Pacific Ocean, The trade winds

The trade winds of the Pacific represent the eastern and equatorial parts of the air circulation system; they originate in the subtropical high-pressure zones that are most pronounced, respectively, over the northeast and southeast Pacific between the 30th and 40th parallels N and S. The obliquity of the ecliptic (an angle of approximately 23 1/2� that is the difference between

Adams, Ansel

Originally a student of music, Adams pursued photography as an avocation until 1927. In that year he published his first portfolio, Parmellian Prints of the High Sierras, photographs in the style

Cosgrave, Liam

His father, W.T. Cosgrave, was president of the Executive Council and head of the government of the Irish Free State during the first 10 years of its existence (1922 - 32). Liam, the elder son, was educated at Castlenock College, Dublin, and King's Inns, studied law, and was called to the Irish bar

Time

Major American weekly newsmagazine that is published in New York City. Time was the creation of two young journalists, Henry R. Luce and Briton Hadden, who wanted to start a magazine that would inform busy readers in a systematic, concise, and well-organized manner about current events in the United States and the rest of the world. With Hadden as editor and Luce as business

Kuei-yang

Originally

Basaltes Ware

The fine-grained basaltes stoneware reflected Wedgwood's Neoclassicism:

Diebitsch, Johann (karl Friedrich Anton), Graf

Although he was of German parentage and was educated at the Berlin cadet school, Diebitsch joined the Russian Army in 1801, and, after fighting against Napoleon in the battles of Austerlitz, Eylau, Friedland,

Spraying And Dusting

In agriculture, the standard methods of applying pest-control chemicals and other compounds. In spraying, the chemicals to be applied are dissolved or suspended in water or, less commonly, in an oil-based carrier. The mixture is then applied as a fine mist to plants, animals, soils, or products to be treated. In dusting, as an alternative method, dry, finely powdered chemicals

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Major American diversified company with core business concentrations in aerospace products - including aircraft, space launchers, satellites, and defense systems - and other advanced-technology systems and services. About half of the company's annual sales are to the U.S. Department of Defense. Lockheed Martin is also a leading contractor for the U.S. Department

Obstetrics And Gynecology

The medical care of pregnant women (obstetrics) and of female genital diseases (gynecology) developed along different historical paths. Obstetrics had for a long time been the province

Ligament

Tough fibrous band of connective tissue that serves to support the internal organs and hold bones together in proper articulation at the joints. A ligament is composed of dense fibrous bundles of collagenous fibres and spindle-shaped cells known as fibroblasts, with little ground substance (a gel-like component of the various connective tissues). Ligaments may

Maurepas, Jean-fr�d�ric Ph�lypeaux, Count (comte) De

Secretary of state under King Louis XV and chief royal adviser during the first seven years of the reign of King Louis XVI. By dissuading Louis XVI from instituting economic and administrative reforms, Maurepas was partially responsible for the governmental crises that eventually led to the outbreak of the French

Malaysia, Malaya

Except for Malacca, there was little Western influence in Malaya and northern Borneo until the late 18th century, when Britain became interested in the area. The British sought a source for goods to be sold in China, and in 1786 the English East India Company acquired Penang (or Pinang) Island, off Malaya's northwest coast, from the sultan of Kedah. The island soon became a major

China, Reorganization of the KMT

The KMT held its First National Congress in Canton on Jan. 20 - 30, 1924. Borodin, who had reached Canton in October 1923, began to advise Sun in the reorganization of his party. He prepared a constitution and helped draft a party program as a set of basic national policies. Delegates from throughout China and from overseas branches of the party adopted the program and the new constitution.

Half-way Covenant

Religious-political solution adopted by 17th-century New England Congregationalists, also called Puritans, that allowed the children of baptized but unconverted church members to be baptized and thus become church members and have political rights. Early Congregationalists had become members of the church after they could report an experience of conversion.

