SecretFloor

Submissive Behaviour

2005-03-18T10:55:00.000-08:00

Form of animal behaviour in which one individual attempts through appeasement displays to avoid injury by a dominant member of its own species. Appeasement displays are commonly found in species that are well armed (e.g., carnivores) and social. The displays, even when performed by adult males, commonly incorporate elements of infantile behaviour (e.g., in wolves, rolling

Molfetta

2005-03-16T18:28:00.000-08:00

Town and episcopal see, Bari provincia, Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy. It lies along the Adriatic Sea, northwest of Bari city. An important port in the Middle Ages and a free city for a time, it was sacked by the French in 1529. Although Molfetta is mainly modern, its outstanding Romanesque–Apulian-style Duomo Vecchio (“Old Cathedral”), a national monument, dates from

Ringling Brothers

2005-03-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

The sons of August Rüngeling, a German-born harness maker, Charles, Albert, Otto,

Ba'qubah

2005-03-12T19:12:00.000-08:00

Town, east-central Iraq. Located on the Diyala River and on a road and a rail line between Baghdad and Iran, it is a regional trade centre for agricultural produce and livestock. The name comes from the Aramaic Baya 'quba, meaning “Jacob's house.” The town is located on the site of a settlement dating back to pre-Islamic times. Under the 'Abbasid caliphate, it was a prosperous town known

Pyromania

2005-03-11T06:19:00.000-08:00

Impulse-control disorder characterized by the recurrent compulsion to set fires. The term refers only to the setting of fires for sexual or other gratification provided by the fire itself, not to arson for profit or revenge. Pyromania is usually a symptom of underlying psychopathology, often associated with aggressive behaviours. Sigmund Freud, the founder of

Hymenium

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

A spore-bearing layer of tissue in fungi (division Mycota) found in the classes Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes. It is formed by end cells of hyphae—the filaments of the vegetative body (thallus).

Fuller's Earth

2005-03-06T11:05:00.000-08:00

Any fine-grained, naturally occurring earthy substance that has a substantial ability to adsorb impurities or colouring bodies from fats, grease, or oils. Its name originated with the textile industry, in which textile workers (or fullers) cleaned raw wool by kneading it in a mixture of water and fine earth that adsorbed oil, dirt, and other contaminants from the

Saiki

2005-03-04T21:42:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Saeki, city, Oita ken (prefecture), Kyushu, Japan, facing Saiki Bay. It developed as a castle town on the small delta of the Banjo River during the Muromachi era (1338–1573) and came into the possession of the Mori daimyo family in 1601. Because of its good harbour, Saiki was selected for a base of the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1933. After World War II most of the military facilities were converted to industrial

Fibroblast

2005-03-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

The principal nonmotile cells of connective tissue; fibroblasts are large, flat, elongated (spindle-shaped) cells possessing processes extending out from the ends of the cell body. The cell nucleus is flat and oval. Fibroblasts produce tropocollagen, which is the forerunner of collagen, and ground substance, an amorphous, gel-like matrix that fills the spaces between

Arabian Desert, Soils

2005-03-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

Mechanical weathering, which physically breaks down coarse particles into finer grains, is the most significant process in the formation of desert soils. Quartz sand abounds, covering more than a third of the desert surface. Granular debris from the Precambrian crystalline basement forms pebbly fans about the bases of hills. Sands and silts are washed down to

Eakins, Thomas

2005-02-27T04:34:00.000-08:00

Painter who carried the tradition of 19th-century American Realism to perhaps its highest achievement. He painted mainly portraits of his friends and scenes of outdoor sports, such as swimming and boating (e.g., “Max Schmitt in a Single Scull,” 1871). Because of its frank and unsentimental nature, the work generally acknowledged as his masterpiece,

The Cavern

2005-02-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

In the early 1960s Liverpool, England, was unique among British cities in having more than 200 active pop groups. Many played youth clubs in the suburbs, but some made the big time in cellar clubs such as the Cavern (on Mathew Street) and the Jacaranda and the Blue Angel (on opposite sides of Steel Street) in the centre of the city. Previously these clubs had featured New Orleans-style

Aschelminth, Size range and diversity of structure

2005-02-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

The five classes of aschelminths are of different sizes and varying importance. The nematodes are by far the largest group, with 13,000 to 14,000 named species and many times that number undescribed. Most of the described species are parasites of human beings, domestic animals, or cultivated plants and are therefore of great importance in medicine and agriculture. Typically,

Masjed Soleyman

2005-02-20T02:18:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Masjid-i Sulaiman, town, southwestern Iran. Oil was discovered at Masjed Soleyman in 1908, and the town early became one of Iran's leading oil centres. Pipelines, built in 1909–10, link the town with Abadan, 125 miles (200 km) southwest. Pop. (1986) 104,787.

