ImportantMap

Acatalasia

2005-04-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

Rare hereditary metabolic disorder caused by lack of the organic catalyst or enzyme called catalase. Although a deficiency of catalase activity is noted in many tissues of the body, including the red blood cells, bone marrow, liver, and skin, only about half of the affected persons have symptoms, which consist of recurrent infections of the gums and associated oral

Plymouth

2005-04-04T14:46:00.000-07:00

Town (township), Grafton county, central New Hampshire, U.S. It lies on the Pemigewasset River north-northwest of Laconia, west of Squam Lake, and overlooked (southwest) by Plymouth Mountain (2,187 feet [667 metres]). The town includes the communities of Plymouth and West Plymouth. Chartered in 1763, it annexed parts of Hebron and Campton in 1845 and 1860. Agriculture, lumbering, and light manufacturing

Bachchan, Amitabh

2005-04-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

Bachchan, the son of the renowned Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, attended Sherwood College in Nainital and the University of Delhi. He worked as a business executive in Calcutta (Kolkata) and performed in

Ryerson, (adolphus) Egerton

2005-04-03T03:17:00.000-07:00

After his own local education, Ryerson taught for a time at a nearby school. He took further studies in Hamilton and then entered the ministry as a Methodist circuit-riding preacher and, later,

Literary Criticism, Criticism and knowledge

2005-04-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

The debate over poetic truth may illustrate how modern discussion is beholden to extraliterary knowledge. Critics have never ceased disputing whether literature depicts the world correctly, incorrectly, or not at all, and the dispute has often had more to do with the support or condemnation of specific authors than with ascertainable facts about mimesis. Today

General Confederation Of Labour

2005-04-01T05:25:00.000-08:00

Spanish Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) major labour-union federation in Argentina. The CGT was formed in 1930. Its leadership was contested by socialist, anarchist, and syndicalist factions from 1935 until the early 1940s, when it came under the control of Juan Perón, an ambitious Cabinet minister. When Perón was ousted from his Cabinet posts and placed in detention in October 1945, a strike called by the CGT won his release

Physical Medicine And Rehabilitation

2005-03-31T10:11:00.000-08:00

Also called Physiatry, Physical Therapy, or Rehabilitation Medicine, medical specialty concerned with the treatment of chronic disabilities and with the restoration of normal functioning to the disabled through physical modes of treatment, such as exercise. This specialized medical service is generally aimed at rehabilitating persons disabled by pain or ailments affecting the motor functions of the body. Physical medicine

Wyandotte Constitution

2005-03-30T10:12:00.000-08:00

In the period immediately preceding the American Civil War, document under which Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state (Jan. 29, 1861), concluding the struggle known as Bleeding Kansas. Drawn up at Wyandotte (now part of Kansas City) in July 1859, it rejected slavery and suffrage for women and blacks but affirmed property rights for women. The document was approved in a referendum

Pao-chi

2005-03-30T05:33:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Baoji, city in western Shensi sheng (province), China. Situated on the north bank of the Wei River, it has been a strategic and transportation centre since early times, controlling the northern end of a pass across the Tsinling Mountains, the only practicable route from the Wei valley into Szechwan province and the upper valley of the Han River. It is also at the western end of

Balarama

2005-03-29T18:52:00.000-08:00

In Hindu mythology, the elder half-brother of Krishna, with whom he shared many adventures. Sometimes Balarama is considered one of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the god Vishnu, particularly among those members of Vaisnava sects who elevate Krishna to the rank of a principal god. Other legends identify him as the incarnation in human form of the serpent Sesa, and he may originally

Eadbald

2005-03-28T15:39:00.000-08:00

King of Kent, who succeeded his father Aethelberht in 616. He had not been influenced by the teaching of the Christian missionaries, and his first step on his accession was to marry his father's widow. After his subsequent conversion by Laurentius, archbishop of Canterbury, he built a church in Canterbury dedicated to the Virgin Mary. He arranged a marriage between

Itabuna

2005-03-27T18:09:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Bahia estado (“state”), northeastern Brazil. It lies just west of Ilhéus on the Cachoeira River at 174 feet (53 m) above sea level. Itabuna, which was elevated to city status in 1910, is the trade centre for a rich zone yielding cacao, livestock, and other agricultural products. It was used as a setting by Jorge Amado in his novels dealing with the cacao culture. A chemical

