Strategic Weapons System

Any weapons system designed to strike an enemy at the source of his military, economic, or political power. In practice, this means destroying a nation's cities, factories, military bases, transportation and communications infrastructure, and seat of government. Strategic weapons systems use atomic or thermonuclear devices, because only these weapons have sufficient

Clouded Leopard

(Neofelis nebulosa), �also called �clouded tiger� strikingly marked cat, very similar in colouring and coat pattern to the smaller, unrelated marbled cat (Felis marmorata). The clouded leopard is found in southeastern Asia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Taiwan, particularly in forests and other wooded regions; the population declined sharply in the latter half of the 20th century as a result of hunting

China, Nationalist deterioration

The military weakness in 1944 was symptomatic of a gradual deterioration that had taken place in most aspects of Nationalist Chinese public life. Inflation began to mount alarmingly as the government pumped in large amounts of paper currency to make up its fiscal deficits. Salaries of government employees, army officers, teachers, and all those on wages fell far behind

Leonardo Pisano

Joseph Gies and Frances Gies, Leonard of Pisa and the New Mathematics of the Middle Ages (1969), summarizes Leonardo's life and surveys his works, and contains a brief overview of the history of numerical notation and of medieval Pisa. Specialized treatments include Verner E. Hoggatt, Jr., Fibonacci and Lucas Numbers (1969), an introduction to the Fibonacci numbers and sequence, with propositions and exercises for mathematics students; N.N. Vorobev, The Fibonacci Numbers (1961); and Andreas N. Philippou, Gerald E. Bergum, and Alwyn F. Horadam (eds.), Fibonacci Numbers and Their Applications (1986).

Tai Languages, Syntax

Word order is generally subject - verb - object (SVO). The verb plus object may be called the verb phrase, which functions as predicate. Nouns also may be used as predicates; an example is wan-n�i wan-sak �today (is) Friday.' A noun phrase consists of a noun, which may be followed by its modifiers (another noun, an adjective, or a verb phrase), which, in turn, are followed by a numeral with a

Dominica

Officially �Commonwealth of Dominica, � island nation of the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. It lies between the French islands of Guadeloupe and Marie-Galante to the north and Martinique to the south. It has been a member of the Commonwealth since independence in 1978. It is 29 miles (47 kilometres) long, has a maximum breadth of 16 miles, and is 290 square miles (750 square kilometres) in area. The capital and chief port is

Trece Martires

City, southern Luzon, Philippines. Located in a fertile and densely populated plain about halfway between Cavite City on Manila Bay (north) and Taal Lake (south), it is named after the 13 Filipino patriots martyred by the Spanish in 1896 at Cavite. Trece Martires is a trading centre; rice, fruits, coffee, sugarcane, and bananas are grown in the region. Inc. city, 1954. Pop. (1990) 15,686.

Furniture, Historical forms and styles

Round stone tables on low pedestal legs are known in Egypt from the time of the pyramids (c. 2700 BC). Egyptian limestone reliefs also show tables of normal height. Dating from the later dynasties, crude wooden tables with architectonic molding have been preserved. No tables have survived from ancient Greece. From the Roman ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, however, there are

Francescatti, Zino

A child prodigy, he studied violin from age three. He made his debut at five, soloed successfully in Beethoven's Violin Concerto at 10, and was an

Manapouri, Lake

Lake, southwestern South Island, New Zealand, the deepest lake in the country. It is one of the Southern Lakes, found in the highland section of Fiordland National Park, which were formed by the glacial deepening of an existing stream valley accompanied by damming of the valley with a moraine (glacial debris). Manapouri derives its name from a Maori word meaning �lake

Baghdad, Districts

The city extends along both banks of the Tigris. The east-bank settlement is known as Rusafah, the west-bank as Al-Karkh. A series of bridges, including one railroad trestle, link the two banks. From a built-up area of about 4 square miles (10 square km) at the beginning of the 20th century, Baghdad has expanded into a bustling metropolis with suburbs spreading north and south along

Garcia, Carlos Polestico

Fourth president of the Republic of the Philippines. After graduating from law school in 1923, he became, successively, a schoolteacher, representative in the Philippine Congress, governor of his province (Bohol), and then (1941 - 53) senator. During the Japanese occupation of the Philippines in World War II, Garcia was active in the resistance movement.

Sabin, Florence Rena

Sabin was educated in Denver, Colorado, and in Vermont and graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts, in 1893. After teaching in Denver and at Smith to earn tuition money, she entered

World War I

Also called �First World War�, or �Great War� an international conflict that in 1914 - 18 embroiled most of the nations of Europe along with Russia, the United States, the Middle East, and other regions. The war pitted the Central Powers - mainly Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey - against the Allies - mainly France, Great Britain, Russia, Italy, Japan, and, from 1917, the United States. It ended with the defeat of the Central Powers.

