HealthyBoot

Naval Warfare, War from land to sea and from sea to land

2005-04-05T01:40:00.000-07:00

While navies have always had as their ultimate objective an influence over events on land, aircraft and missiles have extended the range and amplified the influence. Likewise, land-based systems have made their growing influence felt on warships and sea-lanes alike. Putting ground forces ashore from the sea by amphibious landing is an operation that has neither

Teasel

2005-04-03T01:41:00.000-08:00

Any of about 15 species constituting the genus Dipsacus of the family Dipsacaceae, native to Europe, the Mediterranean area, and tropical Africa. Many teasels are prickly, coarse biennials with opposite leaves that join at the base to form a rainwater-holding trough around the stem. The tall-domed heads of numerous, four-lobed flowers sit on a crownlike circle

Chang Kuo-t'ao

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

Chang gained prominence as a student leader of the

United States, Effects of the War of 1812

2005-03-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

Internally, the decisions of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Marshall in such cases as McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) and Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) promoted nationalism by strengthening Congress and national power at the expense of the states. The congressional decision to charter the second Bank of the United States (1816) was explained in part by the nation's financial weaknesses, exposed by the War of 1812, and in part by the intrigues of financial interests. The readiness of Southern Jeffersonians—former strict constructionists—to support such a measure indicates, too, an amazing degree of national feeling. Perhaps the clearest sign of a new sense of national unity was the victorious Republican Party, standing in solitary splendour on the national political horizon, its long-time foes the Federalists vanished without a trace (on the national level) and Monroe, the Republican standard-bearer, reelected so overwhelmingly in 1820 that it was long believed that the one electoral vote denied him had been held back only in order to preserve George Washington's record of unanimous selection.

Aqaba, Gulf Of

2005-03-28T06:48:00.000-08:00

Arabic Khalij Al-'aqabah, northeastern arm of the Red Sea, penetrating between Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula. It varies in width from 12 to 17 miles (19 to 27 km) and is 100 miles (160 km) long. The gulf lies in a pronounced cleft between hills rising abruptly to about 2,000 feet (600 m). Navigation is difficult because of the gulf's narrow entrance at the Straits of Tiran and its islands, coral reefs, and sudden squalls. The

Córdoba, Mosque-cathedral Of

2005-03-26T02:55:00.000-08:00

The original structure was built by the Umayyad ruler 'Abd ar-Rahman I in 784–786 with extensions in the 9th and 10th centuries that doubled its size, ultimately making it one of the largest sacred buildings in the Islamic world. The ground plan of the completed building forms a vast rectangle

Derbyshire Dales

2005-03-24T20:05:00.000-08:00

The Romans mined lead in the area between Wirksworth and Castleton, and lead mining continued until the 19th century. Cotton textiles became important when Sir Richard Arkwright built the first water-powered cotton-spinning

Polarization

2005-03-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

Light waves are transverse: that is, the vibrating electric vector associated with each wave is perpendicular to the direction of propagation. A beam of unpolarized light consists of waves moving in the same direction

Peretz, I.l.

2005-03-22T22:15:00.000-08:00

Peretz began writing in Hebrew but soon turned to Yiddish. For his tales, he drew material from the lives of impoverished Jews of eastern Europe. Critical of their

Apterygote

2005-03-21T15:52:00.000-08:00

Broadly, any of the primitive wingless insects of the subclass Apterygota (class Insecta), distinct from the subclass Pterygota or winged insects. Used in this sense, the term apterygotes commonly includes four groups of primitive insects: proturans, collembolans, diplurans (see photograph), and thysanurans. The taxonomic status of these groups, however, remains

Wagon Train

2005-03-20T07:59:00.000-08:00

Caravan of wagons organized by settlers in the United States for emigration to the West during the late 18th and most of the 19th centuries. Composed of up to 100 Conestoga wagons (q.v.; sometimes called prairie schooners), wagon trains soon became the prevailing mode of long-distance overland transportation for both people and goods. Wagon-train transportation moved westward

