MaterialHospital

Penang

2005-03-18T13:21:00.000-08:00

Also called Penang Island , Malay Pinang, or Pulau Pinang island of Malaysia, lying off the northwest coast of peninsular Malaya, from which it is separated by a strait whose smallest width is 2.5 miles (4 km). Its area is about 113 square miles (293 square km). Penang Island is roughly oval, with a granitic, mountainous interior (highest point 2,428 feet [740 m]) and narrow coastal plains, most extensive in the northeast, where Malaysia's chief port, George

Axis

2005-03-17T08:19:00.000-08:00

In crystallography, any of a set of lines used to describe the orderly arrangement of atoms in a crystal. If each atom or group of atoms is represented by a dot, or lattice point, and these points are connected, the resulting lattice may be divided into a number of identical blocks, or unit cells. The intersecting edges of one of these unit cells are chosen as the crystallographic

Leaf Miner

2005-03-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

Most leaf-miner burrows or tunnels are either thin, winding, whitish trails or broad, whitish or brownish blotches.

Daily Telegraph, The

2005-03-13T03:43:00.000-08:00

Founded in 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier, the paper has consistently combined a high standard of reporting with the selection of interesting feature subjects and editorial presentation. Its appeal is a conservative and middle-class

Cleveland Bay

2005-03-10T09:35:00.000-08:00

The Cleveland Bay is descended

Hughes Electronics Corporation

2005-03-08T11:21:00.000-08:00

American provider of wireless telecommunication services and formerly a leading manufacturer of satellites. The company was formed in 1985 as GM Hughes Electronics, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors Corporation, and renamed in 1995 as Hughes Electronics Corporation. In 2000 Hughes sold its satellite-manufacturing business to Boeing Company. Headquarters are

Yoga

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

The practical aspects of Yoga play a more important part than does its intellectual content, which is largely based on the philosophy of Sa

Aptian Stage

2005-03-05T23:59:00.000-08:00

The fifth of six main divisions (in ascending order) in the Lower Cretaceous Series, representing all those rocks deposited worldwide during the Aptian Age (119 to 113 million years ago). No global stratotype section and point (GSSP) for the base of the Aptian Stage has been approved by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. The name of the stage is derived from the town

Gujarat, Government

2005-03-02T14:17:00.000-08:00

The High Court is the highest judicial authority in the state. There are also city courts, the courts

Porsche, Ferdinand

2005-02-28T10:22:00.000-08:00

Porsche became general director of the Austro-Daimler Company in 1916 and in 1923 moved to the Daimler Company in Stuttgart. He left in 1931 and formed his own firm to design sports and racing cars. Porsche became deeply involved in Hitler's project for a “people's

Digestive System, Vertebrate, Endorphins and enkephalins

2005-02-26T07:11:00.000-08:00

Endorphins and enkephalins, each comprising five amino acids in the molecule, are present in the vagus nerves and the myenteric plexus. They have the properties of opiate (opium-derived) substances such as morphine; they bind to the same receptors and are neutralized by the opiate antagonist naloxone. There is no evidence that endorphins and enkephalins are circulating

Povazská Bystrica

2005-02-25T14:13:00.000-08:00

Economic activities include the manufacture of heavy munitions. One of the town's notable structures is a Gothic church with tombstones dating

Balbus, Lucius Cornelius

2005-02-23T03:27:00.000-08:00

Gnaeus Pompey conferred Roman citizenship on Balbus and his family for his services against the rebel Quintus Sertorius in Spain. Becoming friendly with all political parties in Rome, Balbus had the determining

Plymouth

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

County, southeastern Massachusetts, U.S., bordered by Massachusetts Bay (northeast), Cape Cod Bay (east), and Buzzards Bay (south). It consists mainly of an upland region with pockets of bogs, especially in the coastal lowlands of the southeast. The primary watercourses are the Taunton, Weweantic, North, and South rivers and Assawompset, Long, Great Quittacas, and Snipatuit

Wroclaw

2005-02-18T18:50:00.000-08:00

German Breslau, city, capital of Wroclaw województwo (province), southwestern Poland. It lies along the Oder River at its confluence with the Olawa, Sleza, Bystrzyca, and Widawa rivers. A large industrial centre situated in Dolny Slask (Lower Silesia), Wroclaw is the fourth largest city in Poland. It contains Poland's largest flour mills, a modern electronics and data-processing industry, foundries,

