AcidUmbrella

Nervous System Disease, Nerve injuries

2005-04-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Nerve injuries function as neuronal neuropathies affecting the axon far from the cell body. Injuries are of three main grades of severity. In neurapraxia there is temporary blockage of impulse conduction, although the axons remain intact. More severe stretch or incision damage interrupts some axons and is called axonotmesis. Injury that actually severs the

Koch, Frederick Henry

2005-04-04T14:42:00.000-07:00

Koch received his B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1900 and his M.A. from Harvard University in 1909. In 1905 he began teaching at the University of North Dakota, forming the Dakota Playmakers in 1910. Called to the University

Rawls, Betsy

2005-04-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

Rawls began playing golf at 17, capping her amateur career by placing second in the 1950 U.S. Women's Open behind the all-time great Babe Zaharias. Turning professional in 1951, Rawls won that year's Open, repeating her victory in 1953, 1957, and 1960. Other major professional achievements

Cephallenia

2005-04-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

Also called Cephalonia , Modern Greek Kefallinía island, largest of the Ionian Islands, west of the Gulf of Patraïkós. With the island of Ithaca (Itháki) and smaller nearby islands, it forms the nomós (department) of Kefallinía in modern Greece. The island, 302 square miles (781 square km) in area, is mountainous, with Mount Aínos (ancient Mount Aenos; 5,341 feet [1,628 m]) often snowcapped for months. Except for the Raki, there are few permanent streams,

Angular Velocity

2005-04-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

In engineering, angles or angular displacements are commonly expressed in degrees or revolutions (of 360°), and angular velocities in

Hesperides

2005-03-31T21:47:00.000-08:00

Singular Hesperis, in Greek mythology, clear-voiced maidens who guarded the tree bearing golden apples that Gaea gave to Hera at her marriage to Zeus. According to Hesiod, they were the daughters of Erebus and Night; in other accounts, their parents were Atlas and Hesperis or Phorcys and Ceto. They were usually three in number, Aegle, Erytheia, and Hespere (or Hesperethusa), but by some accounts

Lithuania

2005-03-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

Adapting his administrative

Literature, Norwegian.

2005-03-29T23:55:00.000-08:00

The year 2001 was a successful one for established authors in Norway. The 2001 Nordic Council Literature Prize was awarded to Jan Kjærstad for Oppdageren (1999). Lars Saabye Christensen won acclaim for his gigantic novel Halvbroren, which chronicled three generations in Oslo; it was awarded the Brage Prize and Bokhandlerprisen and was nominated for the 2002 Nordic Council Literature

Biblical Literature, Gospels

2005-03-29T22:53:00.000-08:00

A few papyrus fragments come from gospels not known by name (e.g., Egerton Papyrus 2, Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 840, Strasbourg Papyrus 5–6). There are also the Gospel produced in the 2nd century by Marcion (a “semi-Gnostic” heretic from Asia Minor), who removed what he regarded as interpolations from the Gospel According to Luke; the lost Gnostic Gospel of Perfection; and the Gospel of

Dolores River

2005-03-28T01:38:00.000-08:00

River in southwest Colorado, U.S., rising in the La Plata Mountains and flowing southwest through deep canyons, past Dolores, then northwest through Paradox Valley, at the north end of which it is met by its chief tributary, the San Miguel River. It continues on past Gateway and across the Utah border to join the Colorado River near Moab after a course of about 250 miles (400 km). Melting

Masaccio

2005-03-27T21:45:00.000-08:00

Byname of Tommaso Di Giovanni Di Simone Guidi important Florentine painter of the early Renaissance whose frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence (c. 1427) remained influential throughout the Renaissance. In the span of only six years, Masaccio radically transformed Florentine painting.

Lattes, C.m.g.

2005-03-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

Lattes studied at the University of São Paulo with Giuseppe Occhialini in the 1940s and accompanied him in 1946 to the

Pen, International

2005-03-26T04:27:00.000-08:00

International organization of writers. The original PEN was founded in London in 1921 by the English novelist John Galsworthy, and it has since grown to include writers worldwide. The name PEN is an acronym standing for “poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, and novelists.” International PEN promotes international intellectual exchanges and goodwill among writers.

