LastPluto

Khon Kaen

2005-04-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Town, northeastern Thailand, on the Khorat Plateau. It is a rice-trading centre on the railway between Nakhon Ratchasima and Udon Thani. Khon Kaen University was founded in 1965; the Rajamangala Institute of Technology, Khon Kaen Campus (1963) is also there. Khon Kaen lies in a region drained by the Chi and the Phong rivers. A dam was built on the Phong in 1966 for irrigation and hydroelectricity.

China, The Chinese Communist Party

2005-04-05T02:03:00.000-07:00

The CCP grew directly from the May Fourth Movement. Its leaders and early members were professors and students who came to believe that China needed a social revolution and who began to see Soviet Russia as a model. Chinese students in Japan and France had earlier studied socialist doctrines and the ideas of Karl Marx, but the Russian Revolution of 1917 stimulated a fresh

Ragunan Zoological Gardens

2005-04-04T00:37:00.000-07:00

Also called Jakarta Zoological Gardens , Indonesian Kebun Binatang Ragunan , or Kebun Binatang Jakarta zoo in Jakarta, Indon., that is one of the world's notable collections of Southeast Asian flora and fauna. More than 3,500 specimens of approximately 450 animal species are exhibited on the 200-hectare (494-acre) park grounds. Among these are the orangutan, Sumatran serow, and various other rare animals of Indonesia. The zoo was founded in 1864 on a 4-hectare (11-acre) site and was moved to a new and much

Rudolf, Archduke And Crown Prince Of Austria

2005-04-03T00:18:00.000-08:00

The only son of the emperor Francis Joseph and the empress Elizabeth, Rudolf received an extensive education and traveled widely. Politically,

Spaatz, Carl

2005-04-02T16:23:00.000-08:00

A graduate (1914) of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Spaatz served as a combat pilot during World War I and then acquired extensive staff and command experience between 1919 and 1942. He went to England in 1940 to evaluate German military

Dubnow, Simon Markovich

2005-04-02T11:31:00.000-08:00

Dubnow early ceased to practice Jewish rituals. He later came to believe that his vocation as a historian of Judaism was as true to the faith of his ancestors as were the Talmudic

Flores

2005-03-31T21:14:00.000-08:00

Capital, Petén department, northern Guatemala, built on San Andrés island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá, only 449 ft (137 m) above sea level. Once capital of the Itzá Indians (Mayas who successfully resisted Spanish attempts to conquer them until 1697), Flores is a major trade centre for the Petén region. Chicle, timber, rubber, sugarcane, and cacao are the principal products

Rambouillet

2005-03-31T08:48:00.000-08:00

Breed of sheep, developed from selections of a few hundred of the best Merino sheep of Spain in 1786 and 1799 by the French government at its national sheepfold at Rambouillet, Fr. First imported to the United States in 1840, the breed was successfully molded through selective breeding to meet the needs of a large class of U.S. sheep producers. Rambouillets prevail on the western ranges,

Smith, Bernard

2005-03-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

Smith was an apprentice of the German organ builder Christian Förmer but adapted easily to the English style of building after his emigration there in 1660. Some years after building an instrument for the Chapel Royal at London, Smith was named king's organ maker (1681). Thereafter he built many important

Alabama, Agriculture

2005-03-29T09:53:00.000-08:00

The Alabamian rural economy challenges the traditional view of a dependency on cotton. Although cotton still remains of local importance, it suffered a heavy blow with the onset of the boll weevil blight in 1915, and acreage continued to decline. Mechanization and consolidation increased the average farm size after the 1930s. The diversification of agricultural production

Fu-ping

2005-03-29T03:47:00.000-08:00

Pinyin Fubing, peasant “militia” system established in China around the 6th century AD. The fu-ping was first begun by the short-lived Western Wei (535–556/557) and Northern Chou (557–581) dynasties in North China in an effort to prevent incursions by the nomadic tribes of Central Asia. Groups of peasants were given military training and organized into armed companies in which they were required to participate

Sabellianism

2005-03-27T20:17:00.000-08:00

Christian heresy that was a more developed and less naive form of Modalistic Monarchianism (see Monarchianism); it was propounded by Sabellius (fl. c. 217–c. 220), who was possibly a presbyter in Rome. Little is actually known of his life because the most detailed information about him was contained in the prejudiced reports of his contemporary, Hippolytus, an anti-Monarchian

