MilitaryShip

Undersea Exploration, Exploration of the seafloor and the Earth's crust

2005-04-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

The ocean floor has the same general character as the land areas of the world: mountains, plains, channels, canyons, exposed rocks, and sediment-covered areas. The lack of weathering and erosion in most areas, however, allows geological processes to be seen more clearly on the seafloor than on land. Undisturbed sediments, for example, contain a historical record of past

Basavan

2005-04-04T22:46:00.000-07:00

An outstanding Mughal painter, renowned as a superb colourist and as a sensitive observer of human nature. His name indicates that he may have been a member of the Ahir, or cowherders' caste, in the region of modern Uttar Pradesh. He was most active between about 1580 and 1600, and his name appears on the margins of more than 100 paintings, most often as the designer, in

Salta

2005-04-04T03:45:00.000-07:00

Provincia, northwestern Argentina, with an area of 59,759 square miles (154,775 square km). It is bounded on the southwest by Chile, on the north by Bolivia, and on the northeast by Paraguay. In the southwestern part of the province, high Andean cordilleras, separated by broad 11,500-foot- (3,500-metre-) high salt flats (the Atacama Plateau), descend from the Andean Cordillera Oriental through quebradas

Colchicum

2005-04-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

Genus of flowering plants in the family Liliaceae, consisting of about 30 species of herbs native to Eurasia. The stemless, crocuslike flowers bloom in autumn, and some are variously called autumn crocus and meadow saffron. The fruit is a three-valved capsule that ripens in the spring when the leaves appear. In some species the leaves arise from

Tohoku

2005-04-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

Chiho (region), located on northern Honshu, Japan, and including the ken (prefectures) of Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Yamagata, Miyagi, and Fukushima. Its name is derived from the Japanese terms to (“east”) and hoku (“north”). The region is also known as Ou, in reference to its main mountain range. Tohoku occupies nearly one-fifth of Japan's total area but contains less than one-tenth of the country's

Athanasius, Saint

2005-04-02T06:17:00.000-08:00

Athanasius received his philosophical and theological training at Alexandria; in 325 he attended Bishop Alexander of Alexandria as deacon at the Council of Nicaea. A recognized theologian and ascetic, Athanasius was the obvious candidate to succeed Alexander when the latter died in 328. The first years of his episcopate were devoted to visitation of his extensive

Mürren

2005-04-01T08:40:00.000-08:00

Alpine village, Bern canton, south central Switzerland, situated high above the Lauterbrunnen Valley in the Bernese Oberland (highland), opposite the Jungfrau (13,642 ft [4,158 m]). It is the highest village in the canton (elevation 5,450 ft) that is inhabited all the year round. A noted health and international winter-sports resort, it is also a ballooning centre with an annual international

Force Acts

2005-04-01T03:42:00.000-08:00

The major provisions of the acts authorized federal authorities to enforce penalties upon anyone interfering with the registration,

Civil Constitution Of The Clergy

2005-03-31T16:34:00.000-08:00

There was a need to create a new administrative and financial framework for the French Church after the Revolutionary governing body, the National

Goncourt, Edmond And Jules

2005-03-30T05:48:00.000-08:00

In full Edmond-louis-antoine Huot De Goncourt and Jules-alfred Huot De Goncourt French brothers, writers and constant collaborators who, despite and partly because of neurotic sensibility, contributed solidly to the Naturalistic novel, social history, and art criticism. Above all, they are remembered for their perceptive, revealing Journal and for Edmond's legacy, the Académie

Turbojet

2005-03-30T00:38:00.000-08:00

The first turbojet-powered

Hook, Sidney

2005-03-29T22:39:00.000-08:00

American educator and social philosopher who studied historical theory in relation to American philosophy. He was among the first U.S. scholars to analyze Marxism and was firmly opposed to all forms of totalitarianism, holding liberal democracy as the most viable political structure for social and scientific

Vieques Island

2005-03-28T13:56:00.000-08:00

Spanish Isla de Vieques island and municipio (“municipality”), Puerto Rico. It lies 13 miles (21 km) east of the main island, fronting south on the Caribbean Sea and north on the Vieques Sound, which connects the Caribbean with the Atlantic Ocean. Composed mostly of volcanic and granite intrusives, the generally hilly island is 21 miles (34 km) long and 3 miles (5 km) wide, and it is 52 square miles (135 square km) in area. Isabel

