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Serviced Offices UK

2006-07-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

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Agassiz, Elizabeth Cabot

2005-11-19T06:00:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Cary was related to many of Boston's leading families. She received no formal schooling but acquired a somewhat haphazard education at home. In April 1850 she married the distinguished and recently

Vâlcea

2005-07-28T05:20:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Vîlcea, judet (county), south-central Romania. The Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians) and the sub-Carpathians rise above settlement areas in the valleys, and the Olt and Cerna rivers drain southward through the county. Râmnicu Vâlcea (q.v.; the county capital), Babeni, and Berzoi are timber production centres. Chemical factories operate in Govora, and building materials

Niue

2005-07-26T10:50:00.000-07:00

Internally self-governing island state in free association with New Zealand. It is the westernmost of the Cook Islands but is administratively separate from them. Niue lies 1,340 miles (2,156 km) northeast of Auckland and 240 miles (385 km) east of Vava'u, Tonga, in the south-central Pacific. The capital is Alofi. Area 100 square miles (260 square km). Pop. (1994 est.) 2,200.

Ectoplasm

2005-07-23T23:30:00.000-07:00

In occultism, a mysterious, usually light-coloured, viscous substance that is said to exude from the body of a spiritualist medium in trance and may then take the shape of a face, a hand, or a complete body. It is normally visible only in the darkened atmosphere of a séance (q.v.). Ectoplasm is said to be the substance involved in the materialization of spiritual bodies, and

Kerry, John

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

Kerry wrote The New War: The Web of Crime That Threatens America's Security (1997) and A Call to Service (2003).

Conditioning

2005-07-07T01:15:00.000-07:00

In physiology, a behavioral process whereby a response becomes more frequent or more predictable in a given environment as a result of reinforcement (providing a natural stimulus or reward for the desired response). The history of this concept shows its dependence upon experimental techniques for the study of reflexes. Physiologists in Russia, England, and the

Kindi, Ya'qub Ibn Ishaq As-sabah, Al-

2005-07-01T03:50:00.000-07:00

Al-Kindi was born of noble Arabic descent and flourished in Iraq under the caliphs al-Ma'mun (813–833) and al-Mu'tasim (833–842). He concerned himself not only with those philosophical questions that had been treated by the Aristotelian Neoplatonists of Alexandria but also with such miscellaneous subjects

Béjart, Maurice

2005-06-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

After studies in Paris, Béjart toured with the Ballets de Paris de Roland Petit (1947–49), the International Ballet (1949–50), and the Royal Swedish Ballet (1951–52). In 1954 he founded Les Ballets

Arias De Saavedra, Hernando

2005-06-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

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

Hooton, Earnest A(lbert)

2005-06-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

American physical anthropologist who investigated human evolution and racial differentiation, classified and described human populations, and examined the relationship between personality and physical type, particularly with respect to criminal behaviour. He established Harvard University as a principal

Tall Za'tar

2005-05-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

Also called Zaátar, former Palestinian refugee camp, Jabal Lubnan muhafazah (governorate), central Lebanon, north of Beirut, near Nabay. The camp was the last large Muslim outpost in the midst of the predominantly Christian inhabited area of north Lebanon and had a population estimated at 15,000 in the mid-1970s. During the Lebanese civil war (that began in the spring of 1975) between Muslims and Christians,

Sculpture, Western, The Archaic period

2005-05-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

The kouroi, which had become standardized as freestanding statues of naked youths with hands to sides and one leg advanced, were the most representative examples of Archaic sculpture. At first their proportions were based on theory rather than observation; much the same was true of the anatomical details, which were treated as separate patterns applied to the

Furniture

2005-05-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

Household equipment, usually made of wood, metal, plastics, marble, glass, fabrics, or related materials and having a variety of different purposes. Furniture ranges widely from the simple pine chest or stickback country chair to the most elaborate marquetry work cabinet or gilded console table. The functional and decorative aspects of furniture have been emphasized

