information processing: Recording techniques: …is commonly referred to as data, and its analog counterpart is called source data. Vast quantities of nondocument analog data are collected, digitized, and compressed automatically by means of appropriate instruments in fields such as astronomy, environmental monitoring, scientific experimentation and modeling, and national security. The capture of information generated…

data analysis, the process of systematically collecting, cleaning, transforming, describing, modeling, and interpreting data, generally employing statistical techniques. Data analysis is an important part of both scientific research and business, where demand has grown in recent years for

database, any collection of data, or information, that is specially organized for rapid search and retrieval by a computer. Databases are structured to facilitate the storage, retrieval, modification, and deletion of data in conjunction with various data-processing operations. A database management

cloud computing: Data centres and privacy: Construction of the large data centres that run cloud-computing services often requires investments of hundreds of millions of dollars. The centres typically contain thousands of server computers networked together into parallel-processing or grid-computing systems. The centres also often employ sophisticated virtualization…

sociology: Data collection: Research techniques vary depending on the social phenomena studied. Data-collection techniques differ from participant observation, content analysis, interviewing, and documentary analysis. In this approach each problem studied requires a specific unit of observation, be it an individual, an organization, a city, a relationship…

data compression, the process of reducing the amount of data needed for the storage or transmission of a given piece of information, typically by the use of encoding techniques. Compression predates digital technology, having been used in Morse Code, which assigned the shortest codes to the most

data compression, the process of reducing the amount of data needed for the storage or transmission of a given piece of information, typically by the use of encoding techniques. Compression predates digital technology, having been used in Morse Code, which assigned the shortest codes to the most

endangered species: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: …and abundant after careful assessment Data Deficient (DD), a condition applied to species in which the amount of available data related to its risk of extinction is lacking in some way. Consequently, a complete assessment cannot be performed. Thus, unlike the other categories in this list, this category does not…

computer science: Programming languages: …the addition of support for data encapsulation, which gave rise to object-oriented languages. The original object-oriented language was called Smalltalk, in which all programs were represented as collections of objects communicating with each other via message-passing. An object is a set of data together with the methods (functions) that can…

data encryption, the process of disguising information as “ciphertext,” or data unintelligible to an unauthorized person. Conversely, decryption, or decipherment, is the process of converting ciphertext back into its original format. Manual encryption has been used since Roman times, but the term

Data Encryption Standard (DES), an early data encryption standard endorsed by the U.S. National Bureau of Standards (NBS; now the National Institute of Standards and Technology). It was phased out at the start of the 21st century by a more secure encryption standard, known as the Advanced

virtual reality: Entertainment: …the iconic significance of the data glove in the emergence of VR in commerce and popular culture. Data gloves relay a user’s hand and finger movements to a VR system, which then translates the wearer’s gestures into manipulations of virtual objects. The first data glove, developed in 1977 at the…

computer science: Information management: Data integrity refers to designing a DBMS that ensures the correctness and stability of its data across all applications that access the system. When a database is designed, integrity checking is enabled by specifying the data type of each column in the table. For example,…

data mining, in computer science, the process of discovering interesting and useful patterns and relationships in large volumes of data. The field combines tools from statistics and artificial intelligence (such as neural networks and machine learning) with database management to analyze large

data processing, manipulation of data by a computer. It includes the conversion of raw data to machine-readable form, flow of data through the CPU and memory to output devices, and formatting or transformation of output. Any use of computers to perform defined operations on data can be included

Megaupload, popular file-sharing computer service created by entrepreneur Kim Schmitz that was shut down in 2012 by the United States government after its founders were charged for violating antipiracy laws. It was based in Hong Kong. In 2003 Schmitz, a native of Germany, moved to Hong Kong and

data protection, species of privacy law that controls access to information relating to the individual. Typically, data protection provides individuals with the right to see data held about themselves and to require correction. Beyond that, data protection determines how organizations holding data

information processing: Information searching and retrieval: State-of-the-art approaches to retrieving information employ two generic techniques: (1) matching words in the query against the database index (key-word searching) and (2) traversing the database with the aid of hypertext or hypermedia links.

