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Kudymkar

2005-04-03T04:58:00.000-07:00

City and administrative centre of Komi-Permyak autonomous okrug (district), Perm oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along the Inva River at the latter's confluence with the Kuva River in the Northern Ural Mountains. Founded in the 16th century, Kudymkar grew rapidly after 1925, and it became a town in 1938. Industrial enterprises include timber milling and food processing.

Italian East Africa

2005-04-03T04:10:00.000-07:00

Italian Africa Orientale Italiana, group of Italian possessions in East Africa in the period 1936–41. It comprised Ethiopia (annexed by Italy on May 9, 1936, and was proclaimed a part of Italian East Africa that June 1) together with the Italian colonies of Eritrea, now part of Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland, now part of the Somali Democratic Republic. Italy's king, Victor Emmanuel III, was named emperor. British forces

Beawar

2005-04-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

Town, Rajasthan state, northwestern India. A major rail and road junction, Beawar is an agricultural and woollen market centre. Industries include cotton ginning, handloom weaving, hosiery manufacture, and wood carving. Formerly also called Nayanagar, the town was founded in 1835 and grew rapidly in prosperity because of its advantageous position between Udaipur and Jodhpur.

Chac

2005-04-01T03:41:00.000-08:00

Like other major Mayan gods, Chac also appeared as four gods, the Chacs. The four gods were associated with the points of the compass and their colours: white, north; red, east; black, west; and yellow,

Essay

2005-03-31T20:59:00.000-08:00

Some early treatises—such as those of Cicero on the pleasantness of old age or on the art of “divination,” Seneca on anger or clemency, and

Adams, John Quincy

2005-03-30T16:28:00.000-08:00

Eldest son of President John Adams and sixth president of the United States (1825–29). In his prepresidential years he was one of America's greatest diplomats (formulating, among other things, what came to be called the Monroe Doctrine); in his postpresidential years (as U.S. congressman, 1831–48) he conducted a consistent and often dramatic fight against the expansion of slavery. (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America. See also Cabinet of President John Quincy Adams.)

Francesca Da Rimini

2005-03-29T02:17:00.000-08:00

Dante was the first to make a literary

Solar

2005-03-28T04:47:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sollar, in architecture, private room in a late medieval English manor house, located on the floor above the great hall. The solar served as a kind of parlour to which the owner of the manor house or castle could retire with his family from the chaotic communal living of the hall below. In fact, by the late 14th century the solar was more often called the “retiring room.” Up a flight of

Cadbury, George

2005-03-27T05:17:00.000-08:00

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

Hugh Iii

2005-03-26T00:35:00.000-08:00

Succeeding his cousin Hugh II as king of Cyprus in 1267, he obtained the disputed crown of the dwindling crusader kingdom of Jerusalem two years later. The efforts of his rival, Charles I of Anjou, king of Sicily, who also claimed his rights to be a king of Jerusalem, and the resistance

Molinos, Miguel De

2005-03-25T23:22:00.000-08:00

Ordained in 1652, Molinos in 1663 was sent to Rome. There, in 1675, he published his Spiritual Guide, a small handbook teaching that Christian perfection is achieved by a mixture of contemplation

Kodiak Bear

2005-03-24T02:59:00.000-08:00

(Ursus arctos middendorffi), variety of grizzly bear found on Kodiak Island, off the coast of Alaska. It is the largest of living land carnivores. See grizzly bear.

