Hunter Island, island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, within the French overseas country of New Caledonia, although France’s claim to the island is disputed by Vanuatu. It is located about 350 miles (560 km) east of the New Caledonian mainland. Volcanic and offering little appeal for human

civil war: Economic causes of civil war: The American political scientists James Fearon and David Laitin claimed that civil war is primarily a problem of weak states and that weakness is largely determined by economic development. Researchers in this tradition also linked mobilization to the role of individual incentives. Opportunities for insurgencies are greater when participants…

Merlin Olsen: …was heralded as the “Fearsome Foursome” and dominated the NFL throughout the remainder of the 1960s. For every year but his final one with the Rams, Olsen was voted to the Pro Bowl. He retired in 1976 as the Rams’ all-time leader in tackles, with a career 915.

information system: Internal information systems development: The principal objective of a feasibility study is to determine whether the system is desirable on the basis of long-term plans, strategic initiatives, and a cost-benefit analysis. System analysis provides a detailed answer to the question, What will the new system do? The next stage, system design, results in an…

optimization: Basic ideas: …the constraints given above, the feasible solutions must lie within a certain well-defined region of the graph. For example, the constraint x1 ≥ 0 means that points representing feasible solutions lie on or to the right of the x2 axis. Similarly, the constraint x2 ≥ 0 means that they also…

feast, day or period of time set aside to commemorate, ritually celebrate or reenact, or anticipate events or seasons—agricultural, religious, or sociocultural—that give meaning and cohesiveness to an individual and to the religious, political, or socioeconomic community. Because such days or

Paolo Veronese: The later years: …theme be changed to a Feast in the House of Levi.

Anne Rice: Erotic novels and the Mayfair witches: …outsiders, in two historical novels, The Feast of All Saints (1979; TV movie 2001), about New Orleans’s 19th-century Creoles of colour, and Cry to Heaven (1982), about an 18th-century Venetian castrato. Eroticism distinguished The Sleeping Beauty series—four stories (1983–85 and 2015) published under the pseudonym A.N. Roquelaure, which some critics…

Diego Velázquez: Court painter in Madrid: Velázquez’s painting of Bacchus, The Feast of Bacchus (1628–29; also known as Los borrachos), seems to have been inspired by Titian and Rubens, but his realistic approach to the subject is characteristically Spanish and one that Velázquez was to preserve throughout his life.

Donatello: Early career: …strongly raking light; and the Feast of Herod (1433–35), with its perspective background. The large stucco roundels with scenes from the life of St. John the Evangelist (about 1434–37), below the dome of the old sacristy of San Lorenzo, Florence, show the same technique but with colour added for better…

Donatello: Early career: …important of these was the Feast of Herod (1423–27), an intensely dramatic relief with an architectural background that first displayed Donatello’s command of scientific linear perspective, which Brunelleschi had rediscovered only a few years earlier. To the Siena font Donatello also contributed two statuettes of Virtues, austerely beautiful figures whose…

Brian Moore: His next novel, The Feast of Lupercal (1957), took on the subject of a bachelor schoolteacher’s sexual maladjustment, and The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1960; filmed 1964) portrayed a middle-aged Irish failure who hopes to charm his way to fortune. Moore’s later novels range widely in locale and…

Jack Levine: …Trust, exhibited in 1936, and The Feast of Pure Reason, shown the following year. In the latter work, a police officer, politician, and wealthy man huddle together, presumably striking a deal; this theme of corruption would continue in much of his work.

Latin American literature: Post-boom writers: …La fiesta del chivo (2000; The Feast of the Goat), dealing with Rafael Trujillo’s dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Both are remarkable not only because of their literary quality but also because their authors ventured beyond their own countries (Mexico and Peru, respectively) to find their historical themes. García Márquez,…

Albrecht Dürer: Second journey to Italy of Albrecht Dürer: …Dürer completed his great altarpiece The Feast of the Rose Garlands for the funeral chapel of the Germans in the church of St. Bartholomew. Later that same year Dürer made a brief visit to Bologna before returning to Venice for a final three months. The extent to which Dürer considered…

