Encyclopædia Britannica Australia -

Encyclopedias since 1768

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Pacific pomfret ... Packard, Vance Oakley

Pacific pomfret: (from the article "pomfret") ...of the body in some species. Most species are deep-bodied and have deeply forked tails. Young pomfrets often differ markedly in body and fin form from adults of their species. The blunt-headed Pacific pomfret (Brama japonica) ranges abundantly throughout the ...
Pacific pompano: (from the article "butterfish") ...other species of butterfishes are commonly used as food. Among these are the harvest fish (Peprilus alepidotus), an Atlantic species that usually grows to about 20 cm (8 inches) long; the Pacific pompano (Peprilus simillimus), a silvery Californian fish; and ...
Pacific pond turtle: (from the article "pond turtle") any of several freshwater turtles of the families Emydidae and Bataguridae. Two of the best known are emydids: the Pacific, or western, pond turtle (Clemmys marmorata) and the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis).
Pacific Railway Acts: (1862, 1864), two measures that provided federal subsidies in land and loans for the construction of a transcontinental railroad across the United States. [1 Related Articles]
Pacific Rim National Park: (from the article "Principal national parks of the world") ...coastal plain, its coastline, especially on the west, is deeply indented with fjords. Strathcona Provincial Park occupies 847 square miles (2,193 square km) in the central part of the island, while Pacific Rim National Park (193 square miles [500 square ...
Pacific salmon: (from the article "salmon") ...the large fish now usually called the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), though more recently the name has been applied to similar fishes of the same family (Salmonidae), especially the Pacific salmon, which constitute the genus Oncorhynchus.reproductive behaviour
Pacific sanddab: (from the article "sanddab") ...As in other flatfishes, sanddabs have both eyes on the same side of the head; as in other paralichthyids, the eyes are usually on the left side. The most common species of sanddab is the Pacific sanddab (C. sordidus), a ...
Pacific sardine: (from the article "clupeiform") ...primarily determined by the size of the inhabited area and the size of spawning grounds; of secondary importance are the time and distance of migrations preceding the age of first reproduction. The Pacific sardine (Sardinops sagax)-which inhabits vast areas on ...
Pacific saury: (from the article "saury") ...finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins. Found in tropical and temperate waters, they live near the surface and commonly jump and skim above the water. Representatives of the family include the Pacific saury (Cololabis saira) and the Atlantic saury ...
Pacific Scandal: (1872-73), charges of corruption against Canadian prime minister Sir John A. Macdonald in awarding the contract for a transcontinental railroad; the incident resulted in the downfall of Macdonald's Conservative administration. [4 Related Articles]
Pacific South Equatorial Current: (from the article "equatorial current") The Pacific South Equatorial Current, flowing approximately between latitude 5° N and 15°-20° S, is propelled westward by the Southeast Trade Winds to about longitude 180° E. There it splits, part turning north to blend with the countercurrent and the ...
Pacific Stock Exchange: (from the article "San Francisco") A financial centre since the first pinch of gold dust was exchanged for cash, San Francisco is the seat of the Pacific Stock Exchange as well as the headquarters of many banks, among them the Bank of America and the ...
Pacific Subtropical Convergence: (from the article "Pacific Ocean") ...water flows. In the Pacific Tropical Convergence, which coincides with the Equatorial Countercurrent, water sinks to a depth of about 300 feet (90 metres) before it spreads laterally. The Pacific Subtropical Convergences are located between 35° and 40° N and ...
Pacific tarpon: (from the article "tarpon") ...habitually breaks water and gulps air. It regularly grows to 1.8 m (6 feet) and 45.4 kg (100 pounds) or larger and is a favourite game fish. The largest recorded catches weigh more than 136 kg. The Pacific tarpon, M. ...
Pacific tree frog: (from the article "tree frog") ...green tree frog (H. arborea), whose range extends across Asia and into Japan, the gray tree frog (H. versicolor), the green frog (H. cinerea), and the Pacific tree frog (H. regilla). The smallest is the little grass frog (Pseudacris, or ...
Pacific triton: (from the article "crown-of-thorns starfish") ...polyps. Beginning about 1963 it increased enormously on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. The population explosion was attributed to the decimation of its chief predator, a large marine snail, the Pacific triton (Charonia tritonis), by shell collectors. Thereafter, the starfish multiplied ...
