FertileSail

Estaing, Charles-hector, Comte (count) D'

2005-04-04T23:26:00.000-07:00

D'Estaing served in India during the Seven Years' War and was governor of the Antilles (1763–66). He was appointed vice admiral in 1767 and in 1778 attempted to surprise the English squadrons in North America and enable the colonists

Soter, Saint

2005-04-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

Succeeding St. Anicetus as pope, Soter sent a letter and alms to the church of Corinth, whose bishop, St. Dionysius, replied in a letter that acknowledged Soter's affection and theological advice. Soter continued Pope Anicetus' attack against Montanism, a heresy overemphasizing prophecy and rigid moral

Philip

2005-04-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

Antipope in July 768. Temporal rulers coveted the papal throne following the death (767) of Pope St. Paul I, and Toto, duke of Nepi, had his brother Constantine II, a layman, elected pope. The Lombard king Desiderius then sent troops to Rome, killing Toto and deposing Constantine. Backed by some Romans, the Lombards, in 768, secretly set Philip up as pope. Philip had been

Asian Games

2005-04-01T07:59:00.000-08:00

The first games were held in 1951 at New Delhi; from 1954 they were held every four years. Athletes from 11 nations participated in the inaugural

Mansfield, Arabella

2005-04-01T05:36:00.000-08:00

Belle Babb graduated from Iowa Wesleyan University in 1866 (by which time she was known as Arabella). She then taught political science, English, and history at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa, until her marriage in 1868 to John M. Mansfield,

Sexual Dysfunction

2005-03-31T07:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Psychosexual Dysfunction, the inability of a person to experience sexual arousal or to achieve sexual satisfaction under appropriate circumstances, as a result of either physical disorder or, more commonly, psychological problems. The most common forms of sexual dysfunction have traditionally been classified as impotence (inability of a man to achieve or maintain penile erection) and

Lancashire

2005-03-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

The administrative, geographic, and historic counties occupy somewhat different areas. The administrative

Moraine

2005-03-30T03:26:00.000-08:00

A ground moraine consists of an irregular blanket of till deposited under

Hupeh, Industry

2005-03-29T03:43:00.000-08:00

Hupeh's mineral wealth consists chiefly of iron, copper, and phosphorus ores; coal; and gypsum. Some of China's richest and best iron ore is found at Ta-yeh in southeastern Hupeh. The exploitation of this ore and of coking coal from P'ing-hsiang in Kiangsi was the basis for the founding of an ironworks at Han-yang at the end of the 19th century. Ore from Ta-yeh and other mines was

Middletown

2005-03-28T17:52:00.000-08:00

City, Orange county, southeastern New York, U.S., 60 miles (97 km) northwest of New York City. Settled in 1756, it was organized around the local Congregational church in 1785 and named for its midway location between the Hudson and Delaware rivers. Until 1798 it was in Ulster county. It became headquarters for several turnpike companies and, after 1843, the terminal of the Erie Railroad (later Erie

Aymara

2005-03-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

Large South American Indian group living in the vast windy Titicaca plateau of the central Andes in modern Peru and Bolivia. They speak languages of the Aymaran group. In colonial times the Aymara tribes were the Canchi, Colla, Lupaca, Collagua, Ubina, Pacasa, Caranga, Charca, Quillaca, Omasuyo, and Collahuaya. In addition, the Aymaran language was anciently spoken in

Wickerwork

2005-03-27T13:38:00.000-08:00

Furniture made of real or simulated osier (rods or twigs) plaited into appropriate shapes. The Egyptians made furniture of this kind in the 3rd millennium BC, and it has always flourished in those regions in which there is a plentiful supply of riverside vegetation. A well-known example of Roman wickerwork is the chair on a 3rd-century-AD relief in the Rheinisches Landesmuseum

Aubusson Carpet

2005-03-26T08:27:00.000-08:00

Floor covering, usually of considerable size, handwoven at the villages of Aubusson and Felletin, in the département of Creuse in central France. Workshops were established in 1743 to manufacture pile carpets primarily for the nobility, to whom the Savonnerie court production was not available. Carpets were, however, also made for the royal residences. Soon after the

