ViolentRun

World War Ii, Yalta

2005-04-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

Roosevelt's last meeting with Stalin and Churchill took place at Yalta, in the Crimea, Feb. 4–11, 1945. The conference is chiefly remembered for its treatment of the Polish problem: the western Allied leaders, abandoning their support of the Polish government in London, agreed that the Lublin committee—already recognized as the provisional government of Poland by the Soviet

Abbess

2005-04-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

To be elected, an abbess must be at least 40 years old and a professed nun for at least 10 years. She is solemnly blessed

Annelid, Leeches

2005-04-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

Leeches have 34 segments, and elongation occurs by the subdivision of these segments. Leeches have a small sucker at the anterior end and a large sucker at the posterior end. A clitellum is present in the mid-region during the reproductive period. The poorly developed eyes are paired structures at the anterior end. Setae are absent.

Pacific Mountain System

2005-04-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese explorer in the service of Spain, probably was the first European to explore the coast of California. He is thought to have sailed north in 1542, and his pilot, Bartolomé Ferrelo, may have reached as far as the present southern border of Oregon. Sir Francis Drake sailed the coast in 1579 and may have landed in Oregon. Juan Pérez landed on the

Szilard, Leo

2005-04-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

In 1922 Szilard received his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin and joined the staff of the Institute of Theoretical

Giolitti, Giovanni

2005-04-02T03:03:00.000-08:00

Statesman and five times prime minister under whose leadership Italy prospered. He had many enemies, however, and retained power by using the highly criticized technique called giolittismo, which is associated with corruption and violence on election days and with personal deals rather

Economic Growth

2005-04-01T20:52:00.000-08:00

Growth can best be described as a process of transformation. Whether one examines an economy that is already modern and

Hawthorn

2005-03-31T13:23:00.000-08:00

Also called Haw, or Thornapple, any of a number of thorny shrubs or small trees of the genus Crataegus, in the rose family (Rosaceae), native to the North Temperate Zone. Many species are native to North America. The hawthorn's leaves are simple, and usually toothed or lobed. The white or pink flowers, usually in clusters, are followed by small applelike, red fruits, or more rarely by blue or black

Charadriiform

2005-03-31T03:24:00.000-08:00

The earliest known Charadrii are represented by miscellaneous bones from the Upper Cretaceous rock layers of Wyoming, considered to constitute a family, the Cimolopterygidae, of the Charadrii. These bones, comprising two genera and four species, show closest resemblance to the avocets. Of similar age, but extending into middle Eocene times, are the Paleotringinae

Arabia, History Of, Minaeans

2005-03-29T21:34:00.000-08:00

The Minaean kingdom (Ma'in) lasted from the 4th to the 2nd century BC and was predominantly a trading organization that, for the period, monopolized the trade routes. References to Ma'in occur earlier in Sabaean texts, where they seem to be loosely associated with the 'Amir people to the north of the Minaean capital of Qarnaw (now Ma'in), which is at the eastern end of the Wadi al-Jawf

Hammar, Lake

2005-03-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

Arabic Hawr Al-hammar, large swampy lake in southeastern Iraq, south of the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Fed by distributaries of the Euphrates, the lake (70 miles [110 km] long; 750 square miles [1,950 square km] in area) drains via a short channel into the Shatt al-Arab near Basra. It was once only a reed-filled marshland but was later utilized as a natural irrigation reservoir for the fertile soils

Digestive System Disease, Ascites

2005-03-29T05:06:00.000-08:00

The accumulation of fluid in the abdominal cavity, or ascites, is related to portal hypertension, significant reduction in serum albumin, and renal retention of sodium. When albumin levels in the blood are lower than normal, there is a marked reduction in the force that holds plasma water within the blood vessels and normally resists the effects of the intravascular

Ijolite

2005-03-28T11:47:00.000-08:00

Intrusive igneous rock that is composed essentially of nepheline and an alkali pyroxene, usually aegirinaugite. It is the plutonic equivalent of the volcanic nephelinites and nepheline dolerites. Typically, the pyroxene is well-crystallized and is surrounded by the nepheline. Accessory minerals include black garnet, titanite, perovskite, apatite, cancrinite,

