Skip this Advertisement

A-Z Browse

  • Fhine Gall (county, Ireland)
    county in the province of Leinster, east-central Ireland. The county of Fingal was created in 1994 when County Dublin was split administratively into three separate councils. Area 176 square miles (455 square km). Pop. (2002) 196,413....
  • FHLMC (American corporation)
    federally chartered private corporation created by the U.S. Congress in 1970 to provide continuous and affordable home financing. It is one of several government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) established since the early 20th century to help reduce the cost of credit to various borrowing sectors of the economy. Its headquarters are in the Washington, D.C., suburb of McLean, Va....
  • FI (political party, Italy)
    In 1994 Berlusconi founded Forza Italia (“Go, Italy!”), a conservative political party, and was elected prime minister. His tenure proved turbulent. Shortly after he took office in May 1994, officials launched a corruption investigation into his business empire, and disputes within the governing coalition culminated in the Lega Nord (Northern League) party’s defection in Decem...
  • Fi al-shiʾr al-Jāhilī (work by Ṭāhā Ḥusayn)
    ...of Arabic literature at the University of Cairo; his career there was frequently stormy, for his bold views enraged religious conservatives. His application of modern critical methods in Fi al-shiʾr al-jāhilī (1926; “On Pre-Islamic Poetry”) embroiled him in fierce polemics. In this book he contended that a great deal of the poetry reputed to be......
  • FIA (sports organization)
    ...racing, and karting, as well as hill climbs and trials (see hill climb; see also rally driving; gymkhana). Local, national, and international governing bodies, the most notable of which is the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), divide racing cars into various classes and subclasses and supervise competitions....
  • FIAB (international organization)
    ...institute has many international committees, and some, especially those concerned with classification research and the constant revision of the Universal Decimal Classification, are very active. The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA; Fédération Internationale des Associations de Bibliothécaires et des Bibliothèques, or FIAB) was....
  • fiacre (coach)
    French coach for hire, named for the Hôtel Saint-Fiacre, in Paris, where it was introduced in the 1640s. The first fiacres were boxlike, four-wheeled, open, hooded vehicles that were drawn by three horses and were designed to navigate the muddy Parisian streets. In 1794 about 800 were in use in Paris, and by the 19th century there were more than 1,500. The 19th-century fiacre resembled the...
  • FIAF (archives)
    ...funds. The earliest film archive was the Swedish Film History Collection begun in 1933. Archives in Paris, London, and New York City followed shortly afterward. An international federation (FIAF; Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film) was founded with headquarters in Paris in 1938....
  • Fialho de Almeida, José Valentim (Portuguese writer)
    Portuguese short-story writer and political essayist of the realist-naturalist period....
  • fiambre (food)
    ...Day on November 1 with unique traditions: giant kites are flown in the cemeteries near Antigua Guatemala, and many Guatemalans feast on a traditional food known as fiambre, a salad made from cold cuts, fish, and vegetables. The town of Todos Santos Cuchumatán holds horse races and traditional dancing on this day. Guatemala City celebrates the......
  • fiamma, La (opera by Respighi)
    As a composer of opera, Respighi had less success outside his own country. His best known works for the theatre were Belfagor, a comic opera produced at Milan in 1923, and La fiamma (Rome, 1934), which effectively transfers the gloomy Norwegian tragedy of H. Wiers Jenssen (known to English-speaking audiences in John Masefield’s version as The Witch) to Byzantine Ravenna...
  • “Fiammetta” (work by Boccaccio)
    ...of the Nymphs”), in prose and terza rima; L’amorosa visione (“The Amorous Vision”; 1342–43), a mediocre allegorical poem of 50 short cantos in terza rima; the prose Elegia di Madonna Fiammetta (1343–44); and the poem Il ninfale fiesolano (perhaps 1344–45; “Tale of the Fiesole Nymph”), in ottava rima, on the love...
