(from the article "mine gas") any of various harmful vapours produced during mining operations. The gases are frequently called damps (German Dampf, "vapour"). Firedamp is a gas that occurs naturally in coal seams. The gas is nearly always methane (CH4) and is highly inflammable and ...
any of some 2,000 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) found in most tropical and temperate regions that have special light-producing organs on the underside of the abdomen. Most fireflies are nocturnal, although some species are diurnal. They are soft-bodied ... [9 Related Articles]
(from the article "Sherman tank") ...more survivable. Consequently, it took superior numbers for Anglo-American forces to defeat German armoured formations. The most notable effort to break the Germans' qualitative advantage was the Firefly, a Sherman equipped with a 76.2-mm long-barreled gun (a "17-pounder").
(from the article "bioluminescence") The limpet Latia neritoides, found in streams around Auckland, N.Z., is the only strictly freshwater luminous form known. The so-called firefly shrimp (hotaru ebi) is found in Lake Suwa, Japan, but the light is from luminous bacteria that infect the ...
(from the article "cichlid") Among the better known of the many popular aquarium cichlids are the firemouth (Cichlasoma meeki), a fish with bright red in its mouth and on its throat and chest; the Jack Dempsey (C. biocellatum), a rather large, dark fish spotted ...
(from the article "Italian literature") ...of expression were to be found in the 22 stories called Le cene (written after 1549; "The Suppers") of the Florentine apothecary Anton Francesco Grazzini. The worldly monk Agnolo Firenzuola produced several stories, including the fable Asino d'oro (1550), a ...
housing for an open fire inside a dwelling, used for heating and often for cooking. The first fireplaces developed when medieval houses and castles were equipped with chimneys to carry away smoke; experience soon showed that the rectangular form was ... [3 Related Articles]
(from the article "textile") ...exposure to flame or high temperature. This is achieved by application of various finishes, depending upon the fabric treated, that cause burning to stop as soon as the source of heat is removed. Fireproofing is achieved by the application of ...
(from the article "Davies, Sir Peter Maxwell") ...with Roger Sessions at Princeton University, New Jersey, in 1962-64. Davies returned to England and in 1967 cofounded, with the composer Harrison Birtwistle, the Pierrot Players (renamed the Fires of London in 1970), a highly skilled ensemble dedicated to contemporary ...
(from the article "Computers and Information Systems") ...industry. Leveraged buyouts were acquisitions done largely with borrowed money. Under the terms of the deal, Freescale, whose stock had been publicly traded, became a private company. The acquirer, Firestone Holdings LLC, was made up of the Blackstone Group, the ...
(from the article "Harbel") town, west-central Liberia, West Africa. It lies along the Farmington River, 15 miles (24 km) upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. Since 1926 it has been the centre of the vast Firestone rubber plantation operation. Liquid latex and crepe rubber are ...
(from the article "feminism") ...the best-seller list in 1970, and in it she broadened the term politics to include all "power-structured relationships" and posited that the personal was actually political. Shulamith Firestone, a founder of the New York Radical Feminists, published
(Pyracantha), any of a genus of usually thorny evergreen shrubs, in the rose family (Rosaceae), native to southeastern Europe and Asia. Firethorns are planted as ornamentals for their showy, berrylike fruits; they are also used as hedges and are often ...
(from the article "Internet") ...that restrict access to independent sources of information. The Chinese government has been particularly successful at policing the public's access to the Internet, beginning with its "Great Firewall of China" that automatically blocks access to undesirable Web sites. The state ...
perennial wildflower, in the evening primrose family (Onagraceae), abundant on newly clear and burned areas. Its spikes of whitish to magenta flowers, which grow up to 1.5 m (5 feet) high, can be a spectacular sight on prairies of the ... [1 Related Articles]
explosive or combustible used for display. Of ancient Chinese origin, fireworks evidently developed out of military rockets and explosive missiles, and they were (and still are) used in elaborate combinations for celebrations. During the European Middle Ages, fireworks accompanied the ...
any of certain segmented marine worms of the class Polychaeta (phylum Annelida), including species of the genera Hermodice and Eurythoe. Fireworms produce a stinging sensation if touched. The body of H. carunculata, found in the coral reefs of the Caribbean ... [2 Related Articles]
(from the article "brick and tile") Bricks are fired and cooled in a kiln, an oven-type chamber capable of producing temperatures of 870° to 1,100° C (1,600° to more than 2,000° F), depending on the type of raw material. There are two general types of kilns, ...
(from the article "bolt action") type of breech mechanism that was the key to the development of the truly effective repeating rifle. The mechanism combines the firing pin, a spring, and an extractor, all housed in a locking breechblock. The spring-loaded firing pin slides back ...
(from the article "muscle") ...small positive ions, mainly sodium. The resulting local depolarization (the end plate potential) causes voltage-gated sodium channels located around the end plate to open. At a critical point (the firing threshold for the muscle cell) a self-generating action potential is ...
Czech-born U.S. pianist (b. Feb. 11, 1912, Napajedla, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]--d. July 19, 1994, Staatsburg, N.Y.), had an elegant, patrician style and was a champion of the music of his compatriots; early in his career he also composed. ...
(from the article "caliper") ...the dimensions of material parts. The calipers on the right side of the illustration have an adjusting screw and nut and are known as spring calipers; those on the left are an illustration of firm-joint calipers, which are held in ...
