BrownPlane

Kaduna

2005-04-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

State, north-central Nigeria. Its area includes the traditional emirate of Zaria and Jemaa town. Kaduna was substantially reduced in size when its northern half became Katsina state in 1987. Kaduna is bordered by the states of Sokoto, Katsina, and Kano to the north; Bauchi to the east; Plateau to the east and south; and Niger to the west. Abuja Federal Capital Territory also

Foyer

2005-04-04T05:32:00.000-07:00

Intermediate area between the exterior and interior of a building, especially a theatre. Originally the term was applied only to that area in French theatres, comparable to the greenroom in English theatres, where actors relaxed when they were offstage. Because actors were accustomed to visits by friends during and after performances, such areas came to be large

Aum Shinrikyo

2005-04-03T01:51:00.000-08:00

AUM emerged out of Asahara's dissatisfaction

Egypt, The interwar period

2005-04-02T00:29:00.000-08:00

Fu'ad was never popular and felt insecure, and was therefore prepared to intrigue with the nationalists or with the British to secure his position and powers. The Wafd, with its mass following, elaborate organization, and (until his death in 1927) charismatic leader in Zaghlul, was the only truly national party in Egypt. Ideologically, it stood for national independence against

Dacier, André

2005-04-01T07:05:00.000-08:00

Dacier studied at Saumur with the Humanist Tanneguy Lefèbvre, whose daughter Anne he married in 1683. He was made keeper of the library of the Louvre and, elected to the French Academy in 1695, became

Sinkiang, Uighur Autonomous Region Of

2005-03-31T07:41:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization Hsin-chiang Wei-wu-erh Tzu-chih-ch'ü , Pinyin Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu autonomous region occupying the northwestern corner of the People's Republic of China. The region is bordered by Mongolia to the northeast, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan to the northwest, Afghanistan and the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the southwest, the Tibet Autonomous Region to the southeast, and the Chinese provinces of Tsinghai and

Disasters

2005-03-30T19:04:00.000-08:00

January 8, Charlotte, N.C. A commuter plane, a Beechcraft 1900 twin-engine turboprop operated by US Airways Express, crashes into a hangar on takeoff, killing 21 passengers and crew members; the cause of the crash is believed to be

Hatto I

2005-03-29T01:28:00.000-08:00

Hatto was elected abbot of Reichenau (888) and Ellwangen (889) and archbishop of Mainz (891). A trusted adviser of King

Bridgetown

2005-03-28T22:42:00.000-08:00

The town, which was founded in 1628 and originally called Indian Bridge, provoked considerable criticism from early visitors because of

Gravina In Puglia

2005-03-26T23:01:00.000-08:00

Walled town, Bari provincia, Puglia (Apulia) regione, southern Italy. The town's cathedral and the castle of the Orsini family are notable local monuments, and there are numerous cave dwellings in the locality. The town also has museums of local costumes and of archaeology and pottery. Local crops are chiefly cereals; there are limestone quarries in the neighbourhood.

Ashrama

2005-03-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Asrama, Sanskrit Asrama, in Hinduism, any of the four spiritual abodes, or stages of life, through which the “twice-born” Hindu ideally will pass. The stages are those of (1) the student (brahmacari), marked by chastity, devotion and obedience to one's teacher; (2) the householder (grihastha), requiring marriage, the begetting of sons, working to sustain one's family and to help support priests and holy men,

Aelfric

2005-03-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

Anglo-Saxon prose writer, considered the greatest of his time. He wrote both to instruct the monks and to spread the learning of the 10th-century monastic revival. His Catholic Homilies, written in 990–992, provided orthodox sermons, based on the Church Fathers. He also wrote a Latin grammar, hence his nickname Grammaticus, and Lives of the Saints.

