PresentStore

France, History Of, Rural life

2005-04-04T19:59:00.000-07:00

Rural life changed more gradually. The expanding markets favoured well-endowed or efficient lords or peasants who could produce a surplus of goods for sale. Such conditions were less common in the south than in the north, although they could be found in most wine-producing areas. But, while rising prices benefited producers, they contributed to certain difficulties

Vanadium Processing

2005-04-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

The discovery of vanadium was first claimed in 1801 by a Spanish mineralogist, Andrés Manuel del Río, who gave it the name erythronium, after the red colour of one of its chemical compounds (Greek erythros, “red”). In 1830 a Swedish chemist, Nils Gabriel Sefström, rediscovered the element and named it vanadium, after Vanadis, the Scandinavian goddess of beauty, because of the beautiful

Robert, Hubert

2005-04-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

Robert went to Rome (1754), was elected to the French Academy there, and became a friend and associate of the renowned etcher of architectural subjects Giambattista Piranesi. In 1759 he joined Abbé

Cancer, Syndromes resulting from inherited defects in DNA repair mechanisms

2005-04-03T00:30:00.000-08:00

Another group of hereditary cancers comprises those that stem from inherited defects in DNA repair mechanisms. Examples include Bloom syndrome, ataxia-telangiectasia, Fanconi anemia, and xeroderma pigmentosum. These syndromes are characterized by hypersensitivity to agents that damage DNA (e.g., chemicals and radiation). The failure of a cell to repair the defects

Arsenic Poisoning

2005-04-02T14:52:00.000-08:00

Arsenic poisoning in humans most often results from the ingestion or inhalation of insecticides containing arsenious oxide,

Cumberland

2005-04-01T14:03:00.000-08:00

County, south-central Pennsylvania, U.S. It consists of a hilly region in the Appalachian Ridge and Valley physiographic province bounded to the north by Blue Mountain, to the east by the Susquehanna River, to the southeast by Yellow Breeches Creek, and to the south by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Conodoguinet Creek and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail cross the

Sail

2005-03-31T19:18:00.000-08:00

The first sails were most likely animal skins that were used to harness wind power for rafts or boats consisting of a single log. The next probable step was the use of woven reed mats stretched between poles. Depictions of cloth sails appear in predynastic (c. 3300 BC) Egyptian art, and

Roman Catholicism, History Of, The rise of heresy

2005-03-31T19:08:00.000-08:00

Before the middle of the 12th century heresy on a large scale was unknown in the West. The early dissenters were often radical reformers such as the Italian canon Arnold of Brescia (d. 1155), an outspoken critic of clerical wealth and corruption. Then there appeared in northern Italy and southern France the sect, Eastern and Manichaean in origin, later known as the Cathari (the

Grace, William R.

2005-03-30T22:06:00.000-08:00

Grace ran away to New York at the age of 14 but later returned to Ireland. In 1850 he visited Callao, Peru, where he entered

Performing Arts, Great Britain and Ireland.

2005-03-30T02:51:00.000-08:00

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) was plunged into turmoil again when its artistic director, Adrian Noble, resigned on April 24, 2002. Noble's announcement came the week after his West End production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, a new musical based on the 1968 movie, opened to good reviews and a healthy advance at the box office at the London Palladium. Cynics saw Chitty's flying car

Booth, Maud Ballington

2005-03-30T00:57:00.000-08:00

Maud Charlesworth grew up from the age of three in London. The examples of her father, a clergyman, and her mother, who worked with her husband in his slum parish, predisposed Maud to social service, and in 1882 she joined the Salvation Army. Organizing work in France

Allen, Woody

2005-03-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

Original name Allen Stewart Konigsberg , legal name Heywood Allen American motion-picture director, screenwriter, actor, and author, best known for his bittersweet comic films containing elements of parody, slapstick, and the absurd. He was also known as a sympathetic director for women, writing strong and well-defined characters for them. Among his featured performers were Diane