European Union

2005-03-26T03:30:00.000-08:00

The Maastricht Treaty (formally known as the Treaty on European Union), which was signed on February 7, 1992, created the European Union. The treaty met with substantial resistance in some countries. In Denmark, for example, voters who were worried about infringements upon their country's sovereignty defeated a referendum on the original treaty in June 1992, though a revised

Stefan Nemanja

2005-03-25T13:54:00.000-08:00

Nemanja became grand zupan (clan leader) of Raška under Byzantine suzerainty in 1169. He subsequently sided with the Venetians and was eventually defeated by the avenging Byzantines, but he was pardoned. Nemanja later conquered Skopje, Prizren, and Tetovo. Though again defeated, he retained Kosovo, Pec, Prizren, Bar, Skadar (Shkodër), and Kotor. He abdicated

Olgas

2005-03-25T05:45:00.000-08:00

Aboriginal Kata Tjuta , also called Olga Rocks tors (isolated weathered rocks) in southwestern Northern Territory, Australia, comprising a circular grouping of some 36 red conglomerate domes rising from the desert plains north of the Musgrave Ranges. They occupy an area of 11 square miles (28 square km) within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (established in 1958 as the former Ayers Rock-Mount Olga National Park) and culminate

Loreto

2005-03-24T23:03:00.000-08:00

Loreto lies almost entirely in the Amazonian rain forest at an average elevation of about 500 ft (152 m). The climate is hot and humid, with heavy rainfall. The Ucayali River

Annelid, Distribution and abundance

2005-03-23T22:39:00.000-08:00

Annelids are found worldwide in all types of habitats, especially oceanic waters, fresh waters, and damp soils. Most polychaetes live in the ocean, where they either float, burrow, wander on the bottom, or live in tubes they construct; their colours range from brilliant to dull, and some species can produce light. The feather duster (Manayunkia speciosa) inhabits the Great

Zacapú

2005-03-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

In full Zacapú De Mier, city, north-central Michoacán estado (“state”), west-central Mexico. It is in the Sierra de Nahuatzén, 6,500 feet (1,980 m) above sea level and west of Morelia, the state capital. Agriculture and livestock raising are the principal sources of income, the main crops being wheat, beans, and especially corn (maize). The remains of several Tarascan Indian buildings are nearby. The Heroica

Aurelia

2005-03-22T06:45:00.000-08:00

Genus of marine jellyfish of the order Semaeostomeae (class Scyphozoa, phylum Cnidaria) found in coastal waters, particularly of North America and Europe. The adult may grow as large as 40 cm (16 inches) in diameter. Its medusoid body is bell-shaped, and from the dishlike underside hangs a short tube at the tip of which is the mouth. The edges of the tube form four frilly projections

Pacific Mountain System, Soils

2005-03-21T14:23:00.000-08:00

In the Pacific mountain system are found all of the 11 orders of soils, of which three are most abundant. Inceptisols dominate in the coastal ranges from the Queen Charlotte Islands south to San Francisco Bay and in the Cascade Range. They have weakly differentiated horizons (layers), are little altered from their parent material, and occur where summers are cool. The

Account Receivable

2005-03-21T06:53:00.000-08:00

Any amount owed to a business by a customer as a result of a purchase of goods or services from it on a credit basis. The company making the sale does not receive an acceptance or promissory note (i.e., written orders or promises to pay) from the purchaser but merely enters the amount due as a current asset in its books. Accounts receivable constitute a major portion of the

Computers, The Intel 4004

2005-03-20T17:17:00.000-08:00

Intel was one of several semiconductor companies to emerge in Silicon Valley, having spun off from Fairchild Semiconductor.