Abernathy, Ralph David

2005-02-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

The son of a successful farmer, Abernathy was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1948 and graduated with a B.S. degree from Alabama State University in 1950. His interest then shifted from

Avesta

2005-02-16T19:52:00.000-08:00

Industrial town in the southeastern corner of Dalarna län (county), central Sweden, on the Dal River at the Storforsen and Lillforsen rapids. It lies within the ore-producing Bergslagen region. Avesta was first chartered in 1641 but lost its charter privileges in 1686 and was not rechartered until 1919. Its copper refinery began operation in 1636; in 1644 a mint was established in the town

Bac Lieu

2005-02-14T06:49:00.000-08:00

Town, Ca Mau Peninsula, southern Vietnam. It has a hospital and a commercial airport and is linked by highway to Ho Chi Minh City, 120 mi (195 km) to the northeast. In addition to rice growing, there is mat making, and, on the coast, salt is obtained by evaporation. There is also a fishing industry. The government has moved people into the area from Ho Chi Minh City-Cho Lon. Pop. (1971 est.) 65,678.

Loralai

2005-02-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

Loralai district (area 7,364 sq mi [19,073 sq km]), constituted in 1903, consists of a series of long, narrow valleys hemmed in by rugged mountains

Amendola, Giovanni

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

As a young journalist, Amendola expressed his philosophical and ideological views in articles appearing first in La Voce (“The Voice”) and then in the newspapers Resto di Carlino and Corriere della sera. He urged Italy's entry into World War I in

Ramanuja

2005-02-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

Ramanuja's chief contribution to philosophy was his emphasis that discursive thought is necessary in man's search for the ultimate verities, that the phenomenal world is real and provides real knowledge, and that the exigencies of daily life are not detrimental or even contrary to the life of the spirit. In this emphasis he is the antithesis of Sankara, of whom he was sharply

Sa'adia Ben Joseph

2005-02-07T11:05:00.000-08:00

Sa'adia's opus magnum was on exegesis. He prepared

Allied-signal Inc.

2005-02-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

The corporation was formed in 1920 in the consolidation of several chemical manufacturers; the Barrett Company (founded 1903), supplying coal-tar chemicals and roofing; General Chemical Company (founded 1899), specializing in industrial acids; National Aniline

Percy, Thomas

2005-02-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

The basis of Percy's collection was a tattered 15th-century manuscript of ballads (known as the Percy folio) found in the house of a friend

Avunculate

2005-02-01T03:53:00.000-08:00

Special relationship between a man and his sister's children, particularly her sons, which prevails in many societies, notably those characterized by matrilineal descent. The term is derived from the Latin avunculus, meaning “uncle.” It typically involves for the uncle a measure of authority over his nephews, coupled with specific responsibilities in their upbringing,

Monastery

2005-01-30T18:35:00.000-08:00

Local community or residence of a religious order, particularly an order of monks. See abbey; monasticism.

Ribble Valley

2005-01-27T20:36:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative county of Lancashire, northwestern England, along the county's eastern border, extending into the western Pennine uplands. The southern part of the borough, including the lower Ribble valley and the two largest towns, Clitheroe and Longridge, lies in the historic county of Lancashire. The remainder of the mostly rural borough, including

Lanao, Lake

2005-01-26T22:39:00.000-08:00

Lake, west-central Mindanao, Philippines. It is situated just south of Marawi, northwest of the Butig Mountains. Lake Lanao is the second largest lake in the Philippines and has an area of 131 square miles (340 square km). Its outlet is the Agus River, which flows north, over Maria Cristina Falls, where there is a hydroelectric power plant, to Iligan Bay. There are numerous Muslim

Furniture, France

2005-01-23T04:59:00.000-08:00

The transitional phase in French furniture from Baroque to Rococo is called Régence. The heavy, monumental style of the earlier part of Louis's reign was gradually replaced by a lighter and more fluent curvilinear style. The leading exponent of the Régence style was Charles Cressent, ébéniste (“cabinetmaker”) to the regent Philippe II, duc d'Orléans. In his work the ormolu