Henry I

2005-02-16T02:26:00.000-08:00

The son of Otto the Illustrious, the Liudolfing duke of Saxony, Henry became duke at his

Earth

2005-02-13T21:16:00.000-08:00

Helical fluid motions in the Earth's electrically conducting liquid outer core have an electromagnetic dynamo effect, giving rise to the Earth's magnetic field. The Earth's sizable, hot core, along with the planet's rapid spin, probably accounts for the exceptional strength of the magnetic field of the Earth as compared with those of the other terrestrial

Anser

2005-02-11T14:57:00.000-08:00

Bird genus of the family Anatidae (order Anseriformes). For a general discussion of the genus, see goose; for A. Albifrons, see white-fronted goose; for A. anser, see greylag; for A. caerulescens, see snow goose.

Akita

2005-02-08T10:36:00.000-08:00

Breed of working dog that originated in the mountains of northern Japan. In 1931 the Japanese government designated the breed as a national treasure. It was employed as a hunting and fighting dog and is now trained for police and guard work. The Akita is a powerful, muscular dog with a broad head, erect, pointed ears (small in relation to head size), and a large curved tail carried

Stearyl Alcohol

2005-02-07T05:12:00.000-08:00

Also called 1-octadecanol, or Octadecyl Alcohol, waxy solid alcohol formerly obtained from whale or dolphin oil and used as a lubricant and antifoam agent and to retard evaporation of water from reservoirs. It is now manufactured by chemical reduction of stearic acid.

Gundagai

2005-02-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

Town, southeastern New South Wales, Australia, on the Murrumbidgee River. The site, originally a sheep run called Willia Ploma, was surveyed in 1838, and the town, a former riverport, derived its present name from an Aboriginal term for “going upstream.” A disastrous flood in 1852 drowned 89 townspeople. The discovery of gold in 1861 at nearby Spring Flat stimulated both its growth and bushranger

France, History Of, Foreign policy and financial crisis

2005-02-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

The monarchy's international performance from 1715 to 1783 was basically creditable. From the time of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14), when France had been invaded and nearly beaten, French statesmen pursued a double goal—the preservation of the balance of power in Europe, and, in the world at large, the expansion of the French colonial empire and the containment of England.

Yeysk

2005-01-31T14:45:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Jejsk , or Eisk city, Krasnodar kray (region), southwestern Russia. It was founded as a port in 1848 on the southern side of Taganrog Gulf of the Sea of Azov. Fishing and associated industries (fish canning) are important; other industries include agricultural processing. The city is a noted health resort, famed for its medicinal sulfur and mud baths. A college of agricultural technology

Oshawa

2005-01-30T19:46:00.000-08:00

City, regional municipality of Durham county, southeastern Ontario, Canada. It lies on the north shore of Lake Ontario, just northeast of Toronto. Founded as Skea's Corners on the military Kingston Road in 1795, it was renamed Oshawa—an Indian word referring to a stream crossing—in 1842, when a post office was established there. The city, which is now a port of entry and a major manufacturing

Amorphous Solid

2005-01-28T17:04:00.000-08:00

On amorphous solids in particular, a lucid introductory text accessible to a nontechnical reader is Richard Zallen, The Physics of Amorphous Solids (1983), with coverage of structural models for the various classes of amorphous solids as well as percolation theory, a modern paradigm for disordered systems. A classic advanced work is N.F. Mott and E.A. Davis, Electronic Processes in Non-crystalline Materials, 2nd ed. (1979), which features many of the theoretical contributions of Nobel Laureate coauthor Mott. A text providing a thorough treatment of oxide glasses is J. Zarzycki, Glasses and the Vitreous State (1991; originally published in French, 1982). A reference work with wide coverage of recent research topics, including detailed treatment of chalcogenide glasses, is S.R. Elliott, Physics of Amorphous Materials, 2nd ed. (1990). A comprehensive collection of detailed reviews is contained in R.W. Cahn, P. Haassen, and E.J. Kramer (eds.), Materials Science and Technology, vol. 6, Glasses and Amorphous Materials, ed. by J. Zarzycki (1991), including coverage of glass technology, formation, and structure, oxide glasses, chalcogenide glasses, metallic glasses, polymeric glasses, and the optical, electric, and mechanical properties of glasses. Amorphous silicon is treated in detail in another work, R.A. Street, Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon (1991).