Vacuum Technology

2005-03-19T19:40:00.000-08:00

This pump is mainly used on equipment for the study of clean surfaces and in radio-frequency sputtering. Capacities are available up to 190,000 cu ft per minute with an operating pressure range of 10-2 to less than 10-9 torr when water-cooled baffles are used and less than 10-11 torr when refrigerated baffles are employed. The pumping speed for a vapour pump remains constant from about

Omen

2005-03-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

Observed phenomenon that is interpreted as signifying good or bad fortune. In ancient times omens were numerous and varied and included, for instance, lightning, cloud movements, the flight of birds, and the paths of certain sacred animals. Within each type of sign were minor subdivisions, such as the different kinds of bird in flight or the direction of flight in relation

Braque, Georges

2005-03-19T15:32:00.000-08:00

French painter, one of the important revolutionaries of 20th-century art who, together with Pablo Picasso, developed Cubism. His paintings consist primarily of still lifes that are remarkable for their robust construction, low-key colour harmonies, and serene, meditative quality.

Sackville-west, V(ictoria Mary)

2005-03-18T08:55:00.000-08:00

She was the daughter of the 3rd Baron Sackville and a granddaughter of Pepita, a Spanish dancer, whose story she told in Pepita (1937). In 1913 she married Harold Nicolson, a diplomat

Szczecin

2005-03-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

German Stettin, port city and capital, Szczecin województwo (province), extreme northwestern Poland, on the western bank of the Oder River near its mouth, 40 miles (65 km) from the Baltic Sea. Shipbuilding and shipping are the main occupations. Evidence suggests that the area was first inhabited by seafaring people 2,500 years ago. In the 8th and 9th centuries Szczecin was a Slavic fishing and commercial

Insurance, Reinsurance

2005-03-16T17:20:00.000-08:00

Two main types of treaties exist—pro rata and excess-of-loss

Ramakrishna

2005-03-16T15:43:00.000-08:00

From a poor Brahmin (the highest-ranking caste) family, Ramakrishna had little formal schooling. He spoke Bengali and knew neither English nor Sanskrit. His father

Otfrid

2005-03-15T10:45:00.000-08:00

Otfrid was trained in the monastery school of Fulda under Rabanus Maurus, who directed the school from 802 to 824. His fame rests on his Evangelienbuch (c. 870; “Book of the Gospels”), a poem of 7,416 lines, which is extant in three good contemporary manuscripts. It is an exceptionally valuable document,

France, History Of, The shrinking of the frontiers and peripheral areas

2005-03-14T18:33:00.000-08:00

These events undermined the Frankish hegemony. In Brittany the Franks maintained control of the eastern region but had to cope with raids by the Bretons, who had established heavily populated settlements in the western part of the peninsula. To the southwest the Gascons, a highland people from the Pyrenees, had been driven northward by the Visigoths in 578 and settled

Camargo, Marie (-anne De Cupis De)

2005-03-14T17:14:00.000-08:00

Camargo studied in Paris under Françoise Prevost and danced in Brussels and Rouen before her Paris Opéra debut in 1726 in Les Caractères de la danse. Her success provoked the jealousy of her aging teacher, Prevost, who

Ibn Qutaybah

2005-03-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Ibn Qutaybah's life. Of Khorasanian stock, he was qadi (religious judge) of Dinawar (c. 851–870). From c. 871 until his

Canaris, Wilhelm (franz)

2005-03-13T18:56:00.000-08:00

Having served in the navy during World War I, Canaris was a member of the military tribunal that sentenced the murderers of the German

Fish Oil

2005-03-13T02:28:00.000-08:00

Fatty oil from the bodies of fishes, used in the manufacture of many products, such as margarine, cooking oil, cosmetics, caulking compounds, paints, industrial coatings, lubricants, water repellents, soaps, and candles. It is also used in the tanning of leather, the manufacture of rubber, and the production of chemicals used for making synthetic wax. Anchovy, menhaden,

Astoria Canyon

2005-03-12T00:16:00.000-08:00

Submarine canyon and fan-valley system of the Pacific continental margin, off the coast of Oregon, U.S. The canyon's head is in water about 330 feet (100 m) deep, 11 miles (18 km) west of the mouth of the Columbia River. The canyon crosses the seaward half of the continental shelf in a westerly direction and trends sinuously down to the base of the continental slope and the apex of Astoria

Handedness

2005-03-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

A tendency to use one hand rather than the other to perform most activities; it is the usual practice to classify persons as right-handed, left-handed, or ambidextrous. See laterality.

