city, western Heilongjiang sheng (province), northeastern China. It is situated in the middle of the fertile Nen River plain, a part of the Northeast (Manchurian) Plain.
town, at the northwest of the 'Emeq Hula (Hula Valley), extreme northern Israel. The name Qiryat Shemona ("Town of the Eight") commemorates the eight martyrs of nearby Tel Hay (q.v.). The town, the only urban settlement of the valley, was ...
stream, northern Israel, one of the country's few perennial rivers. It is formed by small streams and seasonal watercourses (wadis), which rise chiefly in the Hare (Mountains of) Gilboa' to the south and west and the Nazareth Hills of Lower ...
Chinese painter noted for his gongbi brush technique, used to produce highly detailed figure and architectural paintings and flower studies. Qiu did not pursue the other characteristic arts and activities of the man of letters that Chinese ...
in Islamic law, analogical reasoning as applied to the deduction of juridical principles from the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the normative practice of the community). With the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and ijma' (scholarly consensus), it constitutes the four sources of ...
(Hebrew: "Holy Things"), the fifth of the six major divisions, or orders (sedarim), of the Mishna (codification of Jewish oral laws), which was given its final form early in the 3rd century AD by Judah ha-Nasi. Qodashim deals primarily with ...
city, northern Kazakhstan, on the Tobyl River. Founded by Russian settlers from the Volga region in 1879, it became a centre of trade in the steppe, particularly in grain, a role that was enhanced by the construction of a branch ...
prominent leader and, on occasions in the 1920s and early 1930s, head of the Chinese Communist Party. In addition to being a political activist, he is considered one of the most important literary figures of 20th-century China. In the People's ...
one of the greatest poets of ancient China and the earliest known by name. His highly original and imaginative verse had an enormous influence over early Chinese poetry.
former semi-independent state in the southern Arabian Peninsula, in what is now Yemen. It was one of the largest sultanates in the British-ruled Aden Protectorate, the forerunner of independent southern Yemen; its capital was the port of Al-Mukalla. Its territory ...
tributary of the Assiniboine River, in southern Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba, Canada. From its source near The Elbow (a bend in the South Saskatchewan River) and Diefenbaker Lake, northwest of Moose Jaw, Sask., the river flows eastward for 270 miles ...
rapidly spreading grass of the family Poaceae. It has flat, somewhat hairy leaves and erect flower spikes; the plant may grow from 30 to 100 cm (about 12 to 40 inches) high. It is native to Europe and has been ...
unit of energy equal to 1 quadrillion (1015) British thermal units (BTU). The quad is a convenient unit for describing national and world energy resources. One quad is also equal to 293 billion kilowatt hours, or, for fuels of average ...
complex of cities at the Iowa-Illinois border, on the Mississippi River, U.S. Despite its name, the region includes five main cities: Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline, Illinois, and Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa. There are also several smaller contiguous communities.
in architecture, rectangular open space completely or partially enclosed by buildings of an academic or civic character. The grounds of a quadrangle are often grassy or landscaped. Such a quadrangular area, intended as an environment for contemplation, study, or relaxation, ...
in mathematics, an algebraic equation of the second degree (having one or more variables raised to the second power). Old Babylonian cuneiform texts, dating from the time of Hammurabi, show a knowledge of how to solve quadratic equations, but it ...
in astronomy, that aspect of a heavenly body in which its direction as seen from the Earth makes a right angle with the direction of the Sun. The Moon at First or Last Quarter is said to be at east ...
in mathematics, process of determining the area of a plane geometric figure by dividing it into a collection of shapes of known area (usually rectangles) and then finding the sum of these areas. When this process is performed with solid ...
large fleshy muscle group covering the front and sides of the thigh. It has four parts: rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and vastus intermedius. They originate at the ilium (upper part of the pelvis, or hipbone) and femur (thighbone), ...
famous combination of four fortresses mutually supporting one another, during the Austrian rule of northern Italy. The four fortified towns were Mantua, Peschiera, Verona, and Legnago, lying between Lombardy and Venetia; the former two were on the Mincio and the ...
fashionable late 18th- and 19th-century dance for four couples in square formation. Imported by English aristocrats in 1815 from elite Parisian ballrooms, it consisted of four, or sometimes five, contredanses; like the contredanse (q.v.), the quadrille depended more on the ...
