| | - Ain River
- river, eastern France, flowing 124 miles (200 km) southward from the Jura Plateau through Jura and Ain departements. The river emerges from its gorge near Pont-d'Ain, having powered several hydroelectric stations (the largest of which is the Barrage de Vouglans). The Ain then crosses the Dombes lowlands and joins the ... [1 Related Articles]
- Ain Sefra
- town, western Algeria. It is situated in the Saharan Atlas, 28 miles (45 km) east of the Moroccan border. The town lies in a broad valley between Mount Aissa and Mount Mekter, on either side of the usually dry Wadi Ain Sefra.
- Ain Temouchent
- town, northwestern Algeria, on the right bank of the Wadi Sennene. The town is bounded on the south by the Wadi Temouchent, with the Tessala Mountains in the background. Built on the site of the ruined Roman Albula and the later Arab settlement of Ksar ibn Senar, the town was ...
- ainame
- (from the article "greenling") ...mackerel (Pleurogrammus monopterygius), a banded, black and yellow fish valued for food and sport; the lingcod (Ophiodon elongatus), a large, predatory North Pacific species; and the ainame (Hexagrammos otakii), a common food fish of Japan.
- Ainoid
- (from the article "Heilungkiang") ...prehistoric population of the region appears to have consisted of people who bred pigs and horses; known as Tungids, they occupied much of northeastern Asia. Stone Age fishermen, the Sibirids and Ainoids, lived along the rivers and coast.
- Ainsworth, Henry
- Nonconformist theologian, Hebrew scholar, and a leader of the English Separatist colony in Amsterdam.
- Ainsworth, William Harrison
- English author of popular historical romances.
- Ainu
- indigenous people of Hokkaido, Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands who were culturally and physically distinct from their Japanese neighbours until the second part of the 20th century. The Ainu may be descendants of an indigenous population once widely spread over northern Asia; many contemporary Ainu claim some connection to Japan's ... [6 Related Articles]
- Ainu language
- (from the article "Ainu") ...Ainu may be descendants of an indigenous population once widely spread over northern Asia; many contemporary Ainu claim some connection to Japan's prehistoric Jomon culture. The traditional Ainu language, an isolate with a number of dialects, had been almost completely supplanted by Japanese by the early 21st century; a language-revitalization ...
- Aiora
- (from the article "Erigone") ...Icarius, Erigone, and Maera were set among the stars as Bootes (or Arcturus), Virgo, and Procyon (Canis Minor, the Lesser Dog); to propitiate Icarius and Erigone, the festival called Aiora (the Swing) was instituted. During this festival various small images (Latin oscilla) were swung from trees, and offerings of fruit ...
- air
- mixture of gases comprising the Earth's atmosphere. The mixture contains a group of gases of nearly constant concentrations and a group with concentrations that are variable in both space and time. The atmospheric gases of steady concentration (and their proportions in percentage by volume) are as follows:
| nitrogen (N2) | 78.084 | | oxygen (O2) | 20.946 | | argon (Ar) | 0.934 | neon ... [22 Related Articles]
- air
- (from the article "surfing") ...the board along the top of a breaking wave), "reverses" (rapid changes of direction), 360s (turning the board through 360 degrees on the face of the wave), and "airs" (flying above the face of the wave).
- Air America
- (from the article "Media and Publishing") Air America, a new liberal radio network intended to counter the prevailing right-wing themes of American talk radio, signed on in March 2004 with comic Al Franken as its marquee host. Also cohosting a show was comedian and actress Janeane Garofalo. Despite the abundance of news in an election year, ...
- Air Atlanta Icelandic
- (from the article "Iceland") ...important internally in compensating for the limited road system. Keflavik International Airport, the country's primary gateway, is located about 30 miles (48 km) west of Reykjavik. Air Atlanta Icelandic, a large charter airline, is active worldwide in charter operations, particularly in flying Muslim pilgrims to Mecca from various communities in ...
- air bag
- (from the article "microelectromechanical system") ...but it took nearly two decades to establish the design and manufacturing infrastructure needed for their commercial development. One of the first products with a large market was the automobile air-bag controller, which combines inertia sensors to detect a crash and electronic control circuitry to deploy the air bag in ...
- air base
- (from the article "logistics") ...technology of movement, especially by air and sea. During the 1950s the proponents of naval and land-based air power debated the relative cost and effectiveness of naval-carrier forces and fixed air bases as a tool of emergency intervention. Studies seemed to show that the fixed bases were cheaper if all ...
- Air Botswana
- (from the article "Botswana") Constitutional tension continued between presidentialism and the vestiges of parliamentary sovereignty. The parliament stalled the presidential cabinet's privatization of Air Botswana on the grounds that the airline had been established by an act of parliament and that the cabinet had exceeded its prerogative. The parliament also insisted on oversight of ...