Xerox Corporation

2005-03-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in 1906 as Haloid Company, changed its name to Haloid Xerox Company in 1958, and to Xerox Corporation in 1961. In 1960 Xerox first marketed the 914 xerographic copier; the process, which made photographic copies onto plain, uncoated paper, had been known

Athanasius I

2005-03-26T18:28:00.000-08:00

A monk who emigrated to a monastery in the hallowed region of Mt. Athos,

China, The Chou and Ch'in dynasties

2005-03-25T23:16:00.000-08:00

This transitional period is examined in Chi Li, The Formation of the Chinese People (1928, reprinted 1967), useful for information on the ethnic history of ancient China; Herlee Glessner Creel, The Birth of China (1937, reprinted 1954), still regarded as one of the standard references, and The Origins of Statecraft in China, vol. 1 (1970), the first Western book to include extensive materials from bronze inscriptions—especially significant on the activities of non-Chou peoples; Cho-yun Hsu, Ancient China in Transition (1965), a standard work on social structure and social mobility in the Chou period; Derk Bodde, China's First Unifier (1938, reprinted 1967), and Statesman, Patriot, and General in Ancient China (1940, reprinted 1967), works covering the effort of the first emperors and their courts to accomplish unification; Arthur Cotterell, The First Emperor of China (1981), a popular history that includes a description and historical analysis of 7,000 terra-cotta life-size figures buried in 210 BC; Yu-ning Li, The First Emperor of China (1975), Yu-lan Fung, A History of Chinese Philosophy, 2nd ed., 2 vol., trans. from the Chinese (1952–53, reprinted 1983), coverage of the thought of different schools in ancient China; and Xueqin Li, Eastern Zhou and Qin Civilizations (1986), an account of archaeological findings of the period from the 8th to the 3rd century BC.

Scandinavian Literature, Swedish poetry and prose

2005-03-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

In the first half of the 17th century, Swedish literature remained limited in scope and quantity. A unique contribution, however, was made by Lars Wivallius, whose lyrics revealed a feeling for nature new to Swedish poetry. With its intervention in the Thirty Years' War, Sweden established itself as a European power, and this led to a development of national pride and culture,

Vigo

2005-03-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

Port town and naval station, Pontevedra provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Galicia, northwestern Spain. Vigo lies along the southeastern shore of the Vigo Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, southwest of Pontevedra city. It was attacked by the English admiral Sir Francis Drake in 1585 and 1589. In 1702 a British-Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke and James Butler,

Arts, Islamic, Three great mosques

2005-03-23T23:52:00.000-08:00

During the rule of the Umayyad prince al-Walid I (705–715), a number of complex developments within the Muslim community were crystallized in the construction of three major mosques, at Medina, Jerusalem, and Damascus. The very choice of these three cities is indicative: the city in which the Muslim state was formed and in which the Prophet was buried; the city held in common holiness

Degree

2005-03-23T00:38:00.000-08:00

The hierarchy of degrees dates back to the universities of 13th-century Europe, which had faculties organized into guilds. Members of the faculties were licensed to teach, and degrees were in effect the professional

Crichton, Charles Ainslie

2005-03-22T20:51:00.000-08:00

British film director who achieved near-legendary status with a series of classic comedies he made for Ealing Studios in the 1940s and '50s, notably Hue and Cry (1947), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), and The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953); by the 1960s he had retreated to directing for television, but he made a triumphant big-screen comeback—and garnered an Academy Award nomination—for A Fish Called

Xiuhtecuhtli

2005-03-21T09:51:00.000-08:00

One of the important duties of an Aztec priest centred on the maintenance of the sacred fire, making

Udasi

2005-03-21T07:42:00.000-08:00

Sect within Sikhism, a religion of India. The Udasi (from the Sanskrit udas, “to renounce”) sect, which requires celibacy and asceticism of its members, originated with the followers of Siri Chand, the son of the first Sikh guru (religious teacher and leader of the Sikh community), Nanak. Under the leadership of Baba Gurditta, the eldest son of the sixth guru, Hargobind, they served as missionaries,

Mold

2005-03-20T04:37:00.000-08:00

Welsh Yr Wyddgrug town, historic and present county of Flintshire (Sir Fflint), northeastern Wales, situated on a small stretch of farmland between the two industrial centres of Deeside and Wrexham. Mold grew up around a motte-and-bailey castle that the Normans built in the 12th century. The native Christian Britons of the area defeated the Picts and Scots in an important battle waged

Agricultural Technology

2005-03-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

Application of techniques to control the growth and harvesting of animal and vegetable products.