data mining: …large digital collections, known as data sets. Data mining is widely used in business (insurance, banking, retail), science research (astronomy, medicine), and government security (detection of criminals and terrorists).

data structure, way in which data are stored for efficient search and retrieval. Different data structures are suited for different problems. Some data structures are useful for simple general problems, such as retrieving data that has been stored with a specific identifier. For example, an online

data transmission, sending and receiving data via cables (e.g., telephone lines or fibre optics) or wireless systems. Because ordinary telephone circuits pass signals that fall within the frequency range of voice communication (about 300–3,500 hertz), the high frequencies associated with data

computer: Internet and collaborative software: …information has given rise to data warehousing and data mining. The former is a term for unstructured collections of data and the latter a term for its analysis. Data mining uses statistics and other mathematical tools to find patterns of information. For more information concerning business on the Internet, see…

ancient Iran: The organization and achievement of the Achaemenian Empire: …called by the Iranian word dāta-bar. These were probably the judges of the imperial courts.

information system: Decision support systems and business intelligence: The primary objective of data-driven business intelligence systems is to analyze large pools of data, accumulated over long periods of time in data warehouses, in a process known as data mining. Data mining aims to discover significant patterns, such as sequences (buying a new house, followed by a new…

computer science: Networking and communication: The data-link layer handles standard-sized “packets” of data and adds reliability in the form of error detection and flow control bits. The network and transport layers break messages into the standard-size packets and route them to their destinations. The session layer supports interactions between applications on…

computer science: Networking and communication: The data-link layer handles standard-sized “packets” of data and adds reliability in the form of error detection and flow control bits. The network and transport layers break messages into the standard-size packets and route them to their destinations. The session layer supports interactions between applications on…

database, any collection of data, or information, that is specially organized for rapid search and retrieval by a computer. Databases are structured to facilitate the storage, retrieval, modification, and deletion of data in conjunction with various data-processing operations. A database management

database management system (DBMS), system for quick search and retrieval of information from a database. The DBMS determines how data are stored and retrieved. It must address problems such as security, accuracy, consistency among different records, response time, and memory requirements. These

computer science: Information management: …hence the need for a database model emerges. Historically, three different types of database models have been developed to support the linkage of records of different types: (1) the hierarchical model, in which record types are linked in a treelike structure (e.g., employee records might be grouped under records describing…

telecommunications network: Switched communications network: …network in a connectionless or datagram scheme. Since datagrams may not arrive at the destination in the order in which they were sent, they are numbered so that they can be properly reassembled. The latter is the method that is used for transmitting data through the Internet.

Xuanzang: …his translations, Xuanzang composed the Datang-Xiyu-Ji (“Records of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty”), the great record of the various countries passed through during his journey. Out of veneration for this intrepid and devout Buddhist monk and pilgrim, the Tang emperor canceled all audiences for three days after…

John Frassanito: …design team that created the Datapoint 2200 (1972), the desktop terminal that was the direct ancestor of the personal computer, or PC.

postal system: Postal operations and management: One such service is express mail, known under different service names according to the country (Express Mail in the United States, Datapost in Great Britain and Germany). At additional cost, this service, in which about half the UPU membership participates, provides expedited conveyance and individualized priority handling of correspondence…

diplomatics: Form and content of documents: The date given on a document might be either that of legal enactment (actum) or that of the issue of the document recording the (already performed) legal enactment (datum). The form in which dates are given in a document is of particular import in determining its…

On Kawara: …perhaps his best-known project, the Today series (sometimes known as the Date series). For the project, on every day he was so inclined, Kawara made a monochromatic painting upon which in white paint he carefully painted the date on which the painting was made. He followed several rules: any painting…

date palm: Dates have a long shelf life, and many varieties, including the common deglet noor, are often sold dried and processed. The dried fruit is more than 50 percent sugar by weight and contains about 2 percent each of protein, fat, and mineral matter. Other types…