  • Fiammetta (literary character)
    These years in Naples, moreover, were the years of Boccaccio’s love for Fiammetta, whose person dominates all his literary activity up to the Decameron, in which there also appears a Fiammetta whose character somewhat resembles that of the Fiammetta of his earlier works. Attempts to use passages from Boccaccio’s writings to identify Fiammetta with a supposedly historical Maria...
  • Fiámuri Arbërit (Albanian journal)
    ...(1836; “The Songs of Milosao”), is a Romantic ballad infused with patriotic sentiments. De Rada was also the founder of the first Albanian periodical, Fiámuri Arbërit (“The Albanian Flag”), which was published from 1883 to 1888. Other Arbëresh writers of note are Francesco Santori, a novelist, poet, and......
  • Fianarantsoa (Madagascar)
    town, east-central Madagascar. The town was founded in 1830. It lies on the eastern fringe of a forested escarpment at an average elevation of 4,000 feet (1,200 m) and consists of upper and lower towns, surrounded by woodland. The town is situated in the midst of Madagascar’s richest wine- and tea-producing region. It is the site of the University of Fianarantsoa (1988). The island’...
  • fianchettoed bishop (chess)
    ...1 e4 or 1 d4. Réti often began a game with 1 Nf3 and did not advance more than one pawn past the third before the middlegame had begun. Instead, he and the other Hypermoderns rediscovered the fianchetto, or development of a bishop on its longest diagonal—i.e., b2 and g2 for White, b7 and g7 for Black. Fianchettoed bishops had been a favourite of Howard Staunton in the 1830s but fe...
  • Fianna bátar in Emain (work by Artacáin and Mainistrech)
    ...of the fili; some of the earliest poems were metrical genealogy. As time went on the necessity for compendiums of information grew, and these were again often in metrical form. In a long poem, Fianna bátar in Emain (“The Warriors Who Were in Emain”), Cináed ua Artacáin summed up the saga material, while Fland Mainistrech collected the work of......
  • Fianna Fáil (political party, Ireland)
    the dominant political party in the Republic of Ireland since the 1930s....
  • fiat money (economics)
    The chief feature that distinguishes central banks from commercial banks is their ability to issue irredeemable or “fiat” paper notes, which in most nations are the only available form of paper currency and the only form of money having unlimited legal-tender status. Besides being held by the general public, central bank notes also serve, together with central bank deposit credits,.....
  • Fiat SpA (Italian company)
    international holding company and major Italian manufacturer of automobiles, trucks, and industrial vehicles and components. It is the largest family-owned corporation in Italy. Headquarters are in Turin....
  • Fiatal Demokraták Szövetsége–Magyar Polgári Szövetség (political party, Hungary)
    centre-right Hungarian political party. Fidesz (the Federation of Young Democrats) was founded in 1988 as an anticommunist party that promoted the development of a market economy and European integration. Initially, membership was restricted to those age 35 or younger, though this restriction was eliminated in 1993. In 1995 the party appended the name Hungarian Civic Party to its shortened form (a...
  • FIBA (sports organization)
    ...of basketball in the Olympic Games in 1936 and thereafter. Basketball has also been played in the Pan-American Games since their inauguration in 1951. The international game is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Basketball Amateur (FIBA). World championships began in 1950 for men and in 1953 for women. Under international rules the court differs in that there is no......
  • Fibber McGee and Molly (American radio program)
    husband and wife comedy team who co-starred on the classic radio program Fibber McGee and Molly, which aired from 1935 to 1957....
  • fiber (plant anatomy)
    ...of support in plants. Mature sclerenchyma cells are dead cells that have heavily thickened walls containing lignin. Such cells occur in many different shapes and sizes, but two main types occur: fibres and sclereids. Fibres are greatly elongated cells whose long, tapering ends interlock, thus providing maximum support to a plant. They can be found almost anywhere in the plant body, including......
  • fiber (technology)
    in textile production, basic unit of raw material having suitable length, pliability, and strength for conversion into yarns and fabrics. A fibre of extreme length is a filament. Fibres can occur naturally or can be produced artificially. See Man-Made Fibres; natural fibre. ...
