ElectricCup

Financial services

2007-01-10T10:15:00.000-08:00

Owner of 0800Promote, steve harris
has launched a new estate agency business, bringing a fresh approach to property services in North London.

Margaret Of Valois

2005-04-04T14:22:00.000-07:00

The daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de Médicis, she played a secondary part in the Wars of Religion (1562–98) from the moment she took her place at court in 1569. Her relations with her brothers Charles IX

Bugs Bunny

2005-04-04T00:41:00.000-07:00

Bugs Bunny was conceived at Leon Schlesinger's animation unit at Warner Bros. studios. Nicknamed “Termite Terrace” because of its spartan accommodations on the Warner lot, the unit boasted some of the top names in animation, including Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Bob

Astruc Of Lunel,

2005-04-03T03:45:00.000-07:00

Although Astruc revered Maimonides, who had attempted to reconcile Aristotle's philosophy

12-tone Music

2005-04-02T03:25:00.000-08:00

Large body of music, written roughly since World War I, that uses the so-called 12-tone method or technique of composition. The Austrian-born composer Arnold Schoenberg is credited with the invention of this technique, although other composers (e.g., the American composer Charles Ives and the Austrian Josef Hauer) anticipated Schoenberg's invention by writing music

Sackler, Arthur M.

2005-04-01T06:44:00.000-08:00

Sackler studied at New York University (B.S., 1933; M.D., 1937) and worked as a psychiatrist at Creedmore State Hospital in Queens, New York (1944–46), where in 1949 he founded the Creedmore Institute of Psychobiological Studies, a field in

Indigo Snake

2005-04-01T03:10:00.000-08:00

(Drymarchon corais), docile, nonvenomous member of the family Colubridae found from the southeastern United States to Brazil. It is the largest snake in the United States—record length is 2.8 metres (9.2 feet)—and one of the largest of all colubrids. In the United States its colour is blue-black; southward it may have brown foreparts, and in the tropics members

Dactylella

2005-03-31T04:34:00.000-08:00

A genus of 15 species in the Fungi Imperfecti (form-class Deuteromycetes; q.v.). They capture and kill nematodes (roundworms) by penetrating their bodies. A penetration tube grows out of a hypha (one of the filaments that make up the body of a typical fungus) after contact with the prey, enters it, and begins to grow and branch, forming haustoria (special absorbing structures).

Eagles, The

2005-03-30T18:15:00.000-08:00

American band that cultivated country rock as the reigning style and sensibility of white youth in the United States during the 1970s. The original members were Don Henley (b. July 22, 1947, Gilmer, Texas, U.S.), Glenn Frey (b. November 6, 1948, Detroit, Michigan), Bernie Leadon (b. July 19, 1947, Minneapolis, Minnesota), and Randy Meisner (b. March 8, 1946, Scottsbluff, Nebraska). Later members included Don Felder (b. September

Earth Sciences, Weather forecasting

2005-03-30T00:21:00.000-08:00

Efforts at incorporating numerical data on weather into mathematical formulas that could then be used for forecasting were initiated early in the century at the Norwegian Geophysical Institute. Vilhelm Bjerknes and his associates at Bergen succeeded in devising equations relating the measurable components of weather, but their complexity precluded the

Rare-earth Element, Sources and extraction

2005-03-28T23:02:00.000-08:00

Though numerous minerals rich in rare earths are found in the Earth's crust, many are extremely rare, and many more are found only in small pockets in more massive rocks. Although such minerals are of considerable research interest they are not used commercially. Monazite, a mixed phosphate of calcium, thorium, cerium, and various lanthanides, occurs in extensive deposits

Dandruff

2005-03-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

Skin disorder, a form of seborrheic dermatitis (q.v.) that affects the scalp.

