The death proceeds or cash values of insurance may be settled in various ways. The insured may take the cash value and lapse the policy. A beneficiary may take a lump sum settlement of the face amount upon the death of the insured. The beneficiary may, instead, elect to receive the proceeds over a given number of years or in some fixed amount, such as $100 a month, for as long as
Formerly Fort De Kock, city, Sumatera Barat provinsi (“province”), Sumatra, Indonesia. It lies at an elevation of 3,000 feet (900 m) on the Agam Plateau, a ridge of high land parallel to the coast. The city is in the Minangkabau country, one of the most scenic sections of Indonesia. Typical of the region are houses with saddle-shaped roofs, the ends pointing upward like buffalo horns. Bukittinggi is an important
A maritime contract (now almost obsolete) by which the owner of a ship borrows money for equipping or repairing the vessel and, for a definite term, pledges the ship as security—it being stipulated that if the ship be lost in the specified voyage or period, by any of the perils enumerated, the lender shall lose his money. A similar contract creating a security interest
Swedish physical chemist best known for his theory that electrolytes, certain substances that dissolve in water to yield a solution that conducts electricity, are separated, or dissociated, into electrically charged particles, or ions, even when there is no current flowing through the solution. In 1903 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Though the epinicion's structure
(Medieval Latin: “Ancient Art”), in music history, period of musical activity in 13th-century France, characterized by increasingly sophisticated counterpoint (the art of combining simultaneous voice parts), that culminated in the innovations of the 14th-century Ars Nova (q.v.). The term Ars Antiqua originated, in fact, with the Ars Nova theorists, some of whom spoke of the “Ancient
Town, southern Rajasthan state, northwestern India, just south of the Banas River. Connected by road with Udaipur and close to the Malvi rail junction, Nathdwara is a place of Hindu pilgrimage; it contains a 17th-century Vaishnavite shrine that is one of the most famous in India. Within the temple is a celebrated image of the god Krishna, popularly said to date to the 12th century
The biologic effect of aldosterone, the principal mineralocorticoid produced by the zona glomerulosa, is to set in motion a set of reactions at the cell surface of all body tissues in order to enhance the uptake and retention of sodium in all cells and the extrusion of potassium from them. Such fluxes of sodium and potassium following the administration of aldosterone
Also called Ovamboland, geographic region, northern Namibia. Owambo is bordered by the Kaokoland (Kaokoveld) region on the west and by the Kavango region on the east. The border with Angola lies to the north. Most of semiarid Owambo is an extremely flat plain covered by white sands. It is crossed by a series of low-gradient, often parallel, south-oriented dry watercourses (oshanas), collectively
Also called Church Of The Holy Wisdom, Turkish Ayasofya, cathedral built at Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) under the direction of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. It is a unique building and one of the world's great monuments, despite time's ravages. The structure, a domed basilica, was built in the amazingly short time of about six years, being completed in AD 537. The architects were Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus.
