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  • Identification Friend or Foe (warning system)
    Radar and identification friend or foe (IFF) equipment constitute the forward elements of complex systems that have appeared throughout the world. Examples include the semiautomatic ground environment (SAGE), augmented by a mobile backup intercept control system called BUIC in the United States, NATO air defense ground environment (NADGE) in Europe, a similar system in Japan, and various......
  • identifying paramnesia (psychology)
    The déjà vu experience has aroused considerable interest and is occasionally felt by most people, especially in youth or when they are fatigued. It has also found its way into literature, having been well described by, among other creative writers, Shelley, Dickens, Hawthorne, Tolstoy, and Proust. The curious sense of extreme familiarity may be limited to a single sensory system,......
  • “Identité de la France, L’ ” (work by Braudel)
    ...rigorous analysis. Despite the mass of detail, his was a unified vision, and he wrote in elegant prose. In his final, unfinished, three-volume work, L’Identité de la France (1986; The Identity of France), he applied the geohistorical method to his homeland, presenting a history that favoured the physical mutations of its diverse regions over the unruly lives and thou...
  • identity (religion)
    3. Identity: Eckhart’s numerous statements on identity between God and the soul can be easily misunderstood. He never has substantial identity in mind, but God’s operation and man’s becoming are considered as one. God is no longer outside man, but he is perfectly interiorized. Hence such statements: “The being and the nature of God are mine; Jesus enters the castle of t...
  • identity (mathematics and logic)
    ...presupposed in an interpretation, or the domain of individuals. Its members are said to be quantified over in “("x)” or “($x).” Furthermore, (3) the concept of identity (expressed by =) and (4) some notion of predication (an individual’s having a property or a relation’s holding between several individuals) belong to logic. The forms that ...
  • identity crisis (psychology)
    ...a key aspect of this adolescent dilemma is that of finding a role, which is generally taken to be the outward expression of identity. The emotional upheaval provoked by this mandate is called the identity crisis. In order to resolve this crisis and achieve a sense of identity, it is necessary to synthesize psychological development and societal directives. The adolescent must find an......
  • identity element (mathematics)
    ...is an element e such that a * e = a = e * a for every element a in the group. This element is called the identity element of the group.For every element a there is an element, written a−1, with the property that......
  • identity, law of (logic)
    traditionally, the three fundamental laws of logic: (1) the law of contradiction, (2) the law of excluded middle (or third), and (3) the principle of identity. That is, (1) for all propositions p, it is impossible for both p and not p to be true, or symbolically, ∼(p · ∼p), in which ∼ means “not” and · means......
  • identity matrix (mathematics)
    A matrix O with all its elements 0 is called a zero matrix. A square matrix A with 1s on the main diagonal (upper left to lower right) and 0s everywhere else is called a unit matrix. It is denoted by I or In to show that its order is n. If B is any square matrix and I and O are the unit and zero matrices of the same......
  • Identity of France, The (work by Braudel)
    ...rigorous analysis. Despite the mass of detail, his was a unified vision, and he wrote in elegant prose. In his final, unfinished, three-volume work, L’Identité de la France (1986; The Identity of France), he applied the geohistorical method to his homeland, presenting a history that favoured the physical mutations of its diverse regions over the unruly lives and thou...
  • Identity of Man, The (work by Bronowski)
    ...Values (1956; rev. ed. 1965). In these books Bronowski examined aspects of science in nontechnical language and made a case for his view that science needs an ethos in order to function. In The Identity of Man (1965) he sought to present a unifying philosophy of human nature. He also wrote William Blake, 1757–1827: A Man Without a Mask (1943), revised as William.....
  • identity, personal
    Identity refers to both group self-awareness of common unique characteristics and individual self-awareness of inclusion in such a group. Self-awareness may be formulated in comprehensive cultural terms (ethnic identity), in biogenetic terms (racial identity), in terms of sexual orientation, and in terms of gender. Persons and groups often adhere to multiple and fluid identities,......
  • identity, principle of (logic)
    traditionally, the three fundamental laws of logic: (1) the law of contradiction, (2) the law of excluded middle (or third), and (3) the principle of identity. That is, (1) for all propositions p, it is impossible for both p and not p to be true, or symbolically, ∼(p · ∼p), in which ∼ means “not” and · means......
  • identity proposition (logic)
    ...as,” whereas in (1) it cannot. As used in (2), “is” stands for a dyadic relation—namely, identity—that the proposition asserts to hold between the two individuals. An identity proposition is to be understood in this context as asserting no more than this; in particular it is not to be taken as asserting that the two naming expressions have the same meaning. A ...
  • identity statement (philosophy)
    ...is best able to explain how people, using language, are able to refer to things in the world and to communicate with each other. The debate involved a long-standing puzzle regarding so-called “identity” statements—i.e., statements consisting of two names or descriptions joined by is or are. The puzzle was how to account for the apparent informative...
  • identity theft
    Cybercrime affects both a virtual and a real body, but the effects upon each are different. This phenomenon is clearest in the case of identity theft. In the United States, for example, individuals do not have an official identity card but a Social Security number that has long served as a de facto identification number. Taxes are collected on the basis of each citizen’s Social Security num...
