Azad Kashmir

Area of the Pakistani-administered sector of the Kashmir region, in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Azad (�Free�) Kashmir, established in 1947 after the partition of India, is neither a province nor an agency of Pakistan but has a government of its own that is regarded by Pakistan as �independent,� even though it is protected by and economically and administratively

Military Affairs

(For a comparison of approximate strengths of selected regular armed forces, see Table III.) The issue of homosexuals in the armed forces made headlines in the U.S. throughout the year. The new president, Bill Clinton, was forced to back away from a campaign pledge to drop the 50-year ban on homosexuals serving in the military when he immediately ran into opposition within

Craig, James

American ice hockey goaltender who was part of the U.S. hockey team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, U.S. The American victory in the hockey tournament, known as the �miracle on ice,� was one of the greatest surprises in the history of the Olympics, and Craig, who started every game in goal, was a leading figure in the

Tonga, Human settlement

The majority of the population live in

Kylver Stone

The runes faced the inside of a coffin and probably were intended either to protect the grave or to bind the dead person to it. In addition to the runic alphabet, the rune carver also carved

Braque, Georges

French painter, one of the important revolutionaries of 20th-century art who, together with Pablo Picasso, developed Cubism. His paintings consist primarily of still lifes that are remarkable for their robust construction, low-key colour harmonies, and serene, meditative quality.

Dynamical Time

The time scale of dynamical astronomy (celestial mechanics). The orbital motions of celestial bodies subject only to Newton's laws of motion and law of gravitation, as modified by relativity, proceed as a function of dynamical time. In 1952 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) defined a dynamical time scale named Ephemeris Time (ET), which is based on the Earth's orbital

Soka

City, Saitama ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, on the Ayase River, north of Tokyo. During the Tokugawa period (1603 - 1867) Soka was a post station, noted for its leather and dyes. The Tobu Line (railway) arrived in 1899. Because of its proximity to Tokyo and available water and land, the city developed as an extension of the Keihin Industrial Zone after World War II. Major products are pulp, leather,

Gamelan

Also spelled �Gamelang, or Gamelin, � the indigenous orchestra of Java and Bali, consisting largely of several varieties of gongs and various sets of tuned instruments that are struck with mallets. The gongs are either suspended vertically or, as with the knobbed-centre, kettle-shaped bonang, placed flat. Percussive melodic instruments include sets of tuned bonangs, xylophones (the gambang kayu), and

Integral

In mathematics, either a numerical value equal to the area under the graph of a function for some interval (definite integral) or a new function the derivative of which is the original function (indefinite integral). These two meanings are related by the fact that a definite integral of any function that can be integrated can be found using the indefinite integral

Rocky Mountains, Animal life

The fauna of the Rockies is varied and abundant. Among the large mammals emblematic of the rugged backcountry are the black bear, grizzly bear, mountain lion, and wolverine. Bighorn sheep and mountain goats inhabit the high crags in summer and migrate to the lower slopes for the winter months (see photograph). Members of the deer family, such as the

Ranaivo, Flavien

Educated at the Lycae Gallieri in Tananarive (now Antananarivo), Ranaivo worked in the information service

Ibn Janah

Trained as a physician, Ibn Janah practiced medicine, but, out of profound religious conviction, he also devoted much time to the

Pushkin, Aleksandr Sergeyevich

Russian poet, novelist, dramatist, and short-story writer; he has often been considered his country's greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature.

Arras Lace

Bobbin lace made at Arras, Fr., from the 17th century onward and similar to that of Lille. Although Arras was known for its gold lace, its popularity rested on its exceptionally pure-white lace, stronger than Lille but with similar floral patterns. Arras lace was worn at the coronation (1714) of George I of England. In the 19th century Arras produced a light variety of lace called mignonette.

Furniture, Upholstery and covers

Upholstery and covers belong to the sphere of furniture designed for sitting or lying on. From the Orient, Europeans learned the use of wickerwork, which provided a ventilated and resilient background for loose cushions. The upholstered chair is a genuinely European phenomenon that achieved its most distinguished and logical form in England during the 18th century.