Hawarden

2005-03-28T01:43:00.000-08:00

Town, historic and present county of Flintshire (Sir Fflint), northeastern Wales. Hawarden Castle (1752) was the home of William E. Gladstone, the Victorian prime minister, for 60 years. St. Deiniol's Library was founded by Gladstone in 1895, and there is also a Gladstone museum in the community. Hawarden functions as both a commuter suburb for the city of Chester, England—7 miles (11 km)

Talak

2005-03-27T14:39:00.000-08:00

Extensive sandy dune region of northwestern Niger, west of the Aïr massif. It covers about 40,000 square miles (100,000 square km) and is drained by a number of small, ephemeral watercourses, the longest of which, the Azaouak, eventually empties into the Niger River. Dinosaur fossils have been found at numerous sites in the region. Eastern Talak is crossed (north-south) by the trans-Saharan

Absalom

2005-03-26T22:35:00.000-08:00

The picture of Absalom that is presented in 2 Samuel 13–19 suggests that he was the Alcibiades of the Old Testament, alike in his personal attractiveness, his lawless insolence, and his tragic fate. He is first mentioned as murdering his half brother Amnon, David's eldest son, in revenge for the rape of his

Sable Antelope

2005-03-26T19:09:00.000-08:00

(Hippotragus niger), handsome antelope, family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), that lives in herds in forests of southern Africa. Like the related roan antelope (H. equinus), the sable antelope is a graceful animal with an erect mane, long ears, long hair on the throat, and long, parallel, sickle-shaped horns. It stands up to 137 centimetres (54 inches) at the shoulder.

Roberts, Isaac

2005-03-26T18:00:00.000-08:00

In 1883 Roberts began experimenting with astronomical photography, taking pictures of stars, the Orion and Andromeda nebulae, and the Pleiades cluster. Although the photographs proved difficult to interpret, they were revealing.

Appliqué

2005-03-24T03:18:00.000-08:00

Sewing technique in which fabric patches are layered on a foundation fabric, then stitched in place by hand or machine with the raw edges turned under or covered with decorative stitching. From the French appliquer, “to put on,” appliqué is sometimes used to embellish clothing or household linens. Like patchwork (piecing), it is a method of constructing or embellishing

Gobi, Geology

2005-03-24T02:14:00.000-08:00

The Gobi's various chalky plains are chiefly Cenozoic in age (i.e., up to 66.4 million years old), though some of the low, isolated hills are older. The terrain contains small masses of shifting sands. In the central Gobi the remains of dinosaurs from the Mesozoic Era (245 to 66.4 million years ago) and fossils of Cenozoic mammals have been found. The desert also contains Paleolithic and

Pornography

2005-03-23T20:22:00.000-08:00

Little is known of the origins and earliest forms of pornography

Peter Damian, Saint

2005-03-23T09:11:00.000-08:00

Educated at Ravenna, Faenza, and Parma, he abandoned his teaching career (1035) to enter the hermitage of Fonte Avellana in the Apennines, where he was chosen prior in 1043. Peter's zeal for reform, particularly his advocacy of

Gerhardsen, Einar (henry)

2005-03-22T20:15:00.000-08:00

The son of a Labour Party member, Gerhardsen joined the party during World War I and sided with its radical wing, which joined the Comintern (Third International) in 1919. After the party split from the Comintern

Priesthood

2005-03-22T18:21:00.000-08:00

The function of the priest as the mediator and maintainer of the equilibrium between the sacred and the profane in human society, and as the stabilizer of the social structures and the cultic organizations, determines the various criteria for holding the priestly office. In preliterate society the functions are accomplished by ritual experts who are trained

Bracegirdle, Anne

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

Bracegirdle studied acting with Thomas Betterton, her guardian, and appeared on the stage as early as six years of age. In 1688 her performance in Thomas Shadwell's The Squire of Alsatia at Drury Lane Theatre, London, brought her notice. Different playwrights, particularly William Congreve and Nicholas Rowe,