  • fiber optics (physics)
    the science of transmitting data, voice, and images by the passage of light through thin, transparent fibres. In telecommunications, fibre optic technology has virtually replaced copper wire in long-distance telephone lines, and it is used to link computers within local area networks. Fibre optics is also the basis of the fibrescopes used in...
  • fiber-optic cable (electric conductor)
    the science of transmitting data, voice, and images by the passage of light through thin, transparent fibres. In telecommunications, fibre optic technology has virtually replaced copper wire in long-distance telephone lines, and it is used to link computers within local area networks. Fibre optics is also the basis of the fibrescopes used in...
  • fiberboard (construction)
    Fibreboard drums have been produced since early in the 20th century. They are made with ends of steel or paperboard in sizes up to 75 gallons and are cheap and lightweight. They are commonly resin-coated or lined with loose plastic bags for packaging solid materials....
  • fiberglass
    fibrous form of glass that is used principally as insulation and as a reinforcing agent in plastics....
  • Fibiger, Johannes (Danish pathologist)
    Danish pathologist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1926 for achieving the first controlled induction of cancer in laboratory animals, a development of profound importance to cancer research....
  • Fibiger, Johannes Andreas Grib (Danish pathologist)
    Danish pathologist who received the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1926 for achieving the first controlled induction of cancer in laboratory animals, a development of profound importance to cancer research....
  • Fibonacci generator (cryptology device)
    One class of electronic devices that function similar to rotors is the Fibonacci generator (also called the Koken generator after its inventor), named for the Fibonacci sequence of number theory. In the classical Fibonacci sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13… each successive term, beginning with 2, is the sum of the two terms to its left; i.e.,......
  • Fibonacci, Leonardo (Italian mathematician)
    medieval Italian mathematician who wrote Liber abaci (1202; “Book of the Abacus”), the first European work on Indian and Arabian mathematics....
  • Fibonacci number (mathematics)
    the elements of the sequence of numbers 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …, each of which, after the second, is the sum of the two previous numbers. These numbers were first noted by the medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano (“Fibonacci”) in his Liber abaci (1202; “Book of the Abacus”), which also p...
  • Fibonacci sequence (mathematics)
    the elements of the sequence of numbers 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …, each of which, after the second, is the sum of the two previous numbers. These numbers were first noted by the medieval Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano (“Fibonacci”) in his Liber abaci (1202; “Book of the Abacus”), which also p...
  • fibre (connective tissue)
    ...alveolar wall, called the interalveolar septum, is common to two adjacent alveoli. It contains a dense network of capillaries, the smallest of the blood vessels, and a skeleton of connective tissue fibres. The fibre system is interwoven with the capillaries and particularly reinforced at the alveolar entrance rings. The capillaries are lined by flat endothelial cells with thin cytoplasmic......
  • fibre (technology)
    in textile production, basic unit of raw material having suitable length, pliability, and strength for conversion into yarns and fabrics. A fibre of extreme length is a filament. Fibres can occur naturally or can be produced artificially. See Man-Made Fibres; natural fibre. ...
  • fibre (plant anatomy)
    ...of support in plants. Mature sclerenchyma cells are dead cells that have heavily thickened walls containing lignin. Such cells occur in many different shapes and sizes, but two main types occur: fibres and sclereids. Fibres are greatly elongated cells whose long, tapering ends interlock, thus providing maximum support to a plant. They can be found almost anywhere in the plant body, including......
  • fibre (diet)
    ...family), contain sulforaphane and other compounds known as isothiocyanates, which induce enzymes that detoxify carcinogens and have been demonstrated to protect against cancer in animal studies. Dietary fibre in plant foods may also be protective: it dilutes potential carcinogens, binds to them, and speeds up transit time through the gut, thereby limiting exposure. Fruits and vegetables are......
  • fibre bundle (mathematics)
    ...possible values. Because a vector space is attached at each point, the theory is called the theory of vector bundles. Other kinds of space may be attached, thus entering the more general theory of fibre bundles. The subtle and vital point is that it is possible to create quite different bundles which nonetheless look similar in small patches. (An example of this is illustrated in the figure.).....