Affreightment

2005-03-19T03:11:00.000-08:00

Essentially, such a contract is an agreement between two parties, the carrier and the shipper. The carrier undertakes to carry the goods to

Absolutism

2005-03-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

The political doctrine and practice of unlimited, centralized authority and absolute sovereignty, as vested especially in a monarch. The essence of such a system is that the ruling power is not subject to regularized challenge or check by any other agency, be it judicial, legislative, religious, economic, or electoral. Louis XIV, who ruled France during the late 17th

Intaglio

2005-03-18T09:43:00.000-08:00

In sculpture, work in which the design is incised into the block, all lines appearing below the surface; it is thus the opposite of relief sculpture and is sometimes called “hollow relief.” When the technique is used in casting, the design is cut in reverse into a plaster shell, which is then filled with the casting substance; the hollow impressions of the mold appear in

Arts, East Asian, Painting and pictorial arts

2005-03-17T09:18:00.000-08:00

Practically nothing survives of Chou painting, although from literary evidence it seems that the art developed considerably, particularly during the period of the Warring States. Palaces and ancestral halls were decorated with wall paintings. Late Chou texts tell of a craftsman working for the Duke of Chou (Chou Kung) who covered the stock of a whip with minute

Sharqiyah, Ash-

2005-03-17T01:44:00.000-08:00

English Eastern region, eastern Saudi Arabia. The region includes most of the desert Rub' al-Khali (the Empty Quarter) and extends southward from a neutral zone jointly administered with Kuwait to indefinite borders with Yemen and Oman. It is bounded by Kuwait on the north, the Persian Gulf on the east, and the Ar-Riyad region on the west. Ash-Sharqiyah consists mainly of an undulating plain

Alastor

2005-03-16T23:50:00.000-08:00

Any of certain avenging deities or spirits, especially in Greek antiquity. The term is associated with Nemesis, the goddess of divine retribution who signified the gods' disapproval of human presumption. Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Alastor; or, The Spirit of Solitude (1816) was a visionary work in which he warned idealists (like himself) not to abandon “sweet human love” and

Danapur

2005-03-16T23:38:00.000-08:00

Also called Dinapore , or Dinapur town, northern Bihar state, northeastern India, on the Ganges River. It is a major road and rail junction and agricultural trade centre. Industries include printing, oilseed milling, and metalworks. There is a college affiliated with Magadh University and an army cantonment. Danapur was constituted a municipality in 1887. Pop. (1981) 58,684.

Greek Literature, Historical works

2005-03-14T08:25:00.000-08:00

Conscious as they were of their classical and biblical past, the Byzantines wrote much history. Until the early 7th century a series of historians recounted the events of their own time in classicizing style, with fictitious speeches and set descriptive pieces, in a genre that owed much to the classical Greek historians Thucydides and Polybius. Procopius, Agathias,

Utica

2005-03-14T03:28:00.000-08:00

Modern Utique traditionally the oldest Phoenician settlement on the coast of North Africa. It is located near the mouth of the Majardah (French Medjerda, ancient Bagradas) River in modern Tunisia. After its founding in the 8th or 7th century BC, Utica grew rapidly and was second only to Carthage among Phoenician settlements in Africa. In the Third Punic War (149–146 BC), Utica sided with Rome against

West Devon

2005-03-13T19:37:00.000-08:00

The bleak granite mass of Dartmoor comprises about

Tabriz School

2005-03-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

The early works of the Tabriz school were

Mathews, Charles

2005-03-12T13:10:00.000-08:00

The son of a bookseller, Mathews was educated at Merchant Taylors School, Crosby, Lancashire. After acting in the provinces, primarily at York, he first appeared on the stage in

Ahl Al-kitab

2005-03-12T06:29:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “People of the Book”), in Islamic thought, those religionists such as Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians who are possessors of divine books (i.e., the Torah, the Gospel, and the Avesta), as distinguished from those whose religions are not based on divine revelations. The latter are an imprecisely identified group referred to as Sabaeans but also considered “People of