Ashburton

Town (�parish�), Teignbridge district, administrative and historic county of Devon, England, lying on the southeastern margin of Dartmoor. It was designated a stannary (tin-mining) town in 1285. The priest of the Chantry Chapel of St. Lawrence kept a �free scole,� which survived as a grammar school from the late 16th century until 1938. The Church of St. Andrew in the town was built of granite

Cuthred

King of the West Saxons, or Wessex, who acceded to the throne (740) when neighbouring Mercia was at the height of its power. Cuthred was apparently a dependent of Aethelbald, king of Mercia, and throughout much of his reign of 16 years had to struggle against the Mercians as well as the Welsh. In 752 he defeated Aethelbald's forces at Burford in Oxfordshire, an epic event freeing Wessex

Rybinsk

Formerly (1946 - 57) �Shcherbakov�, or (1984 - 88) �Andropov� city, Yaroslavl oblast (province), northwestern Russia, on the Volga River. The 12th-century village of Rybnaya sloboda became the town of Rybinsk in 1777. Its river port flourished after the opening (1810) of the Mariinsk Waterway, linking the Volga to the Baltic Sea, and again with the latter's reconstruction as the deep Volga-Baltic Waterway in 1964. A wide range of engineering and other

Mansart, Fran�ois

In 1642 Ren� de Longeuil, an immensely wealthy financier and officer of the royal treasury, commissioned Mansart to build a ch�teau on his estate. The ch�teau of Maisons (now called Maisons-Laffitte, in the chief town of the d�partement of Yvelines) is unique in that it is the only building by Mansart in which the interior decoration (graced particularly by a magnificent

Powder River

Stream of the northwestern United States. It rises in several headstreams in foothills of the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming and flows northward for 486 miles (782 km) to join the Yellowstone River near Terry, Mont. Tributaries include the Little Powder River and Crazy Woman Creek.

Karaganda

The first settlement appeared in 1856, and small-scale coal mining began in 1857 to supply a nearby copper smelter. Mining ceased in the 1920s

Cartagena

Capital of Bol�var departamento, northern Colombia, at the northern end of Cartagena Bay. The old walled sections, including the 17th-century fortress of San Felipe de Barajas, lie on a peninsula and the island of Getseman�, but the city now spreads over the islands of Manga and Manzanillo (site of the airport) and the mainland below La Popa Hill. In the old section are the

Selim I

Selim came to the throne in the wake of civil strife in which he, his brother, and their father, Bayezid II, had been involved. Selim eliminated all potential claimants to the sultanate, leaving only

Ambrym

Also spelled �Ambrim, � island of Vanuatu, southwestern Pacific Ocean. It has an area of 257 sq mi (665 sq km) and is known for its two active volcanoes: Mt. Marum, 4,167 ft (1,270 m), which last erupted in 1973; and Mt. Benbow, 3,720 ft, which had major eruptions in 1894, 1913, 1929, 1942, 1950, 1972 and 1973. The 1950 eruption was serious enough to warrant the evacuation of several hundred persons for resettlement on �fat�. The island produces copra. Pop. (1979) 6,311.

Magnes, Judah Leon

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati (A.B., 1898), Magnes attended Hebrew Union College and was ordained as a rabbi in 1900. He then travelled to Germany for further studies. After

Elias, Norbert

Elias studied medicine, philosophy, and sociology and taught at the universities of Heidelberg

Aerospace Industry, Helicopters

Helicopters occupy important niches in both military and civil aviation. Military models are of two kinds - combat and transport. Combat helicopters are designed by manufacturers specifically for that military purpose, whereas helicopters for transportation frequently exist in both civil and military variants. Short-distance personnel transportation,

Kiangsi, Relief

Topographically, Kiangsi corresponds to the drainage basin of the Kan River, which runs northeastward in descending elevation from the southern tip of the province to P'o-yang Lake and the Yangtze in the north. This basin is surrounded by hills and mountains that rim the province from all sides. Among the more important ranges are the Huai-y� Mountains, to the northeast;

Metacentre

The centre of buoyancy of a floating body is the point about which all the body parts exactly buoy each