TightHorse

Art And Architecture, Mesopotamian, Architecture

2005-04-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

The beginnings of monumental architecture in Mesopotamia are usually considered to have been contemporary with the founding of the Sumerian cities and the invention of writing, in about 3100 BC. Conscious attempts at architectural design during this so-called Protoliterate period (c. 3400–c. 2900 BC) are recognizable in the construction of religious buildings. There is, however,

Puerto Princesa

2005-04-05T08:40:00.000-07:00

City, east-central Palawan, Philippines. It is an important port on a sheltered inlet of the Sulu Sea, south of Honda Bay, and it has an airport. The city was formerly called Cuyo. The site of a penal colony during the Spanish regime, Puerto Princesa has become one of several resettlement sites on the island for migrants from Luzon and the western Visayan region. Copra, lumber,

World War I, Forces and resources of the combatant nations in 1914

2005-04-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

All the initial belligerents

American Literature, Henry Adams

2005-04-03T07:36:00.000-07:00

One of the most devastating and most literate attacks on modern life was an autobiography of a scion of an ancient New England family, the Adamses. Educated at Harvard and abroad, Henry Adams was a great teacher and historian (History of the United States [1889–91] and Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres [1904]). The Education of Henry Adams (printed privately 1906; published 1918), however, complained

Kershaw

2005-04-03T04:01:00.000-07:00

Caxias

2005-04-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

City, east central Maranhão state, northeastern Brazil, on the Rio Itapicuru, at 207 ft (63 m) above sea level. Formerly known as São José das Aldeias Altas, it was renamed to honour Luis Alves de Lima e Silva, duque de Caxias, governor and military commander in Maranhão (1837). The city is the commercial centre of eastern Maranhão and processes rice, cotton, carnauba and babassu palms

Novohrad-volynskyy

2005-03-31T22:44:00.000-08:00

Russian Novograd-volynsky, also spelled Novograd-volynskij, city, Zhytomyr oblast (province), western Ukraine. It lies at the confluence of the Sluch and Smilka rivers. Documents first record the existence of the town in 1257. It was incorporated in 1795, before which it was known as Zvyagel. It contains the ruins of a 14th-century castle. Today the city has machine-building and woodworking industries. Pop. (1991 est.) 56,100.

Gyor

2005-03-31T03:14:00.000-08:00

German Raab, historic town and capital of Gyor-Moson-Sopron megye (county), northwestern Hungary. It is on the Moson arm of the Danube, the meandering southern arm in Hungary proper, where the south bank tributaries, Rába and Rábca (alternatively, Répce), converge. The Marcal River joins the Rába just south of Gyor. The town and its environs are composed of narrow, winding streets with interesting

Mckenzie, Sir John

2005-03-30T17:13:00.000-08:00

McKenzie's deep antagonism toward land monopolists was rooted in his boyhood in Scotland, where he witnessed the dispossession of small farmers by Highland landlords. After

Aichbühl

2005-03-30T10:20:00.000-08:00

Site of a Middle Neolithic settlement (end of the 3rd millennium BC) on the shores of Lake Feder (Federsee) in southeastern Baden-Württemberg Land (state), southwestern Germany. Foundations of 25 rectangular buildings arranged in an irregular row along the shoreline were uncovered in the peat wetland by R. Schmidt in 1930. Approximately 20 of the buildings were two-room houses averaging

'abd Al-malik

2005-03-30T08:19:00.000-08:00

The best account of 'Abd al-Malik's reign is in J. Wellhausen, Das arabische Reich und sein Sturz (1902; The Arab Kingdom and Its Fall, 1927). Also useful are Sir William Muir, The Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline, and Fall, new ed. (1924); and P.K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 10th ed. (1970).