Tiv

The Tiv are subsistence farmers whose main crops are yams, millet, and sorghum, all of which are eaten as porridge

Hudson's Bay Company

Corporation that occupies a prominent place in both the economic and the political history of Canada. It was incorporated in England on May 2, 1670, to seek a northwest passage to the Pacific, to occupy the lands adjacent to Hudson Bay, and to carry on any commerce with those lands that might prove profitable. It still exists as a commercial company active in real estate, merchandising,

Quine, Willard Van Orman

After studying mathematics and logic at Oberlin College (1926 - 30), Quine won a scholarship to Harvard University, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1932. On a traveling fellowship to Europe

Stearyl Alcohol

Also called �1-octadecanol, or Octadecyl Alcohol, � waxy solid alcohol formerly obtained from whale or dolphin oil and used as a lubricant and antifoam agent and to retard evaporation of water from reservoirs. It is now manufactured by chemical reduction of stearic acid.

China, Expulsion of Communists from the KMT

The climax of the conflict came after Nationalist armies had taken Shanghai and Nanking in March. Nanking was captured on March 23, and the following morning Nationalist troops looted foreign properties, attacked the British, U.S., and Japanese consulates, and killed seven foreigners. In Shanghai a general strike led by Communists aroused fears that Chinese might

Residencia

In colonial Spanish America, judicial review of an official's acts, conducted at the conclusion of his term of office. Originating in Castile in the early 15th century, it was extended to the government of Spain's colonial empire from the early 16th century. In Spain it was applied mainly to the corregidors (local administrative and judicial officials). In the New World all

Arnold, Matthew

It is said that when the poet in Arnold died, the critic was born; and it is true that from this time onward he turned almost entirely to prose. Some of the leading ideas and phrases were early put into currency in Essays in Criticism (First Series, 1865; Second Series, 1888) and Culture and Anarchy. The first essay in the 1865 volume, �The Function of Criticism at the Present Time,� is an overture

Syria, The Ayyubids and Mamluks

After Saladin's death his kingdom was split up among members of his family, the Ayyubids, who established principalities in Aleppo, Hamah, Hims, Damascus, Ba'labakk, and Transjordan and ruled them until 1260. The period of Nureddin, Saladin, and their successors was of great importance. Thanks largely to the establishment of Italian trading centres on the coast and better security,

San Bernardino

Central city of the San Bernardino - Riverside - Ontario metropolitan complex, seat (1853) of San Bernardino County, southern California, U.S., at the base of the San Bernardino Mountains. The site, which was named by Spanish missionaries for St. Bernardino of Siena, was sold to Mormons who laid out a town in 1852. It developed as a trade centre chiefly for the surrounding citrus groves

M�laga

Port city and capital of M�laga provincia, in the comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�) of Andalusia, southern Spain. It lies along a wide bay of the Mediterranean Sea at the mouth of the Guadalmedina River in the centre of the Costa del Sol. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 12th century BC, conquered successively by the Romans and the Visigoths, and taken by the

Abu Al-'abbas As-saffah

Islamic caliph (reigned 749 - 754), first of the 'Abbasid dynasty, which was to rule over eastern Islam for approximately the next 500 years. The 'Abbasids were descended from an uncle of Muhammad and were cousins to the ruling Umayyad dynasty. The Umayyads were weakened by decadence and an unclear line of succession, and they enjoyed little popular support, prompting the 'Abb

Sexual Dysfunction

Also called �Psychosexual Dysfunction, � the inability of a person to experience sexual arousal or to achieve sexual satisfaction under appropriate circumstances, as a result of either physical disorder or, more commonly, psychological problems. The most common forms of sexual dysfunction have traditionally been classified as impotence (inability of a man to achieve or maintain penile erection) and

Earth Sciences, The theory of plate tectonics

Plate tectonics has revolutionized virtually every discipline of the Earth sciences since the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has served as a unifying model or paradigm for explaining geologic phenomena that were formerly considered in unrelated fashion. Plate tectonics describes seismic activity, volcanism, mountain building, and various other Earth processes in

Cosenza

Latin �Cosentia, � city, capital of Cosenza provincia, Calabria regione, southern Italy, on the Crati River at its confluence with the Busento, north-northeast of Reggio di Calabria. The ancient Cosentia, it was the capital of the Bruttii (an Italic tribe) before it was taken by the Romans in 204 BC. Alaric, king of the Visigoths, died there in 410 and is said to have been buried, together with his treasure

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

Aramaean

In the Old Testament the Aramaeans are represented as being closely akin to the Hebrews and living in northern Syria around Harran from

Theodahad

The son of Theodoric's sister, Theodahad was invited to share the throne with Amalasuntha in 534, after the death of her son. Theodahad