Earth, The global significance of gravity anomalies

2005-03-20T01:38:00.000-08:00

The investigations of isostasy described above are statistical in approach in that they are directed toward determining depth of compensation and lithospheric thickness from large data sets without reference to individual geologic structures. On the other hand, the study of gravity is capable of extending the understanding of such major features of global

Ibn Miskawayh

2005-03-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

Little is known of Ibn Miskawayh's personal life. It is believed he converted to Islam from Zoroastrianism, the religion of pre-Islamic Iran. His interests included alchemy and

Hess, Moses

2005-03-18T05:23:00.000-08:00

Hess's first published work, Heilige Geschichte der Menschheit von einem Jünger Spinozas (1837; “The Holy History of Mankind, by a Young Spinozist”), exhibited the sharp imprint not only of Benedict de Spinoza's

Baba-yaga

2005-03-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

Also called Baba-jaga, in Russian folklore, an ogress who steals, cooks, and eats her victims, usually children. A guardian of the fountains of the water of life, she lives with two or three sisters (all known as Baba-Yaga) in a forest hut which spins continually on birds' legs; her fence is topped with human skulls. Baba-Yaga can ride through the air—in an iron kettle or in a mortar that she drives with

Baseball

2005-03-16T04:20:00.000-08:00

In January former

González Martínez, Enrique

2005-03-13T13:12:00.000-08:00

González Martínez began writing while practicing medicine in the provinces. With the coming of the Mexican Revolution (1911) he entered public life, serving in the Ministry of Education and holding diplomatic posts in Europe and various Latin-American

Fish-finder

2005-03-13T03:27:00.000-08:00

Also called Netsonde, in commercial fishing, high-frequency sonar device for locating schools of fish. It transmits sound waves downward and receives echoes from the bottom of the sea, or from intervening schools of fish, also indicating distance from ship to fish. Two different types are used, one of which is a simple “echo sounder” that points directly downward from the ship and indicates

Akron

2005-03-12T10:12:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1842) of Summit county, northeastern Ohio, U.S. It lies along the Cuyahoga River, 41 miles (66 km) south-southeast of Cleveland. Akron is the centre of a metropolitan area that includes the cities of Cuyahoga Falls, Tallmadge, and Stow and several villages. At 1,200 feet (370 m) above sea level, it was named for its “high place” (Greek: akros) on the watershed between the Mississippi River and

Wu San-kuei

2005-03-10T19:29:00.000-08:00

Wu had been the Ming general in charge of defending the northeast frontier against the Manchus. When the Imperial

Photography, Portraiture

2005-03-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

A new style of portrait, introduced in Paris by André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri in 1854, was universally popular from 1859 onward. It came to be called the carte de visite because the size of the mounted photograph (four by 2 1/2 inches) corresponded to that of a calling card. Disdéri used a four-lens camera to produce eight negatives on a single glass plate. Each picture could be separately

Canary

2005-03-08T18:15:00.000-08:00

(species Serinus canaria), popular cage bird of the family Carduelidae (order Passeriformes). It owes its coloration and sustained vocal powers to 400 years of selective breeding by humans. Varieties called rollers trill almost continuously, the notes running together; choppers have a loud trill of distinct notes. Well-known breeds include Hartz Mountain, Norwich, and

Thenard, Louis-jacques

2005-03-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

A peasant's son, Thenard endured extreme hardships to gain his scientific education. His several teaching posts were obtained through the influence of Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin, who also arranged Thenard's succession to his

Kwahu Plateau

2005-03-06T14:44:00.000-08:00

Plateau, southern Ghana. It comprises the uplifted southern edge of the Volta River basin and extends for 160 miles (260 km) northwest-southeast from Wenchi to Koforidua. It forms the main watershed of Ghana, separating rivers in the western half of Ghana that flow due south to the Atlantic Ocean (Birim, Pra, Ankobra) from those of the Volta system (Afram, Pru, Sene) in the eastern

Tura, Cosimo

2005-03-05T13:29:00.000-08:00

Tura was court artist at the celebrated Renaissance court of the Este dukes at Ferrara and served successively dukes Borso and Ercole I. He was probably trained in Francesco Squarcione's workshop in Padua and was influenced