Ahaggar

2005-03-23T13:55:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hoggar, large plateau in the north centre of the Sahara, on the Tropic of Cancer, North Africa. Its height is above 3,000 feet (900 m), culminating in Mount Tahat (9,573 feet [2,918 m]) in southeastern Algeria. The plateau, about 965 miles (1,550 km) north to south and 1,300 miles (2,100 km) east to west, is rocky desert composed of black volcanic (basalt) necks and of flows rising above a pink granite massif. The main caravan route to

Ado-ekiti

2005-03-21T15:10:00.000-08:00

Town, Ondo state, southwestern Nigeria. It lies in the Yoruba Hills, at the intersection of roads from Akure, Ilawe, Ilesha, Ila (Illa), and Ikare, and is situated 92 miles (148 km) east-northeast of Ibadan. An urban and industrial centre of the region, it was founded by the Ekiti people, a Yoruba subgroup whose members belonged to the Ekiti-Parapo, a late 19th-century confederation of Yoruba

Kafka, Franz

2005-03-21T13:15:00.000-08:00

Czech-born German-language writer of visionary fiction, whose posthumously published novels—especially Der Prozess (1925; The Trial) and Das Schloss (1926; The Castle)—express the anxieties and alienation of 20th-century man.

Nitromersol

2005-03-20T19:41:00.000-08:00

Synthetic mercury-containing organic compound used as an antiseptic for the skin and mucous membranes and as a disinfectant for sterilizing surgical instruments. It is related to merbromin (Mercurochrome) and thimerosal (Merthiolate). Nitromersol disinfects by the action of the mercury in the molecule, which disrupts the enzymatic metabolism of the microorganism.

Arroyo

2005-03-19T21:56:00.000-08:00

Also called Wadi, Wash, Dry Wash, or Coulee, Arabic Wadi, French Oued, a dry channel lying in a semiarid or desert area and subject to flash flooding during seasonal or irregular rainstorms. Such transitory streams, rivers, or creeks are noted for their gullying effects, especially for their rapid rates of erosion, transportation, and deposition. There have been reports of up to 8 feet (2 m) of deposition in 60 years and like amounts of erosion

Cinnamon

2005-03-19T18:06:00.000-08:00

(species Cinnamomum zeylanicum), bushy evergreen tree of the laurel family (Lauraceae) native to Sri Lanka (Ceylon), the neighbouring Malabar Coast of India, and Myanmar (Burma) and also cultivated in South America and the West Indies for the spice consisting of its dried inner bark. The spice is light brown in colour and has a delicately fragrant aroma and warm, sweet flavour.

Salem

2005-03-18T00:55:00.000-08:00

Town, north-central Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India. It is on the Tirumanimuttar River near Attur Gap between the Kalrayan and Pachamalai hills. Situated at the junction of the Bangalore, Tiruchchirappalli, and Cuddalore roads, 200 miles (332 km) southwest of Madras, the town's name derives from sela nad (a corruption of cera nad), a term denoting the visit of an early Cera king. Well-known

Craft Guild

2005-03-17T16:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Mystery (from Latin ministerium, “occupation”), a European medieval occupational association, usually comprising all the artisans—and often the suppliers, retailers, and wholesale merchants—concerned with a specific branch of industry or commerce. A weavers' guild is recorded at Mainz as early as 1099 and in London and other cities of England during the reign of Henry I (1100–35); but the

Nguyen Tri Phuong

2005-03-16T14:28:00.000-08:00

The son of a provincial administrator, Nguyen Tri Phuong entered the military service and distinguished himself by repelling the Siamese invasion

Wage And Salary

2005-03-15T13:35:00.000-08:00

Analyses of economic distribution appear in David Ricardo, Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817, reissued 1981), the classical subsistence theory of wages; Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1 (1886; originally published in German, 1867), also available in many later editions, treating the process of distribution as pure conflict; John Bates Clark, Distribution of Wealth (1899, reissued 1965), the classic work on marginal productivity theory whereby distribution is viewed as a harmonious process in which the factors of production receive as income what they contribute to the product; Frank H. Knight, Risk, Uncertainty, and Profit (1921, reprinted 1985), an analysis of profits viewed as a result of imperfect foresight and as a remuneration for risk-bearing; Joseph Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development (1934, reprinted 1987; originally published in German, 1912), an analysis of economic development as a result of the innovations of entrepreneurs motivated by profit; Paul H. Douglas, The Theory of Wages (1934, reissued 1964), marginalist theory based on statistical research which sets forth the famous Cobb–Douglas function; K.J. Arrow et al., “Capital–Labor Substitution and Economic Efficiency,” The Review of Economics and Statistics, 43:225–250 (1961), an econometric study explaining the falling share of capital in the national income by the elasticity of substitution; J.R. Hicks, The Theory of Wages, 2nd ed. (1963, reissued 1973), a sophisticated treatment of marginal productivity theory; and Nicholas Kaldor, “Alternative Theories of Distribution,” in his Essays on Value and Distribution, 2nd ed. (1980), a discussion of various theories from Ricardo to Keynes. Dan Usher, The Economic Prerequisite to Democracy (1981), suggests that democracy requires broad agreement on how an economic system will distribute wealth. Other works in this area are Alan S. Blinder, Toward an Economic Theory of Income Distribution (1974); and Ronald G. Ehrenberg and Robert S. Smith, Modern Labor Economics: Theory and Public Policy, 5th ed. (1994).