Cystinuria

2005-03-11T02:03:00.000-08:00

Hereditary error of metabolism characterized by the excessive excretion into the urine of four amino acids: cystine, lysine, arginine, and ornithine. The main clinical problem of cystinuria is the possibility of cystine stone formation in the kidney; unlike lysine, arginine, and ornithine, which are freely soluble, cystine is only slightly soluble in urine, and when

China, The clerical staff

2005-03-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

The norms for the clerks were even lower, especially in local government. Some 300 clerks in a large prefecture or nearly 100 in a small one were placed under the supervision of a few officials. The clerks had numerous dealings with various other elements in the community, whereas the officials, being outsiders, rarely had direct contacts. Holding practically lifelong tenure

Hull, Clark L.

2005-03-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

In full Clark Leonard Hull American psychologist known for his experimental studies on learning and for his attempt to give mathematical expression to psychological theory. He applied a deductive method of reasoning similar to that used in geometry, proposing that a series of postulates about psychology could be developed, from which logical conclusions

Transportation, History Of, Formation of airlines

2005-03-08T16:24:00.000-08:00

With practical planes in hand in 1918 the organization of an airline to operate these craft on a scheduled basis over a consistent route was attempted. The first airline was formed in Germany; the Deutsche Luftreederie began service from Berlin to Leipzig and Weimar on Feb. 5, 1919, followed only three days later by the French Farman Company on the trans-channel crossing from

Clam Shrimp

2005-03-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

Also called Claw Shrimp, any member of the crustacean order Conchostraca (subclass Branchiopoda), a group of about 200 species inhabiting shallow freshwater lakes, ponds, and temporary pools throughout the world. Clam shrimps are so called because their entire body is contained within a bivalve shell (carapace) that resembles the shell of a small mollusk. Inside the shell the trunk of the animal

Sanjo Sanetomi, Koshaku

2005-03-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

In his youth he was a political leader of the court nobles gathered around the Emperor. In 1862, when the Emperor tried to reassert his

Fibre, Man-made, Cellulose-based polymers

2005-03-08T09:50:00.000-08:00

In unaltered native cellulose, X represents hydrogen, forming a number of pendant hydroxyl (OH) groups. Hydroxyl groups, like amides, are capable of forming hydrogen

Cabra

2005-03-07T19:46:00.000-08:00

Cabra has a ruined Moorish castle, and its parish church (the former cathedral) was originally a mosque. Called Baebro or Aegabro in ancient times, it was

Buyantu

2005-03-06T13:03:00.000-08:00

Also known as Ayurparibhadra , Chinese temple name (yüan) Jen Tsung , Pinyin romanization Yuan Renzong (reigned 1311–20), Mongol emperor of the Yüan dynasty of China, who was a patron of literature. He distributed offices more equitably between Chinese and Mongols than had his predecessors, and during his reign commercial ties with Europe increased.

Vigilius

2005-03-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

Vigilius, of noble birth, became a Roman deacon and was with Pope St. Agapetus I during the latter's unsuccessful mission in March 536 to Constantinople to deter the Byzantine

Boucicault, Dion

2005-03-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

Educated in England, Boucicault began acting in 1837 and in 1840 submitted his first play to Mme Vestris at Covent Garden; it was rejected. His second play, London Assurance (1841), which foreshadowed the modern social drama, was a huge success and was frequently

Binnig, Gerd

2005-03-05T22:48:00.000-08:00

Binnig graduated from Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and received a doctorate from the University of Frankfurt in 1978. He then

Roberts, Sir Charles G(eorge) D(ouglas)

