Alaskan Malamute

Sled dog developed by the Malemiut, an Eskimo group from which it takes its name. The Alaskan Malamute is a strongly built dog, with a broad head, erect ears, and a plumelike tail carried over its back. Its thick coat is usually gray and white or black and white, the colours frequently forming a caplike or masklike marking on the head. The Alaskan Malamute stands about 23 to

David Ap Gruffudd

David's grandfather, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth, had made Gwynedd the centre of Welsh power. After failing to prevent his brother, Llywelyn ap

Panchen Lama

The title Panchen (a short form of the Sanskrit-Tibetan Pandita Chen-po, or “Great Scholar”) was that traditionally

Neurogenic Arthropathy

Also called  Charcot's joint  (after Jean-Martin Charcot, a 19th-century French neurologist), massive destruction of a stress-bearing joint, with development of large flanges and spurs of new bone at the sides of the joint. The condition eventually causes inability to use the joint but is accompanied by little or no sensation of pain or discomfort. The disorder accompanies damage to the nervous system

Differential Psychology

Branch of psychology that deals with individual and group differences in behaviour. Charles Darwin's studies of the survival capabilities of different species and Sir Francis Galton's researches on individual visual and auditory skills, as well as more recent experiments, have shown that both individual and group differences are quantitative rather than

Ear, Human, Ascending pathways

The central auditory pathways extend from the medulla to the cerebral cortex. They consist of a series of nuclei (groups of nerve cell bodies in the central nervous system similar to a peripheral ganglion) connected by fibre tracts made up of their axons (processes that convey signals away from the cell bodies). This complex chain of nerve cells helps to process and

Nahuan Languages

Subgroup of the Uto-Aztecan languages, including Pochutec, Nahua, and Pipil; they are sometimes considered a subfamily coordinate with Shoshonean and Sonoran, and sometimes included in the Sonoran subfamily. The languages are spoken throughout southern Mexico and Central America.

Shining Path

The Shining Path was founded in 1970 in a multiple split in the Communist Party of Peru. It took its name from the maxim of the founder of Peru's first communist party, José Carlos Mariátegui: “El Marxismo-Leninismo abrirá el sendero luminoso hacia la

Condenser

Device for reducing a gas or vapour to a liquid. Condensers are employed in power plants to condense exhaust steam from turbines and in refrigeration plants to condense refrigerant vapours, such as ammonia and fluorinated hydrocarbons. The petroleum and chemical industries employ condensers for the condensation of hydrocarbons and other chemical vapours.

Iridaceae

The Iridaceae contains some 80 genera and an estimated 1,700 species of mostly perennial herbs; there are a few shrubs and evergreen herbs as well. The family is nearly worldwide in distribution, but it is

Subsistence Farming

Form of farming in which nearly all of the crops or livestock raised are used to maintain the farmer and his family, leaving little, if any, surplus for sale or trade. Preindustrial agricultural peoples throughout the world have traditionally practiced subsistence farming. Some of these peoples moved from site to site as they exhausted the soil at each location.

Turbine

Any of various devices that convert the energy in a stream of fluid into mechanical energy. The conversion is generally accomplished by passing the fluid through a system of stationary passages or vanes that alternate with passages consisting of finlike blades attached to a rotor. By arranging the flow so that a tangential force, or torque, is exerted on the rotor

Fibrosarcoma

An uncommon malignant tumour of fibrous tissue found in young adults and most often occurring in the thighbone, upper arm bone, or jaw. The mass is felt before pain occurs. This tumour invades surrounding tissues, which makes complete surgical excision difficult. It often recurs and may metastasize.

Arabia, History Of, The Ottomans

In 1517 the Ottoman sultan Selim I conquered Egypt and proclaimed the Hejaz part of the Ottoman dominions. Sharif Barakat II of Mecca sent his son to negotiate at the Ottoman court and was confirmed as lord of the Holy Cities and Jiddah, subject to recognizing the Ottoman sultan as overlord. Selim's successor, Süleyman I the Magnificent, at the zenith of Ottoman power, munificently

Amorphous Solid, Melt quenching

Preparation of metallic glasses requires a quite rapid quench. The technique shown in Figure 4C, called splat quenching, can quench a droplet of a molten metal roughly 1,000° C in one millisecond, producing a thin film of metal that is an amorphous solid. In enormous contrast to this, the silicate

Wade-giles Romanization

System of romanizing the modern Chinese written language, originally devised to simplify Chinese language characters for the Western world. Initiated by Sir Thomas Francis Wade (q.v.), the system was modified by the Cambridge professor Herbert Allen Giles in his Chinese–English Dictionary (1912). With Giles's syllabic changes, Wade-Giles became the preferred Chinese

Turbine

Set of multilateral trade agreements aimed at the abolition of quotas and the reduction of tariff duties among the contracting nations. When GATT was concluded by 23 countries at Geneva, in 1947 (to take effect on Jan. 1, 1948), it was considered an interim arrangement pending the formation of a United Nations agency to supersede it. When such an agency failed to emerge, GATT was amplified

Manala

The Finnish underworld and related concepts among other Finno-Ugric peoples, such as the yabme-aimo of the Sami, are the

