GreatOffice

Abd Al-hafid

2005-03-19T23:30:00.000-08:00

Appointed caliph of Marrakech by Abd al-Aziz, Abd al-Hafid had no difficulty there in rousing the Muslim community against his brother's Western ways. With Marrakech his, Abd al-Hafid routed his brother's forces and pensioned off the sultan.

Uhlenbeck, George Eugene

2005-03-17T16:24:00.000-08:00

In 1925, while working on his Ph.D. at the University of Leiden, Neth. (1927), he and Goudsmit put forth their idea of electron spin after ascertaining that electrons rotate about an axis. Uhlenbeck joined the physics department at the

Baruch, Bernard

2005-03-15T08:08:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the College of the City of New York in 1889, Baruch worked as an office boy in a linen business and later in Wall Street brokerage houses. Over the years he amassed a fortune as a stock market speculator. In 1916 he was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to the Advisory

Iridosmine

2005-03-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Osmiridium, mineral consisting of an alloy of iridium and a smaller proportion of osmium. It occurs in gold-bearing conglomerates, as at the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and in gold sands, as in California and Oregon, U.S. Because of their hardness and resistance to corrosion, both natural and synthetic iridosmine are used for tips of pen nibs, surgical needles, and sparking points

Shostakovich, Dmitry

2005-03-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

In full Dmitry Dmitriyevich Shostakovich Russian composer, renowned particularly for his 15 symphonies, numerous chamber works, and concerti, many of them written under the pressures of government-imposed standards of Soviet art.

Cytokinin

2005-03-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

Any of a number of plant growth substances that are usually derived from adenine. Synthesized in roots, cytokinins move upward in the xylem (woody tissue) and pass into the leaves and fruits, where they are required for normal growth, for cell differentiation, and, in conjunction with auxin (another plant hormone), to promote cell division.

Pacific Islands

2005-03-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Humans in the Pacific have had to adapt to island environments just as other species have done. The technologies and organizational systems introduced into the Pacific by migrants were established in habitats that varied from receptive to hostile. The earliest arrivals, as food-gathering peoples, probably provoked little disruption of the environment. Their

Cylinder Seal

2005-03-04T02:52:00.000-08:00

Small stone cylinder engraved in intaglio on its surface to leave impressions when rolled on wet clay. Cylinder seals are characteristic artifacts of ancient Mesopotamian civilization and are considered some of its finest artistic achievements. The seals first appear during the Protoliterate Period (c. 3400–2900 BC), and, although the earliest examples used primarily geometric,

Breckinridge, Sophonisba Preston

2005-03-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

Breckinridge graduated from Wellesley College in 1888. After a time as a schoolteacher in Washington, D.C., she studied law in her father's office and in 1895 became the first woman to be admitted to the Kentucky bar. Uninterested in legal practice, she

Sea Whip

2005-02-28T07:48:00.000-08:00

Any of several genera of corals of the order Gorgonacea (phylum Cnidaria), characterized by a long, whiplike growth and a variety of bright colours. The “whip” consists of a colony of tiny polyps (cylindrical, stalklike forms with a mouth and eight tentacles at the upper, or free, end) that grow upon one another in a continuous single stem. Spicules, or needlelike

United States, The coming of the war

2005-02-27T21:01:00.000-08:00

Faced with a fait accompli, Lincoln when inaugurated was prepared to conciliate the South in every way but one: he would not recognize that the Union could be divided. The test of his determination came early in his administration, when he learned that the Federal troops under Major Robert Anderson in Fort Sumter, South Carolina—then one of the few military installations in the South still in Federal hands—had to be promptly supplied or withdrawn. After agonized consultation with his cabinet, Lincoln determined that supplies must be sent even if doing so provoked the Confederates into firing the first shot. On April 12, 1861, just before Federal supply ships could reach the beleaguered Anderson, Confederate guns in Charleston opened fire upon Fort Sumter, and the war began.