Aesthetics, The aesthetic experience

2005-01-25T05:36:00.000-08:00

Such considerations point toward the aforementioned approach that begins with the aesthetic experience as the most likely to capture the full range of aesthetic phenomena without begging the important philosophical questions about their nature. Can we then single out a faculty, an attitude, a mode of judgment, or a form of experience that is distinctively aesthetic?

Hojo Masako

2005-01-24T14:52:00.000-08:00

Masako fell in love with Yoritomo when he was exiled from the capital by his family's rivals, the Taira clan, and put under the watch of Masako's father.

Korean Art

2005-01-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

A number of artifacts, including pottery and bronze and iron objects, indicate the early influence of China on Korean art. There is also evidence that Scythian, Siberian, and other non-Chinese cultures had an effect on the design and decoration

Binary Form

2005-01-20T22:54:00.000-08:00

In music, the structural pattern of many songs and instrumental pieces, primarily from the 17th to the 19th century, characterized by two complementary, related sections of more or less equal duration that may be represented schematically as ab. In 18th-century compositions, including dance-inspired movements by J.S. Bach and keyboard sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti, the

Roman-fleuve

2005-01-17T01:08:00.000-08:00

(French: “novel stream”), series of novels, each one complete in itself, that deals with one central character, an era of national life, or successive generations of a family. Inspired by Honoré de Balzac's Comédie humaine and Émile Zola's Rougon-Macquart cycle, the roman-fleuve was a popular literary genre in France during the first half of the 20th century. Examples include

Silver Age

2005-01-16T11:57:00.000-08:00

In Latin literature, the period from approximately AD 18 to 133, which was a time of marked literary achievement second only to the previous Golden Age (70 BC–AD 18). By the 1st century AD political patronage of the arts begun in the Augustan Age (43 BC–AD 18) and a stifling reverence for the literature of the Golden Age, particularly for the poetry of Virgil, had led to a general decline in original literary

John

2005-01-13T23:19:00.000-08:00

John was the younger son of Joachim I, elector of Brandenburg,

Berengario Da Carpi, Jacopo

2005-01-11T23:43:00.000-08:00

Berengario was a professor at the University of Bologna from 1502 to 1527. While there he became known for his use of mercurial ointment in the treatment of syphilis.

Aetolia And Acarnania

2005-01-10T06:08:00.000-08:00

Most of Acarnania

Earth Exploration

2005-01-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

The overall oblate shape of the Earth was established by French Academy expeditions between 1735 and 1743. The Earth's mean density and total mass were determined by the English physicist and chemist Henry Cavendish in about 1797. It was later ascertained that the density of rocks on the Earth's surface is significantly less than the mean density, leading to the assumption that

Melchite

2005-01-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Melkite, any of the Christians of Syria and Egypt who accepted the ruling of the Council of Chalcedon (451) affirming the two natures—divine and human—of Christ. Because they shared the theological position of the Byzantine emperor, they were derisively termed Melchites—that is, Royalists or Emperor's Men (from Syriac malka: “king”)—by those who rejected the Chalcedonian definition

Tallien, Jean-lambert

2005-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

His political career began when, after taking part in the insurrection of Aug. 10, 1792, he became secretary of the Paris Commune and was elected to the National Convention, in which he sided with the more radical Montagnards against

Boyne, River

2005-01-01T18:35:00.000-08:00

Irish An Bhóinn river rising in the Bog of Allen, County Kildare, Ireland, and flowing 70 miles (110 km) northeast to enter the Irish Sea just below Drogheda. Neolithic passage graves at Knowth, Newgrange, and Dowth are of archaeological significance, and nearby in the Boyne valley is Tara, seat of the high kings of Ireland. The river was the scene of the famous Battle of the Boyne (1690).

