PossiblePrison

Asti

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

City, capital of Asti province, Piemonte (Piedmont) region, northwestern Italy. It lies at the confluence of the Tanaro and Borbera rivers, 28 miles (45 km) southeast of Turin. Asti was the Hasta, or Colonia, of the Romans and was the seat of a bishopric from AD 932. It reached its zenith as an independent commune in the 13th century, after which it fell to several overlords before coming under

González De Mendoza, Pedro, Cardinal

2005-04-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

Mendoza, the fifth son of the poet Iñigo López de Mendoza, marqués de Santillana, studied at the University of Salamanca. After serving as chaplain to King John II, he

Integrated Circuit

2005-04-01T23:05:00.000-08:00

(IC), also called microcircuit, an assembly of electronic components, fabricated as a single unit, in which active semiconductor devices (transistors and diodes) and passive devices (capacitors and resistors) and their interconnections are built up on a chip of material called substrate. The circuit thus consists of a unitary structure with no connecting wires. The individual circuit elements

Grafton

2005-03-29T03:54:00.000-08:00

County, western New Hampshire, U.S. It is bounded to the west by Vermont (the Connecticut River constituting the entire border) and consists of a mountainous region, with the White Mountains and a large portion of White Mountain National Forest occupying the northeastern part of the county. It is drained by the Ammonoosuc, Baker, Mascoma, and Pemigewasset rivers. Other

Nilotic Languages

2005-03-28T02:24:00.000-08:00

The Nilotic languages are usually divided into a Western group (containing

Palatine Hill

2005-03-26T02:04:00.000-08:00

The Palatine is topographically intricate and scenically attractive, despite a general starkness that

Cartago

2005-03-23T01:51:00.000-08:00

City, east-central Costa Rica. Lying at 4,720 feet (1,439 m) above sea level, the city is located on the fertile Central Plateau, at the foot of Irazú Volcano. Cartago was founded in 1563 and was the capital of Costa Rica until 1823. There are, however, no authentic colonial buildings since the town was attacked repeatedly by pirates during the 17th century and has also been damaged severely by earthquakes.

Chicago Defender

2005-03-22T06:14:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott, the Chicago Defender originally was a four-page weekly newspaper. Like

Italian Republican Party

2005-03-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

The party dates back to the 19th century, when radicals fought for a unified Italy under a republican form of government; the PRI was formally founded

Bridges, Harry

2005-03-18T14:05:00.000-08:00

Bridges left home to become a maritime seaman at the age of 16 and in 1920 legally entered the United States, where he worked as a seaman and dockworker

Essential Oil

2005-03-17T09:08:00.000-08:00

Distillation is the most common method

Alkan, Valentin

2005-03-17T02:53:00.000-08:00

Alkan was born to Jewish parents, and all of his siblings (five brothers and a sister) also assumed the surname Alkan and were musicians. Valentin drew notice at the age of seven, when he won the first of many first

Mason, Daniel Gregory

2005-03-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

Mason was the grandson of the music publisher and educator Lowell Mason and the son of Henry Mason, a founder of the Mason & Hamlin Co. piano firm. He studied with John K. Paine at Harvard and with Vincent d'Indy in Paris. From 1910 to 1942 he taught at Columbia University. His music

Leninogorsk

2005-03-14T06:43:00.000-08:00

Kazak Leninogor , formerly (until 1941) Ridder city, northeastern Kazakstan. The city is situated in the southwestern Altai Mountains along the Ulba River, at an elevation of more than 3,300 feet (1,000 m). An Englishman, Philip Ridder, discovered a small mine containing gold, silver, copper, and lead there in 1786, and systematic mining started in 1791. Present-day Leninogorsk is an important centre of the lead and zinc industry and is connected

Seleucid Kingdom

2005-03-13T07:24:00.000-08:00

Seleucus, one of Alexander's leading generals, became satrap (governor) of Babylonia in 321, two years after the death of Alexander. In the

