A-Z Browse

  • Cabot Strait (strait, Canada)
    channel (60 miles [97 km] wide) between southwestern Newfoundland and northern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, eastern Canada. An important international shipping lane, it connects the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the Atlantic Ocean. The strait was named for John Cabot, the Italian navigator who, sponsored by the English king Henry VII, explored the area in the late 15th century....
  • cabotage (law)
    Today the main restriction on flying appears under two headings: exception of the fifth freedom from certain specific bilateral agreements and general enforcement of the law of cabotage. This law has operated since the Middle Ages, reserving the trade within a country to that country. Thus, though a Dutch plane might land in New York City on an around-the-world flight and land again in Los......
  • Caboto, Giovanni (Italian explorer)
    navigator and explorer who by his voyages in 1497 and 1498 helped lay the groundwork for the later British claim to Canada. The exact details of his life and of his voyages are still subjects of controversy among historians and cartographers....
  • Cabra (Spain)
    city, Córdoba provincia (province), in the comunidad autónoma (autonomous community) of Andalusia, southern Spain. It is picturesquely situated between the Sierras de las Carbas and de Montilla, southeast of Córdoba city....
  • Cabral, Amílcar (Guinean politician)
    agronomist, nationalist leader, and founder and secretary-general of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde; PAIGC), who helped lead Guinea-Bissau to independence....
  • Cabral, Luís de Almeida (president of Guinea-Bissau)
    ...de Spínola, to govern Portugal and negotiate independence for the African colonies. Guinea-Bissau was granted independence on September 10, 1974, and Cabral’s Cape Verdean half-brother, Luís de Almeida Cabral, became president of the country. However, relations between the creolized middle class from Cape Verde and the poorer, less educated indigenous population of the coas...
  • Cabral, Pedro Álvares (Portuguese explorer)
    Portuguese navigator who is generally credited as the discoverer of Brazil (April 22, 1500)....
  • Cabrera (island, Spain)
    ...There are two groups of islands. The eastern and larger group forms the Balearics proper and includes the principal islands of Majorca (Mallorca) and Minorca (Menorca) and the small island of Cabrera. The western group is known as the Pitiusas and includes the islands of Ibiza (Eivissa) and Formentera. The archipelago is an extension of the sub-Baetic cordillera of peninsular Spain, and......
  • Cabrera Infante, Guillermo (Cuban author)
    novelist, short-story writer, film critic, and essayist who was the most prominent Cuban writer living in exile and the best-known spokesman against Fidel Castro’s regime. In 1998 he was awarded Spain’s Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious and remunerative award for Spanish-language writers....
  • Cabrera, Lydia (Cuban author and ethnologist)
    Cuban ethnologist and short-story writer noted for both her collections of Afro-Cuban folklore and her works of fiction. She is considered a major figure in Cuban letters....
  • Cabrera, Manuel Estrada (president of Guatemala)
    jurist and politician who became dictator and ruled Guatemala from 1898 to 1920 through a standing army, secret police, and systematic oppression....
  • Cabrera, Ramón (Spanish political leader)
    influential Spanish Carlist general and later one of the party’s most controversial figures....
  • Cabrera y Griñó, Ramón (Spanish political leader)
    influential Spanish Carlist general and later one of the party’s most controversial figures....
  • Cabrilho, João Rodrigues (Portuguese explorer)
    soldier and explorer in the service of Spain, chiefly known as the discoverer of California....
  • Cabrillo, Juan Rodríguez (Portuguese explorer)
    soldier and explorer in the service of Spain, chiefly known as the discoverer of California....
  • Cabrillo National Monument (national monument, San Diego, California, United States)
    ...Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, on the 19th-century settlement site, displays artifacts and restored buildings, and the nearby Serra Museum stands on the location of the original presidio. Cabrillo National Monument, established in 1913, preserves Old Point Loma Lighthouse (built in 1855)....
  • Cabrini, Mary Francesca (Roman Catholic saint)
    Italian-born founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and first United States citizen to be canonized....
  • Cabrini, Mother (Roman Catholic saint)
    Italian-born founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and first United States citizen to be canonized....