Calixtus I, Saint

2005-01-21T03:17:00.000-08:00

Calixtus was originally a slave. He was denounced as a Christian by the Jews, who had him sentenced to the Sardinian mines. On his return he

Kodaira Kunihiko

2005-01-19T22:48:00.000-08:00

Kodaira attended the University of Tokyo (Ph.D., 1949). His dissertation attracted the attention of Hermann Weyl, who invited Kodaira to join him at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New

Aquifer

2005-01-17T02:14:00.000-08:00

A confined aquifer is a water-bearing stratum that is confined or overlain by a rock

Argyle, Lake

2005-01-15T19:48:00.000-08:00

Formed by the Ord River Dam (1972), it has a storage capacity of 204,719,140,000 cubic feet (5,797,000,000 cubic m). The dam, fed by the 300-mile (480-kilometre) Ord River, measures 325 feet (99 m) high and 1,119 feet (341 m) long. Lake Argyle is the main reservoir in the Ord River Irrigation Scheme, a public works project dating from 1945 and

Bondfield, Margaret (grace)

2005-01-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

Bondfield had little schooling. Starting as a draper's assistant at 14, she found conditions miserable and joined the National Union of Shop Assistants at its formation. In 1899 she was the only woman delegate to the Trades Union Congress, and

Giordano, Luca

2005-01-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

The most celebrated and prolific Neapolitan painter of the late 17th century. His nickname Luca fa presto (“Luca, work quickly”) is said to derive from his painter-copyist father's admonitions, which were certainly heeded. His other nickname, Proteus, was acquired as a result of his reputed skill in producing pastiches in the style of almost any artist.

Disc Jockey

2005-01-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

Also spelled disk jockey person who conducts a program of recorded music on radio, on television, or at discotheques or other dance halls. Disc jockey programs became the economic base of many radio stations in the United States after World War II. The format generally involves one person, the disc jockey, introducing and playing phonograph records and chatting informally and usually extemporaneously

Güyük

2005-01-08T01:20:00.000-08:00

Güyük was elected to the throne in 1246, partly through the maneuvering of his mother. He was strongly influenced by Nestorianism, a form of Christianity considered a heresy by Western Christians, and he favoured Christian

Congonhas

2005-01-06T04:22:00.000-08:00

Town, east-central Minas Gerais estado (“state”), Brazil, in the Brazilian Highlands, at 2,854 feet (870 metres) above sea level. The settlement was made the seat of a municipality in 1938. Known as Congonhas do Campo before 1948, the town is a centre for the mining of iron, nickel, gold, and other minerals. The town is dominated by the great pilgrimage church of Bom Jesus (1773) and its chapels, which are set

Milky Way Galaxy, Emission nebulas

2005-01-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

A conspicuous component of the Galaxy is the collection of large, bright, diffuse gaseous objects generally called nebulas. The brightest of these cloudlike objects are the emission nebulas, large complexes of interstellar gas and stars in which the gas exists in an ionized and excited state (with the electrons of the atoms excited to a higher than normal energy

Yana

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

There were four Yana divisions—Northern, Central, and Southern Yana, as well as

Lagrangian Function

2004-12-31T21:35:00.000-08:00

One may think of a physical system, changing as time goes on from one state or configuration to another, as progressing along a particular evolutionary path, and ask, from this

Insurance, Group annuities

2004-12-28T20:44:00.000-08:00

An annuity in the literal sense is a series of annual payments. More broadly it may be defined as a series of equal payments over equal intervals of time. A life annuity, a subclass of annuities in general, is one in which the payments are guaranteed for the lifetime of one or more individuals. A group annuity differs from an individual annuity in that the annuity payments

Flores Sea

2004-12-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

Bahasa Indonesia Laut Flores portion of the western South Pacific Ocean, bounded on the north by the island of Celebes (Sulawesi) and on the south by the Lesser Sunda Islands of Flores and Sumbawa. Occupying a total surface area of 93,000 sq mi (240,000 sq km), it opens northwest through Makassar Strait to the Celebes Sea, west to the Java Sea, and east to the Banda Sea. Teluk (gulf of) Bone cuts deeply into the Celebes coast.

