SweetMars

Hop-hornbeam

2005-03-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

Any of about seven species of ornamental trees constituting the genus Ostrya of the birch family (Betulaceae), native to Eurasia and North America. A hop-hornbeam has shaggy, scaling bark and thin, translucent, green leaves with hairy leafstalks. The hoplike, green fruits are composed of many bladderlike scales, each bearing a small, flat nut. The European

Okawa, Isao

2005-03-21T06:26:00.000-08:00

Japanese businessman (b. 1926, Osaka, Japan—d. March 16, 2001, Tokyo, Japan), was chairman of the Sega Corp. from 1984 until his death. Okawa was involved with a number of Japanese technology companies. He founded CSK Corp., a computer services company that was Sega's largest shareholder, and served on the boards of several other companies, including the ASCII Corp. and Bellsystem 24, Inc. As chairman

Simon, Paul

2005-03-20T11:22:00.000-08:00

One of the most paradoxical figures in rock-and-roll history, Simon exemplified many of the principles against which the music initially reacted. From his first big hit, “The Sounds of Silence,” in 1965, Simon aspired to a self-consciously elevated poetic tone in his

Moraine

2005-03-17T07:55:00.000-08:00

A ground moraine consists of an irregular blanket of till deposited under

Sokhumi

2005-03-16T00:26:00.000-08:00

Formerly Sukhumi, city, capital of Abkhazia, Georgia. It lies on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Dioscurias on the Black Sea coast. Sokhumi's seaside location, beaches, and warm climate made it a popular Black Sea resort, with many sanatoriums and holiday camps. Local industries include fruit canning and wine making; there are also foundries and electrical-equipment plants. The

Baccio D'agnolo

2005-03-13T07:45:00.000-08:00

Byname of Bartolomeo D'agnolo Baglioni wood-carver, sculptor, and architect who exerted an important influence on the Renaissance architecture of Florence. Between 1491 and 1502 he did much of the decorative carving in the church of Santa Maria Novella and in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. He helped restore the Palazzo Vecchio and in 1506 was commissioned to complete the drum of the cupola

Delhi, Education

2005-03-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

The growth of modern education in Delhi has kept pace with the expansion of the city's population. Primary-level education is nearly universal, and a large proportion of students also attend secondary school. Education for women at all levels has advanced at a much faster pace than it has for men. Among the institutions of higher learning, the most important is the

China, The Self-Strengthening Movement

2005-03-09T23:39:00.000-08:00

Upon the Hsien-feng emperor's death at Cheng-te in 1861, his antiforeign entourage entered Peking and seized power; but Tz'u-hsi, the mother of the newly enthroned boy emperor Tsai-ch'un (reigned as the T'ung-chih emperor, 1861–75), and Prince Kung succeeded in crushing their opponents by a coup d'état in October. There emerged a new system in which the leadership in Peking was shared by

Digestive System, Vertebrate, Neurotensin

2005-03-08T19:26:00.000-08:00

Secreted by the N cells of the ileum in response to fat in the small intestine, neurotensin modulates motility, relaxes the lower esophageal sphincter, and blocks the stimulation of acid and pepsin secretion by the vagus nerve.

Elizabeth

2005-03-05T01:24:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1857) of Union county, northeastern New Jersey, U.S., on Newark Bay and Arthur Kill (channel; connected by bridge to Staten Island, New York City) and is adjacent to Newark, New Jersey, to the north. Settlement began in 1664 with the purchase of land from the Delaware Indians. It was named Elizabethtown to honour the wife of Sir George Carteret, one of the colony's first proprietors.