  • identity theory (philosophy)
    in philosophy, one view of modern Materialism that asserts that mind and matter, however capable of being logically distinguished, are in actuality but different expressions of a single reality that is material. Strong emphasis is placed upon the empirical verification of such statements as: “Thought is reducible to motion in the brain.”...
  • IDEO (American company)
    Another teamwork-oriented design firm active at the start of the 21st century was IDEO. Founded in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1991 by Bill Moggridge, Mike Nuttall, and David Kelley, it grew rapidly, adding offices in San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston as well as London, Munich, and Shanghai. With its design studios operating globally, IDEO stressed the team approach to the design process. Its......
  • ideogram
    The system of hieroglyphic writing has two basic features: first, representable objects are portrayed as pictures (ideograms) and, second, the picture signs are given the phonetic value of the words for these represented objects (phonograms). At the same time, these signs are also written to designate homonyms, similar-sounding words. The writing disregards vowels and also, in earlier times,......
  • ideograph
    The system of hieroglyphic writing has two basic features: first, representable objects are portrayed as pictures (ideograms) and, second, the picture signs are given the phonetic value of the words for these represented objects (phonograms). At the same time, these signs are also written to designate homonyms, similar-sounding words. The writing disregards vowels and also, in earlier times,......
  • ideokinetic apraxia (pathology)
    Ideokinetic apraxia is caused by an interruption of impulses in the association tracts of the nervous system, so that there is no coordination between ideation and motor activity. An affected individual will complain, for example, that he cannot use his hand, but then he will slap a mosquito with it. People with ideokinetic apraxia are unable to perform certain acts (e.g., whistling or making a......
  • Idéologie (philosophical movement)
    French philosophic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that reduced epistemological problems (concerning the nature or grounds of knowledge) to those of psychology (as in the work of Étienne Condillac), before advancing to ethical and political problems. The Idéologues, by analysis of ideas, viewed the simple sensory elements of Condillac’s s...
  • “Ideologie und Utopie” (work by Mannheim)
    ...Ideas and beliefs are rooted in larger thought systems (Weltanschauungen), a phenomenon Mannheim called relationism. He elaborated on these concepts in Ideology and Utopia: An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge (1929). In the posthumously published Freedom, Power, and Democratic Planning (1950), Mannheim tried to......
  • Ideologie und Wahrheit (work by Geiger)
    ...des Rechts (1947; reprinted 1964; “Preliminary Studies on the Sociology of Law”), which dealt with law and regulation in society. Several of his works were published posthumously: Ideologie und Wahrheit (1953; “Ideology and Truth”) discusses ideology and its role in the creation of mass society; and Demokratic ohne Dogma (1964; “Democracy ...
  • ideology (society)
    a form of social or political philosophy in which practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones. It is a system of ideas that aspires both to explain the world and to change it....
  • Ideology (philosophical movement)
    French philosophic movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that reduced epistemological problems (concerning the nature or grounds of knowledge) to those of psychology (as in the work of Étienne Condillac), before advancing to ethical and political problems. The Idéologues, by analysis of ideas, viewed the simple sensory elements of Condillac’s s...
  • Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (essay by Althusser)
    ...the profound difference between Marx’s early philosophical views and his later scientific ones as an “epistemological break.” In a later influential essay, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (1969), Althusser argued against traditional interpretations of Marx as an inveterate economic determinist by demonstrating the......
  • Ideology and Utopia: An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge (work by Mannheim)
    ...Ideas and beliefs are rooted in larger thought systems (Weltanschauungen), a phenomenon Mannheim called relationism. He elaborated on these concepts in Ideology and Utopia: An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge (1929). In the posthumously published Freedom, Power, and Democratic Planning (1950), Mannheim tried to......
  • ideophone (linguistics)
    ...the same nasal infix may turn verbs into nouns and mass nouns into count nouns (noun classifiers). (4) Many affixes are found only in a few fossilized forms and often have lost their meaning. (5) Expressive language and wordplay are embodied in a special word class called “expressives.” This is a basic class of words distinct from verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in that they cannot...
  • Ider River (river, Mongolia)
    river in Mongolia and east-central Russia. It is formed by the confluence of the Ider and Delger rivers. It is Mongolia’s principal river and is the most substantial source of water for Lake Baikal....
  • Ides (Roman chronology)
    ...Kalendae, but subsequent days were not enumerated as so many after the Kalendae but as so many before the following Nonae (“nones”), the day called nonae being the ninth day before the Ides (from iduare, meaning “to divide”), which occurred in the middle of the month and were supposed to coincide with the Full Moon. Days after th...
  • IDF (military organization, Israel)
    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is generally regarded by military experts as one of the finest armed forces in the world. IDF doctrine has been shaped since Israel’s founding by the country’s need to stave off attack from the numerically superior and geographically advantaged forces of its hostile Arab neighbours. This doctrine encompasses the IDF’s belief that Israel cannot a...
  • Idfū (Egypt)
    town on the west bank of the Nile in Aswān muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Upper Egypt....