Athenagoras I

2005-03-28T04:08:00.000-08:00

Athenagoras was the son of a physician. He attended the seminary on the island of Halki, near Constantinople, and was ordained a deacon in 1910. He then moved to Athens, where he served as archdeacon to the archbishop Meletios, who later

Art, African, Ibibio

2005-03-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

Among the oldest sculptures of tropical Africa are several hundred ancestor figures, called ekpu, of the Ibibio coastal trade centre of Oron, some of which are thought to date from the late 18th century. They are bearded figures 3 to 4 feet (90 to 120 cm) high and are so individual as to suggest portraiture, despite their schematic style. Oron is one group of Ibibio-speaking villages.

Subbituminous Coal

2005-03-27T15:05:00.000-08:00

Also called Black Lignite, dark brown to black coal intermediate in rank between lignite and bituminous coal. Subbituminous coals often have a silky lustre and sometimes are macroscopically indistinguishable from the bituminous variety. The fibrous structure characteristic of lignite is absent in subbituminous coals, many of which have evolved alternating dull and bright bands

Aerospace Industry, Use of computers

2005-03-26T05:24:00.000-08:00

The computer has also fundamentally changed the development process by permitting digital modeling and simulation as well as computer-aided design in conjunction with computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM; see computer-aided engineering). In the early design stage of a flight vehicle, digital computer modeling of prospective designs enables rapid examination

Nordau, Max

2005-03-25T20:08:00.000-08:00

In 1880, after serving as Viennese correspondent for a Budapest newspaper and traveling extensively in Europe, Nordau settled permanently in Paris,

Coralroot

2005-03-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

Any plant of the genus Corallorhiza, family Orchidaceae, consisting of about 13 species of nearly leafless, nonphotosynthetic orchids that live primarily on dead organic matter. One species is Eurasian; the others are native to North and Central America. The name coralroot refers to the coral-like shape of the reddish rhizomes (underground

Ashbourne

2005-03-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

Town (“parish”), Derbyshire Dales district, administrative and historic county of Derbyshire, England. Ashbourne is a centre for the surrounding agricultural districts and for tourists visiting nearby Dovedale and the Manyfold Valley. Its buildings include the Church of St. Oswald, dating from 1241 and possessing an octagonal spire (212 feet [65 metres]). The oldest of the famous

Spoonbill

2005-03-23T21:57:00.000-08:00

Also called Spoonbill Cat, primitive North American fish, a species of paddlefish (q.v.).

France, History Of, Local institutions

2005-03-23T00:39:00.000-08:00

Except in the north, which was divided into districts called pagi, the Merovingians continued to use the city (the Roman civitas) as the principal administrative division. A count was installed in each pagus and city (urbs) and delegated financial, military, and judicial authority. Groups of counts were occasionally placed under the authority of a duke, whose responsibilities

Peninsular

2005-03-22T06:02:00.000-08:00

Spanish peninsular , plural peninsulares , also called gachupín , or chapetón any of the colonial residents of Latin America from the 16th through the early 19th century who had been born in Spain. The name refers to the Iberian Peninsula. Among the American-born in Mexico the peninsulars were contemptuously called gachupines (“those with spurs”) and in South America, chapetones (“tenderfeet”). They enjoyed the special favour of the Spanish crown and

Aeon

2005-03-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

The first aeon was said to emanate directly

Amnesty International

2005-03-20T20:09:00.000-08:00

Egon Larsen, A Flame in Barbed Wire (1978); and Jonathan Power, Amnesty International: The Human Rights Story (1981), a well-illustrated work, chronicle the group's history. Marie Staunton and Sally Fenn (compilers and eds.), The Amnesty International Handbook (1991), delineates the group's three goals and describes volunteer action.