International Date Line, imaginary line extending between the North Pole and the South Pole and arbitrarily demarcating each calendar day from the next. It corresponds along most of its length to the 180th meridian of longitude but deviates eastward through the Bering Strait to avoid dividing

chronology: Babylonian chronology before 747 bc: …lists of these names, called year lists or date lists, constitute as reliable a source in Babylonian chronology as the eponym lists do in Assyrian chronology. One of the events which almost invariably gave a name to the following year was the accession of a new king. Hence, the first…

bivalve: Importance: Date mussels (Lithophaga) bore into rocks and corals. Marine mussels (family Mytilidae) foul ships, buoys, and wharves; they may also block seawater intakes into the cooling systems of power stations. The freshwater zebra mussel (family Dreissenidae) feeds on phytoplankton and proliferates rapidly, clogging water-intake pipes…

Steve Carell: Despicable Me, Minions, and Foxcatcher: …starred opposite Tina Fey in Date Night, a comedy about mistaken identity, and he played a cheerfully oblivious misfit in the screwball comedy Dinner for Schmucks. That year he also provided the voice of Gru, a super-villain who plots to steal the Moon, in the animated Despicable Me; he reprised…

date palm, (Phoenix dactylifera), tree of the palm family (Arecaceae) cultivated for its sweet edible fruits. The date palm has been prized from remotest antiquity and may have originated in what is now Iraq. The fruit has been the staple food and chief source of wealth in the irrigable deserts of

date rape, a term used largely in industrialized countries to describe the forcing or coercing of a victim into unwanted sexual activity by a friend, romantic suitor, or peer through violence, verbal pressure, misuse of authority, use of incapacitating substances, or threat of violence. Although

Ann Curry: …the prime-time investigative newsmagazine show Dateline.

Jan van Hembyze: …and the leading Calvinist preacher, Petrus Dathenus, Hembyze led some 2,000 troops and Calvinist townspeople in battle against their Catholic neighbours on Oct. 28, 1577. He arrested Philip de Croy, duke of Aerschot, the stadholder of Flanders, as well as Ghent’s several Catholic magistrates, and replaced them with 18 Calvinists,…

Datia, city, northern Madhya Pradesh state, central India. It lies in a region of low hills between rivers, about 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Gwalior. The city takes its name from Dantavakra, a mythological demon ruler of the area. Surrounded by a stone wall, the city was the capital of Datia

Colorado Plateau: The Datil section is in the province’s southeast, in Arizona and New Mexico. It is a land of mesas and valleys and is distinguished by its volcanic features, including lava flows and volcanic necks.

fundamentalism: Religious Zionism: Despite the hostility of most Orthodox rabbis, Zionism aroused considerable enthusiasm among many Orthodox Jews who saw in it the promise of the long-awaited messianic redemption. Some Orthodox rabbis, therefore, sought to legitimate Orthodox participation in the Zionist movement. Rabbi Yitzḥaq Yaʿaqov Reines…

dating, in geology, determining a chronology or calendar of events in the history of Earth, using to a large degree the evidence of organic evolution in the sedimentary rocks accumulated through geologic time in marine and continental environments. To date past events, processes, formations, and

marriage: Marital customs and laws: …individuals choose their own mates, dating is the most typical way for people to meet and become acquainted with prospective partners. Successful dating may result in courtship, which then usually leads to marriage.

Chuck Barris: …the iconic 1960s game shows The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game but was perhaps best remembered as the creator and host of the comic talent show The Gong Show, which originally aired from 1976 to 1978.

Francesco Datini was an Italian international merchant and banker whose business and private papers, preserved in Prato, constitute one of the most important archives of the economic history of the Middle Ages. Datini lost both parents, two brothers, and a sister in Prato to the Black Death of

Francesco Datini was an Italian international merchant and banker whose business and private papers, preserved in Prato, constitute one of the most important archives of the economic history of the Middle Ages. Datini lost both parents, two brothers, and a sister in Prato to the Black Death of

Darius I: Fortification of the empire: …490 bc another force under Datis, a Mede, destroyed Eretria and enslaved its inhabitants but was defeated by the Athenians at Marathon. Preparations for a third expedition were delayed by an insurrection in Egypt, and Darius died in 486 bc before they were completed.