Hugh Of Saint-victor

2005-03-25T19:04:00.000-08:00

Of noble birth, Hugh joined the Augustinian canons at the monastery of Hamersleben, near Halberstadt (now in Germany). He went to Paris (c. 1115) with his uncle, Archdeacon Reinhard of Halberstadt, and settled at

Vafiades, Markos

2005-03-24T21:21:00.000-08:00

Vafiades worked as a labourer in Istanbul and fled to Greece as a refugee in 1923. He became a communist in his teens and fought with the partisans against the Germans

Fabrizi, Nicola

2005-03-24T04:52:00.000-08:00

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

Kamelaukion

2005-03-23T23:56:00.000-08:00

Sometimes the kamelaukion was made of precious metal, sometimes of fabric; in either event, it might be richly decorated with jewels. The

Gyascutus

2005-03-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

An imaginary, large, four-legged beast with legs on one side longer than those on the other, for walking on hillsides. Humorous references to this creature, whose name has countless local variants, first appeared in American newspapers during the 1840s. It has continued to play a minor role in American folklore since then. The word was apparently coined to mimic the Latin

Gruiform

2005-03-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

(order Gruiformes), any member of a rather loose assemblage of 12 families of birds that are generally agreed to be related but that differ widely in many aspects. They are an ancient group with a rich fossil history, but many are now restricted in range and few in number. Members of the order occur on every continent, but the only family with worldwide distribution is the

Struve, Pyotr Berngardovich

2005-03-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

While studying economic theory and history at the University of St. Petersburg, Struve became a Marxist. The Marxist analysis of Russian capitalism that he presented in 1894 in his Kriticheskiye zametki k voprocy ob ekonomicheskom razviti rossi (“Critical Remarks on

Plutarch

2005-03-21T04:45:00.000-08:00

Greek Plutarchos , Latin Plutarchus biographer and author whose works strongly influenced the evolution of the essay, the biography, and historical writing in Europe from the 16th to the 19th century. Among his approximately 227 works, the most important are the Bioi paralleloi (Parallel Lives), in which he recounts the noble deeds and characters of Greek and Roman soldiers, legislators,

Tharrawaddy

2005-03-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

Tharrawaddy in 1837 deposed his brother Bagyidaw (reigned 1819–37), who had been obliged to sign the humiliating treaty that ceded the provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim to the British. Upon his accession, Tharrawaddy

Ercker, Lazarus

2005-03-19T08:12:00.000-08:00

Ercker studied at the University of Wittenberg (1547–48) and in 1554 was appointed assayer at Dresden, the first of many such positions he held in the state bureaucracy of Saxony. After 1567 he became control tester of coins at Kutná Hora, near Prague. In his great work, Beschreibung

Drexel, Katharine, Saint

2005-03-19T05:28:00.000-08:00

Drexel was the daughter of the American financier and

Acromegaly

2005-03-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

The onset of acromegaly

Devils Island

2005-03-18T06:44:00.000-08:00

Part of a penal settlement, the island housed the convicts' leper colony until the Îles du Salut were made a maximum-security area.

Cambridge, Adolphus Frederick, 1st Duke Of

2005-03-17T21:07:00.000-08:00

Having studied at the University of Göttingen, he served in the Hanoverian army and with the British army in the Low Countries, being severely wounded in 1793. He was created Earl of Tipperary and Duke of Cambridge in November 1801 and became a privy councillor in 1802. In 1813 he was promoted field marshal

Jew's Harp

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

Also called Jaw's Harp, or Guimbarde, musical instrument consisting of a thin wood or metal tongue fixed at one end to the base of a two-pronged frame. The player holds the frame to his mouth, which forms a resonance cavity, and plucks the instrument's tongue. The notes produced are limited to the fourth through tenth tones of the harmonic series (in relative pitch, c–e–g–b [approximately]–c¢–d¢–e¢). The tongue produces

Shijo School

2005-03-17T14:24:00.000-08:00

Also called Maruyama School, Japanese school of naturalistic painting that was founded in the late 18th century by Maruyama Masataka (Okyo) and was made popular by his pupils, among them Matsumura Gekkei, called Goshun, from whose residence on Fourth Street (Shijo), in Kyoto, the movement took its name. Among the most important artists associated with the school were Matsumura Keibun and Okamoto