Qajar Dynasty

2005-03-04T00:53:00.000-08:00

In 1779, following the death of Mohammad Karim Khan Zand, the Zand dynasty ruler of southern Iran, Agha Mohammad Khan (reigned 1779–97), a leader of the Turkmen Qajar tribe, set out to reunify Iran. By 1794 he had eliminated all his rivals, including Lotf 'Ali Khan, the last of the Zand dynasty, and had reasserted Iranian sovereignty over the former Iranian territories in

Adam, Robert

2005-03-02T08:43:00.000-08:00

Biographies include John Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle, in Edinburgh & Rome (1962), based on original letters; and Doreen Yarwood, Robert Adam (1970), concentrating on the man rather than the artist. Well-illustrated surveys of his work in different genres include Arthur T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert & James Adam, 1785–1794, 2 vol. (1922, reprinted 1984); Eileen Harris, The Furniture of Robert Adam (1963, reprinted 1973); Damie Stillman, The Decorative Work of Robert Adam (1966, reprinted 1973), with original drawings; and Joseph Rykwert and Anne Rykwert, Robert and James Adam: The Men and the Style (1985).

Submissive Behaviour

2005-02-27T06:17:00.000-08:00

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

Police

2005-02-25T13:23:00.000-08:00

All societies need some way to maintain order. In the smallest societies, informal sanctions discourage deviation. In

Abseron Peninsula

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

Also spelled Apsheron , Azerbaijani Abseron Yasaqligi peninsula in Azerbaijan that extends 37 miles (60 km) eastward into the Caspian Sea and reaches a maximum width of 19 miles (30 km). An eastern extension of the Caucasus Mountains, the Abseron Peninsula consists of a gently undulating plain, in part dissected by ravines and characterized by frequent salt lakes and lands flooded by tides. Vineyards and tea plantations are features

Lancaster, Edmund, 1st Earl Of

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

At the age of 10, Edmund was invested by Pope Innocent IV with the kingdom of Sicily (April 1255), as an expression of his conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor, who held Sicily; but Edmund was never more than an absentee titular

Frederick Vi

2005-02-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

The son of the mentally incompetent king Christian VII and Queen Caroline Matilda, Frederick was reared largely by his father's stepmother, the queen dowager Juliana Maria, who, with her son Prince Frederick and Ove Höegh-Guldberg, virtually ruled Denmark until 1784. In April

Seleucia Tracheotis

2005-02-16T10:45:00.000-08:00

Greek Seleukeia city in Cilicia (in present-day southern Turkey), on the Calycadnus River (modern Goksu Nehri), a few miles from that stream's mouth; the site was doubtless selected as a protection against attacks from the sea. There are ruins of a castle on the acropolis, and the city fortifications, a large rock-cut tank, and an extensive necropolis are all well preserved. The city was at

Zoetermeer

2005-02-14T06:54:00.000-08:00

Gemeente (commune), Zuid-Holland provincie, western Netherlands. Zoetermeer is located about 10 miles (16 km) north of Rotterdam and is situated on a polder created during the 17th century. Industries in the town produce machinery, tobacco products, and foodstuffs, the latter using cereals and livestock raised in the vicinity. Oil and gas fields are exploited nearby. Zoetermeer

Manchester Ship Canal

2005-02-12T22:30:00.000-08:00

Waterway opened in 1894 linking Eastham, Merseyside, Eng., to the city of Manchester. The canal made Manchester accessible to large oceangoing vessels. It is 36 miles (58 km) long, 45–80 feet (14–24 m) wide, and varies in depth from 28 to 30 feet (about 9 m); it has five locks.

Wilhelmina Gebergte

2005-02-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

Mountain range in central Suriname, forming part of South America's granitic Precambrian Guiana Shield, extending about 70 mi (113 km) from west to east. The range divides Suriname's western district of Nickerie from the eastern districts of Saramacca, Brokopondo, and Marowijne. The Wilhelmina Gebergte descends gradually into two lesser ranges of hills to the north—the

Zambezi River, Climate

2005-02-08T05:58:00.000-08:00

The Zambezi River lies within the tropics. The upper and middle course of the river is on an upland plateau, and temperatures, modified by altitude, are relatively mild, generally between 64° and 86° F (18° and 30° C). The winter months (May to July) are cool and dry, with temperatures averaging 68° F (20° C). Between August and October there is a considerable rise in average temperatures, particularly

Cleveland Bay

2005-02-05T18:00:00.000-08:00

The Cleveland Bay is descended

Alexander Of Hales

2005-02-03T01:53:00.000-08:00

Alexander studied and taught in Paris, receiving the degrees of master of arts (before 1210) and theology (1220). He was archdeacon

Oratory

2005-02-01T07:26:00.000-08:00

In architecture, a small, private chapel (q.v.).