High-altitude region of dissected plateaus enclosing a central valley (Valle Central de Chiapas) in Chiapas state, southeastern Mexico. The highlands constitute the northwestern end of a mountainous region extending northward from the lowlands of Nicaragua to the Isthmus of Tehauntepec and are composed of three main features running parallel to the Pacific
Hardening of the walls of the small arteries and arterioles (small arteries that convey blood from arteries to the even smaller capillaries) of the kidney. This condition is caused by hypertension (high blood pressure). Hypertension can be present in a person for 20 to 30 years without evidence of kidney involvement; such persons usually die of other effects of hypertension
Town, Yvelines département, Paris region, northern France, just southwest of Versailles. Flanked by its famous château and surrounded by an extensive forest, it is a favoured tourist spot for Parisians. The château, built in 1375 by a courtier of Charles V of France, passed into the hands of Jacques d'Angennes, captain of King Francis I's bodyguard. In 1547, Francis died there on a
The best one-volume study of Augustine's thought is Eugene TeSelle, Augustine the Theologian (1970). John Burnaby, Amor Dei: A Study of the Religion of St. Augustine (1938; reissued with corrections and a new foreword, 1991), is sympathetic and illuminating but dated. For Augustine in his cultural context, there is still nothing better than Henri Irénée Marrou, Saint Augustin et la fin de la culture antique, 4th ed., 2 vol. in 1 (1958; reissued in 1 vol., 1983). Other useful studies are Brian Stock, Augustine the Reader: Meditation, Self-Knowledge, and the Ethics of Interpretation (1996); and Sabine MacCormack, The Shadows of Poetry: Vergil in the Mind of Augustine (1998). Augustine's political views are addressed in Herbert A. Deane, The Political and Social Ideas of St. Augustine (1963); and R.A. Markus, Saeculum: History and Society in the Theology of St. Augustine, rev. ed. (1988). Augustine's views on sexuality have come under scrutiny in recent years; the most comprehensive study is Kim Power, Veiled Desire: Augustine on Women (1996); but Peter Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (1988), is also important.
Region of southeastern Victoria, Australia, extending northeast from Western Port (near Melbourne) to the New South Wales border and south from the Eastern Highlands to the coast, with an area of 13,600 square miles (35,200 square km). Fertile and well watered (34 inches [860 mm] annually), Gippsland is the focus of the state's dairy industry, supplying most of Melbourne's liquid milk. Lignite
Sandstone hills located in the northern part of the Satpura Range, in southern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. The hills have small plateaus and steep scarps that were formed during the Carboniferous Period (360 to 286 million years ago). The hills have a gentle northern slope but are steep to the south, where they drop abruptly from 3,600 feet (1,100 m) to less than 900 feet (275 m). The general
Apparently educated in vernacular literature, Grazzini in 1540 took part in the founding of the Accademia degli Umidi (“Academy of the Humid”), the first literary society of the time. He was a contentious individual and became
The first major rock tunnel built in the United States. The tunnel runs through Hoosac Mountain of the Berkshire Hills, east of North Adams, Mass., and was built to provide a rail connection between Boston and upper New York state. Though only 4.75 miles (7.6 km) long, the tunnel took 24 years (1851–75) to complete, partly because of slow and laborious rock-tunneling techniques in use when construction
Domingo's parents were noted performers in zarzuela, a form of Spanish light opera. He grew up in Mexico, where he studied piano at the National Conservatory of
'abd Al-mu'min
Even while he was pursuing his conquest, 'Abd al-Mu'min had established a central government for his empire. To the traditional clan organization of the Masmudah and other Berber peoples supporting the Almohads he added an organization to promote the spread of Almohad doctrine and a central administration (the makhzan) modeled on those of Muslim Spain, which was staffed
City, northeastern Bahia estado (“state”), northeastern Brazil, on the São Francisco River, at the site of the Paulo Afonso Falls. Made the seat of a municipality in 1958, Paulo Afonso is the transportation and commercial centre for its agricultural hinterland. It is accessible by highway from Salvador, the state capital, about 310 miles (500 km) south, and from neighbouring communities
Development of the north demands an understanding of and the ability to cope with problems of the environment dictated by permafrost. Although the frozen ground hinders agricultural and mining activities, the most dramatic, widespread, and economically important examples of the influence of permafrost on life in the north involve construction and maintenance
Interior Design, 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe
Neoclassicism predominated in France till the rise of Napoleon, when to Roman styles were added Egyptian motifs from his Egyptian campaign of 1798. This was known in France as the Empire style, after the First Empire of France (1804–14), and in England as Regency, for the period (1811–20) when George III was too deranged to rule. Furniture design, for the most part light and graceful during the
Allouez entered the Society of Jesus at Toulouse, was ordained priest in 1655, and sailed for Quebec in 1658. He was stationed at settlements along the St. Lawrence River until his appointment (1663) as vicar general of the Northwest. He
The basic weaves include plain (or tabby), twills, and satins (see Figure 7).