Eckermann, Johann Peter

2005-02-25T18:32:00.000-08:00

Reared

Submarine Fracture Zone

2005-02-20T06:49:00.000-08:00

The largest fracture zones, in the eastern Pacific, are several thousand kilometres long, 100 to 200 km (60 to 125 miles) wide, and possess several kilometres of vertical relief. Each Pacific fracture zone is actually a complex of ridges and intervening

Angiolini, Gasparo

2005-02-19T13:32:00.000-08:00

In 1757 he became ballet master of the Vienna court opera house, where his first ballet dramas frequently relied upon gesture to convey plot. In 1761, however, Angiolini collaborated with the composer Cristoph Gluck to produce Don

Selfridge, Harry Gordon

2005-02-16T00:25:00.000-08:00

The son of a small storekeeper in Wisconsin, Selfridge at age 21 joined the wholesale-retail firm of Field, Leiter and Company (later Marshall Field and Company) in Chicago, where he worked for 25 years and became a junior partner. In 1906 he went to England with a fortune and began to build a large department

Argyrodite

2005-02-14T05:41:00.000-08:00

Heavy, dark sulfosalt mineral, a silver and germanium sulfide (Ag8GeS6), in which the element germanium was discovered (1886). It is a relatively scarce mineral found in sulfide veins in Germany and in Bolivia. It forms a solid solution series with canfieldite in which tin replaces germanium in the crystal structure, which belongs to the isometric system. For detailed physical

Lowndes, Marie Adelaide

2005-02-12T06:04:00.000-08:00

The sister of the poet and essayist Hilaire Belloc, she received little formal education, but, because of the prominence of her family in intellectual circles, she was acquainted

Scythe

2005-02-10T19:46:00.000-08:00

One of the most important of all agricultural hand tools, consisting of a curved blade fitted at an angle to a long, curved handle and used for cutting grain. In modern scythes the handle has a projecting peg that is grasped by one hand, facilitating control of the swinging motion by which grass and grain are cut. The exact origin of the scythe is unknown, but it was little

France, History Of, Loss of political freedom

2005-02-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

Politics during the Directory had been marked by an unwholesome combination of ferocious partisanship and massive apathy. Weary of political turmoil and disillusioned by politicians of all kinds, most Frenchmen now accepted the disappearance of political freedom and participation with equanimity. The few who still cared passionately enough to resist collided

Eakins, Thomas

2005-02-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

Eakins was born in Philadelphia and, except for one extended study trip abroad and a brief trip to the West, virtually his entire life was spent in that city. From his father, a writing master, Eakins inherited not only the manual dexterity and sense of precision that characterizes his art but also the love of outdoor activity and the commitment to absolute integrity

Cloud

2005-02-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

Clouds are formed when relatively moist air rises. As a mass of air ascends, the lower pressures prevailing at higher levels allow it to expand. In expanding, the

Lapse, Doctrine Of

2005-02-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

In Indian history, formula devised by Lord Dalhousie, governor-general of India (1848–56), to deal with questions of succession to Hindu Indian states. It was a corollary to the doctrine of paramountcy, by which Great Britain, as the ruling power of the Indian subcontinent, claimed the superintendence of the subordinate Indian states and so also the regulation of their

Lancaster, Sir Osbert

2005-01-29T09:05:00.000-08:00

Lancaster took his B.A. degree at Lincoln College,

Furniture, Other accessory furnishings

2005-01-28T15:12:00.000-08:00

Small utility objects constitute an important part of the furnishing of interiors. Several of them are the work of cabinetmakers; for example, boxes for writing paper and playing cards, caskets for letters and documents, trays for serving or presentation. Accessory furnishings include the various articles, large and small, that are employed in the course of domestic

Ozier Pattern

2005-01-25T01:23:00.000-08:00

In tableware, molded basket-weave pattern produced in Germany in the 1730s on Meissen porcelain tableware. It was probably one of the numerous inventions of the celebrated modeler Johann Joachim Kändler. There are four basic types of ozier molding: the ordinair-ozier (“ordinary ozier”), a kind of zigzag basket weave; the alt-ozier (“old ozier”), which has radial ribs; the neu-ozier

Rawlins

2005-01-23T07:22:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1886) of Carbon county, south-central Wyoming, U.S. It lies just east of the Continental Divide at an elevation of 6,755 feet (2,059 metres). Founded in 1868 when the Union Pacific Railroad arrived, it was first named Rawlins Springs for U.S. Army Chief of Staff General John A. Rawlins, who requested a freshwater spring there bear his name. In 1874 “Rawlins Red” pigment from the local paint mines