Scandinavian Literature, Prose

2005-03-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Prose literature of the 14th century included several sagas. Among them were the Finnboga saga ramma (“Saga of Finnbogi the Strong”), about a 10th-century hero, and another telling the love story of its hero Víglundr. Sagas about bishops, already a theme in the 13th century, became more numerous, as did lives of foreign saints. A large collection of exempla (moral tales) was also made,

Basil The Chamberlain

2005-03-19T02:35:00.000-08:00

After the death of the emperor John I, Basil the Chamberlain controlled the throne for his two grandnephews and co-emperors Constantine and Basil II. After engineering his uncle's downfall, Basil II was finally able to assume his own independent rule.

Cheliff, Ech-

2005-03-19T01:28:00.000-08:00

Formerly (until 1981) El-Asnam, or (until 1964) Orléansville, town, northern Algeria. It lies along the Chelif River, south of the Mediterranean port of Ténès. It was founded by the French in 1843 on the site of the ancient Roman settlement of Castellum Tingitanum and is now an important rail junction midway between Algiers and Oran, as well as an agricultural trade centre. In the surrounding region wheat and barley are the main crops,

Abu Hanifah

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

Muhammad Shibli Numani, Imam Abu Hanifah: Life and Work (1972), provides an introduction. Discussions of his work in its larger context can be found in Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law (1964, reprinted 1982); A.J. Wensinck, The Muslim Creed: Its Genesis and Historical Development, 2nd ed. (1979); and John Alden Williams (ed.), Islam (1961).

Buteshire

2005-03-18T05:35:00.000-08:00

Excavations in the islands have revealed evidence of human habitation

World Water Crisis: Is There A Way Out?

2005-03-17T23:56:00.000-08:00

Such was the dismal state of the world's water supply, as presented in a press release by Koichiro Matsuura, director general of UNESCO, on March 5, 2003. Matsuura later warned, “Over the next 20 years, the average supply of water worldwide per person is expected to drop by a third.” For years there had been warnings of an ever-worsening crisis in the availability of water on planet

Masjed Soleyman

2005-03-16T19:36:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Masjid-i Sulaiman, town, southwestern Iran. Oil was discovered at Masjed Soleyman in 1908, and the town early became one of Iran's leading oil centres. Pipelines, built in 1909–10, link the town with Abadan, 125 miles (200 km) southwest. Pop. (1986) 104,787.

France, History Of, Pepin III the Short

2005-03-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

Carloman's entrance into a monastery in 747 reunited Carolingian holdings. Pepin the Short, who had

Matthau, Walter

2005-03-16T08:31:00.000-08:00

Born into a family of Jewish-Russian immigrants, he was compelled to work at a very early age. By the time he was 11, he was employed at the concession stand in a Lower East Side Yiddish theatre. To pick up extra money, he began playing bit

Earth Sciences, Micropaleontology

2005-03-15T23:17:00.000-08:00

Microscopic fossils, such as ostracods, foraminifera, and pollen grains, are common in sediments of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras (from about 225,000,000 years ago to the present). Because the rock chips brought up in oil wells are so small, a high-resolution instrument known as a scanning electron microscope had to be developed to study the microfossils. The classification of

Star

2005-03-15T20:20:00.000-08:00

Any massive, self-luminous celestial body of gas that shines by radiation derived from its internal energy sources. Of the trillions of stars comprising the universe, only a very small percentage are visible to the naked eye. Many stars occur in pairs, multiple systems, and clusters. The members of such stellar groups are physically related through common origin

Mahi River

2005-03-14T11:44:00.000-08:00

Stream in western India, rising in the western Vindhya Range, just south of Sardarpur, and flowing northward through Madhya Pradesh state. Turning northwest, it enters Rajasthan state and then turns southwest to flow through Gujarat state and enter the sea by a wide estuary past Cambay after about a 360-mile (580-kilometre) course. The silt brought down by the Mahi has contributed

Allen, Bog Of

2005-03-14T06:53:00.000-08:00

Irish Móin Alúine group of peat bogs between the Liffey and the Shannon rivers in east-central Ireland in Counties Kildare, Offaly, Laoighis, and Westmeath. Some 370 square miles (958 square km) in area, it is developed extensively for fuel for power stations; the cutover land is used for grazing. The bogs are traversed by the Grand and Royal canals, the latter no longer in use. An early monastic site

