Tuesday, August 31, 2004

Bhaiband

(Hindi), Urdu-Persian �Beradari� (�brotherhood�), important instrument of caste self-government in India; the bhaiband is the council formed by the heads of families that belong to the same lineage in a particular area, thus constituting an exogamous (those who do not intermarry) unit within the endogamous (those who do intermarry) caste group. One of their concerns, in addition to questions arising as a

Plumage

Collective feathered covering of a bird. It provides protection, insulation, and adornment and also helps streamline and soften body contours, reducing friction in air and water. Plumage of the newborn chick is downy, called neossoptile; that which follows is termed teleoptile. Juvenal plumage, frequently distinct from that of the adult bird, is often drab, streaked,

Monday, August 30, 2004

Ryegrass

Any of about 10 species constituting the genus Lolium (family Poaceae), which includes forage and lawn grasses of temperate Eurasia and the noxious weed known as darnel (L. temulentum). Ryegrasses are about 0.3 to 1 m (1 to 3 feet) tall and have tough, dark green leaves. The flower spikelets grow in the angles of a zigzag rachis (flower stem). Both perennial ryegrass (L. perenne) and Italian

Museums, History Of, The spread of the European model

Before the end of the 18th century the phenomenon of the museum had spread to other parts of the world. In 1773 in the United States the Charleston Library Society of South Carolina announced its intention of forming a museum. Its purpose was to promote the better understanding of agriculture and herbal medicine in the area. Another early institution, the Peale Museum, was

Sunday, August 29, 2004

Spanish Literature, Revival of the Spanish novel

For more than two centuries the novel, with which Spain had made its greatest contribution to literature, had been almost extinct. The first novels of the revival were more interesting for powers of observation and description (a continuation of costumbrismo) than for imaginative or narrative quality. A woman novelist, Fern�n Caballero, determined the technique

West Lafayette

City, Tippecanoe county, west-central Indiana, U.S. It lies along the Wabash River (bridged) opposite Lafayette. Founded in 1845 as Kingston, it was later called Chauncey (1866) before being renamed West Lafayette in 1888. Primarily residential, it is the seat of Purdue University (1869). Nearby are the Tippecanoe Battlefield State Memorial and the site of Fort Ouiatanon (1719), the first white settlement

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Spanish Literature, Revival of the Spanish novel

For more than two centuries the novel, with which Spain had made its greatest contribution to literature, had been almost extinct. The first novels of the revival were more interesting for powers of observation and description (a continuation of costumbrismo) than for imaginative or narrative quality. A woman novelist, Fern�n Caballero, determined the technique

Ghavam El-saltaneh, Ahmad

Ghavam entered the court of the Qajar monarch Mozaffar al-Din Shah as a scribe in 1898. He rose to the position of minister of justice in 1909 and became minister of the interior the following year. In 1918 he was appointed governor of Khorasan province and three years later was nominated prime

Friday, August 27, 2004

Swarthmore College

Private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, U.S. It is a liberal arts college offering bachelor's degree programs in humanities, social sciences, biological sciences, physics, engineering, and other areas. The college offers cooperative programs with Bryn Mawr and Haverford colleges and the University of Pennsylvania. Campus

Quinet, Edgar

After moving to Paris in 1820, Quinet forsook the faith of his Protestant mother, became greatly attracted to German philosophy, and published in 1827 - 28, as his first major work, a translation of Herder's

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Cuckoopint

The cuckoopint grows from a whitish rootstock, which

Permafrost, Agriculture

Permafrost affects agricultural developments in many parts of the discontinuous permafrost zone. Its destructive effect on cultivated fields in both Russia and North America results from the thawing of large masses of ice in the permafrost. If care is not exercised in selecting areas to be cleared for cultivation, thawing of the permafrost may necessitate

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Statistics

In an experimental study,

Han-chung

Pinyin �Hanzhong� city in southern Shensi Province (sheng), China. It is a county-level municipality (shih) and the administrative centre of Han-chung Prefecture (ti-ch'�). Han-chung is situated in a long, narrow, and fertile basin along the Han Shui (river), between the Tsinling Shan (mountains) and Mi-ts'ang Shan. To the north one of the few routes across the Tsinling Shan joins it to Pao-chi in Shensi,

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

Fuse

The blasting safety fuse, employed to fire an explosive from a distance or after a delay, is a hollow cord filled with a mixture resembling black powder and designed to propagate burning at a slow and steady rate. The far end of the fuse is usually

