YellowLeg

Qina

2005-04-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Qena, muhafazah (governorate) in Upper Egypt, extending 3–4 miles (5–6 km) on each side of the Nile River between the Arabian and Libyan deserts. Occupying the great bend in the Nile Valley, it has an area of 715 square miles (1,851 square km) and contains the celebrated ruins of Thebes and the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings. Qina has a dense agricultural population (more than 3,000 persons per square mile),

William

2005-04-01T06:43:00.000-08:00

William was elected German king to succeed Henry Raspe (died Feb. 16, 1247), Pope Innocent IV's nominee to replace Conrad,

Paraboloid

2005-03-30T16:05:00.000-08:00

An open surface generated by rotating a parabola (q.v.) about its axis. If the axis of the surface is the z axis and the vertex is at the origin, the intersections of the surface with planes parallel to the xz and yz planes are parabolas (see Figure, top). The intersections of the surface with planes parallel to and above the xy plane are circles. The general equation for this

Sino-japanese War

2005-03-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

(1937–45), conflict that broke out when China began full-scale resistance to the expansion of Japanese influence in its territory (begun in 1931). In an effort to unseat the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, the Japanese occupied large areas of eastern China in 1937–38. A stalemate then ensued, and Japanese forces were diverted to Southeast Asia and to the Pacific War against the

Cinquain

2005-03-26T02:01:00.000-08:00

A five-line stanza. The American poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878–1914), applied the term in particular to a five-line verse form of specific metre that she developed. Analogous to the Japanese verse forms haiku and tanka, it has two syllables in its first and last lines and four, six, and eight in the intervening three lines and generally has an iambic cadence. An example is her poem “November

Tibet, Food and drink

2005-03-24T00:13:00.000-08:00

The staple Tibetan food is barley flour (rtsam-pa), which is consumed daily. Other major foods include wheat flour, yak meat, mutton, and pork. Dairy products such as butter, milk, and cheese are also popular. The people in the higher altitudes generally consume more meat than those of the lower regions, where a variety of vegetables is available. Rice is generally restricted

Furnivall, Frederick James

2005-03-23T01:46:00.000-08:00

English literary scholar who, partly by his own efforts in textual criticism and partly by founding learned societies, especially the Early English Text Society, was instrumental in initiating a major revival in the study of medieval English literature. Though he first studied law and was called to the bar in 1849, he came to divide his

Sam Saen Thai

2005-03-22T20:21:00.000-08:00

The eldest son of Fa Ngum, founder of Lan Xang, Un Heuan was installed as king in 1373. While his father had been a conqueror, Un Heuan excelled in administration. He is remembered chiefly for his compilation of population registers in 1376, which inscribed the names

Pachelbel, Johann

2005-03-20T18:17:00.000-08:00

Pachelbel studied music at Altdorf and Regensburg and held posts as organist in Vienna, Stuttgart, and other cities. In 1695 he was appointed organist at the St. Sebalduskirche in Nürnberg, where he remained until his death.

Athanasius, Saint

2005-03-18T22:22:00.000-08:00

Theologian, ecclesiastical statesman, and Egyptian national leader; he was the chief defender of Christian orthodoxy in the 4th-century battle against Arianism, the heresy that the Son of God was a creature of like, but not of the same, substance as God the Father. His important works include The Life of St. Antony and Four Orations

Auger, Arleen

2005-03-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

U.S. opera singer (b. Sept. 13, 1939, South Gate, Calif.--d. June 10, 1993, Leusden, Neth.), projected a commanding stage presence and was especially praised for her flexible coloratura soprano voice and subtle interpretations of works by Bach, Handel, Haydn, Monteverdi, Gluck, and especially Mozart. After graduating from California State University at Long Beach (1963), she taught elementary school

Novgorod

2005-03-13T14:51:00.000-08:00

City and administrative centre of Novgorod oblast (province), northwestern Russia, on the Volkhov River just below its outflow from Lake Ilmen. Novgorod is one of the oldest Russian cities, first mentioned in chronicles of 859. In 882 Oleg, prince of Novgorod, captured Kiev and moved his capital there. In 989, under Vladimir, Novgorod's inhabitants were forcibly baptized. In 1019 Prince