Pacific Tropical Convergence: (from the article "Pacific Ocean") Deepwater circulation is influenced by the descent of surface water at zones of convergence of neighbouring water flows. In the Pacific Tropical Convergence, which coincides with the Equatorial Countercurrent, water sinks to a depth of about 300 feet (90 metres) ...
Pacific Tsunami Museum: (from the article "Hilo") ...and Hawaii Community College (established in 1941 as Hawaii Vocational School). The Lyman Museum and Mission House (1839) displays artifacts of the early missionary and whaling periods, and the Pacific Tsunami Museum (1998) is a memorial to the victims of ...
Pacific Tsunami Warning Center: (from the article "tsunami") ...and arrival time of the tsunami. Depending on the distance from the seismic disturbance, government authorities may have several hours' notice to order the evacuation of coastal areas. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, located near Honolulu, Hawaii, was established in ...
Pacific viperfish: (from the article "viperfish") ...on which they feed. The name viperfish comes from the long fangs that protrude from the upper and lower jaws, used to firmly grip struggling prey. All of the species are small, the largest being the Pacific viperfish (C. macouni), ...
Pacific walrus: (from the article "walrus") huge, seal-like mammal found in Arctic seas. There are two subspecies: the Atlantic walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) and the Pacific walrus (O. rosmarus divergens). Male Pacific walrus are slightly larger, with longer tusks.
Pacific yew: (Taxus brevifolia), an evergreen timber tree of the yew family (Taxaceae). It is the only commercially important yew native to North America, where it is found from Alaska to California. Usually between 5 and 15 metres (about 15 to 50 ... [2 Related Articles]
Pacific Yupik language: (from the article "Eskimo-Aleut languages") Yupik, a dialectal form meaning "real person," includes five languages: Central Alaskan Yupik, spoken southward from Norton Sound; Pacific Yupik, commonly called Alutiiq, spoken from the Alaska Peninsula eastward to Prince William Sound; Naukanski Siberian Yupik, whose speakers were resettled ...
Pacific, University of the: private coeducational institution of higher education in Stockton, California, U.S. The university includes the College of the Pacific (arts and sciences) and schools of education, music, business, engineering and computer science, international studies, pharmacy and health sciences, and graduate studies. ... [1 Related Articles]
Pacific, War of the: (1879-83), conflict involving Chile, Bolivia, and Peru, which resulted in Chilean annexation of valuable disputed territory on the Pacific coast. It grew out of a dispute between Chile and Bolivia over control of a part of the Atacama Desert that ... [5 Related Articles]
Pacific-10 Conference: West Coast American collegiate athletic association that grew out of several earlier versions, the first of which, the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), was founded in 1915. The original members were the University of California (Berkeley), the University of Washington, the ... [1 Related Articles]
Pacific-Antarctic Ridge: (from the article "ocean") The Pacific-Antarctic Ridge can be followed from a point midway between New Zealand and Antarctica northeast to where it joins the East Pacific Rise off the margin of South America. The former spreads at intermediate to fast rates.
Pacific-North American mode: (from the article "ocean") ...the east Pacific (the location of El Nino) and the atmospheric circulation in the middle troposphere during winter. The atmospheric pattern was a characteristic circulation type known as the Pacific-North American (PNA) mode. Such patterns are intrinsic modes of the ...
Pacification: (from the article "Netherlands, The") ...which had declared its neutrality, put aside the proposed reforms in order to concentrate on the immediate problem of maintaining the country's livelihood in the face of blockades. The "Pacification," as the compromise was called, was adopted in 1917 and ...
pacifism: the opposition to war and violence as a means of settling disputes. Pacifism may entail the belief that the waging of war by a state and the participation in war by an individual are absolutely wrong, under any circumstances. [13 Related Articles]
pacing: (from the article "pacing") in horse racing, one of two gaits seen in harness racing (q.v.).harness racingharness racingEarly history.
Pacini, Filippo: (from the article "cholera") Koch's findings, however, were not original. Rather, they were rediscoveries of work that had been previously done by others. The Italian microbiologist Filippo Pacini had already seen the bacterium and named it "cholerigenic vibrios" in 1854 (a fact of which ...