Cucurbitales: Other families: There is one genus, Datisca, with two species, one growing in western North America and the other growing from Crete to India. The leaves are deeply divided to pinnately compound. The flowers are of two sexes; there are no petals; and the styles are borne toward the margin of…

Datiscaceae: Datisca cannabina, which is found from the Mediterranean eastward to Central Asia, is a hemplike plant, 2 metres (7 feet) high, that has leaves with three to seven alternate, toothed leaflets. The female plants have sprays of yellow flowers, and a yellow dye is derived…

Datiscaceae: Durango root (D. glomerata), native in coastal ranges of southwestern North America, grows to 1.25 metres (4 feet) tall and has deeply cut leaflets and inconspicuous flowers.

Datiscaceae, family of the squash order (Cucurbitales) of flowering plants, with one genus. Datisca cannabina, which is found from the Mediterranean eastward to Central Asia, is a hemplike plant, 2 metres (7 feet) high, that has leaves with three to seven alternate, toothed leaflets. The female

history of logic: Syllogisms: figure: Darapti, Disamis, Datisi, Felapton,

Armenian language: Morphology and syntax: had seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, ablative, instrumental, and locative. However, many of these forms overlapped so that usually only three or four different forms existed; e.g., žam ‘time’ was both nominative and accusative, žamê was ablative, and žamu was genitive, dative, instrumental, and locative. A special form of…

acid–base reaction: Reactions of Lewis acids: …bond is termed semipolar or coordinate, as in the reaction of boron trifluoride with ammonia:

tripletail: …contains two genera (Lobotes and Datnioides), with members of the first genus found in tropical or warm temperate marine waters and those of the second found in brackish or freshwater environments. The name tripletail refers specifically to Lobotes surinamensis, the largest species in the family, which reaches a length of…

Eduardo Dato Iradier was a Spanish statesman, leader of the Conservative Party from 1913 to 1921, and three-time premier. He instituted various reforms but proved unable to deal effectively with unrest or to heal the divisions within his party. As undersecretary in the Home Office in 1892 and as

datolite, an uncommon mineral, calcium borosilicate, CaBSiO4(OH), that occurs as white or colourless veins and cavity linings in basic igneous rocks and in metallic-ore veins. Some notable deposits exist in the United States: Westfield, Mass.; Bergen Hill, N.J.; and the Lake Superior copper

Datong, city, northern Shanxi sheng (province), northern China. The city is situated at the northern limits of traditional Chinese settlement, just south of the Great Wall on a fertile plain watered by the Sanggan River and its tributaries. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 1,028,730; (2007 est.) urban

Dongting Lake: Called Lake Datong, it is regulated by a great barrage (dam) across the Taiping Stream entrance to Dongting Lake. Between the 1930s and the 1950s, much of the land along the lake banks and inside the dikes surrounding Dongting Lake was reclaimed, a process hastened by…

Kang Youwei: …completed at this time was The Great Commonwealth (Datongshu), in which he envisaged a utopian world attainable through successive stages of human development, a world where the barriers of race, religion, state, class, sex, and family would be removed and where there would be an egalitarian, communal society under a…

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. is a Japanese industrial corporation that manufactures automobiles, trucks, and buses under the names Nissan, Infiniti, and formerly Datsun. The company also designs and manufactures such products as communications satellites, pleasure boats, and machinery. Its headquarters

Detroit Red Wings: …and Zetterberg, along with centre Pavel Datsyuk (who finished fourth in the league with 97 points), helped lead the Red Wings to a rematch with the Penguins in the Stanley Cup finals, though the Red Wings lost in seven games. During the 2011–12 season Detroit won a record-setting 23 consecutive…

Dattatreya, ascetic Hindu deity considered to be the paragon of yogic practice. He is the quintessential composite deity, not only because he is often depicted as the incarnation of the Trimurti (“three forms”)—the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—but also because his followers come from many

Vivekananda was a Hindu monk, spiritual leader, preacher, and reformer in India and an activating force in the propagation of Vedanta philosophy in the United States and Britain. Vivekananda, who first gained national and global attention with his historic final speech at the World’s Parliament of

South Asian arts: Bengali: One of these was Sudhindranath Datta, a poet much like Pound in careful and etymological use of language; another is the poet and prose writer Buddhadeva Bose.