Abdul-jabbar, Kareem

2005-01-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Alcindor played for Power Memorial Academy (at 6 feet 8 inches) on the varsity for four years, and his total of 2,067 points set a New York City high school record. He entered the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1965 and set a UCLA

Arrangement

2005-01-20T23:06:00.000-08:00

In music, traditionally, any adaptation of a composition to fit a medium other than that for which it was originally written, while at the same time retaining the general character of the original. The word was frequently used interchangeably with transcription, although the latter carried the connotation of elaboration of the original, as in the virtuosic piano

Dubois, Pierre

2005-01-18T02:47:00.000-08:00

French lawyer and political pamphleteer during the reign of Philip IV the Fair; his most important treatise, De recuperatione Terrae Sanctae (1306, “On the Recovery of the Holy Land”), dealt with a wide range of political issues and gave a good picture of contemporary intellectual trends while ostensibly outlining the conditions

Gray, Sir James

2005-01-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

English zoologist who played a leading part in changing the main objective of 20th-century zoological research from evolutionary comparative anatomy to the functional analysis of living cells and living animals, particularly through his editorship (1925–54) of the Journal of Experimental Biology. He was noted for his work

Bukhara

2005-01-13T23:22:00.000-08:00

Uzbek Bukhoro, also spelled Buchara or Bokhara city and administrative centre, Bukhoro oblast (province), Uzbekistan, on the Shakhrud Canal in the delta of the Zeravshan River, at the centre of Bukhara oasis. Founded not later than the 1st century AD, it was already a major trade and crafts centre when the Arabs captured it in 709. The capital of the Samanid dynasty in the 9th–10th centuries, it later was seized by the Qarakhanids

Sacasa, Juan Bautista

2005-01-12T08:13:00.000-08:00

Sacasa studied in the United States from 1889 to 1901, earning an M.D. from Columbia University. In 1924 he was elected vice president of Nicaragua as leader of the Liberal Party in a coalition government. The following year a coup d'état installed General Emiliano Chamorro

Breckenridge

2005-01-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1862) of Summit county, central Colorado, U.S. Situated at an elevation of 9,600 feet (2,926 metres), Breckenridge was the scene of one of the earliest gold strikes in Colorado, in 1859; the town grew around the goldfields, and within a decade it contained several fine hotels and theatres. The present downtown preserves the character of the original city centre, and some 250 of its buildings

Rydberg, Viktor

2005-01-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

Rydberg grew up among strangers, with no home of his own; his mother had died in a cholera epidemic, and his father became an alcoholic. He had to break off his studies for lack of money. In 1855 he began to work for the liberal newspaper

Spanish Literature, Revival of the Spanish novel

2005-01-05T03:05:00.000-08:00

For more than two centuries the novel, with which Spain had made its greatest contribution to literature, had been almost extinct. The first novels of the revival were more interesting for powers of observation and description (a continuation of costumbrismo) than for imaginative or narrative quality. A woman novelist, Fernán Caballero, determined the technique

Biblical Literature, The process of canonization

2005-01-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

The process of canonization was relatively long and remarkably flexible and detached; various books in use were recognized as inspired, but the Church Fathers noted, without embarrassment or criticism, how some held certain books to be canonical and others did not. Emerging Christianity assumed that through the Spirit the selection of canonical books was “certain

Caesar, Julius

2005-01-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

Caesar changed the course of the history of the Greco-Roman world decisively and irreversibly.