World War I, The Armistice

2005-03-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

The Allies' armistice terms presented in the railway carriage at Rethondes were stiff. Germany was required to evacuate not only Belgium, France, and Alsace-Lorraine but also all the rest of the left (west) bank of the Rhine, and it had to neutralize that river's right bank between The Netherlands and Switzerland. The German troops in East Africa were to surrender; the

Ferreira, Vergílio

2005-03-27T20:34:00.000-08:00

Portuguese novelist and essayist (b. Jan. 28, 1916, Melo, Port.--d. March 1, 1996, Sintra, Port.), was a leading literary figure who created extremely sympathetic and eloquent characters--often old men looking back on their lives--who sought the ultimate meaning of human existence. Contrary to the wishes of his family, Ferreira abandoned his religious training for a degree in classics from

Tibet, Resources

2005-03-27T05:19:00.000-08:00

Although Tibet is rich in mineral resources, its economy has remained underdeveloped. Surveys of the Kailas and Ma-fa-mu-ts'o districts in western Tibet conducted in the 1930s and '40s discovered extensive goldfields and large deposits of borax, as well as reserves of radium, iron, titanium, lead, and arsenic. Subsequent investigative teams dispatched in the 1950s by the Academia

Christian Iii

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

The eldest son of Frederick I, king of Denmark and Norway, Christian was educated as a Lutheran and showed Protestant

Everson, William

2005-03-26T10:11:00.000-08:00

Raised by Christian Scientist parents, Everson became an agnostic in his teens; while attending Fresno (California) State College, he read the verse of Robinson Jeffers and resolved to become a poet. His

Ear Disease, Otosclerosis

2005-03-25T03:28:00.000-08:00

The commonest cause for progressive hearing loss in early and middle adult life is a disease of the hard shell of bone that surrounds the labyrinth of the inner ear. This disease of bone is known as otosclerosis, a name that is misleading, for in its early and actively expanding stage the nodule of diseased bone is softer than the ivory-hard bone that it replaces. The

Actinomycosis

2005-03-24T13:38:00.000-08:00

Arts, Islamic, Decline of the Arabic language

2005-03-23T21:15:00.000-08:00

Ibn Khaldun, who had served in his youth as ambassador to Pedro I the Cruel, of Castile, and in his old age as emissary to Timur, died in Cairo. After the fall of Baghdad in 1258, this city had become the centre of Muslim learning. Historians there recorded every detail of the daily life and the policies of the Mamluk sultans; theologians and philologists worked under the patronage

Flamsteed, John

2005-03-23T15:29:00.000-08:00

Poor health forced Flamsteed to leave school in 1662. He studied astronomy on his own and later (1670–74) continued his education at the University of Cambridge. In 1677 he became a member of the Royal Society. Ordained a clergyman in 1675, Flamsteed in

Tagalog Language

2005-03-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

Member of the Central Philippine branch of the Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) language family and the base for Pilipino, an official language of the Philippines, together with English. It is most closely related to Bicol and the Bisayan (Visayan) languages—Cebuano, Hiligaynon (Ilongo), and Samar. Native Tagalog speakers form the second largest linguistic and cultural

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint

2005-03-21T05:15:00.000-08:00

Also called Aquinas, Italian San Tommaso d'Aquino, byname Doctor Angelicus (Latin: Angelic Doctor) Italian Dominican theologian, the foremost medieval Scholasticist. He developed his own conclusions from Aristotelian premises, notably in the metaphysics of personality, creation, and Providence.

Karatau

2005-03-20T21:48:00.000-08:00

Kazak Qaratau mountain range, a northwestern spur of the Tien Shan, in southern Kazakstan. The name is Turkic, meaning “black mountain.” The range extends for 260 miles (420 km) along the Syr Darya (river) and rises to 7,139 feet (2,176 m), with an average elevation of 3,300–5,000 feet (1,000–1,525 m). The summits are smooth, and small snow-fed streams flow down the steep slopes in spring. On the eastern slopes rich deposits of phosphorites

Carnivore, Natural history

2005-03-19T05:13:00.000-08:00

Members of the Ursidae, except for the carnivorous polar bear (Ursus maritimus), are omnivorous, consuming many items that seem small for an animal the size of a bear. Ants, bees, seeds of trees, roots of the skunk cabbage, nuts, berries, insect larvae such as grubs, and even the dainty dog-toothed violet are eaten. Many bears relish honey, and the sun bear (Helarctos

Hokusai

2005-03-19T04:27:00.000-08:00

In full Katsushika Hokusai , professional names Shunro, Sori, Kako, Taito, Gakyojin, Iitsu , and Manji Japanese master artist and printmaker of the ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) school. His early works represent the full spectrum of ukiyo-e art, including single-sheet prints of landscapes and actors, hand paintings, and surimono (“printed things”), such as greetings and announcements. Later he concentrated on the classical