Feast of the Seven Fishes, Italian American Christmas Eve meal involving the serving of a meatless dinner composed of seven different dishes of fish. Although Feast of the Seven Fishes is the most common name for this meal, it is also referred to as Christmas Eve Fish Dinner or the Vigil, and many

gardening: Early history: …account of gardening in English, The Feate of Gardening, dating from about 1400, mentions the use of more than 100 plants, with instructions on sowing, planting, and grafting of trees and advice on cultivation of herbs such as parsley, sage, fennel, thyme, camomile, and saffron. The vegetables mentioned include turnip,…

feather, the component structure of the outer covering and flight surfaces of all modern birds. Unique to birds, feathers apparently evolved from the scales of birds’ reptilian ancestors. The many different types of feathers are variously specialized for insulation, flight, formation of body

Bobbie Ann Mason: Later novels included Feather Crowns (1993), An Atomic Romance (2005), The Girl in the Blue Beret (2011), and Dear Ann (2020). Among her other short-story collections were Love Life: Stories (1989), Midnight Magic (1998), and Nancy Culpepper (2006). In 2003 Mason wrote a biography about

annelid: Annotated classification: Order Sabellida (feather dusters) Sedentary; head concealed with featherlike filamentous branchiae; body divided into thorax and abdomen; tube mucoid or calcareous; size, minute to 50 cm; examples of genera: Sabella, Eudistylia, Serpula, Hydroides.

goosefoot: Feather geranium, or Jerusalem oak goosefoot (Dysphania botrys, formerly C. botrys), has many clusters of small flowers and is occasionally cultivated in gardens.

needlegrass, (genus Stipa), genus of about 150 species of grasses in the family Poaceae, characterized by sharply pointed grains and long threadlike awns (bristles). Most needlegrasses provide good forage in dry areas before the seed is formed, but the sharp grain of some species may puncture the

Sir Ranulph Fiennes: …of interest to him, including The Feather Men (1991), about an alleged plot by members of the SAS to thwart a series of assassinations by Middle Eastern terrorists, and a best-selling biography of Robert Falcon Scott that was published in 2003. He also wrote two volumes of autobiography, Living Dangerously…

feather moss, (Ptilium, formerly Hypnum, crista-castrensis), the only species of the genus Ptilium, it is a widely distributed plant of the subclass Bryidae that forms dense light green mats on rocks, rotten wood, or peaty soil, especially in mountain forests of the Northern Hemisphere. The erect

feather star, any of the 550 living species of crinoid marine invertebrates (class Crinoidea) of the phylum Echinodermata lacking a stalk. The arms, which have feathery fringes and can be used for swimming, usually number five. Feather stars use their grasping “legs” (called cirri) to perch on

Leonard Feather was a British-born American jazz journalist, producer, and songwriter whose standard reference work, The Encyclopedia of Jazz, and energetic advocacy placed him among the most influential of jazz critics. A writer for English popular music journals in the early 1930s, Feather moved

Leonard Feather was a British-born American jazz journalist, producer, and songwriter whose standard reference work, The Encyclopedia of Jazz, and energetic advocacy placed him among the most influential of jazz critics. A writer for English popular music journals in the early 1930s, Feather moved

Victor Feather, Baron Feather of the City of Bradford , Baron Feather of the City of Bradford, was a British trade unionist who led the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in its confrontations with governments over industrial-relations legislation from 1969 to 1973. Feather grew up in the industrial town

Victor Feather, Baron Feather of the City of Bradford , Baron Feather of the City of Bradford, was a British trade unionist who led the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in its confrontations with governments over industrial-relations legislation from 1969 to 1973. Feather grew up in the industrial town

mining: Unit operations: …this is the use of feathers and wedges. Feathers are two half-round pieces of steel that are inserted into all of the holes forming a side of the block. The quarry worker works down the row, inserting a wedge between each pair of feathers and then tapping the wedges with…

feather-duster worm, any large, segmented marine worm of the family Sabellidae (class Polychaeta, phylum Annelida). The name is also occasionally applied to members of the closely related polychaete family Serpulidae. Sabellids live in long tubes constructed of mud or sand cemented by mucus,

butterflyfish: …its dorsal fin; and the pennant coralfish, or feather-fin bull fish (Heniochus acuminatus), a black-and-white striped Indo-Pacific species with a very long spine in its dorsal fin.

