1248 résultats pour "soma"

• Puerto Rico - geography.

  the length of the day remains fairly constant throughout the year. San Juan has a mean July temperature of 28°C (83°F) and a mean January temperature of 25°C (77°F). The average temperature of the seawater surrounding theisland is 27°C (81°F), with little variation during the course of the year. The entire island is cooled by the trade winds from the northeast. This air also contains much water vapor. As the air is forced to rise over the mountains, it becomescooler and the water vapor condenses...

• From Pride and Prejudice - anthology.

  But why Mr Darcy same so often to the Parsonage, it was more difficult to understand. It could not be for society, as he frequently sat there ten minutes togetherwithout opening his lips; and when he did speak, it seemed the effect of necessity rather than of choice—a sacrifice to propriety, not a pleasure to himself. He seldomappeared really animated. Mrs Collins knew not what to make of him. Colonel Fitzwilliam's occasionally laughing at his stupidity, proved that he was generallydifferent, wh...

• Ontario - Geography.

  governed Ontario’s initial settlement and development. The province’s most important river is the St. Lawrence. Its route was much improved and enlarged by dredgingand canal building in the mid-20th century. This enabled large ocean-going vessels to reach Great Lake ports ( see St. Lawrence Seaway). The Ottawa River was an important early route to the interior for fur traders and timber merchants. The Niagara River, because of its falls, is a great center of hydroelectric power as well as aninte...

• Ontario - Canadian History.

  governed Ontario’s initial settlement and development. The province’s most important river is the St. Lawrence. Its route was much improved and enlarged by dredgingand canal building in the mid-20th century. This enabled large ocean-going vessels to reach Great Lake ports ( see St. Lawrence Seaway). The Ottawa River was an important early route to the interior for fur traders and timber merchants. The Niagara River, because of its falls, is a great center of hydroelectric power as well as aninte...

• Sailing.

  the sails sweep across the decks of the vessel from one side to the other, and also because of the danger of breaking spars. In wild jibing, control can be lostmomentarily and, if the seas are high, a small boat can broach —that is, veer on its side with danger of swamping or capsizing. An unintentional jibe in a heavy wind frequently has enough force to break the masts of a vessel. When jibing intentionally, careful sailors always haul in on the boom while turning, so that the boom willtravel...

• Greek Art and Architecture - history.

  powerful independent city-states. From 334 to 323 BC, Alexander the Great extended his father's empire into Asia Minor (now Turkey), Syria, Egypt, Persia, Afghanistan, and as far as India. D The Hellenistic Period (323-31 BC) Although Alexander the Great extended Greek civilization far beyond the Greek mainland and the boundaries of the Aegean Sea, his empire did not survive his death in 323.After Alexander died, his generals and successors divided the empire into a number of kingdoms: Ptolem...

• Galileo I INTRODUCTION Galileo (1564-1642), Italian physicist and astronomer who, with German astronomer Johannes Kepler, initiated the scientific revolution that flowered in the work of English physicist Sir Isaac Newton.

  V WORK IN ASTRONOMY During most of his time in Padua, Galileo showed little interest in astronomy, although in 1595 he declared in a letter that he preferred the Copernican theory that Earthrevolves around the Sun to the assumptions of Aristotle and Ptolemy that planets circle a fixed Earth ( see Astronomy: The Copernican Theory ; Ptolemaic System). A Observations with the Telescope In 1609 Galileo heard that a telescope had been invented in Holland. In August of that year he constructed a t...

• Galileo.

  V WORK IN ASTRONOMY During most of his time in Padua, Galileo showed little interest in astronomy, although in 1595 he declared in a letter that he preferred the Copernican theory that Earthrevolves around the Sun to the assumptions of Aristotle and Ptolemy that planets circle a fixed Earth ( see Astronomy: The Copernican Theory ; Ptolemaic System). A Observations with the Telescope In 1609 Galileo heard that a telescope had been invented in Holland. In August of that year he constructed a t...