Shamanism, Dress

2004-12-31T17:01:00.000-08:00

He wears a ritual gown, which usually imitates an animal—a deer, a bird, a bear. Similarly, the headdress is a crown made of antlers or a band into which feathers of birds have been pierced. The footwear is also symbolic—iron deer hooves, birds' claws, or bears' paws. The clothing of the shamans among the Tofalar (Karagasy), Soyet, and Darhat are decorated with representations

La Chétardie, Jacques-joachim Trotti, Marquis De

2004-12-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

La Chétardie entered French military service at an early age and rose through the ranks, becoming lieutenant (1721), major (1730), and colonel (1734). He performed well and received assignments to Holland and Prussia and in 1739 became ambassador to Russia. In order

Cymbidium

2004-12-26T13:16:00.000-08:00

Cymbidium species grow in soil or on other plants and are popular as florists' plants and ornamentals. Most have short pseudobulbs

All-or-none Law

2004-12-25T15:31:00.000-08:00

A physiological principle that relates response to stimulus in excitable tissues. It was first established for the contraction of heart muscle by the American physiologist Henry P. Bowditch in 1871. Describing the relation of response to stimulus, he stated, “An induction shock produces a contraction or fails to do so according to its strength; if it does so at all, it produces

East Chicago

2004-12-22T02:00:00.000-08:00

Industrial city and port, Lake county, northwestern Indiana, U.S., adjoining Gary, Hammond, and Whiting. It is a part of the Chicago-Calumet industrialized metropolitan complex. Laid out in 1887, its industrial development was stimulated by construction of Indiana Harbor, connected with the Grand Calumet River by a 3-mile (5-kilometre) ship canal and including an extensive system

Inkster, Juli

2004-12-20T19:40:00.000-08:00

On Sept. 26, 1999, American golfer Juli Inkster became the 17th member of the Ladies' Professional Golf Association Hall of Fame when she won the Safeway LPGA Golf Championship by six strokes. The victory climaxed an outstanding year for Inkster, who earlier had won four other tournaments, including two majors—the McDonald's LPGA championship and the U.S. Women's Open championship.

Mercury Processing, Secondary mercury

2004-12-19T03:59:00.000-08:00

Significant quantities of mercury have been reclaimed from dental amalgams, oxide and acetate sludges, and battery scrap. Virtually all the metal can be recovered from scrapped mercury cells, mercury boilers, electrical apparatuses, and control instruments.

Powell, Eleanor

2004-12-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

Powell studied ballet at age six and began dancing in Atlantic City nightclubs before she was a teenager. She joined the Co-Optimists

Ekhof, Konrad

2004-12-14T08:58:00.000-08:00

In 1739 Ekhof became a member of the company managed by Johann Friedrich Schönemann, an association that extended over 17 years. Ekhof played leading roles in German

Spanish Riding School Of Vienna

2004-12-12T11:03:00.000-08:00

Also called Imperial Spanish Riding School, German Spanische Reitschule Wien, or Spanische Hofreitschule, school of classical horsemanship in Vienna, probably founded in the late 16th century. It is the only remaining institution where haute école (“high school”) riding and training methods are exclusively practiced, much as they were in the 18th century. The school is particularly noted for its white Lipizzaner (q.v.) horses, bred especially for haute école performance. The horses

Marwan Ii

2004-12-11T00:41:00.000-08:00

The grandson of Marwan I, Marwan II was governor of Armenia and other territories for 12 years, gaining military experience which later led him to reorganize the Islamic army. In place of a clumsy system of divisions based on tribal

Ashland

2004-12-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

City, Jackson county, southwestern Oregon, U.S. It lies along Bear Creek, in the southern reaches of the Rogue River valley, at the base of the Siskiyou Mountains, just southeast of Medford. Settled in 1852 (during a gold rush) and laid out in 1860, it was named for both Ashland county, Ohio, and Ashland, Kentucky, and was known as Ashland Mills for its sawmills and gristmills. It was located

Resolution

2004-12-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, any process by which a mixture called a racemate (q.v.) is separated into its two constituent enantiomorphs. (Enantiomorphs are pairs of substances that have dissymmetric arrangements of atoms and structures that are nonsuperposable mirror images of one another.) Two important methods of resolution were employed by Louis Pasteur. The first of these,