Triforium

2005-03-17T04:34:00.000-08:00

In architecture, space in a church above the nave arcade, below the clerestory, and extending over the vaults, or ceilings, of the side aisles. The term is sometimes applied to any second-floor gallery opening onto a higher nave by means of arcades or colonnades, like the galleries in many ancient Roman basilicas or Byzantine churches. The triforium became an integral

Nagarjuna

2005-03-15T09:52:00.000-08:00

Indian Buddhist monk-philosopher and founder of the Madhyamika (“Middle Path”) school whose clarification of the concept of sunyata (“emptiness”) is regarded as an intellectual and spiritual achievement of the highest order. He is recognized as a patriarch by several later Buddhist schools. The two basic works that are substantially his and that have remained available

Christus, Petrus

2005-03-15T05:36:00.000-08:00

In 1444 Christus became a citizen of Bruges, where he worked until his death. He is believed to have been trained in Jan van Eyck's studio. His naturalistic mature style, characterized by jewellike execution, is a simplified adaptation of his supposed

Roux, émile

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

Roux began his medical studies at the University of Clermont-Ferrand. In 1878 he was accepted into Pasteur's laboratory at the University of Paris and spent 10 years there, completing

Shimodate

2005-03-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

City, Ibaraki ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, situated on a tributary of the Kokai River. Shimodate was a cotton textile centre during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). The construction of railways during the Meiji era (1868–1912) connected the city with Mito (east) and Utsunomiya (northwest). It is now a major commercial and transport centre producing electrical appliances. Pop. (1990) 66,030.

Gull Falls

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

Icelandic Gullfoss waterfall, southwestern Iceland, on the Hvítá (river), a tributary of the Ölfusá. It is fed by the meltwaters of the Lang Glacier on the central plateau, falling down 105 feet (32 m) to the southern farming region. Gullfoss (“Golden Falls”) is one of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions and is accessible by road from Reykjavík.

Franc

2005-03-13T05:40:00.000-08:00

Originally a French coin but now the monetary unit of a number of countries, notably Switzerland, most French and former Belgian overseas territories, and some African states; at one time it was also the currency of France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The name was first applied to a gold coin minted by King John II of France in 1360, which bore on one face the Latin legend Johannes

Economic Forecasting

2005-03-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

Formal economic forecasting is usually based on a specific theory as to how the economy works. Some theories are complicated,

Mahapurusa

2005-03-11T05:45:00.000-08:00

Also called Salakapurusa, in Hindu, Jaina, and Buddhist belief, an individual of extraordinary destiny, distinguished by certain physical traits or marks (laksanas). Such men are born to become either universal rulers (cakravartins) or great spiritual leaders (such as buddhas or the Jaina spiritual leaders, the Tirthankaras). In the case of Gautama Buddha, soothsayers were able to recognize the

Gabon

2005-03-10T21:46:00.000-08:00

A great deal of the cultural life of Gabon continues to be derived from or influenced by France. Gabon's contemporary writers express themselves almost exclusively in French. At the same time, there has been continued interest in the precolonial history and traditions of Gabon's peoples. Examples are the research on the Fang epic (mvet) and the art of the Mpongwe, Fang,

Caddisfly

2005-03-09T19:40:00.000-08:00

Any of the mothlike aquatic insects that constitute the order Trichoptera. The adult, attracted to light at night, often lives near lakes or rivers. Because fish feed on immature, aquatic stages and trout take flying adults, caddisflies are used as models for fishermen's “flies.”

Addison

2005-03-09T03:18:00.000-08:00

County, western Vermont, U.S. It is bounded by Lake Champlain (constituting the border with New York state) to the west and the Green Mountains to the east. Lowlands in the west give way to foothills and mountains in the east. The county is drained by Otter Creek, the state's longest stream, and its tributaries, the Lemon Fair, New Haven, Leicester, and Middlebury rivers. Other

Sunday, Billy

2005-03-08T08:59:00.000-08:00

Sunday grew up as an orphan and worked as an undertaker's assistant before entering professional baseball in 1883. In 1891 he gave up baseball to become a YMCA worker but turned in 1896 to conducting

Taliesin

2005-03-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

One of five poets renowned among the Welsh in the latter part of the 6th century, according to the Historia Brittonum attributed to Nennius (flourished c. 796). The Book of Taliesin, the oldest surviving copy of his works (written about 700 years after his time), contains a variety of poems, some on religious themes, some arcane religious verses that belong to Celtic mythological