Furniture, Fireplaces

2005-03-15T10:52:00.000-08:00

The heating of rooms and large halls remained a major problem until the advent of modern central heating systems. The open hearth was replaced during the late Middle Ages by the fireplace, which is merely an architectonic way of framing the burning logs. During the period when it was important as a source of heat, the fireplace became the object of design work by significant

Perspective Scenery

2005-03-15T10:23:00.000-08:00

In theatre, scenery and the scene design technique that represents three-dimensional space on a flat surface, creating an illusion of reality and an impression of distance. Developed during the Italian Renaissance, perspective scenery applied the newly mastered science of linear perspective and brought the craft of illusion to the Italian stage. An initial

Biblical Literature, The Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men

2005-03-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

The first addition to Daniel (in Greek and Latin translations Dan. 3:24–68) contains the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men. These are the prayers of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the three young men who praised God after they had been placed in the midst of the fiery furnace during a persecution of Jews in Babylon, as told in the Book of Daniel. The first prayer

Anastasius Ii

2005-03-13T15:45:00.000-08:00

In notifying the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I of his accession, Anastasius expressed a conciliatory attitude toward the late patriarch Acacius of Constantinople, who had been deposed and excommunicated in 484 by Pope St. Felix III. The Acacian Schism resulted from this act. The pope's reception of the Byzantine deacon Photinus,

Dzerzhinsk

2005-03-13T15:17:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Dzerzinsk, formerly (until 1929) Rastyapino city, Nizhegorod oblast (province), western Russia. Dzerzhinsk lies along the Oka River upstream from its confluence with the Volga River at Nizhny Novgorod. Part of the Nizhny Novgorod metropolitan area, Dzerzhinsk and its satellite towns stretch for 15 miles (24 km) along the Oka. The city is 32 miles (51 km) west of Nizhny Novgorod and 240 miles (390 km) east of Moscow. It was renamed in 1929 in

Hooke, Robert

2005-03-12T15:43:00.000-08:00

In 1655 Hooke was employed by Robert Boyle to construct the Boylean air pump. Five years later, Hooke discovered his law of elasticity, which states that the stretching of a solid body (e.g., metal,

Guinea-bissau, Religions

2005-03-12T04:15:00.000-08:00

Most adherents of Islam belong to the Qadiriyah or Tijaniyah orders. Portugal supported the expansion of

Fish Meal

2005-03-10T22:51:00.000-08:00

To be processed

Abdülaziz

2005-03-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Like his brother Abdülmecid I, whom he succeeded as sultan on June 25, 1861, Abdülaziz was an ardent admirer of the material progress in western

D-day

2005-03-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

(in World War II), first day of the Allied landing in Normandy, France. See Normandy Invasion.

Oberon

2005-03-07T03:52:00.000-08:00

Outermost of the five major satellites of Uranus. It was discovered in 1787 by the English astronomer Sir William Herschel, who had found Uranus in 1781. The mean distance of the satellite from the centre of Uranus is about 583,520 kilometres (361,780 miles), and its orbital period is 13.46 days. Oberon's estimated diameter is 1,630 km (1,010 mi), and its mass is about 6.9 ´ 10-5 that of Uranus. The satellite is thought to consist

Oviparity

2005-03-07T00:53:00.000-08:00

Expulsion of undeveloped eggs rather than live young. The eggs may have been fertilized before release, as in birds and some reptiles, or are to be fertilized externally, as in amphibians and many lower forms. In general, the number of eggs produced by oviparous species greatly exceeds the number of offspring from species that bear live young, but the chances of survival

Indonesia

2005-03-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

Officially Republic of Indonesia , Indonesian Republik Indonesia country located off the coast of the Southeast Asian mainland in the Indian and Pacific oceans. It is an archipelago that lies across the Equator and spans a distance equivalent to one-eighth of the Earth's circumference. Its islands can be grouped into the Greater Sunda Islands of Sumatra (Sumatera), Java (Jawa), the southern extent of Borneo known as Kalimantan, and