Ancient Rome, Second Punic War (218201 BC)

2004-12-31T22:18:00.000-08:00

It seemed that the superiority of the Romans at sea ought to have enabled them to choose the field of battle. They decided to send one army to Spain and another to Sicily and Africa. But before their preparations were complete, Hannibal began the series of operations that dictated the course of the war for the greater part of its duration. He realized that as long as the

Indus River

2004-12-29T21:31:00.000-08:00

Great trans-Himalayan river of South Asia and one of the longest rivers in the world, having a length of 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometres). It has a total drainage area of about 450,000 square miles (1,165,500 square kilometres), of which 175,000 square miles lie in the Himalayan mountains and foothills and the rest in the semiarid plains of Pakistan. The river's annual flow is about 272 billion cubic yards (207 billion

Barcelona, Archaeological Museum Of

2004-12-27T11:06:00.000-08:00

In full Archaeological Museum Of Barcelona And Institute Of Prehistory And Archaeology, Spanish Museo Arqueológica De Barcelona E Instituto De Prehistoria Y Arqueología, institution in Barcelona, Spain, notable for its collection of prehistoric objects and for its collection of ancient Greek and Roman art and examples illustrating Iberian archaeology. Exhibits include a scale model of a part of the excavation at Ampurias (Emporiae) and displays of Greek vases, glass, and sculpture. There is a fine statue of Asclepius of the 4th century

Goajiro

2004-12-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

Indian people of the Guajira Peninsula in northern Colombia and adjacent Venezuela. Numbering about 127,000 in the late 20th century, they speak an Arawakan language and are linguistically and culturally distinct from their neighbours to the south, the Arhuaco. The Goajiro are mainly a pastoral people, growing only a little corn (maize) to make chicha (beer). Besides raising

Toothwort

2004-12-23T07:43:00.000-08:00

Any of about 10 species of perennial herbs belonging to the genus Dentaria, of the mustard family (Brassicaceae), native to northern temperate areas. The name toothwort refers to the plant's toothed, or scaly, rootstock. The four-petaled flowers, borne in a terminal cluster, are white, pink, or pale purple. Toothwort, pepperwort, or crinklewort (D.

Kuwait

2004-12-21T06:41:00.000-08:00

Prior to the terrorist attacks in New York City and near Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001, strength in oil prices had led economic analysts to predict another year of prosperity for Kuwait. The strong oil market had boosted gross domestic product growth in the country for a second year in a row. Following September 11, however, slumping demand in Kuwait's principal markets, Asia

Kuching

2004-12-18T04:53:00.000-08:00

Town, capital and chief port of Sarawak, East Malaysia, on northwestern Borneo. The town was founded in 1839 by James (later Sir James) Brooke, who became ruler of Sarawak with the title of raja. He built the town's first European-style house on the jungled southern bank of the muddy, crocodile-infested Sarawak River, 15 miles (24 km) from the South China Sea. Now a busy administrative

Callahan, Harry Morey

2004-12-16T03:32:00.000-08:00

American photographer (b. Oct. 22, 1912, Detroit, Mich.—d. March 15, 1999, Atlanta, Ga.), experimented with the use of light, line, and space to produce images that portray ordinary scenes and objects in innovative, abstract ways. He felt that photographs had to have more significance than was apparent at first look; he focused on such favourite themes as his wife and daughter, landscapes, and

Motion Picture, History Of The, Germany

2004-12-14T19:21:00.000-08:00

Before World War I, the German motion-picture audience was largely uneducated and unemployed or from the working class. Most of the films exhibited were imported from other countries, particularly Denmark. The few German films produced were usually cheaply and crudely made. This impoverished state of the domestic industry became a matter of concern among military

Chile, Political stagnation, 195264

2004-12-13T04:33:00.000-08:00

Various conditions explain the victory in 1952 of the former dictator Gen. Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. Under Radical rule the middle class had affirmed its political importance without injuring the economic power of the landed oligarchy, but the lower classes fell farther behind the middle and upper strata. In 1949 the vote was granted to women, and the electorate thus expanded

Alabama, Government

2004-12-10T23:52:00.000-08:00

Alabama is governed by a bicameral legislature and a governor and cabinet. The legislature consists of 35 senators and 105 representatives who meet annually in regular sessions and are elected for four-year terms. The constitution, a complex and, some have claimed, outdated and often inadequate document, dates from 1901. After various poll tax and other tax provisions aimed

Central Asia, History Of, The Uzbeks

2004-12-08T03:31:00.000-08:00

The early history of the Uzbek people (whose rulers were descendants of a younger brother of Batu, khan of the Golden Horde) is wrapped in obscurity, but by the mid-15th century they had migrated from their original homeland, east of the Ural Mountains, southeast toward the lower Syr Darya, whence, under their leader, Abu'l-Khayr Khan, they began to threaten the Timurids across