2005-03-04T20:52:00.000-08:00

After graduating

Abu Dhabi

2005-03-04T16:20:00.000-08:00

Arabic Abu Zaby, town, capital of Abu Dhabi emirate, one of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman), and the national capital of that federation. The town occupies most of a small triangular island of the same name, just off the Persian Gulf coast and connected to the mainland by a short bridge. Abu Dhabi was formerly an undeveloped town of only local importance,

Medicine, United States

2005-03-04T03:16:00.000-08:00

Federal, state, county, and city governments all have public health functions. Under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is the Public Health Service, headed by an assistant secretary for health and the surgeon general. State health departments are headed by a commissioner of health, usually a physician, who is often in the governor's cabinet. He usually

Floral Decoration

2005-03-03T15:30:00.000-08:00

Many different kinds of plant materials are used in floral decorations, among them flowers, foliage, grasses, grains, branches, berries, seeds, nuts, cones, fruits, and vegetables. The materials may be living, dried, or artificial. Initially, man was restricted to using native wildings, or uncultivated plants, but as civilization developed over a period of thousands of

Yamazaki Ansai

2005-03-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

A Buddhist monk early in life, Ansai began to study Confucianism and gradually turned against

Perciform, Use as food

2005-03-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Since early times, the rivers and oceans have provided man with food; fishing was one of man's earliest means for securing food. Archaeological findings among shell mounds of Scotland indicate that the sea bream (family Sparidae) formed part of the diet of early man. The Nile perches (family Latidae) have been found as mummies in ancient tombs in Egypt. The goatfishes

Cadbury, George

2005-03-01T06:48:00.000-08:00

English businessman and social reformer who, with his elder brother, Richard, took over their father's failing enterprise (April 1861) and built it into the highly prosperous Cadbury Brothers cocoa- and chocolate-manufacturing firm. George was perhaps more important for his improvements in working conditions and for

Avery, Tex

2005-03-01T04:07:00.000-08:00

Avery's only formal art training consisted of a three-month course at the Art Institute of Chicago during the late 1920s. He began his animation career in 1929 for cartoon producer Walter Lantz at Universal

Daily Telegraph, The

2005-02-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier, the paper has consistently combined a high standard of reporting with the selection of interesting feature subjects and editorial presentation. Its appeal is a conservative and middle-class

Alegría, Ciro

2005-02-28T00:43:00.000-08:00

Educated at the National College of San Juan, Alegría acquired a firsthand knowledge of Indian life in his native province of Huamachuco; this first appeared in his novel La serpiente de oro (1935; The Golden Serpent), which portrays the diverse human life to be found along

Aureus

2005-02-27T06:59:00.000-08:00

Basic gold monetary unit of ancient Rome and the Roman world. It was first named nummus aureus (“gold money”), or denarius aureus, and was equal to 25 silver denarii; a denarius equaled 10 bronze asses. (In 89 BC, the sestertius, equal to one-quarter of a denarius, replaced the bronze ass as a unit of account.) In Constantine's reform of AD 312, the aureus was replaced by the solidus as the basic monetary

Bradford-on-avon

2005-02-27T00:57:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), West Wiltshire district, administrative and historic county of Wiltshire, England, on the River Avon (Bristol Avon). Its limestone houses rise up the steep side of a valley, and the river is spanned by a medieval bridge complete with chapel. A local monastery existed in the 7th century, and in Abbey Yard, presumably its site, stands the Saxon Church of St. Lawrence,

Zomba Massif

2005-02-27T00:04:00.000-08:00

Isolated mass of syenite (igneous rock composed chiefly of feldspar) rising from the Shire Highlands, southern Malawi. Occupying an area of about 50 square miles (130 square km), it reaches an elevation of 6,846 feet (2,087 m) in Zomba Peak. Sheer scarps to the east and south drop 2,500 feet (750 m) to the surrounding plains, and the western wall (4,000 feet [1,200 m]) bounds part of the Shire rift valley. The massif is divided