Goblin

2005-03-28T10:36:00.000-08:00

In Western folklore, a wandering sprite that is usually mischievous but often malicious. Goblins supposedly live in grottoes but attach themselves to households, where they are believed to bang upon pots and pans, snatch nightclothes off the bodies of sleeping people, move furniture at night, and flee after rapping on walls and doors. They are

Welti, (friedrich) Emil

2005-03-27T23:18:00.000-08:00

Political leader and Landammann (chief executive) of his native canton of Aargau in 1858, 1862, and 1866, Welti entered the federal Ständerat (council of cantons) in 1857 and subsequently served as assembly president (1860, 1866). Elected to the federal executive (Bundesrat)

Great Bend

2005-03-25T23:51:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1872) of Barton county, central Kansas, U.S. Great Bend lies on the Arkansas River where the High Plains begin to shade into tallgrass prairie. Situated in the alleged locality of the mythical city of Quivira sought by Francisco Coronado in the 16th century, the site was visited by the American explorer Zebulon Pike in 1806 and became a stopping point on the Santa Fe

Cellulose Acetate

2005-03-25T22:58:00.000-08:00

Original name Acetate Rayon, also called Acetate, man-made textile fibre produced from the plant substance cellulose, which is obtained from soft woods or the short fibres adhering to cotton seeds (linters) and treated with acetic acid and acetic anhydride, and then partially hydrolyzed so that the product, secondary acetate, is soluble in acetone. It forms a cellulose acetate solution that is extruded through

Aschelminth, Locomotion

2005-03-25T19:56:00.000-08:00

Nematodes have a characteristic sinuous movement in which waves travel along the body, which generally lies on its side, backward waves driving the body forward, forward waves driving it backward. These waves are brought about by successive contractions of longitudinal body wall muscles, in dorsal and ventral blocks, acting out of phase. The muscles increase the

Mclean, Alice Throckmorton

2005-03-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

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

Palencia

2005-03-24T00:13:00.000-08:00

Capital of Palencia provincia, in the Castile-León comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”), north-central Spain. It lies on the Campos Plain southwest of Burgos. Called the Pallantia by the ancient Greek geographers Strabo and Ptolemy, it was the chief town of the Vaccaei, an Iberian tribe. Its history during the Gothic and Moorish periods is obscure, but it was the

Furniture Industry

2005-03-21T22:58:00.000-08:00

The modern manufacture of furniture, as distinct from its design, is a major mass-production industry in Europe, the U.S., and other advanced regions. It is very largely a 20th-century industry, its development having

Radioactivity

2005-03-21T13:32:00.000-08:00

An unstable nucleus will decompose spontaneously, or decay, into a more stable configuration but will do so only in a few specific ways by emitting certain particles or certain forms of electromagnetic

Scandinavian Literature, Norway

2005-03-21T08:13:00.000-08:00

Several of Denmark's leading writers of the 18th century were of Norwegian birth, preeminently Ludvig Holberg and the members of Det Norske Selskab (the Norwegian Society). Established in Copenhagen in 1772 by a group of resident Norwegians, it looked to French rather than to German and English literature for models. Within Norway itself there was little overt literary

Appleton Layer

2005-03-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

Upper layer (called F2) of the F region (q.v.) of the ionosphere.

Dge-lugs-pa

2005-03-20T03:18:00.000-08:00

The Dge-lugs-pa sect was founded in the late 14th century by Tsong-kha-pa, who was himself a member of the austere Bka'-gdams-pa school. Tsong-kha-pa's reforms represented a return to tradition. He enforced strict monastic discipline, restored celibacy and the prohibition

Vaishnavism

2005-03-19T03:32:00.000-08:00

A major characteristic of Vaishnavism is the strong part played by bhakti, or religious devotion. The ultimate goal of the devotee is to escape from the cycle of birth and death so as to enjoy the presence

Johannesburg

2005-03-18T20:34:00.000-08:00

One of the youngest of the world's major cities, Johannesburg was founded in 1886, following the discovery of gold. The city was initially part of the Transvaal, an independent Afrikaner, or Boer, republic that later became one of the four provinces of South Africa. Today the

Muhammad Xi

2005-03-17T14:27:00.000-08:00

Instigated by his mother, a jealous wife, Boabdil rebelled against his father, the sultan Abu al-Hasan 'Ali (called in Spanish sources Muley Hacén, or Alboacen); and with the aid of the Abencerrajes

Melchizedek Priesthood

2005-03-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

In the Mormon church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), the higher of the two priesthoods, concerned with spiritual rather than secular matters. See Mormon.