Biblical Literature, Textual criticism

2004-12-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

Textual criticism is concerned with the basic task of establishing, as far as possible, the original text of the documents on the basis of the available materials. For the Old Testament, until 1947, these materials consisted principally of: (1) Hebrew manuscripts dated from the 9th century AD onward, the Masoretic text, the traditional Jewish text with its vocalization and punctuation

Irish Yew

2004-12-05T18:09:00.000-08:00

Ornamental evergreen of the yew family. See English yew.

France, History Of, Diffusion of political power

2004-12-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

During the period of insecurity and turbulence that marked the end of the Merovingian epoch, bonds of personal dependence, present in both Roman and Germanic institutions, can be seen to compete with weakened governmental institutions. In the 7th century these bonds took one of two forms: commendation (a free man placed himself under the protection of a more powerful

Braddock, James J.

2004-12-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

Braddock's professional name was changed by his manager to James J. early in his career, patterning the name

Hippias Of Elis

2004-11-28T01:16:00.000-08:00

A man of great versatility, with an assurance characteristic of the later Sophists, Hippias lectured on poetry, grammar, history, politics, archaeology, mathematics, and

Vienna Circle

2004-11-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

German Wiener Kreis, a group of philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians formed in the 1920s that met regularly in Vienna to investigate scientific language and scientific methodology. The philosophical movement associated with the Circle has been called variously logical positivism, logical empiricism, scientific empiricism, neopositivism, and the unity of science movement.

Quinará

2004-11-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

Region, southwestern Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, bordered by the regions of Tombali on the south and east, Bafatá on the northeast, Oio on the north, and Biombo on the northwest. Quinará fronts the Atlantic Ocean and the region of Bolama to the southwest. It has an area of 1,139 sq mi (2,920 sq km). The Rio Grande de Buba flows east–west through the centre of the region and empties into the

Abstbessingen Faience

2004-11-23T22:38:00.000-08:00

Tin-glazed earthenware produced in a factory in the village of Abstbessingen, in Thuringia, which flourished probably from the first half of the 18th century to about 1816. A hayfork factory mark indicates the patronage of the prince of Schwarzburg. Ordinary wares such as flower vases, tankards, and jugs are thick-bodied, with a creamy glaze; and decorations either in blue

Quadratus, Saint

2004-11-20T20:33:00.000-08:00

With only a fragment of his Apology for Christianity still extant, preserved in the Ecclesiastical History of the 4th-century scholar Eusebius of Caesarea, Quadratus has not been clearly identified. Addressed from Asia Minor to the Roman emperor Hadrian during a persecution either in 124 or 129, the

Raaff, Anton

2004-11-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

Raaff received some vocal experience while being trained for the priesthood as a young man, then in 1736 he began studying with Giovanni Battista Ferrandini in Munich and later with Antonio Bernacchi of Bologna. His career over the next several years took him to Florence, Venice, Bonn,

Refrigeration

2004-11-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

In the industrialized nations and affluent regions in the developing world, refrigeration is chiefly used to store foodstuffs at low temperatures, thus inhibiting the destructive action of bacteria, yeast, and mold. Many perishable products can

Shimazu Family

2004-11-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

Powerful warrior clan that controlled the southern tip of the Japanese island of Kyushu from the 12th to the 19th century. Ensconced in their isolated stronghold on the frontier of Japan, the Shimazu were the only feudal family to play a leading role in Japanese history in both medieval and modern times. During the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867), the family's Satsuma fief was the

Stephen

2004-11-12T16:04:00.000-08:00

When

Europe

2004-11-11T22:14:00.000-08:00

Second smallest of the world's continents, composed of the westward-projecting peninsulas of Eurasia and occupying nearly one-fifteenth of the world's total land area. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south (west to east) by the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Kuma and Manych rivers, and the Caspian Sea. The