Shamanism, Southeast Asia and Oceania

2005-03-06T07:58:00.000-08:00

Shamanism is prevalent in the Malay Peninsula and in Oceania. Among the Negritos of the Malay Peninsula, the shaman heals with the help of celestial spritis or by using crystals of quartz. But the influence of Indo-Malayan beliefs is noticeable, too (the shaman changing into a tiger, trance achieved by dancing, etc.). In the Andaman Islands the shaman gets his power from

Denpasar

2005-03-05T00:30:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Bali propinsi (province), south central Bali, Indonesia, 40 miles (70 km) south of Singaraja. The largest city on the island of Bali, it is also the capital of the Badung kabupaten (regency). Denpasar was the site of a suicidal battle of the rajas of Badung against the Dutch Militia in 1906. A large open square in the centre of the city, named Puputan Square, commemorates

Flint, F.s.

2005-03-04T04:31:00.000-08:00

The son of a commercial traveler, Flint left school at the age of 13 and worked at a variety of jobs. At the age of 17 his reading of a volume by the 19th-century Romantic poet John

Bond, William Cranch

2005-03-03T16:33:00.000-08:00

Largely self-educated, Bond was a watchmaker

Eclipse

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

The Sun is eclipsed when the Moon comes between it and the Earth; the Moon is eclipsed when it moves into the shadow of the Earth cast by the Sun. Eclipses of natural or artificial satellites of a planet occur as the satellites move

Guadalcanal, Battle Of

2005-03-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

(August 1942–February 1943), series of World War II land and sea clashes between Allied and Japanese forces on and around Guadalcanal, one of the southern Solomon Islands, in the South Pacific. Japanese troops had landed on Guadalcanal on July 6, 1942, and had begun constructing an airfield there. On August 7, in the Allies' first major offensive in the Pacific, 6,000 U.S. Marines landed on Guadalcanal

Scimitar-babbler

2005-03-02T05:45:00.000-08:00

Any of about 12 species of songbirds of the babbler family Timaliidae (order Passeriformes), which have long, curved bills used for uncovering insects in ground litter. Scimitar-babblers are 18 to 28 cm (7 to 11 inches) in length, with fairly long tails. Their plumage is mostly brown. They range through southern Asia to Australia and the Philippines. An example is the slaty-headed

Gulf Intracoastal Waterway

2005-02-28T22:33:00.000-08:00

An improved navigable waterway along the Gulf Coast of the United States, extending from Apalachee Bay, Florida, westward to the Mexican border at Brownsville, Texas, a distance of more than 1,100 miles (1,770 km). In part artificial, the waterway consists of a channel paralleling the coast behind barrier beaches, the channel being linked by a series of canals. The Gulf Intracoastal

Korsakoff Syndrome

2005-02-28T19:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Korsakoff psychosis , or Korsakoff disease neurological disorder characterized by severe amnesia (memory loss). Many cases result from severe chronic alcoholism, while others are due to a variety of brain disorders, severe head injury, or a thiamine deficiency. Patients with Korsakoff syndrome typically are unable to remember events in the recent or even the immediate past, and some can store information

Utsunomiya

2005-02-27T21:56:00.000-08:00

Capital, Tochigi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. The city is situated on the alluvial plain between the Ta River and the Kinu River. A castle town in the 11th century, it later served as a post town on the Nikko Highway during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). The city became the prefectural administrative centre in 1884. During World War II industries were relocated to Utsunomiya from Tokyo, producing

Kazak

2005-02-27T07:10:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kazakh, an Asiatic Turkic-speaking people inhabiting mainly Kazakstan and the adjacent parts of the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang in China. The Kazaks emerged in the 15th century from an amalgam of Turkic tribes who entered Transoxiana about the 8th century and of Mongols who entered the area in the 13th century. At the end of the 20th century there were roughly 7,600,000 in Kazakstan

Addison, Joseph

2005-02-25T16:47:00.000-08:00

English essayist, poet, and dramatist, who, with Richard Steele, was a leading contributor to and guiding spirit of the periodicals The Tatler and The Spectator. His writing skill led to his holding important posts in government while the Whigs were in power.

