ClearBucket

Kyburg

2005-04-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Kiburg, countship prominent in medieval Swiss history. The first line of counts of Kyburg, with their seat in the castle of Kyburg just southeast of Winterthur (in the modern canton of Zürich), were influential in German politics from the 1020s; but their male line became extinct in 1078, and their possessions passed to a branch of the Swabian counts of Dillingen. This new line of counts

Computers, Integrated circuits

2005-04-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

William Shockley, a coinventor of the transistor, started Shockley Semiconductor Laboratories in 1955 in his hometown of Palo Alto, California. In 1957 his eight top researchers left to form Fairchild Semiconductor Company, funded by Fairchild Camera and Instrument Company. Along with Hewlett-Packard, another Palo Alto firm, Fairchild Semiconductor was the seed of what

Augury

2005-04-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

Prophetic divining of the future by observation of natural phenomena—particularly the behaviour of birds and animals and the examination of their entrails and other parts, but also by scrutiny of man-made objects and situations. The term derives from the official Roman augurs, whose constitutional function was not to foretell the future but to discover whether

Intendant

2005-04-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

The origin of the office of intendant remains obscure, and no document has been

Mother Goddess

2005-04-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

Any of a variety of feminine deities and maternal symbols of creativity, birth, fertility, sexual union, nurturing, and the cycle of growth. The term also has been applied to figures as diverse as the so-called Stone Age Venuses and the Virgin Mary. Because motherhood is one of the universal human realities, there is no culture that has not employed some maternal symbolism

Bradford, William

2005-04-02T09:38:00.000-08:00

He was a Quaker and a self-taught artist, painting the ships and the marine views he saw along the coasts of Massachusetts, Labrador, and Nova Scotia; he went on several Arctic expeditions with Isaac Hayes and was the first

Mellon, Andrew W.

2005-04-01T01:30:00.000-08:00

After completing his studies at Western University (now the University of Pittsburgh), Mellon entered

Pietersburg

2005-03-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

Town and capital of Northern province, South Africa. It is located about midway between Pretoria and the Zimbabwe border, at an elevation of 4,199 feet (1,280 m). The town was founded by Voortrekkers (Afrikaans: “Pioneers”) in 1886 on land purchased in 1884 from a local farmer and was named after Petrus (Piet) Joubert, a Boer general. It was the temporary capital in 1900 of both the Transvaal and the Orange

Chédiak-higashi Syndrome

2005-03-31T00:46:00.000-08:00

Persons with Chédiak-Higashi syndrome experience persistent or recurrent infections. Other symptoms associated with the disease include enlargement of the liver and spleen, partial albinism, and depressed activity

Leadville

2005-03-30T13:22:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1878) of Lake county, central Colorado, U.S., located 103 miles (166 km) west of Denver and 38 miles (61 km) south of Vail. It is situated in the upper Arkansas River valley in an area of national forests, at an elevation of some 10,200 feet (3,105 metres). It is the centre of one of the nation's most celebrated mining districts, which has yielded gold, silver, lead, zinc, manganese, and molybdenum. Gold was

Uji

2005-03-30T07:30:00.000-08:00

Any of the hereditary lineage groups that, until their official abolition in AD 604, formed the basic, decentralized ruling structure of early Japan. They are often referred to as the great clans because of their traditions of common descent, and they were ruled by an uji chief who was considered a direct descendant of the deity (ujigami) worshiped by the group's members. The

Table Tennis

2005-03-29T00:15:00.000-08:00

At the 1997 world table tennis championships in Manchester, Eng., China again dominated play, winning six of the seven titles. The men's team from China defeated France (the first time since 1948 France had reached the final), while the women's team downed North Korea. Deng Yaping, the 24-year-old 1992 and 1996 Olympic champion, won her third world singles championship, then announced her retirement.