Siberut Island

2005-03-13T05:32:00.000-08:00

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

Burgess Shale

2005-03-11T11:24:00.000-08:00

Fossil formation containing remarkably detailed traces of soft-bodied biota of the Middle Cambrian Epoch (520 to 512 million years ago). Collected from a fossil bed in the Burgess Pass of the Canadian Rockies, the Burgess Shale is one of the best preserved and most important fossil formations in the world. Since it was discovered in 1909, over 60,000 specimens have been retrieved from

Dacia

2005-03-10T23:18:00.000-08:00

In antiquity, the area of the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania, in present north-central and western Romania. The Dacian people had earlier occupied lands south of the Danube and north of the mountains, and the Roman province eventually included wider territories both to the north and east. The Dacians were agricultural and also worked their rich mines of

D.c.b.

2005-03-10T00:10:00.000-08:00

Dame commander of the Bath, member of the second highest rank of knightly class in a British order of knighthood. See Bath, The Most Honourable Order of the.

Fabre, émile

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

The son of a stage manager, Fabre began writing and producing plays at the age of 13. Comme ils sont tous (1894; “As They All Are”) was his first success, followed by a series of popular political and social satires: L'Argent

Gama, (josé) Basílio Da

2005-03-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

Gama completed his novitiate with the Jesuits in 1759. In that same year the order was expelled from Brazil and all other Portuguese

Lurie, Alison

2005-03-07T06:49:00.000-08:00

Lurie graduated from Radcliffe College in 1947 and later taught English and then children's literature at Cornell University. One of her best-known books, The War Between the Tates (1974; filmed 1977), concerns the manner in which the wife of a professor

Ibn Miskawayh

2005-03-05T06:12:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Ibn Miskawayh's personal life. It is believed he converted to Islam from Zoroastrianism, the religion of pre-Islamic Iran. His interests included alchemy and

Metamorphism

2005-03-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

Mineralogical and structural adjustments of solid rocks to physical and chemical conditions differing from those under which the rocks originally formed. Changes produced by surface conditions such as compaction are usually excluded. The most important agents of metamorphism include temperature, pressure, and stress. Equally as significant are changes

Tlaxcala

2005-03-03T13:22:00.000-08:00

Inland plateau estado (“state”), central Mexico, bordered by the states of Puebla on the northeast, east, and south; by México on the west; and by Hidalgo on the northwest. The smallest Mexican state, its 1,551-square-mile (4,016-square-kilometre) territory has a mean elevation of 7,000 feet (2,100 m) and a cool, healthful climate, but frequent winter frosts are injurious to local agriculture. The state

Lisboa

2005-03-02T11:10:00.000-08:00

Administrative district, west central Portugal, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean (west and south) and by the Tagus River and its estuary (southeast). Principal occupations outside Lisbon, the district and national capital, are agriculture and fishing, ironworking, and tourism. A disastrous flood in November 1967 caused over 450 deaths and much damage in the district. Area 1,065 square

Suppiluliumas I

2005-03-01T00:58:00.000-08:00

Suppiluliumas'

Tata

2005-02-27T22:20:00.000-08:00

Oasis, southwestern Morocco. Situated in an arid region at the extreme northwestern edge of the Sahara, Tata oasis is located in a canyon watered by three wadis descending from Mount Bani, an outlier of the Anti-Atlas mountains. The oasis contains about 30 ksars (fortified villages) with houses built out of pink clay. The inhabitants of the region include the Shluh Berbers,

Empiricism

2005-02-27T09:00:00.000-08:00

The earliest expressions of Empiricism in ancient Greek philosophy were those of the Sophists. In reaction to them Plato presented the Rationalistic view that man has only “opinion” about changing, perceptible, existing things in space and time; that “knowledge” can be had only of timeless, necessary truths; and that the objects of knowledge—the unchanging and imperceptible