Adangme

2005-03-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

The chief Adangme occupation is farming, based on the huza system, in which a tract of land is purchased

Biblical Literature, Astrology

2005-03-13T20:52:00.000-08:00

There were elements in the Greek world that may have come from the East, partly Egyptian and Babylonian, which gave rise to astrology. The basic conviction of astrology was that the heavenly bodies were deities that in a direct way control life and events on earth. An older idea of tyche, or “fate,” originally signified the chance element in the universe, a capriciousness

Aerospace Industry, Maintenance

2005-03-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

The maintenance support provided by aerospace-industry firms is applied primarily to corporate, commercial, and military aircraft. Light-plane maintenance is generally handled by local fixed-base operators, which are not considered part of the aerospace industrial complex. Launch vehicles and unmanned spacecraft, although maintained throughout their prelaunch

Aleandro, Girolamo

2005-03-13T18:26:00.000-08:00

In 1520 Pope

Medicine, Other developing countries

2005-03-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

A main goal of the World Health Organization (WHO), as expressed in the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978, is to provide to all the citizens of the world a level of health that will allow them to lead socially and economically productive lives by the year 2000. By the late 1980s, however, vast disparities in health care still existed between the rich and poor countries of the world. In developing

Annecy

2005-03-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Haute-Savoie département, Rhône-Alpes région, southeastern France. It lies along the northwestern shore of Lake Annecy at the entrance to one of the cluses (transverse gorges) of the Savoy Pre-Alps, south of Geneva. Traces of the Gallo-Roman Boutae have been found nearby. The seat of the counts of Genevois from the 10th century, Annecy was attached to the dukedom

Moreau River

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

River, formed by the confluence of several headstreams in Butte and Harding counties, northwestern South Dakota, U.S. It flows about 290 mi (470 km) east through the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, where it receives several north-bank tributaries (including Thunder Butte and Little Moreau), to the Missouri River south of Mobridge. The lower Moreau Basin was inundated by

Raden

2005-03-10T00:28:00.000-08:00

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

Smith, Eliza Roxey Snow

2005-03-09T14:50:00.000-08:00

Eliza Snow grew up from the age of two in Mantua, Ohio. Her family was deeply religious and in the 1820s joined the Campbellite sect of “reformed Baptists.” Mormon proselytizers went to their region

Melamine

2005-03-09T06:10:00.000-08:00

Melamine is manufactured by heating dicyandiamide under pressure. Its most important reaction is that with formaldehyde, forming resinous compounds of high molecular weight.

Heureaux, Ulises

2005-03-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Heureaux received some schooling in a Methodist mission and then joined a revolt against Spain in the early 1860s, distinguishing

Constant, Benjamin

2005-03-08T05:22:00.000-08:00

The son of a Swiss officer in the Dutch service, whose family was of French origin, he studied at Erlangen, Ger., briefly at the University of Oxford, and at Edinburgh. In 1787 he formed, in Paris, his first liaison, with Madame de

Moscherosch, Johann Michael

2005-03-07T02:37:00.000-08:00

Moscherosch was educated at Strassburg (now Strasbourg)

Ibn Al-'awwam

2005-03-06T15:09:00.000-08:00

Agriculturist who wrote the Arabic treatise on agriculture, Kitab al-fila-hah, the outstanding medieval work on the subject. The Spanish translation, published in the early 1800s, consists of 35 chapters dealing with agronomy, cattle and poultry raising, and beekeeping. It deals with 585 plants; explains the cultivation of more than 50 fruit trees; and includes

Syria, The cultivated steppe

2005-03-06T11:57:00.000-08:00

This region constitutes the principal wheat zone; agriculture is intensively pursued along the banks of the rivers. Some of Syria's most important cities—Damascus, Aleppo, Hims, Hamah, and al-Qamishli—are situated there.