Umuahia

2005-03-22T08:05:00.000-08:00

Town, capital of Abia state, southern Nigeria. It lies along the railroad from Port Harcourt to Enugu. It is an agricultural market centre and (since 1916) collecting point on the railway for the crops of the surrounding region: yams, cassava, corn (maize), taro, citrus fruits, and palm oil and kernels. The town has a palm-oil-processing plant and several breweries, and the National

Cloots, Jean-baptiste Du Val-de-grâce, Baron De

2005-03-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

Born into a noble Prussian family of Dutch origin, Cloots went to Paris in 1776 and took part in the compilation of Denis Diderot's Encyclopédie. He left France in 1784, traveled throughout Europe, and returned to

Alcázar De San Juan

2005-03-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

Town, Ciudad Real provincia, in the comunidad autónoma (“autonomous community”) of Castile–La Mancha, central Spain. It lies on the high Meseta Central at 2,135 feet (650 m) above sea level. Known to the Romans as Alces, the town was renamed al-Qasr (“the Palace,” or “the Castle”) by the Arabs. It was conquered by the Knights of St. John (Spanish: San Juan) of Jerusalem (the Hospitalers) in 1186 and captured

Chantal, Saint Jane Frances Of

2005-03-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

In 1592 she married Baron de Chantal, who was killed in a hunting accident (1601), leaving her with four children. In 1604 she heard St. Francis de Sales preach the Lent at Dijon and placed herself under his direction. In 1610, after her eldest daughter had married and her 14-year-old son was provided

Cola Dynasty

2005-03-19T19:20:00.000-08:00

The legendary king Karikalan was the common ancestor through whom small Deccan and Andhra families called Cola or Coda claimed a connection with the Uraiyur

Pachaimalai Hills

2005-03-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

Range of hills in Tamil Nadu state, southern India, an eastward extension of the Eastern Ghats in the northeastern Tamilnad Uplands. The Pachaimalai Hills, together with the Javadi, Shevaroy, and Kalrayan hills, separate the Cauvery River basin in the south from the Palar River basin in the north. Extending over approximately 5,200 sq mi (13,500 sq km), they form a discontinuous line of highlands

Essex

2005-03-18T01:44:00.000-08:00

Town (township), Chittenden county, northwestern Vermont, U.S., on the Winooski River just east of Burlington. Chartered in 1763 and settled in 1783, it consists of the villages of Essex Junction and Essex Center. Essex Junction is a busy industrial and residential site where the Central Vermont Railroad and several highways converge; its railway depot serves as the depot for

Hadhramaut

2005-03-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hadramout, Arabic Hadramawt, region in east-central Yemen, on the Gulf of Aden. The region comprises a hilly area near the coast and an inland valley occupied by a seasonal watercourse, the Wadi Hadramawt, that runs parallel to the coast before turning southeastward to reach the sea. In its lower reaches this watercourse achieves a year-round flow and is called Wadi Masilah. At higher elevations in

Earth Sciences, Earth history according to Werner and James Hutton

2005-03-17T13:50:00.000-08:00

The two major theories of the 18th century were the Neptunian and the Plutonian. The Neptunists, led by Werner and his students, maintained that the Earth was originally covered by a turbid ocean. The first sediments deposited over the irregular floor of this universal ocean formed the granite and other crystalline rocks. Then as the ocean began to subside, “Stratified

Afghanistan, 'Abd al-Rahman Khan (18801901)

2005-03-16T04:09:00.000-08:00

The British finally withdrew from Kandahar in April 1881. In 1880 'Abd al-Rahman Khan, a cousin of Shir 'Ali, had returned from exile in Central Asia and proclaimed himself emir of Kabul. During the reign of 'Abd al-Rahman, the boundaries of modern Afghanistan were drawn by the British and the Russians. The Durand Line of 1893 divided zones of responsibility for the maintenance of law and order