  • fibre glass
    fibrous form of glass that is used principally as insulation and as a reinforcing agent in plastics....
  • fibre, man-made
    fibre whose chemical composition, structure, and properties are significantly modified during the manufacturing process. Man-made fibres are spun and woven into a huge number of consumer and industrial products, including garments such as shirts, scarves, and hosiery; home furnishings such as upholstery, carpets, and drapes; and industrial parts such as tire cord, flame-proof linings, and drive be...
  • fibre optics (physics)
    the science of transmitting data, voice, and images by the passage of light through thin, transparent fibres. In telecommunications, fibre optic technology has virtually replaced copper wire in long-distance telephone lines, and it is used to link computers within local area networks. Fibre optics is also the basis of the fibrescopes used in...
  • fibre-optic cable (wire)
    ...rare-earth metal of the lanthanoid series of the periodic table. Erbium is a grayish silver element that also occurs as a series of pink compounds. It had limited commercial uses until the age of fibre-optic telecommunications, when it became an important constituent of the signal repeaters in long-distance telephone cables....
  • fibre-optic endoscope (medical instrument)
    Fibre-optic endoscopes are pliable, highly maneuverable instruments that allow access to channels in the body that older, semirigid instruments cannot access at all or can access only at great discomfort to the patient. Composed of multiple hairlike glass rods bundled together, these instruments can be more easily bent and twisted, and the intense light enables the endoscopist to see around......
  • fibre-optic gyroscope
    ...photoelectric cells. The patterns of all three rings are then numerically integrated in order to determine the turning rate of the craft in three dimensions. Another type of optical gyroscope is the fibre-optic gyroscope, which dispenses with hollow tubes and mirrors in favour of routing the light through thin fibres wound tightly around a small spool....
  • fibreboard (construction)
    Fibreboard drums have been produced since early in the 20th century. They are made with ends of steel or paperboard in sizes up to 75 gallons and are cheap and lightweight. They are commonly resin-coated or lined with loose plastic bags for packaging solid materials....
  • fibreglass
    fibrous form of glass that is used principally as insulation and as a reinforcing agent in plastics....
  • fibreglass wool (fibre)
    Fibreglass wool, an excellent sound and thermal insulator, is commonly used in buildings, appliances, and plumbing. Glass filaments and yarns add strength and electrical resistivity to molded plastic products, such as pleasure boat hulls, automobile body parts, and housings for a variety of electronic consumer products. Glass fabrics are used as electrical insulators and as reinforcing belts in......
  • fibrillar muscle (anatomy)
    ...rhythm of contraction. The leg muscles of all insects, and the wing muscles of many, require action potentials to initiate every contraction; however, the wing muscles of other insects consist of fibrillar muscle, which requires only occasional action potentials to maintain its rapid rhythmic contractions. The wings of these insects are attached to the body in such a way as to have a resonant.....
  • fibrillation, atrial (pathology)
    irregular rhythm of contraction of the muscles of the atrium, the upper chamber of the heart. In some cases the fibrillations are not noticed by the patient, but frequently the chaotic, rapid, and shallow beats are felt as significant palpitations of the heart, often accompanied by shortness of breath, dizziness, and fatigue. Atrial fibrillation is the most co...
  • fibrillation, ventricular (pathology)
    a type of arrhythmia (abnormal heart rhythm) characterized by the irregular and uncoordinated contraction of the muscle fibres of the ventricles, the lower chambers of the heart. Since ventricular fibrillation completely prevents the heart from functioning as a pump, it quickly brings death unless emergency measures restore the circulation o...
  • fibrin (biochemistry)
    an insoluble protein that is produced in response to bleeding and is the major component of the blood clot. Fibrin is a tough protein substance that is arranged in long fibrous chains; it is formed from fibrinogen, a soluble protein that is produced by the liver and found in blood plasma. When tissue damage results in bleeding, fibrinogen is converted at the w...