Tigereye

2005-02-26T16:02:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Tiger's-eye, semiprecious quartz gem displaying chatoyancy, a vertical luminescent band like that of a cat's eye. Veins of parallel, blue asbestos (crocidolite) fibres are first altered to iron oxides and then replaced by silica. The gem has a rich yellow to yellow-brown or brown colour and, when polished, a fine golden lustre. The best stones come from Griqualand West, S.Af. Hawk's-eye

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Allegory and cosmology

2005-02-25T22:20:00.000-08:00

The allegorical mode has been of major importance in representing the cosmos: the earliest Greek philosophers, for example, speculated on the nature of the universe in allegorical terms; in the Old Testament's oblique interpretation of the universe, too, the world is seen as a symbolic system. The symbolic stories that explain the cosmos are ritualized to ensure

Durfort Family

2005-02-24T04:16:00.000-08:00

The family, which can be traced back to the 11th century, claims as a member Guy Aldonce I de Durfort (1605–65), Marquis de Duras, who raised three famous sons: Jacques Henri I (1625–1704), marshal of France (1675) and Duke de Duras (1689); Guy Aldonce II (1630–1702), marshal of France (1676) and Duke de Quintin (1691); and Louis (1638–1709), who went to England and became 2nd Earl of Feversham

Rickets

2005-02-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that is produced in the skin by the action of sunlight's ultraviolet rays on its precursor, 7-dehydrocholesterol (provitamin D3). Vitamin D is also absorbed from the diet, especially from irradiated milk, liver, and fish oils.

Hilarion Of Kiev

2005-02-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

A priest, Hilarion became the second archbishop of Kiev, the chief city in Rus at that time. Although Kievan bishops had all previously been appointed by the patriarch of Constantinople, Hilarion was chosen by Prince Yaroslav I the Wise and an assembly

Roubaix

2005-02-21T07:01:00.000-08:00

Industrial town, Nord département, Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, northern France, just northeast of Lille. It is situated on the Canal de Roubaix in the plain of Flanders near the Belgian frontier and is united in the north with Tourcoing. Roubaix obtained its first manufacturing charter in the 15th century. After a long struggle in the second half of the 18th century, it obtained

'abbas I

2005-02-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

L.L. Bellan, Chah 'Abbas I: sa vie, son histoire (1932), the only biography of Shah 'Abbas I in any European language—generally accurate; R.M. Savory, “ 'Abbas I” in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, new ed., vol. 1, pp. 7–8 (1960); for general background to the period of Shah 'Abbas, the reader is referred to: J. Chardin, Voyages du Chevalier Chardin, 4th ed., 4 vol. (1811); Sir John Malcom, The History of Persia from the Early Period to the Present Time, 2 vol. (1815); and V. Minorsky, Tadhkirat al-Muluk (1943), especially the introduction, commentary, and appendixes.

Pacific Ocean, Early exploration and settlement

2005-02-19T14:55:00.000-08:00

The Pacific Islands are thought to have been peopled by influxes from both mainland and archipelagic Southeast Asia. The earliest migrations were to what is now generally referred to as Melanesia. From there generations of voyagers ranged northward into eastern Micronesia and eastward into Polynesia. The peopling of Polynesia, by means of long-range seagoing

Dyer, Sir Edward

2005-02-17T03:15:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Oxford, Dyer went to court under the patronage of the Earl of Leicester. Dyer was a friend of Sir Philip Sidney, on whose death he wrote an elegy

San Francisco Del Rincón

2005-02-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

City, western Guanajuato estado (“state”), north-central Mexico. It lies in the basin of the upper Turbio River, at an elevation of 5,781 feet (1,762 m). Although primarily an agricultural centre trading in corn (maize), beans, wheat, and guavas, the city has some industry. Straw hats, rebozos (shawls), flour, and chicle are the principal products. The main Mexico City–Ciudad Juárez railroad passes

Aristarchus Of Samothrace

2005-02-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

Aristarchus settled in Alexandria, where he was a pupil of Aristophanes of Byzantium, and, c. 153 BC, became chief librarian there. Later he withdrew to Cyprus. He founded a school of philologists, called after him Aristarcheans, which long flourished in Alexandria and afterward at Rome. Cicero

Yamantaka

2005-02-15T01:54:00.000-08:00

In northern Buddhism, one of the eight fierce protective deities. See dharmapala.