Raden

2005-03-04T10:29:00.000-08:00

Japanese decorative technique used for lacquerware and woodenware, in which linings of mother-of-pearl or of abalone shells are cut into designs and either glued onto or inserted into the surface of the lacquer or wood. There are several varieties of raden lacquerware. Atsugai-ho, a technique using thick shell, consists of two methods, one of which is inlay: the shell

Melanoma

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

A spreading and frequently recurring cancer of specialized skin cells (melanocytes) that produce the protective skin-darkening pigment melanin. In the United States melanoma represents less than 5 percent of all cases of skin cancer, yet it is responsible for nearly three-quarters of all skin cancer deaths and is increasing in frequency. Unlike other skin growths,

Shiga Naoya

2005-03-02T18:57:00.000-08:00

Born into an aristocratic samurai family, Shiga was taken by his parents to live with his paternal grandparents in Tokyo in 1885. In his youth he was influenced by the Christian educator Uchimura Kanzo, but Christianity

Earth, Magnetic stormsgrowth of the ring current

2005-03-02T02:11:00.000-08:00

The ring current is produced by the drift around the Earth of charged particles of the outer Van Allen radiation belt. During quiet conditions the effect of this current at the Earth's surface is negligible ([sim]20 nanoteslas). Once or twice a month there occurs a phenomenon known as a magnetic storm, during which the intensity of the ring current increases and produces

Neoprioniodiform

2005-02-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Conodont, or small toothlike phosphatic fossil of uncertain affinity, that is characterized by a main terminal cusp, varying numbers of subsidiary cusps or denticles that may be completely fused, and an underside region that is deeply grooved. Several genera are included in the neoprioniodiforms, including excellent guide fossils for the Ordovician

Packard, Sophia B.

2005-02-28T15:23:00.000-08:00

Packard attended local district school and from the age of 14 alternated periods of study with periods of teaching in rural schools. In 1850 she graduated from the Female Seminary of Charlestown,

Cyprus, The Persian Empire

2005-02-25T16:29:00.000-08:00

In 525 BC the Cypriot kings transferred their allegiance to the Achaemenid (Persian) conquerors of Egypt. The Cypriots retained their independence until the accession of Darius I in 522 but were then incorporated into the fifth satrapy of the Persian Empire. When the Ionians revolted in 499, all the kingdoms of Cyprus except Amathus joined them; the revolt was subsequently suppressed,

Adam, Adolphe

2005-02-25T05:21:00.000-08:00

Adam wrote 71 operas, the best of which are generally considered to be Le Postillon de Longjumeau (1836) and Giralda (1850). In his ballets—which he composed for production in London, Berlin,

Cheilostomata

2005-02-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

Major division of the bryozoans (small, colonial, aquatic invertebrate animals) that first appeared during the Jurassic period (208 to 144 million years ago). Individual members of the cheilostome colony are protected by a calcareous or chitinous covering that may be closed by a lidlike structure, an operculum. The cheilostomes are exclusively marine animals, and the plantlike

Volcano, Lava domes

2005-02-22T14:44:00.000-08:00

Landforms of this sort consist of steep domal mounds of lava so viscous that the lava piles up over its vent without flowing away. The rock types that form lava domes are generally andesites, dacites, or rhyolites. Somehow these viscous lavas have lost much of their gas content in prior eruptions or by slow rise to the surface. Even so, it is not unusual for an actively

Ayacucho, Battle Of

2005-02-22T04:04:00.000-08:00

(Dec. 9, 1824), in the Latin-American wars of independence, revolutionary victory over royalists on the high plateau near Ayacucho, Peru. It freed Peru and ensured the independence of the nascent South American republics from Spain. The revolutionary forces, numbering about 6,000 men—among them Venezuelans, Colombians, Argentines, and Chileans, as well as Peruvians—were under the

