Sports

Recreational or competitive activities that involve a degree of physical strength or skill. At one time, sports were commonly considered to include only the outdoor recreational pastimes, such as fishing, shooting, and hunting, as opposed to games, which were regarded as organized athletic contests played by teams or individuals according to prescribed rules.

Gentile Da Fabriano,

An early signed work by Gentile has stylistic affinities with Lombard painting and suggests that he was trained in the Lombard school. In 1409 Gentile was commissioned to

Nigeria

At the beginning of 1998, Nigeria teetered on a precipice. Gen. Sani Abacha, the country's head of state, maintained his iron grip on the

Fruit

In its strict botanical sense, the fleshy or dry ripened ovary of a plant, enclosing the seed or seeds. Thus, apricots, bananas, and grapes, as well as bean pods, corn grains, tomatoes, cucumbers, and (in their shells) acorns and almonds, are all technically fruits. Popularly, however, the term is restricted to the ripened ovaries that are sweet and either succulent or pulpy. The

Burgos

City, capital of Burgos province, in the Castile-Le�n comunidad aut�noma (�autonomous community�), northern Spain. It is located on the lower slopes of a castle-crowned hill overlooking the Arlanz�n River, about 2,600 feet (800 m) above sea level. Founded in 884 as an eastern outpost of the Asturian kingdom by the Castilian count Diego Rodr�guez Porcelos, it became the capital of the

Raddall, Thomas Head

Raddall immigrated to Nova Scotia with his family in 1913 after his father, a military officer, was transferred to Halifax. The younger Raddall was briefly employed as a wireless operator before becoming

Antarctica, Geologic record

Raymond J. Adie (ed.), Antarctic Geology (1964), and Antarctic Geology and Geophysics (1972); Campbell Craddock (ed.), Antarctic Geoscience (1982); R.L. Oliver, P.R. James, and J.B. Jago (eds.), Antarctic Earth Science (1983); and M.R.A. Thomson, J.A. Crame, and J.W. Thomson (eds.), Geological Evolution of Antarctica (1991), are records of international symposia describing Earth science research by many nations. J.C. Behrendt and C.R. Bentley, Magnetic and Gravity Maps of the Antarctic (1968); and Campbell Craddock et al., Geologic Maps of Antarctica (1969 - 70), provide maps and texts, the latter work covering most mountain regions at a 1:1,000,000 scale. Other works on the geology of Antarctica are Edmund Stump (ed.), Geological Investigations in Northern Victoria Land (1986); and W.E. LeMasurier and J.W. Thomson (eds.), Volcanoes of the Antarctic Plate and Southern Oceans (1990). Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project, vol. 28 (1975), 35 (1976), and 36 (1977), contain results of drilling by the Glomar Challenger in Antarctic waters. Results of drilling by the JOIDES Resolution are contained in Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program: Scientific Results, especially vol. 113 (1990), from the Weddell Sea, vol. 114 (1991), from subantarctic regions and the Falkland Islands, and vol. 119 (1991), from the Kerguelen Plateau. A.L. Graham and John O. Annexstad, �Antarctic Meteorites,� Antarctic Science, 1(1):3 - 14 (1989), reviews the findings and origins of meteorites in Antarctica. Many details of Antarctic meteorite investigations are also reported in volumes of the Proceedings of the NIPR Symposium on Antarctic Meteorites (annual), published by the National Institute of Polar Research.

Ernest I

When Ernest succeeded to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld on the death of his father (Francis) in 1806, the duchy was occupied by Napoleon,

Farad

Unit of electrical capacitance (ability to hold an electric charge), in the metre - kilogram - second system of physical units, named in honour of the English scientist Michael Faraday. The capacitance of a capacitor is one farad when one coulomb of electricity changes the potential between the plates by one volt. In terms of ordinary electric and electronic equipment,

Tallahassee

Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto camped in the area during the winter of 1539 - 40; it was originally occupied by Apalachee and later by Creek peoples. Seven Franciscan missions were established,

Empiricism, Degrees of Empiricism

Absolute Empiricists hold that there are no a priori concepts, either formal or categorial, and no a priori propositions. Absolute Empiricism about knowledge is less common than

Media Voices Of The Muslim World

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the military actions against Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the operation, and the Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan who had harboured him, brought increased visibility and international attention to the news media in the Middle East and Central Asia. This was especially true of the satellite television network Al-Jazeera,

Muhavura

Also called �Volcan Muhabura, � extinct volcano at the easternmost end of the Virunga Mountains in east central Africa. It lies northeast of Lake Kivu on the border between Uganda and Rwanda. It is more than 13,500 ft high, and its crater contains a lake. The volcano forms part of the Virunga National Park, which is the home of the mountain gorilla.

Sardinia

Italian �Sardegna� island and regione of Italy, second in size only to Sicily among the islands of the western Mediterranean. It lies 120 miles (200 km) west of the mainland of Italy, 7.5 miles (12 km) south of the neighbouring French island of Corsica, and 120 miles (200 km) north of the coast of Africa. The capital is Cagliari.