Ancona

2005-03-10T14:32:00.000-08:00

Capital of Ancona provincia and of Marche regione, in central Italy, on the Adriatic Sea on the farthest branch of the promontory that descends from the Conero massif. Founded by Syracusan colonists in about 390 BC, it was taken by Rome in the 2nd century BC and became a flourishing port, particularly favoured by the Roman emperor Trajan, who enlarged the harbour. Attacked by

Kerr, Deborah

2005-03-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

Kerr trained as a dancer in her aunt's drama school in Bristol, England. She won a scholarship

Hyderabad

2005-03-05T14:12:00.000-08:00

The city, administrative headquarters of the district, lies on the most northerly hill of the Ganjo Takkar ridge, just east of the Indus River. The third largest city in Pakistan, it is a communications centre, connected by rail with Peshawar and Karachi and with Indian railways via the border towns of Khokhropar and

Nicholas Of Clémanges

2005-03-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

Named rector of the University of Paris in 1393 after acquiring repute

Pahlavi Language

2005-02-27T03:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Pehlevi major form of the Middle Persian language (see Persian language), which existed from the 3rd to the 10th century and was the official language of the Sasanian empire (AD 226–652). It is attested by Zoroastrian books, coins, and inscriptions. Pahlavi books were written in a confusing writing system of Aramaic origin called the Pahlavi alphabet. The major part of Pahlavi literature is

Arabia, History Of, The Mamluks

2005-02-26T19:23:00.000-08:00

During the 14th and 15th centuries the Mamluks became the dominant power, maintaining a political agent in the Hejaz and a body of cavalry in Mecca. Eventually they made or unmade the sharifian rulers, though the local Egyptian commander's policy sometimes ran counter to that of Cairo. From the mid-15th century the Mamluks took charge of the customs at Jiddah, Mecca's port, allotting

Maderna, Bruno

2005-02-24T16:46:00.000-08:00

Maderna studied with well-known teachers, including the Italian composer Gian Francesco Malipiero and the German conductor Hermann Scherchen. In 1941 he received his degree in composition at Rome from the Conservatorio di Musica Santa Cecilia. He expanded

Sporotrichosis

2005-02-21T00:25:00.000-08:00

Subacute or chronic infection by the fungus Sporotrichum, or Sporothrix, schenckii, usually characterized by a chancre at the site of inoculation and, extending from the site, a chain of hard, red, pus-generating lumps along the lymphatics of the skin and subcutaneous tissue. The fungus, which is most commonly found in the soil or on vegetation or decaying wood, most

Sporotrichosis

2005-02-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

World congresses of the BWA are held every

Annelid, Annotated classification

2005-02-18T06:25:00.000-08:00

Body wall covered with a cuticle secreted by the epidermis and containing an outer circular and inner longitudinal muscle layer; chitinous (tough, complex carbohydrate material) setae usually present, secreted by follicular cells and arranged segmentally;

Caucasian Languages, The Avar-Andi-Dido languages

2005-02-16T03:57:00.000-08:00

Of these tongues,

Resita

2005-02-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Caras-Severin judet (county), southwestern Romania, near the Yugoslavian border. In a coal- and metal-mining region, it is a long-established metalworking centre. After World War II the ironworks and steelworks of Resita were modernized, and there are several associated heavy-engineering works and a factory producing diesel engines for railway locomotives.

Utopia

2005-02-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

The word first occurred in Sir Thomas More's Utopia, published in Latin as Libellus . . . de optimo reipublicae statu, deque nova insula Utopia (“Concerning the highest state

Hawkins, Sir Richard

2005-02-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

The only son of the famed seaman Sir John Hawkins by his first marriage, Richard Hawkins in 1582 sailed with his uncle William to the West Indies; in 1585 he commanded a ship on Sir

Uraninite

2005-02-07T06:28:00.000-08:00

The element uranium was discovered by

Skene

2005-02-05T07:40:00.000-08:00

(from Greek skene, “scene-building”), in ancient Greek theatre, a building behind the playing area that was originally a hut for the changing of masks and costumes but eventually became the background before which the drama was enacted. First used c. 465 BC, the skene was originally a small wooden structure facing the circle of spectators. It developed into a two-story edifice decorated

China, Regional cultures of the Late Neolithic

2005-02-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

By the 3rd millennium BC the regional cultures in the areas discussed above showed increased signs of interaction and even convergence. That they are frequently referred to as varieties of the Lung-shan culture (c. 2500–2000 BC) of east central Shantung—characterized by its lustrous, eggshell-thin black ware—suggests the degree to which these cultures are thought to have experienced