Combinatorics, Multinomial coefficients

2005-03-27T07:44:00.000-08:00

If S is a set of n objects, and n1, n2, × × × , nk are non-negative integers satisfying n1 + n2 + × × × + nk = n, then the number of ways in which the objects can be distributed into k boxes, X1, X2, × × × , Xk, such that the box Xi contains exactly ni objects is given in terms of a ratio constructed of factorials (see 4). This number, called a multinomial coefficient, is the coefficient in the multinomial expansion of the nth power of the sum of the

Shabbetai Tzevi

2005-03-26T13:57:00.000-08:00

As a young man, Shabbetai steeped himself in the influential body of Jewish mystical writings known as the Kabbala. His extended periods of ecstasy and his strong personality combined to attract

Metallgesellschaft Ag

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

Established in 1881 by Wilhelm Merton (1848–1916), the company originally confined its activities

Permafrost, Soil flow

2005-03-24T23:11:00.000-08:00

In areas underlain by an impermeable layer (seasonally frozen ground or perennially frozen ground), the active layer is often saturated with moisture and is quite mobile. The progressive downslope movement of saturated detrital material under the action of gravity and working in conjunction with frost action is called solifluction. This material moves in a

Basedow, Johann Bernhard

2005-03-23T23:33:00.000-08:00

Basedow as a boy revolted

Argentina, The return to democracy

2005-03-23T15:54:00.000-08:00

The subsequent process of democratization is discussed in Philip O'Brien and Paul Cammack (eds.), Generals in Retreat: The Crisis of Military Rule in Latin America (1985); Jimmy Burns, The Land that Lost its Heroes: The Falklands, the Post-War, and Alfonsín (1987); Mónica Peralta-Ramos and Carlos H. Waisman (eds.), From Military Rule to Liberal Democracy in Argentina (1987); Colin M. Lewis and Nissa Torrents (eds.), Argentina in the Crisis Years, 1983–1990: From Alfonsín to Menem (1993); and Peter Calvert, “Argentina: Decline and Revival,” in Jan Knippers Black (ed.), Latin America, Its Problems and Its Promise: A Multidisciplinary Introduction, 3rd ed. (1998).

Eyre, Edward John

2005-03-23T06:25:00.000-08:00

Emigrating from England for reasons of health, Eyre reached Australia in March 1833. As a sheep farmer he became a pioneer “overlander,” driving stock from Sydney

Pharmaceutical Industry, Vaccines

2005-03-21T15:32:00.000-08:00

Vaccines, viral or bacterial preparations used to induce active immunity, may be divided into three groups: toxoids, bacterial vaccines, and virus vaccines. Toxoids, such as diphtheria and tetanus toxoid, can be prepared only from toxin-producing bacteria. To produce diphtheria toxoid, for example, diphtheria bacilli are cultured under artificial conditions in

Aesthetics, The role of imagination

2005-03-21T11:46:00.000-08:00

Such paradoxes suggest the need for a more extensive theory of the mind than has been so far assumed. We have referred somewhat loosely to the sensory and intellectual components of human experience but have said little about the possible relations and dependencies that exist between them. Perhaps, therefore, the paradoxes result only from our impoverished description

Nordic Council Of Ministers

2005-03-21T05:13:00.000-08:00

Organization of the Nordic states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden for the purpose of consultation and cooperation on matters of common interest. The Council was established in February 1971 under an amendment to the Helsinki Convention (1962) between the Nordic countries. It consists of the ministers of state of the member countries, as well as other ministers

Clarke, T.e.b.

2005-03-21T05:01:00.000-08:00

Clarke worked as a free-lance journalist and novelist before joining Ealing Studios as a writer in 1943. He scripted several dramatic motion pictures, notably The Blue Lamp (1950), but received international fame

Botticelli, Sandro

2005-03-20T14:52:00.000-08:00

Original name Alessandro Di Mariano Filipepi one of the greatest painters of the Florentine Renaissance. His “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera” are often said to epitomize for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance.