Adelard Of Bath

2005-02-26T17:58:00.000-08:00

Adelard translated into Latin an Arabic version of Euclid's Elements, which for centuries served as the chief geometry textbook in the West. He studied and taught in France and traveled in Italy, Cilicia, Syria, Palestine, and perhaps also in Spain (c. 1110–25) before returning

Oum Er-rbia River

2005-02-25T19:47:00.000-08:00

Chief river of central Morocco, rising in the Middle (Moyen) Atlas mountains and flowing generally westward for 345 miles (555 km) to the Atlantic Ocean near Azemmour. Although not navigable, it is a perennial, torrential river and a major source of hydroelectric power and irrigation: dams on the river include Afourer, Kasba Zidania, Im Fout, Daourat, Sidi Saïd Maachou, and Bine

Antarctica, The development of IGY

2005-02-25T17:43:00.000-08:00

The idea for more frequent programs was born in 1950, when it was proposed that scientists take advantage of increasing technological developments, interest in polar regions, and, not the least, the maximum sunspot activity expected in 1957–58. (The earlier, second polar year was a year of sunspot minimum.) The idea quickly germinated and grew: a formalized version was adopted by

Henry I

2005-02-24T06:41:00.000-08:00

The son of Robert II the Pious and grandson of Hugh Capet, founder of the Capetian dynasty, Henry was anointed king at Reims (1026) in his father's lifetime, following the death of his elder brother Hugh. His mother, Constance, however, favoured his younger brother

Aureus

2005-02-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

Chemically induced change in electric potential of the motor end plate, the portion of the muscle-cell membrane that lies opposite the terminal of a nerve fibre at the neuromuscular junction. The end-plate membrane is electrically polarized, the inside being negative with respect to the outside because of an uneven distribution of ions. When a nerve impulse releases

Asheboro

2005-02-23T21:25:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1796) of Randolph county, central North Carolina, U.S. It lies in the forested Uwharrie Mountains about 25 miles (40 km) south of Greensboro. Asheboro (originally Asheborough) was founded in 1796 on land that was once the home of Keyauwee Indians; a prehistoric Native American burial ground nearby was excavated in 1936. The name honours North Carolina Governor Samuel Ashe (1725–1813). The community

Mid Devon

2005-02-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

District, administrative and historic county of Devon, southwestern England, located between the bleak moorlands of Exmoor and Dartmoor. Mid Devon is a heavily dissected interior plateau 400 to 800 feet (120 to 245 metres) in elevation. It has variable soil types suited for grassland cultivation, except in the south-central area where the merging Exe, Culm, and Yeo river valleys

Sorbon, Robert De

2005-02-22T10:30:00.000-08:00

Born into a poor rural family, Sorbon was educated in Reims and in Paris, where his piety and diligence drew the patronage of the comte d'Artois and King Louis IX. In 1251 he became canon

Liri River

2005-02-22T00:34:00.000-08:00

Latin Liris, river in central Italy, made up of two streams, the Rapido (or Gari) and the Liri, and having a total length of 98 mi (158 km) and a drainage basin of 1,911 sq mi (4,950 sq km). It has its sources near Cappadocia, in the Monti Simbruini east of Rome, and flows south and southeast through a long, narrow, scenic valley in its upper course as far as Arce, where it enters its wide lower valley and receives the

Tsugaru Warm Current

2005-02-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

Surface oceanic current, a branch of the East Korea Warm Current flowing into the Pacific Ocean. After flowing from the Sea of Japan through the Tsugaru Strait, the Tsugaru Warm Current passes along the eastern coast of Honshu.

Joule, James Prescott

2005-02-20T14:31:00.000-08:00

Joule studied with the

La Galissonnière, Roland-michel Barrin, Marquis De

2005-02-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

La Galissonnière was the son of a naval lieutenant-general and studied at the College of Beauvais in Paris. He became a midshipman in the French navy in 1710 and, in the following year, made the first of a number of voyages on the Heros carrying supplies to Canada. Some 26 years later he commanded

Alloy

2005-02-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

Alloys are usually produced by melting the mixture of ingredients. The value of alloys was discovered in very ancient times; brass (copper and zinc) and bronze

Osheroff, Douglas D.