Pacific Mountain System, Soils

2005-02-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

In the Pacific mountain system are found all of the 11 orders of soils, of which three are most abundant. Inceptisols dominate in the coastal ranges from the Queen Charlotte Islands south to San Francisco Bay and in the Cascade Range. They have weakly differentiated horizons (layers), are little altered from their parent material, and occur where summers are cool. The

Sarah

2005-01-30T03:20:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sarai, in the Old Testament, wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. Sarah was childless until she was 90 years old. God promised Abraham that she would be “a mother of nations” (Genesis 17:16) and that she would conceive and bear a son, but Sarah did not believe. Isaac, born to Sarah and Abraham in their old age, was the fulfillment of God's promise to them. The barrenness of Sarah, cited in the preface

Biblical Literature, The patristic period

2005-01-26T16:02:00.000-08:00

Alexandria had long boasted a school of classical study that practiced the allegorical interpretation of the Homeric epics and the Greek myths. This method of exegesis was taken over by Philo and from him by Christian scholars of Alexandria in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215) and Origen (c. 185–c. 254) did not completely rule out the literal sense of

Disasters

2005-01-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

May 30, Minsk, Belarus. A stampede occurred in a passageway

Chandra Shekhar

2005-01-22T16:33:00.000-08:00

Shekhar was a leading member of the Socialist Party before he joined the ruling Congress Party in 1964. He was a member of India's upper legislative chamber, the Rajya Sabha, from 1962 to 1967, and he held a seat in the lower chamber, the Lok Sabha, in 1977–79, 1980–84, and from 1989 until he became prime

Dance Fly

2005-01-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

Courtship involves the presentation of a dead fly to the female by the male. Mating does not take place until the

Sabratha

2005-01-19T21:40:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sabrata, western-most of the three cities of ancient Tripolis, located near the modern town of Sabratah, west of Tripoli, in Libya. Founded by the Carthaginians as a trading post, it was first permanently settled in the 4th century BC. Sabratha had a modest natural harbour, later improved by the Romans, and together with Oea (Tripoli) it served as an outlet for the trans-Saharan caravan

Seven Hills Of Rome

2005-01-17T03:59:00.000-08:00

Group of hills on or about which the ancient city of Rome was built. The original city of Romulus was built upon Palatine Hill (Latin: Mons Palatinus). The other hills are the Capitoline, Quirinal, Viminal, Esquiline, Caelian, and Aventine (known respectively in Latin as the Mons Capitolinus, Mons Quirinalis, Mons Viminalis, Mons Esquilinus, Mons Caelius, and Mons

Kaduqli

2005-01-13T03:23:00.000-08:00

Town, south-central Sudan. It is situated 149 miles (240 km) south of al-Ubayyid, at the northern edge of the White Nile plain. Kaduqli came under Egyptian rule in the early 19th century and was probably a centre for recruiting slaves for the Egyptian army. It is now a trading centre for gum arabic and livestock. Industries include textiles, soap factories, and the production of leather

Acámbaro

2005-01-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

City, southeastern Guanajuato estado (“state”), central Mexico. Acámbaro lies along the Lerma River, in the central plateau, at 6,388 feet (1,947 m) above sea level. A Spanish settlement was founded there in 1526 on the site of a small Tarascan Indian village. With the construction of the Solís Reservoir, irrigation water became available to bring land under cultivation. Corn (maize), beans,

Ikhwan

2005-01-09T16:14:00.000-08:00

Ibn Sa'ud began organizing the Ikhwan in 1912 with hopes of making them a reliable and stable source of an elite army corps. In order to break their traditional

Hinduism, Ahimsa: non-injury

2005-01-05T00:18:00.000-08:00

A further characteristic of Hinduism is the ideal of ahimsa. Ahimsa, “non-injury” or the absence of the desire to harm, is regarded by Indian thinkers as one of the keystones of their ethics. Historically, ahimsa is unrelated to vegetarianism; in ancient India, killing people in war or in capital punishment and killing animals in Vedic sacrifices were acceptable to many

Sienkiewicz, Henryk

2005-01-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

Sienkiewicz's family owned a small estate but lost everything and moved to Warsaw, where Sienkiewicz studied literature, history, and philology at Warsaw University. He left the university in 1871 without taking a degree. He had begun to publish critical