Banda Sea

2005-03-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

Bahasa Indonesia Laut Banda portion of the western South Pacific, bounded by the southern islands of the Moluccas of Indonesia (Alor, Timor, Wetar, Babar, Tanimbar, and Kai on the south and Ceram, Buru, and Sula on the north). It occupies a total of 180,000 square miles (470,000 square km) and opens to the Flores (west), Savu (southwest), Timor (south), Arafura (southeast), and Ceram and Molucca (north) seas. The sea's North Banda Basin,

Afonso I

2005-03-20T03:01:00.000-08:00

Nzinga Mbemba, who became the sixth manikongo (lord of the Kongo) in 1506 or 1507, encouraged the penetration of his country by the Portuguese that had begun under his predecessor, Nzinga Nkuwa. Becoming a Christian and adopting

Bailey, Donovan

2005-03-19T01:36:00.000-08:00

At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Ga., Canadian sprinter Donovan Bailey won the 100-m dash in 9.84 sec to earn the appellation "the world's fastest man." Then he ran the last leg of the 4 ´100-m relay and helped the Canadian team win a gold medal in that event. These were impressive accomplishments for a man who had emerged as a factor in international track only in 1994 and did not set a world record

Champmeslé, Marie

2005-03-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

The daughter of an actor, she married the actor Charles Chevillet Champmeslé in 1666, and by 1669 both were members of the Théâtre du Marais in Paris. In 1670 they joined the Hôtel de Bourgogne, where she had her first success as Hermione in Racine's Andromaque. Only with difficulty could

Caucasian Languages, Vocabulary

2005-03-18T08:48:00.000-08:00

The genetic closeness of the Kartvelian languages is evidenced by a large number of structural correspondences and of common lexical (vocabulary) and grammatical items. Though the Kartvelian languages abound in ancient loanwords from Iranian, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, and other languages, it is nevertheless possible to single out the basic vocabulary and grammatical

Interior Design, Religious interiors

2005-03-18T05:41:00.000-08:00

Religious architecture is heavily influenced by symbolic concepts as well as by the ritual and traditions of a particular faith. Designers of religious interiors must, therefore, base their approach on a set of rules preceding all other design considerations. The simple and modest Quaker prayerhouses, for instance, express the tenets of that faith as clearly

Pabna

2005-03-17T19:33:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Pubna city, west-central Bangladesh. It lies along the Ichamati River, which is a tributary of the Padma (Ganges). An industrial centre, Pabna has jute mills and is noted for its hosiery and handloomed products. Historical remains include the Hindu temple of Jor Bangla and the Pabna Jubilee tank (water reservoir; excavated 1887). Pabna was incorporated a municipality in 1876; it has Jinnah Park,

Ghassulian Culture

2005-03-16T14:53:00.000-08:00

Archaeological stage dating to the Middle Chalcolithic Period in southern Palestine (c. 3800–c. 3350 BC). Its type-site, Tulaylat al-Ghassul, is located in the Jordan Valley near the Dead Sea in modern Jordan and was excavated (1929–38) by the Jesuits. The Ghassulian stage was characterized by small settlements of farming peoples, immigrants from the north, who built mud-brick, trapezoid-shaped

Robert Of Molesme, Saint

2005-03-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

The son of noble parents, Robert entered the Benedictine monastery of Moutier-la-Celle near Troyes as a youth and soon became prior. He later became abbot of Saint-Michel-de-Tonnerre,

Tsui, Daniel C.

2005-03-15T23:32:00.000-08:00

In full Daniel Chee Tsui Chinese-born American physicist who, with Horst L. Störmer and Robert B. Laughlin, received the 1998 Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery that the electrons in a powerful magnetic field at very low temperatures can form a quantum fluid whose particles have fractional electric charges. This effect is known as the fractional quantum Hall

Xia Gui

2005-03-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

Wade-Giles romanization Hsia Kuei one of China's greatest masters of landscape painting, cofounder with Ma Yuan of the Ma-Xia school. The album leaf and the hand scroll with a continuous panorama were his predominant forms. His works are typically in ink monochrome, occasionally with a few touches of colour.

Bahawalpur

2005-03-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

The city, which lies just south of the Sutlej River, was founded in 1748 by Muhammad Bahawal Khan and was incorporated as a municipality in 1874. It is the site of the Adamwahan (Empress) Bridge, the only railway bridge over the Sutlej

Jackson, Rachel

2005-03-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

As Rachel was reluctantly preparing to move to Washington, D.C., following Andrew's electoral victory in 1828—she said that she “would rather be a door-keeper in the house of God than to live in that palace in Washington”—she died of a heart attack. She was buried on the grounds of the Hermitage on Christmas Eve in what was to be her inaugural gown. A young niece, Emily Donelson, became the surrogate first lady; after Emily's death in 1836, Sarah Yorke Jackson, the wife of Andrew Jackson, Jr., became the official White House hostess.