(from the article "wage and salary") Becker introduced the important distinction between "general" human capital (which is valued by all potential employers) and "firm-specific" human capital (which involves skills and knowledge that have productive value in only one particular company). Formal education produces general human capital, ...
(from the article "Egypt") ...put by de Lesseps into Sa'id's account. French pressure on the sultan succeeded at last in overcoming resistance to the canal project at Constantinople, and a firman (decree from the sultan) authorizing its construction was granted in ...
(from the article "bacteria") ...Often form long cell filaments.Nonphotosynthetic gram-positive bacteria.Nonbranching gram-positive bacteria. Includes rods and cocci forms. Some genera form endospores.
(from the article "patristic literature") Latin Christian literature in this period was slower than Greek in getting started, and it always remained sparser. Indeed, the first half of the 4th century produced only Julius Firmicus Maternus, author not only of the most complete treatise on ...
(from the article "bacteria") ...order Prochlorales; gliding or nonmotile forms. Most cyanobacteria are photoautotrophs and can fix dinitrogen gas. Often form long cell filaments.Nonphotosynthetic gram-positive bacteria.Nonbranching gram-positive bacteria. Includes...
town, Loire departement, Rhone-Alpes region, southeast-central France. It lies on the Ondaine River immediately southwest of Saint-Etienne. The name, originally Firminiaco signifying "place of Firmin," was first recorded (971) in a charter given by the king of Burgundy. It is ...
(from the article "architecture") Two plausible reasons can be given for according logical primacy in the Vitruvian triad to firmitas. The first is the notion that architecture is essentially the "art of building." The second is that, since the uses or functions of a ...
(from the article "rock") ...of such behaviour is creep, a slow, permanent, and continuous deformation occurring under constant load over a long time in such materials as crystals, ice, soil and sediment, and rocks at depth. In firmoviscous behaviour, the material is essentially solid ...
(from the article "North Africa") ...the exiles to return. These were welcomed with enthusiasm, and the movement proved as strong as ever. Some Donatists appear to have been associated with the revolt of a Mauretanian chieftain, Firmus, and in 377 the first of a series ...
(from the article "software") ...or "executing," a program. By contrast, software programs and procedures that are permanently stored in a computer's memory using a read-only (ROM) technology are called firmware, or "hard software."
partially compacted granular snow that is the intermediate stage between snow and glacial ice. Firn is found under the snow that accumulates at the head of a glacier. It is formed under the pressure of overlying snow by the processes ... [2 Related Articles]
(Dec. 21-22, 1845), conflict between the Sikhs and the British at Firoz Shah, in the Punjab, northern India. It was the first of two decisive battles in the First Sikh War, 1845-46. A British force of about 18,000 men under ...
city, southwestern Punjab state, northwestern India, 5 miles (8 km) from the Pakistani border. Firozpur was founded by Firuz Shah Tughluq in the 14th century; it fell under British rule in 1835. It became a British outpost and was involved ...
city, southeastern Haryana state, northwestern India. The city is said to have been founded by Firuz Shah III as a military outpost and was constituted a municipality in 1867. Connected by road with Alwar, in Rajasthan state, and with Gurgaon ...
(from the article "Iraq") ...sides of the struggle. Most of the killings were carried out by armed militias belonging to the Shi'ite Jaysh al-Mahdi, the military force of the anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and the Firqat-Badr militia of the Supreme Council for the Islamic ...
(from the article "South African literature") ...men established the Association of True Afrikaners, which eventually published the first newspaper, the first magazine, and the first literary texts in Afrikaans. The leader of the so-called First Afrikaans Language Movement was S.J. du Toit, a Dutch Reformed pastor ...
(from the article "Constitution of the United States of America") ...attainder and ex post facto laws (Article I, Section 9). But the most significant limitations to government's power over the individual were added in 1791 in the Bill of Rights. The Constitution's First Amendment guarantees the rights of conscience, such ...
(from the article "Antarctica") ...the south geomagnetic pole focuses auroral and cosmic-ray activity in the Southern Hemisphere, and because on the eve of IGY almost half the continent had not yet even been seen by humans. The First Antarctic Conference was held in Paris ...
(from the article "Comiskey, Charles") ...in the first year of operation of the American Association, a league formed to challenge the National League (NL), which had begun six years earlier. As a player, Comiskey transformed the way first basemen played when he positioned himself away ...
(from the article "Bulgaria") Asparukh and his successors established their court, which they built of stone, at Pliska, northeast of modern Shumen, and a religious centre at nearby Madara. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Bulgars kept their settlements distinct from those of the Slavs, ...
(from the article "Canada") ...young men with no work and imbued with patriotism rushed to serve in the war. An initial contingent of 33,000 troops sailed for England in October 1914 to lay the foundation for the creation of the 1st Canadian Division. In ...
in philosophy, the self-created being (i.e., God) to which every chain of causes must ultimately go back. The term was used by Greek thinkers and became an underlying assumption in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Many philosophers and theologians in this tradition ... [4 Related Articles]
(from the article "25 Largest U.S. Banks") Former U.S. bank holding company that merged with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in 2004. Bank One had been created through the 1998 merger of First Chicago NBD Corp. and Banc One. Although the 1998 merger created one of the ...
(from the article "Maybeck, Bernard (Ralph)") ...a brick building with a wood "outrigger" cornice; and the Men's Faculty Club (1900), a free treatment of the Spanish mission style. Among his other public buildings are the free-Gothic First Church of Christ, Scientist, Berkeley (1910), and the Neoclassical ...