Ear, Human, Audiometry

2005-03-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

The audiometer consists of an oscillator or signal

Dadié, Bernard Binlin

2005-03-06T02:27:00.000-08:00

Dadié received his higher education in Senegal, where his involvement in a folklore and drama movement first encouraged him to

Topeka Constitution

2005-03-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 had opened the two territories to settlement under the “popular sovereignty” doctrine—that is, the settlers themselves were supposed to decide the slavery question within their borders

Gambia, Flag Of The

2005-03-05T02:09:00.000-08:00

The British Parliament's Colonial Naval Defence Act of 1865 provided that the British Blue Ensign would be “defaced” by a badge for each government department or colony making use of it. These distinctive ensigns became de facto national flags even before the colonies achieved independence. In the case of The Gambia, the badge in question was a yellow disk bearing an elephant

Dalhousie, James Andrew Broun Ramsay, Marquess And 10th Earl Of

2005-03-04T19:03:00.000-08:00

Dalhousie also took advantage of every opportunity to acquire territory by peaceful means. The East India Company, which was no longer an independent corporation but largely under the control of the British government, was rapidly becoming the predominant power in India. It had concluded alliances with Indian rulers, promising to support them and their heirs

Toba, Go-

2005-03-03T18:37:00.000-08:00

After reigning for 15 years, Go-Toba in 1198 abdicated

Deformation And Flow

2005-03-02T19:36:00.000-08:00

Everyday substances are ordinarily classed as either solids, liquids, or gases, and, under normal circumstances, gases and liquids flow relatively freely and solids deform when they are subjected

Reginald Of Châtillon

2005-03-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

Reginald left for the Holy Land in 1147 and put

Earth Tide

2005-03-02T14:24:00.000-08:00

Deformation of the solid Earth as it rotates within the gravitational fields of the Sun and Moon. Earth tides are similar to ocean tides. The Earth deforms because it has a certain degree of elasticity; were it perfectly rigid, there would be no Earth tides. Several tidal components mathematically can be shown to exist, but only four are large enough to be generally

Van Zandt, Marie

2005-03-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

Van Zandt was apparently taken to Europe as a small child by her mother, who pursued a successful career as a concert and operatic singer under the name Madame Vanzini. Marie soon displayed vocal abilities as

Kaolinite

2005-03-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

Kaolinite, nacrite, and dickite occur as minute, sometimes elongated, hexagonal

Frederick Vii

2005-02-28T20:53:00.000-08:00

The son of the future king Christian VIII and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Frederick in 1839 was appointed governor of the island of Fyn. As a crown prince, he had two unhappy marriages: first, in 1828, to his second cousin Wilhelmina

Nitisol

2005-02-28T13:54:00.000-08:00

One of the 30 soil groups in the classification system of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Occupying 1.6 percent of the total land surface on Earth, Nitisols are found mainly in eastern Africa at higher altitudes, coastal India, Central America, and tropical islands (Cuba, Java, and the Philippines). They are perhaps the most inherently fertile of the tropical soils

Insurance, Problems

2005-02-27T20:52:00.000-08:00

Private health insurance contracts are in general quite restricted in coverage, to the point that many consider them to be inadequate for modern conditions. They also lend themselves to abuses such as overutilization of coverage, multiple policies, and insuring for more than 100 percent of the expected loss. Health insurance, by its very existence, helps to escalate

Tibet, Tibet under Manchu overlordship

2005-02-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Dalai Lama's death in 1682 and the discovery of his five-year-old reincarnation in 1688 were concealed by Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho, who was intent on continuing the administration without disturbance. He informed the Manchu only in 1696. Emperor K'ang-hsi (reigned 1661–1722) was incensed at the deception. In 1703 he discovered an ally in Tibet and an antagonist to Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtsho when Lha-bzang

Conselheiro Lafaiete

2005-02-26T11:12:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Minas Gerais state, Brazil. It lies in the highlands at 3,054 feet (931 m) above sea level. Formerly known as Lueluz, the settlement was made the seat of a municipality in 1790 and given city status in 1886. Agriculture (cassava, potatoes, corn [maize], feijão [beans]) and livestock raising are important economic activities. Also important are the rebuilding of locomotives