Cleveland

2004-11-09T01:01:00.000-08:00

Region and former administrative county, northeastern England, along the River Tees and the North Sea. The region comprises parts of the historic counties of Durham and Yorkshire to the north and south of the Tees, respectively. It is divided administratively into the following unitary authorities: Hartlepool, Stockton-on-Tees, Middlesbrough, and Redcar and

Indonesia, The French and British in Java, 180615

2004-11-06T01:38:00.000-08:00

The fall of the Netherlands to France during the Revolutionary Wars and the dissolution of the company led in due course to significant changes in the administration of the Indies. Under Napoleon's “Kingdom of Holland,” one of his marshals, Herman Willem Daendels, was appointed as governor-general. Daendels strengthened Javanese defenses, raised new forces, built

France, History Of, The continental system

2004-11-04T15:47:00.000-08:00

Britain, however, was insulated from French military power; only an indirect strategy of economic warfare remained possible. Thus far Britain had driven most French merchant shipping from the high seas, and in desperation French merchants sold most of their ships to neutrals, allowing the United States to surpass France in the size of its merchant fleet. But after

Sandys, Sir Edwin

2004-11-02T20:42:00.000-08:00

Sandys was the son of Edwin Sandys, bishop of Worcester and later archbishop of

Lignum Vitae

2004-10-31T07:07:00.000-08:00

Guaiacum officinale occurs from the southern United States to northern South America. It grows about 9 m (30 feet) tall and reaches a diameter of about 25 cm (10 inches). The evergreen leaves are opposite, divided into leaflets

Syriac Literature

2004-10-30T01:13:00.000-07:00

Body of writings in Syriac, an eastern Aramaic Semitic language originally spoken in and around Edessa, Osroëne (modern Saliurfa, in southeastern Turkey). First attested in the 1st century AD, Syriac spread through the Middle East because of Edessa's position as the intellectual capital of the Christian Orient. Syriac reached its height just prior to the Arab conquest

Yalu River

2004-10-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Wade-Giles romanization Ya-lü Chiang , Pinyin Yalu Jiang , Korean Amnok-kang river that forms the northwestern boundary between North Korea and the Northeast Region (Manchuria) of China. The Chinese provinces of Kirin and Liaoning are bordered by the river. Its length is estimated to be 491 miles (790 km), and it drains an area of some 12,259 square miles (31,751 square km). From a mountainous source in the Ch'ang-pai Mountains, the river flows southwestward to drain into

Macbeth

2004-10-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

King of Scots from 1040, the legend of whose life was the basis of Shakespeare's Macbeth. He was probably a grandson of King Kenneth II (reigned 971–995), and he married Gruoch, a descendant of King Kenneth III (reigned 997–1005). About 1031 Macbeth succeeded his father, Findlaech (Sinel in Shakespeare), as mormaer, or chief, in the province

Eastern Africa, History Of, The Solomonids

2004-10-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

An amalgamated Christian state, led by Semitized Agew, had reappeared in the 12th century. This Zagwe dynasty gave way in the late 13th century to a dynasty that claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, a genealogy providing the legitimacy and continuity so honoured in Ethiopia's subsequent national history. During the 14th and 15th centuries the Solomonid

German Literature, Aestheticism

2004-10-22T14:30:00.000-07:00

In the final decades of the 19th century the literary scene was divided between naturalism and its opposites, variously collected under terms such as Neoromanticism, Impressionism, Jugendstil, and Decadence. Aestheticism—the belief that the work of art need have no moral or political use beyond its existence as a beautiful object—may prove to be the most appropriate

Wage And Salary

2004-10-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

Income derived from human labour. Technically, all payments for the use of labour, mental or physical, are covered, but in ordinary usage the terms exclude income of the self-employed and are restricted to compensation of employees. Occasionally fringe benefits are included, but generally they are not. The terms are not fully synonymous with labour costs, which may

Calcium Deficiency

2004-10-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Condition in which an organism fails to receive or to metabolize an adequate supply of the element calcium, the mineral most likely to be deficient in the average diet. Calcium is the chief supportive element in bones and teeth. Calcium salts make up about 70 percent of bone by weight and give that substance its strength and rigidity. About 99 percent of the calcium in the

