American engineer and coinventor of the first general-purpose electronic computer, a digital machine that was the prototype for most computers in use today.
Dominican theologian and writer who was the greatest German speculative mystic. In the transcripts of his sermons in German and Latin, he charts the course of union between the individual soul and God.
American writer and ornithologist whose extensive personal knowledge of her native Maine informed her authoritative publications on the history, wildlife, cultures, and lore of the region.
(from Greek eklektikos, "selective"), in philosophy and theology, the practice of selecting doctrines from different systems of thought without adopting the whole parent system for each doctrine. It is distinct from syncretism-the attempt to reconcile or combine systems-inasmuch as it ...
pair of stars revolving about their common centre of mass in an orbit whose plane passes through or very near the Earth. An observer on the Earth thus sees one member of the binary pass periodically over the face of ...
in astronomy, the great circle that is the apparent path of the Sun among the constellations in the course of a year; from another viewpoint, the projection on the celestial sphere of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ...
(from Greek ekloge, "selection"), compilation of Byzantine law issued in 726 by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian in his name and that of his son Constantine. It is the most important Byzantine legal work following the 6th-century Code of Justinian.
any member of a small group of igneous and metamorphic rocks whose composition is similar to that of basalt. Eclogites consist primarily of green pyroxene (omphacite) and red garnet (pyrope), with small amounts of various other stable minerals-e.g., olivine and ...
a short pastoral poem, usually in dialogue, on the subject of rural life and the society of shepherds, depicting rural life as free from the complexity and corruption of more civilized life. The eclogue first appeared in the Idylls of ...
(French: "Polytechnic School"), engineering school located originally in Paris but, since 1976, in Palaiseau, Fr., and directed by the Ministry of Defense. It was established in 1794 by the National Convention as the Ecole Centrale des Travaux Publics ("Central School ...
the statistical and mathematical analysis of economic relationships, often serving as a basis for economic forecasting. Such information is sometimes used by governments to set economic policy and by private business to aid decisions on prices, inventory, and production. It ...
international organization founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Current members include Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, ...
African organization established by the Treaty of Lagos in May 1975 to promote economic trade, cooperation, and self-reliance. The organization seeks to harmonize agricultural policies and to facilitate the free movement of peoples, services, and capital between members. The original ...
the process whereby simple, low-income national economies are transformed into modern industrial economies. Although the term is sometimes used as a synonym for economic growth, generally it is employed to describe a change in a country's economy involving qualitative as ...
the prediction of any of the elements of economic activity. Such forecasts may be made in great detail or may be very general. In any case, they describe the expected future behaviour of all or part of the economy and ...
scientific discipline concerned with the distribution of mineral deposits, the economic considerations involved in their recovery, and an assessment of the reserves available.
the process by which a nation's wealth increases over time. Although the term is often used in discussions of short-term economic performance, in the context of economic theory it generally refers to an increase in wealth over an extended period.
statistic used, along with other indicators, in an attempt to determine the state of general economic activity, especially in the future. A "leading indicator" is one of a statistical series that fairly reliably turn up or down before the general ...
the process by which key economic decisions are made or influenced by central governments. It contrasts with the laissez-faire approach that, in its purest form, eschews any attempt to guide the economy, relying instead on market forces to determine the ...
institutional arrangements designed to facilitate the free flow of goods and services and to coordinate foreign economic policies between countries in the same geographic region. Economic regionalism can be viewed as a conscious attempt to manage the opportunities and constraints ...
any of the institutions and practices in an economy that serve to reduce fluctuations in the business cycle through offsetting effects on the amounts of income available for spending (disposable income). The most important automatic stabilizers include unemployment compensation and ...
any of the institutions and practices in an economy that serve to reduce fluctuations in the business cycle through offsetting effects on the amounts of income available for spending (disposable income). The most important automatic stabilizers include the progressive income ...
the way in which humankind has arranged for its material provisioning. One would think that there would be a great variety of such systems, corresponding to the many cultural arrangements that have characterized human society. Surprisingly, that is not the ...