Arigböge

2005-03-23T09:05:00.000-08:00

As commander of the Mongol homeland when the great khan Mangu died in 1259, Arigböge had himself proclaimed the chief Mongol leader. Meanwhile, his elder brother, Kublai, returned from his campaigns in China and also assumed the title. A series of battles ensued, and

Nephelometry And Turbidimetry

2005-03-22T01:50:00.000-08:00

In analytical chemistry, methods for determining the amount of cloudiness, or turbidity, in a solution based upon measurement of the effect of this turbidity upon the transmission and scattering of light. Turbidity in a liquid is caused by the presence of finely divided suspended particles. If a beam of light is passed through a turbid sample, its intensity is reduced

Power Series

2005-03-21T22:48:00.000-08:00

In mathematics, infinite series that can be thought of as a polynomial with an infinite number of terms, such as 1 + x + x2 + x3 + . . . ad infinitum. Usually, a given power series will converge (that is, approach a finite sum) for all values of x less than a certain constant and diverge for all values greater than that constant (See also convergence). This constant can be determined by the ratio

Canadian River

2005-03-21T04:11:00.000-08:00

River that rises in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, northeastern New Mexico, U.S., and flows southward across the Las Vegas Plains, cutting a gorge nearly 1,500 feet (450 m) deep in the Canadian escarpment before turning eastward. It continues through the Texas Panhandle in a deep, narrow valley cut into reddish sandstones, the walls of which are known locally as the “breaks,” and flows

Asyut

2005-03-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

Asy

Obwalden

2005-03-18T03:41:00.000-08:00

Half canton, central Switzerland, formerly part of the canton of Unterwalden. The half canton is drained by the Sarner River and occupies the western part of former Unterwalden canton. Obwalden means “above the forest” and refers to the great forest of Kerns that divided the two half cantons in the Middle Ages. Obwalden acted independently of Nidwalden in its acquisition,

Arts, South Asian, Gupta period: central India

2005-03-18T01:22:00.000-08:00

In addition to the major schools of Sarnath and Mathura, important sculpture of the 5th and 6th centuries is found at several sites in central India. The sculptures here are often in their original locations, surviving not as isolated images torn from their architectural context but in association with the temples of which they formed a part. At Udayagiri, near Vidisa, are

Country Furniture

2005-03-17T13:15:00.000-08:00

Furniture made by country craftsmen, varying from purely functional pieces made by amateurs to expertly constructed and carved work based on luxurious furniture made for the rich. Much country furniture is naive, with the best of such examples falling into the category of folk art. The furniture is sturdy, rarely delicate in design or workmanship, and restricted

Bonaparte, (marie-annonciade-)caroline

2005-03-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

As a result of her ambitious and intriguing nature, her husband became governor of Paris, marshal of France (1804), grand duke of Berg and of Cleves (1806), lieutenant of the emperor in Spain (1803), and king of Naples (1808). Her relations with Napoleon became strained as she associated

Ribeauvillé

2005-03-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

German Rappoltsweiler, town, Haut-Rhin département, Alsace région, in eastern France. It lies at the entrance of the valley of the Strengbach, under the Vosges Mountains, 33 miles (53 km) southwest of Strasbourg. It is distinguished by a medieval gate, the Porte des Bouchers (a relic of the ancient walls that surrounded the city), and it has many medieval houses and two fine Gothic churches, of St. Gregory

Madariaga Y Rojo, Salvador De

2005-03-15T01:39:00.000-08:00

The son of a Spanish army officer, Madariaga was trained at his father's insistence as an engineer in Paris but abandoned his career to become a journalist. In 1921 he joined

Henry I

2005-03-15T00:36:00.000-08:00

Byname Henry The Fat, Spanish Enrique El Gordo, French Henri Le Gros king of Navarre (1270–74) and count (as Henry III) of Champagne. Henry was the youngest son of Theobald I of Navarre by Margaret of Foix. He succeeded his eldest brother, Theobald II (Thibaut V), in both kingdom and countship in December 1270. By his marriage (1269) to Blanche, daughter of Robert I of Artois and niece of Louis IX of France, he had one daughter, Joan, whom, by the

Ambros, August Wilhelm

2005-03-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

Ambros studied law, entered the civil service in 1840, and became public prosecutor in Prague in 1850. A keen, well-trained musician and composer of a Czech opera, Bretislaw a Jitka, he also established himself as a brilliant writer on music. His pamphlet Über