Self-defense

2005-03-14T06:04:00.000-08:00

In general, killing is not a criminal act when the killer reasonably believes that he is in imminent danger of losing his life from an assailant or of suffering serious bodily injury and that killing the assailant

Alabama, Cultural life

2005-03-13T08:07:00.000-08:00

Alabama enjoys a rich vein of folk culture in the rural areas, especially among blacks. Story telling has attracted the attention of folklore specialists. The experiences of rural life contributed important elements to the development of modern American popular music, including ragtime and jazz. Sacred music, in the form of gospel quartets and shape-note, or “fa-so-la,

Châteauguay, Battle Of

2005-03-12T23:54:00.000-08:00

In the autumn of 1813, a U.S. invading force of about 4,000 troops under General Wade Hampton marched toward Montreal through the Châteauguay River valley. A U.S. advance party of 1,500 under Colonel

Ocean Ranching

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

The rearing of fish and shellfish under artificially controlled conditions to restock the sea. See aquaculture.

Hyperion

2005-03-11T21:05:00.000-08:00

One of the smaller satellites of Saturn, discovered in 1848 independently by the astronomers William Bond and George Bond of the United States and William Lassell of England. Hyperion orbits Saturn once every 21.3 days at a distance of 1,482,000 km (918,840 miles), between the orbits of the major satellites Titan and Iapetus. Its orbit is unusual in that it is somewhat eccentric (e = 0.104°) yet uninclined

Gu Kaizhi

2005-03-11T18:00:00.000-08:00

Gu Kaizhi's art is known today from both written records and paintings that are

Bréguet, Louis-charles

2005-03-10T23:42:00.000-08:00

Bréguet built his first airplane in 1909, set a speed

Beveridge (of Tuggal), William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron

2005-03-10T14:37:00.000-08:00

Beveridge, the son of a British civil servant in India, was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. More than any other single figure,

League

2005-03-09T01:16:00.000-08:00

Any of several European units of measurement ranging from 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles (3.9 to 7.4 km). In English-speaking countries the land league is generally accepted as 3 statute miles (4.83 km), although varying lengths from 7,500 feet to 15,000 feet (2.29 to 4.57 km) were sometimes employed. An ancient unit derived from the Gauls and introduced into England by the Normans, the league was estimated by the Romans

Moshav

2005-03-09T00:27:00.000-08:00

Plural Moshavim, in Israel, a type of cooperative agricultural settlement. The moshav, which is generally based on the principle of private ownership of land, avoidance of hired labour, and communal marketing, represents an intermediate stage between privately owned settlements and the complete communal living of the kibbutz. Moshavim are built on land belonging to the Jewish

Biblical Literature, Offerings, sacrifices, and priestly worship

2005-03-08T04:45:00.000-08:00

The first verse attributes these regulations to YHWH, who speaks to Moses from the Tent of Meeting, beginning with the rules for offerings by the individual layman. These include burnt, cereal, peace, sin, and guilt offerings, all described in precise details. The prescription for priestly offerings is about the same, with some slight differences in the order of actions,

Europe, James Reese

2005-03-08T03:49:00.000-08:00

Europe studied piano and violin in his youth and about 1904 settled in New York City, where he directed musical comedies and, in 1910, he helped organize the Clef Club, a union of African-American musicians. The 125-member Clef Club orchestra that he conducted

Zaharias, Babe Didrikson

2005-03-06T17:34:00.000-08:00

William Oscar Johnson and Nancy P. Williamson, "Whatta-Gal": The Babe Didrikson Story (1977); and Susan E. Cayleff, Babe: The Life and Legend of Babe Didrikson Zaharias (1995), examine her life and career.

Biblical Literature, Offerings, sacrifices, and priestly worship

2005-03-05T23:31:00.000-08:00

The NLC,

Sabkhah

2005-03-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Sebkha (Arabic), saline flat or salt-crusted depression, commonly found along the coasts of North Africa and Saudi Arabia. Sabkhahs are generally bordered by sand dunes and have soft, poorly cemented but impermeable floors, due to periodic flooding and evaporation. Concentration of seawater and capillary discharge of groundwater result in deposits of gypsum, calcite,

Körner, Theodor

2005-03-05T05:10:00.000-08:00

A colonel in the Austro-Hungarian Army at the outbreak of World War I, Körner was subsequently appointed chief of staff (May 1915) and successfully helped to stem Italian offensives along the Italian-Slovenian border.