Defferre, Gaston

2004-12-31T10:20:00.000-08:00

Son of a lawyer (avocat), Defferre studied at the Faculty of Law in Aix-en-Provence and practiced law from 1931. During World War II he served in the resistance and was briefly mayor of Marseille near war's end. He was deputy to the National Assembly

Kiribati

2004-12-29T17:15:00.000-08:00

Kiribati continued its

Quasicrystal, Quasiperiodicity

2004-12-28T02:04:00.000-08:00

Dov Levine and Paul Steinhardt, physicists at the University of Pennsylvania, proposed a resolution of this apparent conflict. They suggested that the translational order of atoms in quasicrystalline alloys might be quasiperiodic rather than periodic. Quasiperiodic patterns share certain characteristics with periodic patterns. In particular, both are

Otfrid

2004-12-25T18:38:00.000-08:00

Otfrid was trained in the monastery school of Fulda under Rabanus Maurus, who directed the school from 802 to 824. His fame rests on his Evangelienbuch (c. 870; “Book of the Gospels”), a poem of 7,416 lines, which is extant in three good contemporary manuscripts. It is an exceptionally valuable document,

Esquirol, Jean-étienne-dominique

2004-12-24T09:16:00.000-08:00

A student of Philippe Pinel, Esquirol succeeded his distinguished teacher as physician in chief at the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris in 1811, further developing Pinel's diagnostic techniques and

Jungle Babbler

2004-12-22T04:50:00.000-08:00

Any of about 32 species of songbirds constituting the tribe Pellorneini of the babbler family Timaliidae. Found from Africa to Malaysia and the Philippines, these drab birds with slender, often hook-tipped bills skulk in forest undergrowth. An example is the striped jungle babbler, or spotted babbler (Pelloreum ruficeps), of Southeast Asia—16 centimetres (6 1/4 inches) long,

Learning Theory

2004-12-20T22:41:00.000-08:00

A common goal in defining any psychological concept is a statement that corresponds to common usage. Acceptance of that aim, however, entails some peril. It implicitly assumes that common language categorizes in scientifically

Bearded Seal

2004-12-17T19:38:00.000-08:00

(Erignathus barbatus), nonmigratory seal of the family Phocidae, distinguished by the bushy, bristly whiskers for which it is named; it is also known as “squareflipper” after the rectangular shape of the foreflipper. Highly valued by Eskimos for its hide, meat, and blubber, the bearded seal is a grayish or yellow-brown animal that lives alone or in small groups in coastal

Salem

2004-12-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

County, southwestern New Jersey, U.S. It comprises a coastal lowland bounded by Delaware to the west (the Delaware River constituting the border), Oldmans Creek to the north, the Maurice River to the southeast, and Stow Creek to the southwest. The county is connected to Wilmington, Del., by way of the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Other waterways are the Salem and Cohansey rivers

Andrea Del Sarto

2004-12-13T08:46:00.000-08:00

Original name Andrea d'Agnolo Italian painter and draftsman whose works of exquisite composition and craftsmanship were instrumental in the development of the Florentine-Roman school in the first half of the 16th century. His most striking among other well-known works is the series of frescoes on the life of St. John the Baptist about 1511 and

Blueberry

2004-12-11T23:08:00.000-08:00

Blueberries grow only in highly acidic and well-drained but moist soils. About 36,000 acres (14,500 hectares) of the high-bush blueberry

Pluriarc

2004-12-10T14:59:00.000-08:00

Also called Bow Lute, west African stringed musical instrument having a deep boxlike body from which project between two and eight slender, curved arms; one string runs from the end of each arm to a string holder on the belly. The strings are plucked, usually by the fingers, occasionally by plectra attached to the fingers. They are generally played open, as on a harp; in some regions they are

Gagnoa

2004-12-07T22:41:00.000-08:00

Town, southern Côte d'Ivoire. It is the chief collecting point for a forest region that sends coffee, cocoa, and timber (sipo and mahogany) to the coast for export and is a major market centre (rice, bananas, and yams) for the Bete and Gagu (Gagou) peoples. A paved road connects Gagnoa with Abidjan, the capital of Côte d'Ivoire. The town is the site of the government's first rural technical

Jirásek, Alois

2004-12-06T06:03:00.000-08:00

Jirásek was a secondary-school teacher until his retirement in 1909. He wrote a series of historical novels imbued with faith in his nation and in progress toward freedom and justice.