San Antonio De Los Baños

2005-02-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

City, west central La Habana province, west central Cuba. Lying on the Río San Antonio de los Baños, the settlement prospered and became a health resort because of its thermal springs. It is also a commercial and manufacturing centre for the surrounding agricultural lands, which produce tobacco, sugarcane, and pineapples. Cigars, clothes, and yeast are manufactured,

Belize, Daily life

2005-02-25T13:54:00.000-08:00

The social class of the people—whether they are poor or middle class—affects whether they will have such amenities as a car or television and influences as well whether their children will complete secondary school. Belizeans who have television watch mostly foreign programs, such as Mexican soap operas and North American sports; and the music they listen to largely

French Literature, Racine's fatalism

2005-02-24T18:37:00.000-08:00

Whether Racine's Jansenist upbringing determined his view of a human nature controlled by perverse and willful passions, or whether his knowledge of Greek tragedy explains the fatalism of his own plays, the imaginary world inhabited by his heroes could not be more different from that of Corneille's. Tragedy for Racine is an inexorable series of events leading

Aerospace Industry, The first decade

2005-02-23T17:31:00.000-08:00

The origin of the aerospace industry dates to 1903 when Wilbur and Orville Wright demonstrated an airplane capable of powered, sustained flight (see Wright flyer of 1903). The Wright brothers' success was due to detailed research and an excellent engineering-and-development approach. Their breakthrough innovation was a pilot-operated warping (twisting) of the wings to provide

Dublin

2005-02-23T06:02:00.000-08:00

Irish Dubh Linn, or Norse Dyfflin (“Black Pool”) , also called Baile Átha Cliath (“Town of the Ford of the Hurdle”), city, formally a county borough, and capital of County Dublin and of Ireland. Located in the east-central part of the country at the head of Dublin Bay on the Irish Sea, the city is the country's chief port, centre of financial and commercial power, and seat of culture. It is also a city of contrasts, maintaining an uneasy relationship between reminders of its colonial past

La Vallière, Louise-françoise De La Baume Le Blanc, Duchess (duchesse) De

2005-02-22T15:52:00.000-08:00

La Vallière, the daughter of a military governor, was appointed maid of honour in 1661 to Louis XIV's sister-in-law Henrietta Anne of England, Duchess d'Orléans. Although Louis had been married to the Spanish infanta Marie-Thérèse for only about a year, he took La Vallière as his mistress in July 1661. In order

Vaihinger, Hans

2005-02-21T16:54:00.000-08:00

Vaihinger taught philosophy at the University of Halle from 1884 to 1906, when nearsightedness

Wicksteed, Philip Henry

2005-02-20T22:36:00.000-08:00

Wicksteed, who was for some years a Unitarian minister, was a writer on literature, classics, theology, and philosophy, and his fame at the time of his death was greater in these contexts than as an economist. He wrote, among many works, Dante and

Argelander, Friedrich Wilhelm August

2005-02-19T23:24:00.000-08:00

German astronomer who established the study of variable stars as an independent branch of astronomy and is renowned for his great catalog listing the positions and magnitudes of 324,188 stars. He studied at the University of Königsberg, Prussia, where he was a pupil and later the successor of Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel. Argelander was appointed

France, History Of, Trade

2005-02-19T20:28:00.000-08:00

Despite the Islamic conquests, Mediterranean commerce did not decline abruptly. In Gaul, such goods as papyrus, oil, and spices were imported from the East, and there were numerous colonies of Syrians. Currency continued to be based on the gold standard, and imperial units were still used. All signs, moreover, point to the existence of manufacturing for trade (marble from

Macdonough, Thomas

2005-02-19T00:03:00.000-08:00

Entering the navy as a midshipman in 1800, Macdonough saw service during the U.S. war with Tripoli (1801–05). When war broke out with England, his major assignment

In Medias Res

2005-02-18T10:34:00.000-08:00

In narrative technique, the recommended practice of beginning an epic or other fictional form by plunging into a crucial situation that is part of a related chain of events; the situation is an extension of previous events and will be developed in later action. The narrative then goes directly forward, and exposition of earlier events is supplied by flashbacks.