• Ancient Rome .

  attributed to Numa, including the selection of virgins to be priestesses of the goddess Vesta. He also established a calendar to differentiate between normal workingdays and those festival days sacred to the gods on which no state business was allowed. His peaceful reign lasted from 715 to 673 BC. Under Tullus Hostilius (672–641 BC) the Romans waged an aggressive foreign policy and began to expand their lands by the conquest of nearby cities like Alba Longa. When the warlike King Hostilius co...

• Ancient Rome - USA History.

  attributed to Numa, including the selection of virgins to be priestesses of the goddess Vesta. He also established a calendar to differentiate between normal workingdays and those festival days sacred to the gods on which no state business was allowed. His peaceful reign lasted from 715 to 673 BC. Under Tullus Hostilius (672–641 BC) the Romans waged an aggressive foreign policy and began to expand their lands by the conquest of nearby cities like Alba Longa. When the warlike King Hostilius co...

• Chile - country.

  D Plant and Animal Life The indigenous plant life of Chile varies according to climatic zone. Plant life in the northern region includes brambles and cactus and has little variety. Here, theAtacama provides one of the best examples on Earth of an absolute desert. The more humid Central Valley supports several species of cacti, espino (a thorny shrub),grasses, and the Chilean pine, which bears edible nuts. Dense rain forests are located south of Valdivia with laurel, magnolia, false beech, and v...

• Honey Bee - biology.

  B Reproduction and Development The queen controls the sex of her offspring. When an egg passes from her ovary to her oviduct, the queen determines whether the egg is fertilized with sperm from thespermatheca. A fertilized egg develops into a female honey bee, either worker or queen, and an unfertilized egg becomes a male honey bee, or drone. The queen lays the eggs that will develop into more queens in specially constructed downward-pointing, peanut-shaped cells, in which the egg adheres to the...

• Modern Art I INTRODUCTION American Gothic American Gothic was painted by the 20th-century American artist Grant Wood in 1930.

  while at the other side a woman in black appears to mourn the end of her participation in the dance. Click on the buttonsto learn more.© Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. In view of this diversity, it is difficult to define modern art in a way that includes all of 20th-century Western art. For some critics, the most important characteristic ofmodern art is its attempt to make painting and sculpture ends in themselves, thus distinguishing modernism from earlier forms of art that had con...

• Circulatory System.

  C Additional Functions In addition to oxygen, the circulatory system also transports nutrients derived from digested food to the body. These nutrients enter the bloodstream by passingthrough the walls of the intestine. The nutrients are absorbed through a network of capillaries and veins that drain the intestines, called the hepatic portal circulation.The hepatic portal circulation carries the nutrients to the liver for further metabolic processing. The liver stores a variety of substances, suc...

• Florida - USA History.

  accidentally introduced into the region in the 1880s, and it spread with alarming rapidity throughout the upper reaches of the river. The plant is very difficult toeradicate, and it has also clogged the channels of other Florida rivers. To increase drainage of the Everglades, which drain naturally to Florida Bay and the Gulf ofMexico, a number of drainage channels and canals have been built across southern Florida. Among the rivers flowing from the peninsula to the Gulf of Mexico are the Suwanne...

• New York - geography.

  The Adirondack province consists of a large highland area occupying 26,000 sq km (10,000 sq mi) in the northeastern quarter of the state. The region is domelike inshape, with the higher elevations toward the east. The western Adirondack province is more a rugged hill region and not truly mountainous. Geologically, this area isrelated to the Laurentian Upland, or Canadian Shield, which lies north of the St. Lawrence River, for it is composed of the same very old igneous rocks, principallygranite...

• New York - USA History.