Auger Mining

2005-02-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

Method for recovering coal by boring into a coal seam at the base of strata exposed by excavation. Normally one of the lowest-cost techniques of mining, it is limited to horizontal or slightly pitched seams that have been exposed by geologic erosion. Augering is usually associated with contour strip-mining, recovering coal for a limited depth beyond the point where

Tapestry, General works

2005-02-24T20:36:00.000-08:00

W.G. Thomson, A History of Tapestry from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, 3rd ed. rev. and ed. by F.P. Thomson and E.S. Thomson (1973), a standard work on the history of tapestry, which has been updated by F.P. Thomson, Tapestry: Mirror of History (1980); M.J. Guiffrey, E. Muntz, and A. Pinchart, Histoire generale de la tapisserie, 3 vol. (1978–85), French tapestries discussed by Guiffrey, Italian tapestries by Muntz, Flemish tapestries by Pinchart; M. Fenaille, État general des tapisseries de la manufacture des Gobelins depuis son origine jusqu'a nos jours, 1600–1900, 6 vol. (1903–23), a work of primary importance, presenting a detailed history of the Gobelins factory; J. Badin, La Manufacture de tapisseries de Beauvais, depuis ses origines jusqu'a nos jours (1909), a basic reference for the history of tapestry production at the Beauvais factory; Wandteppiche, 6 vol. (1923–34; Eng. trans. of pt. 1, Tapestries of the Lowlands, 1924), a general worldwide treatment of tapestry, with numerous black and white illustrations, although many of the European medieval attributions have been questioned or rejected; G.L. Hunter, The Practical Book of Tapestries (1925), precise and useful descriptions, with numerous reproductions; C.G. Janneau, Évolution de la tapisserie (1947), illustrations and technical information on collections of European tapestries, some of which have been subsequently disbanded with works relocated; D. Heinz, Europäische Wandteppiche, vol. 1, Von den Anfängen der Bildwirkerei bis zum Ende des 16. Jahrhunderts (1963), a thorough treatment of tapestry up to the end of the 16th century, with a typological index, an extensive bibliography, and numerous illustrations; R.A. Weigert, La Tapisserie et le tapis en France (1964), a scholarly discussion of the history of French tapestry; P. Verlet et al., La Tapisserie: histoire et technique du 14e au 20e siecle (1977; Eng. trans., The Book of Tapestry: History and Technique, 1978), a well-illustrated volume on Western tapestry from the Middle Ages to the 20th century; Madeleine Jarry, La Tapisserie des origines a nos jours (1968; Eng. trans., World Tapestry, 1969), a well-documented study of tapestry throughout the world, including an extensive bibliography and many black and white and colour illustrations, and La Tapisserie: art du 20e siecle (1974), a study of the worldwide renascence of tapestry during the 20th century; V. Fougre, Tapisseries de notre temps (1969), a brief study of contemporary French tapestry, with an index of tapestry artists and illustrated with black and white and colour reproductions; R.A. d'Hulst, Flemish Tapestries (1967), an elaborate study of Flemish tapestry from the Middle Ages to the Baroque periods, with many colour illustrations; R. Kaufmann, The New American Tapestry (1968), a well-illustrated text dealing with technique as well as with the works of leading American tapestry designers and weavers; G. Sutherland, Coventry Tapestry (1964), an interesting account of the design, weaving, and installation of Sutherland's tapestry for Coventry cathedral; M.B. Freeman, The Unicorn Tapestries (1976), a detailed and well-illustrated history of these tapestries, which are housed at the Cloisters, a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; P. Ackerman, Tapestry: The Mirror of Civilization (1933, reprinted 1970), one of the classic works in English dealing with the historical development of European tapestry. Laya Brostoff, Weaving a Tapestry (1982), is a brief overview with bibliography.