Viola

2005-03-28T05:41:00.000-08:00

Stringed musical instrument, the tenor of the violin family. It is built in proportions similar to those of the violin but has a body length of 37 to 43 centimetres (14.5 to 17 inches), about 5 cm (2 inches) longer than a violin. Its four strings are tuned c–g–d¢–a¢, beginning with the C below middle C. The viola's tone is darker,

Afar

2005-03-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

Amharic Adal, Arabic Denakil, a people of the Horn of Africa who speak Saho, a language of the Eastern Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) family. They live in northeastern Ethiopia and in Djibouti, where, with the Issas, they are the dominant people. It is thought that the Afars were the first of the present inhabitants of Ethiopia to elaborate their pastoral life into full-scale

Gaelic Football

2005-03-26T19:02:00.000-08:00

In the modern game, sides are limited

Medicine, Britain

2005-03-26T17:28:00.000-08:00

Public health services in Britain are organized locally under the National Health Service. The medical officer of health is employed by the local council and is the adviser in health matters. The larger councils employ a number of mostly full-time medical officers; in some rural areas, a general practitioner may be employed part-time as medical officer of

Close, Chuck

2005-03-26T16:47:00.000-08:00

Close began taking art lessons as a child and at age 14 saw an exhibition of Jackson Pollock's abstract paintings, which helped inspire him to become a painter. He studied at the University of Washington

Aral Sea

2005-03-24T11:09:00.000-08:00

Uzbek Orol

Henderson

2005-03-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

City, Clark county, southeastern Nevada, U.S., midway between Las Vegas and Boulder City. It was established in 1942 in the desert below Clark Mountain to provide housing for the employees of a government-constructed magnesium plant and was named for U.S. Senator Charles Belknap Henderson (1873–1954). Inactivated at the close of World War II when the plant was closed, the project was later

Alaska, Cultural life

2005-03-23T20:01:00.000-08:00

Alaska's past, including the arts and crafts of its native peoples, is a major influence in Alaskan culture. Juneau is the site of the state's historical library and state museum. The university has a large museum, as do other communities, including Sitka, Haines, Valdez, and Nome. Eminent Alaskan artists have included both whites and Eskimos. Native ivory and wood carvings

Belcher Islands

2005-03-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

Archipelago in southeastern Hudson Bay, north of the mouth of James Bay, Baffin region, Nunavut territory, Canada. The islands, low-lying and striated, cover a total area of about 5,000 square miles (13,000 square km), of which 1,118 square miles (2,896 square km) is land. The group, first sighted by the English navigator Henry Hudson in 1610 and named for Sir Edward Belcher, who commanded an Arctic expedition

Elis

2005-03-22T23:29:00.000-08:00

The region was bounded on the north by Achaea, on the east by Arcadia, and on the south by Messenia. Elis consisted of three districts from north to south: Hollow Elis, which occupied the basin

Pendleton, Edmund

2005-03-22T06:53:00.000-08:00

In 1751 Pendleton

Wyeth, Andrew

2005-03-21T23:26:00.000-08:00

Wyeth's father, N.C. Wyeth, was a well-known illustrator who had studied under Howard Pyle and who, starting in 1932, served as his son's only teacher. Andrew Wyeth's first exhibition was

Aguilar, Grace

2005-03-21T01:26:00.000-08:00

Aguilar was the daughter of Sephardic Jews. She was tutored in the classics at home and (even in adulthood) was not permitted to move outside

Thierry

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

Also called Thierry Of Alsace, French Thierry D'alsace, Dutch Diederik Van Den Elzas count of Flanders (1128–68), son of Thierry II, duke of Upper Lorraine, and Gertrude, daughter of Robert I the Frisian, count of Flanders. He contested the county of Flanders with William Clito on the death of Charles the Good in 1127. He was recognized by Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres and consolidated his position when William was killed at Alost in 1128. He married the