Keen, William Williams

2005-02-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

After graduating (M.D., 1862) from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Keen was a surgeon for the U.S. Army in 1862–64 during the American Civil War. The next two years he did postgraduate work in Paris and Berlin. On his return to the United States, he became a lecturer in surgical pathology

Permafrost, Ice wedges

2005-02-16T21:15:00.000-08:00

The most conspicuous and controversial type of ground ice in permafrost is that formed in large ice wedges or masses with parallel or subparallel foliation structures. Most foliated ice masses occur as wedge-shaped, vertical, or inclined sheets or dikes 2.5 centimetres to 3 metres wide and 0.3 to 9 metres high when viewed in transverse cross section. Some masses seen on the

Kerguelen Cabbage

2005-02-16T05:22:00.000-08:00

(species Pringlea antiscorbutica), plant resembling the common cabbage and belonging to the same family (Brassicaceae). It was named for Kerguelen Island. The leaves of the plant contain a pale-yellow, highly pungent essential oil rich in ascorbic acid (vitamin C), for which reason it was a useful dietary supplement against scurvy. It was discovered by the British explorer

Computers, The hobby market expands

2005-02-15T23:53:00.000-08:00

Some entrepreneurs, particularly in the San Francisco Bay area, saw opportunities to build add-on devices, or peripherals, for the Altair; others decided to design competitive hardware products. Because different machines might use different data paths, or buses, peripherals built for one computer might not work with another computer. This led the emerging industry

Condylarthra

2005-02-15T02:00:00.000-08:00

Extinct order of hoofed mammals that includes the ancestral forms of later, more advanced ungulates (hoofed mammals with a plant diet). The condylarths are transitional between the insectivores and advanced ungulates. The condylarths existed mostly in the Paleocene Epoch (66.4 to 57.8 million years ago), but some forms persisted through the Eocene Epoch into the Early Oligocene

Great Escarpment

2005-02-14T03:12:00.000-08:00

Plateau edge of southern Africa that separates the region's highland interior plateau from the fairly narrow coastal strip. It lies predominantly within the Republic of South Africa and Lesotho but extends northeastward into eastern Zimbabwe (where it separates much of that country from Mozambique) and northwestward into Namibia and Angola (where it separates

Latrobe, Benjamin (henry)

2005-02-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

Latrobe attended the Moravian college at Niesky, Saxony, and traveled in France and Italy, acquiring a knowledge

Domestic Pigeon

2005-02-13T09:15:00.000-08:00

(Columba livia), bird of the family Columbidae (order Columbiformes) that was perhaps the first bird tamed by man. Figurines, mosaics, and coins have portrayed the domestic pigeon since at least 4500 BC (Mesopotamia). From Egyptian times the pigeon has been important as food. Its role as messenger has a long history. Today it is an important laboratory animal, especially

Marsh, Ngaio

2005-02-11T20:36:00.000-08:00

Marsh studied painting in art school and was an actress and theatrical producer in New Zealand before going in 1928 to England, where she wrote her first novel, A Man Lay

Molecular Biology

2005-02-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

Field of science concerned with studying the chemical structures and processes of biological phenomena at the molecular level. Of growing importance since the 1940s, molecular biology developed out of the related fields of biochemistry, genetics, and biophysics. The discipline is particularly concerned with the study of proteins, nucleic acids, and enzymes—i.e., the

Talbot, William Henry Fox

2005-02-10T20:56:00.000-08:00

English chemist, linguist, archaeologist, and pioneer photographer. He is best known for his development of the calotype (q.v.), an early photographic process that was an improvement over the daguerreotype of the French inventor L.-J.-M. Daguerre. Talbot's calotypes involved the use of a photographic

Advertising Coloration

2005-02-10T10:36:00.000-08:00

In animals, the use of biological coloration to make an organism unique and highly visible as compared with the background, thereby providing easily perceived information as to its location, identity, and movement. Such advertisement may serve the function of attracting individuals in order to enter into some advantageous interaction (e.g., courtship for reproductive

Cartier-bresson, Henri

2005-02-10T04:57:00.000-08:00

Cartier-Bresson

Palatine Chapel

2005-02-09T03:01:00.000-08:00

Constructed on the site of an

United Nations, Flag Of The

2005-02-08T05:23:00.000-08:00

In April 1945, near the end of World War II, 50 Allied nations gathered in San Francisco. The lapel button worn by delegates was “smoke blue,” a shade chosen by U.S. Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. The design on the button, by Donal McLaughlin, showed a view of the Earth based on a projection centred on the North Pole. This indicated the worldwide scope of the new organization,