Quantity Theory Of Money

2005-03-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

Economic theory relating changes in the price levels to changes in the quantity of money. In its developed form, it constitutes an analysis of the factors underlying inflation and deflation. As developed by the English philosopher John Locke in the 17th century, the Scottish philosopher David Hume in the 18th century, and others, it was a weapon against the mercantilists

Performing Arts, Classical Music

2005-03-12T02:48:00.000-08:00

By 1999 the history of the 20th century could be seen in full perspective, and one conclusion evident to music lovers was that it had been the most operatic century since the Renaissance and the origins of opera. Newspapers and television (the nonfiction programs as well as the ones with invented plots and characters) were filled with “operatic” material—if Samuel Johnson's

Saar River

2005-03-11T03:14:00.000-08:00

French Sarre, right-bank tributary of the Moselle (German Mosel) River. It flows for 153 mi (246 km) across northeastern France into Germany and drains an area of 2,800 sq mi (7,300 sq km). Rising at the foot of Donon (mountain) in the northern Vosges (mountains), the river flows generally northward to its confluence with the Mosel at Konz, 6 mi southwest of Trier. Within Germany the Saar flows in meanders (which

X Ray

2005-03-11T02:12:00.000-08:00

There are two methods in general use for detecting X rays. The first method relies on the X rays producing a photochemical change in a photographic emulsion. The blackening of the film is related to the

Huynh Tan Phat

2005-03-10T18:25:00.000-08:00

While

Sinkiang, Uygur Autonomous Region Of, Relief

2005-03-09T04:08:00.000-08:00

In the north the Northern Highlands extend in a semicircle along the Mongolian border.

Dual Organization

2005-03-08T22:28:00.000-08:00

A social structure characterized by the division of society into two complementary parts called moieties. According to a strict definition, moieties are groups that are exogamous (i.e., marriage between members of the same moiety is forbidden), of unilineal descent, and in some sense opposed. Sometimes the term moiety is used more loosely to refer simply to one of two

Wynne (o Lasynys), Ellis

2005-03-08T03:37:00.000-08:00

Clergyman and author whose Gweledigaetheu y Bardd Cwsc (1703; “Visions of the Sleeping Bard”) is generally considered the greatest Welsh prose classic. An adaptation of Sir Roger L'Estrange's translation of the Spanish satirist Quevedo's Sueños (1627; “Visions”), savage pictures of contemporary evils, it followed its original

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

2005-03-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

Spanish Partido Socialista Obrero Español (PSOE) socialist party that played an important role in 20th-century Spanish politics. The party was founded in 1879 by the Madrid typographer Pablo Iglesias. He was also the founder in 1888 of the party's affiliated trade union confederation, the Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT; General Union of Workers). The party grew slowly at first, partly because the UGT had to compete with the

Rouault, Georges

2005-03-06T22:26:00.000-08:00

Rouault was born in a cellar in Paris during a bombardment of the city by the forces opposed to the Commune. His father was a cabinetmaker. A grandfather

Cereal Processing, Testing

2005-03-06T04:27:00.000-08:00

Cooking tests are used to ensure that the final product is satisfactory. Considerable research has been carried out to control factors tending to destroy the desirable yellow colour. Destruction of the colouring matter, a xanthophyll, can occur in mixing owing to excessive lipoxidase. Certain types of durum wheat may possess a high degree of lipoxidase activity,

France, History Of, Religious and cultural life

2005-03-05T17:55:00.000-08:00

The Christian church was badly disrupted by the invasions. In Normandy five successive bishops of Coutances resided at Rouen, far from their war-torn district, which had lapsed into paganism. Elsewhere standards of clerical deportment declined, threatening the moral leadership by which Carolingian prelates had supported public order. Renewal came in two influential

Aicard, Jean

2005-03-05T15:16:00.000-08:00

As a young man Aicard studied law but abandoned it to devote himself to literature. His first book of poetry, Jeunes croyances (1867; “Beliefs of a Youth”), showed the influence of the Romantic poet Alphonse de Lamartine and was well received upon its appearance. He went