Mind Reading

2005-03-04T22:31:00.000-08:00

A magician's trick involving various silent or verbal signals that cue a conjurer to answer a question as though with second sight. Philip Breslaw, the first magician of note to feature mind reading, played in 1781 at the Haymarket Theatre in London to appreciative audiences. In 1784 the Pinettis, a husband-and-wife team, advertised Mrs. Pinetti as able to guess the thoughts of

Epicharmus

2005-03-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

Many of

Johnson, Leon William

2005-03-04T00:46:00.000-08:00

General (ret.), U.S. Air Force (b. Sept. 13, 1904, Columbia, Mo.--d. Nov. 10, 1997, Fairfax, Va.), was awarded (1943) the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military's highest decoration, for his World War II heroic role in the attack on the oil fields at Ploesti, Rom., an action that effectively destroyed enemy fuel supplies. Following graduation (1926) from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., he served in the infantry before transferring

Richet, Charles

2005-03-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

In full Charles-Robert Richet French physiologist who won the 1913 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of and coining of the term anaphylaxis, the life-threatening allergic reaction he observed in a sensitized animal upon second exposure to an antigen. This research provided the first evidence that an immune response could cause damage as well as

Akselrod, Pavel Borisovich

2005-03-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

Akselrod participated in the Narodnik (populist) movement during the 1870s and formed the revolutionary

Uist

2005-03-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

Either of two islands of the Outer Hebrides, both lying off the northwestern coast of Scotland. See North Uist; South Uist.

Naga

2005-03-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

Group of tribes inhabiting the Naga Hills of Nagaland (q.v.) state in northeastern India. They include more than 20 tribes of mixed origin, varying cultures, and very different physiques and appearances. The numerous Naga languages (sometimes classified as dialects) belong to the Tibeto-Burman group of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Almost every village has its own dialect;

Cinchona

2005-03-01T01:42:00.000-08:00

Four species of Cinchona were cultivated for many years, primarily in Java and also in India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Their bark was processed to obtain quinine, which is

Augustine, Saint

2005-02-28T01:47:00.000-08:00

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

Szold, Henrietta

2005-02-27T19:03:00.000-08:00

Szold was of a German-speaking Hungarian immigrant family; her father was a rabbi. After graduating from public high school in 1877 she taught French, German, Latin, science, mathematics, and history at the Misses Adams' School girls'

Clarence Series

2005-02-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

Major division of Cretaceous rocks and time in New Zealand (the Cretaceous Period lasted from 144 to 66.4 million years ago). Rocks of the Clarence Series overlie those of the Taitai Series and underlie rocks of the Raukumara Series. Clarence rocks (sandstones, conglomerates, graywackes, mudstones, and basaltic lava flows) have been divided into four stages representing

Oates, Joyce Carol

2005-02-27T15:28:00.000-08:00

Oates's life and work are discussed in Eileen Teper Bender, Joyce Carol Oates, Artist in Residence (1987); Joanne V. Creighton, Joyce Carol Oates (1979), and Joyce Carol Oates: Novels of the Middle Years (1992); Greg Johnson, Understanding Joyce Carol Oates (1987), Joyce Carol Oates: A Study of the Short Fiction (1994), and Invisible Writer: A Biography of Joyce Carol Oates (1998); and Brenda Daly, Lavish Self-Divisions: The Novels of Joyce Carol Oates (1996).

Arabian Sea, Resources

2005-02-26T10:47:00.000-08:00

High levels of inorganic nutrients, such as phosphate concentrate, which produce a rich fish life, have been observed in the western Arabian Sea and off the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Occurring in the euphotic zone (zone of light, which is found in the upper 450 feet of the sea), this fertilizing effect undoubtedly is attributable in part to coastal upwelling,

Metamorphic Rock, Albite-epidote-hornfels facies

2005-02-26T04:17:00.000-08:00

Rocks of the albite-epidote-hornfels facies are characteristically found as the outer zones of contact aureoles where the thermal episode fades out and the rocks pass into their regional grade of metamorphism. The mineral assemblages are quite similar to those found in regional greenschist-facies metamorphism, except for the presence of low-pressure phases

