops at designated stations to pick up or drop off riders, a computer bus receives a data signal from the CPU and drops it off at the appropriate device (for example, the contents of ...

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