Tarascon

2004-12-05T10:54:00.000-08:00

Town, Bouches-du-Rhône département, Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region, southeastern France, east of Nîmes. Situated on the left bank of the Rhône opposite Beaucaire, the town is associated with a legendary monster, La Tarasque, which was said to have ravaged the region until it was tamed by St. Marthe. Since the late 19th century it has also been associated with the mock-heroic

India, The Anglo-French struggle, 174063

2004-12-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

In 1740 India appeared to be relatively tranquil. In the north the Persian Nadir Shah's invasion (1739) had proved only to be a large-scale raid. In the Deccan, the Nizam-ul-Mulk (“Deputy for the Whole Empire”) provided some measure of stability. In western India the Marathas were dominant. However, there was competition between Marathas, Mughals, and local rulers for political supremacy in the

Power Series

2004-11-30T07:08:00.000-08:00

In mathematics, infinite series that can be thought of as a polynomial with an infinite number of terms, such as 1 + x + x2 + x3 + . . . ad infinitum. Usually, a given power series will converge (that is, approach a finite sum) for all values of x less than a certain constant and diverge for all values greater than that constant (See also convergence). This constant can be determined by the ratio

Paper Wasp

2004-11-29T08:47:00.000-08:00

(Polistes), any of a worldwide genus of insects of the family Vespidae (order Hymenoptera). A striking-looking wasp, about 16 millimetres long, it has orange antennae, wings, and tarsi; the body is jet black with narrow yellow bands and paired segmental spots. The sting is painful but less toxic to humans than that of the more familiar species of wasps and hornets (Vespa,

Pacific Islands, Plant and animal life

2004-11-27T18:14:00.000-08:00

Most island vegetations reveal Asian ancestries stemming from Indonesia and New Guinea. Generic variety declines eastward across the Pacific, providing evidence that seeds and fruits carried by ocean currents, birds, winds, and island voyagers encountered mounting obstacles to acceptance. The easternmost islands were host to limited plant dispersal movement

Arguello, Alexis

2004-11-25T21:58:00.000-08:00

Arguello, who became a professional fighter in 1968, fought only in his homeland until 1974, when he went to Panama to seek the World Boxing Association's featherweight title. Arguello lost this match in a 15-round decision to Ernesto

Epistemology, John Locke

2004-11-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke (1632–1704) is often taken to be the first major empiricist work. Book I discusses innate ideas in order to deny that there are any; Book II discusses various genuine kinds of ideas; Book III discusses language with an emphasis on the meaning of words; and Book IV discusses knowledge and related cognitive states and

Dog, Hounds

2004-11-20T02:38:00.000-08:00

These also are hunting dogs but much more various than the Sporting dogs. There are scent hounds and sight hounds. They are a diverse group, ranging from the low-slung dachshund to the fleet-footed greyhound. However, they all are dedicated to the tasks for which they were bred, whether coursing over rough terrain in search of gazelles, such as the Afghan hound or the Saluki,

Dieldrin

2004-11-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

Chlorine-containing organic compound used as an insecticide; see aldrin.

Good Neighbor Policy

2004-11-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Popular name for the Latin American policy pursued by the administration of the U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt. Suggested by the president's commitment “to the policy of the good neighbor” (first inaugural address, March 4, 1933), the approach marked a departure from traditional American interventionism. Through the diplomacy of Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the

Augustine, Saint

2004-11-15T03:13:00.000-08:00

Augustine was born in Tagaste, a modest Roman community in a river valley 40 miles (64 km) from the African coast. It lay just a few miles short of the point where the veneer of Roman civilization thinned out in the highlands of Numidia in the way the American West opens before a traveler leaving the Mississippi River valley. Augustine's parents were of the respectable class

Judaism, The gaonate of Sa'adia ben Joseph

2004-11-12T17:28:00.000-08:00

In a bold effort to restore discipline and respect for the gaonate, an able exilarch, David ben Zakkai (916/917–940), bypassed the families from whom the geonim had traditionally been selected and in 928 appointed Sa'adia ben Joseph al-Fayyumi to head the academy of Sura. Of Egyptian birth, Sa'adia had gained wide acclaim for his scholarly retorts to Karaites, heretics, and Palestinian

