ブリタニカ・ジャパン - Encyclopædia Britannica A-Z Browse

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automotive ceramics ... Avery, John
		automotive ceramics advanced ceramic materials that are made into components for automobiles. Examples include spark plug insulators, catalysts and catalyst supports for emission control devices, and sensors of various kinds. This article briefly describes two important automotive applications of modern advanced ceramics-support structures for catalytic converter elements and various pressure and heat ... automotive industry all those companies and activities involved in the manufacture of motor vehicles, including most components, such as engines and bodies, but excluding tires, batteries, and fuel. The industry's principal products are passenger automobiles and light trucks, including pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles. Commercial vehicles (i.e., delivery trucks and large ... autonomic nervous system in vertebrates, the part of the nervous system that controls and regulates the internal organs without any conscious recognition or effort by the organism. The autonomic nervous system comprises two antagonistic sets of nerves, the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic nervous system connects the internal organs to the ... autopsy dissection and examination of a dead body and its organs and structures to determine the cause of death, to observe the effects of disease, and to establish the sequences of changes and thus establish evolution and mechanisms of disease processes. autostrada national Italian expressway system built by the government as toll roads. The first, from Venice to Turin, was begun in 1924; construction was continuing in the early 1980s. The autostrada has three undivided lanes on a 33-foot (10-metre) roadway with 3-ft shoulders. Access is limited, with restrictions on commercial vehicles. ... autotelism the belief that a work of art, especially a work of literature, is an end in itself or provides its own justification and does not exist to serve a moral or didactic purpose. It was adopted by proponents of New Criticism in the 1920s and is similar to the "art ... autotomy the ability of certain animals to release part of the body that has been grasped by an external agent. A notable example is found among lizards that break off the tail when it is seized by a predator. The phenomenon is found also among certain worms, salamanders, and spiders. The ... autumn season of the year between summer and winter during which temperatures gradually decrease. It is often called fall in the United States because leaves fall from the trees at that time. Autumn is usually defined in the Northern Hemisphere as the period between the autumnal equinox (day and night equal ... Autun town, Saone-et-Loire departement, Bourgogne region, central France, on the Arroux River, southwest of Dijon. Augustodunum (Autun) succeeded Bibracte as the Gallic oppidum (fortified town) and was an important Roman city renowned for its schools of rhetoric. Much of the Roman wall, ... autunite phosphate mineral, hydrated calcium and uranium phosphate [Ca(UO₂)₂ (PO₄)₂·10-12H₂O], that is an ore of uranium. It forms translucent to transparent, yellow to pale-green crystals, scaly masses, or crusts in hydrothermal veins and pegmatites, where it occurs as an alteration product of uraninite. It has been found in Cornwall, Eng.; Katanga, ... Auvergne administrative region and historical region of France encompassing the central departements of Allier, Puy-de-Dome, Cantal, and Haute-Loire. Auvergne is bounded by the regions of Centre and Burgundy (Bourgogne) to the north, Rhone-Alpes to the east, Languedoc-Roussillon and Midi-Pyrenees to the south, ... Auwers, Arthur von German astronomer known for his star catalogs. Auxerre town, capital of Yonne departement, Bourgogne region, central France, on the Yonne River. The town, which flourished in pre-Roman and Roman days, became the seat of a bishop and a civitas (provincial capital) in the 3rd century. It was united to ... auxiliary in grammar, a helping element, especially a verb or verbal, that adds meaning to the basic meaning of the main verb or verbal in a sentence or verbal phrase. Auxiliaries can convey information about tense, mood, person, and number. An auxiliary verb occurs with a main verb or verbal that ... auxin any of a group of hormones that regulate plant growth, particularly by stimulating cell elongation in stems and inhibiting it in roots. For example, auxins influence the growth of stems toward light (phototropism) and against the force of gravity (geotropism). Auxins also play a role in cell division and differentiation, ... Ava ancient capital of central Myanmar (Burma), on the left bank of the Irrawaddy River at the Myitnge confluence. It is linked by a road and rail bridge, 5,894 feet (1,796 m) long, to the town of Sagaing; this is the only