West Lothian

2005-03-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

Council area and historic county, southeastern Scotland, on the southern shore of the River Forth estuary and the Firth of Forth just west of Edinburgh. The council area and historic county occupy somewhat different areas. The historic county borders the Forth from Bo'ness to the mouth of the River Almond just west of Cramont. It extends southwest across a lowland

Berdychiv

2005-03-28T09:47:00.000-08:00

Russian Berdichev, or Berdicev, city, Zhytomyr oblast (province), northwestern Ukraine. Founded in 1482 as a Lithuanian fortress, Berdychiv was Polish from 1569 until 1793. The 16th-century fortress walls survive, as does the Roman Catholic church in which the French novelist Honoré de Balzac married Eveline Hanska, a wealthy Russian widow, in 1850 after an 18-year courtship. Before 1917 an important trading centre, Berdychiv

Tiselius, Arne

2005-03-28T05:14:00.000-08:00

As an assistant to The Svedberg at the University of Uppsala (1925–32), Tiselius developed the use of electrophoresis for the delicate task of separating proteins in suspension on the basis of their electrical charge. For

Obando, José María

2005-03-25T23:43:00.000-08:00

Obando fought for the Spanish crown during most of the Latin-American war for independence. He finally joined Simón Bolívar's revolutionary forces but opposed Bolívar's centralist

Haldimand, Sir Frederick

2005-03-25T06:06:00.000-08:00

Haldimand entered British service in 1756 as a lieutenant colonel in the Royal American Regiment. He served in Sir Jeffrey Amherst's expedition (1760) against Montreal during the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France, then stayed there as second in command

Joensuu

2005-03-25T04:42:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Pohjois-Karjalan lääni (province), southeastern Finland, at the mouth of the Pielisjoki (river), southeast of Kuopio. Chartered in 1848, the city is a rail junction and centre for lumber shipment and has connections by steamship, highway, and air. Local industry includes plywood and lumber mills. Notable landmarks include the town hall (1914), designed by the 20th-century

Solti, Sir Georg

2005-03-24T17:46:00.000-08:00

Solti studied at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály.

Mito

2005-03-24T04:20:00.000-08:00

Capital, Ibaraki Prefecture (ken), Honshu, Japan, on the left bank of the Naka-gawa (Naka River). During the Heian era (794–1185) Mito developed around a Yoshida shrine, and its first castle was built during the Kamakura era (1192–1333). The city changed hands several times during the 15th and 16th centuries; in 1609 it became a fief of the Mito branch of the Tokugawa family, one of the three branches of that

Shariqah, Ash-

2005-03-23T11:02:00.000-08:00

English Sharjah constituent emirate of the United Arab Emirates (formerly Trucial States, or Trucial Oman). Some of ash-Shariqah's interior boundaries are only presumptive, but its main portion is an irregularly shaped tract, oriented northwest–southeast, stretching about 60 miles (100 km) from the Persian Gulf (northwest) to the central inland region of the Oman promontory (southeast).

China, Relations with other peoples

2005-03-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

Simultaneously with the rise of the Ch'in and Han empires, some of the nomadic peoples of Central Asia, known as the Hsiung-nu, succeeded in achieving a measure of unity under a single leader. As a result, while the Chinese were consolidating their government, the lands lying to the north of the empire, and the northern provinces themselves, became subject to incursion

Manchuria

2005-03-22T17:59:00.000-08:00

Also called Northeast , Wade-Giles Tung-pei , Pinyin Dongbei historical region of northeastern China. Strictly speaking, it consists of the modern provinces (sheng) of Liaoning (south), Kirin (central), and Heilungkiang (north); often, however, the northeastern portion of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region also is included. Manchuria is bounded by Russia (northwest, north, and east), North Korea (south), and the province of Hopeh (southwest).