  The Adirondack province consists of a large highland area occupying 26,000 sq km (10,000 sq mi) in the northeastern quarter of the state. The region is domelike inshape, with the higher elevations toward the east. The western Adirondack province is more a rugged hill region and not truly mountainous. Geologically, this area isrelated to the Laurentian Upland, or Canadian Shield, which lies north of the St. Lawrence River, for it is composed of the same very old igneous rocks, principallygranite...

• Cheetah - biology.

  animals such as zebras. Unlike most cats, cheetahs hunt during the day, when lions and hyenas that compete with them for prey are less likely to be active. Still,scientists in Tanzania have observed that cheetahs lose 10 to 13 percent of their kills to lions and hyenas. Alerted by the panic of a gazelle herd or by the circling ofvultures, lions and hyenas close in and easily drive the more timid cheetah away from a fresh kill. A cheetah usually stalks prey to within about 10 m (about 33 ft) and...

• Turkey - country.

  has a general elevation of 900 to 1,500 m (3,000 to 5,000 ft) above sea level. The eastern highlands region is the most mountainous and rugged portion of Turkey; Mount Ararat (Ağrı Da ğı) is the highest peak in the country at 5,165 m (16,945ft). Many Christians and Jews believe it to be the same Mount Ararat mentioned in the Bible as the place where Noah’s ark came to rest. The eastern highlands are thesource for both the Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Fir āt)—two of southwestern Asia’s principal...

• Planetary Science - astronomy.

  III ORIGINS AND COMPOSITIONS OF PLANETS Astronomers believe that planetary systems are formed of elemental materials that were created in the interiors of giant stars. Some of this material comes from giantstars that shed material into space as they age. Most of the matter to form planets, however, comes from stars that explode as supernovas and spread debris enrichedwith the heavier chemical elements into space. According to the currently accepted views, the most likely first stage in the evo...

• Atom - chemistry.

  Atoms have several properties that help distinguish one type of atom from another and determine how atoms change under certain conditions. A Atomic Number Each element has a unique number of protons in its atoms. This number is called the atomic number (abbreviated Z). Because atoms are normally electrically neutral,the atomic number also specifies how many electrons an atom will have. The number of electrons, in turn, determines many of the chemical and physical properties ofthe atom. The ligh...

• Arabic Literature I INTRODUCTION Arabic Literature, literature written in the Arabic language, from the 6th century to the present.

  The life of the Prophet Muhammad also generated its own literary sources, primary among which is the hadith. The hadiths were a collection of the Prophet's sayings and actions, transmitted through a chain of authorities said to go back to Muhammad himself. The two most famous collections of hadiths are those of al-Bukhari andMuslim in the 9th century. These works provide a wealth of information covering all aspects of a Muslim's life, from prayer to personal, social, and business conduct. The...

• China - country.

  North China lies between the Mongolian Steppe on the north and the Yangtze River Basin on the south. It stretches west from the Bo Hai gulf and the Yellow Sea to theeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Administratively, North China includes Beijing and Tianjin municipalities; Shandong and Shanxi provinces; most of Hebei, Henan,and Shaanxi provinces; and portions of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and of Jiangsu, Anhui, and Gansu provinces. Humans have lived in the agriculturally rich region of Nor...

• Excerpt from Nicholas Nickleby - anthology.

  After some half-hour's delay Mr Squeers reappeared, and the boys took their places and their books, of which latter commodity the average might be about one toeight learners. A few minutes having elapsed, during which Mr Squeers looked very profound, as if he had a perfect apprehension of what was inside all the books,and could say every word of their contents by heart if he only chose to take the trouble, that gentleman called up the first class. Obedient to this summons there ranged themse...

• France - country.

  In both the Paris and Aquitaine basins, fertile soils derived from limestone and wind-deposited dust, called loess, have supported prosperous agriculture since ancienttimes. Other lowlands in France are scattered and relatively small. They include the Alsace Plain in the east, bordering Germany, the valley of the Rhône River in thesoutheast, and the Languedoc Plain along the Mediterranean coast. A2 Uplands France contains several regions of uplands, the worn down remains of ancient mountain sys...