  • fibrin clot
    ...to participate in blood coagulation upon tissue injury. Blood-clotting proteins generate thrombin, an enzyme that converts fibrinogen to fibrin, and a reaction that leads to the formation of a fibrin clot....
  • fibrin-stabilizing factor XIII (biochemistry)
    ...the conversion of the soluble fibrinogen to soluble fibrin under the influence of the enzyme thrombin (factor IIa). Soluble fibrin is converted to insoluble fibrin strands by activated factor XIII (fibrin-stabilizing factor), and covalent cross-linkages form between the fibrin strands to give a strong and rigid network. Several of the clotting factors (II, VII, IX, X) require the presence of......
  • fibrinogen (biochemistry)
    Plasma contains 6–8 percent proteins. One critical group is the coagulation proteins and their inhibitors, synthesized primarily in the liver. When blood clotting is activated, fibrinogen circulating in the blood is converted to fibrin, which in turn helps to form a stable blood clot at the site of vascular disruption. Coagulation inhibitor proteins help to prevent abnormal coagulation......
  • fibrinoid (anatomy)
    ...the lungs). The walls of inflamed blood vessels, portions of which may become necrotic (i.e., may die), are often found to contain characteristic deposits of hyaline (translucent) material called fibrinoid because staining with dyes (e.g., eosin) reveals tinctorial properties similar to fibrin (a fibrous protein that forms the lattice of blood clots)....
  • fibrinolysin (biology)
    ...in which specific proteins and other constituents of the blood, including the platelets, play a part. Plasma also is provided with a mechanism for dissolving clots after they have been formed. Plasmin is a proteolytic enzyme—a substance that causes breakdown of proteins—derived from an inert plasma precursor known as plasminogen. When clots are formed within blood vessels,......
  • fibrinolysis (biology)
    ...that underlies the endothelial cell. Later, normal healing of the wound occurs. The platelets subsequently degenerate into an amorphous mass and after several days, the fibrin itself is dissolved (fibrinolysis) by an enzyme, plasmin. The fibrin clot is replaced by a permanent framework of scar tissue that includes collagen, and healing is thus complete....
  • fibrinolytic drug (pharmacology)
    A fibrinolytic system that exists in the body restricts thrombus propagation beyond the site of injury and is also involved in the lysis, or dissolution, of clots as wounds heal. The fibrinolytic system degrades fibrin and fibrinogen to products that act to inhibit the enzyme thrombin. The active enzyme involved in the fibrinolytic process is plasmin, which is formed from its precursor,......
  • fibrinolytic system (physiology)
    A fibrinolytic system that exists in the body restricts thrombus propagation beyond the site of injury and is also involved in the lysis, or dissolution, of clots as wounds heal. The fibrinolytic system degrades fibrin and fibrinogen to products that act to inhibit the enzyme thrombin. The active enzyme involved in the fibrinolytic process is plasmin, which is formed from its precursor,......
  • fibrinopeptide (chemical compound)
    Proteins that evolve more rapidly than cytochrome c can be studied in order to establish phylogenetic relationships between closely related species. Some proteins evolve very fast; the fibrinopeptides—small proteins involved in the blood-clotting process—are suitable for reconstructing the phylogeny of recently evolved species, such as closely related mammals. Other proteins evolve.....
  • fibroblast (anatomy)
    the principal nonmotile cells of connective tissue; fibroblasts are large, flat, elongated (spindle-shaped) cells possessing processes extending out from the ends of the cell body. The cell nucleus is flat and oval. Fibroblasts produce tropocollagen, which is the forerunner of collagen, and ground substance, an amorphous, gel-like matrix that fills the spaces between cells and fibres in connectiv...
  • fibrocartilage (anatomy)
    ...at the ends of bones in free-moving joints as articular cartilage, at the ends of the ribs, and in the nose, larynx, trachea, and bronchi. It is a glossy blue-white in appearance and very resilient. Fibrocartilage is the tough, very strong tissue found predominantly in the intervertebral disks and at the insertions of ligaments and tendons; it is similar to other fibrous tissues but contains......