Saratov

2004-12-25T05:15:00.000-08:00

Most of the right(west)-bank area is occupied by the Volga Upland, which is greatly dissected by river valleys and erosion gullies; the left (east) bank is a low, rolling plain

Biblical Literature, The Great Bible

2004-12-22T07:33:00.000-08:00

In an injunction of 1538, Henry VIII commanded the clergy to install in a convenient place in every parish church, “one book of the whole Bible of the largest volume in English.” The order seems to refer to an anticipated revision of the Matthew Bible. The first edition was printed in Paris and appeared in London in April 1539 in 2,500 copies. The huge page size earned it the sobriquet the

Buchanan, James M.

2004-12-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

Buchanan attended Middle Tennessee State College (B.S., 1940), the University of Tennessee (M.A., 1941), and—after five years in the navy—the University of Chicago

Baraita

2004-12-18T05:48:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Baraitha (Hebrew: “Outside Teaching,” or “Exclusion”), plural Baraitot, Baraitoth, or Baraithoth, any of the ancient oral traditions of Jewish religious law that were not included in the Mishna (the first authoritative codification of such laws). The Baraitot that are found dispersed singly throughout the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds are often recognizable by such introductory words as “it was taught” or “the rabbi taught.” Other Baraitot are found in independent

China, Invasion of the Sung

2004-12-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

During the next decades there was an uneasy coexistence between the Mongols in northern China and the Sung state in the south. The Mongols resumed their advance in 1250 under the grand khan Möngke and his brother Kublai Khan—grandsons of Genghis Khan. Their armies outflanked the main Sung defenses on the Yangtze River and penetrated deeply into southwestern China,

Toradja

2004-12-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

Group of peoples of central Celebes (Sulawesi), Indonesia. They are believed to be descendants of the invading Austronesian-speaking people that overran the island and absorbed or exterminated the aboriginal population. Later they were driven back from the coasts by Muslim Indonesians such as the Buginese. Their warfare and headhunting made it necessary to locate

Shahjahanpur

2004-12-13T10:07:00.000-08:00

Town, north-central, Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. It lies southeast of Bareilly, on the Deotta River, about 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Lucknow. The town was founded in 1647 and named for the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. It is a road and rail junction and an agricultural trade centre. Its industries include carpet weaving, distilling, sugar milling, and chemical

Shaker Furniture

2004-12-11T06:36:00.000-08:00

Furniture designed for the religious colonies of Shakers founded in America in the last quarter of the 18th century, characterized by austerity of decoration and truth to materials. Deeply dedicated to ideals of communal living and asceticism, the Shakers designed and constructed furniture that reflected their belief that to make a thing well was in itself an

Sorosilicate

2004-12-09T09:21:00.000-08:00

Formerly called Pyrosilicate, any member of a group of compounds with structures that have two silicate tetrahedrons (a central silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners of a tetrahedron) linked together. Because one oxygen atom is shared by two tetrahedrons, the chemical formula contains Si2O7, as in melilite or hemimorphite.

Crabbe, George

2004-12-06T21:38:00.000-08:00

Crabbe grew up in the impoverished seacoast village of Aldeburgh and was apprenticed to a surgeon at 14. Hating his mean surroundings and unsuccessful occupation, he abandoned both in 1780 and went to London. In 1781 he wrote a

Japan, Sea Of

2004-12-05T09:09:00.000-08:00

Japanese Nihon-kai, Russian Yaponskoye More, Korean Tonghae, marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded by Japan and Sakhalin Island to the east and by Russia and Korea on the Asian mainland to the west. (The Korean name means “East Sea.”) Its area is 377,600 square miles (978,000 square kilometres). It has a mean depth of 5,748 feet (1,752 metres) and a maximum depth of 12,276 feet (3,742 metres).

Canadian River

2004-12-02T22:07:00.000-08:00

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

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey

2004-12-01T03:14:00.000-08:00

Aldrich left school at 13 to work as a merchant's clerk in New York City and soon began to contribute to various newspapers

Aomori

2004-11-28T02:46:00.000-08:00

Northernmost ken (prefecture) on the island of Honshu, Japan. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean (east), the Tsugaru Strait (north), and the Sea of Japan (west). The peninsulas of Tsugaru and Shimokita enclose Mutsu Bay. Aomori has a relatively poor agricultural economy that is handicapped by long, cold, snowy winters and poor drainage. Rice and Japan's largest apple crop are

