Wednesday, March 31, 2004

Arrowhead

Any freshwater plant of the genus Sagittaria, consisting of about 20 species distributed worldwide, having leaves resembling arrowpoints. Arrowhead is a perennial herb with fleshy, or tuberous, roots that grows in shallow lakes, ponds, and streams. The flowers have three rounded petals. The tubers of some North American species were eaten by Indians and

Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Netherlands, The, Plant and animal life

Most wild Dutch plant species are of the Atlantic district within the Euro-Siberian phytogeographic region. Gradients of salt and winter temperature variations cause relatively minor zonal differences in both wild and garden plants from the coast to more continental regions. The effects of altitude are negligible. Vegetation from coastal sand dunes, muddy

Monday, March 29, 2004

Vanadium Processing

Vanadium (V) is a grayish silver metal whose crystal structure is a body-centred cubic (bcc) lattice, with a melting point of 1,926� C (3,499� F). The metal is used principally as an alloying addition to high-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels and, to a lesser extent, in tool steels and iron and steel castings. It is also an important strengthener

Sunday, March 28, 2004

Bucareli Y Urs�a, Antonio Mar�

Bucareli began his military career as a soldier for Spain in Italy, where he attained

Saturday, March 27, 2004

Anath

Considered a beautiful young girl, she was often designated �the Virgin� in ancient texts. Probably one of the best-known of the Canaanite deities, she was famous for her youthful vigour and ferocity in battle; in that respect she was adopted as a special favourite by the Egyptian king Ramses

Friday, March 26, 2004

Potassium-argon Dating

Method of determining the time of origin of rocks by measuring the ratio of radioactive argon to radioactive potassium in the rock. This dating method is based upon the decay of radioactive potassium-40 to radioactive argon-40 in minerals and rocks; potassium-40 also decays to calcium-40. Thus, the ratio of argon-40 and potassium-40 and radiogenic calcium-40 to potassium-40 in a mineral

Thursday, March 25, 2004

Novgorod

City and administrative centre of Novgorod oblast (province), northwestern Russia, on the Volkhov River just below its outflow from Lake Ilmen. Novgorod is one of the oldest Russian cities, first mentioned in chronicles of 859. In 882 Oleg, prince of Novgorod, captured Kiev and moved his capital there. In 989, under Vladimir, Novgorod's inhabitants were forcibly baptized. In 1019 Prince

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Pluton

Body of intrusive igneous rock the size, composition, shape, or exact type of which is in doubt; when such characteristics are known, more limiting terms can be used. Thus, plutons include dikes, laccoliths, batholiths, sills, and other forms of intrusions. Most plutons are thought to be the result of igneous activity in which a magma is involved; the controversial origin

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Caudata, Size range and diversity of structure

The most typical salamanders are short-bodied, four-legged, moist-skinned vertebrates about 100 to 150 millimetres (about 4 to 6 inches) long. The tail is usually about as long as the body. There is much variation in size, and terrestrial salamanders range from 40 to nearly 350 millimetres, with a few exceeding 1 metre (39 inches) in length. Members of most species live in moist places on land

Monday, March 22, 2004

Narasimha

(Sanskrit: �Man-Lion�), fourth of the 10 avatars (incarnations) of the Hindu god Vishnu. The demon Hiranyakasipu, twin brother of the demon overthrown by Vishnu in his previous incarnation as Varaha, obtained a boon from Brahma that he could not be killed by man or beast, from inside or outside, by day or by night, and that no weapon could harm him. Thus, feeling secure, he began to trouble

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Gabrieli, Giovanni

Various motets, among them In ecclesiis; madrigals in various collections; Canzoni e sonate (1615); Sacrae symphoniae, book 1 (1597), including the Sonata pian'e forte; Sacrae symphoniae (1615); Concerti di Andrea et di Giovanni Gabrieli a 6 - 16 voci (1587, containing pieces by Andrea).

Saturday, March 20, 2004

Aerosol Container

The

Friday, March 19, 2004

Hesperides

Singular �Hesperis, � in Greek mythology, clear-voiced maidens who guarded the tree bearing golden apples that Gaea gave to Hera at her marriage to Zeus. According to Hesiod, they were the daughters of Erebus and Night; in other accounts, their parents were Atlas and Hesperis or Phorcys and Ceto. They were usually three in number, Aegle, Erytheia, and Hespere (or Hesperethusa), but by some accounts

Thursday, March 18, 2004

Breakfast Cereal

Grain food, usually pre-cooked or ready-to-eat, that is customarily eaten with milk or cream for breakfast in the United States and elsewhere, often sweetened with sugar, syrup, or fruit. The modern commercial concept of cereal food originated in the vegetarian beliefs of the American Seventh-day Adventists, who in the 1860s formed the Western Health Reform Institute, later