assassin bug: Predatory behaviour: …the subfamily Holoptilinae, commonly called feather-legged bugs, possess a specialized outgrowth on the abdomen known as a trichome. A secretion released from the trichome attracts ants, which lick the substance and become paralyzed. The feather-legged bug then pierces the ant with its beak and sucks out the body fluids. The…

poultry processing: Defeathering: …carcasses then go through the feather-picking machines, which are equipped with rubber “fingers” specifically designed to beat off the feathers. The carcasses are moved through a sequence of machines, each optimized for removing different sets of feathers. At this point the carcasses are usually singed by passing through a flame…

tree shrew: …hair, but that of the pen-tailed tree shrew (Ptilocercus lowii) is hairless and ends in a featherlike tuft.

feather-winged beetle, (family Ptiliidae), any of more than 400 species of beetles (insect order Coleoptera) characterized by long fringes of hair on the long, narrow hindwings. The antennae also have whorls of long hairs. Most feather-winged beetles are oval and between 0.25 and 1 mm (0.01 to 0.04

notopterid, any of about eight species of air-breathing, freshwater fishes constituting the family Notopteridae, found in quiet waters from Africa to Southeast Asia. Notopterids are long-bodied, small-scaled fishes with a small dorsal fin (if present) and a long, narrow anal fin that runs along

featherbedding, labour union practices that require the employer to pay for the performance of what he considers to be unnecessary work or for work that is not in fact performed or to employ workers who are not needed. The existence of featherbedding in any specific instance is usually disputed and

feathered dinosaur, any of a group of theropod (carnivorous) dinosaurs, including birds, that evolved feathers from a simple filamentous covering at least by the Late Jurassic Epoch (about 163.5 million to 145 million years ago). Similar structures have been reported on the bodies of some

windmill grass: Feathered finger grass (Chloris virgata) is a weedy North American annual with feathery flower spikelets. Australian finger grass (C. truncata) and the North American tumble windmill grass (C. verticillata) are perennial species of waste areas. Rhodes grass (C. gayana), a tufted perennial native to South…

Caryophyllaceae: Major genera and species: …cottage, or grass, pink (D. plumarius). See also baby’s breath; campion; chickweed.

Quetzalcóatl, (from Nahuatl quetzalli, “tail feather of the quetzal bird [Pharomachrus mocinno],” and coatl, “snake”), the Feathered Serpent, one of the major deities of the ancient Mexican pantheon. Representations of a feathered snake occur as early as the Teotihuacán civilization (3rd to 8th

Xochicalco: …of structures, including the so-called Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcóatl), two ball courts, and a variety of houses and plazas. The Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent displays a number of reliefs—such as plumed serpents and men with elaborate headdresses—indicating strong Mayan influence. Xochicalco was declared a UNESCO World Heritage…

rowing: Stroke and style of training: …of the recovery is called feathering. The extraction of the blade after driving the boat through the water is called the finish. Turning of the blade from horizontal to vertical in preparation for the catch is called squaring.

Julio Ramón Ribeyro: …the best-known of which is Los gallinazos sin plumas (1955; “Featherless Buzzards”). The title story of that collection, which is among the stories translated in Marginal Voices (1993), is his most famous and most anthologized.

feathertail, small marsupial mammal, a species of glider

Pennisetum: Several varieties of feathertop (P. villosum), native to Ethiopia, are cultivated as ornamentals for their arching form and feathery coloured flower clusters.