  • fibrocartilaginous joint (anatomy)
    A symphysis (fibrocartilaginous joint) is a joint in which the body (physis) of one bone meets the body of another. All but two of the symphyses lie in the vertebral (spinal) column, and all but one contain fibrocartilage as a constituent tissue. The short-lived suture between the two halves of the mandible is called the symphysis menti (from the Latin ......
  • fibrocystic disease of the breast (mammary gland)
    noncancerous cysts (harmless swellings caused by fluid trapped in breast tissues) that often increase in size and become tender during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle. This condition occurs most often in women between the ages of 30 and 50 years. Aside from discomfort, the chief problem posed by the disease is that it makes the detection of other abnormalities more difficult. Neverth...
  • fibrocyte (biology)
    ...to support the internal organs and hold bones together in proper articulation at the joints. A ligament is composed of dense fibrous bundles of collagenous fibres and spindle-shaped cells known as fibrocytes, with little ground substance (a gel-like component of the various connective tissues). Ligaments may be of two major types: white ligament is rich in collagenous fibres, which are sturdy.....
  • fibroelastosis (pathology)
    ...in the myocardium—for example, tumours—may be present at birth, but they are rare. Abnormalities of the endocardium may be present at birth, but they are also rare. They include fibroelastosis, a disease in which the endocardium develops a thick fibrous coat that interferes with the normal contraction and relaxation of the heart. This condition cannot be treated surgically......
  • fibroid tumour (pathology)
    Uterine fibroids, also called uterine leiomyomata, are benign tumours that originate from the smooth muscle walls of the uterus and may be single but usually occur in clusters. They are most common in women of African descent and in women who have not borne children, and they are most often identified in women aged 30–45 years. New tumours rarely originate after menopause, and existing......
  • fibroin (chemistry)
    The two most important classes of scleroproteins are the collagens and the keratins. Others include fibroin, which forms about 67 percent of the content of natural silk (the remainder is the protein sericin); elastin, a structural protein of elastic fibres that occurs together with collagen in many tissues; certain proteins of marine sponges (spongin) and corals (gorgonin, antipathin);......
  • fibrolite (mineral)
    brown, pale green, or white glassy silicate mineral that often occurs in long, slender, needlelike crystals frequently found in fibrous aggregates. An aluminum silicate, Al2OSiO4, it occurs in high-temperature regionally metamorphosed clay-rich rocks (e.g., schists and gneisses). Sillimanite is found at many points in France, Madagascar, and the eastern United States; ...
  • fibroma (pathology)
    any benign tumour of fibrous tissue. Specific fibromas include nonossifying fibroma, found in the large long bones; it is relatively common in older children and young adults. Fibromas can occur in many areas of the body (e.g., ovaries, nerves) and may remain symptomless throughout life. Treatment includes surgical excisio...
  • fibromyalgia (medical syndrome)
    chronic syndrome that is characterized by musculoskeletal pain, often at multiple anatomical sites, that occurs in the absence of an identifiable physical or physiological cause. A significant number of persons with fibromyalgia also have mental disorders, especially depression. Fibromyalgia is most commonly diagnosed in young and middle-aged women....
  • fibrosarcoma (pathology)
    rare malignant tumour of fibrous tissue most commonly found in middle-age adults and primarily occurring in the thighbone, upper arm bone, or jaw; the tumour also may arise in soft tissues and organs. The mass is detectable by palpation before pain occurs. The tumour may invade surrounding tissues, which makes complete surgical excision difficult. It often rec...
  • fibrosis (pathology)
    The symptoms of silicosis are shortness of breath that is followed by coughing, difficulty in breathing, and weakness. These symptoms are all related to a fibrosis that reduces the elasticity of the lung. In the actual disease process, the tiny particles of inhaled silica are taken up in the lungs by scavenger cells, called macrophages, that serve to protect the body from bacterial invasion.......