Insurance, Reinsurance

2005-03-20T14:24:00.000-08:00

Two main types of treaties exist—pro rata and excess-of-loss

Coral Gables

2005-03-19T14:32:00.000-08:00

City, Miami-Dade county, southeastern Florida, U.S., on Biscayne Bay and adjoining Miami (northeast). George E. Merrick developed the site (beginning about 1920) from a nucleus of his family's 160 acres (65 hectares) of citrus and farmland and named it for the family's house of coral rock walls and gables. It is a well-planned residential area, noted for its landscaped plazas and streets

Wambaugh, Sarah

2005-03-19T03:24:00.000-08:00

Wambaugh graduated from Radcliffe College, Cambridge, in 1902. She remained at the college as an assistant until 1906 while pursuing advanced studies in history and government. For a decade thereafter she worked

Italian Popular Party

2005-03-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

In January 1919 a Sicilian priest, Luigi Sturzo, founded the original Italian Popular Party.

Tu-yün

2005-03-17T20:08:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Duyun, city in central Kweichow sheng (province), China. Situated some 60 miles (100 km) southeast of the provincial capital of Kuei-yang, Tu-yün is a transport centre, with a highway route running eastward into Hunan province and a main route, followed by a highway and railway, running south to Liu-chou in Kwangsi province. It is approximately 25 miles (40 km) south by rail from the junction

Chile

2005-03-17T09:26:00.000-08:00

Language and a common history have promoted cultural homogeneity in the country. Even the Araucanians and certain Aymara minorities in the north share the values of the Chilean identity, while continuing to cherish their own cultural heritage. Chileans have always displayed a high degree of tolerance toward the customs and traditions of minority groups, as

North Germanic Languages, Norwegian

2005-03-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

Old Norwegian writing traditions gradually died out in the 15th century after the union of Norway with Denmark and the removal of the central government to Copenhagen. After independence was achieved in 1814, the linguistic union with Danish persisted, but educational problems due to the linguistic distance between Danish and spoken Norwegian and socio-political

Acanthus

2005-03-16T09:37:00.000-08:00

In architecture and decorative arts, a stylized ornamental motif based on a characteristic Mediterranean plant with jagged leaves, Acanthus spinosus (for illustration, see order). It was first used by the Greeks in the 5th century BC on temple roof ornaments, on wall friezes, and on the capital of the Corinthian column. One of the best examples of its use in the Corinthian

Chile

2005-03-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

French Banque Africaine De Développement African organization established in August 1963 and operational beginning in July 1966 and dedicated to economic development. The Secretariat of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, together with a nine-member committee of experts from member states, engineered the original agreement of establishment, but the bank is not formally associated with the

Conti, Louis-armand Ii De Bourbon, Prince De

2005-03-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

Only surviving son of François-Louis, the Great Conti. He was treated with great liberality by Louis XIV and also by the regent, Philippe, duc d'Orléans. He served under Marshal Villars in the War of the Spanish Succession, but he lacked the soldierly qualities of his father. In 1713 he married Louise-Élisabeth (1693–1775), daughter of Louis-Henri de Bourbon, 7th prince

Gagern, Hans Christoph, Freiherr Von

2005-03-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

Conservative German administrator, patriotic politician, and writer who unsuccessfully called for arming the entire German nation during the French Revolutionary Wars. He represented The Netherlands at the Congress of Vienna (1814–15) and favoured restoring the Holy Roman Empire to protect Germany's

Syrian Chant

2005-03-14T22:24:00.000-08:00

Generic term for the vocal music of the various Syrian Christian churches, including Eastern Orthodox churches such as the Jacobites and Nestorians, and the Eastern churches in union with Rome—e.g., the Maronites (mostly in Lebanon) and the Chaldeans, who are dissidents from the Nestorians. To these should be added some branches of nearly all of these groupings in the