2005-02-19T00:19:00.000-08:00

Osheroff received a bachelor's degree (1967) from the California Institute of Technology and a doctorate (1973) from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. He was a graduate student

Bingen

2005-02-18T18:11:00.000-08:00

In full Bingen am Rhein city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany. Bingen is a port at the confluence of the Rhine and Nahe rivers, near the whirlpool known as Binger Loch. It originated as the Roman fortress of Bingium and later became an imperial free city, joining the Hanseatic League in 1254. The archbishop-electors of Mainz held the town from 1281 until it fell to Hessen in 1803, after

Earth, Composition of the crust

2005-02-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

Most of the Earth's surface is covered by oceanic crust. The composition of this crust is documented on the basis of rocks sampled by deep-sea dredging and by studies of ophiolites, which are slivers of oceanic crust and uppermost mantle that have been tectonically emplaced on land. The oceanic crust is found to be relatively uniform in composition (Table 3). It consists

Upasampada

2005-02-17T19:43:00.000-08:00

A candidate for ordination must be at least 20 years old, have the permission of his parents, be exempt from military service, be free from debt and from contagious

Degenerate Gas

2005-02-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

In physics, a particular configuration, usually reached at high densities, of a gas composed of subatomic particles with half-integral intrinsic angular momentum (spin). Such particles are called fermions, because their microscopic behaviour is regulated by a set of quantum mechanical rules—Fermi-Dirac statistics (q.v.). These rules state, in particular, that there

Albert Of Aix

2005-02-17T03:33:00.000-08:00

Also called Albert of Aachen , Latin Albericus Aquensis canon of the church of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) and historian of the First Crusade. He gathered oral and written testaments of participants in the Crusade and provided a chronicle on the subject, the Historia expeditionis Hierosolymitanae (“History of the Expedition to Jerusalem”). His work remains an important source on the First Crusade and the history of the kingdom

Addams, Charles (samuel)

2005-02-16T01:01:00.000-08:00

Addams attended various schools from 1929 to 1932; thereafter, aside from a brief period as a commercial artist, he was a free-lance cartoonist, selling his first work to The New Yorker in 1933. His cartoons

Refractive Index

2005-02-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

Also called Index Of Refraction, measure of the bending of a ray of light when passing from one medium into another. If i is the angle of incidence of a ray in vacuum (angle between the incoming ray and the perpendicular to the surface of a medium, called the normal; see figure), and r is the angle of refraction (angle between the ray in the medium and the normal), the refractive index n is defined as the ratio

Hine, Lewis Wickes

2005-02-14T07:49:00.000-08:00

Trained as a sociologist, Hine began to portray the immigrants who crowded onto New York's Ellis Island in 1905. He also photographed the tenements and sweatshops where the immigrants were forced to live and work. These pictures were published

Transalpine Gaul

2005-02-13T17:42:00.000-08:00

The Romans first ventured into Transalpine Gaul in 121 BC to subdue the Celtic tribes along the Mediterranean coast. All of Transalpine Gaul was annexed by Julius

Nitrocellulose

2005-02-13T06:47:00.000-08:00

Also called Cellulose Nitrate, a mixture of nitric esters of cellulose, and a highly flammable compound that is the main ingredient of modern gunpowder. Nitrocellulose is a fluffy white substance that retains some of the fibrous structure of untreated cellulose. It is not stable to heat, and even carefully prepared samples will ignite on brief heating to more than about 150° C (300° F). When nitrocellulose

Tsimihety

2005-02-12T20:54:00.000-08:00

A Malagasy people living in mountainous north central Madagascar. The Tsimihety (“Those Who Never Cut Their Hair”) were originally sedentary mountain people living in extended families organized through patrilineal descent. They succeeded in remaining independent of the early Sakalava and Betsimisarake kingdoms but submitted to Merina rule in the 1820s and to

Albert

2005-02-12T18:41:00.000-08:00

Albert's love of the sea developed at an early age, and as a young

Duars

2005-02-11T23:00:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Dwars, or Dooars, region of northeastern India, at the foot of the west Assam Himalayas. Its 3,400-square-mile (8,800-square-kilometre) area is divided by the Sankosh River into the Western and Eastern Duars. Both were ceded by Bhutan to the British at the end of the Bhutan War (1864–65). The Eastern Duars, in western Assam state, comprises a level plain intersected by numerous rivers and only slightly populated.