Backpacking

Sport of hiking while carrying clothing, food, and camping equipment in a pack on the back. Originally, in the early 20th century, backpacking was practiced in the wilderness as a means of getting to areas inaccessible by car or by day hike. It demands physical conditioning and practice, knowledge of camping and survival techniques, and selection of equipment of a minimum

Alismatales

Also called �Alismales, � the water-plantain order of flowering plants, belonging to the class Liliopsida (monocotyledons; characterized by a single seed leaf). Most species are aquatic and grow submerged or partially exposed to the air in marshes and other freshwater habitats. Many are aquatic weeds that hinder irrigation and navigation, though others provide important habitats for

Chang Ch'ien

Pinyin �Zhang Qian � Chinese explorer, the first man to bring back a reliable account of the lands of central Asia to the court of China. He was dispatched by the Han dynasty emperor Wu Ti in 138 BC to establish relations with the Y�eh-chih people, a central Asian tribal group that spoke an Indo-European language. Captured by the Hsiung-nu, nomadic enemies of China, he was detained for 10 years. Nevertheless,

Juan-juan

Also spelled �Jwen-jwen, Jou-jan, Jeu-jen, or Geougen, � Central Asian people of historical importance. Because of the titles of their rulers, khan and khagan, scholars believe that the Juan-juan were Mongols or Mongol-speaking peoples. The empire of the Juan-juan lasted from the beginning of the 5th century AD to the middle of the 6th century, embracing a wide belt north of China from Manchuria to Turkistan. They were allies of

Ejido

In Mexico, village lands communally held in the traditional Indian system of land tenure that combines communal ownership with individual use. The ejido consists of cultivated land, pastureland, other uncultivated lands, and the fundo legal (townsite). In most cases the cultivated land is divided into separate family holdings, which cannot be sold although they

Per Ramessu

Probably founded in the Old Kingdom, the city was overrun by Palestinian peoples in about 1700 BC and became the Hyksos capital about 1530 BC. Sacked by the victorious pharaoh Ahmose about 1521 BC, it

Greenville

City, seat (1809) of Darke county, western Ohio, U.S., on Greenville Creek, 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Dayton. Laid out in 1808, it was the site of Fort Greenville, named for General Nathanael Greene and built by General �Mad� Anthony Wayne (1793). After his victory at Fallen Timbers (near the present site of Toledo), Wayne signed a peace treaty at the fort with Indians (1795) that opened the Northwest Territory

Pacific Mountain System, Recreation

The Pacific mountain system is one of North America's great playgrounds. Large numbers of tourists and outdoors enthusiasts are attracted to the region's magnificent scenery and its varied, year-round recreational opportunities. More than a dozen national parks, monuments, and recreation areas are scattered throughout the ranges, as well as dozens of provincial,

Asylum

In international law, the protection granted by a state to a foreign citizen against his own state. The person for whom asylum is established has no legal right to demand it, while the sheltering state, which has the legal right to grant asylum, is under no obligation to give it. Asylum is thus a right of the state, not of the individual. The right of asylum falls into three

Lens

In anatomy, a colourless, nearly transparent biconvex structure suspended behind the iris of the eye, the sole function of which is to focus light rays onto the retina. The lens is made up of unusual elongated cells that have no blood supply but obtain nutrients from the surrounding fluids, the aqueous humour in front and the vitreous behind. The shape of the lens - essentially

Mikan, George

Mikan received his undergraduate and legal education at

India, Associated ranges and hills

In general, the various regional ranges and hills run parallel to the Himalayas' main axis. These are especially prominent in the northwest, where the Zaskar Mountains and the Ladakh and Karakoram ranges, all in Jammu and Kashmir, run to the northeast of the Great Himalayas. Also in Jammu and Kashmir is the Pir Panjal Range, which, extending along the southwest of the Great

Fabales

The unique ecological role of the Fabales is in nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen is an element of all proteins and is an essential component in both plant and animal metabolism. Although elemental nitrogen makes up about 80 percent of the atmosphere, it is not directly available to living organisms; nitrogen that can be metabolized by living organisms must be in the form

Baltic Religion, Sacred times

Special rites evolved for the festivals of the summer solstice and the harvest, while other rites were used specifically for beginning various kinds of spring work. Such spring work included sending farm animals to pasture or horses to forage for the first time, plowing the first furrow, and starting the first spring planting. The birth of a child was especially

W�rm Glacial Stage

Major division of late Pleistocene deposits and time in Alpine Europe (the Pleistocene epoch began about 1,600,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago). The W�rm glacial stage followed the Riss-W�rm interglacial and is correlated with the Weichsel glacial stage of northern Europe and the Wisconsin glacial stage of North America. The Alpine glaciations of the Pleistocene

Giri, Varahagiri Venkata

Giri began his education at Khallikote College, Berhampore, and then went to Dublin to study law. There he became engaged in the Sinn F�in movement and was expelled from Ireland in 1916. Upon his return to India, he joined the nascent labour movement. He became general secretary and

Hondecoeter, Melchior De

Hondecoeter was the grandson of Gilles and the son of Gijsbrecht de Hondecoeter, as well as the nephew by marriage of J.B. Weenix, all of whom were painters of animals and still lifes. Hondecoeter was greatly favoured by the magnates of the Netherlands and in 1659 was made a