Oman

Officially �Sultanate of Oman, �Arabic �Saltanat 'Uman� country occupying the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bounded to the southwest by Yemen, to the south and east by the Arabian Sea, to the north by the Gulf of Oman, to the northwest by the United Arab Emirates, and to the west by Saudi Arabia. A small enclave, the Ru'us Al-Jibal (�the Mountaintops�), occupies the northern tip of the Musandam Peninsula at the Strait

Boateng, Paul

In full �Paul Yaw Boateng� British politician, the first person of African descent to serve in a British cabinet. He was the son of Kwaku Boateng, a lawyer who served as a cabinet minister in the Ghanaian government of Kwame Nkrumah, and Eleanor Boateng. He received his early education in Ghana and relocated to the United Kingdom in 1966 after the Ghanaian government was overthrown

Metalwork

Useful and decorative objects fashioned of various metals, including copper, iron, silver, bronze, lead, gold, and brass. The earliest man-made objects were of stone, wood, bone, and earth. It was only later that humans learned to extract metals from the earth and to hammer them into objects. Metalwork includes vessels, utensils, ceremonial and ritualistic objects, decorative

France, History Of, Sale of national lands

The Assembly had not lost sight of the financial crisis that precipitated the collapse of absolutism in the first place. Creating an entirely new option for its solution, the Assembly voted to place church property - about 10 percent of the land in France - �at the disposition of the nation.� This property was designated as biens nationaux, or national lands. The government

Permafrost, Pingos

The most spectacular landforms associated with permafrost are pingos, small ice-cored circular or elliptical hills of frozen sediments or even bedrock, 3 to more than 60 metres high and 15 to 450 metres in diameter. Pingos are widespread in the continuous permafrost zone and are quite conspicuous because they rise above the tundra. They are much less conspicuous in the forested

Priapea

Also spelled �Priapeia� poems in honour of the the god of fertility Priapus. Although there are ancient Greek poems addressed to him, the name Priapea is mainly applied to a collection of 85 or 86 short Latin poems composed in various metres and dealing with the fertility god who, with his sickle, protected gardens and vineyards against thieves and from whose axe-hewn image of figwood or willow

Spice Trade

Cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, and turmeric were known to Eastern peoples thousands of years ago, and they became important items of commerce early in the evolution of trade. Cinnamon and cassia found their way to the Middle East at least 2,000 years

Antigen

Foreign substance that, when introduced into the body, is capable of stimulating an immune response, specifically activating lymphocytes, which are the body's infection-fighting white blood cells. Virtually any large foreign molecule can act as an antigen, including those contained in bacteria, viruses, protozoa, helminths, foods, snake venoms, egg white, serum components,

Sickingen, Franz Von

A member of the Reichsritterschaft, or class of free knights, Sickingen acquired considerable wealth and estates in the Rhineland as the result of campaigns against private individuals and against cities, including Worms (1513) and Metz

Gauss's Law

Either of two statements describing electric and magnetic fluxes. Gauss's law for electricity states that the electric flux across any closed surface is proportional to the net electric charge enclosed by the surface. The law implies that isolated electric charges exist and that like charges repel one another while unlike charges attract. Gauss's law for magnetism

Interior Design, China

Possessing the oldest Eastern civilization, China has powerfully influenced the others. Forms and motifs of decoration, which began as early as the Shang dynasty (18th to 12th century BC), or even before in the legendary Hsia dynasty, persist throughout Chinese history. Early forms of bronze altar vessels, for example, are found in porcelain in the 18th and 19th centuries, slightly

Rabelais, Fran�ois

Donald M. Frame, Fran�ois Rabelais: A Study (1977), is an excellent introduction. M.A. Screech, Rabelais (1979), is a study of his entire oeuvre; while Dorothy Gabe Coleman, Rabelais (1971), focuses on his prose fiction. Mikhail Bakhtin, Rabelais and His World (1968, reissued 1984), makes a connection between Rabelais's imagery and folk humour. Religious aspects are discussed in Screech, The Rabelaisian Marriage: Aspects of Rabelais's Religion, Ethics

Adamic, Louis

Adamic immigrated to the United States from Yugoslavia at age 14 and was naturalized in 1918. He wrote about what he called the failure of the American melting pot in Laughing

Wesel

Town, North Rhine-Westphalia Land (state), northwestern Germany. It lies along the Rhine and Lippe rivers and the Lippe-Seiten Canal, northwest of the Ruhr. Chartered in 1241, it joined the Hanseatic League in about 1350 and has long been an important trade and shipping point. It was also a traditional district capital and cultural centre of the border area of the lower Rhine. The