Shiels, Robert

2005-03-06T00:37:00.000-08:00

Moving to London, where he was a printer, Shiels was employed by Samuel Johnson as an amanuensis on the Dictionary of the English Language. When this work was completed, Shiels, with others, began the compilation of a five-volume The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean

Gender

2005-03-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

In language, a phenomenon in which the words of a certain part of speech, usually nouns, require the agreement, or concord, through grammatical marking (or inflection), of various other words related to them in a sentence. In languages that exhibit gender, two or more classes of nouns control variation in words of other parts of speech (typically pronouns and adjectives

Arias De Saavedra, Hernando

2005-03-05T14:26:00.000-08:00

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

Alaska, Settlement patterns

2005-03-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

A large percentage of Alaskans live in the southern interior basins around Anchorage; most of the remainder live in the interior plains around Fairbanks or in the panhandle region, where Juneau is the major city and the administrative centre of the state. Tiny pockets of people are scattered in small villages, the most sparsely occupied being the Arctic plains,

Dennison, Aaron Lufkin

2005-03-04T05:49:00.000-08:00

Apprenticed at the age of 18 to a watchmaker in Brunswick, Maine, he learned the prevailing

Cataclastite

2005-03-03T23:48:00.000-08:00

Any rock produced by dynamic metamorphism during which faulting, granulation, and flowage may occur in previously crystalline parent rocks. When stress exceeds breaking strength, a rock yields by rupture. The rock may break as a unit, or individual minerals may be selectively granulated. The stress is generally not the same in all directions, so that movement in

Arabia, Oman

2005-03-03T22:05:00.000-08:00

The Al-Hajar mountain range is divided into Eastern Al-Hajar and Western Al-Hajar. The range, which exceeds a height of 9,000 feet in places, differs from other Arabian coastal highlands in being steep on both sides. Plains at the foot of the mountains fall away almost imperceptibly from the numerous towns of interior Oman to the Rub' al-Khali basin. No mountains bar Oman's

Kirov

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

Formerly (until 1934) Vyatka, or Viatka, city and administrative centre of Kirov oblast (province), western Russia, on the Vyatka River. The city was founded as Khlynov in 1181 by traders from Novgorod and became the centre of the “Vyatka Lands,” settled by Russians in the 14th to the 15th century. In 1489 it was captured by Moscow. Renamed Vyatka in 1780, it became a provincial seat, but development was slow, and it was used as a place

Cueva, Juan De La

2005-03-03T19:50:00.000-08:00

Cueva differed from his contemporaries in having his plays published, thus transmitting to posterity intact examples of early, albeit mediocre, Spanish drama. Cueva's plays in the collection Primera parte

Canaveral, Cape

2005-03-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

Seaward extension of Canaveral Island (a barrier island running southeastward along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean) and city in Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S. The cape itself is separated from Merritt Island to the west by the Banana River, and the island is separated from the mainland by the Indian River (both “rivers” actually constitute elongated coastal

Czechowicz, Józef

2005-03-01T05:49:00.000-08:00

The son of a poor family, Czechowicz was educated at a teachers' college. His poetry is characterized by sensitivity to both urban and rural landscapes and by his love of folk culture. His style is ostentatiously modern and remarkable for its verbal economy, but his poems remain expressive because

Vaiont Dam

2005-02-28T16:49:00.000-08:00

Concrete arch dam across the Vaiont River in Italy with a height of 859 feet (262 m) and crest length of 623 feet (190 m). Completed in 1961, it was severely damaged by a massive landslide into the reservoir in 1963 that claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people.