place where the Irrawaddy is bridged. Its name is ... Avadana legendary material centring on the Buddha's explanations of events by a person's worthy deeds in a previous life. The Pali cognate of the term is Apadana. Avadana designates both the class of such stories scattered within the Vinaya Pitaka ("Basket of Discipline") and separate collections based upon them. Among the ... avadavat (species Amandava, or Estrilda, amandava), plump, 8-centimetre- (3-inch-) long bird of the waxbill (q.v.) group (order Passeriformes), a popular cage bird. The avadavat is abundant in marshes and meadows of southern Asia (introduced in Hawaii). The male, in breeding plumage, is bright red with brown mottling and white speckling, hence ... avahi long-legged arboreal lemur of Madagascar. Avahis have short arms, a short muzzle, and a round head with small ears hidden in woolly fur. Nocturnal and vegetarian, they live in small groups in both rainforests and patches of dry forests, typically clinging vertically to the trees. Groups consist of a male, ... avalanche a mass of material moving rapidly down a slope. An avalanche is typically triggered when material on a slope breaks loose from its surroundings; this material then quickly collects and carries additional material down the slope. There are various kinds of avalanches, including rock avalanches (which consist of large segments ... avalanche effect in physics, a sudden increase in the flow of an electrical current through a nonconducting or semiconducting solid when a sufficiently strong electrical force is applied. The ability of most nonmetallic solids to carry an ordinary electrical current is limited by the scarcity of electrons free to move in the ... Avalokitesvara the bodhisattva ("Buddha-to-be") of infinite compassion and mercy, possibly the most popular of all Buddhist deities, beloved throughout the Buddhist world. He supremely exemplifies the bodhisattva's resolve to postpone his own Buddhahood until he has helped every being on earth achieve emancipation. Avalon island to which Britain's legendary king Arthur was conveyed for the healing of his wounds after his final battle. It is first mentioned in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae (c. 1136), while the same author's Vita Merlini (c. 1150) described it as "the island of apples ['Insula pomorum'], called ... Avalon Peninsula peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland, Canada; it is joined to the main part of the island by a 4-mi- (6-km-) wide isthmus between Placentia and Trinity bays and extends for about 110 mi with a maximum width of 60 mi. Its high point is about 1,000 ft (300 m) on the ... Avalon, Frankie American vocalist and actor best known for his chart-topping songs in the mid-1950s and early 1960s and as the star of youth-oriented beach movies. Avalonian orogeny a mountain-building event that affected the eastern portion of the Appalachian Geosyncline in late Precambrian time (Precambrian time occurred from 3.96 billion to 540 million years ago). Evidence for the orogeny consists of igneous intrusions, folding of strata, and the development of angular unconformities in the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, ... Avanti kingdom of ancient India, in the territory of present Madhya Pradesh state. The area was for a time part of the historic province of Malwa. About 600 BC the Avanti capital was Mahismati (probably modern Godarpura on the Narmada River), but it was soon moved to Ujjayini (near modern Ujjain). ... Avar one of a people of undetermined origin and language, who, playing an important role in eastern Europe (6th-9th century), built an empire in the area between the Adriatic and the Baltic Sea and between the Elbe and Dnieper rivers (6th-8th century). Inhabiting an area in the Caucasus region in 558, ... Avar-Andi-Dido languages group of languages spoken in western and central Dagestan republic, Russia, and in part of Azerbaijan. The group includes the Avar language, the Andi languages (Andi, Botlikh, Godoberi, Chamalal, Bagvalal, Tindi, Karata, and Akhvakh), and the Dido languages (Dido or Tsez, Khvarshi, Hinukh, Bezhta, and Hunzib or Kapucha). Avar, the ... Avatamsaka-sutra voluminous Mahayana Buddhist text that some consider the most sublime revelation of the Gautama Buddha's teachings. Scholars value the text for its revelations about the evolution of thought from primitive Buddhism to fully developed Mahayana. avatar ("descent"), in Hinduism, the incarnation of a deity in human or animal form to counteract some particular evil in the world. The term usually refers to these 10 appearances of Vishnu: Matsya (fish), Kurma (tortoise), Varaha (boar), Narasimha (half man, half lion), Vamana (dwarf), Parasurama (Rama with the axe), Rama ... Avebury archaeological site in Kennet district, administrative and historic county of Wiltshire, England, some 18.5 miles (30 km) north of Stonehenge. Lying