Cynognathus

Cynognathus was approximately as large as a modern

Monday, August 23, 2004

Arts, Central Asian

Of the relatively few Central Asian languages that have developed written literatures, the most important are Turkic, Tibetan, and Mongol. (For a treatment of these languages, see Altaic languages and Sino-Tibetan languages.) This article will deal with Tibetan and Mongolian literatures from their inception to the 20th century and with Turkic literature from its

Latin American Economic System

Spanish �Sistema Econ�mico Latinoamericano (SELA) � association formed to promote economic cooperation and development throughout the region of Latin America. Established in 1975 through the Panama Convention, SELA succeeded the Special Committee for Latin American Coordination (CECLA). Nearly 30 countries are members. SELA's principal organ, the Latin American Council, meets annually. Headquarters are in Caracas,

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Latin American Economic System

Also called �equine plague� or �perdesiekte� viral disease of Equidae (horses, mules, donkeys, and zebras) caused by an orbivirus called AHSV (family Reoviridae) that is transmitted by arthropods, notably biting midges (Culicoides imicola). The disease, which is not usually fatal to indigenous zebra herds, is often fatal in horses. Dogs have also been fatally infected after eating virally contaminated horse

Gradus

A dictionary of Greek or Latin prosody and poetic phrases used as an aid in the writing of verse in Greek or Latin. The term is derived from the Gradus ad Parnassum (�A Step to Parnassus�), a 17th-century prosody dictionary long used in British schools.

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Huynh Phu So

Frail and sickly in his youth, he was educated by a Buddhist monk and at the age of 20 was apparently miraculously cured. He then set about

Athens

City, seat of McMinn county, southeastern Tennessee, U.S. It lies in the Tennessee River valley, between the Great Smoky Mountains (east) and the Cumberland Plateau (west), about 55 miles (90 km) southwest of Knoxville. It was founded in 1821 as a seat of justice, and the courts were moved there in 1823 from a temporary courthouse that had been erected at nearby Calhoun. It was named for the city

Friday, August 20, 2004

Roman Numeral

Any of the symbols used in a system of numerical notation based on the ancient Roman system. The symbols are I, V, X, L, C, D, and M, standing, respectively, for 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000 in the Hindu-Arabic numeral system. A symbol placed after another of equal or greater value adds its value - e.g., II = 2 and LX = 60. A symbol placed before one of greater value subtracts its value - e.g., IV = 4, XL = 40, and CD = 400.

Pollard, Fritz

Byname of �Frederick Douglass Pollard, Sr.� pioneering African American player and coach in American collegiate and professional gridiron football. He was the first African American selected to a backfield position on Walter Camp's All-America team (1916) and the first African American head coach in the National Football League (NFL), with the Akron Pros

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Saw, U

Unlike most other Burmese politicians, U Saw was not university-educated. He held a license to plead some types of legal cases, however, and helped in the defense

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Korea, South, Flag Of

The need for a national flag arose in Korea in the late 19th century when, under pressure from its powerful neighbours, China and Japan, Korea gradually began to open its borders to outside influences. Traditional symbols were incorporated in the design of the new flag, adopted in August 1882, which has continued as the basic pattern ever since. The white background is for

Aeschylus, Works

Persai (472 BC; Persians); Hepta epi Thebais (467 BC; Seven Against Thebes); Hiketides (c. 463 BC; Latin trans., Supplices; Eng. trans., Suppliants); the trilogy known as the Oresteia (458 BC), comprising Agamemnon, Choephoroi (Libation Bearers), and Eumenides; Prometheus desmotes (date uncertain, probably late; Prometheus Bound).

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Toreva Block

Landslide product consisting of a very large block of undisturbed material that has been tilted backward toward the parent cliff during movement down a gentle slope. In northeastern Arizona such blocks are thought to have formed during more humid periods of the last glacial advance of the Pleistocene Epoch (1,600,000 to 10,000 years ago). Toreva blocks also occur, however, as a simple

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

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

Monday, August 16, 2004

Cooper, Gary

The son of a Montana Supreme Court justice, Cooper left Grinnell College, Iowa, in 1924 and went to Hollywood, where he earned a living

Ibn Qutaybah

Little is known of Ibn Qutaybah's life. Of Khorasanian stock, he was qadi (religious judge) of Dinawar (c. 851 - 870). From c. 871 until his