1763, Proclamation Of

2005-02-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

Proclamation declared by the British crown at the end of the French and Indian War in North America, mainly intended to conciliate the Indians by checking the encroachment of white settlers on their lands. After Indian grievances had resulted in the start of Pontiac's War (1763–64), British authorities determined to subdue intercolonial rivalries and abuses by dealing

Polar Bear

2005-02-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

Also called White Bear, Water Bear, Sea Bear, or Ice Bear (Ursus maritimus, formerly Thalarctos maritimus), semiaquatic northern bear, family Ursidae, found throughout Arctic regions, generally on drifting oceanic ice floes. The polar bear is sought for its trophy value and (especially by Eskimo) for its hide, tendons, fat, and flesh; the liver, however, is inedible and often poisonous because of its high vitamin

Pottery, Archaic period (c. 750c. 480 BC)

2005-02-27T06:36:00.000-08:00

By c. 550 BC Athens had once again become the principal centre of pottery manufacture in Greece, having ousted its Corinthian rivals from the overseas markets. Its success is at least partially due to a sudden improvement in technique, for its potters had learned how to obtain the familiar orange-red surface of their vases by mixing a proportion of ruddle, or red ochre, with

Laima

2005-02-26T08:29:00.000-08:00

Also called Laima-dalia (from Lithuanian laime, “happiness,” “luck”), in Baltic religion, the goddess of fate, generally associated with the linden tree. Together with Dievs, the sky, and Saule, the sun, Laima determines the length and fortune of human life. In the course of each life she helps arrange marriages, oversees weddings, protects pregnant women, and appears at childbirth to pronounce each

Utsunomiya

2005-02-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

Capital, Tochigi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. The city is situated on the alluvial plain between the Ta River and the Kinu River. A castle town in the 11th century, it later served as a post town on the Nikko Highway during the Tokugawa era (1603–1867). The city became the prefectural administrative centre in 1884. During World War II industries were relocated to Utsunomiya from Tokyo, producing

Kandersteg

2005-02-25T06:41:00.000-08:00

Village, Bern canton, southwest-central Switzerland. It lies in the upper valley of the Kander River, in the Bernese Oberland, southwest of Interlaken. It is a mountaineering and winter-sports resort; the Blümlisalphorn (12,018 feet [3,663 m]), Balmhorn (12,168 feet [3,709 m]), and Doldenhorn (11,952 feet [3,643 m]) are nearby. As the highest station on the north side of the Bern-Lotschberg-Simplon railway, it has direct

English Literature, Arnold and Clough

2005-02-25T01:34:00.000-08:00

Matthew Arnold's first volume of verse, The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems (1849), combined lyric grace with an acute sense of the dark philosophical landscape of the period. The title poem of his next collection, Empedocles on Etna (1852), is a sustained statement of the modern dilemma and a remarkable poetic embodiment of the process that Arnold called “the dialogue of the mind

Hindenburg, Paul Von

2005-02-24T16:43:00.000-08:00

Hindenburg was the son of a Prussian officer of old Junker (aristocratic)

Dominic, Saint

2005-02-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

Spanish in full Santo Domingo De Guzmán founder of the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans), a religious order of mendicant friars with a universal mission of preaching, a centralized organization and government, and a great emphasis on scholarship.

Wolof

2005-02-23T08:18:00.000-08:00

The typical rural community is small (about 100 persons). Most Wolof are farmers, growing peanuts (groundnuts) as a cash crop and millet and sorghum as staples; many, however, live and work in Dakar and Banjul as traders, goldsmiths, tailors, carpenters,

Theatre, Court theatres

2005-02-22T08:31:00.000-08:00

The Baroque architectural style, beginning in Italy and spreading across Europe, dominated theatre building between about 1650 and 1790. Its chief characteristics are refinement in detail of the proscenium stage and of the Renaissance horseshoe-shaped auditorium and seating plan. The innovations of the period were introduced in the private court theatres. As many as

Faidherbe, Louis

2005-02-22T07:17:00.000-08:00

In full Louis-léon-césar Faidherbe governor of French Senegal in 1854–61 and 1863–65 and a major founder of France's colonial empire in Africa. He founded Dakar, the future capital of French West Africa.