Ribbon Seal

2005-02-26T01:03:00.000-08:00

(Histriophoca fasciata), earless seal of the family Phocidae found in the North Pacific and the Bering Sea. The male, growing to about 1.7 m (5.6 feet) in length and 95 kg (210 pounds) in weight, is dark brown with broad, yellowish, ribbonlike markings. The smaller female and the young are paler, and the bands are less conspicuous. The ribbon seal lives alone or in small groups and feeds on fish,

Aquinas, Thomas, Saint, Commentaries on Aristotle

2005-02-25T01:36:00.000-08:00

In octo libros Physicorum expositio (1268–71; Commentary on Aristotle's Physics, 1963); In tres libros De anima (undated; The Commentary of St. Thomas Aquinas on Aristotle's Treatise on the Soul, 1946); In librum De sensu et sensato expositio (1270–71); In decem libros Ethicorum expositio (1271–72; Commentary on the Nicomachean Ethics, 1964); In duodecim libros Metaphysicorum expositio (c. 1272; Commentary on the Metaphysics of Aristotle, 1961); In libros De caelo et mundo expositio (1272–73); In libros Posteriorum analyticorum expositio (undated; probably late).

Tegea

2005-02-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

Ancient Greek city of eastern Arcadia, 4 miles (6.5 km) southeast of the modern town of Trípolis. The Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea was described by the Greek geographer Pausanias (2nd century AD) as excelling all others in the Peloponnese. Originally built by the city's traditional founder, Aleus, the temple was later rebuilt by Scopas, the famous sculptor. Fragments of the temple

Ghatam

2005-02-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

Large, narrow-mouthed earthenware water pot used as a percussion instrument in India. Unlike other Indian percussion instruments, such as the tabla and mridanga, the ghatam does not have a membrane over its mouth. Ghatam produce a distinctive metallic sound and are made in several sizes, each size having a different pitch. As used in Carnatic music, the ghatam is positioned

Painting, Western, Germany

2005-02-24T13:07:00.000-08:00

In Germany also there was a reaction against classicism and the academies, and, as elsewhere, it involved all aspects of the arts. Again, as elsewhere, theory preceded practice: Herzensergiessungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders (“Effusions of an Art-Loving Monk”), by Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, had an immediate and widespread influence upon its publication

Botrytis Blight

2005-02-23T11:55:00.000-08:00

Also called botrytis rot , or gray mold blight disease of plants growing in humid areas that is usually caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. Most vegetables, fruits, flowers, and woody plants are susceptible; injured, old, and dead plant parts become infected first. Soft, tan to brown spots or blotches become covered with a dusty mold in moist weather. Seedlings, young shoots, or leaves may wither and collapse; buds

Resheph

2005-02-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

Ancient West Semitic god of the plague and of the underworld, the companion of Anath, and the equivalent of the Babylonian god Nergal. He was also a war god and was thus represented as a bearded man brandishing an ax, holding a shield, and wearing a tall, pointed headdress with a goat's or gazelle's head on his forehead. Resheph was worshiped especially at Ras Shamra, Byblos,

China, Twentieth-century China

2005-02-21T23:00:00.000-08:00

The bibliography on contemporary Chinese history is vast and growing rapidly. Although publications on modern China are uneven in coverage and quality, most subjects of interest have been discussed in the writings of scholars and visitors to China and Taiwan. A comprehensive bibliography of these writings is compiled annually by the Journal of Asian Studies. See also George Ginsburgs and Michael Mathos, Communist China and Tibet: The First Dozen Years (1964); Edgar Snow, Red China Today (1971); John Wilson Lewis, Leadership in Communist China (1963, reprinted 1978), and (ed.), The City in Communist China (1971); Benjamin I. Schwartz, Communism and China: Ideology in Flux (1968); C.K. Yang, The Chinese Communist Society: The Family and the Village (1965); Byung-joon Ahn, Chinese Politics and the Cultural Revolution: Dynamics of Policy Processes (1976); Lowell Dittmer, Liu Shao-Ch'i and the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Politics of Mass Criticism (1974); Kenneth Lieberthal, Revolution and Tradition in Tientsin, 1949–1952 (1980); Maurice Miesner, Mao's China: History of the People's Republic (1977); William E. Griffith, The Sino-Soviet Rift, Analysed and Documented (1964), and Sino-Soviet Relations, 1964–1965 (1967); Richard Baum, Prelude to Revolution: Mao, the Party, and the Peasant Question, 1962–66 (1975); Roderick MacFarquhar, The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, 2 vol. (1974–83); Frederick C. Teiwes, Politics and Purges in China: Rectifications and the Decline of Party Norms, 1950–1965 (1979); Tang Tsou, The Cultural Revolution and Post-Mao Reforms (1986); Edward E. Rice, Mao's Way (1972); Robert A. Scalapino (ed.), Elites in the People's Republic of China (1972); Stuart Schram (ed.), Mao Tse-tung Unrehearsed: Talks and Letters: 1956–71 (1974, U.S. title, Chairman Mao Talks to the People: Talks and Letters, 1956–1971); Frederic Wakeman, Jr., History and Will: Philosophical Perspectives of Mao Tse-tung's Thought (1973); William W. Whitson and Chen-hsia Huang, The Chinese High Command: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927–71 (1973); Martin King Whyte, Small Groups and Political Rituals in China (1974); Margery Wolf and Roxane Witke (eds.), Women in Chinese Society (1975); and Margery Wolf, Revolution Postponed: Women in Contemporary China (1985).