Ahenobarbus, Gnaeus Domitius

2005-03-18T10:23:00.000-08:00

With his father, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, he had been a member of the party that in 49 made an unsuccessful attempt to prevent Caesar from seizing power. After the assassination of Caesar in 44 by a group led by Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius

Belém

2005-03-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

Also called Santa Maria de Belém freguesia (parish) within the western limits of the city of Lisbon, Portugal. A former royal residence, Belém (Bethlehem) is known for its Manueline (early 16th-century) architecture, notably the Jerónimos monastery, founded by Manuel I in 1499 in honour of the explorer Vasco da Gama's discovery of a sea route to India, and the white Tower of Belém, built in 1515–21 to protect the entrance

Permafrost, Highways and railroads

2005-03-17T22:15:00.000-08:00

Highways in polar areas are relatively few and mainly unpaved. They are subject to subsidence by thawing of permafrost in summer, frost heaving in winter, and loss of bearing strength on fine-grained sediments in summer. Constant grading of gravel roads permits maintenance of a relatively smooth highway. Where the road is paved over ice-rich permafrost, the roadway

Animal, History of classification

2005-03-17T20:32:00.000-08:00

Except perhaps for the possession of collagen, the criteria used above to distinguish animals from other forms of life are not absolute. The first catalogs of animal diversity were based on overall form and similarity. Aristotle and other early biologists regarded all organisms as part of a great chain, divisions of which were more or less arbitrary. The 18th-century

Cheliff, Ech-

2005-03-17T04:33:00.000-08:00

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,

Mondrian, Piet

2005-03-16T05:12:00.000-08:00

Original name Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan painter who was an important leader in the development of modern abstract art and a major exponent of the Dutch abstract-art movement known as De Stijl (“The Style”). In his mature paintings, Mondrian used the simplest combinations of straight lines, right angles, primary colours, and black, white, and gray.

Croghan, George

2005-03-15T23:44:00.000-08:00

Migrating from Ireland in 1741, Croghan settled on the western

Lancaster Sound

2005-03-15T21:07:00.000-08:00

Western arm of Baffin Bay (an inlet of the North Atlantic Ocean), in north-central Baffin region, Nunavut territory, Canada. The sound is 200 miles (320 km) long and 40 miles (64 km) wide. It extends between Devon Island (north) and Baffin Island (south) and joins the Barrow Strait northeast of Somerset Island. All feasible routes of the Northwest Passage, a seaway through the Canadian Arctic

Earth, Nucleosynthetic processes

2005-03-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

The astrophysical concept of nucleosynthesis remains the starting point in tracing planetary evolution. This includes the nuclear processes by which the light elements—hydrogen through boron—were produced at the birth of the universe, some 10,000,000,000 to 20,000,000,000 years ago. By analogy with what astronomers presently observe to happen, it is thought that the solar system represents

Quintillus, Marcus Aurelius Claudius

2005-03-14T22:57:00.000-08:00

Roman emperor in AD 270, who died or was killed a few weeks after being proclaimed emperor.

Vacoas-phoenix

2005-03-13T14:49:00.000-08:00

Town (township) on the island of Mauritius, in the western Indian Ocean. It lies in the western highlands region of the country, about 10 miles (16 km) south of Port Louis, the national capital. Vacoas and Phoenix were separate villages until 1963, when they became a single administrative unit; later (1968) the town became independently administered. Major industries include beer brewing,

Nebula, Diffuse nebulae (H II regions)

2005-03-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

As noted above, clouds of gas and dust that contain stars hot enough to ionize their hydrogen are called diffuse nebulae, or H II regions. In contrast to dark or reflection nebulae, their spectrum consists of emission lines at various wavelengths characteristic of their ions. Like dark clouds, diffuse nebulae typically have little regular structure or sharp

Alkan, Valentin

2005-03-13T00:47:00.000-08:00

Alkan was born to Jewish parents, and all of his siblings (five brothers and a sister) also assumed the surname Alkan and were musicians. Valentin drew notice at the age of seven, when he won the first of many first

Tasmania, Demographic trends

2005-03-12T22:46:00.000-08:00

Tasmania continues to have a higher birth rate than most other states, but, as in Australia generally, crude birth rates have tended to fall, average birth rates declining in the middle and late 20th century. Birth rates are lower in the cities than in the smaller towns and rural areas. Death rates remain fairly constant. Infant mortality rates are among the lowest in