Acton, Sir John Francis Edward, 6th Baronet

2005-03-15T23:50:00.000-08:00

Finding the French Navy unappreciative of his skills, Acton, the son of an expatriate Englishman, joined the forces of Peter Leopold (later Holy Roman emperor Leopold

Military Aircraft, Transonic flight

2005-03-15T14:32:00.000-08:00

As the first generation of jet fighters entered service, many aerodynamicists and engineers believed supersonic flight a practical impossibility, owing to transonic drag rise or compressibility, which threatened to tear an aircraft apart. Nevertheless, on Oct. 14, 1947, U.S. Air Force Captain Charles Yeager, flying a rocket-powered Bell X-1 launched from the bomb bay of a B-29,

Boise State University

2005-03-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

Public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Boise, Idaho, U.S. The university comprises eight colleges, including the Larry G. Selland College of Applied Technology, which provides applied science degrees in fields such as information technology, horticulture, and culinary arts. Boise State University offers a range of associate and bachelor's degree

Asthenia

2005-03-14T04:02:00.000-08:00

A condition in which the body lacks or has lost strength either as a whole or in any of its parts. General asthenia occurs in many chronic wasting diseases, such as anemia and cancer, and is probably most marked in diseases of the adrenal gland. Asthenia may be limited to certain organs or systems of organs, as in asthenopia, characterized by ready fatigability of vision,

Tallis, Thomas

2005-03-13T15:24:00.000-08:00

Nothing is known of Tallis' education. In 1532 he held a post at Dover Priory

Korku

2005-03-13T07:47:00.000-08:00

Tribal people of central India concentrated in the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. At the end of the 20th century, they numbered about 560,000. However, poverty and restricted use of ancestral land due to government attempts to save the Bengal tiger have led to a serious problem of malnutrition and starvation among the Korku. Most are settled agriculturalists, and

Drug, Anthelmintics

2005-03-13T04:19:00.000-08:00

Helminths (worms) can be divided into three groups: cestodes, or tapeworms; nematodes, or roundworms; and trematodes, or flukes. The helminths differ from other infectious organisms in that they have a complex body structure. They are multicellular and have partial or complete organ systems (e.g., muscular, nervous, digestive, and reproductive). Several of the drugs used

Rada'

2005-03-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “to suckle”), in Islam, a legal relationship established between children when they are nursed by the same woman, the result being that they are forbidden to intermarry. Such a prohibition was prevalent in Arabian society even before Islam. Arabs equate such kinship with true blood relationship. In Mecca, the Arabs had a custom, still retained, of hiring professional

Poynings, Sir Edward

2005-03-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

A grandson of William Paston, he was a rebel (1483) against Richard III and attached himself to Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who employed

Literature, United States.

2005-03-11T00:27:00.000-08:00

For all of the moaning and groaning about the state of the literary arts in the United States--and from writers to editors to critics to booksellers to readers, all had done some of it--it had to be admitted that when people argued about books, and the quarrels made newspaper headlines, something valuable was taking place. In 1994 critic Harold Bloom stirred up the biggest

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-03-10T23:24:00.000-08:00

They are largely omnivorous in food habits, eating a variety of small mammals, birds, reptiles, eggs of birds and reptiles, amphibians, fishes, crustaceans, insects and their grubs, and earthworms, as well as vegetation such as fruits, nuts, bulbs or roots, and other plant material.

Quantum Mechanics

2005-03-10T07:07:00.000-08:00

Science dealing with the behaviour of matter and light on the atomic and subatomic scale. It attempts to describe and account for the properties of molecules and atoms and their constituents—electrons, protons, neutrons, and other more esoteric particles such as quarks and gluons. These properties include the interactions of the particles with one another and

Zólkowski, Alojzy Fortunat

2005-03-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

Zólkowski was born into a noble family and served in the army during the revolt of 1794. He made his acting debut in Warsaw in 1798, toured the country for four years, and then joined the National Theatre (Teatr Narodowy), where he was admired

Hine, Lewis Wickes

2005-03-09T03:35:00.000-08:00

Trained as a sociologist, Hine began to portray the immigrants who crowded onto New York's Ellis Island in 1905. He also photographed the tenements and sweatshops where the immigrants were forced to live and work. These pictures were published

Run-d.m.c.