Fracture

2004-11-11T10:17:00.000-08:00

In pathology, a break in a bone caused by stress. Certain normal and pathological conditions may predispose bones to fracture. Children have relatively weak bones because of incomplete calcification, and older adults, especially women past menopause, develop osteoporosis, a weakening of bone concomitant with aging. Pathological conditions involving the skeleton,

Equestrian Sports

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

In the 2001 U.S. high-handicap season, held in Palm Beach, Fla., from January to April, Outback, led by Argentine Adolfo Cambiaso, prevailed at the U.S. Open for the third straight year, and Boca Polo triumphed in the Gold Cup in Boca Raton, Fla. Peter Brant's White Birch, led by Mariano Aguerre and Carlos Gracida, won the Sterling Cup and the Gold Cup of the Americas. In the summer season,

Fréchette, Louis-honoré

2004-11-07T01:58:00.000-08:00

Fréchette studied law at Laval University, Quebec, and was admitted to the bar in 1864. Discharged as a journalist for liberal views, he went to Chicago (1866–71). There, he wrote La Voix d'un exilé (1866–68; “The Voice of an Exile”), a poem attacking the political and clerical dealings in Quebec

Steppe, The

2004-11-04T04:16:00.000-08:00

The military advantages of nomadism became apparent even before the speed and strength of horses had been fully harnessed for military purposes. The early conquests of Sargon of Akkad (c. 2250 BC) and the Amorite invasions of Mesopotamia before 1800 BC attest to the superior force that nomadic or seminomadic peoples held, but the full effect of their military strength came with

Páez, José Antonio

2004-11-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

Páez was a part-Indian llanero, one of the horsemen of the plains. Beginning as a ranch hand, he quickly

Arndt, Ernst Moritz

2004-10-31T05:40:00.000-08:00

Arndt was educated at Stralsund, Greifswald, and Jena and qualified for the Lutheran ministry. At the age of 28 he rejected his clerical career and for 18 months travelled through Europe. On his return to Germany the sight of

Minai Ware

2004-10-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

In Islamic ceramics, bowls, beakers, tankards, and bottles with enamel painting and gilding on a white ground, often with rich figure compositions in bands. Similar vessels in animal and human form were also produced. In the 13th and 14th centuries Sultanabad (now Soltanabad, Iran) and Varamin turned out minai ware.

Nitrite

2004-10-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

Any member of either of two classes of compounds derived from nitrous acid. Salts of nitrous acid are ionic compounds containing the nitrite ion, NO-2, and a positive ion such as Na+ in sodium nitrite (NaNO2). Esters of nitrous acid are covalent compounds having the structure R-O-N-O, in which R represents a carbon-containing combining group such as ethyl (C2H5) in ethyl nitrite.

Molar Gas Constant

2004-10-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

(symbol R), fundamental physical constant arising in the formulation of the general gas law. For an ideal gas (approximated by most real gases that are not highly compressed or not near the point of liquefaction), the pressure p times the volume V of the gas divided by its absolute temperature T is a constant. When one of these three is altered for a given mass of gas, at least

Arabic Alphabet

2004-10-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Second most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (the Latin alphabet is the most widespread). Originally developed for writing the Arabic language and carried across much of the Eastern Hemisphere by the spread of Islam, the Arabic script has been adapted to such diverse languages as Persian, Turkish, Spanish, and Swahili. Although it probably developed

Cancer

2004-10-23T22:20:00.000-07:00

Group of more than 100 distinct diseases characterized by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the body. Cancer affects one in every three persons born in developed countries and is a major cause of sickness and death throughout the world. Though it has been known since antiquity, significant improvements in cancer treatment have been made since the middle

Cabal

2004-10-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

A private organization or party engaged in secret intrigues; also, the intrigues themselves. In England the word was used during the 17th century to describe the mystical interpretation of the Hebrew scripture (the Cabala, or Kabbala), as well as to describe any secret or extralegal council of the king, especially the foreign committee of the Privy Council. The term took

Music, Music and world view

2004-10-20T15:47:00.000-07:00

Again, music proves its protean susceptibilities in the service of disparate world views. Among humanist psychologists (such as the Americans Gordon Allport and Abraham Maslow) music may be one among other means toward self-fulfillment, integration, self-actualization; for aesthetic Existentialists (such as the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre) it is yet another