Mountain, Mountain belts associated with crustal shortening

2005-03-12T09:18:00.000-08:00

Most mountain belts of the world and nearly all of those in Europe, Asia, and North America have been built by horizontal crustal shortening and associated crustal thickening. The landforms associated with such belts depend on the rates, amounts, and types of crustal deformation that occur and on the types of rocks that are exposed to erosion. To some extent the deformation

Durga

2005-03-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

(Sanskrit: “the Inaccessible”), in Hindu mythology, one of the many forms of Sakti (the goddess), and the wife of Siva (Shiva). Her best-known feat was the slaying of the buffalo-demon Mahisasura. According to legend she was created for this purpose out of flames that issued from the mouths of Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, and the lesser gods. She was born fully grown and beautiful; nevertheless,

Melas Carpet

2005-03-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

Floor covering handwoven in the neighbourhood of Milâs (Melas) on the Aegean coast of southwestern Turkey. Normally of small size and 19th century in date, Melas carpets have unusually wide borders in relation to their narrow fields. In the prayer rugs the arch (which indicates the direction of Mecca, the Holy City) is straight-sided, with a triangular indentation below

France, History Of, The Carolingians

2005-03-10T04:39:00.000-08:00

Representatives of the Merovingian dynasty continued to hold the royal title during most of the first half of the 8th century. They were captive monarchs, according to a contemporary biographer of Charlemagne. In actual fact, effective power was in the hands of the Pepinids, who, thanks to their valuable landholdings and loyal retainers, maintained a monopoly on

Itarsi

2005-03-10T01:46:00.000-08:00

City, central Madhya Pradesh state, central India. A major rail junction connected with Bhopal, Gwalior, and Indore, Itarsi has extensive railway workshops. The city is also a trade centre for forest products from the Satpura Range to the south. A large weekly cattle market is held in the city. Itarsi has several colleges affiliated with the Dr. Harisingh Gour University

Balantidium

2005-03-09T06:04:00.000-08:00

Genus of ovoid protozoans of the holotrichous order Trichostomatida. Uniformly covered with longitudinal rows of minute, hairlike projections (cilia), Balantidium exists as a parasite in the intestines of pigs, apes, and other animals. The species B. coli can, in rare cases, infect humans and cause balantidiosis (balantidial dysentery), a relatively severe disease

Bushehr

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

Coastal region, southwestern Iran, bordering the Persian Gulf on the west and bounded by the regions of Hormozgan and Fars on the southeast and east and Khuzestan on the northwest. Inland the region is part of the Zagros Mountains and consists of fingers of upland within a plateau. The Shapur River drains the region and serves as an inland waterway from the coast of the Persian

Man Orchid

2005-03-08T15:54:00.000-08:00

The flower spike, about 10 to 45 cm (4 to 18 inches) tall, may bear up to 90 greenish or yellowish flowers, which have an unpleasant odour.

Ardon, Mordecai

2005-03-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

Ardon emigrated from his native Poland to Germany, spending the years 1921–25 at the Weimar Bauhaus, where he mainly studied with

Davies, Emily

2005-03-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Educated at home, Davies joined the campaign for the emancipation of women with

Sokodé

2005-03-06T22:51:00.000-08:00

Town, central Togo. A historically important trading centre because of its location in a gap of the Togo Mountains, Sokodé is Togo's second largest town and a major centre for commercial trade. Industrial activities there include cotton ginning and sugar processing. Sokodé has road links with Kara to the north and Lomé, the national capital, to the south. The Tem (Cotocoli),

Dosho

2005-03-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

Dosho served as a temple priest at Gango Temple, one of the great temples at Nara, until he left for China about 653. There he studied for eight years under the Buddhist monk Hsüan-tsang (Pinyin: Xuanzang), the founder of the Wei-shih (Ideation Only, or Consciousness Only) school, which

Baha' Ullah

2005-03-05T04:28:00.000-08:00

Mirza Hoseyn was a member of the Shi'ite branch of Islam. He subsequently allied himself with Mirza 'Ali Mohammad of Shiraz, who was known as the Bab (Arabic: “Gateway”) and was the head of the Babi, a Muslim sect professing a privileged access to final truth.