Hirst, Ivan

2005-03-14T09:19:00.000-08:00

British army officer (b. March 1, 1916, Saddleworth, Yorkshire, Eng.—d. March 10, 2000, Marsden, West Yorkshire, Eng.), was credited with resurrecting post-World War II German heavy industry when he retooled Volkswagen's bombed-out factory in Wolfsburg, Ger., convinced the British military to order 20,000 vehicles for local use, and began producing the homely, noisy, little “people's car” that came to

Dangerfield, Thomas

2005-03-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Dangerfield robbed his father, a farmer, and was imprisoned several

Hepburn, Katharine

2005-03-13T04:16:00.000-08:00

In full Katharine Houghton Hepburn indomitable American stage and film actress, known as a spirited performer with a touch of eccentricity. She introduced into her roles a strength of character previously considered to be undesirable in Hollywood leading ladies. As an actress she was noted for her brisk upper-class New England accent

France, History Of, The Reformation

2005-03-12T21:36:00.000-08:00

The professional class that grew up in the 16th century, however, was different in one respect from those that had gone before: it represented a predominantly secular culture—the product of Renaissance humanism. Nevertheless, in the second half of the 16th century the Reformation was to embroil France in a series of religious wars that were to pose a serious threat to

Henderson

2005-03-12T21:17:00.000-08:00

City, seat of Henderson county, northwestern Kentucky, U.S., on a bluff overlooking the Ohio River, 7 miles (11 km) south of Evansville, Indiana. The town site, around Red Banks (settled 1784), was laid out in 1797 by the Transylvania Land Company and named for its promoter, Richard Henderson. Originally a farming settlement, its economy is evenly balanced among industry, agriculture (corn

Medicine, India

2005-03-12T15:11:00.000-08:00

Ayurvedic medicine is an example of a well-organized system of traditional health care, both preventive and curative, that is widely practiced in parts of Asia. Ayurvedic medicine has a long tradition behind it, having originated in India perhaps as long as 3,000 years ago. It is still a favoured form of health care in large parts of the Eastern world, especially in India, where

Biblical Literature, The Letter of James

2005-03-12T13:07:00.000-08:00

The Letter of James, though often criticized as having nothing specifically Christian in its content apart from its use of the phrase the “Lord Jesus Christ” and its salutation to a general audience depicted as the twelve tribes in the dispersion (the Diaspora), is actually a letter most representative of early Christian piety. It depicts the teachings of the early

Hardie, J(ames) Keir

2005-03-10T17:08:00.000-08:00

British labour leader, first to represent the workingman in Parliament as an Independent (1892) and first to lead the Labour Party in the House of Commons (1906). A dedicated socialist, he was also an outspoken pacifist (from the time of the South African, or Boer, War, 1899–1902) and the chief adviser (from 1903) to the militant suffragists headed by Emmeline

Valdés, Alfonso De

2005-03-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

Valdés may have studied at the University of Alcalá before joining the court of the emperor Charles V as a secretary and official Latinist. Valdés held important positions at the Diet of Worms, where he worked

Wessel, Horst

2005-03-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

A student and low-life bohemian, Wessel joined the Nazi Party in 1926 and became a member of the SA (Storm Troopers). In 1930 political enemies, possibly Communists, killed him in a brawl in his room in the Berlin slums. Nazi propagandists,

Anai Peak

2005-03-08T21:48:00.000-08:00

Hindi Anai Mudi peak in eastern Kerala state, southwestern India. Located in the Western Ghats range, it rises to 8,842 feet (2,695 m) and is peninsular India's highest peak. From this point radiate three ranges—the Anaimalai to the north, the Palni to the northeast, and the Cardamom Hills to the south. Several rivers, including the Periyar and Amaravati, rise in the surrounding ranges.