New Bern

2005-02-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1722) of Craven county, eastern North Carolina, U.S. It lies at the confluence of the Neuse and Trent Rivers, about 35 miles (55 km) northeast of Jacksonville. The second oldest town in North Carolina, New Bern was settled in 1710 by Freiherr (baron) Christophe von Graffenried of Bern, Switzerland. It was incorporated in 1723 after near destruction by Native Americans. Colonial North

Giraud, Henri (-honoré)

2005-02-18T01:04:00.000-08:00

After graduating from Saint-Cyr in 1900, Giraud first served in Morocco and was captured by the Germans during World War I. Returning to North Africa in 1922, he participated in the Rif War. Early in World War II, he commanded an army but was again captured in

Scad

2005-02-16T10:24:00.000-08:00

Any of several species of fishes in the family Carangidae (order Perciformes), which also includes the jacks, amberjacks, and pompanos. The name scad is usually restricted to certain species in the genera Decapterus, Selar, and Trachurus. The half dozen species are marine and occur along the Atlantic coast of the Americas, except for the Mexican scad (D. scombrinus), which

Gandhi, Indira

2005-02-14T08:08:00.000-08:00

She was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India. She attended Visva-Bharati University, West Bengal, and the University of Oxford, and in 1942 she married Feroze

Scandinavian Literature, Swedish

2005-02-10T03:38:00.000-08:00

The early years of the 20th century were a period of decadence and pessimism in Swedish literature. Representative of this mood were Hjalmar Söderberg and Bo Bergman. Söderberg's forte was the short story (Historietter [1898]), in which psychological subtlety and irony were happily combined and in which, as in his novels Martin Bircks ungdom (1901; “Martin Birck's Youth”) and Doktor

Narodnaya, Mount

2005-02-05T06:22:00.000-08:00

Russian Gora Narodnaya (“People's Mountain”), peak of the Nether-Polar section of the Ural Mountains in west-central Russia. Rising to 6,217 feet (1,895 m), it is the highest mountain in the Urals range. Several small glaciers are found on the slopes of Narodnaya and nearby mountains. Coniferous forests lie on the lower slopes of the mountain, giving way fairly quickly to tundra higher up. The gentler slopes

Wilamowitz-moellendorff, Ulrich Von

2005-02-03T04:43:00.000-08:00

Educated at the universities of Bonn and Berlin, Wilamowitz-Moellendorff served in the Franco-German War (1870) and traveled through Italy and Greece.

Johannesen, Knut

2005-02-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

In addition to numerous Olympic medals and world records, Johannesen won acclaim for regaining Norway's dominance in speed skating and for being the first skater ever to complete 10,000 metres in less than 16 minutes. He accomplished the latter feat

Luria, Salvador

2005-01-30T07:10:00.000-08:00

Luria graduated from the University of Turin in 1935 and became a radiology specialist. He fled Italy for France in 1938 and went to the United States

Wilberforce, William

2005-01-28T10:26:00.000-08:00

At Cambridge, where he became a close friend of the future prime minister William Pitt the Younger, Wilberforce was known as an amiable companion rather

John The Apostle, Saint

2005-01-27T02:42:00.000-08:00

The son of Zebedee, a Galilean fisherman, and Salome, John and his brother James were among the first disciples called by Jesus. In the Gospel According to Mark he is always mentioned

Kernel

2005-01-24T23:18:00.000-08:00

(for symbol, see integration), both the kernel function, K(x, y), and g(x) are given, and f(x) is the function sought. As an example, in Abel's equation for the curve followed by a particle moving in a vertical plane under the influence of gravity, which takes the form of the integral

Caruaru

2005-01-22T07:04:00.000-08:00

City, eastern Pernambuco estado (“state”), northeastern Brazil, on the Ipojuca River at 1,804 feet (550 m) above sea level. Caruaru originated as a weekly market centre; it was elevated to city status in 1857. Agriculture, livestock, and food processing are the principal sources of income, and there is some light manufacturing. The city has many fairs and religious festivals. It is accessible

