Aspergillus

Genus of the Fungi Imperfecti (form-class Deuteromycetes). Those species for which the sexual phase is known are placed in the order Eurotiales. A. niger causes black mold of foodstuffs; A. flavus, A. niger, and A. fumigatus cause aspergillosis in humans. A. oryzae is used to ferment sake, and A. wentii to process soybeans. Three genera of the class Ascomycetes have

Saarinen, Eero

There are only two books devoted entirely to Saarinen's work. Eero Saarinen on His Work, ed. by his wife, Aline Saarinen (1962), contains Saarinen's own comments but no supplementary evaluation. It includes a listing of the architect's buildings and is handsomely illustrated. Allan Temko, Eero Saarinen (1962), is an informative, well-illustrated, brief account with evaluation. Details on individual buildings have been reported and illustrated in professional architectural journals.

Fabry, Charles

Fabry joined the staff of Marseilles University in 1894. His early studies centred on light interference, in which a primary research instrument

Skelton Glacier

Antarctic glacier situated on the Hillary Coast of Victoria Land, to the northeast of the Cook Mountains, near McMurdo Sound. It flows sluggishly southward into the Ross Ice Shelf. The greatest known thickness of ice along its 39-mi (62-km) length occurs at a point about 30 mi from the tip of its floating terminus. There the ice is about 4,760 ft (1,450 m) thick. The east side of the glacier is covered

Cosmic Ray

A high-speed particle - either an atomic nucleus or an electron - that travels throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, including the solar system. Some of these particles originate from the Sun, but most come from sources outside the solar system and are known as galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). Cosmic-ray particles that arrive at the top of the Earth's atmosphere are termed primaries;

Melville Island

Island in the Timor Sea, 16 miles (26 km) off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. It is separated from the Australian mainland by Clarence Strait. Measuring about 80 by 55 miles (130 by 88 km), it has an area of 2,240 square miles (5,800 square km) and rises from sandy beaches and shoreline mangrove swamps to low wooded hills. It is divided from Bathurst Island (west) by the narrow Apsley

Roman Road System

The first of the great Roman roads, the Via Appia (Appian Way), begun by the censor Appius

Ryde

Town on the northeastern coast of the Isle of Wight, historic county of Hampshire, England, opposite Portsmouth on the mainland. It is located on the site of a former village called La Rye, which the French destroyed early in the 14th century. Still a small fishing hamlet by 1800, Ryde grew rapidly in the railway age as an attractive holiday resort (being incorporated in 1868). It is

Tallis, Thomas

Nothing is known of Tallis' education. In 1532 he held a post at Dover Priory

Asia, The steppes

The animal life of the steppes differs as much from that of the taiga as from that of the tundra. It includes many burrowing rodents, such as jerboas, marmots, and pikas, and larger mammals, such as numerous antelope. The steppes were the original home of the northern cattle (Bos taurus), the horse, and probably the Bactrian (two-humped) camel; it is doubtful that any of these

Arminianism

The movement was named for Jacobus Arminius (q.v.), a Dutch Reformed theologian of the University of Leiden (1603 - 09), who became involved in a highly publicized

Ear Disease, Aero-otitis media

Aero-otitis media is a painful type of hearing loss that can result from an inability to equalize the air pressure in the middle-ear cavity when a sudden change in altitude occurs, as may happen in a rapid descent in a poorly pressurized aircraft. Allergies or a preexisting head cold may inhibit an individual's ability to equalize, which is accomplished by yawning

France, History Of, Frankish expansion and the unification of Gaul

During the years following his accession, Clovis consolidated the position of the Franks in northern Gaul. In 486 he defeated Syagrius, the last Roman ruler in Gaul, and in a series of subsequent campaigns with strong Gallo-Roman support occupied an area situated between the Frankish kingdom of Tournai, the Visigothic and Burgundian kingdoms, and the lands occupied

Elbe River

Czech �Labe, � one of the major waterways of central Europe. It runs from the Czech Republic through Germany to the North Sea, flowing generally to the northwest. The river rises on the southern side of the Krkono

Ovulation

Release of a mature egg from the female ovary; the release enables the egg to be fertilized by the male sperm cells. Normally, in humans, only one egg is released at one time; occasionally, two or more erupt during the menstrual cycle. The egg erupts from the ovary on the 14th to 16th day of the approximately 28-day menstrual cycle. If not fertilized, the egg is passed from the reproductive

Interior Design, Institutional interiors

Schools, hospitals, and universities are examples of institutions now extensively using the services of interior designers and architects. Many universities have staff designers dealing with the institution's many design needs, from office spaces to dormitories. Certain institutional needs, such as operating rooms in hospitals, are strictly functional, yet