Muwatallis: …the more southerly city of Dattassa. In the meantime, his brother Hattusilis III fought with the Kaska in the north (the only troublesome Hittite satellite during Muwatallis’ reign) and was installed as viceroy of the “Upper Country” east of Hattusas. Later, after Muwatallis’ son, Urhi-Teshub (Mursilis III), succeeded him, Hattusilis…

Dattatreya, ascetic Hindu deity considered to be the paragon of yogic practice. He is the quintessential composite deity, not only because he is often depicted as the incarnation of the Trimurti (“three forms”)—the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva—but also because his followers come from many

Philippines: Pre-Spanish history: …under the leadership of a datu, or chieftain. The barangay, which ordinarily numbered no more than a few hundred individuals, was usually the largest stable economic and political unit.

Hussein Onn, was a Malaysian politician and prime minister (1976–81) of a multiracial coalition government. During World War II Hussein fought with the Indian army and with the British forces that in 1945 freed Malaya from Japanese occupation. In 1946 he joined his politician father Onn Bin Jaafar

Najib Razak is a Malaysian politician who served as prime minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. Najib was born into a political family; his father, Abdul Razak, was Malaysia’s prime minister from 1970 to 1976, and his uncle, Hussein Onn, was prime minister from 1976 to 1981. Najib attended school

surveying: Triangulation: …selected level surface called a datum. In large-level surveys the usual datum is the geoid. The elevation taken as zero for the reference datum is the height of mean sea level determined by a series of observations at various points along the seashore taken continuously for a period of 19…

diplomatics: The papal chancery: There followed another clause, the great dating formula, datum per manus (“given by the hand of…”), naming a high chancery official and giving the date by reference to the regnal years of both emperor and pope. Both were used in documents containing decrees of permanent legal force, which came to…

datura, (genus Datura), genus of about nine species of poisonous flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Several Datura species are collected for use as drugs, and others are cultivated for their showy flowers. Many are considered weeds in warm parts of the world and commonly grow

datura, (genus Datura), genus of about nine species of poisonous flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Several Datura species are collected for use as drugs, and others are cultivated for their showy flowers. Many are considered weeds in warm parts of the world and commonly grow

jimsonweed, (Datura stramonium), annual herbaceous plant of the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Possibly native to Central America, the plant is considered an invasive species throughout much of the Northern Hemisphere. It was used by Algonquin Indians in eastern North America, among other

Plant Chemicals: Healing, Hallucinogenic, and Harmful: Plant Chemicals: Healing, Hallucinogenic, and Harmful transcript: Datura wrightii, or sacred datura, was, as its name suggests, sacred to a number of native peoples throughout its range from northern Mexico through the southwestern United States. It is closely related to and sometimes confused with jimsonweed (Datura stramonium). And the two plants have similar properties: both…

Antoni Tàpies: …to found in Barcelona the Dau al Set (“Seven-Sided Die”), an organization of Surrealist artists and writers influenced especially by Paul Klee and Joan Miró, which published an artistic-literary review. In 1950 he saw the work of Jean Dubuffet, which turned him away from Surrealism and toward abstraction. Tàpies began…

wattle and daub: …mud, or other substances (the daub). This method is one of the oldest known for making a weatherproof structure. In England, Iron Age sites have been discovered with remains of circular dwellings constructed in this way, the stakes being driven into the earth.

wattle and daub, in building construction, method of constructing walls in which vertical wooden stakes (wattles) are woven with horizontal twigs and branches, and then covered with clay, mud, or other substances (the daub). This method is one of the oldest known for making a weatherproof

Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton was a French naturalist who was a pioneer in the fields of comparative anatomy and paleontology. Daubenton was studying medicine when, in 1742, the renowned naturalist Georges Buffon asked him to prepare anatomical descriptions for an ambitious work on natural history

aye-aye, (Daubentonia madagascariensis), rare squirrel-like primate of Madagascar, the sole living representative of the family Daubentoniidae. Nocturnal, solitary, and arboreal, most aye-ayes live in rainforests of eastern Madagascar; however, fossils from Egypt and Kenya dating to 34 million

primate: Classification: Family Daubentoniidae (aye-ayes) 1 genus, 2 species, one recently extinct, perhaps the past 500 years, from Madagascar. Holocene. Infraorder Lemuriformes (lemurs) Family Cheirogaleidae

John Masefield: …Masefield’s long narrative poems are Dauber (1913), which concerns the eternal struggle of the visionary against ignorance and materialism, and Reynard the Fox (1919), which deals with many aspects of rural life in England. He also wrote novels of adventure—Sard Harker (1924), Odtaa (1926), and Basilissa (1940)—sketches, and works for…

Jean Dauberval was a French ballet dancer, teacher, and choreographer often credited with establishing the comic ballet as a genre. In 1761 Dauberval made his debut at the Paris Académie (now Opéra) and became noted for his pantomimic dance ability; in 1773 he was made an assistant ballet master.

Charles-François Daubigny was a French painter whose landscapes introduced into the naturalism of the mid-19th century an overriding concern for the accurate analysis and depiction of natural light through the use of colour, greatly influencing the Impressionist painters of the late 19th century.

Theodor Däubler was a German-language poet whose extraordinary vitality, poetic vision, and optimism contrast sharply with the despair expressed by many writers of his time. Däubler was fluent in German and Italian and served in the Austro-Hungarian army. He studied and lived in Italy and traveled

Gabriel-Auguste Daubrée was a French geochemist and a pioneer in the application of experimental methods to the study of diverse geologic phenomena. In 1838 Daubrée became regional mining engineer for the département of Haut-Rhin, where he worked for eight years on a geologic map of the region. In

Charles Baudelaire: Maturity and decline of Charles Baudelaire: …brief liaison with the actress Marie Daubrun. In the meantime Baudelaire’s growing reputation as Poe’s translator and as an art critic at last enabled him to publish some of his poems. In June 1855 the Revue des deux mondes published a sequence of 18 of his poems under the general…

carrot, (Daucus carota), herbaceous, generally biennial plant of the Apiaceae family that produces an edible taproot. Among common varieties root shapes range from globular to long, with lower ends blunt to pointed. Besides the orange-coloured roots, white-, yellow-, and purple-fleshed varieties

Queen Anne’s lace, (Daucus carota carota), biennial subspecies of plant in the parsley family (Apiaceae) that is an ancestor of the cultivated carrot. It grows to 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall and has bristly, divided leaves. It bears umbels (flat-topped clusters) of white or pink flowers with a single

Mohammad Daud Khan was an Afghan politician who overthrew the monarchy of Mohammad Zahir Shah in 1973 to establish Afghanistan as a republic. He served as the country’s president from 1973 to 1978. Educated in Kabul and France, Daud Khan, a cousin and brother-in-law of Zahir Shah, pursued a career

Alphonse Daudet was a French short-story writer and novelist, now remembered chiefly as the author of sentimental tales of provincial life in the south of France. Daudet was the son of a silk manufacturer. In 1849 his father had to sell his factory and move to Lyon. Alphonse wrote his first poems

Léon Daudet was a French journalist and novelist, the most virulent and bitterly satirical polemicist of his generation in France, whose literary reputation rests largely upon his journalistic work and his vivid memoirs. The son of the novelist Alphonse Daudet, Léon studied medicine before turning

Léon Daudet was a French journalist and novelist, the most virulent and bitterly satirical polemicist of his generation in France, whose literary reputation rests largely upon his journalistic work and his vivid memoirs. The son of the novelist Alphonse Daudet, Léon studied medicine before turning