Viet-muong Languages

2004-10-16T02:56:00.000-07:00

Subbranch of the Vietic branch of the Mon-Khmer family of languages, itself a part of the Austroasiatic stock. Vietnamese, the most important language of the group and of the entire Mon-Khmer family, has a number of regional variants. Northern Vietnamese, centred in Hanoi, is the basis for the official form of Vietnamese. Central Vietnamese, centred in Hue, and Southern

Aryabhata

2004-10-14T18:31:00.000-07:00

First unmanned Earth satellite built by India. It was named for a prominent Indian astronomer and mathematician of the 5th century AD. The satellite was assembled at Peenya, near Bangalore, but was launched from within the Soviet Union by a Russian-made rocket on April 19, 1975. Aryabhata weighed 794 pounds (360 kilograms) and was instrumented to explore conditions in the Earth's ionosphere,

Peter Iii

2004-10-11T02:17:00.000-07:00

Son of Anna, one of Peter I the Great's daughters, and Charles Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the young duke was brought to Russia by his aunt Elizabeth shortly after she became empress of Russia (Dec. 5–6, 1741). Renamed Peter (Pyotr Fyodorovich), he was

Motion-picture Technology, Wide-screen and stereoscopic pictures

2004-10-09T04:25:00.000-07:00

Until the early 1950s, the screen shape, or aspect ratio (expressed as the ratio of frame width to frame height), was generally 1.33 to 1, or 4 to 3. In the mid-1950s the ratio became standardized at 1.85 to 1 in the United States and 1.66 or 1.75 to 1 in Europe. These slightly wider images were accomplished by using the same film but smaller aperture plates in the projector and by using shorter-focal-length

Wynne (o Lasynys), Ellis

2004-10-07T15:41:00.000-07:00

Clergyman and author whose Gweledigaetheu y Bardd Cwsc (1703; “Visions of the Sleeping Bard”) is generally considered the greatest Welsh prose classic. An adaptation of Sir Roger L'Estrange's translation of the Spanish satirist Quevedo's Sueños (1627; “Visions”), savage pictures of contemporary evils, it followed its original

Wade-giles Romanization

2004-10-06T00:15:00.000-07:00

System of romanizing the modern Chinese written language, originally devised to simplify Chinese language characters for the Western world. Initiated by Sir Thomas Francis Wade (q.v.), the system was modified by the Cambridge professor Herbert Allen Giles in his Chinese–English Dictionary (1912). With Giles's syllabic changes, Wade-Giles became the preferred Chinese

Aerospace Industry, Commercial heavy aircraft

2004-10-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

The need for large-scale air transportation has been central to commercial aircraft manufacturing. As one of the world's most vital industries, airlines are key to many aspects of the world economy, from international business and tourism to routine movement of people and goods ranging from massive machinery to agricultural products and personal items. The United

Infection, Q fever

2004-10-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Q fever is a disease caused by the rickettsial agent Coxiella burnetii. The Q stands for query, for its cause was at first unknown. It spreads rapidly in cows, sheep, and goats, and whole herds, flocks, and areas often are contaminated with the Coxiella organisms. The germs are passed in vast quantities in milk, urine, and feces, in vaginal discharges, and on placentas, and they

Peter Ii

2004-09-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

The son of Alexander I, who was assassinated during a visit to France on Oct. 9, 1934, Peter became titular king at 11, but the actual rule was in the hands of a regent, his uncle Prince Paul. After Paul was deposed by a coup of officers led by Gen. Dušan Simovic on March 27, 1941, Peter ruled for a few weeks until Axis troops invaded. He then

Aedon

2004-09-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

In Greek mythology, a daughter of Pandareus of Ephesus. According to Homer, she was the wife of Zethus, the king of Thebes. She had only two children and envied her sister-in-law, Niobe, who had many. She planned to murder Niobe's eldest son in his sleep, but by mistake killed her own son, Itylus, who was sharing his room. Zeus took pity on Aedon in her grief and changed her into a nightingale;

Faerie Queene, The

2004-09-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

One of the great long poems in the English language, written in the 16th century by Edmund Spenser. As originally conceived, the poem was to have been a religious-moral-political allegory in 12 books, each consisting of the adventures of a knight representing a particular moral virtue; Book I, for example, recounts the legend of the Red Cross Knight, or Holiness. The knights