Palacký, Frantiek

2005-02-21T15:35:00.000-08:00

He early came into contact with the resurgence of national feeling that had begun to influence Czech and Slovak intellectuals. His

Valencia

2005-02-21T09:21:00.000-08:00

Capital of Valencia province and the autonomous community (region) of Valencia, and of the former kingdom of Valencia, eastern Spain. Located on the Mediterranean coast at the mouth of the Río Turia (Guadalaviar), it is surrounded by orchards in a region known as the Huerta de Valencia. The earliest mention (Valentia) is by the Roman historian Livy, who states that the consul

Endoderm

2005-02-21T06:54:00.000-08:00

The innermost of the three germ layers, or masses of cells (lying within ectoderm and mesoderm), which appears early in the development of an animal embryo. The endoderm subsequently gives rise to the epithelium (tissue that covers, or lines, a structure) of the pharynx, including the eustachian tube, the tonsils, the thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, and thymus gland;

Schally, Andrew V.

2005-02-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

In full Andrew Victor Schally Polish-born American endocrinologist and corecipient, with Roger Guillemin and Rosalyn Yalow, of the 1977 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. He was noted for isolating and synthesizing three hormones that are produced by the region of the brain known as the hypothalamus; these hormones control the activities of other

Yung-lo Ta-tien

2005-02-19T21:38:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Yongluo Dadien (Chinese: “The Great Canon [or Vast Documents] of the Yung-lo Era”), Chinese compilation that was the world's largest known encyclopaedia. Compiled by thousands of Chinese scholars under the direction of the Yung-lo emperor (reigned 1402–24), it was completed in 1407. The work contained 22,877 manuscript rolls, or chapters, in 11,095 volumes and was designed to include all that had ever been written

Gum

2005-02-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

Abbreviation of Gosudarstvenny Universalny Magazin (Russian: “State Department Store”), the largest department store in Russia. Situated on a traditional market site on the northeast side of Red Square in Moscow, the building originally known as the Upper Trading Arcade was designed by A.N. Pomerantsev and built in 1889–93 in a pseudo-Russian style over a hidden metal skeleton. In its original form it housed more than 1,000 shops. Reconstructed

Coimbra, Pedro, 1o Duque De

2005-02-18T23:39:00.000-08:00

The second of the “illustrious generation,” comprising the sons of John I and Philippa of Lancaster, Pedro was present at the conquest of Ceuta from the Muslims in 1415 and later traveled abroad in Europe,

Eakins, Thomas

2005-02-18T18:51:00.000-08:00

Eakins returned to Philadelphia in the summer of 1870. His earliest artistic subjects were his sisters and other members of his family and the family of his fiancée, Katherine Crowell. Redolent with the character of each individual in an intimate and personal domestic setting—pensive young ladies at the piano, children engrossed with toys scattered on the floor, Katherine

Fairfield

2005-02-16T08:24:00.000-08:00

County, southwestern Connecticut, U.S. It is bounded by Long Island Sound to the south, New York state to the west, and the Housatonic River to the east, and it includes several islands in the sound. Most of the county lies in an upland region forested with hardwoods, with only a narrow coastal plain running along the southern edge. Waterways other than the Housatonic are

Phillips Academy

2005-02-16T05:06:00.000-08:00

It was founded as a boarding school for boys in 1778 by Samuel Phillips, who later became president of the state senate of Massachusetts.

Devitrification

2005-02-16T04:59:00.000-08:00

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

Harsch, Joseph Close

2005-02-16T03:14:00.000-08:00

American newspaper and broadcast journalist who, during his 60-year career with The Christian Science Monitor, was noted for his presence at many of the period's most historic events and for his vivid reporting of those events; Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth II made him an honorary C.B.E. in 1965 (b. May 25, 1905, Toledo, Ohio--d. June 3, 1998, Jamestown, R.I.).