  • fibrous actin (chemical compound)
    ...in this form, called globular actin or G-actin, has one calcium or magnesium ion and one molecule of ATP bound to it. Under the proper conditions, G-actin is transformed into the fibrous form, or F-actin, that exists in the thin filament in muscle. When the G-to-F transformation takes place, the ATP bound to G-actin breaks down, releasing inorganic phosphate (Pi) and leaving.....
  • fibrous astrocyte (biology)
    Fibrous astrocytes are prevalent among myelinated nerve fibres in the white matter of the central nervous system. Organelles seen in the somata of neurons are also seen in astrocytes, but they appear to be much sparser. These cells are characterized by the presence of numerous fibrils in their cytoplasm. The main processes exit the cell in a radial direction (hence the name......
  • fibrous dysplasia (pathology)
    rare congenital developmental disorder beginning in childhood and characterized by replacement of solid calcified bone with fibrous tissue, often only on one side of the body and primarily in the long bones and pelvis. One bone (monostotic) or several bones (polystotic) may be affected. The disease appears to result from a genetic mutation that leads to the overproduction of fib...
  • fibrous joint (anatomy)
    In fibrous joints the articulating parts are separated by white connective tissue (collagen) fibres, which pass from one part to the other. There are two types of fibrous joints: suture and gomphosis....
  • fibrous pericardium (anatomy)
    The heart is suspended in its own membranous sac, the pericardium. The strong outer portion of the sac, or fibrous pericardium, is firmly attached to the diaphragm below, the mediastinal pleura on the side, and the sternum in front. It gradually blends with the coverings of the superior vena cava and the pulmonary (lung) arteries and veins leading to and from the heart. (The space between the......
  • fibrous protein (biochemistry)
    ...very complicated, apparently irregular shapes. Two extremes in shape include the closely folded structure of the globular proteins and the elongated, unidimensional structure of the threadlike fibrous proteins; both were recognized many years before the technique of X-ray diffraction was developed. Solutions of fibrous proteins are extremely viscous (i.e., sticky); those of the......
  • fibrous root system (plant anatomy)
    Grasses and other monocotyledons have a fibrous root system, characterized by a mass of roots of about equal diameter. This network of roots does not arise as branches of the primary root but consists of many branching roots that emerge from the base of the stem....
  • fibrous texture (mineralogy)
    ...generally gives the double-chain members lower specific gravities and refractive indices than their single-chain analogues. Their crystal habits also are different: amphiboles exhibit needlelike or fibrous crystals, while pyroxenes take the form of stubby prisms. In addition, the different chain structures of the two groups result in different cleavage angles....
  • fibrous-rooted begonia (plant)
    Fibrous-rooted begonias can be further divided into the wax, or bedding, begonias (Semperflorens-Cultorum group), including the offshoots of B. semperflorens used most often as summer bedding plants; the so-called cane stem types (angelwing begonias), characterized by their tall stems; and the hairy begonias, which have feltlike leaves....
  • fibula (bone)
    outer of two bones of the lower leg or hind limb, probably so named because the inner bone, the tibia, and the fibula together resemble an ancient brooch, or pin. In humans the head of the fibula is joined to the head of the tibia by ligaments and does not form part of the knee. The base of the fibula forms the outer proje...
  • fibula (lepidopteran wing)
    The forewings and hind wings on each side are coupled together in various ways. In primitive moths a fingerlike lobe on the forewing overlaps the base of the hind wing. In most moths a strong bristle or cluster of bristles (frenulum) near the base of the hind wing engages a catch (retinaculum) on the forewing. In some moths and in the skippers and butterflies, the frenulum mechanism has been......
  • fibula (jewelry)
    brooch, or pin, originally used in Greek and Roman dress for fastening garments. The fibula developed in a variety of shapes, but all were based on the safety-pin principle....
  • FICC
    ...of Great Britain and Ireland, which fostered the establishment of camping organizations in a number of western European countries. In 1932 the International Federation of Camping and Caravanning (Fédération Internationale de Camping et de Caravanning; FICC) was formed—the first international camping organization....