Kwazulu/natal

2005-01-31T05:00:00.000-08:00

Formerly Natal, province of the Republic of South Africa, occupying the southeastern portion of the country. It is bounded on the east by the Indian Ocean, on the south by Eastern province, on the west by Lesotho and Free State province, on the northwest by Mpumalanga province, and on the north by Swaziland and Mozambique. Within KwaZulu/Natal is an enclave of Eastern province consisting

Hunan, Industry

2005-01-26T10:06:00.000-08:00

The main coal measures are located in the south. Coal was little developed

Monatomic Gas

2005-01-25T16:48:00.000-08:00

Gas composed of particles (molecules) that consist of single atoms, such as helium or sodium vapour, and in this way different from diatomic, triatomic, or, in general, polyatomic gases. The thermodynamic behaviour of a monatomic gas in the ordinary temperature range is extremely simple because it is free from the rotational and vibrational energy components characteristic

Tapestry, General works

2005-01-22T11:54:00.000-08:00

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.

Xenophon

2005-01-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

Greek historian, author of the Anabasis. Its prose was highly regarded by literary critics in antiquity and had strong influence on Latin literature.

Cumberland

2005-01-14T21:38:00.000-08:00

Cumberland lies along the northwest coast of England, facing the Solway

Faenza

2005-01-12T16:22:00.000-08:00

Latin Faventia, city, Ravenna provincia, in the Emilia-Romagna regione of northern Italy, on the Lamone River, southeast of Bologna. In the 2nd century BC it was a Roman town (Faventia) on the Via Aemilia, but excavations show Faenza to have had a much earlier origin. It was later subject to many barbarian attacks, became an independent commune at the beginning of the 12th century, and withstood

Maugham, Robin

2005-01-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

The only son of the 1st Viscount, Lord Chancellor Herbert Romer Maugham (whom he succeeded in 1958), Robin Maugham was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. He served as an intelligence officer in World War

Swatow

2005-01-09T13:34:00.000-08:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Shan-t'ou, or (Pinyin) Shantou, city in eastern Kwangtung sheng (province), southern China. Swatow lies on the coast of the South China Sea a few miles west of the mouth of the Han River, which, with its tributary, the Mei River, drains most of eastern Kwangtung. The Han forms a delta, and Swatow is on an inlet that extends some 9.5 miles (15 km) inland on the southwest part of the delta. The city stands at the narrow seaward

Breathing

2005-01-07T13:13:00.000-08:00

The action of moving air or water across the surface of a respiratory structure, such as a gill or lung, to facilitate respiration (the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide with the environment). See respiration.

Feltre

2005-01-04T02:51:00.000-08:00

Latin Feltria, hill town, Belluno provincia, Veneto regione, northern Italy. Grouped around Alboino Castle, notable buildings include the cathedral, with a 14th-century campanile and a carved Byzantine cross of the 6th century, and the civic museum. In 1509 the heart of the town was destroyed during hostilities between the League of Cambrai and the Venetian Republic; it has been largely

Arabia, Yemen

2005-01-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

Arabia's highest mountains occur in Yemen: An-Nabi Shu'ayb, northwest of San'a', reaches 12,008 feet. The Tihamah in Yemen, broader and more habitable than the Tihamah farther north in Saudi Arabia, supports some towns. Monsoon rains make the mountains and high plateaus of Yemen the most fruitful region in Arabia. The easy slope from the highlands to the southwestern corner of the

Cherry, Donald Eugene

2005-01-01T01:58:00.000-08:00

U.S. jazz trumpeter (b. Nov. 18, 1936, Oklahoma City, Okla.--d. Oct. 19, 1995, Málaga, Spain), was a pioneer of free jazz as a member of the Ornette Coleman Quartet and later joined jazz with elements of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and European music, thereby becoming a pioneer of world music as well. Cherry, who grew up in Los Angeles, hailed from a musical family. He had already achieved some local