Wage And Salary

2005-02-15T19:32:00.000-08:00

Toward the end of the 19th century, marginal-productivity analysis was applied not only to labour but to other factors of production as well. It was not a new idea as an explanation of wage phenomena, for Smith had observed that a relationship existed between wage rates and the productivity of labour, and Johann Heinrich von Thünen, a German economist, had worked out a

Buzuluk

2005-02-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

City, Orenburg oblast (province), in the southern Ural Mountains of west-central Russia. The oblast is situated along the Samara River (a tributary of the Volga), near its confluence with the Buzuluk. Founded in 1736 as a Russian fortress, it was chartered in 1781. Industries include the manufacture of heavy metallurgical and agricultural machinery. The city has four technical

English Literature, Problems of dating

2005-02-14T16:23:00.000-08:00

Few poems can be dated as closely as Caedmon's “Hymn.” King Alfred's compositions fall into the late 9th century, and Bede composed his “Death Song” within 50 days of his death on May 25, 735. Historical poems like “The Battle of Brunanburh” (after 937) and “The Battle of Maldon” (after 991) are fixed by the dates of the events they commemorate. A translation of one of Aldhelm's riddles is found not only

Ch'i Ju-shan

2005-02-14T06:28:00.000-08:00

Born into a prosperous and well-educated family, Ch'i Ju-shan received a Classical Chinese education, also studying traditional Chinese theatre from childhood and learning European languages as a young man.

Claudius

2005-02-13T17:13:00.000-08:00

In full Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , original name (until AD 41) Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus Roman emperor (AD 41–54), who extended Roman rule in North Africa and made Britain a province.

Saarlouis

2005-02-13T00:26:00.000-08:00

City, Saarland Land (state), southwestern Germany. It lies along both sides of the Saar River, near the French border, northwest of Saarbrücken. Founded and named by Louis XIV of France in 1680 and fortified by the military engineer Sébastien de Le Prestre Vauban (1680–86), it became the capital of the French Sarre province. The site of an important arms works in the Napoleonic era, it

Chabrias

2005-02-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

Chabrias defeated the Spartans in 388 and again in 378, when Athens joined Thebes against Sparta. On the latter occasion he invented a new defensive technique: he ordered each soldier to receive a charge kneeling on his left knee, with his shield

Franz, Robert

2005-02-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

Franz studied organ at Dessau from 1835 to 1837. Later he returned to Halle, where he became a friend of Wilhelm Osterwald, many of whose poems he set to music. About the time he published his first

Amphibian, Reproduction

2005-02-11T18:01:00.000-08:00

The three living groups of amphibians have distinct evolutionary lineages and exhibit a diverse range of life strategies. The breeding behaviour of each order will be discussed in its individual section below. One similar tendency among amphibians has been the evolution in some species of direct development of young in terrestrial eggs, thus eliminating the

Croft, William

2005-02-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

Educated under John Blow, he was organist of St. Anne's, Soho (1700–12), of the Chapel Royal from 1707, and of Westminster Abbey from 1708. In 1700 he collaborated with Blow, Jeremiah Clarke, Francis Piggott, and John Barrett in a Choice Collection of Ayres

Solar Compass

2005-02-10T20:42:00.000-08:00

Also called Sun Compass, type of navigational instrument that uses the position of the Sun to establish bearing. The solar compass operates somewhat like a sundial. It indicates direction by employing the angle of the shadow cast by the Sun in conjunction with a compass card, a flat disk marked with points and degrees of direction. The solar compass is useful for navigation in the high latitudes,

Carloforte

2005-02-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

Only town on the small Isola di San Pietro (area 20 sq mi [52 sq km]), just off the southwest coast of Sardinia, Italy. The island is administratively part of Cagliari province. The town was named after Charles Emmanuel III of Savoy, who resettled the island in 1738, after centuries of desertion, with Genoese fugitives from the North African island of Tabarka. It has an observatory, set