Shensi, Industry

The major industrial area in Shensi is that centred around Sian. Principal industries in this area include cotton and other textiles, electrical equipment, engineering and chemical manufacturing, and iron and steel production. There are minor centres of industry at Pao-chi and at Shih-ch'�an in the Han Valley, near An-k'ang, and Yao-hsien, near T'ung-ch'uan, has a large and

Rachel, Mademoiselle

Mlle Rachel sang on the streets of Lyon and Paris, where her acting ability was quickly discovered by Isidore Samson, who taught her the acting techniques that he had learned from Fran�ois-Joseph Talma. Mlle Rachel studied

Rayy Ware

In Islamic ceramics, style of pottery found at Rayy near Tehran and dating from the 12th century. Particularly characteristic is a fine minai (a kind of enamel) painting. Fine pottery with bold carving, occasional piercing, and translucent glaze is typical, as is a range of matte colours and silhouette decoration.

Computers

A computer might be described with deceptive simplicity as �an apparatus that performs routine calculations automatically.� Such a definition would owe its deceptiveness to a naive and narrow view of calculation as a strictly mathematical process. In fact, calculation

Este, House Of

Princely family of Lombard origin that played a great part in the history of medieval and Renaissance Italy. It first came to the front in the wars between the Guelfs and Ghibellines during the 13th century. As leaders of the Guelfs, Estensi princes received at different times Ferrara, Modena, Reggio, and other fiefs and territories. Members of the family ruled in Ferrara

Feme Sole

In Anglo-American common law, a woman in the unmarried state or in the legally established equivalent of that state. The concept derived from feudal Norman custom and was prevalent through periods when marriage abridged women's rights. Feme sole (Norman French meaning �single woman�) referred to a woman who had never been married or who was divorced or widowed or to

Stabile

The increasing monumentality of Calder's stabiles contributed significantly

Arguello, Alexis

Arguello, who became a professional fighter in 1968, fought only in his homeland until 1974, when he went to Panama to seek the World Boxing Association's featherweight title. Arguello lost this match in a 15-round decision to Ernesto

Berain, Jean, The Elder

Trained under the great French decorator Charles Le Brun, Berain was working at the Louvre when appointed, in 1674, royal designer to King Louis XIV of France. After the death

Awolowo, Obafemi

The son of a peasant, Awolowo first studied to be a teacher and later worked as a clerk, trader, and newspaper reporter while organizing trade unions in his

Deep-sea Trench

Trenches generally lie seaward of and parallel to adjacent island arcs or mountain ranges

Typhoon

Local name in the western North Pacific area for any large, traveling tropical cyclone (q.v.).

Guyton De Morveau, Louis Bernard

Guyton studied law at Dijon, practiced there from 1756 to 1762, and was an advocate-general in the provincial parlement of Burgundy from 1762 to 1782. In the latter year he retired to devote himself full

Scandinavian Literature, Poetry

Much poetry was written up to the time of the Reformation, and many new forms were devised. The best poems were religious pieces, in honour of the Virgin, the Apostles, or other saints. The well-known Lilja (c. 1350; �The Lily�) by Eysteinn �sgr�msson, a monk from Thykkvabaer, gave an account of the fall of Satan, the creation, the first sin, and the birth, life, and Passion of Christ. The term

Kirkcudbrightshire

Also called �Kirkcudbright� or �East Galloway� historic county, southwestern Scotland. It lies entirely within Dumfries and Galloway council area. Kirkcudbrightshire forms the eastern portion of the historic province of Galloway. It encompasses the shores of the Solway Firth and Irish Sea between the Rivers Nith and Cree and extends inland across an undulating landscape of hills and valleys, rising in the

Annelid, Circulatory system

The circulatory system in the lower oligochaetes consists of a dorsal vessel that arises from a blood sinus or capillary network surrounding the intestine and conveys blood forward; a ventral vessel that conveys blood backward; and connective vessels between the two. The blood vessel walls consist of an outer membranous (peritoneal) layer containing muscle

Abun� River

Spanish �R�o Abun�, �Portuguese �Rio Abun�, � headwater of the Amazon, rising in several streams, east of the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes. The navigable river flows for about 200 miles (320 km) northeast through rain forests, forming Bolivia's northern border with Brazil. It joins the R�o Madeira, a tributary of the Amazon, at Manoa, Bolivia. Rubber, Brazil nuts, quinine, and other forest products are the principal items

Kierkegaard, S�

In full �S�ren Aabye Kierkegaard� Danish religious philosopher and critic of rationalism, regarded as the founder of existentialist philosophy. He is famous for his critique of systematic rational philosophy, particularly Hegelianism, on the grounds that actual life cannot be contained within an abstract conceptual system. With this stance, he intended to

Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution

Also called �Tonkin Gulf Resolution,� resolution put before the U.S. Congress by President Lyndon Johnson on Aug. 5, 1964, assertedly in reaction to two allegedly unprovoked attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on the destroyers Maddox and C. Turner Joy of the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2 and August 4, respectively. Its stated purpose was to approve and support the determination of the president,

Pacific Grove

Resort and residential city, Monterey county, western California, U.S. It lies along Monterey Bay and adjoins the city of Monterey. Founded in 1874 by Methodists as a religious retreat, the city remains a centre for conferences of religious and other groups. Pacific Grove is the northern terminus of the scenic Seventeen Mile Drive from Carmel. The famous Butterfly Trees

Household, Geoffrey

Household was educated at Clifton College in Bristol (1914 - 19) and at Magdalen College at Oxford (1919 - 22), where he won honours

Tribe

In cultural anthropology, theoretical type of human social organization based on small groups defined by traditions of common descent and having temporary or permanent political integration above the family level and a shared language, culture, and ideology. In the ideal model of a tribe, members typically share a tribal name and a contiguous territory; they

Czech Republic

Czech �Cesk� Republika, � landlocked country in central Europe. It comprises the historic lands of Bohemia and Moravia (collectively often called the Czech Lands) and the southwestern corner of Silesia. The modern Czech nation was inaugurated on Jan. 1, 1993, when the union with Slovakia, dating from 1918, was dissolved; the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia controlled the federal government from 1948 to

Asvaghosa

Asvaghosa was born a Brahman. Legend obscures the man, but it is known that he was an outspoken opponent of Buddhism until, after a heated debate with a noted Buddhist scholar

Paschasius Radbertus, Saint

Abandoned as an infant, Paschasius was raised by the monks of St. Peter's, Soissons. Later, he joined the Benedictine abbey of Corbie, near Amiens, under St. Adalhard

Abstract Expressionism

Broad movement in American painting that began in the late 1940s and became a dominant trend in Western painting during the 1950s. The most prominent American Abstract Expressionist painters were Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Mark Rothko. Others included Clyfford Still, Philip Guston, Helen Frankenthaler, Barnett Newman, Adolph Gottlieb, Robert

Condensation

Deposition of a liquid or a solid from its vapour, generally upon a surface that is cooler than the adjacent gas. A substance condenses when the pressure exerted by its vapour exceeds the vapour pressure of the liquid or solid phase of the substance at the temperature of the surface where condensation occurs. Heat is released when a vapour condenses. Unless this heat

Miracle, Judaism

Miracles are taken for granted throughout the Old Testament. God does �wondrous things� according to Psalms, chapter 72, and �great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number� according to the Book of Job, chapter 5; these things are done in his creation in general and in the history of his people in particular (e.g., the 10 plagues of Egypt and the events of the Exodus).

Dagestan

Dagestan can be divided into five physical regions. The first, occupying most of the southern half of the republic, consists of the Caucasus Mountains, there at their widest.