  • Ficciones (work by Borges)
    ...fearing for his sanity. This experience appears to have freed in him the deepest forces of creation. In the next eight years he produced his best fantastic stories, those later collected in Ficciones (“Fictions”) and the volume of English translations titled The Aleph and Other Stories, 1933–69. During this time, he and another writer, Adolfo Bioy....
  • Fichte, Immanuel (German philosopher)
    ...are compatible and another review in which Hegel responded indirectly to arguments of Herbart. Among Hegel’s critics can be distinguished speculative theists such as Christian Weisse of Leipzig and Immanuel Fichte, the son of the more famous Johann Fichte, who reproached him for his panlogism and proposed to unify thought and experience in the concept of a free God, the Creator. Among th...
  • Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (German philosopher)
    German philosopher and patriot, one of the great transcendental idealists....
  • Fichtel Hills (mountains, Europe)
    mountains in northeastern Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. They lie at the Czech border between the Franconian Forest in the northwest, the Ore Mountains (in German, Erzgebirge; in Czech, Krušné Hory) in the northeast, and the Upper Palatinate Forest (a section of the Bohemian Forest...
  • Fichtel Mountain (mountain, Europe)
    ...face (2,000 to 2,500 feet [600 to 750 metres] high in places); the outer slope to the northwest is gradual. The highest summits, Klínovec (4,081 feet [1,244 metres]) on the Czech side and Fichtel Mountain (3,983 feet [1,214 metres]) on the German side, are in the centre of the range. Loučná (3,136 feet [956 metres]) is at the northeastern end and......
  • Fichtelgebirge (mountains, Europe)
    mountains in northeastern Bavaria Land (state), southeastern Germany. They lie at the Czech border between the Franconian Forest in the northwest, the Ore Mountains (in German, Erzgebirge; in Czech, Krušné Hory) in the northeast, and the Upper Palatinate Forest (a section of the Bohemian Forest...
  • Fichtelgebirgehumpen (glass)
    ...depict either the German emperor on horseback, with the three spiritual electors behind him and four princes below, or the kaiser enthroned, with three or four princes on either side. Fichtelgebirgehumpen are decorated with mountain landscapes. None of the surviving examples of Humpen dates before the middle of the 16th century. The best examples come from southern......
  • Ficidae (gastropod family)
    ...tropical predators on echinoderms; often burrow in sand; includes helmet shells (Cassidae), tun shells (Doliidae), frog shells (Bursidae), triton shells (Cymatiidae), and fig shells (Ficidae); frog and triton shells often live in rocky areas; most species large in size.Suborder Stenoglossa......
  • Ficino, Marsilio (Italian philosopher and theologian)
    Italian philosopher, theologian, and linguist whose translations and commentaries on the writings of Plato and other classical Greek authors generated the Florentine Platonist Renaissance that influenced European thought for two centuries....
  • Fick, Adolf E. (German physiologist)
    thin, artificial lens worn on the surface of the eye to correct refractive defects of vision. The first contact lens, made of glass, was developed by Adolf Fick in 1887 to correct irregular astigmatism. The early lenses, however, were uncomfortable and could not be worn for long. Until the development of optical instruments that could measure the curvature of the cornea (the transparent surface......
  • Fick, August (German linguist)
    German linguist, a pioneer in Indo-European etymological research who made the first comprehensive study of the common vocabulary of Indo-European languages and sought to determine their prototype....
  • Ficker, Julius von (German historian)
    ...of early-medieval French documents were printed in the Recueil des actes by a variety of eminent editors. But the greatest advances were made by German and Austrian scholars, among whom Julius von Ficker investigated the differentiation between actum and datum (that is, between verbal legal procedure and its formal documentation), and Theodor von Sickel defined a basic......
Skip this Advertisement

Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.

If you think a reference to this article on "" will enhance your Web site, blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article, and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.

You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.

copy link

We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.

Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.

The Britannica Store
A-Z Browse

Image preview