Constructivism

2005-02-13T23:05:00.000-08:00

Russian Konstruktivizm Russian artistic and architectural movement that was first influenced by Cubism and Futurism and is generally considered to have been initiated in 1913 with the “painting reliefs”—abstract geometric constructions—of Vladimir Tatlin. The expatriate Russian sculptors Antoine Pevsner and Naum Gabo joined Tatlin and his followers in Moscow, and upon publication

Afghanistan, Nadir Shah

2005-02-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

In 1738, after a year's siege, the city of Kandahar fell to Nadir Shah's army of 80,000 men. Nadir Shah seized Ghazna and Kabul and occupied the Mughal capital at Delhi in 1739. His booty included

Yuscarán

2005-02-11T15:46:00.000-08:00

Founded between 1730 and 1740, when gold and silver were discovered in the area, Yuscarán was a prosperous mining centre during the colonial period. Mining halted in the 19th century but was resumed in the 1940s. The town, which preserves a colonial

Annelid, Ecology

2005-02-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

There are no marine habitats containing specific polychaetes as there are for mollusks and echinoderms. Many species, such as Neanthes arenaceodentata and Capitella capitata, cosmopolitan in distribution, are found throughout the world. Aquatic oligochaete species are widespread in suitable environments; terrestrial forms are less widely distributed,

Calendar, The structure of the calendar

2005-02-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

The Jewish calendar in use today is lunisolar, the years being solar and the months lunar, but it also allows for a week of seven days. Because the year exceeds 12 lunar months by about 11 days, a 13th month of 30 days is intercalated in the third, sixth, eighth, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of a 19-year cycle. For practical purposes—e.g., for reckoning the commencement of the Sabbath—the day begins

Allen, Hervey

2005-02-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

Allen was wounded in World War

Islamic World, The emergent Islamic civilization

2005-02-07T14:37:00.000-08:00

During the caliphate of 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (ruled 685–705), which followed the end of the second fitnah, and under his successors during the next four decades, the problematic consequences of the conquests became much more visible. Like their Byzantine and late Sasanian predecessors, the Marwanid caliphs nominally ruled the various religious communities but allowed the

Cyrus The Younger

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

Cyrus was the favourite of his mother, who hoped to secure the succession for him instead of her eldest son, Arsaces. When Darius decided to continue the war against Athens and give support to the Spartans, Parysatis persuaded him to appoint the young Cyrus as satrap

Puebla

2005-02-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

In full Puebla De Zaragoza, city, capital of Puebla state, central Mexico. Founded as Puebla de los Angeles in 1532, the city lies on a broad plain 7,093 ft (2,162 m) above sea level in the Sierra Madre Oriental foothills. Since viceregal days, Puebla, because of its strategic position on the route between Mexico City, 80 mi (130 km) northwest, and the Gulf of Mexico port of Veracruz, 140 mi (225 km) east, has been considered a military key

Yüeh-chih

2005-02-04T19:22:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Yuezhi, also called Indo-scyth, ancient people who ruled in Bactria and India from about 128 BC to about AD 450. The Yüeh-chih are first mentioned in Chinese sources at the beginning of the 2nd century BC as nomads living in the western part of Kansu province, northwest China. When Lao Shang (reigned c. 174–161 BC), ruler of the Hsiung-nu (a powerful people of North China), defeated them and killed their king, the main body of Yüeh-chih

Sacrament

2005-02-04T01:10:00.000-08:00

The Latin word sacramentum, which etymologically is an ambiguous theological term, was used in Roman law to describe a legal sanction in which a man placed his

Subarkose

2005-02-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

Variety of sandstone in which 5–25 percent of the sand grains are composed of feldspar. See arkose.