Yi Dynasty

2005-01-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

General Yi established

Ksar El-kebir

2005-01-18T17:01:00.000-08:00

Originally a Greek and Carthaginian colony, the site was occupied by the Romans, whose ruins remain, and by the Byzantines. The Arab town, which was founded in the 8th century, has one of the oldest mosques of western Morocco, built with inscribed stones from an earlier Christian church. Ksar el-Kebir, which

Distribution

2005-01-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

Also called Distribution Of Terms, in syllogistics, the application of a term of a proposition to the entire class that the term denotes. A term is said to be distributed in a given proposition if that proposition implies all other propositions that differ from it only in having, in place of the original term, any other term whose extension is a part of that of the original term—i.e., if, and only if, the term

Uitlander

2005-01-15T01:19:00.000-08:00

(Afrikaans: “outlander”), any British or other non-Afrikaner immigrant in the Transvaal region in the 1880s and '90s. The prospect of gold lured large numbers of newcomers to Johannesburg, where they became a majority of the citizenry and were led by an aristocracy of wealthy mine owners. The Transvaal's long-established rural population of Boers (Afrikaners), afraid of being

Patagonia

2005-01-12T10:08:00.000-08:00

Semiarid scrub plateau that covers nearly all of the southern portion of mainland Argentina. With an area of about 260,000 square miles (673,000 square kilometres), it constitutes a vast area of steppe and desert that extends from latitude 37° to 51° S. It is bounded, approximately, by the Patagonian Andes to the west, the Colorado River to the north (except where the region extends north of

Wen Ti

2005-01-11T01:41:00.000-08:00

Among numerous legends about Wen Ti, he is said to have had 17 reincarnations, during

Dorgon

2005-01-08T16:20:00.000-08:00

Franz Michael, The Origin of Manchu Rule in China (1942, reprinted 1965), a concise, basic survey of the historical development of the beginning Manchu empire, includes information about Dorgon; Fang Chao-ying, “Dorgon,” in Arthur W. Hummel (ed.), Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1644–1912, vol. 1, pp. 215–219 (1943), is a short biography.

Bloodfin

2005-01-06T00:54:00.000-08:00

Freshwater fish, a species of characin (q.v.).

Aquatic Locomotion

2005-01-04T06:45:00.000-08:00

Free-swimming locomotion is found in animals ranging from protozoans to whales. For effective swimming the animal controls its buoyancy and has a propulsion system able to compete with the resistance of water movements. Many invertebrates

Sabha

2005-01-03T03:42:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sebha, town, southwestern Libya, in a Saharan oasis. It was an active caravan centre from the 11th century. The modern town of stark white buildings and wide streets is surrounded by older settlements of mud-walled dwellings and covered alleyways. The former Italian Fort Elena, on a nearby hill, is now used for offices, shops, and a hospital. The town continues as a trade and transport

Yahya Ibn Mahmud Al-wasiti

2004-12-31T20:07:00.000-08:00

Yahya was not the first to paint in this style, but he was the best artist

Ithaca College

2004-12-30T16:50:00.000-08:00

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Ithaca, New York, U.S. It comprises the Roy H. Park School of Communications and schools of business, health sciences and human performance, humanities and sciences, and music. In addition to undergraduate studies, the college offers master's degree programs in communication, health sciences, and music. Students

Portsmouth

2004-12-28T07:12:00.000-08:00

City, Rockingham county, southeastern New Hampshire, U.S., across the Piscataqua River from Kittery, Maine, on the Atlantic coast. It is New Hampshire's oldest settlement, second oldest city, first capital, and only seaport. In 1623 a fishing settlement was built at the river's mouth. First called Piscataqua and then Strawbery Banke, it became a bustling colonial port. The town,

Saarinen, Eero

2004-12-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

Eero was the son of the noted architect Eliel Saarinen and Loja Gesellius, a sculptor. The Saarinen family of four, including a sister, Eva-Lisa, moved to the United States in 1923. Eero attended public schools in Michigan. In 1929 he studied sculpture at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris but, as he recounted years later, “it never occurred to me to do anything but follow

Nordenskjöld, Otto

2004-12-24T06:44:00.000-08:00

A nephew of the scientist-explorer Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld, he became a lecturer in mineralogy and geology at the University of Uppsala, Sweden, in 1894 and led a geologic expedition to southern South America

