Obesity

Also called �Corpulence, or Fatness, � excessive accumulation of body fat, usually caused by the consumption of more calories than the body can use. The excess calories are then stored as fat, or adipose tissue. Overweight, if moderate, is not necessarily obesity, particularly in muscular or large-boned individuals. In general, however, a body weight 20 percent or more over the optimum tends to be associated

Resistor

Electrical component that opposes the flow of either direct or alternating current, employed to protect, operate, or control the circuit. Voltages can be divided with the use of resistors, and in combination with other components resistors can be used to make electrical waves into shapes most suited for the electrical designer's requirements. Resistors can have

Epistemology, William of Ockham

There are several places in Duns Scotus' account where Skeptical challenges can gain a foothold, for example, when he endorses the certainty of sense knowledge and when he holds that intuitive cognition must be of an existent object. William of Ockham (c. 1285 - 1349?) took his stand against the Skeptical challenge by radically revising Duns Scotus' idea of intuitive cognition.

Terek River

River that rises in northern Georgia and flows north and then east through Russia to empty into the Caspian Sea. It is one of the main streams draining northward from the Caucasus mountain system. The Terek is 370 miles (600 km) long and drains a basin of 16,900 square miles (43,700 square km). It rises from the glaciers of Mount Kazbek in the main Caucasus range and cuts its way northward through

Fable, Parable, And Allegory, Beast epic

In the Middle Ages, along with every other type of allegory, fable flourished. Toward the end of the 12th century, Marie de France made a collection of over 100 tales, mingling beast fables with stories of Greek and Roman worthies. In another compilation, Christine de Pisan's Oth�a manuscript illuminations provide keys to the interpretation of the stories and support the

Kiel Canal

German �Nord-ostsee-kanal� (�North Sea - Baltic Sea Canal�), waterway extending eastward for 61 miles (98 km) from Brunsb�ttelkoog (on the North Sea, at the mouth of the Elbe River) to Holtenau (at Kiel Harbour on the Baltic Sea), in northern Germany. The canal is 338 feet (103 m) wide and 37 feet (11 m) deep and is spanned by seven high-level bridges (about 140 feet high). It constitutes the safest, most convenient, shortest, and cheapest

Shiels, Robert

Moving to London, where he was a printer, Shiels was employed by Samuel Johnson as an amanuensis on the Dictionary of the English Language. When this work was completed, Shiels, with others, began the compilation of a five-volume The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland, to the Time of Dean

Rudolf, Archduke And Crown Prince Of Austria

The only son of the emperor Francis Joseph and the empress Elizabeth, Rudolf received an extensive education and traveled widely. Politically,

Paleo-siberian

Also spelled �Paleosiberian, or Palaeo-siberian, � any member of those peoples of northeastern Siberia who are believed to be remnants of earlier and more extensive populations pushed into this area by later Neosiberians. The Paleo-Siberians include the Chukchi, Koryak, Itelmen (Kamchadal), Nivkh (Gilyak), Yukaghir, and Ket (qq.v.). The Chukchi and Koryak are traditional reindeer breeders and hunters; maritime groups

Lipton, Seymour

Lipton attended City College of New York, studied dentistry at Columbia University (1923 - 27), and had no formal art training. He embarked on his artistic career in 1932 as a figurative sculptor, primarily in wood; when he shifted to abstract work after 1945, his major

Aldridge, Ira Frederick

Accounts of his life in the United States are conflicting. The great British-American actor James William Wallack is believed to have engaged him as a personal attendant while on a passage from the United States to England, where Aldridge established himself

Manchester Terrier

Breed of dog developed in England from the whippet, a racing dog, and the black-and-tan terrier, a valued ratter, to combine the gaming talents of each. In 1860 the breed was named after the city of Manchester, a breeding centre, but it was often called the black-and-tan terrier until the 1920s. A sleek, short-haired dog, the Manchester has a long, narrow head, small bright eyes, and a glossy

Dahuk

Also spelled �Dohuk, or Dhok, � town, northern Iraq, in the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The town lies near the northern end of the Tigris River Valley. The area in which the town is situated is unsuitable for cultivation but is good for fruit orchards and pasturage. Dahuk has a fruit-canning plant and a textile mill. There has been building of new tourist resorts and improvement of existing ones. Pop. (1970 est.)

F-15

The F-15 has

Maskelyne, John Nevil

Trained as a watchmaker, Maskelyne became famous in 1865 when he, aided by George A. Cooke, exposed the Davenport Brothers as fraudulent spiritualists.