Natha

2005-03-04T03:45:00.000-08:00

Religious movement of India whose members strive for immortality by transforming the human body into an imperishable divine body. It combines esoteric traditions drawn from Buddhism, Saivism (worship of the Hindu deity Siva), and Hatha Yoga, with a liking for the occult. The term is derived from the names of the nine traditional masters, all of which end in the word natha

Lahij

2005-03-03T00:07:00.000-08:00

Under the former Aden Protectorate, a British-ruled area, it was capital of the 'Abdali Sultanate, abolished when Yemen (Aden) became independent in 1967. The sultan's palace is

Encaustic Painting

2005-03-02T11:16:00.000-08:00

Painting technique in which pigments are mixed with hot, liquid wax. After all of the colours have been applied to the painting surface, a heating element is passed over them until the individual brush or spatula marks fuse into a uniform film. This “burning in” of the colours is an essential element of the true encaustic technique. Encaustic wax has many of the properties

Metastasio, Pietro

2005-03-02T08:26:00.000-08:00

In 1712, after receiving a good education from Gravina,

East African Rift System

2005-02-28T21:55:00.000-08:00

The system consists of two branches. The main branch, the Eastern Rift Valley (often called the Great Rift Valley, or Rift Valley), extends along the entire length

Frederick

2005-02-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1907) of Tillman county, southwestern Oklahoma, U.S. With the opening of the Kiowa-Apache-Comanche reservation to settlement in 1901, the community grew up around a stop on the Blackwell, Enid, and Southwestern Railway. Initially known as Gosnell and renamed in 1902 for the son of railroad magnate J.C. van Blarcom, Frederick developed as a shipping point for locally produced

Auburn

2005-02-28T00:12:00.000-08:00

City, Lee county, eastern Alabama, U.S., adjacent to Opelika, about 60 miles (100 km) northeast of Montgomery. Founded in 1836 by John Harper and settlers from Georgia, its name was inspired by the “sweet Auburn” of Oliver Goldsmith's poem The Deserted Village. Auburn University, opened as East Alabama Male College (Methodist) in 1859, is the main factor in the city's economy. The manufacture of

Lippe River

2005-02-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

River, a right-bank tributary of the Rhine, that flows through North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state) in Germany. Rising near Bad Lippspringe on the western edge of the Teutoburger Wald, the Lippe follows a westerly course of 155 miles (250 km) and flows into the Rhine near Wesel. The river lies along the northern border of the Ruhr industrial region. By the aid of locks it is navigable

Beach Boys, The

2005-02-27T15:42:00.000-08:00

American rock group whose dulcet melodies and distinctive vocal mesh defined the 1960s youthful idyll of sun-drenched southern California. The original members were Brian Wilson (b. June 20, 1942, Inglewood, Calif., U.S.), Dennis Wilson (b. Dec. 4, 1944, Inglewood—d. Dec. 28, 1983, Marina del Rey, Calif.), Carl Wilson (b. Dec. 21, 1946, Los Angeles, Calif.—d. Feb. 6, 1998, Los Angeles), Michael Love (b. March 15, 1941, Los Angeles), and Alan Jardine (b. Sept.

Robert Of Jumièges

2005-02-26T20:55:00.000-08:00

Robert was prior of Saint-Ouen, Rouen, Fr., when elected abbot of the Benedictine abbey of Jumièges in 1037. Taken to England by King Edward in 1042, he was made bishop of London in 1044. He became Edward's chief adviser and head of the Norman party and was appointed archbishop of Canterbury

Biblical Literature, The need for consolidation and delimitation

2005-02-24T06:14:00.000-08:00

Viewed both phenomenologically and practically, the canon had to be consolidated and delimited. Seen historically, however, there were a number of reasons that forced the issue of limiting the canon. Oral tradition had begun to deteriorate in post-apostolic times, partly because many or most of the eyewitnesses to the earliest events of Jesus' life and death and

