Alagoas

Estado (�state�) of northeastern Brazil. It is the second smallest of Brazil's states and is an agricultural region in the early stages of industrialization. Situated on the northern bank of the S�o Francisco River, it is bounded on the north and west by the state of Pernambuco, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Sergipe, and on the west by Bahia. It has an area

Conduit

In water-supply systems the term is usually reserved for covered or closed sections of aqueduct, especially those that transport water under pressure. Large conduits may be fabricated of steel sections joined in the field or of reinforced

Stained Glass

In the arts, the coloured glass used for making decorative windows and other objects through which light passes. Strictly speaking, all coloured glass is �stained,� or coloured by the addition of various metallic oxides while it is in a molten state; nevertheless, the term stained glass has come to refer primarily to the glass employed in making ornamental or pictorial

Suffolk

Administrative and historic county in East Anglia, eastern England, bounded to the north by Norfolk, to the west by Cambridgeshire, to the south by Essex, and to the east by the North Sea. The administrative county comprises seven districts: Forest Heath and the borough of Saint Edmundsbury in the west, Mid Suffolk in the middle, Babergh and the borough of Ipswich in the

Interior Design, Design and presentation

After the completion of a program and the acceptance of the program by the clients, the actual design work can begin. Designers usually work on many alternative schemes. A single space such as a restaurant or a carefully designed store takes many days of preliminary design studies. As the size of the job increases, the interrelation of individual spaces increases

Hertfordshire

Administrative and historic county of southern England, adjoining Greater London to the south. The administrative county and the historic county cover slightly different areas. The administrative county comprises 10 districts: East Hertfordshire, North Hertfordshire, Three Rivers, and Welwyn Hatfield; the boroughs of Broxbourne, Dacorum, Hertsmere, Stevenage

Kagame, (abb�) Alexis

Kagame, the son of a deputy chief of the Tutsi people, was baptized in 1928 and ordained a priest in 1941. His considerable activity before and after taking his doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University

Kagame, (abb�) Alexis

Kagame, the son of a deputy chief of the Tutsi people, was baptized in 1928 and ordained a priest in 1941. His considerable activity before and after taking his doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University

Colchis

Ancient region at the eastern end of the Black Sea south of the Caucasus, in the western part of modern Georgia. It consisted of the valley of the Phasis (modern Riuni) River. In Greek mythology Colchis was the home of Medea and the destination of the Argonauts, a land of fabulous wealth and the domain of sorcery. Historically, Colchis was colonized by Milesian Greeks to

Aquarium

The earliest known aquarists were the Sumerians, who kept fishes in artificial ponds at least 4,500 years ago; records of fish keeping also date from ancient Egypt and Assyria. The Chinese, who raised carp for food as early as 1000 BC, were probably the first to breed fish with any degree of success. Their selective breeding of ornamental goldfish was later introduced to Japan, where

Adal

Historic Islamic state of eastern Africa, in the Danakil-Somali region southwest of the Gulf of Aden, with its capital at Harer (now in Ethiopia). Its rivalry with Christian Ethiopia began in the 14th century with minor border raids and skirmishes. In the 16th century, Adal rose briefly to international importance by launching a series of more serious attacks. The first phase,

Great Dividing Range

Also called �Great Divide, Eastern Highlands, or Eastern Cordillera, � main watershed of eastern Australia; it comprises a series of plateaus and mountain ranges roughly paralleling the coasts of Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria for 2,300 miles (3,700 km). Geologically and topographically complex, the range begins in the north on Cape York Peninsula, Queensland. Within that state the ranges' average elevation is 2,000 - 3,000 feet (600 - 900 m), but they rise as high

Boufflers, Louis-fran�ois, Duc De (duke Of)

Born into an ancient Picard family, he entered the French army in 1662 and distinguished himself as a commander of the royal dragoons during the Dutch War (1672 - 78). Boufflers became a marshal of France in 1693 during the War of the Grand Alliance (1689 - 97) between France and other major European

Kamikaze

Any of the Japanese pilots who in World War II made deliberate suicidal crashes into enemy targets, usually ships. The term also denotes the aircraft used in such attacks. The practice was most prevalent from the Battle of Leyte Gulf, October 1944, to the end of the war. The word kamikaze means �divine wind,� a reference to a typhoon that fortuitously dispersed a Mongol invasion

Solar Deity

God or goddess conceived of as sovereign, steady, and all-seeing, often identified with the supreme deity of a culture or with the king or ruler. See sun worship.