China, Local government

The Ming state system was built upon a foundation of institutions inherited from the T'ang and Sung dynasties and modified by the intervening dynasties of conquest from the north, especially the Y�an. The distinctive new patterns of social and administrative organization that emerged in Ming times persisted, in their essential features, through the Ch'ing dynasty

Amalric Ii

Amalric had been constable of Palestine before he was summoned by the Franks in Cyprus to become king there after the death of his brother Guy of Lusignan. Amalric planned a close alliance with Henry of Champagne, the uncrowned ruler of Palestine, betrothing his three sons to Henry's

Thomas, Albert

Thomas graduated from the prestigious �cole Normale Sup�rieure in Paris, where he won scholarships that enabled him to do research in Russia, Germany, and the eastern Mediterranean on the

C�rdoba

Provincia, in the comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�) of Andalusia, south-central Spain. It has an area of 5,297 square miles (13,718 square km) that is divided by the Guadalquivir River into a mountainous north, crossed by the Sierra Morena, and a fertile, undulating southern plain, known as La Campi�a. Mining (in the north) of lead, zinc, and coal is the province's chief industry.

Insurance, Liability insurance

There are at least four major types of liability insurance contracts:

Struve, Pyotr Berngardovich

While studying economic theory and history at the University of St. Petersburg, Struve became a Marxist. The Marxist analysis of Russian capitalism that he presented in 1894 in his Kriticheskiye zametki k voprocy ob ekonomicheskom razviti rossi (�Critical Remarks on

Half-timber Work

Method of building in which external and internal walls are constructed of timber frames and the spaces between the structural members are filled with such materials as brick, plaster, or wattle and daub. Traditionally, a half-timbered building was made of squared oak timbers joined by mortises, tenons, and wooden pegs; the building's cagelike structural skeleton

Chemical Compound, Adrenal hormones

The adrenal cortex of vertebrates synthesizes oxygenated progesterone derivatives. These compounds are hormones that are vital to survival and are classified according to their biological activity. The glucocorticoids promote deposition of glycogen in the liver and the breakdown of body proteins. Mineralocorticoids stimulate retention of sodium in

Almandine

Either of two semiprecious gemstones: a violet-coloured variety of ruby spinel (q.v.) or iron aluminum garnet, which is most abundant of the garnets. Specimens of the garnet, frequently crystals, contain up to 25 percent grossular or andradite and are commonly brownish red; gem-quality stone is deep red and slightly purple. Almandine, the so-called precious garnet, is most

Allemande

Processional couple dance with stately, flowing steps, fashionable in 16th-century aristocratic circles; also an 18th-century figure dance. The earlier dance apparently originated in Germany but became fashionable both at the French court (whence its name, which in French means �German�) and in England, where it was called almain, or almand. The French dancing master Thoinot

Daniel, The Book Of

Also called �The Prophecy Of Daniel,� a book of the Old Testament found in the Ketuvim (Writings), the third section of the Jewish canon, but placed among the Prophets in the Christian canon. The first half of the book (chapters 1 - 6) contains stories in the third person about the experiences of Daniel and his friends under Kings Nebuchadrezzar II, Belshazzar, Darius I, and Cyrus II; the second half, written mostly

Panofsky, Erwin

Panofsky studied at the University of Freiburg in Breisgau and was a professor at the University of Hamburg from 1926 to 1933. He first went to the United States in 1931 as visiting

Bacillus

(genus Bacillus), any of a group of rod-shaped, gram-positive, aerobic or (under some conditions) anaerobic bacteria widely found in soil and water. The term bacillus in a general sense has been applied to all cylindrical or rodlike bacteria. The largest species are about 2 mm (micrometres; 1 mm = 10-6 m) across by 7 mm long and frequently occur in chains. Bacillus species form dormant spores

Nagano

Most of the population occupies small mountain basins (Suwa, Matsumoto, Ina, Hida, Zenkoji), in which sericulture

Hydra

Modern Greek ��dhra, � island of the Saronic group in the Aegean Sea, nom�s (department) of Attica, Greece, just off the eastern tip of the Argol�s peninsula of the Peloponnese. Its maximum length, northeast - southwest, is 13 mi (21 km), and it has an area of only 19.2 sq mi (49.6 sq km). The highest point, Mt. Ere, is 1,936 ft (590 m). Once quite wooded and well watered, as its Turkish name, �amliza (�place of pines�), shows, it is now denuded and