Hellenistic Romance

2005-02-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

Adventure tale, usually with a quasi-historical setting, in which a virtuous heroine and her valiant lover are separated by innumerable obstacles of human wickedness and natural catastrophe but are finally reunited. A precursor of the modern novel, the Hellenistic romance is the source for classic love stories, such as those of Hero and Leander, Pyramus and Thisbe,

Durian

2005-02-01T07:47:00.000-08:00

The fruit is spherical and 15 to 20 centimetres (6 to 8 inches) in diameter. It has a hard external husk, or shell, covered

Tachyon

2005-01-30T21:35:00.000-08:00

Hypothetical subatomic particle whose velocity always exceeds that of light. The existence of the tachyon, though not experimentally established, appears consistent with the theory of relativity, which was originally thought to apply only to particles traveling at or less than the speed of light. Just as an ordinary particle such as an electron can exist only

Cinque Ports

2005-01-30T01:04:00.000-08:00

Medieval confederation of English Channel ports in southeastern England, formed to furnish ships and men for the king's service. To the original five ports—Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, New Romney, and Hastings—were later added the “ancient towns” of Winchelsea and Rye with the privileges of “head ports.” More than 30 other towns in the counties of Kent and Sussex were also attached.

Buzau

2005-01-28T19:52:00.000-08:00

Judet (county), southeastern Romania, occupying an area of 2,344 square miles (6,072 square km). The Buzau mountain range, part of the Eastern Carpathians and the sub-Carpathian mountains, lies in the west, rising above settlement areas in the valleys and lowlands. The Buzau River and its tributaries drain eastward. Buzau city, the county capital, has been an economic centre with ties to

Jansch, Bert

2005-01-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

Influenced by American folk-blues performers such as Big Bill Broonzy, Jansch was part of the folk scene in Edinburgh,

Novikov, Nikolay Ivanovich

2005-01-26T07:25:00.000-08:00

Russian writer, philanthropist, and Freemason whose activities were intended to raise the educational and cultural level of the Russian people and included the production of social satires as well as the founding of schools and libraries. Influenced by Freemasonry, Novikov converted his

Andesite

2005-01-25T16:41:00.000-08:00

Any member of a large family of rocks that occur in most of the world's volcanic areas. Andesites occur mainly as surface deposits and, to a lesser extent, as dikes and small plugs. Many of the deposits are not normal lava flows but rather flow breccias, mudflows, tuffs, and other fragmental rocks; the peperino near Rome and the trass of the Eifel district in Germany are examples.

Technology, History Of, Atomic power

2005-01-24T21:18:00.000-08:00

Until 1945, electricity and the internal-combustion engine were the dominant sources of power for industry and transport in the 20th century, although in some parts of the industrialized world steam power and even older prime movers remained important. Early research in nuclear physics was more scientific than technological, stirring little general interest. In fact,

Pier

2005-01-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

In building construction, vertical loadbearing member such as an intermediate support for adjacent ends of two bridge spans. In foundations for large buildings, piers are usually cylindrical concrete shafts, cast in prepared holes, while in bridges they take the form of caissons, which are sunk into position. Piers serve the same purpose as piles but are not installed

Ram, Jagjivan

2005-01-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

Ram was born into an untouchable family and was among the first of his caste to receive a higher education. He attended Benares Hindu University and Calcutta University (B.Sc., 1931), becoming a member of Mohandas K. Gandhi's Congress Party in 1931. He played

Costa Mesa

2005-01-19T16:41:00.000-08:00

City, Orange county, southern California, U.S., on a coastal plateau overlooking the Pacific, at the mouth of the Santa Ana River. With Newport Beach it forms Orange county's “Harbor Area.” The site, once part of Rancho Santiago de Santa Ana and the Irvine Ranch, became the hot springs resort of Fairview. Laid out as the town of Harper in 1906, it was renamed in 1921 for its coastal location.

