Schenectady

City, seat (1809) of Schenectady county, east-central New York, U.S., on the Mohawk River and New York State Canal System. With Albany and Troy, it forms an urban-industrial complex. Founded as a Dutch settlement in 1662, it took its name from the nearby Mohawk village of Schaunactada, probably meaning �over,� or �across the pine plains.� In 1690 the village was virtually destroyed in the Schenectady

Ju�zeiro Do Norte

Ju�zeiro do Norte was given city status in 1914. Its economy depends primarily on sugar milling and cotton processing. Cereal grains

Acari

Also called �Acarida, �or �Acarina, � subclass of the arthropod class Arachnida that includes the mites and ticks. The acarids may be separated into three orders, Opilioacariformes, Parasitiformes, and Acariformes, consisting of six suborders and about 428 families.

Coast Mountains

Segment of the Pacific mountain system (q.v.) of western North America. The range extends southeastward through western British Columbia, Can., for about 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from just north of the border with Yukon Territory, Can., along the border of the panhandle of Alaska, U.S., to the Fraser River. Many peaks exceed 11,000 feet (3,400 m), including Monarch Mountain and Mounts Munday, Tiedemann, and

Celesta

Also spelled �celeste, � orchestral percussion instrument resembling a small upright piano, patented by a Parisian, Auguste Mustel, in 1886. It consists of a series of small metal bars (and hence is a metallophone) with a keyboard and a simplified piano action in which small felt hammers strike the bars. Each bar is resonated by a wooden box or similar chamber tuned to reinforce the fundamental

Bushbuck

Also called �Harnessed Antelope� (Tragelaphus scriptus), African antelope of the family Bovidae (order Artiodactyla), found in sub-Saharan forests and brush. It is nocturnal, shy, and usually solitary. The bushbuck stands about 1 m (39 inches) at the shoulder and ranges in colour from reddish brown to almost black, depending on the subspecies. Its markings vary but include white patches

Cabaret

Restaurant that serves liquor and offers a variety of musical entertainment. The cabaret probably originated in France in the 1880s as a small club in which the audience was grouped around a platform. The entertainment at first consisted of a series of amateur acts linked together by a master of ceremonies; its coarse humour was usually directed against the conventions

Cabaret

Restaurant that serves liquor and offers a variety of musical entertainment. The cabaret probably originated in France in the 1880s as a small club in which the audience was grouped around a platform. The entertainment at first consisted of a series of amateur acts linked together by a master of ceremonies; its coarse humour was usually directed against the conventions

Melitopol

Also spelled �Melitopol� ', city, Zaporozhye oblast (province), Ukraine, on the Molochnaya River. The settlement of Novo-Aleksandrovka grew up in the late 18th century, and in 1841 it became the city of Melitopol. The centre of a fruit-growing area, modern Melitopol has engineering plants and light industries. Pop. (1993 est.) 178,000.

Grand Teton National Park

Spectacular glaciated mountain region in northwestern Wyoming, U.S. It lies just south of Yellowstone National Park (to which it is connected by the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway) and north of the city of Jackson; the National Elk Refuge adjoins the park's far southeastern boundary. In 1950 most of Jackson Hole National Monument (established 1943) was incorporated

Gnetophyte

Any member of the division Gnetophyta, a small group of vascular gymnospermous plants that are represented by three genera: Ephedra, Gnetum, and Welwitschia. There are about 35 species in the genus Ephedra, 30 or more in Gnetum, but only one in Welwitschia. The three genera exhibit their great diversity in the immense variety of form and size among the various species.

Shih Wang

The first king receives the dead and determines whether or not they

Spurgeon, C.h.