Adz

2004-12-03T05:26:00.000-08:00

Also spelled adze hand tool for shaping wood. One of the earliest tools, it was widely distributed in Stone Age cultures in the form of a handheld stone chipped to form a blade. By Egyptian times it had acquired a wooden haft, or handle, with a copper or bronze blade set flat at the top of the haft to form a T. In this form the adz continued to be the prime hand tool for shaping and trimming wood.

Paleogeology

2004-12-02T02:41:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Palaeogeology, the geology of a region at any given time in the distant past. Paleogeologic reconstructions in map form show not only the ancient topography of a region but also the distribution of rocks beneath the surface and such structural features as faults and folds. Maps of this kind help investigators to better determine the instances of deformation events in a region,

Carlisle

2004-11-29T13:09:00.000-08:00

In the Roman period a civilian settlement, Luguvallium (later the town of Carlisle), grew up on the south bank of the Eden, opposite Petriana (later Stanwix), a fortified camp on the line of Hadrian's Wall. The town dominated the surrounding area

David, Sir T(annatt) W(illiam) Edgeworth

2004-11-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

David served as assistant geologist for the government survey of New South Wales from 1882 until 1891, when he became professor of geology at the University of Sydney. A leader in the investigation of evidence on major glaciations of Australia

Natal Grass

2004-11-25T17:35:00.000-08:00

Any of several southern African grasses of the family Poaceae, and species Rhynchelytrum repens (formerly Tricholaena rosea), which in some areas is known as Natal red top. It is a tufted, perennial with glossy, purple or pink hairs on the seed heads. Natal grass is found on disturbed soils in tropical America and Australia and is cultivated as a forage and ornamental

Estonia, Relief and drainage

2004-11-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

The Estonian landscape is largely the product of glacial activity; the south is covered with moraine hills, and the central part abounds in elongated hills with flat tops. The northern part of Estonia is characterized by long narrow swells consisting of deposits left by glacial rivers that formed during the melting of ice. Extensive sandy areas mark what was once

Mineral Deposit, Flowing surface water

2004-11-21T09:28:00.000-08:00

For effective concentration, placer minerals must not only have a high

Armstrong, Neil (alden)

2004-11-19T04:38:00.000-08:00

Armstrong became a licensed pilot on his 16th birthday and a naval air cadet in 1947. His studies in aeronautical engineering at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., were interrupted in 1950 by the Korean War, in which he was shot down once and was awarded three Air Medals. In 1955 he became a civilian research

Arenig Series

2004-11-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

Also called Arenigian Series, the second of six divisions (in ascending order) constituting the Ordovician System, representing all those rocks deposited worldwide during the Arenigian Age (488 to 478 million years ago). The series' name is derived from the Arenig mountains in Gwynedd county in North Wales, which serve as the type area in Great Britain for rocks of this age. Welsh rock strata belonging

Sex Chromosome

2004-11-16T06:07:00.000-08:00

Individuals having two X chromosomes (XX) are

Bradford, William

2004-11-13T11:37:00.000-08:00

As a boy in England, he was caught up in the fervour of the Protestant

Carnatic Music

2004-11-11T05:56:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Karnatic Music, music of southern India (generally south of the city of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh state) that evolved from ancient Hindu traditions and was relatively unaffected by the Arabic and Iranian influences that, since the late 12th and early 13th centuries, as a result of the Islamic conquest of the north, have characterized the Hindustani music of northern India. In contrast

Fenestella

2004-11-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

Fenestella's

Masaccio

2004-11-07T21:50:00.000-08:00

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.

Lowlands

2004-11-05T17:37:00.000-08:00

Also called Scottish Lowlands cultural and historical region of Scotland, comprising the portion of the country southeast of a line drawn from Dumbarton to Stonehaven; northwest of the line are the Highlands. Traditionally, the Lowlands were distinguished by the use of the Scots language (considered a dialect or close relative of English) in contrast to the Scottish Gaelic (a Celtic language)

Thompson, Sir John (sparrow David)

2004-11-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

Thompson was called to the bar in Nova Scotia in 1865 and appointed queen's counsellor in 1879. He entered politics in 1877 as Liberal-Conservative member for Antigonish in the provincial legislature, becoming attorney general in 1878; he became