  • Cabrini, Saint Frances Xavier (Roman Catholic saint)
    Italian-born founder of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart and first United States citizen to be canonized....
  • cabriole (ballet movement)
    ballet jump, formerly performed only by men, in which the dancer beats the calves of the legs together in the air, with a scissors-like movement. When the beat occurs, the legs are extended at either a 45° or 90° angle to the body at the front, side, or back. The dancer may land on one foot, then bring the second foot down to fifth position—cabriole fermée (...
  • cabriole leg (furniture)
    leg of a piece of furniture shaped in two curves—the upper one convex, the lower one concave. Its shape was based on the legs of certain four-footed animals. Known by the ancient Chinese and by the Greeks, it returned to fashion in Europe in the late 17th century, when it was incorporated into the more curvilinear styles introduced by the English, Dutch, and French....
  • cabriolet (carriage)
    originally a two-wheeled, doorless, hooded, one-horse carriage, first used in 18th-century France and often let out for hire. The name is thought to derive from cabriole (French: “caper”) because of the vehicle’s light, bounding motion. Later cabriolets were built with four wheels. When used as hacks, cabriolets often had a jump seat or a side seat for the driver. Later...
  • Cabrol, Fernand (Benedictine monk)
    Benedictine monk and noted writer on the history of Christian worship....
  • Cabyle (ancient city, Bulgaria)
    town, east-central Bulgaria, on the Tundzha (Tundja) River. North of the present town are the ruins of Kabyle (or Cabyle), which originated as a Bronze Age settlement in the 2nd millennium bc and was conquered by the Macedonians under Philip II in 342–341 bc. Taken by Rome in 72 bc, Kabyle became a city in the Roman province of Thrace, governing the...
  • Cacajao (monkey genus)
    any of several types of short-tailed South American monkeys with shaggy fur, humanlike ears, and distinctive bald faces that become flushed when the animal is excited. In two of the three colour forms, the face is bright red. Uakaris are about 35–50 cm (14–20 inches) long, excluding their strangely short 15–20-cm nonprehensile, or nongrasping, tails....
  • Cacajao calvus calvus (monkey)
    ...are bright red, and the coats range from reddish brown to red-orange. They live in flooded forests along the upper Amazon River and its tributaries in eastern Peru and western Brazil. The white, or bald, uakari (C. calvus calvus) is a different colour form of the same species. It has whitish fur and lives only in the Mamiraua Reserve along the upper Amazon in Brazil.......
  • Cacajao calvus novaesi (Cacajao calvus novaesi)
    There are two species and three main colour forms of this primate, and all are either endangered or vulnerable. The faces of red uakaris (subspecies C. calvus rubicundus, C. calvus novaesi, and C. calvus ucayalii) are bright red, and the coats range from reddish brown to red-orange. They live in flooded forests along the upper Amazon River and its......
  • Cacajao calvus rubicundus (Cacajao calvus rubicundus)
    There are two species and three main colour forms of this primate, and all are either endangered or vulnerable. The faces of red uakaris (subspecies C. calvus rubicundus, C. calvus novaesi, and C. calvus ucayalii) are bright red, and the coats range from reddish brown to red-orange. They live in flooded forests along the upper Amazon River and its......
  • Cacajao calvus ucayalii (Cacajao calvus ucayalii)
    ...main colour forms of this primate, and all are either endangered or vulnerable. The faces of red uakaris (subspecies C. calvus rubicundus, C. calvus novaesi, and C. calvus ucayalii) are bright red, and the coats range from reddish brown to red-orange. They live in flooded forests along the upper Amazon River and its tributaries in eastern Peru and......
  • Cacajao melanocephalus (monkey)
    ...only in the Mamiraua Reserve along the upper Amazon in Brazil. Because of its vermilion face, local people call it the “English monkey.” The face, shoulders, arms, hands, and feet of the black-headed uakari (C. melanocephalus) are black, and the coat is chestnut-coloured with a saddle of reddish or yellowish hair. It lives in southern Venezuela, southeastern Colombi...
  • cacao (tree)
    tropical tree, whose scientific name means “food of the gods” in Latin. Originating in the lowland rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins, cacao is grown commercially in the New World tropics as well as western Africa and tropical Asia for its seeds called cocoa beans, which are processed into cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and chocolate. This article treats the cultivation ...