Dielectric

2005-03-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

Insulating material or a very poor conductor of electric current. When dielectrics are placed in an electric field, practically no current flows in them because, unlike metals, they have no loosely bound, or free, electrons that may drift through the material. Instead, electric polarization occurs. The positive charges within the dielectric are displaced minutely

Sinhala Maha Sabha

2005-03-14T00:47:00.000-08:00

Political group in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) that was founded in 1937 by S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. It was a communally oriented group and promoted the interests of the Sinhalese sector of the population and of Buddhism. In 1945 Bandaranaike threw the support of the Sabha behind the newly created United National Party (UNP) of D.S. Senanayake, which was to dominate politics for the first

Turkish Literature

2005-03-11T23:52:00.000-08:00

In the 19th century the introduction of Western reforms had its effect on literature. Mainly under French influence, various writers adopted and adapted Western literary forms, such as the novel, the drama, and the essay, while the rigid forms and attitudes of classical poetry gradually went out of fashion in the country. In the 20th century a Turkish nationalist literature

Godard, Benjamin (-louis-paul)

2005-03-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

Godard was a child prodigy on the violin, studied composition, and in his youth composed symphonies, chamber works, concerti, and piano music. His best-known opera, Jocelyn (1881), is remembered for its famous �Berceuse.� Other works included the operas P�dro de Zalam�a (1884) and La Vivandi�re (1895) and his Symphonie

Ryobu Shinto

2005-03-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

Also called �Shingon Shinto, � in Japanese religion, the syncretic school that combined Shinto with the teachings of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. The school developed during the late Heian (794 - 1185) and Kamakura (1192 - 1333) periods. The basis of the school's beliefs was the Japanese concept that Shinto deities (kami) were manifestations of Buddhist divinities. Most important was the identification of the sun goddess

Induction

2005-03-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

Formation of b-galactosidase has been shown

China, Attacks on party members

2005-03-03T19:20:00.000-08:00

Gradual transference of the revolution to top echelons of the party was managed by a group centred on Mao Zedong, Lin Biao, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, and Chen Boda. In May 1966 Mao secretly assigned major responsibilities to the army in cultural and educational affairs. Another purpose of the Cultural Revolution, as then conceived, would be a �revolution in the

Tooke, John Horne

2005-03-02T23:40:00.000-08:00

Born John Horne, the son of a poultry dealer, he assumed (1782) the additional surname Tooke to honour his friend

Arsenate Mineral

2005-03-01T00:41:00.000-08:00

Any of a group of naturally occurring compounds of arsenic, oxygen, and various metals, most of which are rare, having crystallized under very restricted conditions. At the mineralogically famous L�ngban iron and manganese mines in central Sweden, more than 50 species of arsenate minerals have been described, many peculiar to the locality. Such compounds occur in

Kailua-lanikai

2005-02-28T05:54:00.000-08:00

Twin residential communities, southeastern Oahu Island, Hawaii, U.S., extending along Kailua Bay. They occupy superb white beach land that was the residence of Oahu's medieval kings. The Kawainui swamplands, to the west, were then royal fishponds. Numerous temple ruins, such as Ulu Po Heiau, are in the vicinity. Many residents commute to Honolulu (10 miles [16 km] southwest) by the

New Zealand, Annexation and further settlement

2005-02-27T11:33:00.000-08:00

In 1838 the British government decided upon at least partial annexation. In 1839 it commissioned William Hobson, a naval officer, as lieutenant governor and consul to the Maori chiefs, and he annexed the whole country, the North Island by the right of cession from the Maori chiefs and the South Island by the right of discovery. At first New Zealand was legally part of New South

Handicap

2005-02-26T21:09:00.000-08:00

In sports and games, method of offsetting the varying abilities or characteristics of competitors in order to equalize their chances of winning. Handicapping takes many, often complicated, forms. In horse racing, a track official known as the handicapper may assign weights to horses according to their speed in previous performances; the presumed fastest horse