Siberut Island

2005-02-07T16:41:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Pulau Siberut , also spelled Siberoet largest island in the Mentawai group of islands, Sumatera Barat provinsi (province), Indonesia. Siberut lies off the western coast of Sumatra, about 90 miles (145 km) west-southwest of and across the Mentawai Strait from Padang city. The island is 25 miles (40 km) wide and 70 miles (110 km) long. Its terrain is generally low, rising to about 1,260 feet (384 m) in the western portion. Rainfall is heavy, and the

Aversion Therapy

2005-02-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

Psychotherapy designed to cause a patient to reduce or avoid an undesirable behaviour pattern by conditioning him to associate the behaviour with an undesirable stimulus. The chief stimuli used in the therapy are electrical and chemical. In the electrical therapy, the patient is given a lightly painful shock whenever the undesirable behaviour is aroused; this

Celaenae

2005-02-06T01:09:00.000-08:00

Ancient fortress city of Phrygia (in present Turkey), the starting point of the march of the “Ten Thousand” under Cyrus (401 BC) against Artaxerxes (recounted in Xenophon's Anabasis). In 333 Celaenae was conquered by Alexander the Great. The city was later renamed Apamea Cibotus (q.v.) by Antiochus I Soter, who refounded it on a more open site in order to benefit from the growing commerce

Antarctica, IGY and the Antarctic Treaty

2005-02-05T18:46:00.000-08:00

The importance of coordinating polar science efforts was recognized in 1879 by the International Polar Commission meeting in Hamburg, Ger., and thus the 11 participating nations organized the First International Polar Year of 1882–83. Most work was planned for the better-known Arctic, and, of the four geomagnetic and meteorologic stations scheduled for Antarctic regions, only

Bekker, August Immanuel

2005-02-05T04:23:00.000-08:00

Bekker studied classics at the University of Halle and was appointed professor of philosophy at Friedrich-Wilhelm University, Berlin, in 1810. He traveled over the next decade in France, Italy, England, and Germany,

Calcutta, University Of

2005-02-04T22:57:00.000-08:00

State-controlled institution of higher learning founded by the British in India in 1857. Modeled on the University of London, Calcutta was originally a purely affiliating university that offered no actual instruction but was the examining and degree-granting authority for colleges scattered over most of northern India. Since 1904 it has gradually added teaching to

Ahmad Shah Durrani

2005-02-03T00:25:00.000-08:00

Founder of the state of Afghanistan and ruler of an empire that extended from the Amu Darya to the Indian Ocean and from Khorasan into Kashmir, the Punjab, and Sind. Head of the central government, with full control of all departments of state in domestic and foreign affairs, both civil and military, the shah was assisted by a prime minister

Kuwait

2005-02-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

In 2003 the Kuwaiti government supported international efforts to induce Iraqi Pres. Saddam Hussein to resign and leave Iraq voluntarily. When those failed, Kuwait supported the U.S.-led campaign against Iraq and allowed a massive military buildup by U.S. and British troops on its territory. These forces finally invaded and occupied Iraq in March and April. Afterward,

Bulging

2005-02-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

In geology, mass movement of rock material caused by heavy weights on soft rock strata that crop out in valley walls. Such material is squeezed out and deformed; it flows as a plastic, and the disturbance may extend down tens of metres. Folds and small faults may form at the foot of the slope where the rock material is under stress.

Roman Republican Calendar

2005-02-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

Dating system that evolved in Rome prior to the Christian era. According to legend, Romulus, the founder of Rome, instituted the calendar in about 738 BC. This dating system, however, was probably a product of evolution from the Greek lunar calendar, which in turn was derived from the Babylonian. The original Roman calendar appears to have consisted only of 10 months and of a year

Fabry, Charles

2005-02-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

Fabry joined the staff of Marseilles University in 1894. His early studies centred on light interference, in which a primary research instrument

Babeuf, François-noël

2005-01-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

The son of a tax farmer, Babeuf

Sileh Rug

2005-01-30T06:51:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of semiantique, Caucasian pileless floor coverings woven in the Soumak manner. The typical pattern consists of rows of dragon forms derived from the much older Dragon rugs. In the Silehs the dragon assumes the shape of a block letter S or numeral 2; the tail is represented as a mere line. A motif may be repeated six times and then six times again between the

Cohen, Paul Joseph

2005-01-29T03:21:00.000-08:00

Cohen attended the University of Chicago (M.S., 1954; Ph.D., 1958). He held appointments at the University of Rochester, N.Y. (1957–58), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1958–59) before joining the Institute

Moscow, Grand Principality Of

2005-01-28T10:32:00.000-08:00

Muscovy became a distinct principality during the second half of the 13th century under the rule of Daniel, the youngest son of the Rurik prince Alexander

Carter, Elliott (cook, Jr.)