Ubiquinone

2005-03-08T13:44:00.000-08:00

Also called Coenzyme Q, any of several members of a series of organic compounds belonging to a class called quinones. Widely distributed in plants, animals, and microorganisms, ubiquinones function in conjunction with enzymes in cellular respiration (i.e., oxidation-reduction processes). The naturally occurring ubiquinones differ from each other only slightly in chemical structure,

Alonso, Dámaso

2005-03-07T23:54:00.000-08:00

Educated at the University of Madrid, Alonso taught at the Centre of Historical Studies, Madrid (1923–36), and was a professor at the University of Valencia (1933–39) and the University of Madrid (1939–68). He was also a lecturer or visiting professor at universities in

Thompson River

2005-03-07T15:56:00.000-08:00

Major tributary of the Fraser River, in southern British Columbia, Canada. The North Thompson (210 miles [340 km]) rises in the Cariboo Mountains east of Wells Gray Provincial Park and follows an easterly then southwesterly course to Kamloops; the South Thompson (206 miles) emerges from Shuswap Lake and flows northwesterly to Kamloops (see photograph), where the two streams unite

Abyssinian

2005-03-06T22:21:00.000-08:00

Breed of domestic cat, probably of Egyptian origin, that has been considered to approximate the sacred cat of ancient Egypt more closely than any other living cat. The Abyssinian is a lithe cat with relatively slender legs and a long, tapering tail. The short, finely textured coat is ruddy reddish brown, with individual hairs of the back, sides, chest, and tail distinctively

Human Evolution, Dating the fossils

2005-03-06T16:49:00.000-08:00

In the early 1970s a number of new carbon-14 datings gave rise to a radical revision in the then-accepted dating of the African Stone Age. The resulting picture has since been confirmed by a variety of newer methods. Accordingly, the African Middle Stone Age no longer is considered to have begun some 40,000 years ago and ended c. 10,000 years ago but instead to have begun c. 200,000 years ago and ended

Kabul

2005-03-06T04:38:00.000-08:00

Persian Kabol capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It lies along the Kabul River at an elevation of about 5,900 feet (1,800 metres) in the east-central part of the country. The nation's cultural and economic centre, the city lies in a triangular valley between the two steep Asmai and Sherdawaza mountain ranges. Roads connect it with most other areas of Afghanistan, with Uzbekistan to the north,

Tsugaru Strait

2005-03-05T23:49:00.000-08:00

Japanese Tsugaru-kaikyo, strait of the northwest Pacific extending east from the Sea of Japan to the open ocean between the Japanese islands of Honshu (south) and Hokkaido. It is 15 to 25 miles (24 to 40 km) wide. The strait takes the Tsugaru Current, a warmer and saltier flow that is an extension of the Tsushima Drift, and carries it into the Pacific. Hakodate is a port city on Hokkaido; Aomori is its complement

Sevareid, Eric

2005-03-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

After graduating from the University of Minnesota (1935), Sevareid worked as a reporter for the Minneapolis Journal (1936–37), which had

Quenching

2005-03-04T03:25:00.000-08:00

Rapid cooling, as by immersion in oil or water, of a metal object from the high temperature at which it has been shaped. This usually is undertaken to maintain mechanical properties associated with a crystalline structure or phase distribution that would be lost upon slow cooling. The technique is commonly applied to steel objects, to which it imparts hardness. On

Ogooué River

2005-03-03T17:23:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Ogowe, stream of west-central Africa, flowing in Gabon for almost its entire course and draining an area of almost 86,000 square miles (222,700 square km). It rises in Congo (Brazzaville) on the eastern slopes of the Massif du Chaillu and flows northwest through Gabon past Franceville and Lastoursville; it then turns west and southwest past Booué, Ndjolé, and Lambaréné, collecting water from

Dragon Rug

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

Early examples are narrow for their length, with a single-stripe

Saisunaga Dynasty

2005-03-02T23:44:00.000-08:00

Sisunaga, or Susunaga, the founder, was of obscure origin and may have initially served as Magadhan

Scharnhorst

2005-03-02T21:18:00.000-08:00

German battle cruiser completed in 1939. It did great damage to Allied shipping in northern waters during World War II before it was sunk by the British battleship “Duke of York” on Dec. 26, 1943. The “Scharnhorst” was a heavily armed ship of 26,000 tons standard displacement, carrying a 1,400 man crew and four aircraft and armed with nine 11-inch, twelve 5.9-inch, and fourteen 4.1-inch guns and sixteen 37-millimetre