2005-03-08T04:59:00.000-08:00

Formed

Karaïskákis, Geórgios

2005-03-07T21:46:00.000-08:00

A native of the district of Ágrafa in Epirus, a region known for its bandits and rebels, Karaïskákis served in the armatoli, or militia, and participated in the struggles

Kuchma, Leonid

2005-03-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Dnipropetrovsk State University in 1960, Kuchma embarked on a career as an engineer, serving as Communist

Canada East

2005-03-07T04:31:00.000-08:00

Settled primarily by French Canadians who wanted to preserve their distinctive identity and cultural traditions, Canada East was reluctant to join the proposed confederation

Cyprus, Flag Of

2005-03-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

For centuries Cyprus was part of the Ottoman Empire and flew Turkish flags. By agreement with the Turkish sovereign, however, the British assumed administrative control of the island in 1878 and subsequently flew the Union Jack there. During World War I the island was annexed by the British, and other colonial flags were then introduced. For example, to the British Red

Mascarene Islands

2005-03-06T15:42:00.000-08:00

French Îles Mascareignes, collectively, the islands of Réunion, Mauritius, and Rodrigues, which are situated in a line along a submarine ridge, the Seychelles–Mauritius Plateau, 400 to 500 miles (640 to 800 km) northeast from southern Madagascar in the western Indian Ocean. All are volcanic in origin. The name Mascarene is taken from the 16th-century Portuguese explorer Pedro de Mascarenhas. The islands now form

Hevelius, Johannes

2005-03-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

(Latin), German Johann Hewel , or Johann Howelcke , Polish Jan Heweliusz astronomer who compiled an atlas of the Moon (Selenographia, published 1647) containing one of the earliest detailed maps of its surface as well as names for many of its features. A few of his names for lunar mountains (e.g., the Alps) are still in use, and a lunar crater is named for him. Hevelius also made a catalog of 1,564 stars, the most comprehensive of its time,

China, Economy

2005-03-05T05:01:00.000-08:00

Information on railway, air, and highway communication may be found in general works on the Chinese economy cited in the previous paragraph. For the role of transportation in the history of Western influence on China and on regional economics, see Shun-hsin Chou, “Railway Development and Economic Growth in Manchuria,” China Quarterly, no. 45, pp. 57–84 (1971). Articles on transportation appear intermittently in Beijing Review (weekly).

Hachette, Louis-christophe-françois

2005-03-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

After studying law in Paris, Hachette bought a small bookshop there (1826) and, following the revolution of 1830, began to publish textbooks for the new primary schools. His firm rapidly became a leading

Pro Juárez, Miguel

2005-03-04T16:39:00.000-08:00

The son of a socially prominent family, Pro entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1911. Because of government persecutions, he fled to California (1914–15) and then to Spain (1915–19) and taught in Nicaragua from 1919 to 1922. He returned to Spain and then studied in Enghien,

Tradición

2005-03-04T05:36:00.000-08:00

In Spanish-American literature, short prose sketch in which a historical incident is related in an imaginative and literary style. An evocation of the South American past, the tradición may be set in the precolonial era, the age of discovery and conquest, the prerevolutionary era of romance and political intrigue, or the time of the struggle for self-determination

'abd Al-rahman Iii

2005-03-03T20:24:00.000-08:00

Accounts of 'Abd ar-Rahman's reign may be found in W. Montgomery Watt, A History of Islamic Spain (1965, reissued 1977); and Stanley Lane-Poole, The Story of the Moors in Spain (1886, reprinted as The Moors in Spain, 1967).

