1) In an attempt to seduce Madame de Tourvel, the Viscount of Valmont fakes virtue by saving a family from misery in a neighboring village. Valmont causes the Marchioness of Merteuil to surrender after his chasseur discovers Tourvel is physically lovesick of him. An arc of this novel results in the Viscount of Valmont causing Volanges to cheat on the Count of Gercourt, deployed in Corsica. (*) Danceny releases the contents of the letters handed to him by Valmont near the end of this novel. Madame de Rosemonde collects these letters in an attempt to sweep the protagonists' affairs under the rug. For ten points, name this eighteenth-century epistolary French novel about seduction games among the aristocracy, authored by Choderlos de Laclos.

Answer: Liaisons dangereuses (accept Dangerous Liaisons)

2) Nitrifying bacteria convert ammonia and potassium carbonate into this substance. This substance is often used in salt bridges to prevent redox reactions from reaching equilibrium. Production of this substance in (*) old buildings is a consequence of moisture rising in walls by capillarity. It was also harvested in caves from bat guano. For ten points, name this compound used in the production of gunpowder.

Answer: Potassium nitrate (accept saltpeter)

3) Thomas Legler tells about how his commander during the namesake of the song reminded him of it and asked to sing it. The French translation of the first stanza is put as an epigraph in Journey to the End of the Night. This song's German lyrics are based on the last four stanzas of Die Nachtreise. (*) The song's melody was composed by Johann Muller. The sacrifice of Swiss mercenaries in foreign service was written not patriotic song which, for ten points, commemorates a Napoleonic battle synonymous with disaster in French.

Answer: Beresinalied

4) Signatories of this treaty drafted a secret plan called Seven Days to the River, which was not made public until 2005. One of the events of its final days was the Pan-European Picnic in Sopron, Hungary. As an observer, China split from this treaty in 1961 as a consequence of the Albania-Soviet Split. (*) Romania retained a relative autonomy vis-à-vis the other signatories of the Pact. The Iron Curtain was the western border of the territory covered by this collective defense treaty which, for ten points, was synonymous with the Eastern bloc during the Cold War.

Answer: Warsaw Pact

5) This state can be found by the climbing image variant of the nudged elastic band method. An early direct measurement of this phase was made while observing cyanogen iodide. Pump-probe spectroscopy was used to observe this phase on the femtosecond scale. (*) The Hammond-Leffier Postulate states that its structure more closely resembles the side of a reaction with the higher enthalpy. The activation energy represents the minimum amount of energy required to form this complex, which, for ten points, represents a transitional phase in a chemical reaction where bonds are formed and broken.

Answer: Active complex (or activated complex)

6) Kramer's obsession with Helena Scheuberin after her trial and acquittal led him to write this book. One of its alleged co-authors had its name attached to the book only twenty-four years after his death. Because Kramer failed to get approval for this book, its letter of approval from the University of Cologne is believed to be forged. (*) This book was condemned by the Inquisition for recommending unethical and illegal procedures. Some of the book's recommendations included using torture and deception. For ten points, name this 1486 book which was published as a guide for witch hunting during the German Renaissance.

Answer: Malleus Maleficarum (or Hammer of Witches)

7) This medication's interaction between the tertiary amine and the carbonyl carbon of the ketone function played a crucial role towards the discovery of the Burgi-Dunitz angle. Its ability to block the hERG K+ channel may lead to syncopes. This medication's activity at the NMDA receptor makes it effective against neuropathic pain. (*) It was developed in Germany to help solve that country's opium and morphine shortages. This medication is used to address opioid cravings which, for ten points, makes it a mainstream treatment for opioid addiction.

Answer: Methadone

8) The cross product of p with this quantity is one term in the Runge-Lentz vector. The spin-transfer variety of this force is generated by electric current polarization. A PID controller adjusts this quantity in a car's (*) engine with cruise control active by continually monitoring cars' speed. Classical calculations of this type of force involve calculating cross products of lever arms and linear forces. For ten points, name this type of force applied to objects in rotation.