Indianista Novel

2004-10-30T06:55:00.000-07:00

Brazilian literary genre of the 19th century that idealizes the simple life of the South American Indian. The tone of the Indianista novel is one of languid nostalgia and saudade, a brooding melancholy and reverence for nature characteristic of Portuguese and Brazilian literature. The Indian had appeared as a fictional character in Brazilian literature from

Hawtrey, Sir Ralph (george)

2004-10-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

Hawtrey was educated at Eton and the University of Cambridge, graduating with first-class honours in mathematics in 1901. He spent his working life as a civil servant and played a key role in the Genoa Conference of 1922, which attempted to devise

Annapolis Royal

2004-10-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

Formerly (until 1713) Port Royal, town, seat of Annapolis county, southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada. The town lies at the mouth of the Annapolis River where it enters Annapolis Basin (an arm of the Bay of Fundy), 126 miles (203 km) by road west of Halifax. Founded in 1605 as Port Royal by the explorers Samuel de Champlain and Pierre du Gua, Sieur de Monts, it was the first French colony in North America and is Canada's oldest

Thomas Cup

2004-10-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Trophy signifying world supremacy in the sport of badminton. The cup was donated in 1939 by Sir George Thomas for a series of men's international team competitions to be managed by the International Badminton Federation (IBF), of which Thomas was then president. The first tournament was held in 1948–49 and won by Malaya. Tournaments are held every two years.

Taft, Helen

2004-10-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

After her husband's single term was completed in 1913, Helen wrote her autobiography, Recollections of Full Years (1914), becoming the first president's wife to see her memoirs published in her lifetime. The Tafts moved from Washington to New Haven, Connecticut, where William taught at Yale Law School until his appointment in 1921 as chief justice of the United States. Helen died in 1943 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery beside her husband, who had died in 1930. The Tafts were the first presidential couple to be interred there.

Differential Geometry

2004-10-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

Differential geometry has its origin in the discovery in the 17th century of the infinitesimal calculus, one part of mathematics that deals with limits. The concept of the derivative of a function is essentially identical with that of the tangent line or slope of a curve, and the integral of a function

China, Tung (Eastern) Han

2004-10-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

The Han house was restored by Liu Hsiu, better known as Kuang-wu ti, who reigned from AD 25 to 57/58. His claim had been contested by another member of the Liu house, Liu Hsüan—better known as Liu Keng-shih—who had been actually enthroned for two years, until his death in the course of turbulent civil fighting. Ch'ang-an had been virtually destroyed by warfare, and Kuang-wu ti established

Nervous System Disease, Facial nerve

2004-10-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

The herpes

Wappinger

2004-10-14T04:05:00.000-07:00

A confederacy of Algonquian-speaking Indians in eastern North America who early in the 17th century lived along the east bank of the Hudson River from Manhattan Island to what is now Poughkeepsie and eastward to the lower Connecticut River valley. They were semisedentary, moving seasonally between fixed sites as food resources required. They depended largely

Epilepsy

2004-10-13T20:41:00.000-07:00

Chronic neurological disorder characterized by sudden and recurrent seizures which are caused by excessive signaling of nerve cells in the brain. Seizures may include convulsions, momentary lapses of consciousness, strange movements or sensations in parts of the body, odd behaviours, and emotional disturbances. Epileptic seizures typically last one to two

Muñoz, Juan

2004-10-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Spanish sculptor (b. June 17, 1953, Madrid, Spain—d. Aug. 28, 2001, Ibiza, Spain), created moody and challenging installation artworks, most of which featured monochromatic human figures placed amid unnerving architectural spaces and often incorporating animatronics and sound. In 2000 Muñoz received Spain's highest cultural award, the Premio Nacional de Belles Artes. His last completed

Macaroni

2004-10-09T03:09:00.000-07:00

Small tubular form of pasta (q.v.).