Avalon Peninsula

2005-02-11T16:46:00.000-08:00

Peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland, Canada; it is joined to the main part of the island by a 4-mi- (6-km-) wide isthmus between Placentia and Trinity bays and extends for about 110 mi with a maximum width of 60 mi. Its high point is about 1,000 ft (300 m) on the Atlantic coast south of St. John's, and it is deeply indented by Conception Bay (north) and St. Mary's Bay (south). Probably first visited in 1497 by

Arts, Islamic, The new style

2005-02-10T21:05:00.000-08:00

The new approach to poetry that developed during the 9th century was first accorded scholarly discussion in the Kitab al-badi ' (“Book of the Novel and Strange”) by Ibn al-Mu'tazz (died 908), caliph for one day, who laid down rules for the use of metaphors, similes, and verbal puns. The ideal of these “modern” poets was the richest possible embellishment of verses by the use of tropes, brilliant

Jewett, Frank Baldwin

2005-02-10T01:15:00.000-08:00

After receiving the B.A. in 1898 from Throop Polytechnical Institute (now the California Institute of Technology) and the Ph.D. in 1902 from the University of Chicago,

Caxias Do Sul

2005-02-09T23:43:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern Rio Grande do Sul state, southern Brazil, lying at 2,490 ft (760 m) above sea level on the range of hills separating the Antas and Caí river valleys. It was founded in 1875 by Italian colonists and given city status in 1910. Metallurgic industries and viticulture are the city's economic mainstays; the vineyards of the surrounding area are considered Brazil's best. The Universidade

Melbourne

2005-02-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

City, Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S. It lies on the Intracoastal Waterway along the Indian River (a lagoon separated from the Atlantic Ocean by barrier islands), about 60 miles (95 km) southeast of Orlando. The site, originally known as Crane Creek, was settled in 1878, and the community was soon renamed for Melbourne, Australia, the one-time home of the community's first postmaster,

Amberg

2005-02-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

City, Bayern Land (Bavaria state), southeastern Germany, on the Vils River, in the foothills of the Franconian Jura and Bayernwald (Bavarian Forest), southeast of Nürnberg. First mentioned in 1034, it was a court town with considerable trade (in iron and tinplate) and industry in the 14th–16th century. The ducal residence (until 1621) and the capital (until 1810) of the Upper Palatinate, it had many

Gaffney

2005-02-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Cherokee county, northern South Carolina, U.S., near the Broad River. Named for Michael Gaffney, an Irish settler who arrived in 1803, it early developed as a resort where plantation owners sought therapeutic treatment at local limestone springs. Its growth as a market centre for cotton (now peaches) and farm produce was sustained by the coming of the Southern

Poynings, Sir Edward

2005-02-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

A grandson of William Paston, he was a rebel (1483) against Richard III and attached himself to Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who employed

Charadriiform, Annotated classification

2005-02-07T00:05:00.000-08:00

Palate schizognathous; upper jaw schizorhinal (except Burhinidae and Pluvianus); lachrymal bone fused to ectethmoid; cervical vertebrae 15 or 16; dorsal vertebrae opisthocoelous or heterocoelous;

Briareus

2005-02-06T04:48:00.000-08:00

In Greek mythology, one of three 100-armed, 50-headed Hecatoncheires (from the Greek words for “hundred” and “hands”), the sons of the deities Uranus and Gaea. The gods called him Briareus; mortals called him Aegaeon. According to one legend, Briareus and his brothers successfully aided Zeus, the king of the gods, against the attack by the Titans. Another account made Briareus an opponent