Siljan, Lake

2005-03-05T00:51:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Silja, lake in the administrative län (county) of Dalarna, central Sweden. Covering an area of 112 square miles (290 square km; including Orsa and In lakes, 137 square miles [354 square km]), it is Dalarna's largest lake and Sweden's third. After receiving the Österdal River at Mora, the lake stretches for a length of 25 miles (40 km) toward the southeast and extends into two bays, the wide Rätt to the northeast

Ulama

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

Also spelled ulema , Arabic 'ulama' the learned of Islam, those who possess the quality of 'ilm, “learning,” in its widest sense. From the 'ulama', who are versed theoretically and practically in the Muslim sciences, come the religious teachers of the Islamic community—theologians (mutakallimun), canon lawyers (muftis), judges (qadis), professors—and high state religious officials like the shaikh al-Islam. In a narrower

Fry, Roger

2005-03-03T10:07:00.000-08:00

Fry was born into a Quaker family and was educated at the University of Cambridge for a career in science. His interest in art grew, however, and he studied painting in Italy and also began to lecture on art. His first book, Giovanni

Eastern Orthodoxy, Modern theological developments

2005-03-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

Until the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks (1453), Byzantium was the unquestioned intellectual centre of the Orthodox Church. Far from being monolithic, Byzantine theological thought was often polarized by a Humanistic trend, favouring the use of Greek philosophy in theological thinking, and the more austere and mystical theology of the monastic circles. The

Anhydrite

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

An important rock-forming mineral, anhydrous calcium sulfate (CaSO4). It differs chemically from gypsum (to which it alters in humid conditions) by having no water of crystallization. Anhydrite occurs most often with salt deposits in association with gypsum, as in the cap rock of the Texas-Louisiana salt domes. Anhydrite is one of the major minerals in evaporite deposits;

Cumberland Plateau

2005-03-02T22:46:00.000-08:00

Westernmost of three divisions of the Appalachian Mountains, U.S., extending southwestward for 450 miles (725 km) from southern West Virginia to northern Alabama. The plateau is 40 to 50 miles (65 to 80 km) wide and lies between the Appalachian Ridge and Valley region to the east and the rolling plains to the west. It merges with the Allegheny Plateau on the north and with the Gulf Coastal

Air Law, Criminal jurisdiction

2005-03-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

Although some systems of national law still adhere to the view that ships and aircraft are part of the territory of the state the nationality of which they possess, this is merely a crude metaphor. In international law, a distinction has to be made between three types of state jurisdiction: territorial jurisdiction over national territory and all persons and things

Muir, Edwin

2005-03-01T03:33:00.000-08:00

His stature as a poet

Ear, Human, Structure of the cochlea

2005-02-28T21:33:00.000-08:00

The cochlea contains the sensory organ of hearing. It bears a striking resemblance to the shell of a snail and in fact takes its name from the Greek word for this object. The cochlea is a spiral tube that is coiled two and one-half turns around a hollow central pillar, the modiolus. It forms a cone approximately 9 millimetres (0.35 inch) in diameter at its base and 5 millimetres

Kabylie

2005-02-27T05:06:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kabylia, mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria, between Algiers and Skikda. It comprises: (1) the Great Kabylie (Grande Kabylie) or Djurdjura Mountains bounded on the west by the Isser River and on the southeast by the Wadi Soummam; (2) the Little Kabylie (Petite Kabylie, or Kabylie des Babors) around the Gulf of Bejaïa (Bougie); and (3) the Collo Kabylie (Kabylie de Collo) forming

Ahlin, Lars

2005-02-27T03:53:00.000-08:00

The early novel Tåbb med manifestet (1943; “Tåbb with the Manifesto”) presents many of the central ideas of Ahlin's writings. In it, a young proletarian finds the Communist ideology unsatisfactory, rejects the notion of social rather than individual value, and reaches a better understanding of himself

Cinnamus, John

2005-02-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

Greek Ioánnis Kínnamos Byzantine historian, secretary (grammatikos) to the emperor Manuel I Comnenus, whom he accompanied on campaigns in Europe and Asia Minor. Cinnamus's history of the period 1118–76, continuing the Alexiad of Anna Comnena, covers the reigns of John II and Manuel I, down to the unsuccessful campaign against the Turks of Iconium when the Byzantines were routed (1176) at Myriocephalon.