United States, Bank Of The

2005-02-24T18:56:00.000-08:00

Central bank chartered in 1791 by the U.S. Congress at the urging of Alexander Hamilton and over the objections of Thomas Jefferson. Extended debate over its constitutionality contributed significantly to the evolution of pro- and anti-bank factions into the first American political parties—respectively, the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. Antagonism

Muktafi, Al-

2005-02-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

The son of al-Mu'tadid, al-Muktafi ascended to the throne in 902 with somewhat more popular support than his predecessors, thanks to his liberal rule and abolition of dungeons in Baghdad. He immediately faced battle with the Qarmatians, a schismatic

Anatta

2005-02-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

Sanskrit Anatman, in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying substance that can be called the soul. Instead, the individual is compounded of five factors of consciousness (Pali: khandha; Sanskrit: skandha) that are constantly changing. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman (“the self”). The absence of a self, anicca (the impermanence

Rushmoor

2005-02-23T10:09:00.000-08:00

Borough (district), administrative and historic county of Hampshire, southern England. It occupies part of the extreme northeastern corner of the county. Rushmoor is situated at the southern edge of the Thames River basin, and its rural areas are sandy heathland. The chalk uplands of the North Downs border the district on the south, and the Basingstoke Canal bisects

Woolley, Sir (charles) Leonard

2005-02-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

From 1907 to 1911 Woolley served with an archaeological expedition

Sanjo

2005-02-22T00:35:00.000-08:00

City, Niigata Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, on the delta of the Shinano-gawa (Shinano River). Sanjo was founded as a castle town in the 16th century. It was a river port and post town during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867), when the city first became known as a centre of metal tool production. Carpenter tools and household hardware are still produced in more than 2,000 small workshops. Pop. (1980) 85,275.

Hale, Lucretia Peabody

2005-02-21T18:04:00.000-08:00

Hale was an elder sister of minister and writer Edward Everett Hale and of journalist and writer Charles Hale, and with them she grew up in a cultivated family much involved with literature. In 1850 she and her brother Edward collaborated on a novel, Margaret Percival in America. She

Albert I

2005-02-21T16:00:00.000-08:00

In 1123 Albert inherited Saxon estates between the Harz Mountains and the middle reaches of the Elbe River from his father, Otto the Rich. After his mother's death in 1142, he received the central German possessions

'amiriyah, Al-

2005-02-21T02:37:00.000-08:00

Formerly Maryut industrial district of al-Iskandariyah (Alexandria) muhafazah (governorate), northern Egypt. The centre of the 913-sq-mi (2,365-sq-km) district, which adjoins Lake Maryut (Mareotis) on the southwest, is al-'Amiriyah town. This town was originally a small gypsum-mining centre on the desert roads leading south to Cairo and west along the coast to Marsa Matruh. Al-'Amiriyah's modern development began in

Atmospheric Sciences, Elements of cloud formation

2005-02-20T23:06:00.000-08:00

The formation of cloud droplets and cloud ice crystals occurs associated with suspended aerosols of natural and anthropogenic origin, which are ubiquitous in the Earth's atmosphere. In the absence of such aerosols, relative humidities much greater than 100 percent with respect to a flat surface are required for water vapour to condense spontaneously into liquid

Anshar And Kishar

2005-02-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

In Mesopotamian mythology, the male and female principles, the twin horizons of sky and earth. Their parents were either Apsu (the watery deep beneath the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of salt water) or Lahmu and Lahamu, the first set of twins born to Apsu and Tiamat. Anshar and Kishar, in turn, were the parents of Anu (An), the supreme heaven god.

Gable, Christopher Michael

2005-02-19T07:25:00.000-08:00

British ballet dancer and actor (b. March 13, 1940, Hackney, London, Eng.--d. Oct. 23, 1998, near Halifax, Yorkshire, Eng.), was a popular star of the Royal Ballet, and his strong dramatic ability paved the way for him to make a smooth transition to theatre and motion pictures. When he was a young boy, Gable, having seen dance numbers in films, asked for lessons. His mother consented, if he also studied

Hawea Lake

2005-02-18T23:25:00.000-08:00

Lake in west-central South Island, New Zealand. The lake lies at the heart of a resort area 182 miles (293 km) northwest of Dunedin by road. It occupies 54 square miles (141 square km) of a valley dammed by a terminal moraine (glacial debris). The lake, 1,142 feet (348 m) above sea level, is 19 miles (31 km) long, 5 miles (8 km) wide, and 1,286 feet (392 m) deep. It drains an area of 536 square miles (1,388 square km). Its main affluent, the Hunter River,

Military Aircraft, The first operational craft

2005-02-18T00:34:00.000-08:00

The existence of a Stealth program, designed to produce aircraft that were effectively immune to radar detection at normal combat ranges, was announced by the U.S. government in 1980. The first aircraft employing this technology, the single-seat Lockheed F-117A ground-attack fighter, became operational in 1983. The second was the Northrop B-2 strategic bomber, which first flew in

Phillips Academy

2005-02-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

It was founded as a boarding school for boys in 1778 by Samuel Phillips, who later became president of the state senate of Massachusetts.