Downing, Sir George

2005-03-12T04:37:00.000-08:00

The son of a Puritan lawyer, Downing was one of the first graduates of Harvard College,

Bond

2005-03-12T03:41:00.000-08:00

In finance, a loan contract issued by local, state, and national governments and by private corporations specifying an obligation to return borrowed funds. The borrower promises to pay interest on the debt when due (usually semiannually) at a stipulated percentage of the face value and to redeem the face value of the bond at maturity in legal tender. Bonds usually

Mammal, Nervous and endocrine systems

2005-03-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

The nervous system and the system of endocrine glands are closely related to one another in their function, for both serve to coordinate activity. The endocrine glands of mammals generally have more complex regulatory functions than do those of lower vertebrates. This is particularly true of the pituitary gland, which supplies hormones that regulate the reproductive

'abbadid Dynasty

2005-03-10T20:31:00.000-08:00

In 1023 the qadi (religious judge) Abu al-Qasim Muhammad ibn 'Abbad declared Sevilla independent of Córdoba. His son Abu 'Amr 'Abbad, known as al-Mu'tadid (1042–69), greatly enlarged his territory by forcibly

Mithradates Vi Eupator

2005-03-10T07:16:00.000-08:00

Byname Mithradates The Great king of Pontus in northern Anatolia (120–63 BC). Under his energetic leadership, Pontus expanded to absorb several of its small neighbours and, briefly, contested Rome's hegemony in Asia Minor.

San Andres Mountains

2005-03-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

Segment of the southern Rocky Mountains, extending southward parallel to the Rio Grande for 150 miles (241 km), through Socorro, Sierra, and Doña Ana counties in southern New Mexico, U.S. Spanish missionaries named the mountains for Saint Andrew, the disciple of Jesus. Salinas Peak (9,040 feet [2,755 metres]) is the highest point in the range. The mountains are dry and barren and include the White

China, Educational and cultural policy changes

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

In the educational system, the reformers gave top priority to training technical, scientific, and scholarly talent to world-class standards. This involved the re-creation of a highly selective and elitist higher educational system, with admission based on competitive academic examination. Graduate study programs were introduced, and thousands of Chinese were

Argentina, The Northwest

2005-03-07T11:04:00.000-08:00

Numerous archaeological sites in the region indicate the presence—before the Spanish invasion—of permanently settled Indians who practiced irrigation and terraced farming in the oasis-like valleys. The Spanish, arriving overland from what are now Peru and Bolivia, initially occupied areas on the lowland plains of the Chaco, distant from hostile indigenous

Raytheon Company

2005-03-07T10:30:00.000-08:00

Major American industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in corporate and special-mission aircraft, defense systems, and defense and commercial electronics. It is the third largest defense contractor in the United States (after Lockheed Martin and Boeing). Established in 1922, the company reincorporated in 1928 and adopted its present name in 1959. Headquarters

Mammal, Nervous and endocrine systems

2005-03-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

Mahakala

2005-03-06T08:45:00.000-08:00

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

Painting, Western

2005-03-05T16:28:00.000-08:00

In the Metal Age, western Mediterranean cultures were similar at many points. The area occupied by them extended from Illyria (the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula) in the east to the Atlantic shores of the Iberian Peninsula in the west and from the shores along the Gulf of Lion and the Ligurian Sea (i.e., the coasts of what are now southern France and northwestern

Arecibo Observatory

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

Astronomical observatory located 16 km (10 miles) south of the town of Arecibo in Puerto Rico; it is the site of the world's largest single-unit radio telescope. This instrument, built in the early 1960s, employs a 300-metre (1,000-foot) spherical reflector consisting of perforated aluminum panels that focus incoming radio waves on movable antenna structures positioned about 168 m (550 feet) above

Esquimalt

2005-03-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

District municipality and western suburb of metropolitan Victoria, southwestern British Columbia, Canada, at the southeastern end of Vancouver Island, on Juan de Fuca Strait. The name means “place of gradually shoaling waters” in the local Indian language. Its harbour was visited (1790) by Manuel Quimper of the Spanish navy, who called it Puerto de Cordova to honour the