Margaret Of Scotland, Saint

2005-02-25T15:51:00.000-08:00

Margaret was brought up at the Hungarian court, where her father, Edward, was in exile. After the Battle of Hastings, Edward's widow and children fled for safety to Scotland. Her brother Edgar the Aetheling, defeated

Anai Peak

2005-02-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hindi �Anai Mudi� peak in eastern Kerala state, southwestern India. Located in the Western Ghats range, it rises to 8,842 feet (2,695 m) and is peninsular India's highest peak. From this point radiate three ranges - the Anaimalai to the north, the Palni to the northeast, and the Cardamom Hills to the south. Several rivers, including the Periyar and Amaravati, rise in the surrounding ranges.

Arts, East Asian, Painting

2005-02-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

Painting of the Kamakura period, both religious and secular, was marked by a sense of immediacy and vitality. The Amidist sects spawned cults that emphasized devotion to particular intercessory figures who had initially been considered ancillary in the overall Pure Land Buddhist pantheon. For example, the Jizo Bosatsu, the bodhisattva depicted in the guise of

Amagasaki

2005-02-22T06:50:00.000-08:00

City and industrial suburb of the Osaka-Kobe (Hanshin) metropolitan area, Hyogo ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. In the feudal period it was a castle town. During the 20th century it attracted large, modern factories, formerly geared to wartime production, to produce iron and steel goods, electrical machinery, transport vehicles, and chemicals. The main industrial belt lies

Eureka

2005-02-21T09:10:00.000-08:00

City, port, and seat (1856) of Humboldt county, northern California, U.S., on Humboldt Bay. A major lumber and commercial-fishing centre and headquarters for the Six Rivers National Forest, it was laid out in 1850 and named for the Greek motto (meaning �I have found it�) on the state seal. Site of Fort Humboldt (now a state historic monument) and scene of several Indian uprisings (1853 - 65), it developed

Loxodrome

2005-02-20T18:15:00.000-08:00

Also called �Rhumb Line, or Spherical Helix, � curve cutting the meridians of a sphere at a constant nonright angle. Thus, it may be seen as the path of a ship sailing always oblique to the meridian and directed always to the same point of the compass. Pedro Nunes, who first conceived the curve (1550), mistakenly believed it to be the shortest path joining two points on a sphere (see great circle route). Any ship following such

Radio Interferometer

2005-02-19T20:38:00.000-08:00

Apparatus that is used to study heavenly bodies by receiving and analyzing electromagnetic radiation that these bodies emit or reflect in the radio wavelengths. A radio interferometer is a radio telescope (q.v.) consisting of two or more separate antennas receiving radio waves from the same source, joined to one receiver. The antennas may be placed close together

John Ii

2005-02-18T17:12:00.000-08:00

John was a younger son of Ferdinand of Antequera, elected king of Aragon (as Ferdinand I) in 1412. John and his brothers retained their positions and revenues in Castile,

Adams, Charles Francis

2005-02-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

Adams was the son of the lawyer and historian Charles Francis Adams (1835 - 1915), as well as great-grandson of the sixth U.S. president and great-great-grandson of the second.

Teresa Of �vila, Saint

2005-02-16T04:20:00.000-08:00

Also called �Saint Teresa of Jesus�, original name �Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada� Spanish nun, one of the great mystics and religious women of the Roman Catholic church, and author of spiritual classics. She was the originator of the Carmelite Reform, which restored and emphasized the austerity and contemplative character of primitive Carmelite life. St. Teresa was elevated

Bloch, Felix

2005-02-15T02:47:00.000-08:00

Bloch's doctoral dissertation (University of Leipzig, 1928) promulgated a quantum theory of solids that provided the basis for understanding electrical