France, Coll�ge De

State-supported research institution and centre for adult education in Paris. Founded in 1530 by Francis I, it was originally the Collegium Trilinguae (College of Three Languages). It offers lectures by scholars chosen for eminence in their particular fields without reference to academic qualifications. Professorial chairs are not necessarily permanent, and fields

Alarc�n Y Ariza, Pedro Antonio De

Alarc�n had achieved a considerable reputation as a journalist and poet when his play El hijo pr�digo (�The Prodigal Son�) was hissed off the stage in 1857. The failure so exasperated him that he enlisted as a volunteer in the Moroccan campaign of 1859 - 60. The expedition

Art And Architecture, Mesopotamian, Architecture

The beginnings of monumental architecture in Mesopotamia are usually considered to have been contemporary with the founding of the Sumerian cities and the invention of writing, in about 3100 BC. Conscious attempts at architectural design during this so-called Protoliterate period (c. 3400 - c. 2900 BC) are recognizable in the construction of religious buildings. There is, however,

Corchorus

Genus of flowering plants of the linden family Tiliaceae (order Malvales). The bark of C. capsularis and to a lesser extent that of C. olitorius constitute the chief source of jute (q.v.), and these species are much cultivated in India and Bangladesh. The leaves and young shoots are eaten as a vegetable in Europe and as a potherb in West Africa. The seeds, however, are poisonous.

Yverdon

German �Iferten, � city, Vaud canton, western Switzerland, on the southern shore of Lake Neuch�tel, at the mouth of La Thielle River, north of Lausanne. It originated as the Roman camp Eburodunum, and the ruined Roman walls remain. The castle (1260 - 78) of the dukes of Savoy was the seat of the boarding school established in 1805 by the Swiss educator Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, which flourished for 20 years;

Cramlington

Town, Blyth Valley borough, administrative and historic county of Northumberland. It lies north-northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne on the northern edge of the Tyne and Wear (Tyneside) metropolitan area. Cramlington is a new town developed to provide alternative, diversified employment in a former coal-mining area. Nearby is the noted country house Seaton Delaval

Elburz Mountains

Also spelled �Alborz, Albourz, Alburz, or Elburs, �Persian �Reshteh-ye Kuhha-ye Alborz, � major mountain range in northern Iran, 560 miles (900 km) long. The range, most broadly defined, extends in an arc eastward from the frontier with Turkmenistan southwest of the Caspian Sea to the Khorasan region of northeastern Iran, southeast of the Caspian Sea, where the range merges into the Aladagh, the more southerly of the two principal ranges there. More commonly, however, the

Rya Rug

Floor covering handmade in Sweden and Finland using techniques resembling those employed in Oriental carpets but having extremely long, recumbent pile and great flexibility. In one Swedish type the nap is produced by Ghiordes knots that include a third warp, the fabric having been made on a cloth loom with open shed. Early examples of rya rugs, which were intended

Lippmann, Gabriel

Though born of French parents in Luxembourg, Lippmann grew up in Paris

David, Jacques-louis

David won wide acclaim with his huge canvases on classical themes (e.g., �Oath of the Horatii,� 1784 [see photograph]). When the French Revolution began in 1789, he served briefly as its artistic director

Biogeography

Strictly speaking, biogeography is a branch of biology, but physical geographers have made important contributions, particularly in the study of flora. The classification of vegetation

Saxophone

A saxophone has a conical metal (originally brass) tube with about 24 openings controlled by padded

Hindenburg Line

Defensive barrier improvised by the German Army on the Western Front in World War I. Faced with substantial numerical inferiority and a dwindling firepower advantage, the new German commanders, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg and Gen. Erich Ludendorff, shortened their lines of defense and installed concrete pillboxes armed with machine guns to strengthen

Coquecigrue

An imaginary creature regarded as an embodiment of absolute absurdity. Fran�ois Rabelais in Gargantua uses the phrase � la venue des cocquecigrues to mean �never.� Charles Kingsley in The Water Babies has the fairy Bedonebyasyoudid report that there are seven things he is forbidden to tell until �the coming of the Cocqcigrues.� The word is of French origin.

Locoweed

Any of several species of poisonous plants of the genera Astragalus and Oxytropis, in the pea family (Fabaceae), native to the prairies of north central and western North America. Locoweeds pose a danger to livestock, horses, and other grazing animals, because they contain a toxin that affects muscle control, producing frenzied behaviour, impaired vision,