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Plain

Any relatively level area of the Earth's surface exhibiting gentle slopes and small local relief. Plains vary widely in size. The smallest occupy only a few hectares, whereas the largest cover hundreds of thousands of square kilometres - as, for example, the Great Plains of North America and the expanse of gently undulating land that sweeps from the Pyrenees Range

Lentil

(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

Saturday, August 14, 2004

Sudan, The, Transportation

The transport system is underdeveloped and is a serious constraint on economic growth. The country's vast area and the availability of only one major outlet to the sea place a heavy burden on the limited facilities, especially on the government-owned Sudan Railways and on the country's growing road network. The railways had traditionally hauled most of The Sudan's

Gum

In botany, adhesive substance of vegetable origin, mostly obtained as exudate from the bark of trees or shrubs belonging to the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae) of the pea order Fabales. Some plant gums are used in the form of water solutions in the manufacture of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and foods. When the water evaporates, a film having a considerable adhesive character

Friday, August 13, 2004

Bush, George W.

In full �George Walker Bush� 43rd president of the United States (2001 - ). Narrowly winning the electoral college vote over Vice President Al Gore in one of the closest and most controversial elections in American history, George W. Bush became the first person since Benjamin Harrison in 1888 to become president despite having lost the nationwide popular vote. He was narrowly reelected in 2004, defeating Democratic challenger John Kerry. Before assuming the presidency of the United States, Bush was a businessman and served as governor of Texas (1995 - 2000). (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America.)

Ringed Seal

(species Pusa, or Phoca, hispida), nonmigratory, earless seal (family Phocidae) of North Polar seas and a few freshwater lakes in Europe and on Baffin Island. Named for the characteristic pale rings on its grayish or yellowish coat, the ringed seal grows to about 1.5 m (5 feet) in length and 90 kg (200 pounds) in weight. It lives near the pack ice and feeds on crustaceans, mollusks, and some

Thursday, August 12, 2004

Sai Ong Hue

Sai Ong Hue was a grandson of the great ruler Suliyavongsa. He spent most of his early years as a prince of the royal house in exile at Hue (now in Vietnam) while a usurper sat on the throne of Lan Xang. In 1698 he attacked Vientiane, the capital of Lan Xang,

Block Island

Pear-shaped island coextensive with the town (township) of New Shoreham (inc. 1672), Washington county, southern Rhode Island, U.S., between Block Island Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Lying about 9 miles (14 km) south of the mainland, it is about 6 miles (10 km) long and 3.5 miles (5.5 km) wide and has a land area of 10 square miles (25 square km). Originally called Manisses (�Manitou's Little Island�) by Narraganset

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Amazon River, Physiography of the river course

The Amazon River has its main outlet north of Maraj� Island, a lowland somewhat larger in size than Denmark, through a cluster of half-submerged islets and shallow sandbanks. Here the mouth of the river is 40 miles (64 kilometres) wide. The port city of Bel�m is on the deep water of the Par� River, an estuary marking the south side of Maraj�, which is fed chiefly by the Tocantins

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Indian Grass

(species Sorghastrum nutans), tall perennial forage grass of the family Poaceae and one of the important constituents of the North American tall grass prairie. It bears narrow, greatly branched flower clusters. Each yellow spikelet is fringed with white hairs, giving the plant a silver-and-gold appearance. It is a close relative of S.

Amazon River, Physiography of the river course

The Amazon River has its main outlet north of Maraj� Island, a lowland somewhat larger in size than Denmark, through a cluster of half-submerged islets and shallow sandbanks. Here the mouth of the river is 40 miles (64 kilometres) wide. The port city of Bel�m is on the deep water of the Par� River, an estuary marking the south side of Maraj�, which is fed chiefly by the Tocantins

Monday, August 09, 2004

Amplifier

In electronics, device that responds to a small input signal (voltage, current, or power) and delivers a larger output signal that contains the essential waveform features of the input signal. Amplifiers of various types are widely used in such electronic equipment as radio and television receivers, high-fidelity audio equipment, and computers. Amplifying action

Cadbury, George

English businessman and social reformer who, with his elder brother, Richard, took over their father's failing enterprise (April 1861) and built it into the highly prosperous Cadbury Brothers cocoa- and chocolate-manufacturing firm. George was perhaps more important for his improvements in working conditions and for

Sunday, August 08, 2004

Seleucia Tracheotis

Greek �Seleukeia� city in Cilicia (in present-day southern Turkey), on the Calycadnus River (modern Goksu Nehri), a few miles from that stream's mouth; the site was doubtless selected as a protection against attacks from the sea. There are ruins of a castle on the acropolis, and the city fortifications, a large rock-cut tank, and an extensive necropolis are all well preserved. The city was at