China

2005-03-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

The year 2002 was a critical one for China. Domestically, it was a year of political transition to a new generation of leaders; internationally, significant changes in geopolitical alignments had major repercussions for the country. The 16th Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), after some delay, was convened in early November. China's “Three Represents” doctrine

Furniture, Historical forms and styles

2005-03-16T01:35:00.000-08:00

Round stone tables on low pedestal legs are known in Egypt from the time of the pyramids (c. 2700 BC). Egyptian limestone reliefs also show tables of normal height. Dating from the later dynasties, crude wooden tables with architectonic molding have been preserved. No tables have survived from ancient Greece. From the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, however, there are

Lagerkvist, Pär

2005-03-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

Lagerkvist was reared in a traditional religious manner in a small town. The influence of his early years remained strong despite his introduction to modern scientific ideas

Ottonian Art

2005-03-15T03:13:00.000-08:00

Painting, sculpture, and other visual arts produced during the reigns of the German Ottonian emperors and their first successors from the Salic house (950–1050). As inheritors of the Carolingian tradition of the Holy Roman Empire, the German emperors also assumed the Carolingian artistic heritage, the conscientious revival of late antique and Early Christian art forms

Ostwald, Wilhelm

2005-03-15T01:35:00.000-08:00

Ostwald took his doctorate from the University of Dorpat (now Tartu State

Kingston Upon Hull

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

Hull was a medieval wool port that passed from the monks of Meaux Abbey to Edward I, king of England, in 1293. Edward renamed the town Kingston upon

Ara Pacis

2005-03-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

Also called Ara Pacis Augustae (Latin: “Altar of the Augustan Peace”) shrine consisting of a marble altar in a walled enclosure erected in Rome's Campus Martius by the emperor Augustus and dedicated on Jan. 30, 9 BC. The sculptures on the walls and the altar representing the shrine's dedication ceremonies, scenes from Roman legend, and floral motifs are considered to be among the finest examples of Roman art.

China, The chief councillors

2005-03-14T03:59:00.000-08:00

The later Nan Sung emperors preferred not to take on the awesome burden of managing the huge and complex bureaucracy. Most of them were concerned chiefly with security and the status quo. The Nan Sung court delegated a tremendous amount of power and thus had a series of dominant chief councillors; none of them, however, ever was a potential usurper. No bureaucrat during

Ito Hirobumi

2005-03-13T05:18:00.000-08:00

In full (from 1907) Koshaku (Duke [or Prince]) Ito Hirobumi , original name Toshisuke Japanese elder statesman (genro) and premier (1885–88, 1892–96, 1898, 1900–01), who played a crucial role in building modern Japan. He helped draft the Meiji constitution (1889) and brought about the establishment of a bicameral national Diet (1890). He was created a marquess in 1884 and a duke (or prince) in 1907.

Hassan Ii

2005-03-12T13:19:00.000-08:00

Hassan, after taking a law degree at Bordeaux, France, was appointed commander of the Royal Armed Forces (1955) and deputy premier (1960) and succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, Muhammad V (1961). As

Yellow-green Algae

2005-03-11T01:50:00.000-08:00

Members of the division Xanthophyta (about 6,000 species), once classified with the green algae on the basis of similarity of body organization. The Xanthophyta are distinguished by their food reserve (oil), the quantity of b-carotene in their plastids, and motile bodies with unequal flagella. Frequently their cell walls are two overlapping halves. The

Quaker Foods And Beverages

2005-03-10T05:46:00.000-08:00

The Quaker Oats trademark was registered in 1877 by Henry Parsons Crowell (1855–1944), an Ohio milling company owner who in 1891 joined with two other millers, Robert Stuart and

Ahmadiyah

2005-03-10T01:59:00.000-08:00

A modern Islamic sect and the generic name for various Sufi (Muslim mystic) orders. The sect was founded in Qadian, the Punjab, India, in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (c. 1839–1908), who claimed to be the mahdi (a figure expected by some Muslims at the end of the world), the Christian Messiah, an incarnation of the Hindu god Krishna, and a reappearance (buruz) of Muhammad. The sect's doctrine, in some aspects, is unorthodox:

Regina

2005-03-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

Capital and largest city of Saskatchewan, Canada, on Wascana Creek, in the south-central part of the province. It originated as a hunters' camp and was known as Pile O'Bones for the heaps of bones left there after skinning and cutting buffalo. Captain John Palliser, the explorer, visited the site in 1857 and called it Wascana (derived from its Cree Indian name, Oskana); with the

Vendée, Wars Of The

2005-03-09T04:48:00.000-08:00

(1793–96), counterrevolutionary insurrections in the west of France during the French Revolution. The first and most important occurred in 1793 in the area known as the Vendée, which included large sections of the départements of Loire-Inférieure (Loire-Atlantique), Maine-et-Loire, Deux-Sèvres, and the Vendée proper. In this fervently religious and economically backward region,

Agri

2005-03-08T20:47:00.000-08:00

Agri is named after Mount Ararat (Turkish: Agri Dagi), situated to the east near the frontier with Iran.

Davidson, John

2005-03-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

After studying at the University of Edinburgh, Davidson became a teacher, meanwhile writing a number of blank-verse dramas that failed to win recognition. In 1890 he went to London, practiced journalism, and wrote

Anhydride

2005-03-08T01:35:00.000-08:00

Any chemical compound obtained, either in practice or in principle, by the elimination of water from another compound. Examples of inorganic anhydrides are sulfur trioxide, SO3, which is derived from sulfuric acid, and calcium oxide, CaO, derived from calcium hydroxide. Sulfur trioxide and other oxides formed by the removal of water from an acid are often called acid

Florida Keys

2005-03-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

The keys

Votic Language

2005-03-07T04:50:00.000-08:00

Member of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic language family, very nearly extinct. The few remaining Votic speakers live in the border area between Estonia and Russia (a region in which pressures to speak Russian or Estonian are not so great as they are in places of easier access). See also Finno-Ugric languages.

Anderson, Lindsay Gordon

2005-03-06T09:09:00.000-08:00

British stage and film director (b. April 17, 1923, Bangalore, India--d. Aug. 30, 1994, near Angoulême, France), as one of the original Angry Young Men, made his distaste for conformity and England's class consciousness the constant theme of his often anarchic works. While attending Wadham College, Oxford, Anderson cofounded and coedited the film magazine Sequence, and he later wrote for such

Xanthophyta

2005-03-06T00:49:00.000-08:00

Division or phylum of algae commonly known as yellow-green algae (q.v.).

Dressler, Marie

2005-03-05T16:05:00.000-08:00

The daughter of a piano teacher, Dressler early discovered her ability to make audiences laugh. She made her stage debut in Michigan in 1886 and then performed for three years with the George Baker

Syria, The cultivated steppe

2005-03-04T14:01:00.000-08:00

This region constitutes the principal wheat zone; agriculture is intensively pursued along the banks of the rivers. Some of Syria's most important cities—Damascus, Aleppo, Hims, Hamah, and al-Qamishli—are situated there.

Brian

2005-03-04T05:12:00.000-08:00

In 976 Brian became king of a small state, later called Dál Cais, and also king of Munster, whose Eóghanachta rulers had been defeated (964) by Brian's half brother. Brian destroyed first the Eóghanachta septs and then the Northmen, constructing a fleet to drive them from the Shannon. Under his rule Munster

Guchkov, Aleksandr Ivanovich

2005-03-04T03:32:00.000-08:00

The son of a wealthy Moscow merchant, Guchkov studied at the universities of Moscow and Berlin, traveled widely, fought against the British in the South African (Boer) War (1899–1902), and headed the Russian Red Cross during the Russo-Japanese

Salat

2005-03-04T00:08:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Salah, Arabic Salat, the daily ritual prayer enjoined upon all Muslims as one of the five Pillars of Islam (arkan al-Islam). There is disagreement among Islamic scholars as to whether some passages about prayer in the Muslim sacred scripture, the Qur'an, are actually references to the salat. Within Muhammad's lifetime five ritual prayers, each preceded by ablution, were observed: salat al-fajr (dawn),

Irish Potato Famine

2005-03-02T17:01:00.000-08:00

Also called Great Potato Famine, Great Irish Famine, or Famine Of 1845–49, famine that occurred in Ireland in 1845–49 when the potato crop failed in successive years. The crop failures were caused by late blight (q.v.), a disease that destroys both the leaves and the edible roots, or tubers, of the potato plant. The causative agent of late blight is the fungus Phytophthora infestans. The Irish Potato Famine was the worst famine to occur in Europe in the