  • Cacao bean (fruit)
    highly concentrated powder made from chocolate liquor—a paste prepared from cocoa beans, the fruit of the cacao—and used in beverages and as a flavouring ingredient....
  • cacao family (plant family)
    highly concentrated powder made from chocolate liquor—a paste prepared from cocoa beans, the fruit of the cacao—and used in beverages and as a flavouring ingredient.......
  • Cacatua galerita (bird)
    Especially popular as a pet is the 50-cm- (20-inch-) long sulfur-crested cockatoo (Cacatua galerita), with its handsome crest of narrow, golden, forward-curving feathers. This and other Cacatua species—found in northern and eastern Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania—are mainly white. Highly social birds, sulfur-crested cockatoos forage in flocks......
  • Cacatua leadbeateri (bird)
    The 38-cm (15-inch) Major Mitchell’s cockatoo (C. leadbeateri), which inhabits much of interior Australia, is also awash in pink, with a yellow-and-red band crossing its forward-sweeping crest. It is among the most beautiful of the cockatoos and the hardest to train....
  • Cacatuidae (bird)
    any of the 21 species of crested parrots (order Psittaciformes) found in Australia as well as in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Most are white with touches of red or yellow; some are black. All have a massive scimitar-like beak for cracking nuts, digging up roots, or prying grubs from wood; feeding is aided by a strong tongue. Cockatoos are treetop, hole-...
  • caccia (vocal music)
    (Italian: “hunt,” or “chase”), one of the principal Italian musical forms of the 14th century. It consisted of two voices in strict canon at the unison (i.e., in strict melodic imitation at the same pitch), and often of a non-canonic third part, composed of long notes that underlay the canonic voices, followed by a ritornello. Caccia texts were typically realist...
  • Caccialanza, Gisella (American ballet dancer)
    American ballet dancer who was a charter member of George Balanchine’s first company in the U.S., danced in musical films Balanchine choreographed, and was a member of the New York City Ballet’s forerunner, Ballet Society, before joining the San Francisco Ballet in 1951; she later taught at the latter company’s school (b. Sept. 17, 1914, San Diego, Calif.--d. July 16, 1998, Da...
  • Caccianemici, Gherardo (pope)
    pope from 1144 to 1145....
  • Cacciatori delle Alpi (Italian revolutionaries)
    ...Austria. His task was to lead an army of volunteers from other Italian provinces, and he was given the rank of major general in the Piedmontese army. When war broke out in April 1859, he led his Cacciatori delle Alpi (Alpine Huntsmen) in the capture of Varese and Como and reached the frontier of the south Tirol. This war ended with the acquisition of Lombardy by Piedmont....
  • Caccini, Giulio (Italian composer)
    singer and composer whose songs greatly helped to establish and disseminate the new monodic music introduced in Italy about 1600. This is music in which an expressive melody is accompanied by evocative chords, as opposed to the traditional polyphonic style with its complex interweaving of several melodic lines....
  • CACDA
    organization founded in Beijing in 2001 to promote arms control, disarmament, and nonproliferation. CACDA coordinates and organizes research, education, and advocacy on the issues of arms control and international security. Although CACDA is officially an independent nongovernmental organization, its activities and publications generally ref...
  • Cáceres (province, Spain)
    provincia (province) of the Extremadura comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), western Spain, bordering Portugal to the west. The Tagus River runs through the province. Conquered by Alfonso IX from the Moors in 1229, it became part of the kingdom of León, and it was m...
  • Cáceres (Spain)
    city, capital of Cáceres provincia (province), in Extremadura comunidad autónoma (autonomous community), western Spain. It is built on a low east-west ridge south of the Tagus River and about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Badajoz. Cáceres or...
  • Cáceres de Arismendi, Luisa (Venezuelan national hero)
    ...banknotes feature images of leading figures in Venezuelan history, including individuals of indigenous and African descent and, for the first time in the history of Venezuelan currency, a woman: Luisa Cáceres de Arismendi, who appears on the 20-bolívar fuerte note. Her support for her husband, military leader Juan Bautista Arismendi, during Venezuela’s war for independence ...