Reisner, George Andrew

2005-01-19T03:57:00.000-08:00

Reisner served with an international group of experts in classifying the great Egyptology collection of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Aragon

2005-01-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

Spanish Aragón comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) and historical region of northeastern Spain. It encompasses the provincias of Huesca, Zaragoza (Saragossa), and Teruel and was established by the statute of autonomy of August 10, 1982.

Reforming

2005-01-16T00:45:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, processing technique by which the molecular structure of a hydrocarbon is rearranged to alter its properties. The process is frequently applied to low-quality gasoline stocks to improve their combustion characteristics. Thermal reforming alters the properties of low-grade naphthas by converting the molecules into those of higher octane number

Saratoga Springs

2005-01-15T04:09:00.000-08:00

City, Saratoga county, east-central New York, U.S. It lies in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, west of the Hudson River, 30 miles (48 km) north of Albany. Possessing numerous natural mineral springs, its site was an ancient Mohawk Indian camping ground with various spellings and meanings, the most acceptable being Sa-ragh-to-ga (“Place of Swift Water”). Saratoga National

Biosphere, Humidity

2005-01-15T01:08:00.000-08:00

Most terrestrial organisms must maintain their water content within fairly narrow limits. Water commonly is lost to the air through evaporation or, in plants, transpiration. Because most water loss occurs by diffusion and the rate of diffusion is determined by the gradient across the diffusion barrier such as the surface of a leaf or skin, the rate of water loss

Ambikapur

2005-01-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

The surrounding region once consisted of the princely states of Surguja, Changbhakar,

Esref Dynasty

2005-01-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

World congresses of the BWA are held every

Fuzzy Logic

2005-01-11T02:28:00.000-08:00

Fuzzy logic and fuzzy sets were first described in the mid-1960s by Lotfi Zadeh. According to fuzzy-logic theorists, classical logic oversimplifies the concept of set membership by flatly

Itagaki Taisuke, Count

2005-01-09T04:28:00.000-08:00

Born into a middle-ranking samurai family, Itagaki entered the service of his feudal lord in 1860 and emerged from subsequent factional struggles to become the military commander in Tosa, the large feudal domain controlled by his clansmen. Under Itagaki's command

Schaffhausen

2005-01-08T05:48:00.000-08:00

French Schaffhouse, capital of Schaffhausen canton, northern Switzerland, on the right bank of the Rhine, west of Lake Constance (Bodensee). The site was first mentioned in 1045 as Villa Scafhusun. About 1049 Count Eberhard III of Nellenburg founded there the Benedictine monastery of All Saints, around which the community developed. The town became a free imperial city between 1190 and 1218 but fell under

Dee, River

2005-01-08T04:21:00.000-08:00

River in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, rising at an elevation above 4,000 feet (1,250 metres) in the Cairngorm Mountains and flowing for about 90 miles (145 km) east to the North Sea at Aberdeen. Its headwaters flow turbulently in highland glens set amid grouse moorland. The main valley widens below Aboyne, and the river flows through well-farmed country. The River Dee is famed for its

China, The era of good government

2005-01-06T18:26:00.000-08:00

The reign of T'ai-tsung (626–649), known traditionally as the “era of good government of Chen-kuan,” was not notable for innovations in administration. Generally, his policies developed and refined those of his father's reign. The distinctive element was the atmosphere of his administration and the close personal interplay between the sovereign and his unusually able team

Corbière, Tristan

2005-01-06T15:07:00.000-08:00

Educated at Morlaix and the lycées of Saint-Brieuc and Nantes,

Plutus

2005-01-05T21:19:00.000-08:00

In Greek religion, god of abundance or wealth, a personification of ploutos (Greek: “riches”). According to Hesiod, Plutus was born in Crete, the son of the goddess of fruitfulness, Demeter, and the Cretan Iasion. In art he appears chiefly as a child with a cornucopia. He was sometimes confused with Pluto (Hades), god of the underworld.

Ubv System

2005-01-03T04:35:00.000-08:00

System of classifying stars by spectral type, based on photometric measurements of the ultraviolet (U), blue (B), and visual (V [yellow]) magnitudes. It was introduced in the early 1950s by the American astronomers Harold Lester Johnson and William Wilson Morgan and has largely superseded the less accurate system using the north polar sequence.