Baranya

2005-02-21T15:54:00.000-08:00

Megye (county), southern Hungary, bounded to the south by the Drava River, and by the Mecsek Mountains in its northwestern area. Its area of 1,732 square miles (4,487 square km) is hilly, forested terrain. With adjacent Somogy megye, it is the most sparsely populated part of Hungary. The climate is semi-Mediterranean, and peaches, plums, sour cherries, grains, and vegetables are grown. Pigs

Vigny, Alfred-victor, Comte De

2005-02-21T00:38:00.000-08:00

Poet, dramatist, and novelist who was the most philosophical of the French Romantic writers.

Clapboard

2005-02-20T22:27:00.000-08:00

Cleft oak clapboard was introduced to New England in the

Kwangsi

2005-02-20T10:55:00.000-08:00

In full Chuang Autonomous Region of Kwangsi, Chinese (Wade-Giles) Kuang-hsi Chuang-tsu Tzu-chih-ch'ü, (Pinyin) Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu, autonomous region located in southern China. It is bounded by the Chinese provinces of Yunnan on the west, Kweichow on the north, Hunan on the northeast, and Kwangtung on the southeast, and by Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin on the southwest. It covers an area of 85,100 square miles (220,400 square kilometres). Nan-ning, the capital, is about 75 miles (121 kilometres) southwest of the region's geographic

Gyllenborg, Gustaf Fredrik, Greve (count)

2005-02-20T06:31:00.000-08:00

Swedish poet known for his satirical and reflective poetry. Although members of his family were prominent in political life, as a courtier he took no part in politics and attacked the weaknesses of modern society in the spirit of the French Romantic philosopher Rousseau in such poems as “Verldsföraktaren

Price Maintenance

2005-02-20T04:29:00.000-08:00

Also called resale price maintenance measures taken by manufacturers or distributors to control the resale prices of their products charged by resellers. The practice is more effective in retail sales than at other levels of marketing. Only a few types of goods have come under such controls, the leading examples being drugs and pharmaceuticals, books, photographic supplies, liquors, miscellaneous

Valencia

2005-02-18T14:59:00.000-08:00

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

Smith, Huey (piano)

2005-02-18T04:29:00.000-08:00

Smith contributed vocals and his aggressive, boogie-based piano style to the rhythm-and-blues recordings of others before forming his own band. For a time Huey Smith and the Clowns, which featured singer-comedian

Roundhead

2005-02-18T03:29:00.000-08:00

Adherent of the Parliamentary Party during the English Civil War (1642–51) and after. Many Puritans wore their hair closely cropped in obvious contrast to the long ringlets fashionable at the court of Charles I. Roundhead appears to have been first used as a term of derision toward the end of 1641, when debates in Parliament on the Bishops' Exclusion Bill were causing riots at Westminster.

Arnold, Matthew

2005-02-17T08:38:00.000-08:00

The work that gives Arnold his high place in the history of literature and the history of ideas was all accomplished in the time he could spare from his official duties. His first volume of verse was The Strayed Reveller, and Other Poems. By A. (1849); this was followed (in 1852) by another under the same initial: Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems. In 1853 appeared the first volume of poems

Sundarbans

2005-02-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

Formerly Sunderbunds, vast tract of forest and saltwater swamp forming the lower part of the Ganges Delta, extending about 160 miles (260 km) along the Bay of Bengal from the Hooghly River Estuary (India) to the Meghna River Estuary in Bangladesh. The whole tract reaches inland for 60–80 miles (100–130 km). A network of estuaries, tidal rivers, and creeks intersected by numerous channels, it encloses flat, marshy islands