Van Rensselaer, Mariana Alley Griswold

2005-03-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

Mariana Griswold, the daughter of a prosperous mercantile family, was educated privately at home and in Europe. She married Schuyler Van Rensselaer in 1873, and the couple lived in New Brunswick, New Jersey, until 1884, when

Parameters, Variation Of

2005-03-02T03:02:00.000-08:00

To illustrate the method, suppose it is desired to find a particular solution of the equation y² + p

Salerno, University Of

2005-03-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

Italian Università Degli Studi Di Salerno, institution of higher learning in Salerno, Italy. Much of the historic interest of the university derives from an antecedent medical school in Salerno that was the earliest and one of the greatest medical schools of the Middle Ages. In fact, some scholars have called this school medieval Europe's first university. The medical school was noted for its physicians

Digestive System, Vertebrate, Neurotensin

2005-03-01T08:43:00.000-08:00

Secreted by the N cells of the ileum in response to fat in the small intestine, neurotensin modulates motility, relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter, and blocks the stimulation of acid and pepsin secretion by the vagus nerve.

Aliger, Margarita Iosifovna

2005-02-28T21:50:00.000-08:00

Born into a poor family, Aliger was a committed communist from an early age. She studied writing in Moscow from 1934 to 1937 at what later became the Gorky Literary Institute. In the late 1930s she wrote prose sketches and verse diaries of her

Kirkpatrick, Ralph

2005-02-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

Kirkpatrick studied piano from age six and began to play harpsichord in 1930. He graduated from Harvard University in 1931 and then went to Paris to continue his studies. His teachers included Wanda Landowska, the French conductor

Rupert, Prince

2005-02-28T04:52:00.000-08:00

Rupert's father was Frederick V, elector Palatine and king

Dipteran, Annotated classification

2005-02-27T06:41:00.000-08:00

Characterized by large squamae (calypters that join base of wing to thorax); Scatophagidae

Arts, East Asian, The Tokugawa, or Edo, period

2005-02-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

At the death of the Momoyama leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1598, his five-year-old son, Hideyori, inherited nominal rule, but true power was held by Hideyoshi's counselors, among whom Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) was the most prominent. Ieyasu assumed the title of shogun in 1603, and the de facto seat of government was moved from Kyoto to his headquarters in Edo (now Tokyo). Ieyasu completed his

Polar Anticyclone

2005-02-25T22:32:00.000-08:00

Polar anticyclones are created by the cooling

Literature, Hebrew.

2005-02-25T19:13:00.000-08:00

The main events in Hebrew literature in 1998 were S. Yizhar's new novel, Malcomia Yefaifia ("Lovely Malcomia") and Amos Oz's innovative novel Oto hayam ("The Same Sea"). Yizhar, considered one of the best Israeli novelists after S.Y. Agnon, had not published a work of fiction for almost 30 years until the early 1990s, when he began producing a new novel about every two years. Despite his long,

Orangeburg

2005-02-24T22:17:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Orangeburg county, central South Carolina, U.S. It is situated on the North Fork Edisto River. In 1735 Germans, Swiss, and Dutch established a settlement, naming it for William IV, prince of Orange. The Donald Bruce House (c. 1735), on nearby Middlepen Plantation, served as the headquarters for Governor John Rutledge, General William Moultrie, and Lord Rawdon during the

Parks, Rosa

2005-02-24T10:06:00.000-08:00

Parks attended Alabama State College (now Alabama State University) and made her living as a seamstress. In 1943 she became

Arzner, Dorothy

2005-02-24T07:04:00.000-08:00

Arzner was reared in Los Angeles, where her family owned a Hollywood

Increasing Safety In Auto Racing: A Winning Formula?