Auburn University

2005-01-02T20:24:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher education located in Auburn, Alabama, U.S. The university offers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs and is noted for its colleges of engineering and business. Degrees in nursing, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine are also available. A branch campus in Montgomery offers undergraduate and graduate

Atatürk, Kemal

2005-01-02T03:07:00.000-08:00

Mustafa Kemal's career almost ended soon after his graduation when it was discovered that he and several friends were meeting to read about and discuss political abuses within the empire. A government spy infiltrated their group and informed on them. A cloud of suspicion hung over their heads that was not to be lifted for years. The group was broken up and its members

English Oak

2004-12-31T18:50:00.000-08:00

Also called Brown Oak (Quercus robur), ornamental and timber tree of the beech family (Fagaceae) that is native to Eurasia but also cultivated in North America and Australia. The tree has a short, stout trunk with wide-spreading branches and may grow to a height of 25 m (82.5 feet). The short-stalked leaves, 13 cm (5 inches) or more long, have three to seven pairs of rounded lobes; they are dark green

Anouk Aimée

2004-12-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

The daughter of an actor and actress, Anouk Aimée made her first film appearance at the age of 14 in La Maison sous la mer (1946; “The House on the Sea”). After making an impression as a Juliet figure in the 1948 film Les Amants de Vérone (The Lovers of Verona), a role written especially for

Ayacucho

2004-12-29T14:34:00.000-08:00

Capital of Ayacucho departamento, Los Libertadores-Wari región, south-central Peru. It lies in a fertile valley on the eastern slopes of the Andean Cordillera Occidental at an elevation of 9,007 feet (2,746 m) above sea level and has a pleasant and invigorating climate. Ayacucho was founded in 1539 by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro and called Huamanga until 1825. Its present name

Fabales

2004-12-29T02:15:00.000-08:00

The rationale for plant family classification derives not only from conspicuous morphological features but from numerous cryptic characters as well. Chromosome numbers are often useful in evaluating the relationship of plant taxa. The legumes are no exception. The legumes produce many kinds of chemical substances—e.g., alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, and the

China, Relations with other peoples

2004-12-27T15:04:00.000-08:00

Simultaneously with the rise of the Ch'in and Han empires, some of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, known as the Hsiung-nu, succeeded in achieving a measure of unity under a single leader. As a result, while the Chinese were consolidating their government, the lands lying to the north of the empire, and the northern provinces themselves, became subject to incursion

Teagarden, Jack

2004-12-25T16:20:00.000-08:00

Beginning on trombone at age seven, Teagarden was entirely self-taught. After drifting across the Southwest, he eventually arrived in New York City in 1927 and made his recording debut; from that moment he was the acknowledged

Durg

2004-12-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

Formerly Drug city, central Chhattisgarh state, central India, just east of the Seonath River, part of the Durg–Bhilai Nagar urban agglomeration. The city is an agricultural market and is heavily engaged in milling rice and pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan). Its name is derived from the Hindi term durga (“fort”); there are remains of an ancient fortress used by the Marathas as a base of operations in subjugating

Nitra

2004-12-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

The centre of the Nitra principality in the beginning of the 9th century, it was later a stronghold and religious centre. The first Christian church in what is now Slovakia was established there in AD 830 and consecrated by Saints Cyril and Methodius. Town privileges were acquired in 1248. The town's dominant

Arran, James Hamilton, 1st Earl Of

2004-12-23T04:49:00.000-08:00

Arran commanded a naval expedition against England in 1513 but failed lamentably and returned to find his rival, the earl of Angus, supreme at court. He therefore

Lappi

2004-12-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

In full Lapin Lääni, Swedish Lapplands Län, also called Lapland, lääni (province), northern Finland. It is bounded on the north by Norway, on the east by Russia, and on the west by Sweden. Its land area, extending mainly north of the Arctic Circle, comprises more than one-fourth of Finland's total area. The province is drained southwestward to the Gulf of Bothnia by the Kemi River and northward to the Barents Sea by the Paats River. Lappi is