Hyrcania

2005-02-16T01:16:00.000-08:00

Old Persian Varkana (“Wolf's Land”), ancient region located southeast of the Caspian Sea. Its capital was Zadracarta (Astrabad, modern Gorgan), and it formed part of the Median, Achaemenian, Seleucid, and Parthian empires, either as an independent province or joined with Parthia. In the list of Persian satrapies given by the Greek historian Herodotus, the Paricanians may have been the

Nepenthes

2005-02-15T18:33:00.000-08:00

Nepenthes species are perennial,

Lentil

2005-02-15T16:48:00.000-08:00

(species Lens esculenta), small annual legume of the pea family (Leguminosae) and its lens-shaped edible seed, which is rich in protein and one of the most ancient of cultivated foods. Of unknown origin, the lentil is widely cultivated throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa but is little grown in the Western Hemisphere. The seeds are used chiefly in soups and the herbage

Valdemar Iv Atterdag

2005-02-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

A son of King Christopher II, Valdemar lived after 1328 at the court of Louis IV the Bavarian, Holy

Anticoagulant

2005-02-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

Any drug that, when added to blood, prevents it from clotting. Anticoagulants achieve their effect by suppressing the synthesis or function of various clotting factors that are normally present in the blood. Such drugs are often used to prevent blood clots (thrombi) from forming in the veins or arteries. Anticoagulants are generally of two types. One type is heparin

Davidescu, Nicolae

2005-02-13T11:34:00.000-08:00

Romanian poet and novelist whose early poems, Inscriptii (1916), showed the influence of Charles Baudelaire. Among his prose works the novel Zâna din fundul lacului (1912; “The Fairy at the Bottom of the Lake”) was an exercise in symbolism, and Vioara muta (1928; “The Muted Violin”), in social psychology. In the epic Cântecul omului (1928–37; “The Song of Man”), he aimed at re-creating world history.

Scythian

2005-02-13T10:02:00.000-08:00

Much of what is known of the history of the Scythians comes from the account of them by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who visited their territory. In modern times this

Mashriq Al-adhkar

2005-02-12T20:09:00.000-08:00

(Arabic: “place where the uttering of the name of God arises at dawn”), temple or house of worship in the Baha'i faith. The mashriq is characterized by a nine-sided construction, in keeping with the Baha'i belief in the mystical properties of the number nine. Free of ritual and clergy, the mashriq is open to adherents of all religions and offers a simple service consisting of readings

Mahdist

2005-02-12T15:12:00.000-08:00

The Mahdists rose

Earth, The surface of the Earth as a mosaic of plates

2005-02-12T00:56:00.000-08:00

When earthquake epicentres are plotted on a map of the world, it is apparent that most of them are confined to relatively narrow bands rather than being uniformly distributed over the Earth's surface. The narrow bands along which earthquakes occur are located at the margins of large plates that are moving relative to each other. As previously noted, these plates

3-d

2005-02-11T04:32:00.000-08:00

Also called stereoscopic, motion-picture process that gives a three-dimensional quality to film images. It is based on the fact that humans perceive depth by viewing with both eyes. In the 3-D process, two cameras or a twin-lensed camera are used for filming, one representing the left eye and the other the right. The two lenses are spaced about 2 1/2 inches (6.3 cm) apart, the same as the separation between a person's

Altis

2005-02-10T11:35:00.000-08:00

In Greek religion, the sacred grove of Zeus, or the sacred precinct in Olympia, Greece. It was an irregular quadrangular area more than 200 yards (183 m) on each side, and walled except to the north, where it was bounded by the Kronion (hill of Cronus). In it were the temples of Zeus and of Hera, his consort; the principal altars and votive offerings; the small treasuries built by various

Grabski, Wladyslaw

2005-02-10T06:18:00.000-08:00

A Socialist in his youth, Grabski later joined the National Democracy Party and was elected a member of three successive sessions of the Duma (1906–12), the legislative body of the Russian Empire, of which

Lentulus, Publius Cornelius

2005-02-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

In 81 Lentulus was quaestor to Lucius Cornelius Sulla. When Sulla later accused him of having squandered public funds, Lentulus scornfully held out the calf of his leg, a gesture normally used by ball-playing boys inviting punishment for an error. He was praetor in 74 and consul