Marsh, Ngaio

2004-11-27T10:23:00.000-08:00

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

Durisol

2004-11-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

One of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Durisols are soils in semiarid environments that have a substantial layer of silica within 1 metre (39 inches) of the land surface. The silica occurs either as weakly cemented nodules or as hardpan and accumulates as a result of downward translocation (migration) when solubilized

Robber Fly

2004-11-22T23:20:00.000-08:00

Also called Assassin Fly, any predatory insect of the family Asilidae (order Diptera), numbering about 4,000 species, worldwide in distribution. These flies have variable lengths that range to almost 8 cm (3 inches). They are the largest of all flies. Most are dull in colour, and their stout bodies resemble those of bumble bees. Between the large-faceted eyes is a moustache of bristles. The long legs are adapted

Kebbi

2004-11-21T21:36:00.000-08:00

State, northwestern Nigeria. It was created in 1991 from the southwestern half of Sokoto (q.v.) state. Kebbi borders the nations of Niger to the west and Benin to the southwest, and it borders the Nigerian states of Sokoto to the north and east and Niger to the south. Kebbi's area consists of short-grass savanna that is drained southwestward by the Niger River and its tributary,

Usk

2004-11-19T13:51:00.000-08:00

Welsh Brynbuga town, present and historic county of Monmouthshire, Wales, lying along the River Usk 20 miles (32 km) from its Bristol Channel mouth. The town was settled first by Celts and then by Romans, who called it Burrium. A Norman castle was built in the 12th century but was partially destroyed about 1402 during the rebellion of the Welsh prince Owen Glendower. Usk is now a small market town and

Tarim River

2004-11-15T21:40:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization T'a-li-mu Ho, Pinyin Tarim He, chief river of the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang, extreme northwestern China. It lies immediately north of the Plateau of Tibet. The river gives its name to the great basin between the Tien Shan and Kunlun mountain systems of Central Asia. It flows for most of its length through the Takla Makan Desert. The word tarim is used to designate the bank of a river that

Schechter, Solomon

2004-11-12T07:10:00.000-08:00

Schechter studied the Talmud, the authoritative rabbinical compendium of Jewish law, lore, and commentary, in Vienna, Berlin, and London. In 1890 he became lecturer in Talmudic

Alunite

2004-11-10T18:32:00.000-08:00

Also called Alum Stone, a widespread rock-forming sulfate mineral that occupies pockets or seams in volcanic rocks such as rhyolites, trachytes, and andesites, where it presumably formed through their chemical reaction with escaping sulfurous vapours. It has been used as a source of potash (during World War I) and as a source of alumina (during World War II); in Europe it was once used extensively

Saint Joseph

2004-11-09T11:58:00.000-08:00

Byname Saint Joe, city, seat (1846) of Buchanan County, northwestern Missouri, U.S., on the Missouri River (there bridged to Elwood, Kan.), 28 mi (45 km) north of Kansas City. A trading post was established (1826) on the site by Joseph Robidoux, a French-Canadian trapper from St. Louis. The Platte Purchase (1836), adding about 2,000,000 ac (800,000 ha) of Indian land to the state territory, resulted in an influx of settlers. Robidoux laid out the

Grafton

2004-11-07T22:12:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1878) of Taylor county, northern West Virginia, U.S., on the Tygart Valley River, north of Tygart Lake. Settled in 1852 by construction crews of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, it is thought to be named for the “graftin' on” (junction) point for branch rail lines. It was chartered in 1856. During the American Civil War it was a key rail centre and was occupied by both Confederate and

Conté Crayon

2004-11-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

French Crayon Conté, drawing pencil named after Nicolas-Jacques Conté, the French scientist who invented it late in the 18th century. The conté crayon is an especially hard pencil, made of an admixture of graphite and clay that can be varied for different degrees of hardness. It is usually made in black, red, or brown and is used as a drawing medium in any combination of these colours.