Graded School

Also called �grade school� an elementary or secondary school in which the instructional program is divided into school years, known as grades or forms. At the end of each academic year, pupils move from one grade to the next higher in a group, with only an occasional outstanding achiever allowed to �skip� a grade, or advance beyond his fellows to a still higher grade. The practice of grading began

Adams, John Couch

British mathematician and astronomer, one of two people who independently discovered the planet Neptune. On July 3, 1841, Adams had entered in his journal: �Formed a design in the beginning of this week of investigating, as soon as possible after taking my degree, the irregularities in the motion of Uranus . . . in order

Chancroid

Acute, localized, chiefly sexually transmitted disease, usually of the genital area, caused by the bacillus Haemophilus ducreyi. It is characterized by the appearance, 3 - 5 days after exposure, of a painful, shallow ulcer at the site of infection. Such an ulcer is termed a soft chancre, as opposed to a hard chancre, which is the characteristic lesion of the primary stage of

Axholme, Isle Of

Area of about 80 square miles (210 square km) west of the River Trent in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire, historic county of Lincolnshire, England. A tract of low flatland less than 100 feet (30 metres) above sea level, it was formerly surrounded by fens. Drainage works, begun in the 17th century by Cornelius Vermuyden and subsequently extended and improved, have transformed

Dimbleby, Richard

Dimbleby was the son

Insurance, Marine insurance

Marine insurance is actually transportation insurance. After insurance coverage on ocean voyages had been developed, it was a natural step to offer insurance on inland trips. This branch of insurance became known as inland marine. In many policy forms, the distinction between inland and ocean marine has disappeared; it is common to cover goods from the time they

Islam

The third pillar is the obligatory tax called zakat (�purification,� indicating that such a payment makes the rest of one's wealth religiously and legally pure). This is the only permanent tax levied by the Qur'an and is payable annually on food grains, cattle, and cash after one year's possession. The amount varies for different categories. Thus, on grains and fruits it is 10 percent

Ricercare

Also spelled �Ricercar (Italian: �to seek out�), �plural �Ricercari, � musical composition for instruments in which one or more themes are developed through melodic imitation; it was prominent in the 16th and 17th centuries. The earliest ricercari, which were for the lute, appeared in 1507. Well-suited to the technical capabilities of the lute, they mixed passages in chordal style, running scale passages, and alternation of high and low phrases

Cartwright, Alexander Joy

A surveyor by profession, Cartwright was one of the founders of the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club, an organization of amateur players in New York City. He was chairman of a club committee that prepared a set of baseball rules, which were adopted in September

Yalta

Also spelled �Jalta, � city, Crimea, southern Ukraine. It faces the Black Sea on the southern shore of the Crimean Peninsula. Settlement on the site dates from prehistoric times, but modern Yalta developed only in the early 19th century, becoming a town in 1838. Its favourable climate with mild winters and its scenic location between sea and mountains make Yalta one of the most popular holiday and

Ghent

One of Belgium's oldest cities and the historic capital of Flanders, Ghent was powerful, well-organized in its wealthy trade

Alexander Archipelago

Group of about 1,100 islands (actually the tops of a submerged section of the Coast Ranges) off the coast of southeastern Alaska, U.S. Named by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1867 to honour Alexander II, tsar of Russia, the islands are included within the Tongass National Forest and extend southward from Glacier Bay and Cross Sound to the Dixon Entrance. Among the largest islands

Vaillant, �douard-marie

Educated as an engineer, Vaillant subsequently studied medicine, first in Paris and later in Heidelberg, T�bingen, and Vienna. He returned to France, and during the German

Maddalena Island

Italian �Isola Maddalena, � island, Sassari provincia, Italy. It lies in the Tyrrhenian Sea (of the Mediterranean) off the northeast coast of Sardinia. It has an area of 8 square miles (20 square km) and is the principal island of the Maddalena Archipelago, which includes the islands of Maddalena, Caprera, Santo Stefano, Spargi, Budelli, Santa Maria, and Razzoli. Its port, La Maddalena, is the administrative

Mahabaleshwar

Resort town, southwestern Maharashtra state, western India. It lies about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Bombay and northwest of the town of Satara at an elevation of 4,718 feet (1,438 m), in the Sahyadri Hills of the Western Ghats. The town commands an excellent view over the coastal Konkan Plain from the steep scarp slope of the hills. Recognized in ancient times as the site of the source of the Krishna

Coral Reef

Coral polyps resemble sea anemones, to which they are closely related, but, unlike most anemones, most reef corals are colonial. Initial polyps divide themselves into