Hyesan

2005-03-04T03:49:00.000-08:00

City, northern North Korea. As a frontier city lying on the upper stream of the Yalu River (Amnok-kang), it was a fortress during the Yi dynasty (1392–1910), under the name of Hyesanjin. In winter it is one of the coldest places in Korea; a temperature of -44° F (-42° C) was recorded in 1915. It is the starting point of water transportation on the Yalu. Logs from the nearby Paektu Mountain area, which contains

Japanese Language

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

One of the world's major languages, ranking ninth in terms of the number of speakers with 125 million. It is primarily spoken throughout the Japanese archipelago; there are also some 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and their descendants living abroad, mainly in North and South America, who have varying degrees of proficiency in Japanese. Since the mid-20th century, no nation

Coast Mountains

2005-03-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

Segment of the Pacific mountain system (q.v.) of western North America. The range extends southeastward through western British Columbia, Can., for about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from just north of the border with Yukon Territory, Can., along the border of the panhandle of Alaska, U.S., to the Fraser River. Many peaks exceed 11,000 feet (3,400 m), including Monarch Mountain and Mounts Munday, Tiedemann, and

Boucherville

2005-03-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

Town, Montérégie region, southern Quebec province, Canada, on the east bank of the St. Lawrence River, opposite Montreal Island (Île de Montréal) and northeast of Montreal city. Founded in 1668 by Pierre Boucher, after whom it is named, the town has long been a market-gardening centre. Since World War II it has developed rapidly into a residential suburb linked to Montreal by

Eastern Orthodoxy, God and man

2005-03-02T09:15:00.000-08:00

The Greek Fathers of the church always implied that the phrase found in the biblical story of the creation of man (Gen. 1:26), according to “the image and likeness

Molise

2005-03-01T16:55:00.000-08:00

Regione, southeast-central Italy. It consists of the provinces of Campobasso and Isernia and was created in 1965 from the southern portion of the former region of Abruzzi e Molise. The region's western sector is part of the mountainous Apennines; it is drained by the Volturno River westward to the Tyrrhenian Sea. The rest of Molise consists mostly of low mountains and hills,

North Germanic Languages, The advent of Christianity

2005-02-28T23:44:00.000-08:00

The establishment of the Roman Catholic church during the 10th and 11th centuries had considerable linguistic significance. It helped to consolidate the existing kingdoms, brought the North into the sphere of classical and medieval European culture, and introduced the writing on parchment of Latin letters. Runic writing continued in use for epigraphic purposes

Jewel Food Stores, Inc.

2005-02-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

The company traced its origins to 1899, when Frank Vernon Skiff and Frank Ross founded the Jewel Tea Company to supply condiments to the Chicago area from horse-drawn wagons. As the automobile gained in importance, the firm moved from wagons

Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism

2005-02-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

(Palestinian Judaism): Solomon Schechter, Aspects of Rabbinic Theology (1961), a concise, authoritative, and engaging treatment of classical (i.e., rabbinic) Judaism. (Babylonian Judaism): Jacob Neusner, A History of the Jews in Babylonia, 5 vol. (1965–70; vol. 1, rev. 1969), the most comprehensive treatment of Babylonian Jewry during the Tannaitic and Amoraic periods. (Judeo-Arabic culture): S.D. Goitein, Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts Through the Ages, 3rd rev. ed. (1974), a popular work by the ranking authority on all aspects of Jewish–Arabic symbiosis, particularly valuable for the medieval period; Abraham Ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Qabbalah (The Book of Tradition), ed. and trans. by Gerson D. Cohen (1967), the classic medieval Hebrew chronicle with analytic essays on Spanish Jewry's “golden age.” (Jews of medieval Europe): Israel Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, new ed. rev. by Cecil Roth (1932), delightful and erudite studies of social life and institutions in medieval Europe; Moritz Güdemann, Geschichte des Erziehungswesens und der Cultur der Juden, 3 vol. (1880–88), a social and intellectual history of medieval Ashkenazic Jewry (France, Germany, Italy); Cecil Roth, The Jews in the Renaissance (1959), lucid and informative, but with little critical analysis, valuable on Jewish contact with Christian men of letters; Gershom Scholem, Shabbethai Zevi, 2 vol. (1957), a penetrating and comprehensive study (in Hebrew) of the great false Messiah as well as of his religious antecedents and legacy; Stephen Sharot, Messianism, Mysticism, and Magic: A Sociological Analysis of Jewish Religious Movements (1982), an informative scholarly study.