Reared a Congregationalist, Spurgeon became a Baptist in 1850 and, the same year, at 16, preached his first sermon. In 1852 he became minister at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire,

Joule, James Prescott

Joule studied with the

Alexis

Alexis came from Thurii but apparently lived most of his long life in Athens; he was said to have been Menander's uncle. According to Plutarch, he lived to the age of 106 and died on the stage while being crowned. Alexis is

Alexis

Alexis came from Thurii but apparently lived most of his long life in Athens; he was said to have been Menander's uncle. According to Plutarch, he lived to the age of 106 and died on the stage while being crowned. Alexis is

Biblical Literature, Moral interpretation

Moral interpretation is necessitated by the belief that the Bible is the rule not only of faith but also of conduct. The Jewish teachers of the late pre-Christian and early Christian Era, who found �in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth� (Rom. 2:20), were faced with the necessity of adapting the requirements of the Pentateuchal codes to the changed social conditions

Argentina, Press and broadcasting

The mass media in Argentina are well advanced among Latin American nations. In Buenos Aires the largest newspapers are published, and many have electronic editions on the Internet. The largest daily circulation is claimed by Clar�n; two other large-circulation dailies, La naci�n and La prensa, founded in 1870 and 1869, respectively, have high reputations in the Spanish-speaking

Peter Damian, Saint

Educated at Ravenna, Faenza, and Parma, he abandoned his teaching career (1035) to enter the hermitage of Fonte Avellana in the Apennines, where he was chosen prior in 1043. Peter's zeal for reform, particularly his advocacy of

Earth Sciences, Cloud physics

Studies of cloud physics have shown that the nuclei around which water condenses vary widely in their degree of concentration and areal distribution, ranging from six per cubic centimetre over the oceans to more than 4,000,000 per cubic centimetre in the polluted air of some cities. The droplets that condense on these foreign particles may be as small as 0.001 centimetre in diameter.

Murex

The animal

Don Juan

Fictitious character who is a symbol of libertinism. Originating in popular legend, he was first given literary personality in the tragic drama El burlador de Sevilla (1630; �The Seducer of Seville,� translated in The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest), attributed to the Spanish dramatist Tirso de Molina. Through Tirso's tragedy, Don Juan became a universal character,

Livestock Farming

Probably first domesticated in the East, perhaps during prehistoric times, the goat has long been used as a source of milk, cheese, mohair, and meat. Its skin has been valued as a source for leather. In China, Great Britain, Europe, and North America, the goat is primarily a milk producer. By good management its limited (six months per year) breeding season and the consequent

Aqhat Epic

Ancient West Semitic legend probably concerned with the cause of the annual summer drought in the eastern Mediterranean. The epic records that Danel, a sage and king of the Haranamites, had no son until the god El, in response to Danel's many prayers and offerings, finally granted him a child, whom Danel named Aqhat. Some time later Danel offered hospitality to the divine

France, History Of, The Enlightenment

The industrial and commercial developments, already significant by themselves, were the cause, and perhaps also the effect, of a wider and still more momentous change preceding the Revolution - the Enlightenment. Today the Enlightenment can be understood as the conscious formulation of a profound cultural transformation. Epistemologically, the French Enlightenment

Joule

Unit of work or energy in the International System of Units (SI); it is equal to the work done by a force of one newton acting through one metre. Named in honour of the English physicist James Prescott Joule, it equals 107 ergs, or approximately 0.7377 foot-pounds. In electrical terms, the joule equals one watt-second - i.e., the energy released in one second by a current of one ampere through

Agrippa

Agrippa's five arguments held that (1) there is a clash of opinions, both in daily life and in the debates of philosophers; (2) nothing is self-evident, because that

Mammal, Food habits

The earliest mammals, like their reptilian forebears, were active predators. From such a basal stock there has been a complex radiation of trophic adaptations. Modern mammals occupy a wide spectrum of feeding niches. In most terrestrial and some aquatic communities, carnivorous mammals are at the top of the food pyramid. There are also herbaceous mammals that serve

Kija

Legendary Korean king of Chinese origin whose arrival in Korea with 5,000 rice- and barley-bearing refugees reputedly introduced Chinese civilization (and these new grains) to the Korean people. The band allegedly had fled China in 1111 BC, refusing to serve the new Chou-dynasty ruler who had overthrown Kija's Shang-dynasty relatives. Historical evidence confirms early Chinese