Seleucus Iv Philopator

2005-02-14T11:20:00.000-08:00

Although the empire that Seleucus inherited was not so great as the one over which his father had ruled before the war with Rome (190 - 189), it was still large, consisting of Syria (including Cilicia and Palestine), Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and nearer Iran (Media and Persia). Because of financial difficulties,

Earth, Reversals of the main field

2005-02-13T13:28:00.000-08:00

The Earth's internal magnetic field has not always been oriented as it is today. The direction of the dipole component reverses, on an average, about every 300,000 to 1,000,000 years. This reversal is very sudden on a geologic time scale, apparently taking about 5,000 years. The time between reversals is highly variable, sometimes occurring in less than 40,000 years and at other times remaining steady

Waikaremoana, Lake

2005-02-12T18:14:00.000-08:00

Lake in eastern North Island, New Zealand. Created by a landslide damming the Waikare Taheke River, the 21-square-mile (54-square-kilometre) lake, measuring 12 miles (19 km) by 6 miles (10 km), drains a 165-square-mile (427-square-kilometre) basin and empties via the same river, which is a tributary of the Wairoa. From its surface elevation of 2,015 feet (614 m), the lake extends to a depth of 840 feet (256 m). It is bounded on

Korean Art

2005-02-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

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

Deggendorf

2005-02-10T03:43:00.000-08:00

City, Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany, on the Danube River, 2.5 miles (4 km) above its confluence with the Isar River. It lies at the western foot of the Bavarian and Bohemian forests, east of Straubing. Founded about 750, it passed to the dukes of Bavaria in 1242 and was chartered in 1316. The river and the forested mountains form a picturesque setting for the city, which retains its

Rawlins

2005-02-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1886) of Carbon county, south-central Wyoming, U.S. It lies just east of the Continental Divide at an elevation of 6,755 feet (2,059 metres). Founded in 1868 when the Union Pacific Railroad arrived, it was first named Rawlins Springs for U.S. Army Chief of Staff General John A. Rawlins, who requested a freshwater spring there bear his name. In 1874 �Rawlins Red� pigment from the local paint mines

Lamorici�re, Christophe-louis-leon Juchault De

2005-02-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

After entering the engineers in 1829, Lamorici�re was sent to Algiers (1830) as a captain in the Zouaves. In 1833 he played a prominent role in the creation of the Arab Bureau, which was to coordinate information on French Arab colonies. Military success at Constantine led to

Integral Transform

2005-02-06T21:25:00.000-08:00

Mathematical operator that produces a new function f(y) by integrating the product of an existing function F(x) and a so-called kernel function K(x, y) between suitable limits. The process, which is called transformation, is symbolized by the equation f(y) = �K(x, y)F(x)dx. Several transforms are commonly named for the mathematicians who introduced them: in the Laplace

Clapar�de, �douard

2005-02-05T05:49:00.000-08:00

Psychologist who conducted exploratory research in the fields of child psychology, educational psychology, concept formation, problem solving, and sleep. One of the most influential European exponents of the functionalist school of psychology, he is particularly remembered for his formulation of the law of momentary interest, a fundamental

Gatling, Richard Jordan

2005-02-04T00:08:00.000-08:00

Gatling's career as an inventor began when he assisted his father in the construction and perfecting of machines for sowing cotton seeds and for thinning cotton plants. In 1839 he perfected a practical

Intendente

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

Royal official appointed by the 18th-century kings of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain. Modeled after the French intendants, the intendentes were to serve as instruments of royal centralization and administrative reform but were frequently resisted as conflicting with local privileges. In the Spanish colonies the system was imposed in Cuba (1765) after the brief British

Football

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

By defeating the Calgary Stampeders 37-20 at Regina, Sask., on Nov. 19, 1995, the Baltimore Stallions became the first U.S. team to win the Grey Cup, the championship of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Quarterback Tracy Ham was the game's Most Valuable Player for Baltimore, which had won the South (U.S.) Division (SD) with a 15-3-0 won-lost-tied record. Calgary won the North Division (ND) with the same