Fibula

2005-02-28T09:28:00.000-08:00

Greek fibulae from the 7th century BC were elaborately decorated along the long catch plate: rows of animals, such as ducks, lions, and sphinxes, might be soldered on, or a frieze of animals might be worked

Kwinana

2005-02-26T22:23:00.000-08:00

Town, southwestern Western Australia. It lies along Cockburn Sound, just south of Perth. The name was taken from a freighter wrecked offshore in 1922; it is an Aboriginal word meaning “young woman.” The place was a small resort until the mid-1950s, when a large oil refinery with associated port facilities was completed to receive oil shipments from the Middle East. Since then, blast

Brummell, Beau

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

Brummell's grandfather was a shopkeeper in the parish of St. James, London, who let lodgings to the aristocracy; his father was private secretary to Lord North

Albanian Literature

2005-02-26T01:24:00.000-08:00

The development of Albanian literature was seriously hindered by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Albania from the 15th to the late 19th century and prohibited publications in the Albanian language for most of that time. The oldest fragment of writing in Albanian

Accesi, Compagnia Degli

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

Company that performed commedia dell'arte (improvised popular Italian comedy) in the early 1600s. The name means “the stimulated.” Leadership was provided by Tristano Martinelli (famous for his portrayal of Arlecchino, the mischievous servant) and Pier Maria Cecchini (known as the leading interpreter of the character Fritellino, as well as the author of valuable texts

Harald Iv

2005-02-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

Byname Harald Gille, or Gilchrist king of Norway (1130–36), a ruthless sovereign whose feud with his fellow king Magnus IV the Blind over the Norwegian throne marked the beginning of a period of civil wars (1130–1240) during which the right to rule was constantly in dispute. Harald's weak character helped lay the foundation for the increasingly powerful role played by the aristocracy in the civil war

Shabbetai Tzevi

2005-02-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Shabbetai steeped himself in the influential body of Jewish mystical writings known as the Kabbala. His extended periods of ecstasy and his strong personality combined to attract

üsküdar

2005-02-24T14:12:00.000-08:00

Formerly Scutari, city, northwestern, Turkey. It lies at the foot of the Bulgurlu Hills on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus Strait opposite Istanbul. Known as Chrysopolis in ancient times, it was a dependency of the older and better-sited colony of Chalcedon (modern Kadiköy), where, according to the historian Polybius, the Athenians set up a toll for ships passing through the Bosporus. The

Harald Iv

2005-02-24T00:06:00.000-08:00

Electronic display device that operates by applying a varying electric voltage to a layer of liquid crystal, thereby inducing changes in its optical properties. LCDs are commonly used for portable electronic games, as viewfinders for digital cameras and camcorders, in video projection systems, for electronic billboards, as monitors for computers, and in flat-panel

Caraway

2005-02-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

The dried fruit, commonly called seed, of Carum carvi, a biennial herb of the parsley family (Apiaceae, or Umbelliferae), native to Europe and western Asia and cultivated since ancient times. Caraway has a distinctive aroma reminiscent of anise and a warm, slightly sharp taste. It is used as a seasoning in meat dishes, breads, and cheese and in such vegetables as sauerkraut

Wilderness, Battle Of The

2005-02-22T00:40:00.000-08:00

(May 5–7, 1864), in the American Civil War, first stage of a carefully planned Union campaign to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia. Crossing the Rappahannock River near Fredericksburg, Virginia, early in May, General Ulysses S. Grant advanced with a Union army of 115,000 men. On May 5 he met a Confederate army of 62,000 troops under General Robert E. Lee. The confrontation occurred

Astika

2005-02-21T20:11:00.000-08:00

In Indian philosophy, any orthodox school of thought, defined as one that accepts the authority of the Vedas (sacred scriptures of ancient India); the superiority of the Brahmans (the class of priests), who are the expositors of the law (dharma); and a society made up of the four traditional classes (varna). The six orthodox philosophic systems are those of Samkhya and Yoga,