on the River Kennet at the foot of the Marlborough Downs, it is one of the largest and best-known prehistoric sites in Europe, encompassing 28.5 acres (11.5 hectares). Avebury ... Avedon, Richard one of the leading mid-20th-century photographers, noted for his portraits and fashion photographs. Aveiro capital and port, Aveiro district, northwestern Portugal, on a lagoon at the mouth of the Rio Vouga, south of Porto. During the 16th century it was a port for Newfoundland (Grand Bank) cod-fishing fleets but declined after 1575 when sand blocked its lagoon. Aveiro (the Roman Talabriga) became a city ... Avellaneda partido (district) of eastern Gran (Greater) Buenos Aires, eastern Argentina. It lies immediately southeast of the city of Buenos Aires, in Buenos Aires provincia (province), on the Rio de la Plata estuary. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the area was an ... Avellino city, capital of Avellino province, Campania region, southern Italy, on the Sabato River surrounded by the Apennines, east of Naples. Its name is derived from Abellinum, a stronghold of the Hirpini (an ancient Italic people) and later a Roman colony, the site of which lies just to the east of ... Avempace earliest known representative in Spain of the Arabic Aristotelian-Neoplatonic philosophical tradition and forerunner of the polymath scholar Ibn Tufayl and of the philosopher Averroes. Avenarius, Richard German philosopher who taught at Zurich and founded the epistemological theory of knowledge known as empiriocriticism, according to which the major task of philosophy is to develop a "natural concept of the world" based on pure experience. Traditional metaphysicians believed in two categories of experience, inner and outer, and held ... avens any of various perennial, flowering plants of the genus Geum, within the rose family (Rosaceae). Aventinus Humanist and historian sometimes called the "Bavarian Herodotus." Aventis French pharmaceutical company founded in 1999 through the merger of Hoechst and Rhone-Poulenc. With headquarters in Strasbourg, France, Aventis was the product of the first transnational merger to combine large rival companies from France (Rhone-Poulenc) and Germany (Hoechst). Its products include vaccines, allergy medications, chemotherapy agents, insulin, antibiotics, and animal ... aventurine either of two gem minerals, one a plagioclase feldspar and the other quartz. Both have a sparkling reflection from oriented minute inclusions of mica or hematite. avera in Judaism, a moral transgression (or sin) against God or man. It may vary from grievous to slight and is the opposite of mitzwa (commandment), understood in the broad sense of any good deed. Whereas Jews are taught to prefer death to the willful commission of any of the three ... average in maritime law, loss or damage, less than total, to maritime property (a ship or its cargo), caused by the perils of the sea. An average may be particular or general. A particular average is one that is borne by the owner of the lost or damaged property (unless he ... Averescu, Alexandru military leader and politician who three times served as premier of Romania and was the chief executor of the official suppression of the peasant revolt of 1907. Averno, Lake of crater lake in Napoli province, Campania region, southern Italy, in the Campi Flegrei volcanic region, west of Naples. It is 7 ft (2 m) above sea level, 118 ft deep, and nearly 2 mi (more than 3 km) in circumference, with no natural outlet. Its Greek name, Aornos, was interpreted ... Averroes influential Islamic religious philosopher who integrated Islamic traditions with ancient Greek thought. At the request of the Almohad caliph Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, he produced a series of summaries and commentaries on most of Aristotle's works (1169-95) and on Plato's Republic, which exerted considerable influence in both the ... Aversa town and episcopal see, Caserta province, Campania region, southern Italy, in the fertile Campanian plain north of Naples. Founded in 1030 by the Normans, who made it the capital of the first Norman county in Italy, it became a centre of culture, noted for its grammar schools, and a diocese ... aversion therapy psychotherapy designed to cause a patient to reduce or avoid an undesirable behaviour pattern by conditioning the person to associate the behaviour with an undesirable stimulus. The chief stimuli used in the therapy are electrical, chemical, or imagined aversive situations. In the electrical therapy, the patient is given a lightly ... Avery, Byllye American health care activist whose efforts centred on bettering the welfare of low-income African American women through self-help groups and advocacy networks. Avery, John one of Britain's most renowned pirates of the late 17th century, and the model for Daniel Defoe's hero in Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton (1720).