- air brake
- either of two kinds of braking systems. The first, used by railroad trains, trucks, and buses, operates by a piston driven by compressed air from reservoirs connected to brake cylinders. When air pressure in the brake pipe is reduced, air is automatically admitted into the brake cylinder. The first practical ... [3 Related Articles]
- Air Canada
- airline established by the Canadian Parliament in the Trans-Canada Air Lines Act of April 10, 1937. Known for almost 28 years as Trans-Canada Air Lines, it assumed its current name on January 1, 1965. Air Canada's headquarters are in Montreal. [1 Related Articles]
- air chilling
- (from the article "poultry processing") Air chilling is the standard in Europe. The carcasses are hung by shackles and moved through coolers with rapidly moving air. The process is less energy-efficient than water chilling, and the birds lose weight because of dehydration. Air chilling prevents cross-contamination between birds. However, if a single bird contains a ...
- Air Commerce Act
- (from the article "flight, history of") ...a considerable clientele, the Post Office yielded to congressional pressures and, with the Contract Air Mail Act of 1925, turned over the mail service to private contractors. The following year, the Air Commerce Act established a bureau to enforce procedures for the licensing of aircraft, engines, pilots, and other personnel. ...
- air conduction
- (from the article "ear, human") The outer ear directs sound waves from the external environment to the tympanic membrane (Figure 1). The auricle, the visible portion of the outer ear, collects sound waves and, with the concha, the cavity at the entrance to the external auditory canal, helps to funnel sound into the canal. Because ...
- air cooling
- (from the article "automotive industry") ...producing one-half of West Germany's motor vehicles and had established a strong position in the world market. Breaking away from what had become standard design, the Volkswagen used a four-cylinder air-cooled engine at the rear of the car. It also dispensed with the annual model change that had become customary ...
- air cooling
- (from the article "vegetable farming") ...over a stack of packages to precool the contents. The vacuum cooling process produces rapid evaporation of a small quantity of water, lowering the temperature of the crop to the desired level. Air cooling involves the exposure of vegetables to cold air; the air must be as cold as possible ...
- air curing
- (from the article "tobacco") ...types. Curing entails four essential steps: wilting, yellowing, colouring, and drying. These involve physical and chemical changes in the leaf and are regulated to develop the desired properties. Air curing is accomplished mainly by mechanical ventilation inside buildings. Coke, charcoal, or liquid petroleum gas may be burned to provide heat ...
- air de cour
- (French: "court air"), genre of French solo or part-song predominant from the late 16th century through the 17th century. It originated in arrangements, for voice and lute, of popular chansons (secular part-songs) written in a light chordal style. Such arrangements were originally known as vau- (or voix-) de-villes ("town voice"), ... [3 Related Articles]
- air division
- (from the article "military unit") ...squadrons make up a wing. (An intermediate unit between the squadron and the wing is the air group or group, which consists of two to four squadrons.) Several wings are sometimes combined to form an air division or an air force.
- air drill
- (from the article "mining") The invention of mechanical drills powered by compressed air (pneumatic hammers) increased markedly the capability to mine hard rock, decreasing the cost and time for excavation by severalfold. It is reported that the Englishman Richard Trevithick invented a rotary steam-driven drill in 1813. Mechanical piston drills utilizing attached bits on ...
- air duct
- (from the article "sound") ...in the design of air-handling systems. In order to attenuate the level of sound from blower motors and other sources of vibration, regions of larger or smaller cross-sectional area are inserted into air ducts, as illustrated in Figure 3. The impedance mismatch introduced into a duct by a change in ...
- air embolism
- blockage of an artery or vein by an air bubble. Air can be introduced into the blood vessels during surgery or traumatic accidents. One type of traumatic embolization occurs when lung tissue is ruptured; bubbles of air pass from the alveoli (air sacs) of the lungs into nearby capillaries and ... [3 Related Articles]
- air engine
- (from the article "automobile") The air engine is thought to have originated with a 17th-century German physicist, Otto von Guericke. Guericke invented an air pump and was probably the first to make metal pistons, cylinders, and connecting rods, the basic components of the reciprocating engine. In the 17th century a Dutch inventor, Christiaan Huygens, ...
- air force
- that military organization of a nation which is primarily responsible for the conduct of air warfare. The air force has the missions of gaining control of the air, supporting surface forces (as by bombing and strafing), and accomplishing strategic-bombing objectives. The basic weapon systems of air forces are such military ... [2 Related Articles]
- Air France
- French international airline originally formed in 1933 and today serving all parts of the globe. With British Airways, it was the first to fly the supersonic Concorde. Headquarters are in Paris. [4 Related Articles]
- Air France-KLM
- (from the article "Air France") ...and, after the French government agreed to relinquish majority ownership in Air France, a privatization program was launched in 2002. In 2004 Air France acquired the Dutch airline KLM to create Air France-KLM, one of the largest air carriers in the world. The deal, however, allowed the two airlines to ...