Lancewood

2005-01-30T05:13:00.000-08:00

Tough, heavy, elastic, straight-grained wood obtained from several different trees of the custard-apple family (Annonaceae). True lancewood, Oxandra lanceolata, of the West Indies and Guianas, furnishes most of the lancewood of commerce in the form of spars about 13 feet (4 m) in length and 5 inches (13 cm) in diameter at the small end. Lancewood was formerly used by carriage builders

Tsuruya Namboku Iv

2005-01-29T16:20:00.000-08:00

Little is known of his early years, but in 1755 he became an apprentice of the dramatist Sakurada Jisuke I. About 1780 he married the daughter of Tsuruya Namboku III, a well-known Kabuki actor of the time.

Pietro Da Cortona,

2005-01-28T16:28:00.000-08:00

Pietro studied in Rome from about 1612 under the minor Florentine painters Andrea Commodi and Baccio Ciarpi and was influenced by antique sculpture and the work of Raphael. The most important of his earliest paintings were three frescoes

Integument, Variations among vertebrates

2005-01-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

The vertebrates belong to the phylum Chordata and are closely related to a small, fishlike, almost transparent invertebrate called amphioxus. Amphioxus represents chordate integument at its simplest: an epidermis, consisting of one layer of columnar or cuboidal epithelial cells and scattered mucous cells, covered by a thin cuticle, and a thin dermis of soft connective

Black Fly

2005-01-26T10:03:00.000-08:00

Also called �buffalo gnat�, or �turkey gnat� any member of the insect family Simuliidae (order Diptera), usually black or dark gray. About 300 species of worldwide distribution are known. The black fly is small and humpbacked, with gauzy wings, stout antennae and legs, and rather short mouthparts adapted for sucking blood. The females bite and are sometimes so abundant that they may kill chickens, birds, and other domestic

Verdure Tapestry

2005-01-25T14:08:00.000-08:00

Such famous tapestry factories as Aubusson and

Alaska, The economy

2005-01-24T23:22:00.000-08:00

The Alaskan economy is conditioned strongly by the state's frontier stage of development, but its formerly inadequate tax base for state and municipal growth ended with the development of the North Slope oil fields. High costs of labour and transportation and complicated environmental and land-use constraints still tend to discourage outside investment. Nonetheless,

Pacific Ocean, Deep-sea minerals

2005-01-23T17:24:00.000-08:00

Metal-bearing deposits on the deep-sea floor, consisting of nodules, crusts, and accumulations of metallic sulfides from deep vents, are of potential economic interest. In the 1970s and '80s it was hoped that mining the nodules - which contain quantities of manganese, iron, copper, nickel, titanium, and cobalt, as well as small traces of other metals - might be a way to contribute

Hull, Cordell

2005-01-22T05:32:00.000-08:00

As a young Tennessee attorney, Hull early identified with

Swan, Sir Joseph Wilson

2005-01-21T04:21:00.000-08:00

After serving his apprenticeship with a druggist in his native town, Swan became first assistant

Glycogen Storage Disease

2005-01-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

In the liver group, type O is set apart as

Nechung Oracle

2005-01-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

Oracle-priest of Tibet who, until the conquest of Tibet in 1959 by the People's Republic of China, was consulted on all important occasions. The priest chosen to be the Nechung oracle was the chief medium of Pe-har, a popular folk divinity incorporated into Buddhism, and resided at the Nechung (Gnas-chung-lcog) monastery near Drepung ('Bras-spungs), the centre of the Pe-har cult.

Consonance

2005-01-18T15:06:00.000-08:00

As a poetic device, it is often combined with assonance (the repetition of stressed vowel sounds within words

Ju�rez, Benito (pablo)

2005-01-17T03:31:00.000-08:00

National hero of Mexico, president of Mexico (1861 - 72), who, for three years (1864 - 67), fought against foreign occupation under the emperor Maximilian and who sought constitutional reforms to create a democratic federal republic.