Rouher, Eugène

2004-12-30T10:38:00.000-08:00

He was elected to the National Assembly in 1848, and his conservative attitudes and fear of disorder led him to support Louis-Napoléon. Appointed minister of justice in 1849, he suppressed

Subarnarekha River

2004-12-27T05:40:00.000-08:00

River in northeastern India, rising in southern Bihar state. The Subarnarekha (meaning “streak of gold”) flows east through a copper-mining region and leaves the Chota Nagpur plateau by the Hundrugbagh waterfall. Continuing eastward, it flows across West Bengal state to enter the Bay of Bengal after a 290-mile (470-kilometre) course. The Kanchi and Karkari rivers are its chief

Saarland

2004-12-25T02:25:00.000-08:00

A well-developed educational system includes a series of technical high schools and the University of the Saarland at Saarbrücken. Cultural institutions—including the City Theatre, Radio Saarland, and the Modern Gallery of Saarbrücken—draw support from both Germany and France. There are a dozen museums and galleries and a large number of singing, musical, and

Coracle

2004-12-24T07:43:00.000-08:00

Irish curragh primitive, light, bowl-shaped boat with a frame of woven grasses, reeds, or saplings covered with hides. Those still used, in Wales and on the coasts of Ireland, usually have a canvas and tar covering. American Indians used the similar bullboat, covered with buffalo hides, on the Missouri River, and the corita, often sealed with bitumen, on the Colorado.

Hormone, Neurohypophysis and the polypeptide hormones of the hypothalamus

2004-12-22T13:54:00.000-08:00

Another neurosecretory system, which involves the hypothalamic region of the brain and the neurohypophysis of the pituitary gland, originates in groups of neurosecretory cells in the hypothalamus called, in mammals, the nucleus supraopticus and the nucleus paraventricularis and, in lower vertebrates, the nucleus preopticus. Neurohormones from these regions

Wicklow

2004-12-20T01:50:00.000-08:00

Irish Cill Mhantáin county in the province of Leinster, Ireland. With an area of 782 sq mi (2,025 sq km), it is bounded on the east by the Irish Sea and by Counties Wexford (south), Carlow and Kildare (west), and Dublin (north). County Wicklow includes much of the Leinster Chain mountain range, notably the Wicklow Mountains, and has fertile lowland areas. Much of its coast comprises rocky cliffs and excellent

Iberville

2004-12-17T13:51:00.000-08:00

Town, Montérégie region, southern Quebec province, Canada, on the east bank of the Richelieu River, opposite Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. Originally called Christieville, it was renamed in 1854 for the French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. The town is a rail and highway hub and a residential district of Saint-Jean. Economic activities include woodworking, dairying,

Cohort Analysis

2004-12-15T06:48:00.000-08:00

Method used in studies to describe an aggregate of individuals having in common a significant event in their life histories, such as year of birth (birth cohort) or year of marriage (marriage cohort). The concept of cohort is useful because occurrence rates of various forms of behaviour are often influenced by the length of time elapsed since the event defining the

Nsukka

2004-12-13T20:01:00.000-08:00

University town, Enugu state, southern Nigeria. It lies in the Udi Hills at an elevation of 1,300 feet (396 m). Nsukka is an agricultural-trade centre for the yams, cassava, corn (maize), taro, pigeon peas, and palm oil and kernels produced by the local Igbo (Ibo) people. Weaving is a traditional local craft. Coal deposits have been discovered east of Nsukka around Obolo, a town on the main

Abutilon

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

A. hybridum, sometimes called Chinese lantern, is planted outdoors in warm regions and

Houbraken, Arnold

2004-12-10T05:08:00.000-08:00

Dutch painter and art writer noted for his three-volume biographical study of Netherlandish painters, De groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen (1718–21). Houbraken was a competent if rather uninspired academic painter, but his De Groote Schouburgh is the single most important source of information