featherwork, decorative use of ornamental feathers, especially the feather mosaic needlework of Victorian England. Feathers have been used for adornment since prehistoric times. The Ancestral Pueblo (Anasazi) Indians constructed a turkey-feather and yucca-cord fabric before their introduction to

writing: Types of writing systems: Featural writing systems exploit the fact that even phonemes are not the most fundamental units of analysis of speech. Rather, phonemes may be analyzed into sets of distinctive features. The phonemes represented by the letters n and d share the feature of the tongue touching…

phonetics: Features: Each of the phonemes that appears in the lexicon of a language may be classified in terms of a set of phonetic properties, or features. Phoneticians and linguists have been trying to develop a set of features that is sufficient to classify the phonemes…

toponymy: …broad categories: habitation names and feature names. A habitation name denotes a locality that is peopled or inhabited, such as a homestead, village, or town, and usually dates from the locality’s inception. Feature names refer to natural or physical features of the landscape and are subdivided into hydronyms (water features),…

newspaper syndicate, agency that sells to newspapers and other media special writing and artwork, often written by a noted journalist or eminent authority or drawn by a well-known cartoonist, that cannot be classified as spot coverage of the news. Its fundamental service is to spread the cost of

Paraguay: The Chaco War: …military coup known as the Febrerista revolt, conducted by radical officers. The inept new government soon fell, however, and Estigarribia was elected president in 1939.

analgesic: Anti-inflammatory analgesics: …and NSAIDs are more potent antipyretic (fever-reducing) analgesics. Acetaminophen, on the other hand, possesses inferior anti-inflammatory activity compared with aspirin and NSAIDs and thus is relatively ineffective in treating inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Despite this, acetaminophen is a popular mild analgesic and antipyretic and is a suitable alternative…

Febronianism, a German religio-political doctrine expounded by Bishop Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim (under the pseudonym Justinus Febronius) in his De Statu Ecclesiae et Legitima Potestate Romani Pontificis (1763; “The State of the Church and the Lawful Power of the Roman Pontiff”). The doctrine

Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim was a historian and theologian who founded Febronianism, the German form of Gallicanism, which advocated the restriction of papal power. Hontheim’s extensive European travels brought him to Rome, where he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1728. He became professor

February, second month of the Gregorian calendar. It was named after Februalia, the Roman festival of purification. Originally, February was the last month of the Roman

In early 2011, amid a wave of popular protest in countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa, largely peaceful demonstrations against entrenched regimes brought quick transfers of power in Egypt and Tunisia. In Libya, however, an uprising against the four-decade rule of Muammar al-Qaddafi

Empire of Japan: Manchukuo and the Second Sino-Japanese War: The February 1936 military revolt in Tokyo marked the high point of the extremists and the consolidation of power by the Control faction within the army. With the death of Korekiyo, whose monetary policies had spared Japan the worst effects of the Depression, opposition to additional…

China: Seizure of power: The movement, dubbed the “February adverse current,” was quickly defeated and a new radical upsurge began. Indeed, by the summer of 1967, large armed clashes occurred throughout urban China, and even Chinese embassies abroad experienced takeovers by their own Red Guards. The Red Guards splintered into zealous factions, each…

February Manifesto, (Feb. 15, 1899) a Russian imperial proclamation that abrogated Finland’s autonomy within the Russian Empire. After Finland was ceded by Sweden to Russia in 1809, it gained the status of a grand duchy, and its constitution was respected; beginning in 1890, however,

Austria: Constitutional experimentation, 1860–67: …four months later issued the February Patent (1861), officially a revision of the Diploma. This document provided for a bicameral system: an empirewide house of representatives composed of delegates from the diets and a house of lords consisting partly of hereditary members and partly of men of special distinction appointed…

February Revolution, (March 8–12 [Feb. 24–28, old style], 1917), the first stage of the Russian Revolution of 1917, in which the monarchy was overthrown and replaced by the Provisional Government. This government, intended as an interim stage in the creation of a permanent democratic-parliamentary

Lucien Paul Victor Febvre was a French historian of the early modern period and organizer of major national and international intellectual projects. In his books and editorial efforts, Febvre embraced a “global” history that rejected all forms of pedantry and determinism. Febvre, the son of a

telecommunication: Channel encoding: One method is called forward error control (FEC). In this method information bits are protected against errors by the transmitting of extra redundant bits, so that if errors occur during transmission the redundant bits can be used by the decoder to determine where the errors have occurred and how…

Federal Election Commission (FEC), independent agency of the federal government of the United States responsible for administering and enforcing the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971, which regulates the raising and spending of money in campaigns for federal offices, and the Revenue Act

Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), legislation adopted in the United States in 1971 to regulate the raising and spending of money in U.S. federal elections. It imposed restrictions on the amounts of monetary or other contributions that could lawfully be made to federal candidates and parties,

colorectal cancer: Diagnosis: A fecal immunochemical test (FIT) may also be used to detect the presence of blood in the stool. FIT tests can be completed at home and then mailed to a laboratory for testing. Results are sent to the patient’s physician. If colorectal cancer is suspected, the…

defecation: Incontinence—the loss of control over the evacuative process—can develop with age; it may also result from surgical, obstetric, spinal, or other bodily injuries or with neurological impairment resulting from diabetes, stroke, or multiple sclerosis. Defecation may also be influenced by pain, fear, temperature elevation, and…

autism: Diagnosis and treatment: …interest in this regard is microbiota transfer therapy. In clinical studies, the transfer of fecal bacteria from healthy individuals into the gastrointestinal tracts of persons with autism was associated with improvements in gastrointestinal health and behavioral symptoms in autism patients.

fecal occult blood test, method used to analyze feces for the purpose of diagnosing a disease or disorder in humans or animals. In humans the fecal occult blood test is a low-cost method for detecting gastrointestinal bleeding, which may be the first sign of carcinoma of the colon or rectum.

laxative: Fecal softeners are not absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and act to increase the bulk of the feces. Liquid paraffin (mineral oil) can be used either as the oil itself or as a white emulsion. Other fecal softeners have a detergent action that increases the…

polio: Course of disease: …most often by the so-called fecal-oral route—that is, from fecal matter taken into the mouth through contaminated food or fingers. It can also enter by ingestion of droplets expelled from the throat of an infected person. New victims may become ill about 7 to 14 days after ingesting the virus.…

appendix: …in the opening is a fecalith, a hardened piece of fecal matter. Swelling of the lining of the appendiceal walls themselves can also block the opening. When the appendix is prevented from emptying itself, a series of events occurs. Fluids and its own mucous secretions collect in the appendix, leading…

Fécamp, seaside resort and fishing port of northern France, Seine-Maritime département, Normandy région, northeast of Le Havre. It lies at the opening of the valley of the Valmont River, between high cliffs. In the 11th century Fécamp became famous for its Benedictine abbey, which, before the

feces, solid bodily waste discharged from the large intestine through the anus during defecation. Feces are normally removed from the body one or two times a day. About 100 to 250 grams (3 to 8 ounces) of feces are excreted by a human adult daily. Normally, feces are made up of 75 percent water and

Gustav Fechner was a German physicist and philosopher who was a key figure in the founding of psychophysics, the science concerned with quantitative relations between sensations and the stimuli producing them. Although he was educated in biological science, Fechner turned to mathematics and

Gustav Fechner was a German physicist and philosopher who was a key figure in the founding of psychophysics, the science concerned with quantitative relations between sensations and the stimuli producing them. Although he was educated in biological science, Fechner turned to mathematics and

theatre: British theatre and stage design: …first manager of significance was Charles Fechter, who revived interest in the box set. He also discontinued entrances from the wings, heretofore a standard practice of actors even when the wings represented solid walls. Fechter also used a stage that sank by hydraulic mechanism, later perfected by the Germans, which…

John de Feckenham was an English priest and the last abbot of Westminster. Feckenham was a monk at Evesham until that monastery was dissolved in 1540. He then returned for a time to Oxford, where he had formerly been educated, becoming in 1543 chaplain to Bishop Edmund Bonner of London. He shared

Ahmed Haşim: In 1909 he joined the Fecr-i âti (“Dawn of the Future”) literary circle but gradually drew apart from this group and developed his own style. Haşim, following the French masters, strove to develop the Turkish Symbolist movement. In a 1924 article on Turkish literature for the French publication Mercure de…

myth: Hunting and agricultural deities: …marriage in order to gain fecundity for humans (this happens in ancient Mesopotamian religions, for instance).

monetary policy: The Federal Reserve System (commonly called the Fed) in the United States and the Bank of England of Great Britain are two of the largest such “banks” in the world. Although there are some differences between them, the fundamentals of their operations are almost identical and…