Hanabilah

Also called  Madhhab Hanbal , English  Hanbalites  in Islam, the most fundamentalist of the four Sunni schools of religious law. Based on the teachings of Ahmad ibn Hanbal (780–855), the Hanbali legal school (madhhab) emphasized virtually complete dependence on the divine in the establishment of legal theory and rejected personal opinion (ra'y), analogy (qiyas), and the Hellenistic dogma of the Mu'tazilah school of theology, on the grounds

Clonorchiasis

Chronic infection caused by Clonorchis sinensis, or liver fluke, a parasitic worm some 10 to 25 mm (0.4 to 1 inch) long that lives in the bile ducts of the liver in humans and other mammals. Clonorchiasis is a common disease in China, Vietnam, Korea, and Japan and is acquired by eating freshwater fish containing the fluke larvae. The fish are themselves infected by swallowing the

Manatí

Town, north-central Puerto Rico, situated on the humid coastal lowlands. Of Indian origins, the name Manatí refers to a sea mammal, the manatee. Founded in 1738 on the northernmost point of limestone hills, Manatí is linked by road to San Juan. The town produces shoes, pearl buttons, clothing, and woodwork and has a pineapple cannery. Manatí is the centre of an agricultural area

Dyckia

Genus of usually stemless plants of the pineapple family (Bromeliaceae), consisting of about 80 South American species. These plants' long, stiff leaves, which grow in dense rosettes, are spiny-edged, sharp-tipped, and often fleshy. The small flowers usually are yellow or orange. Two species, D. rariflora and D. sulphurea (D. brevifolia), are commonly cultivated indoors as decorative

Korean Art

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

Sororate

Marriage of a man to his wife's sister, whether in the lifetime of the first wife or after her death. The term was introduced by the British anthropologist Sir James George Frazer. Though related in principle, the levirate (marriage with a deceased husband's brother) and sororate are usually but not invariably associated and appear to be the most common of preferential

Epistemology, Kinds of perceptions

Hume has a twofold division of perceptions: impressions and ideas. Impressions are perceptions that enter with “most force and violence.” Ideas are “faint images” of impressions. Hume thinks the distinction so obvious that he demurs from explaining it at any length. Impressions are felt; ideas are thought, he indicates in his summary explication. He also concedes that,

Dur�o, Jos� De Santa Rita

After an education at the Jesuit college in Rio de Janeiro, Durão obtained the degree of doctor of theology (1756) at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Two years later he entered the Gratian convent

Kiribati

A few of the islands are compact with fringing reefs, but most are atolls. The largest atoll (and one of the largest in the world) is Kiritimati (Christmas Island) in the Line group, which has a land area of 150 square miles (388 square km) and accounts for about one-half of the country's total. Kiritimati was used for U.S. and British nuclear testing in the 1960s; it now has a large coconut plantation

Aegean Sea

Greek  Aigaíon Pélagos,  Turkish  Ege Deniz,   an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, located between the Greek peninsula on the west and Asia Minor on the east. About 380 miles (611 km) long and 186 miles (299 km) wide, it has a total area of some 83,000 square miles (214,000 square km). The Aegean is connected through the straits of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus with the Black Sea, while the island of Crete can be taken as marking its boundary

Messenger

(foaled 1780), racehorse who, though a Thoroughbred who sired many successful Thoroughbred (flat) racers, was most important as the foundation sire of the Standardbred (harness racehorse) breed. A son of Mambrino and grandson of Matchem, he was foaled in England but was taken to Philadelphia in 1788. His descendants became known for their trotting ability, and his great-grandson

Dental Auxiliary

Person qualified by training and experience to perform dental work under the direction and supervision of a dentist. Some of these auxiliary persons work directly for the dentist in his own office; others work in a separate office or laboratory, where they perform services to the dentist on the basis of work authorizations or prescriptions. There are three principal

Mountain, Mechanisms that support elevated terrains

In terms of strength, the lithosphere, the thickness of which varies over the face of the

Ibrahim

Early in his reign under the guidance of the able but ambitious grand vizier Kemankes Kara Mustafa

Nagaland, Cultural life

Tribal organization varies from the autocratic angs (chiefs) of the Konyaks and hereditary chieftainships of the Semas and Changs to the democratic structures of the Angamis, Aos, Lothas, and Rengmas. A prominent village institution is the morung (a communal house or dormitory for young unmarried men), where skulls and other trophies of war formerly were hung. The pillars

Eliot, Sir Charles

A scholar and linguist, Eliot served in diplomatic posts in Russia (1885), Morocco (1892), Turkey (1893), and Washington, D.C. (1899). In 1900 he was knighted and appointed commissioner and consul

Devadasi

The caste appears to date from the 9th and 10th centuries, the great period of temple building in South India. The women attended the god—fanned the icon, honoured it with lights, and sang and

Macaroni

In art, Late Paleolithic finger tracings in clay, the oldest form of art known. Innumerable examples appear on the walls and ceilings of limestone caves associated with human habitation in France and Spain, the oldest dating from about 30,000 BC. They range from simple scratchings and jumbled aimless lines to deliberate meanders and arabesques and outline drawings of

Farm Machinery

The operations of farming for which machines are used are diverse. For

Confessing Church

German  Bekennende Kirche,   movement for revival within the German Protestant churches that developed during the 1930s from their resistance to Adolf Hitler's attempt to make the churches an instrument of National Socialist (Nazi) propaganda and politics. The German Protestant tradition of close cooperation between church and state, as well as dislike for the Weimar Republic that governed

Adelaer

He entered the Dutch navy in 1639 as an adelborst (“cadet”) and served under Martin van Tromp but in 1642 moved into Venetian service, where he was known as Curzio Suffrido Adelborst. He soon distinguished himself and in 1650 was sent to patrol the Dardanelles.