  • Cáceres, Frates de (Spanish military and religious order)
    Christian military-religious order of knights founded about 1160 in Spain for the purpose of fighting Spanish Muslims and of protecting pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela. Originally called the Order of Cáceres, after the city in which it was founded, the order assumed the Santiago name in 1171....
  • Cachaça, Carlos (Brazilian songwriter)
    Brazilian songwriter who helped make samba Brazil’s most popular form of music, earning the title “King of Samba” for his numerous songs about life in the Brazilian favelas, or shantytowns; in 1928 he helped found the influential Mangueira Samba School and Recreational Society, which sponsored a troupe that performed annually during Rio’s Carnival celebrations (b. Aug. ...
  • cachalot (mammal)
    the largest of the toothed whales, easily recognized by its enormous square head and narrow lower jaw. The sperm whale is dark blue-gray or brownish, with white patches on the belly. It is thickset and has small paddlelike flippers and a series of rounded humps on its back. Males attain a maximum length of about 19 metres (62 feet) and females about 12 metres....
  • Cachao (Cuban-born bassist, composer, and bandleader)
    Cuban-born bassist, composer, and bandleader who was credited, along with his brother, Orestes, with the creation of the mambo. Cachao studied music as a child, and by age 13 he was playing double bass with the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra. In the late 1930s, with the Arcaño dance band, Cachao and Orestes infused the sedate Cuban danzón with a new Afro-Cuban beat that they ca...
  • cache (computing)
    a supplementary memory system that temporarily stores frequently used instructions and data for quicker processing by the central processor of a computer. The cache augments, and is an extension of, a computer’s main memory. Both main memory and cache are internal, random-access memories (RAMs) that use semiconductor-based transistor circuits. Cache holds a copy of only the most frequently ...
  • cache memory (computing)
    a supplementary memory system that temporarily stores frequently used instructions and data for quicker processing by the central processor of a computer. The cache augments, and is an extension of, a computer’s main memory. Both main memory and cache are internal, random-access memories (RAMs) that use semiconductor-based transistor circuits. Cache holds a copy of only the most frequently ...
  • cachectin (pathology)
    a naturally occurring protein that is produced in the human body by the phagocytic cells known as macrophages. (The latter can engulf and destroy bacteria, viruses, and other foreign substances.) TNF is produced by macrophages when they encounter the poisonous substance in bacteria that is known as endotoxin. TNF seems to perform both helpful and harmful functions within the body. It helps cause t...
  • cachet, lettre de (French history)
    (French: “letter of the sign [or signet]”), a letter signed by the king and countersigned by a secretary of state and used primarily to authorize someone’s imprisonment. It was an important instrument of administration under the ancien régime in France. Lettres de cachet were abused to such an extent during the 17th and 18th centuries that numerous complaints on the sub...
  • Cacheu (Guinea-Bissau)
    town located in northwestern Guinea-Bissau. It lies along the south bank of the Cacheu River, near its mouth. Cacheu was made an official Portuguese captaincy in 1588, and it gained economic importance as a centre for the slave trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its importance declined in the early 19th century with the decline of the western African slave trade and the risin...
  • Cacheu (region, Guinea-Bissau)
    region located in northwestern Guinea-Bissau. The Cacheu River flows east-west through the region, and the Mansôa River, which also flows east-west, forms Cacheu’s border with the neighbouring region of Biombo; both rivers empty into the Atlantic Ocean. The area around the mouth of the Cacheu River is mostly covered with mangro...
  • cachexia (pathology)
    A common systemic effect of malignant tumours, particularly at advanced stages of growth, is body wasting (cachexia), which may appear with loss of appetite (anorexia) and weight loss. It is likely that a chemical mediator called tumour necrosis factor-alpha is one of the multiple molecules that bring about wasting effects. This factor is produced by immune cells called macrophages and......
  • Cachoeira de Paulo Afonso (waterfalls, Brazil)
    series of rapids and three cataracts in northeastern Brazil on the São Francisco River along the Bahia-Alagoas estado (state) border. Lying 190 miles (305 km) from the river’s mouth, the falls have a total height of 275 feet (84 m) and a width of less than 60 feet (18 m). Water no longer freely flows over the falls, as a la...