Brazilian politician who unexpectedly resigned the presidency after serving only seven months (Jan. 31-Aug. 25, 1961). A colourful and sometimes eccentric populist, he campaigned with a broom as a symbol of his pledge to "sweep out corruption."
alliance formed on April 22, 1834, between Britain, France, and the more liberal claimants to the thrones of Spain and Portugal against the conservative claimants to those thrones. The alliance successfully supported Maria Cristiana, who was acting as regent for ...
alliance formed Aug. 2, 1718, when Austria joined the Triple Alliance of Britain, the Dutch Republic (United Provinces), and France to prevent Spain from altering the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht (1713). Philip V of Spain, influenced by his ...
alliance first formed in 1813, during the final phase of the Napoleonic Wars, by Britain, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, for the purpose of defeating Napoleon, but conventionally dated from Nov. 20, 1815, when it was officially renewed to prevent recurrence ...
the lowest ranking regular magistrate in ancient Rome, whose traditional responsibility was the treasury. During the royal period, the kings appointed quaestores parricidii (quaestors with judicial powers) to handle cases of murder.
any of 130 species of small, short-tailed game birds of the family Phasianidae (order Galliformes), resembling partridges but generally smaller and less robust. The 95 species of Old World quail are classified in either of two subfamilies, Phasianinae or Perdicinae. ...
member of a Christian group (the Society of Friends, or Friends church) that stresses the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that rejects outward rites and an ordained ministry, and that has a long tradition of actively working for peace and ...
American manufacturer and marketer of foods and beverages, formed in August 2001 when PepsiCo, Inc., acquired the original Quaker Oats Company of Chicago, Illinois. The company operates as a division within PepsiCo.
any of about 20 species of slender annual or perennial grasses making up the genus Briza (family Poaceae), named for the spikelets of open flower clusters, borne on long stalks, that quiver in any air current.
branch of chemistry that deals with the identification of elements or grouping of elements present in a sample. The techniques employed in qualitative analysis vary in complexity, depending on the nature of the sample. In some cases it is necessary ...
edible seed of the native peach (Santalum acuminatum), a small shrubby tree of the sandalwood family (Santalaceae), native to Australia. Unlike other members of this family, the native peach is grown for its fruit and nuts rather than for its ...
town, central Vietnam, on the South China Sea coast. It is a minor port on the south bank of the Tra Khuc River estuary, 125 miles (200 km) southeast of Hue. The town has lighter (barge) facilities, a hospital, and ...
town, central Vietnam. It is on the left bank of the Thach Han River, 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Hue, on the national coastal highway. A highway from Dong Ha leads over the Annamite Chain (Truong Son) via the ...
married name Mrs. A. Plunket Greene English dress designer of youth-oriented fashions, responsible in the 1960s for the "Chelsea look" of England and the widespread popularity of the miniskirt and "hot pants."
in logic, the attachment of signs of quantity to the predicate or subject of a proposition. The universal quantifier, symbolized by (∀-) or (-), where the blank is filled by a variable, is used to express that the formula following ...
branch of chemistry that deals with the determination of the amount or percentage of one or more constituents of a sample. A variety of methods is employed for quantitative analyses, which for convenience may be broadly classified as chemical or ...
in prosody, a metrical system based on the duration of the syllables that make up the feet, without regard for accents or stresses. Quantitative verse is made up of long and short syllables, the duration of which is determined by ...
economic theory relating changes in the price levels to changes in the quantity of money. In its developed form, it constitutes an analysis of the factors underlying inflation and deflation. As developed by the English philosopher John Locke in the ...
captain of a guerrilla band irregularly attached to the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, notorious for the sacking of the free-state stronghold of Lawrence, Kan. (Aug. 21, 1863), in which at least 150 people were burned or shot ...
in physics, discrete natural unit, or packet, of energy, charge, angular momentum, or other physical property. Light, for example, appearing in some respects as a continuous electromagnetic wave, on the submicroscopic level is emitted and absorbed in discrete amounts, or ...
in physics, the theory that describes the action of the strong force. QCD was constructed in analogy to quantum electrodynamics (QED), the quantum field theory of the electromagnetic force. In QED the electromagnetic interactions of charged particles are described through ...
quantum field theory of the interactions of charged particles with the electromagnetic field. It describes mathematically not only all interactions of light with matter but also those of charged particles with one another. QED is a relativistic theory in that ...
body of physical principles combining the elements of quantum mechanics with those of relativity to explain the behaviour of subatomic particles and their interactions via a variety of force fields. Two examples of modern quantum field theories are quantum electrodynamics, ...
science dealing with the behaviour of matter and light on the atomic and subatomic scale. It attempts to describe and account for the properties of molecules and atoms and their constituents-electrons, protons, neutrons, and other more esoteric particles such as ...