Atelectasis

2005-03-21T21:06:00.000-08:00

Congenital atelectasis is seen in stillborn infants who never breathe and in children living

Ekkehard Iv

2005-03-21T21:01:00.000-08:00

He grew up at Sankt Gallen, being educated by the celebrated German scholar Notker Labeo, Ekkehard I's nephew. From sometime after 1022 until 1031 he was director

Fiddler Crab

2005-03-21T00:18:00.000-08:00

Also called calling crab any of the approximately 65 species of the genus Uca (order Decapoda of the subphylum Crustacea). They are named “fiddler” because the male holds one claw, always much larger than the other, somewhat like a violin. Both claws in the female are relatively small. If a male loses his large claw, the small one develops into a large claw, and a small one replaces the lost large

Gabardine

2005-03-20T23:02:00.000-08:00

Any of several varieties of worsted, cotton, silk, and mixed tightly woven fabrics, embodying certain features in common and chiefly made into suits and overcoats. It is a relatively strong and firm cloth, made with a twill weave, and somewhat resembling whipcord but of lighter texture. The weft, or filling, lies entirely at the back and is therefore not visible from the

Coincidence Counting

2005-03-20T04:58:00.000-08:00

In physics, the detection of two nuclear or cosmic ray events that occur almost simultaneously (e.g., within a time of 10-5 second). Coincidence counting involves two or more particle counters exposed to the same source of cosmic rays or nuclear radiation and connected to an electronic coincidence circuit. One principal use of the coincidence technique is to detect particles

Sara Buri

2005-03-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Saraburi, town, central Thailand, northeast of Bangkok. Sara Buri (locally called Pak Phrieo) is on the south bank of the Pa Sak River. Its economy is based on textile, metalworking, food-manufacturing, clothing, and woodworking industries. The Phra Buddha Bat shrine in the town contains a footprint of Buddha and is the scene of a yearly festival. Sara Buri is linked to Bangkok, 60 miles

La Rioja

2005-03-19T11:57:00.000-08:00

The folds of the Obarenes Mountains

Swamp Pheasant

2005-03-18T23:55:00.000-08:00

Also called Pheasant Coucal, bird species of the cuckoo family (Cuculidae). See coucal.

Carlisle, Lucy Hay, Countess Of

2005-03-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

The second daughter of Henry Percy, 9th earl of Northumberland, she married James Hay (the earl of Carlisle from 1622) and became a conspicuous figure at the court of Charles I. The King's adviser,

Madderakka

2005-03-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

Sami goddess of childbirth. She is assisted by three of her daughters—Sarakka, the cleaving woman; Uksakka, the door woman; and Juksakka, the bow woman—who watch over the development of the child from conception through early childhood. Madderakka was believed to receive the soul of a child from Veralden-radien, the world ruler deity, and to give it a body, which Sarakka

Medicine, Costs of health care

2005-03-17T02:43:00.000-08:00

The costs to national economics of providing health care are considerable and have been growing at a rapidly increasing rate, especially in countries such as the United States, Germany, and Sweden; the rise in Britain has been less rapid. This trend has been the cause of major concerns in both developed and developing countries. Some of this concern is based upon the

Chancroid

2005-03-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

Acute, localized, chiefly sexually transmitted disease, usually of the genital area, caused by the bacillus Haemophilus ducreyi. It is characterized by the appearance, 3–5 days after exposure, of a painful, shallow ulcer at the site of infection. Such an ulcer is termed a soft chancre, as opposed to a hard chancre, which is the characteristic lesion of the primary stage of

Clove Tree

2005-03-16T13:00:00.000-08:00

Tropical tree, a species of the genus Eugenia (q.v.).