Insurance, Professional liability insurance

2005-02-26T21:51:00.000-08:00

Known as malpractice, or errors-and-omissions, insurance, professional liability contracts are distinguished from general business liability policies because of the specialized nature of the liability. Professional persons requiring liability contracts include physicians and surgeons, lawyers, accountants, engineers, and insurance agents. Important

Dafydd Nanmor

2005-02-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

Welsh poet, master of the cywydd form (characterized by rhyming couplets), whose poems express his belief in tradition and aristocracy. Many of his poems reflect his support of the political aspirations of the Tudors; others are simple and sincere love poems. “Llio's Hair” and “Maiden's Elegy” are considered to

åbo, Treaty Of

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

(1743), peace settlement that concluded the Russo-Swedish War of 1741–43 by obliging Sweden to cede a strip of southern Finland to Russia and to become temporarily dependent on Russia. As a result of the Great Northern War (Treaty of Nystad, 1721), Sweden had lost Estonia, Livonia, Ingria, and part of Karelia to Russia. In 1741 Sweden reached a secret understanding (through French mediators) with

Nitrifying Bacterium

2005-02-24T23:01:00.000-08:00

Plural Nitrifying Bacteria, any of a small group of aerobic bacteria (family Nitrobacteraceae) that use inorganic chemicals as an energy source. They are microorganisms that are important in the nitrogen cycle as converters of soil ammonia to nitrates, compounds usable by plants. The nitrification process requires the mediation of two distinct groups: bacteria that convert ammonia to nitrites

Tunis

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

Tunis was founded by the Libyans, who in the 9th century BC surrendered the site of Carthage to

Leaf Cactus

2005-02-23T17:48:00.000-08:00

Common names are leaf cactus—for the mostly flattened, nonspiny stems that function as leaves—or orchid cactus—for the spectacular large flowers

Solar Cycle

2005-02-23T07:54:00.000-08:00

Period in which several important kinds of solar activity repeat themselves. The cycle, lasting about 22 years on the average, includes two 11-year cycles of sunspots, which display opposite magnetic polarities in alternate cycles, and two peaks and two declines in each of the various phenomena that vary in the same period as sunspots. These phenomena include fluctuations

France, Flag Of

2005-02-21T21:01:00.000-08:00

Under the ancien régime, France had a great number of flags, and many of its military and naval flags were elaborate and subject to artistic variations. The royal coat of arms, a blue shield with three golden fleurs-de-lis, was the basis for the state flag. After the Bourbons came to power, this shield was generally displayed against a background of the Bourbon dynastic

Vienna Porcelain

2005-02-21T11:14:00.000-08:00

Ceramic ware made at the Vienna factory in Austria between 1719 and 1864. Claudius Innocentius du Paquier (d. 1751), a Dutchman, began making porcelain there with the help of two workmen from Meissen in Germany. In 1744 he sold the enterprise to the Austrian state. After a succession of different directors, Konrad von Sorgenthal took over the direction in 1784. After Sorgenthal's

Ireland, Air facilities

2005-02-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

International airports are located at Dublin, Shannon, and Cork, and there are several regional airports. Aer Rianta, a public limited-liability company, has responsibility for the operation, management, and development of the three major international airports. Shannon was the world's first duty-free airport; a state-sponsored company offers substantial tax breaks

Computers And Information Systems, E-commerce.

2005-02-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

E-commerce continued to grow with meteoric speed in 1999, powered by Internet retailers such as Amazon.com, which, under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos (see Biographies), expanded beyond selling books on-line to offering toys, consumer electronics, videos, music, auctions, gifts, and electronic greeting cards and prepared to get into the on-line grocery business.