2005-01-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

Born of a wealthy family, Carter was educated at Harvard University, where he first majored in English and later studied music under Walter Piston and Gustav Holst.

Gauches, Cartel Des

2005-01-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

The Socialist Party, which usually disdained association with the bourgeois parties of the right, joined an electoral alliance with the Radicals, who had dominated prewar ministries. Together

Flanders

2005-01-26T02:31:00.000-08:00

The origins of Flanders lay in the pagus Flandrensis, an area composed

Joachim Ii Hektor

2005-01-25T22:55:00.000-08:00

The elder son of Joachim I, Joachim II was given the Old (Altmark) and Middle Marks of Brandenburg on his father's death

Insurance, Types of policies

2005-01-25T02:00:00.000-08:00

Hospitalization insurance indemnifies for room

Tapestry, Collection catalogs

2005-01-24T22:41:00.000-08:00

Important illustrated catalogs of tapestry collections include: A.S. Cavallo, Tapestries of Europe and Colonial Peru in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2 vol. (1967); D. Du Bon, Tapestries from the Samuel H. Kress Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1964); H.C. Marillier, The Tapestries at Hampton Court Palace, London, 2nd ed. (1962), and with A.J. Wace, Marlborough Tapestries at Blenheim Palace (1968); N.Y. Biryukova, The Leningrad Hermitage Gothic and Renaissance Tapestries (1966); M. Crick Kuntziger, Musees royaux d'Art et d'Histoire: Catalogues des tapisseries (1956); A.m. Erkelens, Wandtapijten I. Late Goteik en vroege Renaissance, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (1962); and A.F. Kendrick, Catalogue of Tapestries at the Victoria and Albert Museum (1924). Tapestries of the second half of the 20th century are shown in numerous exhibition catalogs, such as Erika Sellman-Büsching, Tapisserien 1970 bis 1981 (1981); F. Vialet, Tapisseries contemporaines d'Aubusson (1981); Swiss Tapestries, Artists of Today (1981).

Bukovina

2005-01-24T13:51:00.000-08:00

Eastern European territory consisting of a segment of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plain, divided in modern times (after 1947) between Romania and the Soviet Union. Settled by both Ukrainians (Ruthenians) and Romanians (Moldavians), the region became an integral part of the principality of Moldavia in the 14th century. Suceava, in the south of

Kirkcaldy (of Grange), Sir William

2005-01-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

Kirkcaldy was one of the Protestant conspirators who murdered the powerful cardinal David Beaton at St. Andrews Castle in May 1546. From 1550 to 1556 he served in France as a secret agent for England. He returned to Scotland in 1557 and two years later joined the Protestant lords

Ethiopic Alphabet

2005-01-22T02:01:00.000-08:00

Writing system used to write the Ge'ez literary and ecclesiastical language and the Amharic, Tigre, and Tigrinya languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea. Apparently derived from Sabaean, a South Semitic script, the Ethiopic script probably originated in the early 4th century AD; it is unclear whether Ethiopic resulted from a gradual evolution of the Sabaean script or whether

Jujuy

2005-01-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

Provincia, extreme northwestern Argentina, bordering Chile (west) and Bolivia (north), having an area of 20,548 square miles (53,219 square km). It comprises several cordilleras of the Andes—reaching elevations of 16,500 feet (5,000 m) and separated by a bleak plateau 11,500 feet (3,500 m) high called the Puna de Atacama—that descend on the east to form sub-Andean ranges and valleys. The eastern Andean and sub-Andean

Residencia

2005-01-20T05:32:00.000-08:00

In colonial Spanish America, judicial review of an official's acts, conducted at the conclusion of his term of office. Originating in Castile in the early 15th century, it was extended to the government of Spain's colonial empire from the early 16th century. In Spain it was applied mainly to the corregidors (local administrative and judicial officials). In the New World all