France, History Of, Cultural and scientific attainments

2005-03-01T20:19:00.000-08:00

The cultural climate of the later 19th century in France, as in the Atlantic world generally, was strongly marked by the current called positivism. The post-1848 generation looked with contempt on what it considered the excesses and the bad taste of the preceding Romantic era. A new interest in science and a new vogue of realism in literature and the arts prevailed during

Calabash Tree

2005-03-01T09:24:00.000-08:00

(Crescentia cujete), tree of the family Bignoniaceae, 6 to 12 m (20 to 40 feet) tall, that grows in Central and South America, the West Indies, and extreme southern Florida. It is often grown as an ornamental. The calabash tree produces large spherical fruits, up to 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter, the hard shells of which are useful as bowls, cups, and other water containers when hollowed out. The

Holberg, Ludvig, Friherre (baron) Holberg

2005-02-27T19:24:00.000-08:00

Orphaned as a child, Holberg lived with relatives in Bergen until the city was destroyed by fire in 1702, when he was sent to the University of Copenhagen. Longing

Aguascalientes

2005-02-27T15:40:00.000-08:00

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

African Violet

2005-02-27T02:38:00.000-08:00

African violet flowers are bilaterally symmetrical and violet, white, or pink in colour; they bloom throughout

India, Rebellion of Khurram (Shah Jahan)

2005-02-26T09:04:00.000-08:00

After failing to take Fatehpur Sikri in April 1623, Khurram retreated to the Deccan, thence to Bengal, and from Bengal back again to the Deccan, pursued all the while by an imperial force under Mahabat Khan. His plan to seize Bihar, Ayodhya, Allahabad, and even Agra failed. At last, Khurram submitted to his father unconditionally (1626). He was forgiven and appointed governor of Balaghat, but the

Aerobatics

2005-02-25T02:21:00.000-08:00

Pilots perform their sequences in the “aerobatic

Trafalgar Square

2005-02-25T00:36:00.000-08:00

Plaza in the City of Westminster, London, named for Lord Nelson's naval victory (1805) in the Battle of Trafalgar. Possibly the most famous of all London squares, Trafalgar Square has always been public and has had no garden. Seven major arteries pump automobiles around the great paved space, which is dominated by Nelson's Column (1839–43), a 185-foot- (56-metre-) high monument to Lord Nelson that

Dahmer, Jeffrey

2005-02-24T15:42:00.000-08:00

While Dahmer was a teenager, he experienced fantasies of killing and mutilating men. He committed his first murder in Bath township, Ohio, in 1978. A second murder followed in 1987, and during the next five years he

Macaroni

2005-02-24T05:28:00.000-08:00

In art, Late Paleolithic finger tracings in clay, the oldest form of art known. Innumerable examples appear on the walls and ceilings of limestone caves associated with human habitation in France and Spain, the oldest dating from about 30,000 BC. They range from simple scratchings and jumbled aimless lines to deliberate meanders and arabesques and outline drawings of

Zafrulla Khan, Sir Muhammad

2005-02-23T18:39:00.000-08:00

The son of the leading attorney of his native city, Zafrulla Khan studied at Government College in Lahore and received his LL.B. from King's College, London University, in 1914. He practiced

Switzerland, Urban Switzerland

2005-02-23T07:26:00.000-08:00

Some cities in Switzerland originally developed around monasteries, as did St. Gall, or around Roman settlements, as in the case of Zürich and Lausanne. Within the Alps of Vaud, Vevey and Montreux were sited on small deltas jutting into Lake Geneva that provided flat land near the mountainous north shore; in the Alps of Ticino, Locarno and Ascona developed on the delta

Ibn Sa'ud

2005-02-22T18:56:00.000-08:00

Tribal and Muslim religious leader who formed the modern state of Saudi Arabia and initiated the exploitation of its oil.