Labour Economics, Theory of bargaining

2005-02-24T05:02:00.000-08:00

Limitations on the scope of bargaining are also suggested by theory. Collective bargaining can be seen as the reduction of two risks to which the worker is exposed through individual bargaining. There is first the risk that the worker will be merely one of a number of applicants for a single vacancy and that competition between them will force the pay down. Even as

Kahn, Albert

2005-02-24T00:12:00.000-08:00

Kahn's father, a rabbi, brought his family to the United States in 1881. Kahn had little schooling but was taken on

Macaw

2005-02-23T21:36:00.000-08:00

Common name of about 18 species of large colourful parrots native to tropical America. These brightly coloured, long-tailed birds are some of the most spectacular parrots in the world. The sexes look alike, which is uncommon among vividly coloured birds. The cobalt-blue hyacinthine macaw (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) of Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay is the

Sarapeum

2005-02-23T03:46:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Serapeum, or Sarapieion, either of two temples of ancient Egypt, dedicated to the worship of the Greco-Egyptian god Sarapis (Serapis). The original elaborate temple of that name was located on the west bank of the Nile near Saqqarah and originated as a monument to the deceased Apis bulls, sacred animals of the god Ptah. Though the area was used as a cemetery for the bulls as early as 1400 BC, it was Ramses

Gambia, The

2005-02-22T17:25:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of The Gambia, country of western Africa, with an area of 4,127 square miles (10,689 square kilometres). Essentially, The Gambia is a strip of land 15 to 30 miles (25 to 50 kilometres) wide and 295 miles long on either bank of the Gambia River; except for a short coastline, it is surrounded by Senegal. Its unusual shape and size are attributable to territorial compromises arising from 19th-century Anglo-French rivalry

Prehistoric Religion, Shamanism, sorcery, and magic

2005-02-21T19:13:00.000-08:00

Shamanism is a rather variable and highly stratified complex of practices and conceptions; characteristic among these are the use of ecstasy, the belief in guardian spirits (who are often in animal form, with the function of helping and guiding the dead on their voyage to the beyond), and beliefs concerning metamorphosis (change of form) and travelling to the beyond.

Nuisance

2005-02-21T17:45:00.000-08:00

In law, a human activity or a physical condition that is harmful or offensive to others and gives rise to a cause of action. A public nuisance created in a public place or on public land, or affecting the morals, safety, or health of the community, is considered an offense against the state. Such activities as obstructing a public road, polluting air and water, operating

Ovule

2005-02-20T04:50:00.000-08:00

Plant structure that develops into a seed when fertilized. In gymnosperms (conifers and allies) the ovules lie uncovered on the scales of the cone. In angiosperms (flowering plants), one or more ovules are enclosed by the ovary (portion of the carpel, or female reproductive organ). Each ovule is attached by its base to the stalk (funiculus) that bears it. A mature angiosperm

Chibchan Languages

2005-02-19T18:11:00.000-08:00

A group of South American Indian languages that were spoken before AD 1500 in the area now comprising Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia, and Ecuador. A now extinct Chibchan language sometimes known as Muisca was the language of a powerful Indian empire with its centre near Bogotá. Important present-day Chibchan languages include Guaymí and Move in Panama,

Mclean, Alice Throckmorton

2005-02-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

McLean traveled widely as a child, mastered several languages, and was educated privately. An early marriage

Headphone

2005-02-18T05:54:00.000-08:00

Small loudspeaker (earphone) held over the ear by a band or wire worn on the head. Headphones are commonly employed in situations in which levels of surrounding noise are high, as in an airplane cockpit, or where a user such as a switchboard operator needs to keep the hands free, or where the listener is moving about or wants to listen without disturbing other people. A

Christ The King, Feast Of

2005-02-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

Festival celebrated in the Roman Catholic church in honour of Jesus Christ as lord over all creation. Essentially a magnification of the Feast of the Ascension, it was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925. Originally, it was celebrated on the last Sunday in October, but in the revised liturgical calendar promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, it was moved to the last Sunday of Ordinary