Uccello, Paolo

2004-12-07T22:14:00.000-08:00

By the time Paolo was 10 years old he was already an apprentice in the workshop of the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, who was then at work on what became one of the masterpieces of Renaissance art—the bronze doors for the Baptistery of the Florence cathedral, which consist of 28 panels illustrating New Testament scenes of the life of Christ. In 1414 Uccello joined the confraternity

Junker, Wilhelm

2004-12-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

After journeys to Iceland (1869) and Tunis (1873–74), Junker went to Egypt and the Sudan (1875), where from 1876 to 1878 he explored the lower Sobat River and the western tributaries

Rocky Mountains

2004-12-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

Two nontechnical, abundantly illustrated descriptions of the Rocky Mountains are William S. Ellis and Dick Durrance II, The Majestic Rocky Mountains (1976); and Bryce S. Walker et al., The Great Divide (1973, reissued 1985), covering the landforms, plant life, and early exploration of the American Rockies. The mountains are also treated in Mel Griffiths and Lynnell Rubright, Colorado: A Geography (1983); and American West, The Magnificent Rockies: Crest of a Continent (1973). Dennis Glick, Mary Carr, and Bert Harting, An Environmental Profile of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (1991), compiles baseline information on the ecological processes and components of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and discusses how the ecosystem's future is affected by current and proposed resource development plans. David V. Harris and Eugene P. Kiver, The Geologic Story of the National Parks and Monuments, 4th ed. (1985), chapters 8–11, covers the geologic history and special features of U.S. parks and monuments in the northern, middle, and southern Rockies and on the Colorado Plateau. Lawrence M. Ostresh, Jr., Richard A. Marston, and Walter M. Hudson, Wyoming Water Atlas (1990), although specifically about Wyoming water resources, treats issues that are typical throughout the Rocky Mountain region.

Philip Ii

2004-12-02T03:16:00.000-08:00

John II's grant of the duchy of Burgundy to Philip in September 1363 did not become effective until

Object Language

2004-11-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

In semantics and logic, the ordinary language used to talk about things or objects in the world—as contrasted with metalanguage, an artificial language used by linguists and others to analyze or describe the sentences or elements of object language itself. The concept was developed by such 20th-century logical positivists as Polish-American Alfred Tarski and German-American

China, East Turkistan

2004-11-28T04:46:00.000-08:00

To the west of Kashgaria in East Turkistan, a khanate of Khokand emerged in Ferghana after 1760 as a powerful caravan trade centre. When Muslim rebellion spread rapidly from Shensi and Kansu to East Turkistan, a Khokandian adventurer, Yakub Beg, seized the opportunity to invade Kashgaria and established power there in 1865; he soon showed signs of advancing to the Ili region

Galen, Clemens August, Graf (count) Von

2004-11-26T21:24:00.000-08:00

Galen was ordained in 1904 in Münster, where, as a priest at St. Lambert's, he published his Die Pest des Laizismus und ihre Erscheinungsformen (1932; “The Plague of Laicism and Its Manifestations”), deploring what

Andrade, Jorge

2004-11-23T06:14:00.000-08:00

After staging O faqueiro de prata (“The Silver Cutlery”) and O telescópio (“The Telescope”) in 1954, Andrade came even more forcefully to public attention in 1955 with A moratória (“The Moratorium”). Among his later plays, Pedreira das almas

Tigre

2004-11-22T10:07:00.000-08:00

The largest federation of Tigre is that of the Amer (Beni Amer), a branch of the historically important Beja peoples. These Muslims all recognize the religious

Xenarthran

2004-11-20T03:25:00.000-08:00

Sloths and anteaters are the living members of the order Pilosa, whose name refers to the animals' hairiness. Three families exist today, encompassing five genera and nine species. Six families, primarily ground sloths, are extinct. The order Pilosa is further subdivided into the suborder Vermilingua, literally “worm-tongue,” which is