France, History Of, Economy, society, and culture in the 14th and 15th centuries

2004-12-21T13:06:00.000-08:00

The long war, fought almost entirely in France, benefited few but the captains and peculators; it injured almost everyone. Even the best disciplined companies lived off the land, so that French peasants and defeated townsfolk in effect paid the expenses of both sides; and undisciplined mercenary bands were a wearisome scourge in times of truce after the middle of

Spoonbill

2004-12-20T13:30:00.000-08:00

Any member of six species of long-legged wading birds that constitute the subfamily Plataleinae of the family Threskiornithidae (order Ciconiiformes), which also includes the ibises. Spoonbills are found in estuaries, saltwater bayous, and lakes. They feed by sweeping the long bill from side to side in the mud or shallow water and thereby catching mostly small fishes

Tsuyama

2004-12-17T09:45:00.000-08:00

City, Okayama ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies along the upper Yoshii River, in the centre of the Tsuyama basin. A castle was built there in 1442. An important post town during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), Tsuyama is still a centre of traditional home industries, producing tabi (socks), sickles, and silk gauze textiles. The remains of the castle and old buildings around it attract

Belgium, History Of

2004-12-16T21:13:00.000-08:00

After the Burgundian regime in the Low Countries (1363–1477), the southern as well as the northern provinces had dynastic links with the Austrian Habsburgs, then with Spain and the Austrian Habsburgs together. Later, as a consequence of revolt in

Indeterminacy

2004-12-14T04:44:00.000-08:00

In literature, the multiplicity of possible interpretations of given textual elements. The term was given its literary meaning by deconstruction theorists. Indeterminacy is similar to ambiguity as described by the New Critics, but it is applied by its practitioners not only to literature but also to the interpretation of texts.

Cincinnati, Society Of The

2004-12-09T15:47:00.000-08:00

Hereditary, military, and patriotic organization formed in May 1783 by officers who had served in the American Revolution. Its objectives were to promote union and national honour, maintain their war-born friendship, perpetuate the rights for which they had fought, and aid members and their families in case of need. The society took its name from the Roman citizen-soldier

Waddenzee

2004-12-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

Shallow inlet of the North Sea between the West Frisian Islands and the northern Netherlands mainland. The inlet extends from Noord-Holland to the northeast, where the islands gradually curve toward the mainland and the channel narrows to a few miles. Until the completion of the IJsselmeer dam (Afsluitdijk), Waddenzee formed the northern part of the former Zuiderzee.

Brú, Hedin

2004-12-06T00:41:00.000-08:00

At the age of 14 Brú worked as a fisherman. He spent much of the 1920s studying agriculture in Denmark, and from 1928 he was an agricultural adviser to the Faroese government. His first two novels, Longbrá (1930; “Mirage”) and Fastatøkur (1937; “Firm Grip”), dramatize the

Hong Gai

2004-12-04T17:37:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Hon Gai, port city, northeastern Vietnam. Hong Gai lies along Ha Long Bay of the Gulf of Tonkin, about 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Haiphong. It is an export centre for coal mined at nearby Quang Yen, the site of anthracite deposits that are the largest in Southeast Asia. Other economic activities in the area are rice farming and fishing. Ha Long Bay is noted for its many strangely shaped

Actinometer

2004-12-02T13:10:00.000-08:00

A typical actinometer is a liquid solution

Cartwright, Edmund

2004-11-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

Cartwright began his career as a clergyman, becoming, in 1779, rector of Goadby Marwood, Leicestershire; in 1786 he was a prebendary in Lincoln (Lincolnshire) cathedral. He probably would have spent his life as an obscure

Shamanism, Basic tasks

2004-11-28T13:00:00.000-08:00

It is the obligation of the shaman to know all matters that human beings need to know in everyday life but are unable to learn through their own capacities. He foresees events distant in time and space, discovers the place of a lost animal, forecasts prospects for fishing and hunting, and assists in increasing the gain. Besides these everyday functions, he is a healer

Nagappattinam

2004-11-26T15:27:00.000-08:00

Formerly Negapattam, port city, east-central Tamil Nadu state, southeastern India, on the Bay of Bengal. An ancient port known to have traded with Europe in Greek and Roman times, it became a Portuguese and later a Dutch colony. Its influence declined with the growth of Madras, 250 miles (400 km) north. Its industry includes ship repair, fishing, steel rolling, and the manufacture of metal goods. Pop. (1991 prelim.)