Triforium

2004-10-20T02:31:00.000-07:00

In architecture, space in a church above the nave arcade, below the clerestory, and extending over the vaults, or ceilings, of the side aisles. The term is sometimes applied to any second-floor gallery opening onto a higher nave by means of arcades or colonnades, like the galleries in many ancient Roman basilicas or Byzantine churches. The triforium became an integral

Kame

2004-10-18T03:42:00.000-07:00

Moundlike hill of poorly sorted drift, mostly sand and gravel, deposited at or near the terminus of a glacier. A kame may be produced either as a delta of a meltwater stream or as an accumulation of debris let down onto the ground surface by the melting glacier. A group of closely associated kames is called a kame field, or kame complex, and may be interspersed with kettles

Great Dismal Swamp

2004-10-18T00:53:00.000-07:00

Also called Dismal Swamp marshy region on the Coastal Plain of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, U.S., between Norfolk, Virginia, and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is densely forested and contains scattered natural elevations of 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 metres) above sea level. Along the western margin the Pamlico Formation (known as the Great Dismal Swamp Terrace) rises to 25 feet

Saberht

2004-10-16T15:37:00.000-07:00

Saberht reigned as a dependent of his uncle Aethelberht I, king of Kent, and became a Christian after Aethelberht's conversion. A late and doubtful legend attributes the founding of Westminster Abbey to Saberht—London being then the chief city of the East Saxons. He was succeeded by his sons, all

Rohan, Louis-rené-édouard, Prince De

2004-10-14T17:29:00.000-07:00

Cardinal from 1778 and bishop of Strasbourg from 1779 to 1801, who was the antihero of the French scandal known as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace in 1785 (see Diamond Necklace, Affair of the). Duped into undertaking the purchase of a necklace for Queen Marie-Antoinette, without her authority and without funds of his own, he was tried for fraud

Bashir Shihab Ii

2004-10-13T22:01:00.000-07:00

Although born into the princely Shihab family, Bashir grew up in poverty but married into great wealth. In 1788 the Lebanese emir was forced to abdicate, and the local nobility selected

Rabato

2004-10-12T23:01:00.000-07:00

The turned-back rabato was sometimes used as the support or base for a ruff,

Feng Yü-hsiang

2004-10-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

A soldier at the age of 11, Feng was largely self-educated. He rose through the ranks, gathering under his command a highly disciplined body of troops. He urged his men to become Protestants, to engage in social reform, to acquire

Ciskei

2004-10-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Also called Xhosa-ciskei, or Xosa-ciskei, former republic (though never internationally recognized as such) that was inhabited principally by Xhosa-speaking people in southern Africa. It bordered the Indian Ocean on the southeast and was bounded by the Republic of South Africa on the southwest, northwest, and northeast. A fingerlike extension of South African territory on the northeast separated Ciskei

Paddle Tennis

2004-10-10T21:01:00.000-07:00

Small-scale form of tennis similar to a British shipboard game of the 1890s. Frank P. Beal, a New York City official, introduced paddle tennis on New York playgrounds in the early 1920s. He had invented it as a child in Albion, Mich. It became popular, and national championship tournaments are still held in the United States. Platform tennis, a later development, is sometimes called

Tablature

2004-10-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

Lute tablatures were of three main varieties, French, Italian (used also in Spain), and German. The French type, used c. 1500–c. 1800, proved to be the most practical and contained an important

China, Five Dynasties, Ten Kingdoms, and Sung periods

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

Further general information is available in the following: Edward A. Kracke, Jr., Civil Service in Early Sung China, 960–1067 (1953), a monumental work; James T.C. Liu, Ou-yang Hsiu, an Eleventh-Century Neo-Confucianist, trans. from the Chinese (1967), and Reform in Sung China: Wang An-shih (1021–1086) and His New Policies (1959), both works attempting to relate general trends through historical figures; and Brian E. McKnight, Village and Bureaucracy in Southern Sung China (1971), an account coming down to the later period as well as the local scene. Jacques Gernet, Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276 (1962; originally published in French, 1959), provides vivid descriptions. See also Patricia Buckley Ebrey (ed. and trans.), Family and Property in Sung China: Yüan Ts'ai's Precepts for Social Life (1984), an excellent picture of family relations as studied in the 12th-century work by Yüan Ts'ai; Thomas H.S. Lee, Government Education and Examinations in Sung China (1985), a description of education and its relationship to the civil service; and Brian E. McKnight (trans.), The Washing Away of Wrongs: Forensic Medicine in Thirteenth-Century China (1985), a translation of an early work on the topic.