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Race, The Germanic myth and English constructions of an Anglo-Saxon past

In England, from the time that Henry VIII broke with the Roman Catholic church and Protestant sects emerged on the horizon, historians, politicians, and philosophers had been wrestling with the creation of a new English identity. Indeed, European powers were soon to be caught up in the ethnic rivalries, extreme chauvinism, and intolerance out of which all the nation-states

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

Suboscine

In general, any bird of the suborders Eurylaimi, Tyranni, and Menurae of the order Passeriformes (perching birds, or passerines) as distinguished from an oscine, or songbird (q.v.), a member of the suborder Passeres. The term suboscine implies, perhaps rightly, that birds of this group are more primitive in anatomy and behaviour than the oscines, which are usually considered

Monday, March 15, 2004

Aardvark

Also called �African Ant Bear� (Orycteropus afer), heavily built mammal, ranging south of the Sahara in forest or plain, that constitutes the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata. The name aardvark - Afrikaans for �earth pig� - refers to its stout, piglike body, up to 180 centimetres (6 feet) long, including the 60-cm tail. Its coat varies from glossy black and full to sandy yellow

Sunday, March 14, 2004

Madonie, Le

Also called �Monti Madonie, � mountain range in Palermo provincia, northwest-central Sicily. The range extends for 30 miles (48 km) between the Torto River and the Nebrodi Mountains. Of limestone formation, its highest peaks are Antenna Peak, 6,480 feet (1,975 m), and Carbonara Peak, 6,493 feet (1,979 m). The Madonie is the source of several rivers and is known for its underground drainage system, which provides drinking water for

Saturday, March 13, 2004

Toadstool

Any of various inedible or poisonous species of mushrooms (division Mycota). See mushroom.

Thursday, March 11, 2004

Shih Ta-k'ai

Pinyin �Shi Dakai � one of the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion, the widespread uprising that gripped South China between 1850 and 1864. The most literate of the Taipings, Shih was an avowed enemy of the alien Ch'ing (Manchu) rulers of China. In the early part of the 20th century, he came to be revered as a hero of the Chinese nationalist

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Amud

University of Tokyo expeditions to the site, led in 1961 and 1964 by Hisashi Suzuki, unearthed Neanderthal

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

Beardfish

Any of the five species of fishes in the genus Polymixia constituting the family Polymixiidae (order Beryciformes). Beardfishes are restricted primarily to deep-sea marine habitats in tropical and temperate regions of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They generally are found at depths from about 200 to 600 metres (650 to 2,000 feet). The term beardfish comes from the beardlike appearance

Monday, March 08, 2004

Metaplasia

In zoology, the conversion of one type of living cell or group of cells into another as a means of regeneration. For example, the damaged or removed lens of a salamander eye is replaced through the transformation of nearby pigmented iris cells into lens cells. The regeneration of brain tissue from epidermis in annelid worms is another well-documented example of metaplasia.

Sunday, March 07, 2004

Baghdad

Among the most important of Baghdad's museums are the Iraqi Museum (1923), containing important archaeological treasures from ancient Mesopotamian history; the National

Saturday, March 06, 2004

China, Regional cultures of the Late Neolithic

By the 3rd millennium BC the regional cultures in the areas discussed above showed increased signs of interaction and even convergence. That they are frequently referred to as varieties of the Lung-shan culture (c. 2500 - 2000 BC) of east central Shantung - characterized by its lustrous, eggshell-thin black ware - suggests the degree to which these cultures are thought to have experienced

Friday, March 05, 2004

Fibiger, Johannes

A student of the bacteriologists Robert Koch and Emil von Behring in Berlin, Fibiger became professor of pathological

Thursday, March 04, 2004

Hackl, Georg

Hackl was born and raised in the Bavarian town of Berchtesgaden, just four miles from the K�nigssee luge

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Europium

(Eu), chemical element, rare-earth metal of transition Group IIIb of the periodic table; it is the least dense, softest, and most volatile member of the lanthanide series. The element was discovered (1896) by Eug�ne-Anatole Demar�ay and named for Europe. One of the least abundant rare earths, it occurs in minute amounts in many rare-earth minerals such as monazite and also in the

Tuesday, March 02, 2004

Piedmont

To the south, west, and north Piedmont is surrounded by the vast arc of the Ligurian Apennines and the Maritime, Cottian, Graian, and Pennine Alps. The core of Piedmont is the Po River valley, which lies open to the east and consists

Monday, March 01, 2004

Garden And Landscape Design, Rhythm and balance

Rhythm and balance result from the three-dimensional arrangement of elements and materials on the site. Rhythm is a sequence or repetition of similar elements - as a double row of trees. It tends to emphasize direction and movement, as along an all�e toward a viewpoint or terminus. Balance is the sense one gets, looking in any direction, that the elements to one's left