2005-02-23T22:57:00.000-08:00

In 2000–01 that balance was sorely

Arts, Central Asian, Uighurs

2005-02-23T14:26:00.000-08:00

The figural arts found new patrons in eastern Turkistan among the Turkic Uighurs, who while living in T'ang dynasty China had been influenced by Manichaean figurative art. The overthrow in China in AD 846 of Buddhism by official Confucianism forced the Buddhist Uighurs to migrate to eastern Turkistan. Gradually, they gained control over the Tien Shan region, Turfan, and

Intension And Extension

2005-02-21T07:07:00.000-08:00

In logic, correlative words that indicate the reference of a term or concept: “intension” indicates the internal content of a term or concept that constitutes its formal definition; and “extension” indicates its range of applicability by naming the particular objects that it denotes. For instance, the intension of “ship” as a substantive is “vehicle for conveyance on

Furniture, Decorative processes and techniques

2005-02-21T05:01:00.000-08:00

Whether constructional principles are exploited as a motif or elegance of overall shape is stressed through stylization, every piece of furniture can be embellished in one way or another. A piece of furniture may be embellished by effects produced in the structural wood itself or in another kind of wood added to the first; that is, by carving and turning or by inlay

Padmasambhava

2005-02-21T03:56:00.000-08:00

According to tradition, he was a native of Udyana (now Swat, Pak.), an area famed for its magicians. Padmasambhava was a Tantrist and a member of the Yogacara sect and taught at Nalanda, a centre of Buddhist studies

Ashiya

2005-02-21T01:23:00.000-08:00

City, Hyogo ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It is surrounded by the Rokko Mountains and faces Osaka Bay. Located on railway lines and highways between Kobe (west) and Osaka (east), it has been known for its beauty since the Heian period (794–1185), when court nobles and men of letters lived there. After the establishment of the first railway line to it in 1905, the city became a renowned residential

'abbas I

2005-02-19T17:07:00.000-08:00

The third son of Soltan Mohammad Shah, 'Abbas came to the throne in October 1588, at a critical moment in the fortunes of the Safavid dynasty. The weak rule of his semiblind father had allowed usurpation by the amirs, or chiefs, of the Turkmen tribes, who had brought the Safavid to power and still constituted the backbone of Safavid military strength. Moreover, the intertribal factionalism

China, Religious and intellectual life

2005-02-19T14:02:00.000-08:00

The Mongols did not try to impose their own religion (a cult of Heaven, the forces of nature, and shamanistic practices) on their subjects. This gave comparative freedom to the existing religions in China. These included what the Mongol rulers considered to be the san chiao (“three teachings”): Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Both Taoism and Buddhism retained their

Van Der Waals Forces

2005-02-19T02:44:00.000-08:00

Relatively weak electric forces that attract neutral molecules to one another in gases, in liquefied and solidified gases, and in almost all organic liquids and solids. The forces are named for the Dutch physicist Johannes van der Waals, who in 1873 first postulated these intermolecular forces in developing a theory to account for the properties of real gases. Solids

Kazak Language

2005-02-18T21:19:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kazakh, member of the Turkic language family (a subfamily of the Altaic languages), belonging to the northwestern, or Kipchak, branch. The Kazak language is spoken primarily in Kazakstan and in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang in China but is also found in Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Afghanistan. The so-called Kipchak-Uzbek dialect is closely related to Kazak and is considered

X-ray Style

2005-02-18T08:07:00.000-08:00

Manner of depicting animals by drawing or painting the skeletal frame and internal organs, one of the characteristic styles of the art of prehistoric hunting cultures. The origin of the style can be traced to the Mesolithic art of northern Europe, where the earliest examples were found on fragments of bone in southern France dating from the late Magdalenian Period.

Coase, Ronald

2005-02-17T18:43:00.000-08:00

Coase attended the London School of Economics, where he received a bachelor of commerce degree in 1932 and a Ph.D. in economics in 1951. He was employed at various universities, including the London School of Economics (1935–51), the University of Buffalo, New York

England, Theatre

2005-02-17T08:28:00.000-08:00

Theatre is probably the performing art for which England is best known. Theatrical performance as such emerged during the Middle Ages in the form of mumming plays, which borrowed elements from wandering entertainers, traditional and ancient folk agricultural rituals, and dances such as the Morris dance (with its set character parts). Under the influence of Christianity,

Bulawayo

2005-02-16T22:53:00.000-08:00

The second largest city in Zimbabwe and the chief city of Matabeleland (i.e., the Ndebele-dominated western third of the country). The city lies along the Matsheumlope River in the southwestern part of the country, 4,405 feet (1,341 m) above sea level in undulating savanna terrain. The original site was the kraal (headquarters) of Lobengula, king of the Ndebele, who fought a major battle

Tooth

2005-02-16T13:05:00.000-08:00

The teeth of vertebrates represent the modified descendants of bony dermal (skin) plates that armoured ancestral fishes. A tooth consists of a crown

Tarbell, Ida M.