Cookie

2005-02-22T03:41:00.000-08:00

Probably the most popular cookies in the United States are those that are

Toad

2005-02-21T22:36:00.000-08:00

Any squat, rough-skinned, tailless amphibian of the order Anura, and especially a member of the family Bufonidae. The true toads (Bufo), with more than 300 species, are found worldwide except in Australasia, Madagascar, polar regions, and Polynesia, though Bufo marinus has been introduced into Australia and some South Pacific islands. Besides Bufo, the family

Târgu Mures

2005-02-21T18:58:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Tîrgu Mures, Hungarian Marosvásárhely, city, capital of Mures judet (county), north-central Romania. It lies in the valley of the Mures River, in the southeastern part of the Transylvanian Basin. First mentioned in the 14th century, it was a cattle and crop market town called Neumarkt by the Germans, Agropolis by Greek traders, and Marosvásárhely by the Magyars. In the 15th century it had 30 guilds. The 18th–19th-century mathematician

Selection Coefficient

2005-02-20T05:14:00.000-08:00

In genetics, a measure of the relative reduction in the contribution that a particular genotype (genetic composition) makes to the gametes (sex cells) as compared with another genotype in the population. It expresses the relative advantage or disadvantage of specific traits with respect to survival and reproductive success. The selection coefficient (s) of a given

Howe, E.w.

2005-02-19T17:20:00.000-08:00

Howe went to work at age seven on his father's homestead near Bethany, Mo. An apprentice printer at 12, he worked at the trade in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah (1867–72). At 19 he was publisher of the Golden (Colo.) Globe and in 1877 founded the Atchison (Kan.) Daily Globe, made famous

Gwadar

2005-02-19T10:40:00.000-08:00

Town and seaport, Balochistan province, southwestern Pakistan. Located on the sandy Nuh headland that juts southward into the Arabian Sea, the town is an important fishing (sardines and sharks) and trade centre. The main industrial concern is a fish-processing factory; salt is obtained by the evaporation of seawater. Gwadar became part of the sultanate of Muscat and Oman

Mashriq

2005-02-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

The Mashriq comprises two major physical regions. One consists of barren

Armenian Language

2005-02-18T10:16:00.000-08:00

Language that forms a separate branch of the Indo-European language family. (It was once erroneously considered a dialect of Iranian.) Armenian is the mother tongue of the Turkish Armenians and of the Armenians in Armenia, where it is spoken by 2,850,000 people. In other parts of the former Soviet Union, especially in the neighbouring republics of Georgia and Azerbaijan, it is

Bazzaz, 'abd Al-rahman Al-

2005-02-18T09:03:00.000-08:00

From 1955 to 1956 Bazzaz was dean of the Baghdad Law School. Following the coup that overthrew the Hashimite monarchy of Faysal II in 1958, he became president of the Court of Cassation. In 1960 he fell afoul of the president, General 'Abd al-Karim Qasim, and was briefly imprisoned before

Andersson, Johan Gunnar

2005-02-17T05:05:00.000-08:00

Swedish geologist and archaeologist whose work laid the foundation for the study of prehistoric China. In 1921, at a cave near Chou-k'ou-tien in the vicinity of Peking, on the basis of bits of quartz that he found in a limestone region, he predicted that a fossil man would be discovered. Six years later the first evidence of the fossil hominid

Chilpancingo, Congress Of

2005-02-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

(September–November 1813), meeting held at Chilpancingo, in present Guerrero state, Mex., that declared the independence of Mexico from Spain and drafted a constitution, which received final approval (Oct. 22, 1814) at the Congress of Apatzingán. José María Morelos y Pavón, who called the congress at Chilpancingo, had assumed leadership of the Mexican independence movement after

Quinet, Edgar

2005-02-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

After moving to Paris in 1820, Quinet forsook the faith of his Protestant mother, became greatly attracted to German philosophy, and published in 1827–28, as his first major work, a translation of Herder's

Bracciano, Lake

2005-02-15T08:30:00.000-08:00

Italian Lago di Bracciano , ancient (Latin) Lacus Sabatinus circular lake in Roma provincia, Lazio (Latium) regione, central Italy. It lies in the Sabatini Mountains, just northwest of Rome. Mineral hot springs along its shores recall its earlier geologic formation from a group of volcanic craters. The surface lies 538 feet (164 m) above sea level, with an area of 22 square miles (58 square km). The maximum depth is 525 feet (160 m) and the diameter is about