Lorant, Stefan

2004-11-02T02:26:00.000-08:00

Lorant attended the Academy of Economics in Budapest and then worked as a director, cameraman, and editor of films in Vienna and Berlin. From 1926 to 1933 he was editor in

Wyss, Johann Rudolf

2004-10-31T11:21:00.000-08:00

Wyss became professor of philosophy at the academy at Bern in 1805 and later chief librarian of the municipal library. He was a collector of Swiss tales and folklore, published in Idyllen,

Refractory

2004-10-29T01:57:00.000-07:00

Material not deformed or damaged by high temperatures, used to make crucibles, incinerators, insulation, and furnaces, particularly metallurgical furnaces. Refractories are produced in several forms: molded bricks of various shapes (see firebrick); bulk granular materials; plastic mixtures consisting of moistened aggregate that are rammed into place; castables

Unterfranken

2004-10-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

English Lower Franconia Regierungsbezirk (administrative district), northwestern corner of Bavaria Land (state), central Germany. Unterfranken is bordered by Thuringia Land to the northeast, the Regierungsbezirke of Oberfranken (Upper Franconia) and Mittelfranken (Middle Franconia) to the east, Baden-Württemberg Land to the south, and Hesse Land to the west. The district occupies an area

Wanganui

2004-10-25T00:33:00.000-07:00

City (“district”) and port, Manawatu-Wanganui local government region, southwestern North Island, New Zealand, near the mouth of the Wanganui River. The site lies within a tract bought by the New Zealand Company in 1840. The company established a settlement in 1841 and named it Petre. It was renamed in 1844, the present name deriving from a Maori term meaning “big mouth,” “big bay,” or “big

Pauli Exclusion Principle

2004-10-24T02:28:00.000-07:00

Subatomic

Qeqertarsuaq

2004-10-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

Formerly Disko Island, Disko also spelled Disco, island in Davis Strait off western Greenland, northwest of Qeqertarsuup (Disko) Bay and southwest of Vaigat Strait. It is 80 miles (130 km) long, 20–75 miles (32–120 km) wide, and 3,312 square miles (8,578 square km) in area and has a maximum elevation of 6,296 feet (1,919 m). There are coal and iron deposits, and some lignite is mined around Qullissat in the northeast. Qeqertarsuaq (Danish: Godhavn), the largest settlement,

Mitchell, William

2004-10-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

Byname Billy Mitchell U.S. Army officer who early advocated a separate U.S. air force and greater preparedness in military aviation. He was court-martialed for his outspoken views and did not live to see the fulfillment during World War II of many of his prophecies: strategic bombing, mass airborne operations, and the eclipse of the battleship by the bomb-carrying

Altichiero

2004-10-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

Altichiero began his career in Verona, where he remained for a number of years, although nothing is known of his work from this period. In 1370 he moved to Padua, perhaps at the

A-pao-chi

2004-10-11T18:36:00.000-07:00

Elected to a three-year term as great khan of the Khitans, A-pao-chi refused to resign at the end of his term but made himself king of the Khitan nation. After the collapse in 907 of T'ang rule in China, A-pao-chi made himself emperor and by 916 had set up a Chinese-style dynasty, with

Maa-alused

2004-10-09T14:26:00.000-07:00

These terms refer to beings living under the earth with an existence quite parallel to that of people living on earth. The main differences are in the opposite

Yablochkov, Pavel Nikolayevich

2004-10-07T03:50:00.000-07:00

In 1871 Yablochkov was appointed director of the telegraph lines between Moscow

Abu Al-hasan

2004-10-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

Abu al-Hasan was the son of Aqa Reza of Herat, who took employment with Jahangir (reigned 1605–27) before his accession to the throne. Abu al-Hasan was trained in painting under the careful tutelage of the emperor, who praised him as

Plant, Principal pathways and cycles

2004-10-03T03:45:00.000-07:00

The 6-carbon sugar glucose, a product of photosynthesis, may be translocated in the form of sucrose (a 12-carbon sugar) to nourish nonphotosynthesizing parts of the plant, or it may be polymerized into starch for storage. (Trehalose, another 12-carbon sugar, replaces sucrose in some nonvascular plants.) When required, sucrose and starch are hydrolyzed to glucose and then enter

Amazonas

2004-10-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

Estado (“state”), southern Venezuela. It is bounded on the north by the state of Bolívar, on the east and south by Brazil, and on the west by Colombia. The large but sparsely populated state lies within the drainage basins of the Orinoco River, which rises near the Brazilian border, and the Negro River, which is a northern tributary of the Amazon. Near the centre of the territory

Habsburg, House Of

2004-09-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Hapsburg , also called House of Austria royal German family, one of the principal sovereign dynasties of Europe from the 15th to the 20th century.

Croly, Herbert David

2004-09-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

The son of widely known journalists, Croly was educated at Harvard University and spent his early adult years editing or contributing to architectural journals. In 1914 he founded the liberal weekly The New Republic, “A Journal of Opinion.” In its pages

'abbas I

2004-09-26T02:38:00.000-07:00

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.