  • Cachoeira de Paulo Afonso, A (work by Castro Alves)
    ...and eventually led to amputation of his foot. Tuberculosis set in, and he died at 24. Espumas flutuantes (1870; “Floating Foam”) contains some of his finest love lyrics. A cachoeira de Paulo Afonso (1876; “The Paulo Afonso Falls”), a fragment of Os escravos, tells the story of a slave girl who is raped by her master’s son. Th...
  • Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (Brazil)
    city, southern Espírito Santo estado (state), eastern Brazil. It lies along the Itapemirim River, at 95 feet (29 m) above sea level and about 30 miles (48 km) inland from the Atlantic coast. It was given city status in 1889. Cachoeiro de Itapemirim is a marble-quarrying and manufacturing centre and serves a coffee and livestock-r...
  • “cachorros, Los” (work by Vargas Llosa)
    ...set in the Peruvian jungle, combines mythical, popular, and heroic elements to capture the sordid, tragic, and fragmented reality of its characters. Los cachorros (1967; The Cubs, and Other Stories, filmed 1973) is a psychoanalytical portrayal of an adolescent who has been accidentally castrated. Conversación en la catedral (1969;......
  • Cacicus (bird)
    any of a dozen tropical American birds belonging to the family Icteridae (order Passeriformes) and resembling the related oropendolas. Caciques are smaller than oropendolas and have a less-powerful bill, which lacks a frontal shield. These striking black-and-yellow or black-and-red birds make hanging nests. A common species is the all-black, yellow-billed cacique (Cacicus, or Amblycercu...
  • Cacioppo, John (American psychologist)
    An extension of the conflict-resolution model is the elaboration-likelihood model (ELM) of persuasion, put forth in 1980 by American psychologists John Cacioppo and Richard Petty. The ELM emphasizes the cognitive processing with which people react to persuasive communications. According to this model, if people react to a persuasive communication by reflecting on the content of the message and......
  • cacique (chief)
    ...before him. The larger islands were inhabited by the Arawak, a sedentary if modestly developed people with kingdoms, rulers, nobles, and obligatory labour mechanisms. Their ruler was called a cacique, and the Spaniards adopted the word and carried it with them wherever they went in the Americas. The cacique received labour but not tribute in kind, and the encomendero, in practice,......
  • cacique (bird)
    any of a dozen tropical American birds belonging to the family Icteridae (order Passeriformes) and resembling the related oropendolas. Caciques are smaller than oropendolas and have a less-powerful bill, which lacks a frontal shield. These striking black-and-yellow or black-and-red birds make hanging nests. A common species is the all-black, yellow-billed cacique (Cacicus, or Amblycercu...
  • caciquism (Spanish-Latin American history)
    in Latin-American and Spanish politics, the rule of local chiefs or bosses (caciques). As a class, these leaders have often played a key role in their countries’ political structure....
  • caciquismo (Spanish-Latin American history)
    in Latin-American and Spanish politics, the rule of local chiefs or bosses (caciques). As a class, these leaders have often played a key role in their countries’ political structure....
  • cackling goose (bird)
    ...light-breasted goose with a black head and neck. It has white cheeks that flash when the bird shakes its head before taking flight. The various subspecies range in size from 2 kg (4.4 pounds) in the cackling goose (B. canadensis minima) to about 6.5 kg (14.3 pounds) in mature males of the giant Canada goose (B. canadensis maxima). The latter has a......
  • CACM
    association of five Central American nations that was formed to facilitate regional economic development through free trade and economic integration. Established by the General Treaty on Central American Economic Integration signed by Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua in December 1960, its ...
  • cacodyl (chemical compound)
    Arsenic also forms numerous organic compounds, as for example tetramethyl diarsine, (CH3)2As−As(CH3)2, used in preparing the common desiccant cacodylic acid. Several complex organic compounds of arsenic have been employed in the treatment of certain diseases, such as amebic dysentery, caused by microorganisms....