Muhammad, Elijah

2005-03-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

The son of sharecroppers and former slaves, Muhammad moved to Detroit in 1923 where, around 1930, he became assistant minister to the founder of the sect, Wallace D. Fard, at Temple No. 1. When Fard disappeared in 1934 Muhammad

Niger-congo Languages

2005-03-15T01:46:00.000-08:00

In the 19th century, scholars began to attempt classification of the various Niger-Congo languages. Sigismund W. Koelle, a German missionary of the Church Missionary Society working among freed slaves in Freetown (now in Sierra Leone), produced his monumental work, Polyglotta Africana, in 1854. He obtained lists of 283 words in 156 languages and grouped them so as to reflect what

Anastasius The Librarian

2005-03-14T20:48:00.000-08:00

Related to an Italian bishop, Anastasius became cardinal priest of the Church of St. Marcellus, Rome, about 848, after gaining prominence as a Greek scholar. Deposed in 853 because of political activity, he stood for a short time as antipope to Benedict III (855–858). After

Congo, Democratic Republic Of The (zaire)

2005-03-14T20:36:00.000-08:00

On May 25, 1998, Pres. Laurent Kabila promulgated a decree that established a national constituent and legislative assembly. This apparent move toward democracy was, however, belied by a series of arrests of people believed to be critical of the government, including,

Haug, émile

2005-03-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Strasbourg (1884) and spending three years in postgraduate research,

Lochmaben

2005-03-12T23:41:00.000-08:00

Royal burgh (town), Dumfries and Galloway council area, historic county of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, situated near several small lochs in Annandale valley. Robert the Bruce, who ruled Scotland as Robert I from 1306 to 1329, had close associations with the town and, according to local tradition, was born in Lochmaben Castle in 1274. In 1290 a peel tower (small fortified tower) was erected by

Arnold Arboretum Of Harvard University

2005-03-12T17:32:00.000-08:00

Major botanical research centre famous for its collection of ornamental trees and shrubs from Asia. Founded in 1872, the arboretum consists of 265 acres (107 hectares) at Jamaica Plain in Boston, and it has another 106-acre (43-hectare) installation at Weston, Massachusetts, U.S. The Arnold Arboretum has acquired and cultivated more than 6,000 types of woody plants during its history; by the

Bacab

2005-03-11T01:59:00.000-08:00

In Mayan mythology, any of four gods, thought to be brothers, who, with upraised arms, supported the multilayered sky from their assigned positions at the four cardinal points of the compass. (The Bacabs may also have been four manifestations of a single deity.) The four brothers were probably the offspring of Itzamná, the supreme deity, and Ixchel, the goddess of weaving,

Furniture, Other accessory furnishings

2005-03-10T22:50:00.000-08:00

Small utility objects constitute an important part of the furnishing of interiors. Several of them are the work of cabinetmakers; for example, boxes for writing paper and playing cards, caskets for letters and documents, trays for serving or presentation. Accessory furnishings include the various articles, large and small, that are employed in the course of domestic

Ghent, State University Of

2005-03-10T03:10:00.000-08:00

Dutch Rijksuniversiteit Te Gent, state-financed coeducational institution of higher learning with limited autonomy in Ghent, Belg. Founded in 1817 under King William I of The Netherlands, the university at first conducted its instruction in Latin; in 1830 the language was changed to French; in 1916, during the German occupation of World War I, to Flemish (Dutch); in 1918 back to French; and by 1930 back permanently to Flemish.

Roman Catholic Church Of Romania

2005-03-09T16:27:00.000-08:00

An Eastern Catholic church of the Byzantine rite, in communion with Rome. The Byzantine rite Catholic Church originated after the Turks ceded Transylvania to the Catholic Habsburgs (1699); at that time a large group of Orthodox Romanians, pressed by the imperial government, accepted the authority of Rome. In 1948 the Byzantine rite church was legally suppressed by the Communist

Aeschines

2005-03-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

Aeschines was brought up in humble circumstances, and in the early part of his career he worked as a tragic actor and held minor posts in the state service. In 346 BC he, like Demosthenes, was a member of the embassies to Philip II that resulted

Buchanan, James M.

2005-03-08T22:49:00.000-08:00

Buchanan attended Middle Tennessee State College (B.S., 1940), the University of Tennessee (M.A., 1941), and—after five years in the navy—the University of Chicago

Lovejoy, Elijah P.