Sesto San Giovanni

2004-10-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

Town, Milano province, Lombardia (Lombardy) region, northern Italy. A northeastern industrial suburb of Milan, it has blast furnaces, foundries, glassworks, and aircraft assembly plants and manufactures railway and electrical equipment. With one of the largest concentrations of organized labour in Italy, Sesto San Giovanni has long been a bastion of Italian Communism.

Güira De Melena

2004-10-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

City, southwestern La Habana province, west central Cuba. It lies amid a fertile agricultural and livestock-raising region known primarily for tobacco, although potatoes and bananas, pineapples, and other tropical fruits are also cultivated. The dairy industry is well developed, and the city contains cigar factories. Pop. (1985 est.) 25,246.

Setouchi

2004-10-04T22:45:00.000-07:00

Industrial region, southern Japan. Setouchi includes the southern portion of Chugoku chiho (region) on the island of Honshu, the northern part of Shikoku, and many nearby industrial areas on islands of the Inland Sea. Setouchi is neither an administrative nor a political entity; it includes portions of the ken (prefectures) of Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi on Honshu,

Lipoprotein

2004-10-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Cholesterol

Progesterone

2004-10-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

Hormone secreted by the female reproductive system that functions mainly to regulate the condition of the inner lining (endometrium) of the uterus. Progesterone is produced by the ovaries, placenta, and adrenal glands; in the ovaries the site of production is the corpus luteum tissue, which begins to form prior to an egg's release and continues to grow into the empty

Anauxite

2004-10-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Mineral, an interstratified mixture of kaolinite and free silica. See kaolinite.

Babylon

2004-10-01T01:34:00.000-07:00

Town (township), Suffolk county, southeastern New York, U.S. It lies on southern Long Island, along Great South Bay, east of Freeport. Established in 1872 after separation from Huntington (founded 1653), it includes the villages of Babylon (incorporated 1893), Amityville (1894), and Lindenhurst (1923) and the unincorporated communities of Deer Park, Copiague, and Wyandanch. The Italian inventor Guglielmo

Sea Fan

2004-09-30T04:29:00.000-07:00

(Gorgonia), any of a genus of invertebrate marine animals of the order Gorgonacea (class Anthozoa, phylum Cnidaria). It is a variety of coral composed of polyps, cylindrical sessile (attached) forms, that grow together in a flat, fanlike pattern; hence, the name sea fan. Each polyp in the colony has some multiple of six tentacles, as opposed to the eightfold symmetry of the similar

Downy Mildew

2004-09-29T01:55:00.000-07:00

Disease of plants, especially in cool humid regions, caused by several fungi, including species of Basidiophora, Bremia, Peronospora, Phytophthora, Plasmopara, Pseudoperonospora, and Sclerospora. White, gray, bluish, or violet downy patches of mildew form mostly on the undersides of leaves in damp weather. Pale-green to yellow or brown areas usually develop on the

Heiberg, Gunnar (edvard Rode)

2004-09-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

Left alone as a child when his parents separated, he was educated at King Frederick's University, Kristiania. Heiberg's plays were always highly provocative, and their opening nights caused the greatest scandals in the history of

Light

2004-09-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

Electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye. In terms of wavelength, electromagnetic radiation occurs over an extremely wide range, from gamma rays with a wavelength of 3 ´ 10-14 centimetre to long radio waves measured in millions of kilometres. In that spectrum the wavelengths visible to humans occupy a very narrow band, from about 7 ´ 10-5 centimetre (red light)

Liturgical Music

2004-09-26T02:48:00.000-07:00

Also called Church Music, music written for performance in a religious rite of worship; the term is most commonly associated with the Christian tradition. Developing from the musical practices of the Jewish synagogues, which allowed the cantor an improvised charismatic song, early Christian services contained a simple refrain, or responsorial, sung by the congregation. This evolved