Aakj�r, Jeppe

2005-01-15T07:08:00.000-08:00

Aakj�r grew up in the Jutland farming area and so was well aware of the harsh conditions endured by farm labourers in his country. His early novels deal primarily with this theme. As a young man he went to study in Copenhagen,

Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton

2005-01-14T04:37:00.000-08:00

Hooker,

Lamian War

2005-01-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

Also called �Greek War (323 - 322 BC)� conflict in which Athenian independence was lost despite efforts by Athens and its Aetolian allies to free themselves from Macedonian domination after the death of Alexander the Great. Athenian democratic leaders, in conjunction with the Aetolian League, fielded an army of 30,000 men in October 323. They seized Thermopylae and kept a Macedonian army under Antipater blockaded

Mold

2005-01-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

Also spelled �Mould, � in manufacturing, a cavity or matrix in which a fluid or plastic substance is shaped into a desired finished product. A molten substance, such as metal, or a plastic substance is poured or forced into a mold and allowed to harden. Molds are made of a wide variety of materials, depending on the application; sand is frequently used for metal casting, hardened steel for molds

Compurgation

2005-01-11T18:43:00.000-08:00

The essence of the procedure lay in oath making. The party responsible for proving a fact had to produce a number of witnesses (usually 12) who would swear that he was

Cramer's Rule

2005-01-10T22:30:00.000-08:00

In which det A is the determinant of the matrix A (in which the elements of each row are the coefficients

Park, Maud Wood

2005-01-09T06:23:00.000-08:00

Park attended St. Agnes School in Albany, New York, and after graduating in 1887 she taught school for eight years. She then attended Radcliffe College,

Orange River

2005-01-08T00:12:00.000-08:00

The first white man known to cross the river to the north bank was an Afrikaner elephant hunter, Jacobus Coetsee, who forded the Groot River, as it was then called, near the river mouth in 1760. Later expeditions across the river in the 18th century were led by the Afrikaner explorer Hendrik Hop; Robert Jacob Gordon, a Dutch officer; William Paterson, an English traveler; and the

Spiny-finned Fish

2005-01-06T09:40:00.000-08:00

The atheriniform (q.v.) is the best known of the spiny-finned group, including flying fishes, guppies, mollies, swordtails, and California grunion. Beryciforms

Spiny-finned Fish

2005-01-05T05:37:00.000-08:00

The common name given to about 50 to 60 species of small, stubby, generally short-tailed birds abundant in American tropical forests. Manakins are short-billed birds that range in size from 8.5 to 16 cm (3.5 to 6.5 inches) long and weigh a mere 10 - 40 grams (0.35 - 1.4 ounces). Females and immature males are typically coloured in drab greens and browns, but adult males are often black with

Ambros, August Wilhelm

2005-01-04T03:46:00.000-08:00

Ambros studied law, entered the civil service in 1840, and became public prosecutor in Prague in 1850. A keen, well-trained musician and composer of a Czech opera, Bretislaw a Jitka, he also established himself as a brilliant writer on music. His pamphlet �ber

Chachalaca

2005-01-03T23:43:00.000-08:00

Any of several small birds of the curassow family. See curassow.

Gaudier-brzeska, Henri

2005-01-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Gaudier-Brzeska initially studied business before taking up sculpture in 1910. His early work was informed

Dorsey, Thomas Andrew

2005-01-01T04:57:00.000-08:00

U.S. songwriter, singer, and pianist (b. July 1, 1899, Villa Rica, Ga.--d. Jan. 23, 1993, Chicago, Ill.), as the "father of gospel music," blended elements of soulful blues with the traditional sacred music of his religious upbringing to create a new genre called gospel, which infused an uplifting, foot-stomping sound into black congregations, primarily of Baptist and Holiness churches. Dorsey, the