France, History Of, The Jacobin dictatorship
The Convention consolidated its revolutionary government in the Law of 14 Frimaire Year II (Dec. 4, 1793; for a discussion of the Revolutionary calendar, see below). To organize the Revolution, to promote confidence and compliance, efficiency and control, this law centralized authority in a parliamentary dictatorship, with the Committee of Public Safety at the helm. The committee
River in northern France, a left-bank tributary of the Seine, with a length of 140 miles (225 km). From its source in the Perche Hills, Orne département, at an elevation of about 800 feet (240 m), to its confluence with the Seine River above Rouen at Pont de l'Arche, it flows chiefly through agricultural and wooded regions, receiving numerous tributaries, including the Blaise, the Avre, and the
Jackson graduated from Syracuse University in 1940 and married the American literary critic Stanley Edgar Hyman. They settled in North Bennington in 1945. Life Among the Savages (1953) and Raising Demons (1957) are witty and humorous fictionalized memoirs
Ottawa, part of the Plant Research Institute of Agriculture Canada (formerly Canada Department of Agriculture). Established in 1889, the arboretum is Canada's oldest. It occupies 40 hectares (99 acres) and includes about 10,000 kinds of plants. Its special collections of flowering crabs, lilacs, lilies, and hedge plants are as much for experimental work and study as for display to the
British army officer and Orientalist who deciphered the Old Persian portion of the trilingual cuneiform inscription of Darius I the Great at Bisitun, Iran. His success provided the key to the deciphering, by himself and others, of Mesopotamian cuneiform script, a feat that greatly expanded knowledge of the ancient
Anna Robertson had only sporadic periods of schooling during her childhood. At age 12 she left her parents' farm and worked as a hired girl until she married
Crocker graduated from the State Normal School in West Newton, Massachusetts, in 1850 and remained there for four more years as an instructor
Goodall, Jane
Goodall, who was interested in animal behaviour from an early age, left school at age 18. She worked as a secretary and as a film production assistant until she gained passage to Africa. Once there, Goodall
The successive stages in the plate-tectonic cycle (see below) produce igneous rocks that have geochemical patterns distinctive for each stage. Consequently, the igneous petrologist is able to use both the major and trace element abundances of rocks to define the possible tectonic environment in which they formed. The metamorphic petrologist can use the bulk
Kediri
Ancient Kadiri traditional region and modern kabupaten (regency) of eastern Java, Indonesia. From the 11th to the early 13th century, Kediri was the dominant kingdom in eastern Java, renowned for its naval and commercial strength and for its achievements in literature. It was absorbed into the later kingdoms of Singasari and Majapahit and then by the central Java kingdom of Mataram.
Imaginary line extending around the Earth parallel to the equator; it is used to indicate latitude. The 38th parallel, for example, has a latitude of 38° N or 38° S. See latitude and longitude.