- air gauge
- (from the article "gauge") ...movement of a gauging spindle deflects a pointer on a graduated dial; wiggler indicators, which are used by machinists to centre or align work in machine tools; comparators, or visual gauges; and air gauges, which are used to gauge holes of various types. Very precise measurements may also be obtained ...
- air group
- (from the article "military unit") ...and often of the same model-e.g., F-16s. Three to six flying squadrons and their support squadrons make up a wing. (An intermediate unit between the squadron and the wing is the air group or group, which consists of two to four squadrons.) Several wings are sometimes combined to form an ...
- air gun
- weapon based on the principle of the primitive blowgun that shoots bullets, pellets, or darts by expansion of compressed air.
- air hoist
- (from the article "pneumatic device") Portable tools also include chipping hammers and air hoists. Pneumatic chipping hammers contain an air-operated piston that delivers successive blows to a chisel or forming tool at the end of the hammer. The valve type of tool has a separate mechanism to control the airflow to the piston, thus allowing ...
- Air India
- airline founded in 1932 (as Tata Airlines) that grew into an international airline owned by the Indian government; it serves southern and east Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, the United States, and Canada. Headquarters are in Bombay (Mumbai). [1 Related Articles]
- Air India Flight 182 disaster
- passenger jet explosion off the coast of Ireland on June 23, 1985, that claimed the lives of all 329 passengers and crew members. Sikh extremists were accused of sabotaging the Air India aircraft, and one suspect was convicted in 2003.
- Air Lanka
- (from the article "Sri Lanka") Air Lanka, the national airline, operates regularly between its base at Colombo and several major cities in Asia and Europe. Other airlines that frequent Colombo include the national carriers of Singapore, Thailand, India, The Netherlands, and Britain. The seaport of Colombo handles the bulk of Sri Lanka's shipping, including some ...
- air law
- the body of law directly or indirectly concerned with civil aviation. Aviation in this context extends to both heavier-than-air and lighter-than-air aircraft. Air-cushion vehicles are not regarded as aircraft by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), but the practice of individual states in this regard is not yet settled. The ... [1 Related Articles]
- air layering
- (from the article "arboriculture") ...ground and covered with moist soil of good quality. When roots have developed, which may require a year or more, the branch is severed from the parent and transplanted. In an alternative technique, air layering, the branch is deeply slit and the wound covered by a ball of earth, moss, ...
- air leavening
- (from the article "baking") Angel food cakes, sponge cakes, and similar products are customarily prepared without either yeast or chemical leaveners. Instead, they are leavened by air entrapped in the product through vigorous beating. This method requires a readily foaming ingredient capable of retaining the air bubbles, such as egg whites. To produce a ...
- air lock
- device that permits passage between regions of differing air pressures, most often used for passage between atmospheric pressure and chambers in which the air is compressed, such as pneumatic caissons and underwater tunnels. The air lock also has been used as a design feature of space vehicles; on March 18, ...
- Air Malawi
- (from the article "Malawi") Air Malawi, the national airline, operates services from the main airport at Chileka, 11 miles from Blantyre, to several foreign countries and neighbouring African capitals.
- air mass
- in meteorology, large body of air having nearly uniform conditions of temperature and humidity at any given level of altitude. Such a mass has distinct boundaries and may extend hundreds or thousands of kilometres horizontally and sometimes as high as the top of the troposphere (about 10-18 km [6-11 miles] ... [5 Related Articles]
- Air massif
- group of granitic mountains rising sharply from the Sahara in central Niger. Several of these mountains approach and exceed 6,000 feet (1,800 m), the highest being Mount Greboun (6,378 feet [1,944 m]). The mountains are dissected by deep valleys, called koris, in which some vegetation permits the pasturage of livestock, ... [3 Related Articles]
- Air New Zealand Limited
- New Zealand international airline founded in 1939 (as Tasman Empire Airways Limited, or TEAL) and, by 1980, operating throughout the South Pacific from New Zealand and Australia to Hong Kong and Singapore and to Tahiti, Hawaii, and Los Angeles. The original shareholders in 1939 were New Zealand (50 percent), Australia ... [1 Related Articles]
- air plant
- (from the article "kalanchoe") The most common species, valued for their unusual foliage, include the panda plant (K. tomentosa); penwiper plant (K. marmorata); air plant, or maternity plant (K. pinnata); velvet leaf, or felt bush (K. beharensis); devil's backbone (K. daigremontiana); and South American air plant (K. fedtschenkoi). A range of attractive pot plants, ...
- air pocket
- (from the article "air pocket") strong updraft or downdraft encountered by an aircraft in flight. See updraft and downdraft.for more general content related to this topicdowndraftupdraft
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