Uttar Pradesh, Prehistory and mythology

2004-11-24T05:54:00.000-08:00

Archaeology is beginning to shed new light on the early civilization of Uttar Pradesh. The remains of several human skeletons, found in the southern district of Pratapgarh, have been dated to about 10,000 BC. Knowledge of the area prior to the 7th century BC has largely been gained through Vedic literature and the two great Indian epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, which describe

Wild Duck

2004-11-22T01:41:00.000-08:00

In the Northern Hemisphere, common name for the mallard (q.v.).

Alkali Feldspar

2004-11-20T07:39:00.000-08:00

Any of several common silicate minerals that often occur as variously coloured, glassy crystals. They are used in the manufacture of glass and ceramics; transparent, highly coloured, or iridescent varieties are sometimes used as gemstones. The alkali feldspars are primarily important as constituents of rocks; they are very widespread and abundant in alkali and

Aterian Industry

2004-11-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

Stone tool tradition of the Middle and Late Paleolithic, found widespread in the late Pleistocene throughout northern Africa. The Aterian people were among the first to use the bow and arrow. Aterian stone tools are an advanced African form of the European Levalloisian tradition, adapted to desert use. A distinctive Aterian sign is the formation of stems, or tangs,

Domicile

2004-11-15T14:58:00.000-08:00

In law, a person's dwelling place as it is defined for purposes of judicial jurisdiction and governmental burdens and benefits. Certain aspects of a person's legal existence do not vary with the state he happens to be in at any given moment but are governed by a personal law that follows him at all times. In Anglo-American countries applying the common law, one's personal

Deorai, Battle Of

2004-11-13T00:32:00.000-08:00

Dara challenged Aurangzeb, relying on the promised support of Jaswant Singh of Marwar, but Jaswant then deserted him, and Dara was left to face Aurangzeb's superior army alone.

Amory, Thomas

2004-11-12T19:38:00.000-08:00

A staunch Unitarian

Köflach

2004-11-09T02:39:00.000-08:00

Town, Steiermark Bundesland (federal state), southern Austria, west of Graz. Köflach received market rights in 1170 but did not achieve town status until 1939. It is a rail terminus and has glass and porcelain works. Important lignite (brown coal) mines are nearby, and the Lipizzaner horses (originating from the former Austrian imperial stud at Lipizza, near Trieste; see photograph

Ionosphere

2004-11-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

Region of the Earth's atmosphere in which the number of ions, or electrically charged particles—resulting from the action of extraterrestrial (primarily solar) radiation on the neutral atoms and molecules of the air—is large enough to affect the propagation of radio waves. The ionosphere begins at a height of about 50 km (30 miles) above the surface but is most distinct

Aguascalientes

2004-11-05T06:13:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Aguascalientes state, central Mexico. It stands on the central plateau at 6,194 ft (1,888 m) above sea level, on the left bank of the Río de Aguascalientes. Founded as a mining settlement in 1575 and designated a town in 1661, Aguascalientes was named capital when the state was created during the 1850s. It is sometimes called La Ciudad Perforada (The Perforated City) because of a labyrinth

Spice Trade

2004-11-02T16:00:00.000-08:00

Cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric were known to Eastern peoples thousands of years ago, and they became important items of commerce early in the evolution of trade. Cinnamon and cassia found their way to the Middle East at least 2,000 years

Abu Nuwas

2004-10-31T00:09:00.000-07:00

Abu Nuwas, of mixed Arab and Persian heritage, studied in Basra and al-Kufah, first under the poet Walibah ibn al-Hubab, later under Khalaf al-Ahmar. He also studied the Qur'an (Islamic sacred scripture), Hadith (traditions relating to the life and utterances of the Prophet), and grammar and is said to have spent a year with the