• Television.

  A charge-coupled device (CCD) can be much smaller than a camera tube and is much more durable. As a result, cameras with CCDs are more compact and portablethan those using a camera tube. The image they create is less vulnerable to distortion and is therefore clearer. In a CCD, the light from a scene strikes an array ofphotodiodes arranged on a silicon chip. Photodiodes are devices that conduct electricity when they are struck by light; they send this electricity to tiny capacitors. Thecapacitors...

• Northwest Territories - Geography.

  million years ago by the severe bending (folding) and faulting (breaking) of sedimentary rock that was once part of the Interior Plains. During the Wisconsin Ice Age,alpine glaciers covered the Cordillera, and the movement of the glaciers created razor-sharp peaks and ridges in these mountains. The moving glaciers also createdbroad U-shaped valleys. To the east of the Interior Plains, the ancient rocks of the Canadian Shield are exposed at the Earth’s surface, resulting in a rough, rolling terra...

• Northwest Territories - Canadian History.

  million years ago by the severe bending (folding) and faulting (breaking) of sedimentary rock that was once part of the Interior Plains. During the Wisconsin Ice Age,alpine glaciers covered the Cordillera, and the movement of the glaciers created razor-sharp peaks and ridges in these mountains. The moving glaciers also createdbroad U-shaped valleys. To the east of the Interior Plains, the ancient rocks of the Canadian Shield are exposed at the Earth’s surface, resulting in a rough, rolling terra...

• Georgia (state) - geography.

  B Rivers and Lakes Most of the rivers of Georgia drain eastward to the Atlantic Ocean proper or southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Only a few flow northward to the Tennessee River, which isa major tributary of the Mississippi River. Most of the rivers flowing to the coasts are navigable by barges and small craft as far upstream as the Fall Line. The major river flowing to the Atlantic is the Savannah River, which, with the Tugaloo River, one of its headwaters, forms most of the state’s eastern bo...

• Georgia (state) - USA History.

  B Rivers and Lakes Most of the rivers of Georgia drain eastward to the Atlantic Ocean proper or southward to the Gulf of Mexico. Only a few flow northward to the Tennessee River, which isa major tributary of the Mississippi River. Most of the rivers flowing to the coasts are navigable by barges and small craft as far upstream as the Fall Line. The major river flowing to the Atlantic is the Savannah River, which, with the Tugaloo River, one of its headwaters, forms most of the state’s eastern bo...

• Québec - Geography.

  facilities. Tributaries south of the St. Lawrence include the Richelieu, the Saint-François, and the Chaudière rivers, which are only a few hundred kilometers long. TheRimouski and Matane rivers, also south of the St. Lawrence, are popular areas for recreation and salmon fishing. In the Canadian Shield, the longest rivers are theRupert, Eastmain, Grande Baleine, and La Grand-Rivière, which is the site of a huge hydroelectric complex. C Coastlines Québec has two systems of saltwater coastline. O...

• Québec - Canadian History.

  facilities. Tributaries south of the St. Lawrence include the Richelieu, the Saint-François, and the Chaudière rivers, which are only a few hundred kilometers long. TheRimouski and Matane rivers, also south of the St. Lawrence, are popular areas for recreation and salmon fishing. In the Canadian Shield, the longest rivers are theRupert, Eastmain, Grande Baleine, and La Grand-Rivière, which is the site of a huge hydroelectric complex. C Coastlines Québec has two systems of saltwater coastline. O...

• Babylonia - USA History.

  Pharmacology, too, doubtless had made considerable progress, although the only major direct evidence of this comes from a Sumerian tablet written several centuriesbefore Hammurabi. C Legal System and Writing Law and justice were key concepts in the Babylonian way of life. Justice was administered by the courts, each of which consisted of from one to four judges. Often theelders of a town constituted a tribunal. The judges could not reverse their decisions for any reason, but appeals from their...