General Santos

2004-12-21T15:55:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1954) Buayan, city, southern Mindanao, Philippines. The city is named for General Paulino Santos, who directed the pioneer settlement (mostly by Christian Filipino migrants) and development of the Koronadal Valley that began in the mid-1930s. General Santos city is located at the head of Sarangani Bay of the Celebes Sea along the southern shore of Mindanao. The city is a principal shipping

Metatarsalgia

2004-12-19T04:48:00.000-08:00

Disorder in which the weight of the body, when standing, rests on the centre of the anterior arch of the foot (on the heads of the central metatarsal bones) instead of on the inside and outside of the foot. Pain when walking may be severe, callosities develop on the area of stress, and there is a tendency to fracture of the metatarsals. The cause of metatarsalgia may be developmental

Wyoming

2004-12-18T13:51:00.000-08:00

Constituent state of the United States of America. It is the ninth largest state, with an area of 97,809 square miles (253,326 square kilometres). It shares boundaries with six other Great Plains and Mountain states: South Dakota and Nebraska on the east, Colorado on the south, Utah on the southwest, Idaho on the west, and Montana on the northwest and north. Cheyenne, the state capital, is

Pacific Ocean, Economic aspects

2004-12-17T22:44:00.000-08:00

A detailed review of Pacific Ocean minerals, including those contained in seawater and those on or beneath the ocean floor, is offered in G.P. Glasby, “Marine Minerals in the Pacific,” Oceanography and Marine Biology 24:1–64 (1986). Information on economic and other resources of the ocean areas is also found in such works as Asia & Oceania, vol. 4 of the Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, 7th ed., 5 vol. (1988); Fillmore C.F. Earney, Marine Mineral Resources (1990); and FAO Yearbook: Fishery Statistics. John P. Craven, The Management of Pacific Marine Resources (1982), offers well-written, scholarly coverage of resources and their management, or in some cases mismanagement; details on fisheries, shipping, scientific research, and maritime law are given in Edward Miles et al., The Management of Marine Regions: The North Pacific (1982); and Peter N. Nemetz (ed.), The Pacific Rim (1987), studies commerce, economic conditions, foreign investments, and resources in the Pacific Rim countries. Another valuable overview of economic conditions, international business enterprises, marine resources, and regionalism is Endel-Jacob Kolde, The Pacific Quest: The Concept and Scope of an Oceanic Community (1976); and Henry S. Albinski et al., The South Pacific (1989), studies the “New Pacific” and the economic, political, and social problems of island nations that have achieved independence since World War II.

Interior Design, Aesthetic components of design

2004-12-17T18:56:00.000-08:00

A general definition of beauty and aesthetic excellence would be difficult, but fortunately there are a number of generally accepted principles that can be used to achieve an understanding of the aesthetic considerations in design. One must note, however, that such understanding requires exposure and learning; an appreciation of any form of art needs such a

Wagner-jauregg, Julius

2004-12-16T10:46:00.000-08:00

Original name Julius Wagner, Ritter (Knight) von Jauregg Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist whose treatment of syphilitic meningoencephalitis, or general paresis, by the artificial induction of malaria constituted the first example of shock therapy. The method brought a previously incurable fatal disease under medical control and earned him the Nobel Prize for Physiology or

Valencia

2004-12-14T11:00:00.000-08:00

Provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Valencia, eastern Spain. It is situated along the Mediterranean Sea and has an area of 4,156 square miles (10,763 square km). The province centres on the coastal plain of the Gulf of Valencia; it is limited to the south by the mountains of northern Alicante and less clearly to the north by the watershed of the Río Turia. Interior

Scheidemann, Philipp

2004-12-14T00:52:00.000-08:00

A journalist and (from 1903) member of the Reichstag for the Social Democrats, Scheidemann