Memory Abnormality

2004-10-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

Some forms of amnesia appear to be quite different from those associated with detectable injury or disease of the brain. These comprise, first, amnesias that can be induced in apparently normal individuals by means of suggestion under hypnosis; and secondly, amnesias that arise spontaneously in reaction to acute conflict or stress, and which are commonly called

Orhan

2004-10-26T22:39:00.000-07:00

Under Orhan's leadership, the small Ottoman principality in northwestern Anatolia continued to attract Ghazis (warriors for the Islamic faith) from surrounding Turkish emirates fighting against Byzantium.

Borsippa

2004-10-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Modern Birs , or Birs Nimrud ancient Babylonian city southwest of Babylon in central Iraq. Its patron god was Nabu, and the city's proximity to the capital, Babylon, helped it to become an important religious centre. Hammurabi (reigned 1792–50 BC) built or rebuilt the Ezida temple at Borsippa, dedicating it to Marduk (the national god of Babylonia); subsequent kings recognized Nabu as the deity of Ezida and

Gauss's Law

2004-10-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

Either of two statements describing electric and magnetic fluxes. Gauss's law for electricity states that the electric flux across any closed surface is proportional to the net electric charge enclosed by the surface. The law implies that isolated electric charges exist and that like charges repel one another while unlike charges attract. Gauss's law for magnetism

Babuyan Islands

2004-10-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

Island group of the Philippines that is a northerly extension of the Philippine archipelago. The Babuyan Islands lie in the Luzon Strait, south of the Batan Islands and Balintang Channel. They lie 20 miles (32 km) north of Luzon across the Babuyan Channel. With a total area of 230 square miles (600 square km), they comprise 24 volcanic-coralline islands, the chief of which are Babuyan,

Angus, Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl Of

2004-10-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

By his second marriage in 1514 to the queen dowager Margaret Tudor, Angus aroused the jealousy of the nobles. Margaret was supplanted in 1515 as regent and guardian of the infant James V by the Duke

Beaconsfield

2004-10-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

Town in northern Tasmania, Australia. It lies on the west bank of the Tamar River, 29 miles (46 km) northwest of Launceston. The site of the present town, originally known as Cabbage Tree Hill, was renamed Brandy Creek when gold was found nearby in 1870. In 1879 F.A. Weld, governor of Tasmania, gave the town its present name in honour of Benjamin Disraeli, the 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. Between

Kidney

2004-10-12T16:21:00.000-07:00

In vertebrates and some invertebrates, organ that maintains water balance and expels metabolic wastes. Primitive and embryonic kidneys consist of two series of specialized tubules that empty into two collecting ducts, the Wolffian ducts (see Wolffian duct). The more advanced kidney (metanephros)

Rural Society

2004-10-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

Society in which there is a low ratio of inhabitants to open land and in which the most important economic activities are the production of foodstuffs, fibres, and raw materials. Such areas are difficult to define with greater precision, for, although in nonindustrialized nations the transition from city to countryside is usually abrupt, it is gradual in industrialized

Haakon Vi Magnusson

2004-10-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

Byname Haakon Magnusson The Younger, Norwegian Håkon Magnusson Den Yngre king of Norway (1355–80) whose marriage to Margaret, daughter of the Danish king Valdemar IV, in 1363 paved the way for the eventual union (1397) of the three major Scandinavian nations—Denmark, Norway, and Sweden—the Kalmar Union. Haakon was deeply embroiled throughout his reign in political conflicts with Sweden, Denmark, and the cities of the north German trading confederation,

Earth, The concept of the geoid

2004-10-07T06:29:00.000-07:00

As noted above, the actual sea-level surface of the Earth, even in the absence of the effects of waves, winds, currents, and tides, is not a simple mathematical form. The unperturbed ocean surface must be an equipotential surface of the gravitational field, and because the latter reflects variations due to heterogeneities of density within the Earth, so also do the equipotentials.