Leading English ethnographer of the Mayan people. Thompson devoted his life to the study of Mayan culture and was able to extensively decipher early Mayan glyphs, determining that, contrary to prevailing belief, they contained historical as well as ritualistic and religious records. He also discovered that present-day
City, east-central West Bengal state, northeastern India. It lies just east of the Hooghly River and is part of the Calcutta urban agglomeration. The city's major industries include jute and cotton milling, leather tanning, and the manufacture of rubber goods, cement, pottery, and paint. It contains a group of temples, called Rani Rasmani's Nabaratna, that are dedicated to
Price, Lloyd
Price's recording of his composition
Chordophones, or stringed instruments, constitute the most important family. The favourite instrument of Islamic classical music is the 'ud, a short-necked lute having four or five strings and resembling the Western lute, which derived from the 'ud. In addition to holding musical supremacy, it was important in medieval theoretical and cosmological speculations. It
(Bartramia pomiformis), moss of the order Bryales that has apple-shaped capsules (spore cases) and forms wide, deep cushions in moist, rocky woods throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It is one of more than 100 species in the genus Bartramia; more than 10 are found in North America. An apple moss is usually erect, with a two-forked caulid (stem) about 6 cm (about 2.25 inches) tall, with rust-coloured,
Also spelled yortzeit , or jahrzeit in Judaism, the anniversary of the death of a parent or close relative, most commonly observed by burning a candle for an entire day. On the anniversary, a male (or female, in Reform and Conservative congregations) usually recites the Qaddish (doxology) in the synagogue at all three services, and males may be called up (aliyah) for the public reading of the Torah. If the anniversary
Augustine was born in Tagaste, a modest Roman community in a river valley 40 miles (64 km) from the African coast. It lay just a few miles short of the point where the veneer of Roman civilization thinned out in the highlands of Numidia in the way the American West opens before a traveler leaving the Mississippi River valley. Augustine's parents were of the respectable class
Ardashir Ii
King of the Sasanian empire in ancient Persia (reigned AD 379–383). During the reign of his brother Shapur II, he had been king of Adiabene (now a region of northeast Iraq), where he took part in the persecution of Christians. After Shapur's death, he was set on the throne by the nobles, presumably at an advanced age. His investiture is commemorated in a rock carving at Taq-e Bostan. His attempts
Grace
Greek Charis, plural Charites, Latin Gratia, in Greek religion, one of a group of goddesses of fertility. The name refers to the “pleasing” or “charming” appearance of a fertile field or garden. The number of Graces varied in different legends, but usually there were three: Aglaia (Brightness), Euphrosyne (Joyfulness), and Thalia (Bloom). They are said to be daughters of Zeus and Hera (or Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus) or of
Each foreleg of the damsel bug is slightly thickened and has a double row of
Any one of a class of enzymes that catalyze reactions involving a structural rearrangement of a molecule. Alanine racemase, for example, catalyzes the conversion of L-alanine into its isomeric (mirror-image) form, D-alanine. An isomerase called mutarotase catalyzes the conversion of a-d-glucose into b-d-glucose. cf. ligase, lyase.
In filmmaking, the process of adding new dialogue or other sounds to the sound track of a motion picture that has already been shot. Dubbing is most familiar to audiences as a means of translating foreign-language films into the audience's language. When a foreign language is dubbed, the translation of the original dialogue is carefully matched to the lip movements
Moral theistic argument belongs primarily to the modern world and perhaps reflects the modern lack of confidence in metaphysical constructions. Kant, having rejected the cosmological, ontological, and design proofs, argued in the Critique of Practical Reason (1788) that the existence of God, though not directly provable, is a necessary postulate of the moral life. To
Electric incandescent lamp based on a glowing metallic filament enclosed within a glass shell filled with an inert gas such as nitrogen. See incandescent lamp; lamp.
The overthrow of the constitutional monarchy in February 1848 still seems, in retrospect, a puzzling event. The revolution has been called a result without a cause; more properly, it might be called a result out of proportion to its cause. Since 1840 the regime had settled into a kind of torpid stability; but it had provided the nation with peace abroad and relative prosperity
There are no perennial rivers in Libya. The numerous wadis that drain the uplands are filled by flash floods during the rains and quickly dry up or are reduced to a trickle. The largest wadi systems are the Wadi Zamzam and Wadi Bayy al-Kabir, both of which reach the western coast of the Gulf of Sidra. Other large wadis drain the interior basins of Surt, Zaltan, and the Fezzan.
Hengelo is a rail junction and has a state agricultural school and cattle
Argentine industry is well served by the country's abundance of energy resources. By the late 20th century the country was self-sufficient in fossil fuels and hydroelectric generation, and it had become a petroleum exporter. Oil deposits are scattered throughout the country. The basin around the Patagonian port of Comodoro Rivadavia is estimated to hold some two-thirds
Zeus
According to a Cretan myth that was later adopted by