2005-03-08T06:31:00.000-08:00

In 1827 Lovejoy moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he established a school and entered journalism. Six years later he became editor of the St. Louis

Cellulose Acetate

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

Original name Acetate Rayon, also called Acetate, man-made textile fibre produced from the plant substance cellulose, which is obtained from soft woods or the short fibres adhering to cotton seeds (linters) and treated with acetic acid and acetic anhydride, and then partially hydrolyzed so that the product, secondary acetate, is soluble in acetone. It forms a cellulose acetate solution that is extruded through

China

2005-03-07T22:18:00.000-08:00

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

Buchanan, James M.

2005-03-06T19:36:00.000-08:00

Chemical element, metal of Group IIb, or the zinc group, of the periodic table.

Meletius Of Lycopolis

2005-03-06T16:58:00.000-08:00

For presuming to ordain clergy and bishops for Christian

Culion Island

2005-03-06T02:43:00.000-08:00

Island, one of the Calamian Group (q.v.), west-central Philippines. The island has an area of 150 square miles (389 square km) and is the site of Culion Reservation, a therapeutic community founded in 1906 for the treatment of leprosy (Hansen's disease). Rice and coconuts are grown on the island. Culion, the main settlement, is located on the northeastern coast. Pop. (latest census) 4,785.

Radetzky, Joseph, Count (graf)

2005-03-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

Radetzky joined the Austrian army in 1784 and served in the Turkish War of 1787–92 and in the Low Countries in the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars. His courage and enterprise were conspicuous

Welti, (friedrich) Emil

2005-03-04T02:50:00.000-08:00

Political leader and Landammann (chief executive) of his native canton of Aargau in 1858, 1862, and 1866, Welti entered the federal Ständerat (council of cantons) in 1857 and subsequently served as assembly president (1860, 1866). Elected to the federal executive (Bundesrat)

Carnivore

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

Opinion is divided as to whether the order Carnivora arose from the ancient creodonts or had a separate and independent origin from the order Insectivora. Most paleontologists now favour the latter view. The Cretaceous insectivore Procerberus seems to be morphologically close to the most primitive carnivores (miacids), the creodonts, and the primitive hoofed

Solomon Islands

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

In midyear and at the invitation

Georgia

2005-03-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

Constituent state of the United States of America. The largest of the U.S. states east of the Mississippi River and by many years the youngest of the 13 former English colonies, Georgia was founded in 1732, at which time its boundaries were even larger—including much of the present-day states of Alabama and Mississippi. Its area of 58,910 square miles (152,576 square kilometres) presents numerous

Computers, IBM develops FORTRAN

2005-03-02T21:56:00.000-08:00

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

Rivoli

2005-03-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

Town, Torino provincia, Piemonte (Piedmont) regione, northwestern Italy, just west of Turin (Torino). Once the favourite resort of the counts of Savoy, the town is dominated by a castle begun by Victor Amadeus II, king of Sicily and Sardinia, in 1712 on the site of an older structure. The house of the Green Count (Amadeus VI), dating from the 14th–15th century, is typical of the elegant patrician

Yerkes, Charles Tyson

2005-03-02T03:20:00.000-08:00

Yerkes started as a clerk at a Philadelphia commission broker, and by 1862 he was able to purchase his own banking house. In 1871 a stock exchange panic brought on by the Chicago fire found him unable to deliver money that he had received

Arias De Saavedra, Hernando

2005-03-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

Hernandarias was known for his protection of the Indian population, for establishment of closer ties between the church and the civil authorities, and for encouraging the establishment

Medicine

2005-02-28T18:13:00.000-08:00

Persons dissatisfied with the methods of modern medicine or with its results sometimes seek help from those professing expertise in other, less conventional, and sometimes controversial, forms of health care. Such practitioners are not medically qualified unless they are combining such treatments with a regular (allopathic) practice, which includes osteopathy.