Interior Design, Walls

2004-10-07T17:11:00.000-07:00

Every wall is a material in itself; and ideally no material, if it is properly used, needs to be covered up. Some elegant buildings constructed since 1960 have used concrete in its natural texture—i.e., showing the formwork left by wooden forms as a conscious expression of the material. During the 19th century, fakery in design was very popular, and part of the concern with the true

Karakol

2004-10-03T06:37:00.000-07:00

Formerly (1889–1921, 1939–91) Przhevalsk, city, eastern Ysyk-köl oblast (province), Kyrgyzstan, at the northern foot of the Terskey-Alatau Mountains at an elevation of 5,807 feet (1,770 m) on the Karakol River. The city was founded in 1869 as a Russian military and administrative outpost; it was renamed for the Russian explorer Nikolay Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky, who died there in 1888. It has many food and other light industries, a teacher-training

Alliterative Prose

2004-09-30T04:12:00.000-07:00

Prose that uses alliteration and some of the techniques of alliterative verse. Notable examples are from Old English and Middle English, including works by the Anglo-Saxon writer Aelfric and the so-called Katherine Group of five Middle English devotional works.

Chile, The northern desert

2004-09-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

This region experiences an aridity that is primarily caused by the dry subsidence created by the South Pacific high pressure cell and the stabilizing action of the cold Peru Current. Although the air along the coast is abnormally humid, it never reaches saturation point; at most, there is a development of coastal fogs (garúa or camanchaca). Besides the lack of rain,

Qurayyat, Al-

2004-09-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

Mintaqah (province), western Northern region, northwestern Saudi Arabia. It is bordered by the manatiq (provinces) of al-Hudud ash-Shamaliyah to the northeast, al-Jawf to the east, and Tabuk to the south, and by Jordan on the north. Al-Qurayyat fronts the Gulf of Aqaba on the west. The mintaqah is mostly upland plateau with rock and gravel and is covered with grass and shrub that are used

Joule, James Prescott

2004-09-24T14:59:00.000-07:00

Joule studied with the

Novhorod-siverskyy

2004-09-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Russian Novgorod-seversky, also spelled Novgorod-severskij, city, Chernihiv oblast (province), northern Ukraine. The city, now a tourist centre, is believed to date from the early 11th century. From 1098 it was the capital of Novhorod-Siverskyy principality, which defended the Russian nation from incursions by nomadic tribes from the steppe regions. There are many old buildings in the city, including the 17th-century Cathedral of the Assumption

Household, Geoffrey

2004-09-22T10:06:00.000-07:00

Household was educated at Clifton College in Bristol (1914–19) and at Magdalen College at Oxford (1919–22), where he won honours

Gravimeter

2004-09-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

Also called gravity meter sensitive device for measuring variations in the Earth's gravitational field, useful in prospecting for oil and minerals. In one form, it consists of a weight suspended from a spring; variations in gravity cause variations in the extension of the spring. A number of different mechanical and optical schemes have been developed to measure this deflection, which in

Alchevsk

2004-09-20T04:40:00.000-07:00

Formerly (1931–61) Voroshilovsk , or (1961–92) Kommunarsk city, Luhansk oblast (province), eastern Ukraine. It lies along the railway from Luhansk to Debaltsevo. Alchevsk was founded in 1895 with the establishment of the Donetsko-Yuryevsky ironworks. The plant has developed into a large, integrated ironworks and steelworks, which was expanded greatly in the 1950s and '60s. The city is a major bituminous-coal mining centre, and there are

Pythagoras

2004-09-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Pythagoras migrated in his youth to Rhegium. He made a statue of Philoctetes, noted for the physical

Khakass

2004-09-18T23:21:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Khakas, or Hakas, people who have given their name to Khakassia republic in central Russia. The general name Khakass encompasses five Turkic-speaking groups that differ widely in their ethnic origin as well as in their culture and everyday life: the Kacha, Sagay (Sagai), Beltir, Kyzyl, and Koybal. Before the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Kacha were seminomadic pastoralists raising cattle,

Roman Religion, Religious art

2004-09-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

A vast gallery of architecture, sculpture, numismatics, painting, and mosaics illustrates Roman religion and helps to fill the gaps left by the fragmentary, though extensive, literary and epigraphic record. Starting with primitive statuettes and terra-cotta temple decorations, this array eventually included masterpieces such as the Apollo of Veii. Other works

Syria, The state of the arts

2004-09-16T04:11:00.000-07:00

Following World War I, drawing was taught in the schools, and talented artists began to emerge. There is a faculty of fine arts

Tabernacle

2004-09-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Israel's earliest sanctuary was a simple tent within which, it was believed,

John I Tzimisces

2004-09-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

Descended from an aristocratic Armenian family, John was related through his mother to the general, and later emperor, Nicephorus II