Muhavura

2005-02-14T11:17:00.000-08:00

Also called Volcan Muhabura, extinct volcano at the easternmost end of the Virunga Mountains in east central Africa. It lies northeast of Lake Kivu on the border between Uganda and Rwanda. It is more than 13,500 ft high, and its crater contains a lake. The volcano forms part of the Virunga National Park, which is the home of the mountain gorilla.

Anorthosite

2005-02-14T11:12:00.000-08:00

Anorthosite is considerably less abundant than either basalt or granite, but the complexes in which it occurs are, nevertheless, often

Aschelminth

2005-02-13T18:47:00.000-08:00

There is a much larger literature on the nematodes than other aschelminths because of their importance to humans. Introductory works include Neil A. Croll and Bernard E. Matthews, Biology of Nematodes (1977); Armand Maggenti, General Nematology (1981); Warwick L. Nicholas, The Biology of Free-Living Nematodes, 2nd ed. (1984); and George O. Poinar, Jr., The Natural History of Nematodes (1983). Parasitic forms are discussed in William R. Nickle (ed.), Plant and Insect Nematodes (1984); Gerald D. Schmidt and Larry S. Roberts, Foundations of Parasitology, 3rd ed. (1985); and Norman D. Levine, Nematode Parasites of Domestic Animals and Man (1980). Nematodes in biologic research are the subject of Bert M. Zuckerman (ed.), Nematodes as Biological Models, 2 vol. (1980).

Sea Pansy

2005-02-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

Any of certain marine animals of the sea pen (q.v.) group.

Numerals And Numeral Systems, Multiplicative grouping systems

2005-02-12T08:58:00.000-08:00

In multiplicative systems, special names are given not only to 1, b, b2, and so on but also to the numbers 2, 3, , b - 1; the symbols of this second set are then used in place of repetitions of the first set. Thus, if 1, 2, 3, , 9 are designated in the usual way but 10, 100, and 1,000 are replaced by X, C, and M, respectively, then in a multiplicative grouping system one should write 7,392 as 7M3C9X2. The principal example of this kind of

Antenna

2005-02-12T07:53:00.000-08:00

Also called Aerial, component of radio, television, and radar systems that directs incoming and outgoing radio waves. Antennas are usually metal and have a wide variety of configurations, from the mastlike devices employed for radio and television broadcasting to the large parabolic reflectors used to receive satellite signals and the radio waves generated by distant astronomical

Jacob, Georges

2005-02-11T22:34:00.000-08:00

Born of a Burgundian peasant family, Jacob moved to Paris at 16 and is believed to have been apprenticed to Louis Delanois. He made chairs for Queen Marie-Antoinette

Miner, Jack

2005-02-10T11:39:00.000-08:00

Miner moved to Essex county, Ont., in 1878. In 1904, on his farm at Kingsville, he established a bird sanctuary that became widely known. Banding more than 50,000 ducks between

Carte-de-visite

2005-02-10T06:03:00.000-08:00

Originally, a calling card, especially one with a photographic portrait mounted on it. Immensely popular in the mid-19th century, the carte-de-visite was touted by the Parisian portrait photographer André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri, who patented the method in 1854. Disdéri used a four-lensed camera, which made eight 3.5- by 2.5-inch (8.89- by 6.35-cm) negatives on one full-sized plate. The large print

Dowsing

2005-02-10T01:47:00.000-08:00

The dowser in his search grasps

Monet, Claude

2005-02-09T23:46:00.000-08:00

Monet's life during the 1860s was precarious and itinerant, and he sold almost nothing; but several works were accepted for exhibition in the yearly Salons, most notably, and with great success, a fine but not yet Impressionist portrait of his future wife, Camille. Having already painted in Paris, Le Havre, Chailly, Honfleur, Trouville, and Fécamp and at other stations between