Dieulafoy, Marcel-auguste

2004-11-17T15:56:00.000-08:00

Dieulafoy's published works include L'Art antique de la Perse, 5 vol. (1884–89; “The Ancient

France, History Of, Opportunist control

2004-11-16T14:03:00.000-08:00

Between 1879 and 1899 the Opportunists, with only brief interruptions, controlled the machinery of government. Gambetta, their most dynamic leader, had begun his career as an outspoken Radical, but in time his political instincts had prevailed. The other Opportunist leaders—men such as President Grévy and Jules Ferry—disliked Gambetta's flamboyance, however, and feared

Halang Language

2004-11-13T06:35:00.000-08:00

Also called Haleng, Alang, Koyong, or Selong, language spoken chiefly in the central highlands of south-central Vietnam near Kon Tum. The number of speakers in Vietnam is estimated at some 10,000. Halang is a member of the North Bahnaric subbranch of the Mon-Khmer language family, which is a part of the Austroasiatic stock. Other North Bahnaric languages spoken in the region are Sedang, Rengao, Kayong, Monom, and Jeh.

Paraguay, Climate

2004-11-12T08:54:00.000-08:00

The climate is subtropical in most of eastern Paraguay, which mainly lies south of the Tropic of Capricorn, and tropical in most of the Chaco Boreal extending to its north. Masses of humid air blanket the country in the summers, and the winters are subject to cold southern winds. Summer temperatures between October and March generally range from 77° F to 104° F (25° C to 40° C). Winter temperatures

Madog Ab Owain Gwynedd

2004-11-10T01:49:00.000-08:00

A quarrel among Owain's sons over the distribution of their late father's estate led Madog to sail to Ireland and then westward. In a year or so he returned to Wales and assembled a group to colonize the land he had discovered. The party sailed west in 10 ships and was

Haley, Sir William

2004-11-07T03:42:00.000-08:00

Haley grew up on the island of Jersey and attended Victoria College there. In 1918 he began to study journalism, and in 1921 he secured his first newspaper employment

Lignite

2004-11-05T19:24:00.000-08:00

Brown to black coal that has been formed from peat under moderate pressure; it is one of the first products of coalification and is intermediate between peat and subbituminous coal. Dry lignite contains about 60 to 75 percent carbon. It has been estimated that about 45 percent of the world's total coal reserves are lignitic, but these reserves have not been exploited to any

Frumentius, Saint

2004-11-04T18:14:00.000-08:00

A student of philosophy from Tyre, Frumentius and a colleague, Aedesius, were

Abakaliki

2004-11-01T05:03:00.000-08:00

Town, Enugu state, southeastern Nigeria. It lies at the intersection of roads from Enugu, Afikpo, and Ogoja. An agricultural trade centre (yams, cassava, rice, and palm oil and kernels) for the Igbo (Ibo) people, the town is located in an area known for its lead, zinc, and limestone deposits. Lead has been mined since precolonial times, and limestone is quarried for a cement plant

Parallel Evolution

2004-10-31T22:12:00.000-08:00

The evolution of geographically separated groups in such a way that they show morphological resemblances. A notable example is the similarity shown by the marsupial mammals of Australia to the placental mammals elsewhere. Through the courses of their evolution they have come to remarkably similar forms, so much so that the marsupials are often named for their

Great Australian Bight

2004-10-29T01:33:00.000-07:00

The head of

Computers, IBM develops FORTRAN

2004-10-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

In the early 1950s John Backus convinced his managers at IBM to let him put together a team to design a language and write a compiler for it. He had a machine in mind: the IBM 704, which had built-in floating-point math operations. That the 704 used floating-point representation made it especially useful for scientific work, and Backus believed that a scientifically oriented programming

Nice

2004-10-24T02:37:00.000-07:00

Founded by the Phocaeans

Rama I

2004-10-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Rama I was the son of a high court official and his part-Chinese wife. At the time of the Burmese invasion of Siam in 1766–67, he was serving as chief judge in Rat Buri province. After the fall of Ayutthaya (1767), the Thai capital, he joined