Billie Jean King Cup, trophy representing the women’s amateur team-tennis championship of the world, inaugurated in 1963 by the International Lawn Tennis Federation in observance of its 50th anniversary. The first competition, an elimination tournament involving teams of three players from 16

Mohammedia, port city, northwestern Morocco. It lies along the Atlantic Ocean 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Casablanca. The harbour, at what is now Mohammedia, was frequented in the 14th and 15th centuries by merchant ships from Europe seeking cereals and dried fruits. In the 18th and 19th

fedayee, a term used in Islamic cultures to describe a devotee of a religious or national group willing to engage in self-immolation to attain a group goal. The term first appeared in the 11th–13th centuries in reference to the members of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlī sect of Assassins who would risk their

fedayee: …leader Ṣaddām Ḥussein; members of Fedayeen Ṣaddām (Fidāʾī Ṣaddām) engaged in guerrilla operations against U.S. and British forces during the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Fedchenko Glacier, extensive valley glacier, situated in the Central Asian Pamirs range, central Tajikistan. The world’s largest glacier found outside the polar regions, it is about 45 miles (70 km) long and covers up to some 350 square miles (900 square km). It flows north from the ice field of

Fedchenko Glacier, extensive valley glacier, situated in the Central Asian Pamirs range, central Tajikistan. The world’s largest glacier found outside the polar regions, it is about 45 miles (70 km) long and covers up to some 350 square miles (900 square km). It flows north from the ice field of

Fedchenko Glacier: …for the 19th-century Russian explorer A.P. Fedchenko. Its middle and upper reaches were first explored in 1928 as part of a major Soviet expedition to the Pamirs region. Over the years the glacier has been the site of several meteorological stations.

Andrea del Sarto: …1517 or 1518 Sarto married Lucrezia del Fede, a widow whom he had, according to her testimony, used as a model for several years; she brought him property and a useful dowry. In 1518 he was summoned by the king of France, Francis I, to Fontainebleau, where he was preceded…

Compagnia dei Fedeli, one of several Italian companies performing commedia dell’arte (improvised popular comedy) at the beginning of the 17th century. The name means “company of the faithful.” The Fedeli was a successor to the pioneering Gelosi company and incorporated some of the Gelosi’s actors

Gottfried Feder was a German political activist who was the principal economic theoretician of the initial phase of German Nazism. Feder, a civil engineer, gained notoriety in 1919 for his vaguely socialistic “Manifest zur Brechung der Zinsknechtschaft” (“Manifesto on Breaking the Shackles of

Spain: The Second Republic: …of an anarchist group, the Iberian Anarchist Federation (Federación Anarquista Ibérica; FAI). Violent strikes were frequent.

administrative law: The German system: …the federation there is the Federal Administrative Court, which acts mainly as a court of appeals from the superior administrative courts in the Länder and even from the lower administrative courts in certain circumstances. The Federal Administrative Court serves also as a court of first and last instance in disputes…

Route 66: Rise and demise of the route: Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, a few segments of Route 66 had already been superseded by newer, wider, and safer roads. The act authorized federal funding for an Interstate Highway System of such roads, and, despite an appeal by the state of Missouri on behalf…

road: From local to national funding: …view was recognized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921, which required each state to designate a system of state highways not to exceed 7 percent of the total highway mileage in each state. Federal-aid funding was limited to this system, which was not to exceed three-sevenths of total…

road: From local to national funding: …Office Appropriation Act, and the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 established federal aid for highways as a national policy. The Bureau of Public Roads, established in the Department of Agriculture in 1893 to make “inquiries with regard to road management,” was given responsibility for the program, and an apportionment…

Germany: Security of Germany: …the Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr). The German military forces are divided into an army, navy, and air force. From its inception the Federal Armed Forces was envisioned as a citizens’ defense force, decisively under civilian control through the Bundestag, and its officers and soldiers trained to be mindful of…

WPA Federal Art Project, first major attempt at government patronage of the visual arts in the United States and the most extensive and influential of the visual arts projects conceived during the Depression of the 1930s by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is often confused