Loches

2004-09-24T02:12:00.000-07:00

Town, Indre-et-Loire département, Centre region, west central France, southeast of Tours, on the left bank of the Indre River. The town is dominated by the medieval citadel, which is surrounded by 1.5 mi (2 km) of old walls. It embraces three separate buildings: the Royal Lodge (mainly 15th century), the Collégiale Saint-Ours (10th–11th century), and a ruined fortress with an 11th-century keep

Saigon, Treaty Of

2004-09-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Under the terms of the agreement, the French received Saigon and three of the southern provinces of Cochinchina, the opening of three ports to trade, freedom of missionary

China, Sung culture

2004-09-18T15:14:00.000-07:00

An agricultural revolution produced plentiful supplies for a population of

Tarbert

2004-09-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Village at the head of East Loch Tarbert, an inlet on the west side of of Loch Fyne, Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Argyllshire, Scotland. Its name means isthmus, and it occupies a narrow neck of land joining the Peninsula of Kintyre to the rest of Argyll. The herring fishery, which was its mainstay, has declined, but Tarbert has developed modestly as a resort

Performing Arts, India.

2004-09-14T03:47:00.000-07:00

With the rise of an international taste for “Bollywood”—Indian commercial cinema—two spectacular all-star films vied for the claim to be the most costly films in Indian history; Devdas was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali from a much-filmed early 20th-century novel with a Romeo and Juliet theme, and Karan Johar's Kabhi khushi kabhie gham ... (2001; Sometimes Happiness, Sometimes

Soranus Of Ephesus

2004-09-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

(near modern Selçuk, Turkey; fl. 2nd century AD, Alexandria and Rome), Greek gynecologist, obstetrician, and pediatrician, chief representative of the methodist school of medicine (emphasizing simple rules of practice, based on a theory that attributed all disease to an adverse state of “internal pores”). His writings set medical opinion concerning women's diseases, pregnancy,

Gravity

2004-09-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

Gravitational attraction of one mass for another. See gravitation.

Gance, Abel

2004-09-07T22:50:00.000-07:00

Working in the cinema from 1909, Gance first gained recognition with his films Mater dolorosa (1917; “Sorrowful Mother,” remade in 1932) and La Dixième Symphonie (1918; “Tenth Symphony”). Influenced by the epic style of the pioneer American

Peter Iv

2004-09-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Peter was the most cultivated of Spanish 14th-century kings but was also an inveterate political intriguer whose ability to dissemble was notorious. Through his voluminous correspondence, the workings of his mind are far better known than those of any contemporary Spanish

New Hampshire V. Louisiana

2004-09-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

(108 U.S. 76 [1883]), U.S. Supreme Court case (combined with New York v. Louisiana) concerning an attempt by the states of New Hampshire and New York to force Louisiana to pay interest on state bonds owned by citizens of the plaintiff states and assigned to those states for collection. Laws had been passed by New Hampshire in 1879 and by New York in 1880 under which a citizen of either of those states

Kunlun Mountains, Geology

2004-09-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

The principal folded structures and granitic rocks of the Kunlun Mountains date to about 250 million years ago, a time during which there was much mountain building in the Eastern Hemisphere. The inner depressions of the Kunluns, however, are relatively recent structures in their entirety, being formed by deposits that are no more than 26 million years old; only the largest

Sun Bittern

2004-08-28T02:21:00.000-07:00

(species Eurypyga helias), slender bird of tropical America, the sole member of the family Eurypygidae (order Gruiformes). It has strikingly patterned wings, which the male spreads in courtship and threat displays. The sun bittern is about 43 cm (17 inches) long, with full wings and a long tail beautifully marked in browns, yellows, black, and white. It lives on

Rare-earth Element, Ion exchange

2004-08-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

Ion exchange is a method of separation based on differential absorption and elution (washing off) of substances from certain solid supporting materials, often powdered or finely divided materials held in glass tubes. The technique was first used in the rare-earth field during World War II to separate fission products obtained from nuclear reactors. In December

Caldecott Medal

2004-08-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

Annual prize awarded “to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.” It was established in 1938 by Frederic G. Melcher, chairman of the board of the R.R. Bowker Publishing Company, and named for the 19th-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is presented at the annual conference of the American Library Association along with the

Katz, Sir Bernard

2004-08-22T04:21:00.000-07:00

After