  • cacomistle (mammal)
    (Bassariscus), either of two species of large-eyed, long-tailed carnivores related to the raccoon (family Procyonidae). Cacomistles are grayish brown with lighter underparts and white patches over their eyes. The total length is about 60–100 cm (24–40 inches), about half of which is the bushy, black-and-white-ringed tail. The animals weigh about 1 kg (2.2 pounds) and h...
  • cacomixl (mammal)
    (Bassariscus), either of two species of large-eyed, long-tailed carnivores related to the raccoon (family Procyonidae). Cacomistles are grayish brown with lighter underparts and white patches over their eyes. The total length is about 60–100 cm (24–40 inches), about half of which is the bushy, black-and-white-ringed tail. The animals weigh about 1 kg (2.2 pounds) and h...
  • Caconda (Angola)
    town, west-central Angola. It is located 140 miles (225 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, on the Huíla Plateau (a high tableland sloping westward to the Atlantic coast in a series of descending escarpments), at an elevation of about 5,400 feet (1,650 metres)....
  • cacophony (sound pattern)
    sound patterns used in verse to achieve opposite effects: euphony is pleasing and harmonious; cacophony is harsh and discordant. Euphony is achieved through the use of vowel sounds in words of generally serene imagery. Vowel sounds, which are more easily pronounced than consonants, are more euphonious; the longer vowels are the most melodious. Liquid and nasal consonants and the semivowel......
  • Cacops (paleontology)
    extinct amphibian genus found as fossils in Early Permian, or Cisuralian, rocks in North America (the Early Permian Period, or Cisuralian Epoch, lasted from 299 million to 271 million years ago). Cacops reached a length of about 40 cm (16 inches). The skull was heavily constructed, and the otic notch, the region in the hind part of the skull that housed the hearing mechanism, was extremely ...
  • cacos (Haitian and Central American political group)
    the name given to Haitian rebels and to an early political group in Central America....
  • Cactaceae (plant)
    flowering plants belonging to the family Cactaceae, of the order Caryophyllales. Botanists estimate that there are some 1,500 species, grouped into about 100 genera, but there is much argument about the limits of both genera and species....
  • cacti (plant)
    flowering plants belonging to the family Cactaceae, of the order Caryophyllales. Botanists estimate that there are some 1,500 species, grouped into about 100 genera, but there is much argument about the limits of both genera and species....
  • Cactoblastis cactorum (insect)
    ...and feed on wax and young bees and fill the tunnels of the hive with silken threads. Bee-moth larvae are particularly destructive to old or unguarded colonies and to stored combs. Larvae of the cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum) destroy cactus plants by burrowing in them. The cactus moth was introduced into Australia from Argentina in 1925 as a biological control measure against the......
  • cactus (plant)
    flowering plants belonging to the family Cactaceae, of the order Caryophyllales. Botanists estimate that there are some 1,500 species, grouped into about 100 genera, but there is much argument about the limits of both genera and species....
  • Cactus Flower (film by Saks [1969])
    Other Nominees...
  • Cactus League (baseball)
    ...life of Phoenix. Baseball is particularly popular. The local professional team is the Arizona Diamondbacks, and many other Major League Baseball teams hold their spring training camps (known as the Cactus League) in areas surrounding the city; several others train in the Tucson area. The area’s other professional sports teams include the Cardinals (gridiron football), the Suns (men...
  • cactus moth (insect)
    ...and feed on wax and young bees and fill the tunnels of the hive with silken threads. Bee-moth larvae are particularly destructive to old or unguarded colonies and to stored combs. Larvae of the cactus moth (Cactoblastis cactorum) destroy cactus plants by burrowing in them. The cactus moth was introduced into Australia from Argentina in 1925 as a biological control measure against the......
  • cactus wren (bird)
    Common everywhere from Canada to Tierra del Fuego is the house wren (T. aedon); this barred gray-brown species is 12 cm long. The largest U.S. species is the 20-cm cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) of southwestern deserts; it is commoner in Mexico. Tiny wood wrens (Henicorhina) are found in tropical forests and the little marsh wrens (Cistothorus,......
  • cactuses (plant)
    flowering plants belonging to the family Cactaceae, of the order Caryophyllales. Botanists estimate that there are some 1,500 species, grouped into about 100 genera, but there is much argument about the limits of both genera and species....