Earth Sciences, Weather modification

2004-10-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

As late as the 1890s experiments were conducted in the United States in the hope of producing rain by setting off charges of dynamite lofted by balloons or kites. No positive results were reported, however. More promising were the cloud-seeding experiments of the 1940s, in which silver iodide was released into clouds as smoke or solid carbon dioxide broadcast into clouds

Eileithyia

2004-10-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Pre-Hellenic goddess of childbirth, who hindered or facilitated the process according to her disposition. The earliest evidence for her cult is at Amnisus, in Crete, where excavations indicate that she was worshiped continuously from Neolithic to Roman times. In Homer's writings she appears, sometimes in the plural, as a personification of birth pangs and is described

Canute (i)

2004-10-17T16:32:00.000-07:00

Neither the place nor date of Canute's birth is known. As a youth he accompanied his father, Sweyn I Forkbeard, king of Denmark, on his invasion of England in 1013. Canute was left in charge of the fleet at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire,

Sankt Pölten

2004-10-14T02:45:00.000-07:00

City, Niederösterreich Bundesland (federal state), northeastern Austria. It lies along the Traisen River between the foothills of the Alps and the Danube River, west of Vienna. Once the site of the Roman settlement of Aelium Cetium, the town developed in the 8th century around an abbey dedicated to St. Hippolytus, whose name in Germanicized form became Sankt Pölten. The

Shield-backed Katydid

2004-10-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Any orthopteran of the insect subfamily Decticinae, within the long-horned grasshopper (or katydid) family Tettigoniidae. They are cricketlike in appearance, are more than 2.5 cm (1 inch) long, and are brown or black in colour. They have a pronotum (dorsal surface of the prothorax) that extends back to the abdomen. Most species have short wings, and some species are

Sexton, Anne

2004-10-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

Anne Harvey attended Garland Junior College for a year before her marriage in 1948 to Alfred M. Sexton II. She studied with the poet Robert Lowell at Boston University and also worked as a model and a librarian. Although she had written some

Staines

2004-10-09T23:48:00.000-07:00

Town in Spelthorne borough, administrative county of Surrey, historic county of Middlesex, England, on the left bank of the River Thames. A residential community on the western fringe of Greater London, Staines marks a crossing of the Thames used since Roman times by the major road from London to the southwest of Britain. Nearby are large reservoirs where Thames water

Shu Ching

2004-10-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

The Shu Ching consists of 58 chapters. Of these, 33 (originally

Onyx

2004-10-05T04:03:00.000-07:00

Striped, semiprecious variety of the silica mineral agate with white and black alternating bands. Onyx is used in carved cameos and intaglios because its layers can be cut to show a colour contrast between the design and the background. Other varieties include carnelian onyx, with white and red bands, and sardonyx, with white and brown bands. The chief localities

Literary Criticism, Criticism and knowledge

2004-10-02T14:59:00.000-07:00

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

Hovenweep National Monument

2004-09-28T04:39:00.000-07:00

Hovenweep consists of six groups of pre-Columbian Indian ruins built of coursed-stone masonry: the Square Tower Canyon Cluster and the Cajon Canyon Group in Utah; and

Burger, Die

2004-09-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

(Afrikaans: “The Citizen”), daily newspaper published in Cape Town, S.Af., the largest of the country's newspapers written in Afrikaans. Die Burger is known both for its generally balanced presentation of the news and for its support of policies of the South African government. It firmly supported the ruling Nationalist Party. It is published mornings except Sundays.