the use of, or the threat to use, economic means against a country in order to weaken its economy and thereby reduce its political and military power. Economic warfare also includes the use of economic means to compel an adversary ...
social science that seeks to analyze and describe the production, distribution, and consumption of wealth. In the 19th century economics was the hobby of gentlemen of leisure and the vocation of a few academics; economists wrote about economic policy but ...
weekly magazine of news and opinion published in London and generally regarded as one of the world's preeminent journals of its kind. It provides wide-ranging coverage of general news and particularly of international and political developments and prospects bearing on ...
in economics, the relationship between the size of a plant or industry and the lowest possible cost of a product. When a factory increases output, a reduction in the average cost of a product is usually obtained. This reduction is ...
city, Wayne county, Michigan, U.S. It lies along the Detroit River and is one of several contiguous southwest suburbs of Detroit known as downriver communities. Settled about 1815 on the site of an Indian camp and burial ground, it was ...
the sum of the Earth's ecological systems (ecosystems), all living organisms interacting with the physical environment. It is almost equivalent to the term biosphere (q.v.), with the further implication of a conscious ecological management of the Earth's resources.
variety of contredanse that was popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in France and England. It was danced in quick 24 time by a double line of couples, men facing women; the couples progressed to the head ...
destruction, or the threat of destruction, of the environment by states, groups, or individuals in order to intimidate or to coerce governments or civilians. The term also has been applied to a variety of crimes committed against companies or government ...
a transition area of vegetation between two different plant communities, such as forest and grassland. It has some of the characteristics of each bordering community and often contains species not found in the overlapping communities. An ecotone may exist along ...
nature reserve located in the departements of Hautes-Alpes and Isere, southeastern France. The park, which was created in 1973, occupies 226,694 acres (91,740 hectares) and is the second largest national park in France. It encompasses the Alpine peaks of Barre ...
in mysticism, the experience of an inner vision of God or of one's relation to or union with the divine. Various methods have been used to achieve ecstasy, which is a primary goal in most forms of religious mysticism. The ...
MDMA (3,4, Methylenedioxymethamphetamine), euphoria-inducing stimulant and hallucinogen. The use of Ecstasy, commonly known as "E," has been widespread despite the drug's having been banned worldwide in 1985 by its addition to the international Convention on Psychotropic Substances. It is a ...
the outermost of the three germ layers, or masses of cells, which appears early in the development of an animal embryo. In vertebrates, ectoderm subsequently gives rise to hair, skin, nails or hooves, and the lens of the eye; the ...
a human physical type (somatotype) tending toward linearity, as determined by the physique classification system developed by the American psychologist W.H. Sheldon. Although classification by the Sheldon system is not absolute, a person is classed as an ectomorph if ectomorphy ...
condition in which the fertilized ovum (egg) has become imbedded outside the uterine cavity. The site of implantation is usually designated-e.g., tubal, abdominal, or ovarian ectopic pregnancy.
in occultism, a mysterious, usually light-coloured, viscous substance that is said to exude from the body of a spiritualist medium in trance and may then take the shape of a face, a hand, or a complete body. It is normally ...
sagging of the lower eyelid away from the eyeball. The condition sometimes is present in elderly persons as a result of relaxation of the lid's supporting structures. With the sagging of the lid, the opening into the channel that carries ...
a notional unit of exchange, conceived in 1979, based on a "basket," or weighted combination, of the currencies of nations that belonged to the European Community. The principal currencies involved were the German mark, the French franc, the British pound ...
country of northwestern South America. It straddles part of the Andes Mountains and occupies part of the Amazon basin. Lying on the Equator, from which its name derives, it borders Colombia to the north, Peru to the east and the ...
honorary primacy of the Eastern Orthodox autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, churches; it is also known as the "ecumenical patriarchate," or "Roman" patriarchate (Turkish: Rum patriarkhanesi).
the movement or tendency toward worldwide Christian unity or cooperation. The term, of recent origin, emphasizes what is viewed as the universality of the Christian churches.