Eisenhower Trophy

2005-02-16T17:36:00.000-08:00

Golf trophy awarded to the winner of a biennial international amateur competition open to teams of three or four players from all nations. The competition was first held, under sponsorship of the World Amateur Golf Council, in 1958, and the trophy was named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a golf enthusiast. The contest consists of 72 holes of stroke play (the team with the

Bulgarus

2005-02-16T15:31:00.000-08:00

Although popular tradition claims that all four doctors—Bulgarus, Martinus Gosia, Hugo da Porta Ravennate, and Jacobus

Cumberland Narrows

2005-02-15T23:23:00.000-08:00

Scenic gorge 1,000 feet (305 metres) deep in Allegany county, northwestern Maryland, U.S., just northwest of Cumberland city. Cut by Wills Creek, it provides a natural east-west gateway, located between Wills and Haystack mountains, across the Allegheny Mountains. The gap, which was initially an Indian footpath, was discovered in 1755 by a vanguard unit of British and colonial troops

Round Table Conference

2005-02-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

The first (Nov. 12, 1930–Jan. 19, 1931) had 73 representatives, from

Aesthetics, Symbolism in art

2005-02-15T04:43:00.000-08:00

Later philosophers have been content merely to distinguish representation and expression as different modes of artistic meaning, characterized perhaps by different formal or semantic properties. Nelson Goodman of the United States is one such philosopher. His Languages of Art (1968) was the first work of analytical philosophy to produce a distinct and systematic

Alliance

2005-02-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

City, Stark county, northeastern Ohio, U.S., on the Mahoning River, 21 mi (34 km) northeast of Canton. In 1854 the villages of Williamsport, Freedom, and Liberty were incorporated as the village of Alliance, so named for the junction and crossing there of the former New York Central and Pennsylvania railroads. The village of Mount Union (settled in 1833) became a part of Alliance in 1854. Now highly

China, Attacks on cultural figures

2005-02-12T20:24:00.000-08:00

As the Cultural Revolution

Submarine Slump

2005-02-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

In a submarine canyon or on a continental slope, relatively rapid and sporadic downslope composed of sediment and organic debris that has built up slowly into an unstable or marginally stable mass. The greatest documented distance that an individual slump has transported sediment is 120 m (400 feet), in Scripps Canyon off La Jolla, Calif. After an individual slump in a canyon,

Hsin-yang

2005-02-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Xinyang city in southern Honan sheng (province), China. Hsin-yang is in the very south of the Honan plain, in the basin between the Ta-pieh Mountains and the Huai River. It has traditionally been on a cultural divide between the plain and the hilly districts to the south. It was also a natural route centre on the Shih River, a tributary of the Huai. The Shih has become passable for relatively

Aquifoliaceae

2005-02-10T04:08:00.000-08:00

The Aquifoliaceae differ from other

Piepoudre Court

2005-02-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

The court decided summarily and on the spot disputes arising

Locofoco Party

2005-02-08T18:53:00.000-08:00

In U.S. history, radical wing of the Democratic Party, organized in New York City in 1835. Made up primarily of workingmen and reformers, the Locofocos were opposed to state banks, monopolies, paper money, tariffs, and generally any financial policies that seemed to them antidemocratic and conducive to special privilege. The Locofocos received their name (which was later

Holmium

2005-02-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

(Ho), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table, one of the most paramagnetic substances known. Among the least abundant of the rare-earth elements, holmium and its compounds have limited application except for research. Holmium has been used as a component of some electronic devices; the trivalent ion has been used as a catalyst

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-02-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

The family Procyonidae includes raccoons (see photograph), coatis or coatimundis, olingos, and the ringtailed cat, kinkajou, and lesser panda. Procyonids, like bears, are omnivorous, eating numerous types of insects, crayfish, crabs, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, small mammals, and a variety of fruits, nuts, roots, and young plants. A characteristic of

Aeschines

2005-02-07T10:49:00.000-08:00

Aeschines was brought up in humble circumstances, and in the early part of his career he worked as a tragic actor and held minor posts in the state service. In 346 BC he, like Demosthenes, was a member of the embassies to Philip II that resulted