Race, Enlightenment philosophers and taxonomists

2005-02-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

The development of the idea and ideology of race coincided with the rise of science in American and European cultures. Much of the inspiration for the growth of science has been credited to the period known as the Enlightenment that spanned most of the 18th century. Many early Enlightenment writers believed in the power of education and fostered very liberal ideals

Talbot, Mary Anne

2005-02-20T22:53:00.000-08:00

Talbot's mother died at her birth, and she believed herself to be the illegitimate child of William Talbot, 1st Earl Talbot. She was seduced in 1792 by Captain Essex Bowen and accompanied him to Santo Domingo in the Caribbean, disguised

Frederick William

2005-02-20T07:52:00.000-08:00

Elector of Hesse-Kassel from 1847 after 16 years' co-regency with his father; he was noted for his reactionary stand against liberalizing trends manifested during the revolutionary events of 1848. In 1850 he re-instated an unpopular adviser, Hans Daniel Hassenpflug, who called on the German Confederation to restore by force the authority of the elector. At the end of

Printmaking, Aquatint

2005-02-20T06:39:00.000-08:00

Aquatint is a process used to etch tonal areas on the plate. The first step is to give the plate a porous ground by dusting it with rosin powder and fusing the powder to the plate by means of heat. When the plate is etched, the acid goes through the pores in the ground and bites tiny cavities in the metal. These cavities hold the ink. A variety of tones and textures can be created,

Earth, Deformation of the crust

2005-02-19T18:31:00.000-08:00

The Earth's crust has been subjected to widespread deformation over geologic time. This deformation results from forces applied to the rocks that make up the crust. Such forces create stresses within the rocks, and these stresses in turn produce strain, which is manifested in the form of folds, faults, and joints.

Aluminum Processing

2005-02-19T07:43:00.000-08:00

Aluminum, or aluminium (Al), is a silvery white metal with a melting point of 660° C (1,220° F) and a density of 2.7 grams per cubic centimetre. The most abundant metallic element, it constitutes 8.1 percent of the Earth's crust. In nature it occurs chemically combined with oxygen and other elements. In the pure state it is soft and ductile, but

Antarctica, The development of IGY

2005-02-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

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

Felling

2005-02-18T07:11:00.000-08:00

Town, Gateshead metropolitan borough, metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Tyne. The town grew rapidly at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century with the extension of coal mining and later with the expansion of riverside industries such as shipbuilding and the manufacture of glass and heavy chemicals. New

Miracle, Sacred places

2005-02-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

Miracles are often connected with special sacred places. Normally these are natural shrines, such as sacred groves, or temples and sanctuaries in which a god or spirit lives or has manifested himself or in which his statue, symbol, holy objects, or relics are enshrined. Holy places, such as Mecca and the Ka'bah in Islam or the Buddhist stupas, are centres of pilgrimages

Ker

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

Also spelled Cer, in ancient Greek religion, a destructive spirit. Popular belief attributed death and illness to the action of impersonal powers, often spoken of in the plural (Keres). The word was also used of an individual's doom, with a meaning resembling the notion of destiny. In the Attic festival of the Anthesteria, when the spirits of the dead were expelled from the house, they were

Futabatei Shimei

2005-02-16T17:27:00.000-08:00

Although Futabatei wrote three novels and translated many stories,

Latin America, History Of, Trunk lines

2005-02-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

Not only were the central areas different from the fringes in early Latin America, but important distinctions existed within the central areas themselves. In some ways the centre was more a line than a region—that is, a line from Atlantic port to capital to mines, along which European people and products flowed in and silver flowed out. For Mexico, the line went from

Gamma Globulin

2005-02-15T04:52:00.000-08:00

Subgroup of the blood proteins called globulins. In humans and many of the other mammals, antibodies, when they are formed, occur in the gamma globulins. Persons who lack gamma globulin or who have an inadequate supply of it—conditions called, respectively, agammaglobulinemia and hypogammaglobulinemia—have frequently recurring infections because of their inability

Epinephrine And Norepinephrine

2005-02-14T20:30:00.000-08:00

Also called adrenaline and noradrenaline, two separate but related hormones secreted by the medulla of the adrenal glands. They are also produced at the ends of sympathetic nerve fibres, where they serve as chemical mediators for conveying the nerve impulses to effector organs. Chemically, the two compounds differ only slightly; and they exert similar pharmacological actions, which resemble the effects