Akhdar Mountains

2005-02-17T20:06:00.000-08:00

Arabic Al-jabal Al-akhdar, also spelled Gebel El-achdar, mountain range of northeastern Libya that extends along the Mediterranean coast for about 100 miles (160 km) in an east-northeasterly direction between the towns of al-Marj and Darnah. Rising sharply in two steps, the first reaching 985 feet (300 m) and the second about 1,800 feet (550 m), the limestone range (about 20 miles [32 km] wide) then blends into a plateau crowned by hills attaining elevations

Argentina, The Gran Chaco

2005-02-17T10:02:00.000-08:00

The harsh physical conditions of the Gran

Hawea Lake

2005-02-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1947–98) South Pacific Commission organization founded in 1947 by the governments of Australia, France, New Zealand, The Netherlands, Great Britain, and the United States to advise them on economic, social, and health matters affecting the South Pacific island territories they administered. It is the oldest regional organization in the Pacific and is headquartered in Nouméa, New Caledonia. Guam and the

D.b.e.

2005-02-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

Dame commander of the British Empire, member of the second highest class of a British order of knighthood. See British Empire, The Most Excellent Order of the.

China, Communist growth

2005-02-15T07:26:00.000-08:00

The Communist armies were growing rapidly in 1943 and 1944. According to U.S. war correspondents visiting the Yen-an area in May 1944 and to a group of U.S. observers that established itself there in July, the Communists professed allegiance to democracy and to continued cooperation with the National Government in the war effort. There was convincing evidence that the areas under

Christensen, Lew (farr)

2005-02-15T05:49:00.000-08:00

Trained at the School of American Ballet, New York City, Christensen first performed in vaudeville with his brothers, Willam and Harold, then appeared with such companies

Triangle

2005-02-15T04:09:00.000-08:00

Percussion instrument consisting of a steel rod bent into a triangle with one corner left open. It is suspended by a gut or nylon loop and struck with a steel rod. It is theoretically an instrument of indefinite pitch, for its fundamental pitch is obscured by its inharmonic partials (component

Fairbanks, Charles Warren

2005-02-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

Fairbanks had considered seeking the presidency in 1900 and was mentioned as a potential running mate to William McKinley. As a staunch conservative from a “doubtful” state, Fairbanks was chosen as Roosevelt's running mate in 1904 to balance the ticket. A typical vice president of his time, he did not attend cabinet meetings and was not one of Roosevelt's closest advisers. Although he was nominated by Indiana for president in 1908 and received 40 votes at the Republican National Convention, Roosevelt blocked his nomination in favour of William Howard Taft. When the party was divided in 1912, Fairbanks supported Taft, the eventual nominee, instead of Roosevelt, who ran as the candidate of his own Bull Moose Party. He also ran unsuccessfully for vice president on the 1916 ticket headed by Charles Evans Hughes.

Newfoundland And Labrador, Transportation

2005-02-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

Until the end of the 19th century, virtually all communication among the coastal settlements was by sea; St. John's remains one of the country's major Atlantic harbours. A narrow-gauge railway was built during the 1880s from St. John's to Channel-Port-aux-Basques along a route that touched the major bays. Subsequently, branch lines were developed to serve population centres

Korean Language

2005-02-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

Language spoken by more than 72 million people, of whom 45 million live in South Korea and 24 million in North Korea. There are more than 2 million speakers in China, more than 700,000 in the United States, and somewhat fewer in Japan. More than 200,000 Koreans live in Kazakstan and Uzbekistan. Korean is the official language of both South Korea (Republic of Korea) and North Korea (Democratic People's

Polenta Family

2005-02-12T00:14:00.000-08:00

Italian noble family, named for its castle of Polenta (located in the Romagna, southwest of Cesena), which dominated the city-state of Ravenna from the end of the 13th century to the middle of the 15th. The family's ascendancy began with Guido da Polenta (d. 1310), known as Guido Minore, or Guido the Old, who led the Guelf, or pro-papal, faction in Ravenna against the Ghibelline, or pro-emperor,