Yunnan

2004-09-25T02:32:00.000-07:00

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Yün-nan, (Pinyin) Yunnan, sheng (province) of China. The fourth largest province of China, it is a mountain and plateau region on the country's southwestern frontier. It is bounded by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the northwest, Szechwan on the north, and the Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi and Kweichow Province on the east. To the south and southeast it adjoins Laos and Vietnam, and to the

Shensi, Administration and social conditions

2004-09-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

The province has three prefecture-level municipalities (shih) directly subordinated to the provincial government. One of these municipalities includes the provincial capital, Sian. The rest of the province is organized into seven prefectures (ti-ch'ü); the northern plateau area is divided between the Yü-lin Prefecture in the far north and the Yen-an Prefecture farther

Gippius, Zinaida Nikolayevna

2004-09-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

During the

Lóczy, Lajos

2004-09-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

From 1877 to 1880 Lóczy traveled through India and China as geologist to the expedition of Count Béla Széchenyi, which

Balbo, Cesare, Count (conte)

2004-09-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

Balbo grew up while Piedmont was annexed to France and began his career by entering the Napoleonic

Smith Center

2004-09-14T05:38:00.000-07:00

City, seat (1872) of Smith county, northern Kansas, U.S. Smith Center is located about 85 miles (135 km) northwest of Salina. It was founded in 1871 by L.T. Reese with the aim of making it the county seat (the county had been named after Major J. Nelson Smith). The economy of Smith Center is based on grain and livestock. The homestead cabin of Brewster Higley, where he wrote (1873) the lyrics of the well-known

Arezzo

2004-09-13T03:56:00.000-07:00

Latin Arretium, city, capital of Arezzo provincia, Toscana (Tuscany) regione of north-central Italy, in a fertile plain near the confluence of the Chiana and Arno rivers southeast of Florence. An important Etruscan city, it was known to the Romans as Arretium and was noted for its red-clay Arretine pottery. A flourishing commune in the Middle Ages, it fell to Florence in 1384 and later became

Innocent I, Saint

2004-09-11T18:40:00.000-07:00

Probably a Roman deacon, Innocent was possibly the son of St. Anastasius I, whom he succeeded in the papacy on Dec. 22, 401. In 404 Innocent ordered a synod to reinstate Patriarch St. John Chrysostom of Constantinople, who had been illegally deposed

Cosgrave, William Thomas

2004-09-08T18:10:00.000-07:00

At an early age, Cosgrave was attracted to the Irish nationalist movement Sinn Féin. He became a member of the Dublin Corporation in 1909 and was subsequently reelected in the Sinn Féin interest. When Britain entered World War I, he joined the Irish Volunteers; but when this group split

Anatom

2004-09-07T10:16:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Aneityum, southernmost island of Vanuatu, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Volcanic in origin, it has a circumference of 35 miles (56 km) and an area of 25 square miles (65 square km) and rises from a fertile coastal plain and valleys to a height of 2,795 feet (852 m). Anatom was a centre of sandalwooders, whalers, and missionaries in the New Hebrides in the 19th century; its valuable stands of kauri pine were

Tlingit

2004-09-04T10:21:00.000-07:00

Northernmost Indians of the North Pacific Coast of North America, inhabiting the islands and coastal lands of southern Alaska from Yakutat Bay to Cape Fox. They were speakers of the Tlingit language, which is believed to be related to Athabascan. They were divided into 14 territorial groups, or tribes. According to tradition, some of their ancestors came from the south;

Albanian League

2004-09-02T01:13:00.000-07:00

In full League For The Defense Of The Rights Of The Albanian Nation, also called League Of Prizren, first Albanian nationalist organization. Formed at Prizren, Serbia, on July 1, 1878, the league, initially supported by the Turks, tried to influence the Congress of Berlin, which was formulating a peace settlement following the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 and which threatened to partition Albania (then part of the Ottoman Empire) and transfer some of its districts to Montenegro,

Mcneill, William H(ardy)

2004-08-31T22:14:00.000-07:00

McNeill attended the University of Chicago (B.A., 1938; M.A., 1939) and Cornell University (Ph.D., 1947). During World War II he served in the U.S. Army (1941–46); part of that time he was the assistant military attaché to Greece (1944–46). McNeill taught history

Gauthey, Emiland-marie

2004-08-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

Gauthey studied at the École des Ponts et Chaussées (School of Bridges and Highways) in Paris, then taught there while making

Ostwald, Wilhelm

2004-08-27T23:36:00.000-07:00

Ostwald took his doctorate from the University of Dorpat (now Tartu State