Ventnor

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

Town (�parish�), Isle of Wight, historic county of Hampshire, England. The town lies along the southeastern coast of the Isle of Wight. From a small fishing hamlet it grew in the 19th century into a fashionable resort, noted for its mild climate and long hours of sunshine. The novelist Charles Dickens lived for a time nearby, and the poet Algernon Swinburne is buried in

Adams, Douglas

2004-12-30T01:11:00.000-08:00

Adams received an M.A. (1974) in English literature

Usa

2004-12-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

City, Oita ken (prefecture), northern Kyushu, Japan; it lies 24 miles (39 km) northwest of the prefectural capital Oita. The city developed around the site of the first and most famous of shrines dedicated to the Shinto god Hachiman, Usa Hachiman Shrine, which dates to about 717 - 724. An annual festival is held on March 18, and the Shinkosai festival, with a procession of portable shrines (mikoshi

Aichinger, Ilse

2004-12-27T04:08:00.000-08:00

Aichinger's education was interrupted by World War II when, because she was half Jewish, she was refused entrance to medical school. Although she eventually did begin

Argentina, The conservative restoration and the Concordancia, 1930 - 43

2004-12-26T04:51:00.000-08:00

During the next 13 years, which have often been termed �the Infamous Decade,� the armed forces sponsored a conservative restoration. After expelling Irigoyen, they installed General Jos� F�lix Uriburu in the presidency (1930 - 32). Uriburu was a descendent of an old, conservative northern family, and he leaned toward fascism. His influence with the army, however, was not as great

Altman, Robert

2004-12-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Unconventional and independent American motion-picture director whose works emphasize character and atmosphere over plot in exploring themes of innocence, corruption, and survival. Perhaps his best-known film was his first and biggest commercial success, the antiwar comedy M*A*S*H (1970), set in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital during

Computers, Microsoft's Windows Operating System

2004-12-24T03:28:00.000-08:00

In 1985 Microsoft came out with its Windows operating system, which gave PC compatibles some of the same capabilities as the Macintosh. Year after year, Microsoft refined and improved Windows so that Apple, which failed to come up with a significant new advantage, lost its edge. IBM tried to establish yet another operating system, OS/2, but lost the battle to Gates's company.

Bonnet Monkey

2004-12-23T15:46:00.000-08:00

(species Macaca radiata), Indian macaque named for the thatch of long hair forming a cap, or �bonnet,� on the crown. The bonnet monkey is grayish brown with a hairless pink face. It is about 35 - 60 cm (14 - 24 inches) long, excluding its 50 - 70-centimetre tail, and weighs about 3 - 9 kg (7 - 20 pounds). It is an agile monkey and sometimes raids gardens or stores of food.

Babism

2004-12-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Religion that developed in Iran around Mirza 'Ali Mohammad's claim to be a bab (Arabic: �gateway�), or divine intermediary, in 1844. See Bab, the.

Syriam

2004-12-21T08:46:00.000-08:00

Town and port, southwestern Myanmar (Burma). It is situated on the Yang�n River, a tributary of the Irrawaddy River, opposite Yang�n (Rangoon), the national capital. Formerly part of the Mon kingdom, Syriam subsequently became a port of the Portuguese and French. In 1756 Alaungpaya (1714 - 60), the Myanmar king, conquered the Mon and their French allies, whom he put into slavery; the town was

Moravia, Alberto

2004-12-19T06:04:00.000-08:00

Moravia contracted tuberculosis of the bone (a form of osteomyelitis usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis) at the age of 8, but, during several

India, The Afghan factor in North India, 1747 - 72

2004-12-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

Unlike Nadir Shah, Ahmad Shah Abdali (or Ahmad Shah Durrani) - as Ahmad Khan came to be known after 1747 - had little interest in the area west of Afghanistan. Rather, his principal endeavour was to create a state that would lie astride the major overland trade routes that passed from northern India to Central and western Asia. Qandahar naturally had an important place in this scheme, but a great