Arundel, Thomas Howard, 2nd (or 14th) Earl Of, Earl Of Surrey, Earl Of Norfolk

2005-02-11T22:25:00.000-08:00

The son of Philip Howard, the first earl of the Howard line, he was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity College, Cambridge. On April 18, 1604, he was restored to his father's earldom of Arundel and to the

Nepal, Drainage

2005-02-11T06:41:00.000-08:00

The Kathmandu Valley, the political and cultural hub of the nation, is drained by the Baghmati River, flowing southward, which washes the steps of the sacred temple of Pasupatinatha (Pashupatinath) and rushes out of the valley through the deeply cut Chhobar gorge. Some sandy layers of the lacustrine beds act as aquifers (water-bearing strata of permeable rock, sand, or gravel),

Frederick Iii

2005-02-10T21:31:00.000-08:00

Frederick, the son of Duke Ernest of Austria, inherited the Habsburg possessions of Inner Austria (Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Gorizia) on his father's death in 1424. By 1439 he had become the senior member of

Endor, Witch Of

2005-02-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

In the Old Testament (1 Samuel 28:3–25), a female sorcerer who was visited by Saul, the first king of Israel. Although Saul had banished all sorcerers and conjurers from his kingdom, his concern about the final outcome of Israel's battle against the Philistines caused him to seek the services of someone with “a familiar spirit.” When his servants told him of such a woman at Endor, he

Facsimile

2005-02-09T23:01:00.000-08:00

Most office and home fax machines conform to the Group 3 standard, which was adopted in 1980 in order to ensure the compatibility of digital machines operating through public telephone systems worldwide. As a standard letter-size sheet is fed through a machine, it is scanned repeatedly across its width by a strip of 1,728 photosensors. Each photosensor in turn generates a low

Afghanistan, Ya'qub Khan (1879)

2005-02-09T20:26:00.000-08:00

The Treaty of Gandamak (Gandomak; May 26, 1879) recognized Ya'qub Khan as emir, and he subsequently agreed to receive a permanent British embassy at Kabul. In addition, he agreed to conduct his foreign relations with other states in accordance “with the wishes and advice” of the British government. This British triumph, however, was short-lived. On September 3, 1879, the British envoy and

Walsingham, Sir Francis

2005-02-09T04:53:00.000-08:00

English statesman and the principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I from 1573 to 1590. He was a skilled diplomat whose knowledge of languages and capacity to organize espionage activities made him invaluable in the execution of Elizabeth's foreign policy. In addition, he was a staunch Puritan who uncovered a number of dangerous

Affenpinscher

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

Also called Monkey Terrier, breed of toy dog known since the 17th century. The affenpinscher stands 26 cm (10 inches) or less and weighs 3 to 3.5 kg (7 to 8 pounds). A sturdily built, terrier-like dog, it has small, erect ears, round black eyes, and a short, docked tail. Its wiry, preferably black coat is short on parts of the body but longer on the legs and on the face, where it produces the monkey-like expression for which the

Arghezi, Tudor

2005-02-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

Arghezi, who left home at age 11, first published a poem at age 14. In 1899 he took holy orders in a monastery in Cernica, but he soon renounced them. After

Sarada Script

2005-02-07T15:35:00.000-08:00

Writing system used for the Kashmiri language by the educated Hindu minority in Kashmir and the surrounding valleys. It is taught in the Hindu schools there but is not used in printing books. Originating in the 8th century AD, Sarada descended from the Gupta script of North India, from which Devanagari (q.v.) also developed. The earliest inscriptions in Sarada script, found

O'faolain, Julia

2005-02-07T00:54:00.000-08:00

O'Faolain, the daughter of authors Sean O'Faolain and Eileen Gould, was educated at University College,

Eisenhüttenstadt

2005-02-06T03:15:00.000-08:00

City, Brandenburg Land (state), eastern Germany. The city lies along the Oder River at the Polish border, southeast of Frankfurt an der Oder. It was formed in 1961 by the union of Fürstenberg, Stalinstadt, and Schönfliess. Stalinstadt was a planned-residence town for workers employed in a metallurgical complex established in 1951 just west of the old town of Fürstenberg. Now one

Aho, Juhani

2005-02-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

Aho's early realistic