Quantum Electrodynamics

2005-02-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

(QED), quantum theory of the interactions of charged particles with the electromagnetic field. It describes mathematically not only all interactions of light with matter but also those of charged particles with one another. QED is a relativistic theory in that Albert Einstein's theory of special relativity is built into each of its equations. Because the behaviour

Giles, H.a.

2005-02-28T08:20:00.000-08:00

Educated at Charterhouse school, London, Giles joined the consular service and spent the years 1867–92 in various posts in China. Upon his return, he lived in Aberdeen, Scot.,

Romains, Jules

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

Romains studied science and philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. After teaching philosophy

Metalogic, The axiomatic method

2005-02-26T17:11:00.000-08:00

The best known axiomatic system is that of Euclid for geometry. In a manner similar to that of Euclid, every scientific theory involves a body of meaningful concepts and a collection of true or believed assertions. The meaning of a concept can often be explained or defined in terms of other concepts, and, similarly, the truth of an assertion or the reason for believing

Uganda, Martyrs Of

2005-02-26T06:28:00.000-08:00

The first Roman Catholic missions to Bantu-speaking Africa were established

Bahya Ben Joseph Ibn Pakuda

2005-02-25T23:37:00.000-08:00

About 1080 Bahya wrote, in Arabic, Al-Hidayah ila-fara' id al-qulub (“Duties of the Heart”). In a rather inaccurate 12th-century translation into Hebrew by Judah ben Joseph ibn Tibbon, Hovot ha-levavot, it became a widely read classic of Jewish philosophic

Ushuaia

2005-02-24T20:16:00.000-08:00

The site was first settled by Wasti H. Stirling, an English missionary, in 1870. In 1884 an Argentine naval base was established, and in 1893, after the archipelago was partitioned between Argentina and

Devitrification

2005-02-23T09:33:00.000-08:00

Process by which glassy substances change their structure into that of crystalline solids. Most glasses are silicates in which the atomic structure does not have the repetitive arrangement required for the formation of crystals. Glass is formed by the cooling of a rock magma too rapidly for this structural regularity to become established. Glasses typically

Ibn Tibbon, Jacob Ben Machir

2005-02-23T00:12:00.000-08:00

Jacob translated into Hebrew a large number

Komárom-esztergom

2005-02-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

Megye (county), northwestern Hungary. The megye extends southward from the Danube River and the Slovakian frontier. It has a mixed agricultural-industrial economic base. Sugar beets and peaches are important crops, and there is a sugar beet mill at Ács. Tatabánya (q.v.), the megye seat, is Hungary's chief mining (lignite) centre. Considerable industrial activity is concentrated

Saracen

2005-02-21T20:58:00.000-08:00

In the Middle Ages, any person—Arab, Turk, or other—who professed the religion of Islam. Earlier in the Roman world, there had been references to Saracens (Greek: Sarakenoi) by late classical authors in the first three centuries AD, the term being then applied to an Arab tribe living in the Sinai Peninsula. In the following centuries the use of the term

Sa'ib

2005-02-21T20:36:00.000-08:00

Sa'ib was educated in Esfahan, and in about 1626/27 he traveled to India, where he was received into the court of Shah Jahan. He stayed for a time in Kabul and in Kashmir, returning home after several years abroad. After his

Osceola

2005-02-20T23:15:00.000-08:00

City, southern seat (1832) of Mississippi county (the northern seat is Blytheville), northeastern Arkansas, U.S., on the Mississippi River, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Memphis, Tennessee. It was founded in 1830 by William B. Edrington, who bartered the site (probably Plum Point) from the Indians and developed it as a refueling station for riverboats. It was named for Osceola, the famed Seminole

Astrobleme

2005-02-18T03:09:00.000-08:00

(from Greek astron, blema, “star wound”), remains of an ancient meteorite-impact structure on the Earth's surface, generally in the form of a circular scar of crushed and deformed bedrock. Because such telltale features as crater walls, fused silica glass, and meteorite fragments are heavily modified over time by erosion and weathering, the identification of astroblemes