2005-02-16T04:29:00.000-08:00

Tarbell was educated at Allegheny College (Meadville, Pennsylvania) and taught briefly before becoming an editor for the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (1883–91). In 1891 she took her

Sacchi, Andrea

2005-02-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

His Bolognese training gave him an initial

1763, Proclamation Of

2005-02-15T05:56:00.000-08:00

Proclamation declared by the British crown at the end of the French and Indian War in North America, mainly intended to conciliate the Indians by checking the encroachment of white settlers on their lands. After Indian grievances had resulted in the start of Pontiac's War (1763–64), British authorities determined to subdue intercolonial rivalries and abuses by dealing

Athenaeus

2005-02-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

Greek grammarian and author of Deipnosophistai (“The Gastronomers”), a work in the form of an aristocratic symposium, in which a number of learned men, some bearing the names of real persons, such as Galen, meet at a banquet and discuss food and other subjects. It is in 15 books, of which 10 have survived in their entirety, the others in summary form. The value of the

Fabrizi, Nicola

2005-02-14T16:02:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Fabrizi helped plan and execute the 1831 Milan rising against the Austrians. Unsuccessful in his attempt to revive the revolution in Modena, he was forced to flee but was captured by the Austrians and

Sankaran Nair, Sir Chettur

2005-02-14T03:05:00.000-08:00

Sankaran Nair

Blood Serum

2005-02-12T08:27:00.000-08:00

The part of blood plasma remaining after coagulation, during which process the plasma protein fibrinogen is converted to fibrin and remains behind in the clot. Immune serum or antitoxin, serum prepared from the blood of animals or humans that have been exposed to a disease and have developed specific antibodies, is used to protect persons against diseases to which

Dacang Jing

2005-02-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization Ta-ts'ang Ching Japanese Daizo-kyo the total body of Buddhist literature deemed canonical in China and Japan and comprising works of the most varied character numbering more than 2,000 in the standard Chinese edition and more than 3,000 in the latest Japanese edition. Unlike canons of the southern Buddhist schools, this vast “storehouse” continued to expand for many centuries. It began with translations of

Astor, John Jacob

2005-02-11T17:34:00.000-08:00

Astor started a fur-goods shop in New York City about 1786 after learning about the fur trade while aboard the ship that brought him to the U.S. Benefitting

Trier

2005-02-11T13:28:00.000-08:00

French Trèves, Latin Augusta Treverorum, city, Rhineland-Palatinate Land (state), southwestern Germany, on the right bank of the Mosel (Moselle) River, surrounded by the foothills of the Eifel, Hunsrück, and Mosel mountains, just east of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg frontier. A shrine of the Treveri, a Germanic tribe, existed at the site (c. 400 BC). The Roman town was founded by the emperor Augustus about 15 BC. The city's strategic

Cummingtonite

2005-02-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

An amphibole mineral, an iron and magnesium silicate that occurs in metamorphic rocks. For chemical formula and detailed physical properties, see amphibole (table).

Sileru River

2005-02-10T09:09:00.000-08:00

Also called Machkund river, Andhra Pradesh state, southern India. The river rises as the Machkund in the Eastern Ghats in northeastern Andhra Pradesh. Leaving the Machkund reservoir, it flows (as the Sileru) parallel to the mountain ranges at an elevation of 2,000–3,000 feet (600–900 m) in a northeast-to-southwest direction to empty into the Sabari River, opposite Konta, in Madhya Pradesh state, 60 miles (100 km) north-northwest

Printmaking, Lift-ground etching (sugar-lift aquatint)

2005-02-10T06:16:00.000-08:00

In lift-ground etching, a positive image is etched on an aquatint plate by drawing with a water-soluble ground. In the conventional aquatint technique, the artist controls the image by stopping out negative areas with varnish, thus working around the positive image. But for lift-ground etching, he uses a viscous liquid (such as India ink, gamboge, or ordinary poster paint

Tapestry, 14th century

2005-02-09T02:34:00.000-08:00

In the 14th century the western European tradition of tapestry became firmly established. At that time the most sophisticated centres of production were in Paris and Flanders. Large numbers of tapestries are recorded in inventories. The more luxurious standards of living being adopted by the wealthy of the Gothic period extended the use of tapestries beyond the