Pyroelectricity

2004-09-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

Development of opposite electrical charges on different parts of a crystal that is subjected to temperature change. First observed (1824) in quartz, pyroelectricity is exhibited only in crystallized nonconducting substances having at least one axis of symmetry that is polar (that is, having no centre of symmetry, the different crystal faces occurring on opposite

Palau

2004-09-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

A republic in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, Palau comprises a 640-km (400-mi)-long chain of some 340 volcanic and coralline islands. The main islands of Babelthuap and Koror are situated about 900 km east of the Philippines. Area: 488 sq km (188 sq mi). Pop. (1995 est.): 16,900. Provisional cap.: Koror, on Koror; a site on Babelthuap was designated to be the eventual permanent capital. Monetary unit:

Fujitsu Limited

2004-09-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

Fujitsu was established in 1935 when it broke away from Fuji Electric Company, a joint venture started in 1923 by the Furukawa Mining Company and Germany's Siemens to develop electrical equipment. Fujitsu

Carter, Maybelle

2004-09-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

By the time she was 12, Maybelle Addington was well versed in the traditional hill-country songs of the region and had become a skilled and original guitarist and autoharpist. When she was 17 she

U-2

2004-09-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

The U-2 was replaced in U.S. service in the mid-1960s by the

Say, Léon

2004-09-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

Say was born into a prominent Protestant family and was the grandson of another well-known economist, Jean-Baptiste Say. Early in his career, Say worked for the Journal des Débats, later becoming its editor. He became known for his opposition to the Second Empire in general

Gyangu

2004-09-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

Also called Yakuza, Japanese gangster or mobster, a member of a boryokudan (q.v.), or gang of racketeers.

Buontalenti, Bernardo

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

Buontalenti entered the service of the Medici as a youth and remained with them the rest of his life. In the Uffizi Palace, Florence, he built a great court stage, where, during the winter of 1585–86, splendid fetes were produced under his direction. For the Medici extravaganzas, he designed costumes

Physical Science, Principles Of, Application of Newton's laws

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

In the same way that the timing of a pendulum provided a more rigorous test of Galileo's kinematical theory than could be achieved by direct testing with balls rolling down planes, so with Newton's laws the most searching tests are indirect and based on mathematically derived consequences. Kepler's laws of planetary motion are just such an example, and in the two centuries

Kudymkar

2004-09-05T17:50:00.000-07:00

City and administrative centre of Komi-Permyak autonomous okrug (district), Perm oblast (province), western Russia. It lies along the Inva River at the latter's confluence with the Kuva River in the Northern Ural Mountains. Founded in the 16th century, Kudymkar grew rapidly after 1925, and it became a town in 1938. Industrial enterprises include timber milling and food processing.

Hardenberg, Karl August, Fürst Von (prince Of)

2004-09-04T10:23:00.000-07:00

Also called (until 1814) Freiherr (baron) von Hardenberg Prussian statesman and administrator, who preserved the integrity of the Prussian state during the Napoleonic Wars. Domestically he was able to continue the reforms introduced by Karl, Freiherr vom Stein; in foreign affairs he exchanged Prussia's alliance with France for an alliance with Russia in 1813, and in 1814–15 he represented

Insurance, Miscellaneous insurance

2004-09-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

Special casualty forms are issued to cover the hazards of sudden explosions from equipment such as steam boilers, compressors, electric motors, flywheels, air tanks, furnaces, and engines. Boiler and machinery insurance has several distinctive features. A substantial portion of the premium collected is used for inspection services rather than loss protection.

Cell

2004-08-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

In biology, the basic unit of which all living things are composed. As the smallest units retaining the fundamental properties of life, cells are the “atoms” of the living world. A single cell is often a complete organism in itself, such as a bacterium or yeast. Other cells, by differentiating in order to acquire specialized functions and cooperating with other specialized

Sesostris I

2004-08-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

Sesostris became coregent in 1918 BC with his aging father, Amenemhet I, who had founded the 12th dynasty. While his father completed his domestic reforms, Sesostris undertook the conquest of Nubia, to the south of Egypt, and in the year 30 of his father's reign