Zakarpattya

2005-02-13T21:02:00.000-08:00

Russian Zakarpatskaya, also spelled Zakarpatskaia, or Zakarpatskaja, oblast (province), western Ukraine. It is bounded by Slovakia and Hungary on the west, Poland on the northwest, and Romania on the south. The oblast extends from the northwest-southeast–trending Carpathian Mountain crestline (the Verkhovyna and Gorgany ranges, respectively), across the successive parallel Polonina and Vulhanichnyy ranges, and southwestward down

Muhu

2005-02-13T19:50:00.000-08:00

German Moon, archipelago and island, Estonia, separating the Gulf of Riga from the Baltic Sea. The archipelago's three main islands are Saaremaa (q.v.), the largest, in the south; Hiiumaa (q.v.) in the north; and Muhu, the smallest, in the east nearest the mainland. Navigable straits separate the islands from each other and from the mainland. Ferries serve the archipelago, and a causeway links

Insurance, England

2005-02-12T15:40:00.000-08:00

Fire insurance arose much later, obtaining impetus from the Great Fire of London in 1666. A number of insurance companies were started in England after 1711, during the so-called bubble era. Many of them were fraudulent, get-rich-quick schemes concerned mainly with selling their securities to the public. Nevertheless, two important and successful English insurance companies

Wells, Charles Jeremiah

2005-02-12T04:45:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Wells was a member of the poet John

Anderson, Carl David

2005-02-11T15:40:00.000-08:00

Anderson received his Ph.D. in 1930 from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, where he worked with physicist Robert Andrews Millikan.

Východní Slovensko

2005-02-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

Czech Východoslovenský kraj (region), eastern Slovakia. It is bordered by Strední Slovensko kraj to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, and Hungary to the south. The Vysoké Tatry (High Tatras) and Nízke Beskydy Mountains extend across the northern part of Východní Slovensko kraj, and the Nízke Tatry (Low Tatras) give way to the Slovenské Rudo (“Slovak Ore”) Mountains in the west. A major

Aliphatic Compound

2005-02-10T08:12:00.000-08:00

Any chemical compound belonging to the organic class in which the atoms are not linked together to form a ring. One of the major structural groups of organic molecules, the aliphatic compounds include the alkanes, alkenes, and alkynes, and substances derived from them—actually or in principle—by replacing one or more hydrogen atoms by atoms of other elements or groups

Faber, Lothar Von; And Faber, Eberhard

2005-02-10T05:17:00.000-08:00

Taking over a pencil business started by his great-grandfather Kaspar Faber (d. 1784) near Nürnberg, Lothar von Faber established branches

Sartre, Jean-paul

2005-02-10T03:34:00.000-08:00

Sartre lost his father at an early age and grew up in the home of his maternal grandfather, Carl Schweitzer, uncle of the medical missionary Albert Schweitzer and himself professor of German at the Sorbonne. The boy, who wandered in the Luxembourg Gardens of Paris in search of playmates, was small in stature and cross-eyed. His brilliant autobiography, Les Mots (1963; Words,

Xochiquetzal

2005-02-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

(Nahuatl: “Precious Feather Flower”), Aztec goddess of beauty, sexual love, and household arts. She is also associated with flowers and plants and, in myth, came from Tamoanchán, the verdant paradise of the west. Originally wife of Tlaloc, the rain god, she was abducted for her beauty by Tezcatlipoca, the malevolent god of night, who enthroned her as goddess of love. In some areas

Auric, Georges

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

Auric studied under Vincent d'Indy and Albert Roussel in Paris, and in 1920 the critic Henri Collet included him in “Les Six,” the group of young French composers under the informal patronage

Furniture Industry

2005-02-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

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

Bingham, Caleb

2005-02-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

Bingham was educated at local schools before entering Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. He graduated in 1782 and took the position of master at Moor's Indian Charity School. In 1784 he moved to Boston in order to establish

Hachiman

2005-02-07T02:07:00.000-08:00

One of the most popular Shinto deities of Japan; the patron deity of the Minamoto clan and of warriors in general; often referred to as the god of war. Hachiman is commonly regarded as the deification of Ojin, the 15th emperor of Japan. He is seldom worshipped alone, however, and Hachiman shrines are most frequently dedicated to three deities: Hachiman as Ojin, his mother the