Carloman

2004-12-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

The younger brother of Charlemagne, with whom, at the instance of their father, Pippin III the Short, he was anointed king of the Franks in 754 by Pope Stephen II (or III) in the abbey of Saint-Denis. Carloman inherited the eastern part of Pippin's lands (768). He favoured alliance with the Lombards and married Gerberga, a daughter of their king, Desiderius. When

Natchez

2004-12-16T10:13:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1817) of Adams county, southwestern Mississippi, U.S., on the Mississippi River (there bridged to Vidalia, Louisiana), about 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Vicksburg. Established in 1716 as Fort Rosalie by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, it survived a massacre (1729) by Natchez Indians for whom it was later named. It passed from France to England (1763) at the conclusion of the French and

Mitra, Ramon

2004-12-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

Philippine politician (b. 1928, Palawan, Phil. - d. March 20, 2000, Manila, Phil.), was a prominent politician, a pro-democracy activist, and an outspoken critic of the 1966 - 86 regime of Philippine Pres. Ferdinand Marcos. After working as a journalist and diplomat, Mitra served in the House of Representatives in the 1960s and was elected to the Senate in 1971. After Marcos imposed martial law in the Philippines

Balakovo

2004-12-14T07:19:00.000-08:00

City, Saratov oblast (province), southwestern Russia, on the left bank of the Volga River. Founded in 1762, it long remained a small agricultural town. Its growth was greatly stimulated by the construction in 1967 - 70 of the Saratov hydroelectric station on the Volga. Balakovo is also the site of construction of a nuclear power station. A major chemical industry, developed in the 1960s

Round Table

2004-12-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

In Arthurian legend, the table of Arthur, Britain's legendary king, which was first mentioned in Wace of Jersey's Roman de Brut (1155). This told of King Arthur's having a round table made so that none of his barons, when seated at it, could claim precedence over the others. The literary importance of the Round Table, especially in romances of the 13th century and afterward, lies in

Dragonfish

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

Also called �sea moth� any of about five species of small marine fishes comprising the family Pegasidae and the order Pegasiformes. Dragonfish are found in warm Indo-Pacific waters. They are small (to about 16 centimetres [6 1/2 inches] long), elongated fish encased in bony rings of armour. The armour is fused on the head and body but not on the tail, which is thus flexible. The pectoral

Chatterjee, Bankim Chandra

2004-12-11T14:47:00.000-08:00

Bankim Chandra was a member of an orthodox Brahman family and was educated at Hooghly College, at Presidency College, Calcutta, and at the University

Ob River

2004-12-10T14:34:00.000-08:00

Politically, most of the Ob basin is within Russia, but its southern portion forms the northernmost part of Kazakhstan. Russians and other Slavs constitute the majority of the population, but there also are numerous non-Slavic peoples. These include the Kazakhs in the south, the Altay and Shor peoples of the mountains, the Tatars of the Irtysh basin, the Khanty (Ostyak)

Development Bank

2004-12-09T22:49:00.000-08:00

The number of development banks has increased rapidly since the 1950s; they have been encouraged by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and its affiliates.

Chelm

2004-12-08T06:25:00.000-08:00

City, capital of Chelm wojew�dztwo (province), eastern Poland. The city is located on the Uherka River, a tributary of the Bug River, 15 miles (24 km) west of the Ukrainian border. It received town rights in 1233, passed to Poland in 1377, and fell to Austria (1795) and then to Russia (1815). During World War II, 90,000 people died in two German prisoner-of-war camps in the town. The Polish republic was proclaimed in

Jupiter, Other satellites

2004-12-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

The only other Jovian satellite that was close enough to the trajectories of the Voyager spacecraft in 1979 to allow surface features to be seen was Amalthea. So small that its gravitational field is not strong enough to deform it into a sphere, it has an irregular, oblong shape (see Table). Like Io, its surface exhibits a reddish colour that may result from a coating of sulfur