Gambia River

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

River in western Africa, 700 miles (1,120 km) long, rising in the Republic of Guinea and flowing westward through The Gambia into the Atlantic Ocean. Its major tributaries are the Sandougou and the Sofianiama. The Gambia is one of the finest waterways in Africa and the only western African river that is easily accessible to oceangoing shipping. It constitutes a unifying factor

Biblical Literature, Isaiah

2005-02-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

The Book of Isaiah, comprising 66 chapters, is one of the most profound theological and literarily expressive works in the Bible. Compiled over a period of about two centuries (the latter half of the 8th to the latter half of the 6th century BCE), the Book of Isaiah is generally divided by scholars into two (sometimes three) major sections, which are called First Isaiah (chapters

Tefé

2005-02-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

City, central Amazonas estado (“state”), northwestern Brazil. Founded by missionaries as Nogueira in the 17th century and also called Ega at one time, Tefé lies on the left (north) bank of the portion of the Amazon River known as the Solimões, on the lake formed by the mouth of the Tefé River. River steamers and hydroplanes use facilities at Tefé, which ships Brazil nuts, tobacco,

Beach Grass

2005-02-18T23:06:00.000-08:00

American beach grass (A. breviligulata) grows along the Atlantic coast and in the Great Lakes region. European beach grass (A. arenaria) has been

Middle Passage

2005-02-18T17:53:00.000-08:00

In the days of the African slave trade to the New World, the middle part of the slave's journey—i.e., the crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. From about 1518 to the mid-19th century, millions of African men, women, and children made the 21-to-90-day voyage aboard grossly overcrowded sailing ships manned by crews mostly from Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, and France. Slaver captains

Music, Western, The sonata and concerto

2005-02-17T21:16:00.000-08:00

The major new categories of instrumental music during the Baroque period were the sonata and the concerto. Originally applied to instrumental ensemble pieces derived from the canzona, the term sonata became the designation for a form that was to dominate instrumental music from the mid-18th until the 20th century. In its keyboard manifestation, it was a binary (two-part)

Spode Porcelain

2005-02-17T19:29:00.000-08:00

Porcelain introduced about 1800 in the factory of Josiah Spode and Josiah Spode II at Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, Eng. This hybrid porcelain—combining the ingredients of hard-paste porcelain (china clay and china stone) and bone ash—became the standard English bone china. Early Spode porcelain consists of elaborate services and outsize vases, lavishly decorated

Nephi

2005-02-17T03:40:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1882) of Juab county, north-central Utah, U.S. Located at the southern end of the Wasatch Range, the city was founded as an agricultural colony in 1851 and was originally called Salt Creek; in the late 1850s Mormon leaders renamed it after a prophet of the Book of Mormon. Nephi grew as a ranching and farming centre, later becoming a shipping point for gypsum mined in the vicinity

Earth, Measurement of gravitational acceleration

2005-02-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

For the study of the shape of the geoid or of large-scale structures in the Earth, values of g are required with a precision of one milligal or better. This implies a measurement accurate to one part in 106 of g itself. For more local studies, as in the use of gravity measurements for geophysical petroleum and mineral prospecting and for the study of the tidal variation of g at

France, History Of, The church

2005-02-15T05:52:00.000-08:00

The organized church, despite losses from war and plague, continued to be better endowed economically than morally. The popes of Avignon were less distant and—save perhaps to their French relatives, merchants, and artists—less admirable than the reformer popes of the past; as the prestige of their schismatic successors plummeted, the higher clergy were confirmed

World Water Crisis: Is There A Way Out?

2005-02-15T01:29:00.000-08:00

Some 40% of the global population lives within river basins that are shared by two or more countries. Often one country is water-rich and the other water-poor, or one supports heavily polluting industries while the other does not. Since there is no strong international law governing the resolution of transboundary water disputes, the potential for conflict remains

Dahriyah

2005-02-14T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Dahriyah are portrayed in Islamic theological literature

Hejaz Railway

2005-02-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

Its main line was constructed in 1900–08, ostensibly to facilitate pilgrimages to the Muslims' holy places in Arabia but in fact also to strengthen Ottoman control over the most distant provinces of the empire. The main line, built by a multiracial

Bryennius, Nicephorus

2005-02-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

A favourite of the emperor Alexius I Comnenus, who gave him the title of caesar, Bryennius assisted Alexius in dealing with Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade, by successfully