Calendar Of 2000

Following four months of intensive negotiations, the Austrian People's Party agrees to form a coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), led by ultranationalist Jörg Haider; the FPÖ's success has clouded Austrian politics, and on January 31 the European Union had threatened to break with Austria if the right-wingers were allowed to participate in the

Biblical Literature, Coptic versions

The spread of Christianity among the non-Greek speaking peasant communities of Egypt necessitated the translation of the Scriptures into the native tongue (Coptic). These versions may be considered to be wholly Christian in origin and largely based on the Greek Bible. They also display certain affinities with the Old Latin. Nothing certain is known about the Coptic

Dabbling Duck

Also called  Dipping, Surface-feeding, Pond, River, or Freshwater Duck,   any of about 38 species of Anas and about 5 species in other genera, constituting the tribe Anatini, subfamily Anatinae, family Anatidae (q.v.; order Anseriformes). They feed mainly on water plants, which they obtain by tipping-up in shallows—uncommonly by diving (with opened wings); they often forage near the shore for seeds and insects. The bill is flat and broad, the

Villon, François

The criminal history of Villon's life can all too easily obscure the scholar, trained in the rigorous intellectual disciplines of the medieval schools. While it is true that his poetry makes a direct unsentimental appeal to our emotions, it is also true that it displays a remarkable control of rhyme and reveals a disciplined composition that suggests a deep concern

Animal

(kingdom Animalia), any of a group of multicellular eukaryotic organisms (i.e., as distinct from bacteria, their deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA, is contained in a membrane-bound nucleus). They are thought to have evolved independently from the unicellular eukaryotes. Animals differ from members of the two other kingdoms of multicellular eukaryotes, the plants (Plantae)

Robert, Shaaban

Popular Swahili writer, Robert was the product of two cultures—his father was a Christian, but Shaaban returned to Islam. His work ranges from poetry to essay and didactic tale, influenced in style by the Oriental tradition. Many poems follow the form of utendi verse (used for narration and didactic themes),

Fishhook Cactus

Mammillaria, native from southwestern North America to the Caribbean, Colombia, and Venezuela, is a large and complex genus of about 150 species. Its species are

Tatar Strait

Russian  Tatarsky Proliv,  also called  Gulf Of Tatary,   narrow passage of the northwest Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Japan (south) to the Sea of Okhotsk between Sakhalin Island (east) and the Asian mainland. From 4.5 to 213 miles (7 to 342 km) in width and 393 miles (632 km) long, it is generally shallow with depths less than 700 feet (210 m). The strait, which receives the Amur River in the north, is the site of the Russian ports of Uglegorsk, Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky,

Black Fly

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

Goode, G(eorge) Brown

After graduating from Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., he spent a year at Harvard University studying natural history under Louis Agassiz. Goode took charge

Ashrama

Also spelled  Asrama,  Sanskrit  Asrama,   in Hinduism, any of the four spiritual abodes, or stages of life, through which the “twice-born” Hindu ideally will pass. The stages are those of (1) the student (brahmacari), marked by chastity, devotion and obedience to one's teacher; (2) the householder (grihastha), requiring marriage, the begetting of sons, working to sustain one's family and to help support priests and holy men,

Abse, Dannie

Abse was reared in Cardiff. He trained as a physician and qualified as a doctor in 1950. From 1949 to 1954 he edited a literary magazine, Poetry and Poverty, and from 1951 to 1955 he served in the Royal Air Force. Thereafter he worked part-time as a physician

Aesthetics, Major concerns of 18th-century aesthetics

The development of aesthetics between the work of Baumgarten and that of Immanuel Kant, who had been influenced by Baumgarten's writings, was complex and diverse, drawing inspiration from virtually every realm of human inquiry. Yet, throughout this period certain topics repeatedly received focal attention in discussions pertaining to aesthetic

F-117

Also called  Nighthawk,  single-seat, twin-engine jet fighter-bomber built by the Lockheed Corporation (now part of the Lockheed Martin Corporation) for the U.S. Air Force. It was the first stealth aircraft—i.e., an aircraft designed entirely around the concept of evading detection by radar and other sensors. After a difficult development period, during which several prototypes crashed during

Aichinger, Gregor

Aichinger took holy orders and became organist to the family of Jakob Fugger at Augsburg from 1584. He visited Italy in 1584–87 and again in 1598–1600. His music is chiefly choral and ecclesiastical, set to Latin