Epic Formula

2005-03-02T23:55:00.000-08:00

Convention of language and theme peculiar to oral epic poetry that is often carried over to the written form. The most obvious epic formulas are the “fixed epithets,” stereotyped descriptive phrases that can be varied in different places in the poetic line to suit the demands of the metre. These stock expressions have the twofold function of lightening the oral poet's

Encyclopedia Americana, The

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

First published in 1829–33, with subsequent editions in 1911 (20 volumes) and 1918–20 (30 volumes), and thereafter continuously revised, Americana is international in scope and is known for its

Tarn

2005-03-02T04:22:00.000-08:00

A small mountain lake, especially one set in a glaciated steep-walled amphitheatre known as a cirque (q.v.).

Elion, Gertrude B.

2005-03-01T22:41:00.000-08:00

Elion was the daughter of immigrants. She graduated from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in biochemistry in 1937. Unable

Augustus, Caesar

2005-02-28T04:07:00.000-08:00

In the following year the balance of power began to change: whereas Antony's eastern expedition failed, Octavian's fleet, commanded by his former schoolmate, Marcus Agrippa, who, although unpopular with the influential nobles, was an admiral of genius, totally defeated Sextus Pompeius off Cape Naulochus (Venetico) in Sicily. At this point the third triumvir, Lepidus,

Arabian Religion, North and central Arabia

2005-02-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

There are various populations to consider, differing in their languages and systems of writing, in their pantheons, and above all in their ways of life. Sedentary populations of merchants and farmers were settled in towns and oases, which were centres of developed civil and religious institutions. In sharp contrast with them were the breeders of sheep and

Qiryat Shemona

2005-02-27T11:25:00.000-08:00

Town, at the northwest of the 'Emeq Hula (Hula Valley), extreme northern Israel. The name Qiryat Shemona (“Town of the Eight”) commemorates the eight martyrs of nearby Tel Hay (q.v.). The town, the only urban settlement of the valley, was founded in 1950 as an immigrants' transit camp (ma'abara) on the site of the former Arab village of Khalasah. Metulla, the northernmost settlement of Israel

Rurik

2005-02-27T00:25:00.000-08:00

Rurik was a Viking, or Varangian, prince. His story is told in the The Russian Primary Chronicle (compiled at the beginning of the 12th century) but is not accepted at face value by modern historians. According to the chronicle, the people of Novgorod, tired of political strife, invited the Varangians about AD 862 to

Rydberg, Viktor

2005-02-26T19:25:00.000-08:00

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

Amniocentesis

2005-02-26T15:05:00.000-08:00

The surgical insertion of a hollow needle through the abdominal wall and into the uterus of a pregnant female and the aspiration of fluid from the amniotic sac for analysis. Examination of the amniotic fluid itself as well as the fetal cells found in the fluid can reveal such things as fetal sex (the significant factor in inherited diseases that are sex-linked), chromosomal

Fermo

2005-02-26T14:14:00.000-08:00

Latin Firmum town and archiepiscopal see, Ascoli Piceno provincia, Marche regione, Italy. It is situated on a hill overlooking the Tenna River, near the Adriatic Sea. An ancient stronghold (Firmum Picenum) of the Picenes (early inhabitants of the coast), it was taken by the Romans in 264 BC and became a colony with full rights in 42 BC. Conquered successively by the Goths, Byzantines (AD 553–570), Lombards, and

M.v.o.

2005-02-25T11:29:00.000-08:00

Member, either fourth or fifth class, of the Royal Victorian Order. This rank of the order does not confer knighthood. See Royal Victorian Order.