Carnivore

2005-02-12T01:54:00.000-08:00

For general information on the biology of the carnivores, see E.P. Walker et al., Mammals of the World, 3 vol. (1964), in which each genus is described and illustrated, along with a brief summation of its biology. The taxonomy of carnivores is discussed in G.G. Simpson, “Principles of Classification and a Classification of Mammals,” Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 85 (1945), a classic work on classification, followed by most recent mammalogists; and H.J. Stains, “Carnivores and Pinnipeds,” in S. Anderson and J.K. Jones, Jr. (eds.), Recent Mammals of the World: A Synopsis of Families (1967). F.E. Beddard, Mammalia (1902, reprinted 1958), is a definitive early work on mammalian anatomy. The paleontology of the Carnivora is summarized in two works by A.S. Romer: Vertebrate Paleontology, 3rd ed. (1966), fundamental to an understanding of fossil forms, and Notes and Comments on Vertebrate Paleontology (1968), containing additional information not found in the general text. Books devoted to particular subgroups of the carnivores include A. Denis, Cats of the World (1964), an excellent summary of the status of all members of the Felidae; C.J. Harris, Otters (1968), a fine summary of the status of the otters around the world; H.E. Hinton and A.M.S. Dunn, Mongooses: Their Natural History and Behaviour (1967), which contains much interesting information that is difficult to find elsewhere, except in scattered literature; R.J. Harrison et al. (eds.), The Behavior and Physiology of Pinnipeds (1968), an excellent summation of knowledge on these aquatic carnivores; and V.B. Scheffer, Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses: A Review of the Pinnipedia (1958), a major work on the taxonomy of the Pinnipedia.

Race, North America

2005-02-11T22:47:00.000-08:00

Racial classifications appeared in North America, and in many other parts of the world, as a form of social division predicated on what were thought to be natural differences among human groups. Analysis of the folk beliefs, social policies, and practices of North Americans about race from the 18th to the 20th century reveals a fundamental ideology about human differences

Lockheed Martin Corporation

2005-02-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

Lockheed Corporation dates to 1912 when Allan Loughead, his brother Malcolm, and Max Mamlock, who at the time was head of Alco Cab Company, founded Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company to build the Loughead brothers' floatplane design, the Model G. After a year the company became dormant, but in 1915 the Loughead brothers bought out the interests of other investors to acquire control

Euric

2005-02-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

Euric ascended the throne after assassinating his brother, King Theodoric II,

Kirkcudbrightshire

2005-02-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

Also called Kirkcudbright or East Galloway historic county, southwestern Scotland. It lies entirely within Dumfries and Galloway council area. Kirkcudbrightshire forms the eastern portion of the historic province of Galloway. It encompasses the shores of the Solway Firth and Irish Sea between the Rivers Nith and Cree and extends inland across an undulating landscape of hills and valleys, rising in the

Afghanistan, Urban settlement

2005-02-09T17:56:00.000-08:00

Most urban settlements have grown along the road that runs from Kabul southwestward to Kandahar, then northwest to Herat, northeast to Mazar-e Sharif, and southeast back to Kabul. The rural population of farmers and nomads is distributed unevenly over the rest of the country, mainly concentrated along the rivers. The most heavily populated part of the country is between

Houseleek

2005-02-08T14:23:00.000-08:00

Also called Live-forever, any of numerous low-growing succulent plants constituting the genus Sempervivum, about 40 species, in the stonecrop family (Crassulaceae), native to Europe, Morocco, and western Asia. The name houseleek refers to the growth of some species on thatched roofs in Europe; “live-forever” indicates their hardiness and durability. Houseleeks usually have thick fleshy leaves

Cytosine

2005-02-08T06:37:00.000-08:00

Cytosine is one of several types of bases that are incorporated into the nucleic acid molecule. Nucleic acids are composed of

Stadion (-warthausen), Johann Philipp (karl), Graf Von (count Of)

2005-02-07T19:41:00.000-08:00

After service in the imperial Privy Council (1783–87), Stadion was dispatched to the Austrian embassy in Stockholm. In 1790 he was sent to London, where he was influenced by the conservative philosophy of

Graziano, Rocky

2005-02-07T11:19:00.000-08:00

In his youth Graziano was a juvenile delinquent, and he later deserted from the U.S. Army after punching an officer. Though he had begun using the name Graziano, he was nevertheless found, sentenced to nine months in the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, and dishonourably

Augustine, Saint

2005-02-06T21:50:00.000-08:00

De doctrina christiana (books 1–3 396/397, book 4 426; Christian Doctrine) was begun in the first years of Augustine's episcopacy but finished 30 years later. This imitation of Cicero's Orator for Christian purposes sets out a theory of the interpretation of scripture and offers practical guidance to the would-be preacher. It was widely influential in the Middle Ages as an educational