Biblical Literature, The Geneva Bible

2005-02-17T13:30:00.000-08:00

The brief efflorescence of the Protestant movement during the short reign of Edward VI (1547–53) saw the reissue of the Scriptures, but no fresh attempts at revision. The repressive rule of Edward's successor, Mary, a Roman Catholic, put an end to the printing of Bibles in England for several years. Their public reading was proscribed and their presence in the churches

Avidius Cassius, Gaius

2005-02-17T00:20:00.000-08:00

The son of a high civil servant of the emperor Hadrian (ruled 117–138), Avidius directed operations in Rome's war against the Parthians (161–165). In 164–165 Avidius advanced into Mesopotamia and then sacked Ctesiphon, Parthia's capital, and Seleucia—both located in present-day central Iraq. Soon he was made commander of all Roman military

Coipasa, Salar De

2005-02-16T21:06:00.000-08:00

Salt flat, in the bleak Altiplano of Bolivia, about 100 air mi (160 air km) southwest of the city of Oruro, near the Chilean border. At an altitude of 12,073 ft (3,680 m), the flat, Bolivia's second largest (after Salar de Uyuni), occupies 856 sq mi (2,218 sq km). Lago (lake) de Coipasa directly to the north receives the intermittently flowing Río Lauca from the northwest and is connected to Lago de Poopó to the east

Arabian Sea

2005-02-16T20:09:00.000-08:00

Most of the Arabian Sea has depths that exceed 9,800 feet, and there are no islands in the middle. Deep water reaches close to the bordering lands except in the northeast, off Pakistan and India. To the southeast the Lakshadweep atolls form part of the submarine Maldive Ridge, which extends farther south into the Indian Ocean where it rises above the surface to form the atolls

Roman Catholicism, History Of, The reign of Leo XIII (18781903)

2005-02-16T18:23:00.000-08:00

Although Leo XIII was no less conservative in his theological inclinations than his predecessor, his positive appreciation of the church's opportunities in modern society gave his pontificate a significantly different cast from that of Pius. On issues of church doctrine and discipline his administration was a strict one. It was during his reign that the Modernist

Italy, Economic and political crisis

2005-02-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

Italy was faced with serious postwar economic problems. Wartime governments had printed money to pay for arms, and inflation became deep-rooted: by the end of 1920 the lira was worth only one-sixth of its 1913 value. Savings became worthless, and landowners found themselves receiving insignificant rents. Meanwhile the major arms and shipbuilding firms went bankrupt after

Architecture, History Of Western, 18th century

2005-02-14T13:36:00.000-08:00

Urban design in the 18th century placed greater emphasis on unity and direction through the subordination of lesser parts to the whole. Entire cities were laid out on regularized multiaxial schemes (e.g., Washington, D.C., 1792, by Pierre L'Enfant); the spaces between the radiating avenues were subdivided either geometrically or on a gridiron pattern. New principles calling

China, Decline of the aristocracy

2005-02-13T14:55:00.000-08:00

The late T'ang period saw the beginnings of social changes that did not reach their culmination until the 11th century. The most important of these was the change in the nature of the ruling class. Although from the early T'ang era the examination system had facilitated the recruitment into the higher ranks of the bureaucracy of persons from lesser aristocratic families,

Ecotourism: The New Face Of Travel

2005-02-12T21:56:00.000-08:00

The latest trend in tourism is travel that combines preserving the natural world and sustaining the well-being of the human cultures that inhabit it. Known as ecotourism, the industry was unknown a decade ago yet now receives rave reviews from environmentally conscious travelers who immerse themselves in pristine places and authentic experiences. Unlike traditional

Amyl Nitrite

2005-02-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

Drug once commonly used in the treatment of angina pectoris, a condition characterized by chest pain precipitated by oxygen deficiency in the heart muscle. Amyl nitrite is one of the oldest vasodilators (i.e., agents that expand blood vessels). The drug is useful in treating cyanide poisoning. Amyl nitrite, a clear, pale yellow liquid with a penetrating odour, is administered