China, Coinage

2005-02-23T23:26:00.000-08:00

Copper coins were used throughout the Ming dynasty. Paper money was used for various kinds of payments and grants by the government, but it was always nonconvertible and, consequently, lost value disastrously. It would, in fact, have been utterly valueless except that it was prescribed for the payment of certain types of taxes. The exchange of precious metals was forbidden

Subjective Idealism

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

A philosophy based on the premise that nothing exists except minds and spirits and their perceptions or ideas. A person experiences material things, but their existence is not independent of the perceiving mind; material things are thus mere perceptions. The reality of the outside world is contingent on a knower. The 18th-century Anglo-Irish philosopher George

Clapper

2005-02-23T13:03:00.000-08:00

Clappers

Einem, Gottfried Von

2005-02-23T08:57:00.000-08:00

The son of an Austrian military attaché, Einem was educated in Germany and England. He helped several people escape from Nazi Germany, and in 1938 he was arrested by the Gestapo and was imprisoned

Swallow-tanager

2005-02-22T04:41:00.000-08:00

(Tersina viridis), bird of northern South America, the sole member of the subfamily Tersininae, family Emberizidae; some authors give it family rank (Tersinidae). About 15 cm (6 inches) long, it resembles a tanager with long wings and a swallowlike bill. The male is light blue, with black markings; the female is mostly green. Swallow-tanagers catch insects on the

A-ch'eng

2005-02-22T00:41:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Acheng, formerly (until 1909) Ashihho, city in Heilungkiang sheng (province), China. Located southeast of Harbin (Ha-erh-pin) in the basin of the A-shih River, it is a collecting and commercial centre for a rich agricultural district that provides part of Harbin's food supply. A-ch'eng is also an industrial centre with brickworks, engineering works specializing in electrical equipment and other machinery,

Bloch, Jean-richard

2005-02-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

In 1910, while teaching in Poitiers, Bloch started L'Effort libre, a “review of revolutionary civilization.” His essay Naissance d'une culture (1936; “Birth of a Culture”) called for an art that would associate the democratic tradition with a proletarian culture. The stories in

Advertising Coloration

2005-02-21T01:33:00.000-08:00

In animals, the use of biological coloration to make an organism unique and highly visible as compared with the background, thereby providing easily perceived information as to its location, identity, and movement. Such advertisement may serve the function of attracting individuals in order to enter into some advantageous interaction (e.g., courtship for reproductive

Gahanbar

2005-02-20T02:01:00.000-08:00

In Zoroastrianism, any of six festivals, occurring at irregular intervals throughout the year, which celebrate the seasons and possibly the six stages in the creation of the world (the heavens, water, the earth, the vegetable world, the animal world, and man). Each lasting five days, the Gahanbars are: Maidhyaoizaremaya (Midspring), occurring in the month of Artavahisht,

Taconic Orogeny

2005-02-19T22:32:00.000-08:00

A mountain-building event that affected the Appalachian Geosyncline along the eastern coast of the United States. Evidence for the orogeny is most pronounced in the northern Appalachians, but its effects can be noted in the Ridge and Valley Province as far south as Tennessee and in the Piedmont Province as far south as Georgia. Originally thought to have occurred

Fruit Spot

2005-02-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

Symptom of plant disease, usually caused by fungi and bacteria. A spot is a definite, localized area. Spots frequently enlarge and merge to form a rot, a softening discoloration and often a disintegration of tissue. All fruits are susceptible; infection commonly starts at a wound, the stem end, or the underside. Bacterial decays that are caused

Local Church, The

2005-02-19T02:10:00.000-08:00

The Local Church grew out of the ministry of Watchman Nee (1903–72), a Chinese Christian who had been strongly influenced by the Plymouth Brethren, a British fundamentalist free church. In the 1930s Nee wrote several books presenting his beliefs

Beirut, American University Of

2005-02-18T13:02:00.000-08:00

Private, nondenominational, coeducational international and intercultural university in Beirut, Lebanon, chartered in 1863 by the state of New York, U.S., as the Syrian Protestant College. Classes started in 1866. Although founded by the American Protestant Mission to Lebanon, the school was set up as an autonomous organization and has no official relationship with any religious