Pacinian corpuscle: (from the article "sensory reception, human") On the other hand, some tactile receptors (e.g., Pacinian corpuscles) respond only to mechanical deformation. A Pacinian corpuscle is an onion-shaped structure of nonneural (connective) tissue built up around the nerve ending that reduces the mechanical sensitivity of the nerve ...
Pacino, Al: American actor best known for his intense, explosive acting style. [2 Related Articles]
Pacioli, Luca: (from the article "number game") ...equal to 0.618 . . . . Both these ratios are related to the roots of x² - x - 1 = 0, an equation derived from the Divine Proportion of the 15th-century Italian mathematician Luca Pacioli, namely, a/b = ...
pack: (from the article "social behaviour in animals") Mammals often form herds or packs. Many herds are more structured than bird societies, simply because many mammal groups are combined families plus males. Huge migratory herds of wildebeest and zebra wander the African plains. Each herd of zebra includes ...
pack: (from the article "backpacking") recreational activity 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 ...
Pack Affairs: (from the article "Pack, Otto von") ...his ruler at the Reichstag (imperial Diet) from 1522 to 1526. His perpetual lack of funds, however, soon led him into a number of fraudulent schemes. The most serious of these became known as the Pack Affairs (Packsche Handel). After ...
pack animal: (from the article "Andes Mountains") ...Production centres generally are far from seaports, and the mountainous character of the land makes the construction and maintenance of railways and roads difficult and expensive. A large network of pack trails are still in use between small communities and ...
pack ice: any area of sea ice (ice formed by freezing of seawater) that is not landfast; it is mobile by virtue of not being attached to the shoreline or something else. Pack ice expands in the winter and retreats in the ... [8 Related Articles]
pack skating: (from the article "Olympic Games") Controversies surrounding the speed skating competition drew much attention. Pack-style skating was introduced, whereby the competitors raced each other instead of skating in pairs and racing against the clock. Europeans, unfamiliar with this style, fared poorly as two Americans, Irving ...
Pack, Otto von: German politician whose intrigues and forgeries almost caused a general war between Germany's Catholic and Protestant princes in 1528.
package: (from the article "electronic substrate and package ceramics") ...their reliability, these circuits depend on insulating materials that can serve as substrates (that is, the bases on which the microscopic electronic components and their connections are built) and packages (that is, the structures that seal a circuit from the ...
package ceramics: (from the article "electronic substrate and package ceramics") advanced industrial materials that, owing to their insulating qualities, are useful in the production of electronic components.
package plant: (from the article "environmental works") ...efficient for treating small sewage flows from motels, schools, and other relatively isolated wastewater sources. Both of these treatments are usually provided in prefabricated steel tanks called package plants (see figure). Oxygen aeration systems mix pure oxygen with activated sludge. ...
packaging: the technology and art of preparing a commodity for convenient transport, storage, and sale. [23 Related Articles]
Packard: (from the article "automobile") Other motorcars of this type included the Hispano-Suiza of Spain and France; the Bugatti, Delage, Delahaye, Hotchkiss, Talbot (Darracq), and Voisin of France; the Duesenberg, Cadillac, Packard, and Pierce-Arrow of the United States; the Horch, Maybach, and Mercedes-Benz of Germany; ...
Packard, David: American electrical engineer and entrepreneur who cofounded the Hewlett-Packard Company, a manufacturer of computers, computer printers, and analytic and measuring equipment. [2 Related Articles]
Packard, James Ward: (from the article "automobile") ...Eli Olds, whose name is familiar from the long-lived Oldsmobile, was also active in gasoline-engine research in the 1890s, after initially being interested in steam; so were Alexander Winton and James Ward Packard. By 1898 more than 100 companies had ...
Packard, Sophia B.: American educator, cofounder in Atlanta, Georgia, of a school for African American women that would eventually become Spelman College.
Packard, Vance Oakley: U.S. social critic and author of the 1957 best-selling book The Hidden Persuaders, in which he deplored manipulative advertising techniques that used subliminal images and symbols to stimulate consumer sales (b. May 22, 1914--d. Dec. 12, 1996).