Pacific Ocean, Exploration in the 20th century

2005-02-12T19:54:00.000-08:00

Among the most important 20th-century expeditions to the Pacific were those of the American ship Carnegie (1928–29), the Danish vessel Dana II (1928–1930), the Swedish ship Albatross (1947–48), and the Danish ship Galathea (1950–52). In the late 1950s the Soviet vessel Vityaz carried out detailed soundings of the deep trenches of the western Pacific, and in 1960 the American bathyscaphe Trieste descended to the bottom

Peter Ii

2005-02-10T23:01:00.000-08:00

Duke of Brittany (from 1450), son of John V (or VI) and brother of his predecessor Francis I. He made an important innovation in limiting the right of asylum in churches and monasteries, enabling him to pursue his enemies at will. To preserve the family line, he adhered to the testament of Francis I and made his uncle Arthur, constable de Richemont, his successor, as

Jethro

2005-02-10T14:39:00.000-08:00

After the Exodus, Jethro visited the Hebrews encamped at the “mountain of God” and brought with him Moses' wife and sons. There he officiated at a sacrifice to God that was attended by Aaron and the elders of Israel. He

Azogues

2005-02-10T00:31:00.000-08:00

City, south-central Ecuador. It lies in a high Andean valley northeast of Cuenca. Its economy is based on agricultural trade, and grains and fruit are cultivated in the surrounding area. Important local industries include flour milling, Panama hat making, and leather tanning. The city takes its name from the Spanish azogue, meaning “mercury,” which is a local resource.

San José De Las Lajas

2005-02-08T21:28:00.000-08:00

City, north-central La Habana provincia, west-central Cuba. It is known primarily as a commercial and manufacturing centre for the surrounding agricultural and pastoral lands, which feature dairying and sugarcane growing, but thermal springs have made it a health resort as well. A rail junction, it is also accessible by highway from Havana, which lies 20 miles (32 km) to the

Nagana

2005-02-08T21:22:00.000-08:00

A form of the disease trypanosomiasis (q.v.), occurring chiefly in cattle and horses and caused by several species of the protozoan Trypanosoma. The disease, which occurs in southern and central Africa, is carried from animal to animal chiefly by tsetse flies. Signs of infection include fever, muscular wasting, anemia, and swelling of tissues (edema). There is discharge

Hawke's Bay

2005-02-08T15:29:00.000-08:00

Local government region, eastern North Island, New Zealand. It consists mostly of the hill country fronting Hawke Bay to the east, stretches from the Mahia Peninsula in the northeast to the vicinity of Cape Turnagain in the southeast, and is noted for its rolling sheep lands. The region extends westward to the Huiarau, Maungaharuru, Kaweka, and Ruahine mountain ranges;

Kara-bogaz-gol Gulf

2005-02-06T01:15:00.000-08:00

Russian Zaliv Kara-Bogaz-Gol , Turkmen Garabogazköl Aylagy inlet of the eastern Caspian Sea in northwestern Turkmenistan. With an area of 4,600–5,000 square miles (12,000–13,000 square km), it averages only 33 feet (10 m) in depth and has a very high evaporation rate. The water is thus extremely saline, and 7,000–11,000 cubic feet (200–300 cubic m) of water a second are drawn in from the Caspian through the narrow strait between the two sandy spits separating the gulf from the sea. The

Great Barrier Island

2005-02-06T01:12:00.000-08:00

Known to the Maoris as Aotea, the island was

Swaminathan, M(onkombu) S(ambisivan)

2005-02-05T11:25:00.000-08:00

Swaminathan, the son of a surgeon, was educated in India and at the University of Cambridge (Ph.D., 1952) as a geneticist.

Sari

2005-02-04T23:30:00.000-08:00

Situated