Answer: Torque (accept Moment of force)

9) The papal encyclical Aeterni Patris is responsible for a resurgence of this philosophical current in the late nineteenth century. Luther rejected this current, claiming that its adherents "delivered the keys of theology to pagan morality." One key tenet of the late stages of this current (*) is the so-called Occam's Razor. This philosophical current aimed to reconcile Ancient Greek philosophy with Christian theology. For ten points, Saint Thomas Aquinas represented the leading figure of which philosophical current?

Answer: Scholasticism

10) A bishopric was seated on the shores of this lake in the fourth century. Ruins of an ancient temple were found at the site of Taposiris Magna, a ruined town on that lake. The construction of the Mahmudiyya Canal began after (*) access to the Nile from this lake was lost. During the Siege of Alexandria in 1801, the British cut a sea canal, allowing saltwater from Lake Abu Qir into this lake. For ten points, name this Egyptian brackish lake southwest of Alexandria.

Answer: Lake Mariut

11) Black smokers are a natural occurrence of this state of matter on Earth. Chromatography using this state of matter combines the advantages of high-performance liquid and gas chromatography. Baron Charles Cagniard de la Tour discovered this phase of matter through his (*) cannon barrel experiment. Carbon dioxide is used in this phase to decaffeinate coffee. For ten points, name the phase of matter where distinct gas and liquid phases don't exist.

Answer: Supercritical fluid

12) The Great Karnak Inscription claims that Meneptah killed over two hundred members of a constituent people of this group, the Shekelesh. One of the peoples in this group, the Lukka, initially fought with the Hittites at Qadesh before causing their collapse. Another people in this group, the Peleset, is thought to be (*) the Philistines or Palestinians. This Late Bronze Age confederation is made of various partially identified peoples which, for ten points, caused the collapse of the Hittite empire, but were repulsed by Ramses III at the Battle of the Delta.

Answer: Peoples of the Sea

13) Marilyn Frye argued women subjected to double bind are subjected to this concept. In Queer Race, Ian Barnard argues that queer theory often fails to account for it. In DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, five black female plaintiffs alleged (*) compound discrimination on the grounds of ignoring this concept. Third-wave feminism takes this concept into account, noting the lack of attention paid to it by earlier feminists. For ten points, name this concept referring to the effect of combining multiple sociopolitical identities.

Answer: Intersectionality

14) This museum was built on the remains of Paris' Îlot insalubre number one. A fifth-floor room in this museum was used as the office of Holly Goodhead in Moonraker. Its construction revealed serious issues about French cultural policy in the 1960s. (*) This museum was built in an attempt to slow Paris' decline on the world's artistic scene. For ten points, name this museum in Paris whose color-coded utilities are laid bare outside.

Answer: Pompidou Center (accept Centre Georges-Pompidou)

15) Some lesions, such as 8-oxoguanine, must use this function's long-patch BER form. NER is a three-step process used to perform this function to fix bulky, helix-distorting genetic damage. The enzymes used for the homologous recombination method of this function are almost identical to those used (*) for chromosomal crossover during meiosis. When a cell can no longer perform this function, it may enter either senescence, apoptosis or uncontrolled cell division. For ten points, name this function allowing cells to undo damage to their genomes.

Answer: DNA repair

16) The Tungusic peoples are native to the vicinity of this Russian city. During the Tang Dynasty, this city was the capital of the Heishui Protectorate. It was the site of Soviet war crime trials against Japanese Kwantung Army biological weapons units. (*) This city's bridge over the Amur River was featured on the reverse of the 2006 version of the 5000-ruble banknote. In 2015, this city overtook Vladivostok as the largest city in the Russian Far East. For ten points, name this Russian city which is the largest border crossing between Russia and China.

Answer: Khabarovsk (accept Boli until "Heishui Protectorate" is read)