Cadbury, George

English businessman and social reformer who, with his elder brother, Richard, took over their father's failing enterprise (April 1861) and built it into the highly prosperous Cadbury Brothers cocoa- and chocolate-manufacturing firm. George was perhaps more important for his improvements in working conditions and for

Saturday, August 07, 2004

Alabama, Agriculture

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

Sibyl

The daughter of Amalric I, Sibyl succeeded to the throne upon the death of her brother, Baldwin IV (1185). Baldwin had intended for the throne to pass directly to Sibyl's son Baldwin V, but Sibyl and her husband, Guy de Lusignan, conspired to seize the throne for themselves, embroiling the kingdom in a disastrous war with Saladin.

Friday, August 06, 2004

Displacement Activity

The performance by an animal of an act inappropriate for the stimulus or stimuli that evoked it. Displacement behaviour usually occurs when an animal is torn between two conflicting drives, such as fear and aggression. Displacement activities often consist of comfort movements, such as grooming, scratching, drinking, or eating. In courtship, for example, an individual

Roman Script

Also called �Antiqua Script, �Italian �Lettera Antica,� in calligraphy, script based upon the clear, orderly Carolingian writing that Italian humanists mistook for the ancient Roman script used at the time of Cicero (1st century BC). They used the term roman to distinguish this supposedly classical style from black-letter and national hands. It was upon the model of antica, or roman, scripts that Renaissance scribes evolved

Thursday, August 05, 2004

Cypriot Syllabary

System of writing used on the island of Cyprus, chiefly from the 6th to the 3rd century BC. The syllabary consists of 56 signs, each of which represents a different syllable. Most inscriptions written with this syllabary are in the Greek language, although the syllabary was originally designed for writing the earlier non-Greek language of Cyprus. The classical Cypriot syllabary

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Oyapock River

Portuguese �Rio Oiapoque, � river that forms the border between French Guiana and the Brazilian state of Amap�. It rises in the Tumuc-Humac Mountains and flows northeast for 311 miles (500 km) to empty into the Atlantic near Cape Orange. The country through which it passes is thinly populated and is mostly covered by an unbroken tropical rain forest. Near the river's mouth are the ports of Saint-Georges,

Black Hand

Italian �Mano Nera, � any of several extortion rackets run by immigrant Sicilian and Italian gangsters in the Italian communities of New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Kansas City, and other U.S. cities from about 1890 to 1920. It consisted of sending threatening notes to local merchants and other well-to-do persons - notes printed with black hands, daggers, or other menacing symbols and extorting

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

Ghaznavid Dynasty

The founder of the dynasty was Seb�ktigin (ruled 977 - 997), a former Turkish slave who was recognized by the Samanids (an Iranian Muslim dynasty) as governor of Ghazna (modern Ghazni, Afg.). As the Samanid dynasty weakened, Seb�ktigin consolidated his position and expanded his domains as far

General San Mart�

Formerly �San Mart�n, � cabecera (county seat) and partido (county) of Gran (�Greater�) Buenos Aires, Argentina. It lies immediately northwest of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires provincia. The county seat and county began as an early rural settlement centred on the 18th-century Chapel of Santos Lugares. In 1856 the settlement was formally declared a town, and eight years later the county of San

Monday, August 02, 2004

Botvinnik, Mikhail Moiseyevich

Soviet chess grandmaster (b. Aug. 17 [Aug. 4, Old Style], 1911, Kuokkala, near St. Petersburg, Russia--d. May 5, 1995, Moscow, Russia), was the first Soviet world chess champion (1948-57, 1958-60, 1961-63). Botvinnik learned chess at the relatively advanced age of 12, but within two years he had defeated the reigning world champion, Jos� Ra�l Capablanca of Cuba, in an exhibition match. In 1931 he won the first of seven national championships.

Jewfish

Any of several large fishes of the sea bass (q.v.) family (Serranidae), especially Epinephelus itajara, found on the Atlantic coast of tropical America. This species sometimes attains a length of 2.5 metres (8 feet) and a weight of about 320 kilograms (700 pounds). The adult is dull olive-brown with faint spots and bands. Adult jewfish are usually solitary and typically remain in the same

Sunday, August 01, 2004

Irish Language

Grammatically, Irish still has a case system, like Latin or German, with four cases to show differing functions of nouns and pronouns in a sentence. In phonology