Endocrine System

2005-02-07T01:18:00.000-08:00

Comparative endocrinologists investigate the evolution

Melatonin

2005-02-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

In humans, melatonin seems

Benbecula

2005-02-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

Gaelic Beinn na Faoghla island of the Outer Hebrides, Western Isles council area, historic county of Inverness-shire, Scotland. Benbecula, whose name means “Mountain of the Fords” in Gaelic, lies between the islands of North Uist and South Uist and is connected over the fords by a causeway (1960) to the north and by O'Regan's Bridge (1943) to the south. The island has an area of about 7 square miles (18 square km) and

Biogenetic Law

2005-02-05T15:46:00.000-08:00

Also called Recapitulation Theory, postulation, by Ernst Haeckel in 1866, that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny—i.e., the development of the animal embryo and young traces the evolutionary development of the species. The theory was influential and much-popularized earlier but has been of little significance in elucidating either evolution or embryonic growth.

Pacaraima Mountains

2005-02-05T05:43:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Pakaraima, Portuguese Serra Pacaraimã, Spanish Sierra Pacaraima, also called (in Guyana) Pakaraima Mountains, central tabular upland of the Guiana Highlands in Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana. The Pacaraima Mountains form the drainage divide between the Orinoco Valley to the north and the Amazon Basin to the south. Extending for 250 mi (400 km) in an east–west direction, the mountains mark the borders between Brazil and southeastern Venezuela and between Brazil and west central Guyana.

Antae

2005-02-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Antes federation of eastern Slavic nomadic tribes known by the 3rd century AD, dwelling in southern Russia between the Dnieper and Dniester rivers. A powerful people with highly developed agriculture, handicrafts, and ironwork, the Antae fought the Goths, who were fleeing westward from the Huns in the 4th century. In the early 6th century they joined in Slavic raids against

Poxvirus

2005-02-03T23:33:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of viruses constituting the family Poxviridae, responsible for a wide range of pox diseases in human beings and other animals. Poxvirus was the cause in human beings of smallpox (q.v.), which was declared eradicated worldwide in 1977. (Chicken pox of human beings is caused by a herpesvirus; see herpes zoster.) The virus particle is somewhat brick-shaped, with the

Moreau, Gustave

2005-02-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

The only influence that really affected Moreau's development was that of his master, Théodore Chassériau (1819–56), an eclectic painter whose depictions of enigmatic sea goddesses deeply impressed his student. In the Salon of 1853 he exhibited “Scene

Madinah 'isa

2005-02-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

English Isa Town planned community in the state and emirate of Bahrain, north-central Bahrain island, in the Persian Gulf. Conceived and underwritten by the Bahraini government as a residential settlement, it was laid out on an uninhabited site by British town planners in the early 1960s; the first units were occupied in 1968. The town is named for Sheikh 'Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah, who ruled Bahrain

Economic Affairs

2005-02-03T14:49:00.000-08:00

Amid a global financial crisis and intense efforts to prepare for the introduction of the European Union common currency (the euro) and the computer problem caused by the year 2000 date change, industrywide consolidation both within and across national borders continued to reshape the financial services landscape in 1998. At the same time, 1998 was marked by ongoing efforts

John I

2005-02-01T22:00:00.000-08:00

Byname The Prince of Fond Memory, or John of Aviz, John the Great, or John the Bastard, Portuguese O Principe de Boa Memória, or João de Aviz, João o Grande, or João o Bastardo king of Portugal from 1385 to 1433, who preserved his country's independence from Castile and initiated Portugal's overseas expansion. He was the founder of the Aviz, or Joanina (Johannine), dynasty.