• Greenhouse Effect.

  addition, humans cut down huge tracts of trees for lumber or to clear land for farming or building. This process, known as deforestation, can both release the carbonstored in trees and significantly reduce the number of trees available to absorb carbon dioxide. As a result of these human activities, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is accumulating faster than Earth’s natural processes can absorb the gas. By analyzing airbubbles trapped in glacier ice that is many centuries old, scientists have d...

• Japan - country.

  island’s fertile soils support agriculture and provide the vast majority of Japan’s pasturelands. In addition, Hokkaidō contains coal deposits, and the cold currents off itsshores supply cold-water fish. Winters are long and harsh, so most of Hokkaid ō is lightly settled, housing about 5 percent of Japan’s population on approximately 20 percent of its land area. However,its snowy winters and unspoiled natural beauty attract many skiers and tourists. Hokkaid ō is thought of as Japan’s northern fr...

• Alabama (state) - geography.

  indentations along the coast are measured, the state’s shoreline is 977 km (607 mi) long. It includes the shores of Mobile Bay, an inlet 56 km (35 mi) long at the mouthof the Mobile River. Barrier beaches partly block the entrance to the bay, leaving narrow openings on either side of Dauphin Island. Dauphin and other islands alongAlabama’s coast west of Mobile Bay are separated from the mainland by Mississippi Sound. D Climate Alabama has a humid subtropical climate, with short, relatively mild...

• Alabama (state) - USA History.

  indentations along the coast are measured, the state’s shoreline is 977 km (607 mi) long. It includes the shores of Mobile Bay, an inlet 56 km (35 mi) long at the mouthof the Mobile River. Barrier beaches partly block the entrance to the bay, leaving narrow openings on either side of Dauphin Island. Dauphin and other islands alongAlabama’s coast west of Mobile Bay are separated from the mainland by Mississippi Sound. D Climate Alabama has a humid subtropical climate, with short, relatively mild...

• Lyndon B.

  A1 First Years in Office Johnson quickly made a two-fold reputation. He was a firm supporter of Roosevelt’s program, both domestic and foreign, and he was also a tireless worker on behalf ofthe voters he represented. Often the two activities coincided, as was the case when he helped to bring public power into Texas through the Rural ElectrificationAdministration and the Lower Colorado River Authority. He also secured funds for the building of dams, roads, and other public improvements in his di...

• Haiti - country.

  Haitian Creole and French are the official languages of Haiti. Haitian Creole, a French-based Creole with influences from West African languages, was made an officiallanguage under the 1987 constitution. It is the mother tongue for nearly the entire population of Haiti and the language of instruction in schools. French is spokenmainly as a second language by a small section of the population. B Religion About 80 percent of Haiti’s people are nominal Roman Catholics, many of them combining an Af...

• Ireland - country.

  F Plants and Animals Ireland’s animal life does not differ markedly from that of England or France. Over many centuries of human settlement almost all of Ireland’s natural woodlands werecleared, and indigenous animals such as bear, wolf, wildcat, beaver, wild cattle, and the giant Irish deer (a type of fallow deer) gradually disappeared. However, thehardy and versatile Connemara pony, Ireland’s only native pony breed, has been used by Irish farmers since prehistoric times. The great auk, or gar...

• Mythology I INTRODUCTION Mythology, the body of myths of a particular culture, and the study and interpretation of such myths.

  usually define a myth as a story that has compelling drama and deals with basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Myths explain, for example, how the worldbegan; how humans and animals came into being; how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activity originated; and how the divine and human worlds interact.Many myths take place at a time before the world as human beings know it came into being. Because myth-making often involves gods, other supernatural beings, andprocesses beyond...

• Physics I INTRODUCTION Physics, major science, dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces.