Spain, Music

2005-02-18T06:12:00.000-08:00

The influence of the past was particularly strong in the field of music. Composers such as Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909), Enrique Granados (1867–1916), Manuel de Falla (1876–1946), and Joaquín Rodrigo (b. 1901) drew heavily on popular and regional music for their inspiration. One by-product of this was the creation of a serious musical repertoire for the guitar. The instrument gained additional stature from the

Loren, Sophia

2005-02-17T04:40:00.000-08:00

Before working in the cinema, Sofia Scicolone changed her name to Sofia Lazzaro for work in the foto-romanzo, popular pulp magazines that used still photographs

Beit Bridge

2005-02-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Beitbridge town, southern Zimbabwe. It lies near the bridge named for Alfred Beit, British South African financier, across the Limpopo River. The bridge is situated on the border with Northern province, South Africa, opposite Messina and is a port of entry and a customs and immigration post. The town, founded in 1929, was for many years the terminus of the railway from Pretoria, until a

Basil Ii

2005-02-16T00:13:00.000-08:00

The reign of Basil II, widely acknowledged to be one of the outstanding Byzantine emperors, admirably illustrates both

Forensic Medicine

2005-02-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

The primary tool of forensic medicine has always

Boiler

2005-02-15T04:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Steam Generator, apparatus designed to convert a liquid to vapour. In a conventional steam power plant, a boiler consists of a furnace in which fuel is burned, surfaces to transmit heat from the combustion products to the water, and a space where steam can form and collect. A conventional boiler has a furnace that burns a fossil fuel or, in some installations, waste fuels. A nuclear reactor

Czech Republic, Flag Of The

2005-02-14T09:03:00.000-08:00

The ancient duchy (later kingdom) of Bohemia, a rich and powerful state in the late Middle Ages, had a coat of arms dating from the 12th century that showed a double-tailed and crowned lion, in white, rampant on a red shield. For centuries, however, Bohemia was part of the Holy Roman Empire and, later, Austria-Hungary. As it was not independent, it had no recognized need for a national

Albanian League

2005-02-14T02:07:00.000-08:00

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,

Ocean, The subtropical gyres

2005-02-13T16:24:00.000-08:00

These are anticyclonic circulation features. The Ekman transport within these gyres forces surface water to sink, giving rise to the subtropical convergence near 20°–30° latitude. The centre of the subtropical gyre is shifted to the west. This westward intensification of ocean currents was explained by the American meteorologist and oceanographer Henry M. Stommel

Critius And Nesiotes

2005-02-13T14:35:00.000-08:00

Greek sculptors known for their bronze figures of the tyrannicides Harmodius and Aristogiton, copies of the original bronzes executed by Antenor about 510 BC, which were taken by Xerxes I to Susa and subsequently lost. The copies were placed in the agora in Athens; the figure of the tyrannicides has been identified on Roman coins, vases, reliefs, and

China

2005-02-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

The lower stratum of the Pei-shou-ling culture is represented by finds along the Wei and Ching rivers; bowls, deep-bodied jugs, and three-footed vessels, mainly red in colour, were common. The lower stratum of the related Pan-p'o culture, also in the Wei River drainage area, was characterized by cord-marked red or red-brown ware, especially round and flat-bottomed bowls and

Aleixandre, Vicente

2005-02-12T09:37:00.000-08:00

Aleixandre was the son of a railway engineer. He studied law and business management and from 1920 to 1922 taught commercial law. He became seriously ill in 1925 and during

Furniture, Metal

2005-02-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

Metals have been used since antiquity for making furniture or ornaments for furniture. Splendid Egyptian pieces, such as the thrones and stool that were found in the tomb of the youthful Tutankhamen (14th century BC), were rich in gold mounts (decorative details). In ancient Greece, bronze, iron, and silver were used for making furniture. Finds that were buried in the ashes

Calcium Deficiency

2005-02-11T05:43:00.000-08:00

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

Ileitis

2005-02-10T19:23:00.000-08:00

In general, ileitis can affect