  • Cacus and Caca (Roman deities)
    in Roman religion, brother and sister, respectively, originally fire deities of the early Roman settlement on the Palatine Hill, where “Cacus’ stairs” were later situated. The Roman poet Virgil (Aeneid, Book VIII) described Cacus as the son of the flame god Vulcan and as a monstrous fire-breathing brigand who terrorized the countryside. He stole so...
  • CAD
    As readily available computing power grew exponentially in the last decades of the 20th century, computer animation and computer-aided design became ubiquitous. These applications are based on three-dimensional analytic geometry. Coordinates are used to determine the edges or parametric curves that form boundaries of the surfaces of virtual objects. Vector analysis is used to model lighting and......
  • CAD/CAM (computer process)
    ...use of computers in industrial-design work, computer-aided design (CAD), with their use in manufacturing operations, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). This integrated process is commonly called CAD/CAM. CAD systems generally consist of a computer with one or more terminals featuring video monitors and interactive graphics-input devices; they can be used to design such things as machine......
  • CAD system (police work)
    Computer-assisted-dispatch (CAD) systems, such as the 911 system in the United States, are used not only to dispatch police quickly in an emergency but also to gather data on every person who has contact with the police. Information in the CAD database generally includes call volume, time of day, types of calls, response time, and the disposition of every call. The Enhanced 911 (E911) system,......
  • Cadahlso y Vásquez, José de (Spanish writer)
    Spanish writer famous for his Cartas marruecas (1793; “Moroccan Letters”), in which a Moorish traveler in Spain makes penetrating criticisms of Spanish life. Educated in Madrid, Cadalso traveled widely and, although he hated war, enlisted in the army against the Portuguese during the Seven Years’ War. His prose satire Los eruditos a la vio...
  • Cadalan schism (Italian history)
    ...selected Anselm of Lucca as Alexander II in accordance with the election decree of 1059, Henry proceeded to appoint Cadalo, bishop of Parma, who took the name Honorius II as antipope in 1061. The Cadalan schism brought together segments of the Roman nobility and the Lombard bishops, who were opposed to reform. The empire, which had been a partner in reform, was emerging as the enemy of......
  • cadalene (chemical compound)
    ...an even greater complexity of structure than the monoterpenes, and oxygenated sesquiterpenes are commonly encountered. Two arrangements of isoprene units are found in bicyclic sesquiterpenes, the cadalene and the eudalene types, and the carbon skeleton of a sesquiterpene may frequently be determined by heating it with sulfur or selenium to effect dehydrogenation to the corresponding......
  • Cadalso y Vázquez, José de (Spanish writer)
    Spanish writer famous for his Cartas marruecas (1793; “Moroccan Letters”), in which a Moorish traveler in Spain makes penetrating criticisms of Spanish life. Educated in Madrid, Cadalso traveled widely and, although he hated war, enlisted in the army against the Portuguese during the Seven Years’ War. His prose satire Los eruditos a la vio...
  • Cadalus, Peter (antipope)
    antipope from 1061 to 1064....
  • Cadamosto, Alvise (Italian navigator)
    Venetian traveler and nobleman, who wrote one of the earliest known accounts of western Africa....
  • Čadarainis, Aleksandrs (Latvian poet)
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    ...was pumping blood to a dead brain. Sometimes the intracranial pressure was so high that the blood could not even enter the head. Modern technology was exacting a very high price: the beating-heart cadaver....
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    Stephen was a partisan of Lambert, who induced him to conduct one of the grisliest events in papal history—the “Cadaver Synod” (or Synodus Horrenda). The Spoletans were so driven by hate for Formosus that they effected an unprecedented council (897) at which Formosus’ corpse was disinterred and arraigned for trial. Among the accusations against Formosus was that he had....
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    ...some diamines have offensive odours. For example, H2N(CH2)4NH2, called putrescine, and H2N(CH2)5NH2, called cadaverine, are foul-smelling compounds found in decaying flesh. Amines are colourless; aliphatic amines are transparent to ultraviolet light, but aromatic amines display strong absorption of certain.....
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