  Starting about 1665, at the age of 23, Newton enunciated the principles of mechanics, formulated the law of universal gravitation, separated white light into colors,proposed a theory for the propagation of light, and invented differential and integral calculus. Newton's contributions covered an enormous range of naturalphenomena: He was thus able to show that not only Kepler's laws of planetary motion but also Galileo's discoveries of falling bodies follow a combination of his ownsecond law of m...

• Michigan - geography.

  The interior location of Michigan in the northern part of North America results in a continental climate, characterized by four definite seasons with moist, mild to hotsummers and snowy, cold winters. Winds off of Lakes Michigan and Superior in winter create heavy snow accumulations in nearby areas. The tempering effects of LakeMichigan account for the presence of the state’s famous fruit-growing belt along the lake’s shore. Since the water is colder than the land in spring, the westerly windspa...

• Michigan - USA History.

  The interior location of Michigan in the northern part of North America results in a continental climate, characterized by four definite seasons with moist, mild to hotsummers and snowy, cold winters. Winds off of Lakes Michigan and Superior in winter create heavy snow accumulations in nearby areas. The tempering effects of LakeMichigan account for the presence of the state’s famous fruit-growing belt along the lake’s shore. Since the water is colder than the land in spring, the westerly windspa...

• Democratic Republic of the Congo - country.

  Except in the high elevations, the country’s climate is very hot and humid. The average annual temperature in the low central area is about 27°C (about 80°F).Temperatures are considerably higher in February, the hottest month. At altitudes above about 1,500 m (about 5,000 ft) the average annual temperature is about 19°C(about 66°F). Average annual rainfall is about 1,500 mm (about 60 in) in the north and about 1,300 mm (about 50 in) in the south. Frequent heavy rains occur fromApril to November...

• Utah - geography.

  Temperatures decrease from the south to the north in the state. In the mountains the average temperature drops about 0.5°C (about 1°F) for every about 300 m(about 1,000 ft) rise in elevation. Average July temperatures range from less than 16°C (60°F) in the mountains to more than 27°C (80°F) in a few locations insouthern Utah. At Salt Lake City average July temperatures range from a low of 18°C (64°F) to a high of 33°C (92°F). There is a great variation between daytime andnighttime temperatures,...

• Utah - USA History.

  Temperatures decrease from the south to the north in the state. In the mountains the average temperature drops about 0.5°C (about 1°F) for every about 300 m(about 1,000 ft) rise in elevation. Average July temperatures range from less than 16°C (60°F) in the mountains to more than 27°C (80°F) in a few locations insouthern Utah. At Salt Lake City average July temperatures range from a low of 18°C (64°F) to a high of 33°C (92°F). There is a great variation between daytime andnighttime temperatures,...

• World War I .

  and troops to Europe from the United States and other overseas sources. In 1914 Britain implemented a sea blockade of Germany to prevent the delivery of importssuch as food and war materials. The same year, Germany began using submarines to disrupt Allied seaborne traffic and prevent supplies from reaching Britain. In 1915Germany instituted a submarine blockade around Britain. From February 1915 to September 1915 and again in 1917, Germany used unrestricted submarine warfare,sinking ships withou...

• Bear - biology.

  programs sponsored by zoos or other breeding centers have attempted to breed giant pandas in captivity, although most of these programs have proved unsuccessful.Among the difficulties faced by captive breeders has been the problem of encouraging a female giant panda to mate with a selected male during the two to three daysof the year when she is most fertile, a period known as estrus. B Spectacled Bear Creamy-white rings surrounding the eyes give the spectacled bear its name. Its shaggy coat of...

• Middle East - Geography.

  though overall they have improved considerably since the 1970s. This variation reflects the different levels of wealth and development in countries of the Middle East. Inthe highly developed country of Israel the infant mortality rate was 8 deaths per 1000 live births in 1997. By comparison, the rate per 1000 live births was 71 in less-developed Egypt and 75 in Yemen. A Ethnic Groups and Languages Arabs make up the majority of the people of the Middle East, accounting for almost the entire popu...