French Literature, The novel between the wars

2005-02-01T06:28:00.000-08:00

With a few notable exceptions, novels were less technically innovative in the second quarter of the century. The Surrealists made their contribution with André Breton's Nadja (1928; Eng. trans., Nadja) and Louis Aragon's Le Paysan de Paris (1926; The Night-Walker), and they influenced the works of Raymond Queneau. The tradition of the family novel was continued by Roger Martin du

Clare

2005-02-01T04:48:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern South Australia, 80 miles (130 km) north of Adelaide. Founded in 1842, it was named for the Irish county in which one of its early settlers was born. In 1851, Jesuits planted the first vineyard of the district. Grapes for table use and wine making, along with other fruits, grains, livestock, and dairy products, now form the basis of the local economy. Declared a municipality

Tracheophyte

2005-01-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

Any of the vascular plants, members of the division, or phylum, Tracheophyta, numbering some 260,000 species and including all of the conspicuous flora of the Earth today. Tracheophyte, meaning “tracheid plant,” refers to the water-conducting cells (called tracheids, or tracheary elements) that show spiral bands like those in the walls of the tracheae, or air tubes, of

India, Other important sites

2005-01-30T20:40:00.000-08:00

A growing number of other sites have been excavated, each important in its own way. On the coast near Las Bela in Baluchistan, materials suggesting a substantial shell-working industry have been found at Balakot. Not far from Mehrgarh, at the head of the Kacchi desert, the small settlement of Naushahro Firoz provides valuable evidence of the actual transformation of

Venda

2005-01-30T06:04:00.000-08:00

Also called Bavenda, a Bantu-speaking people inhabiting the region of the Republic of South Africa known from 1979 to 1994 as the Republic of Venda. The area is now part of Northern Transvaal province, and is situated in the extreme northeastern corner of South Africa, bordering on southern Zimbabwe. The Venda have been called a “composite people” because they have historically consisted of a multiplicity

Wazyk, Adam

2005-01-29T23:12:00.000-08:00

Wazyk's earliest volumes of poetry, Semafory (1924; “Semaphores”) and Oczy i usta (1926; “Eyes and Lips”), were written between the ages of 17 and 20 and reflect the instability of life in Poland after World War I and

Multinational And Regional Organizations

2005-01-29T07:36:00.000-08:00

At the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) conference, which opened July 22, 1994, in Bangkok, Thailand's prime minister asked the members (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand) to avert armed confrontation over resources and territory, especially in the Spratly Islands. Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam

Austen, Jane

2005-01-28T03:24:00.000-08:00

English writer who first gave the novel its distinctly modern character through her treatment of ordinary people in everyday life. Austen created the comedy of manners of middle-class life in the England of her time in such novels as Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Northanger

Wickerwork

2005-01-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

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

Azzone Dei Porci

2005-01-27T09:13:00.000-08:00

Also called Azzone Soldanus , Latin Azolinus Porcius, Azzone also spelled Azo or Azzo a leader of the Bolognese school of jurists and one of the few to write systematic summaries (summae) rather than textual glosses of Roman law as codified under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (6th century AD). His Summa codicis and Apparatus ad codicem together provided a methodical exposition of Roman law and were very influential

China, A race for territory

2005-01-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

As soon as Japan's impending surrender was known, the commander of the Communist armies, Gen. Zhu De, ordered his men, on August 11, to move into Japanese-held territory and take over Japanese arms, despite Chiang's order that they stand where they were. The United States aided the Chinese government by flying many divisions from the southwest to occupy the main eastern cities,

Quantum Electrodynamics

2005-01-26T23:53:00.000-08:00

(QED), quantum theory of the interactions of charged particles with the electromagnetic field. It describes mathematically not only all interactions of light with matter but also those of charged particles with one another. QED is a relativistic theory in that Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity is built into each of its equations. Because the behaviour

Aranjuez

2005-01-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

Ancient (Latin) Ara Jovis town, Madrid provincia and comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), central Spain, on the southern bank of the Tagus River near its confluence with the Jarama. The town, which has existed since Roman times, was the headquarters of the Knights of Santiago (1387–1409) and became the seat of a royal summer residence and hunting lodge in the 17th century. It was rebuilt in about 1750 by Ferdinand