  • ʿĪdgāh Mosque (mosque, Multān, Pakistan)
    ...has one of the biggest domes in Asia. The shrine of Sheikh Yūsuf Gardēz is a masterpiece of the Multāni style. Other shrines include the Pahlādpurī Temple and the ʿĪdgāh Mosque (1735). Pop. (2005 est.) urban agglom., 1,452,000....
  • Idha (mountain, Crete)
    mountain riddled with caves, west-central Crete, in the nomós (department) of Réthímnon, southern Greece. One of Ídhi’s two peaks, Timios Stavros, at 8,058 feet (2,456 m), is Crete’s highest mountain. According to one legend Zeus was reared in the Ídhiean cave on the peak’s scrub-covered slopes. The well-known Kamare...
  • Ídhi (mountain, Crete)
    mountain riddled with caves, west-central Crete, in the nomós (department) of Réthímnon, southern Greece. One of Ídhi’s two peaks, Timios Stavros, at 8,058 feet (2,456 m), is Crete’s highest mountain. According to one legend Zeus was reared in the Ídhiean cave on the peak’s scrub-covered slopes. The well-known Kamare...
  • Ídhra (Greece)
    With the advent of steamships, however, the maritime activities of the island declined. Industries now include sponge fishing, cotton weaving, shipbuilding, and international tourism. Ídhra, the chief town, on the north coast, is an artists’ and writers’ colony and the residence of a metropolitan bishop. Its narrow, rock-cut streets surround a sheltered harbour. Three other sm...
  • Ídhra (island, Greece)
    island of the Saronic group in the Aegean Sea, Attica nomós (department), Greece. It lies just off the eastern tip of the Argolís peninsula of the Peloponnese and has a maximum length, northeast-southwest, of 13 miles (21 km). The highest point, Mount Ere, is 1,936 feet (590 metres). Once quite wooded and well watered, as its Turkish name, ...
  • IDI (Italian organization)
    ...funded by the state and supervised by the Ministry for Tourism. Three public organizations to promote theatrical activity in Italy are the Italian Theatre Board (Ente Teatrale Italiano; ETI), the Institute for Italian Drama (Istituto Dramma Italiano; IDI), concerned with promoting Italian repertory, and the National Institute for Ancient Drama (Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico; INDA). In......
  • Idi (mountain, Crete)
    mountain riddled with caves, west-central Crete, in the nomós (department) of Réthímnon, southern Greece. One of Ídhi’s two peaks, Timios Stavros, at 8,058 feet (2,456 m), is Crete’s highest mountain. According to one legend Zeus was reared in the Ídhiean cave on the peak’s scrub-covered slopes. The well-known Kamare...
  • Idikki (India)
    town, southeastern Kerala state, southwestern India. It lies 81 miles (130 km) southeast of Cochin and 79 miles (127 km) northeast of Kottayam. It is known for its large hydroelectric project. The Idukki arch dam, 554 feet (169 m) high, on the Periyār River, was completed in 1974. It connects two huge rocks, Kurathi, 3,035 feet (925 m) high, and Kuravan, 2,753 feet (839 m) high. Together w...
  • Idiklat (river, Middle East)
    ...of civilization. The total length of the Euphrates (Sumerian: Buranun; Akkadian: Purattu; biblical: Perath; Arabic: Al-Furāt; Turkish: Fırat) is about 1,740 miles (2,800 km). The Tigris (Sumerian: Idigna; Akkadian: Idiklat; biblical: Hiddekel; Arabic: Dijlah; Turkish: Dicle) is about 1,180 miles (1,900 km) in length....
  • Idiocranium russeli (amphibian)
    ...1 metre (about 3.3 feet) in total length; the largest known caecilian is C. thompsoni, at 152 cm (about 60 inches). The smallest caecilians are Idiocranium russeli in West Africa and Grandisonia brevis in the Seychelles; these species attain lengths of only 98–104 mm (3.9–4.1 inches) and 112......
  • idiographic method (research)
    ...of whether it is better to study groups of individuals and attempt to draw general conclusions (termed the nomothetic approach) or to study the behaviours that make individuals unique (termed the idiographic approach). Although both approaches have added to the understanding of motivational processes, the nomothetic approach has dominated motivational research....
  • idiolect (linguistics)
    ...communication that may impede but do not prevent mutual comprehension are called dialects of a language. In order to describe in detail the actual different speech patterns of individuals, the term idiolect, meaning the speech habits of a single person, has been coined....
  • idiopathic hypertension (pathology)
    When there is no demonstrable underlying cause of hypertension, the condition is classified as essential hypertension. (Essential hypertension is also called primary or idiopathic hypertension.) This is by far the most common type of high blood pressure, occurring in up to 90 percent of patients. Genetic factors appear to play a major role in the occurrence of essential hypertension. Secondary......
  • idiopathic multiple pigmented hemorrhagic sarcoma (cancer)
    rare and usually lethal cancer of the tissues beneath the surface of the skin or of the mucous membranes. The disease can spread to other organs, including the liver, lungs, and intestinal tract. Kaposi sarcoma is characterized by red-purple or blue-brown lesions of the skin, mucous membranes, and other organs. The skin lesions may be firm or compressible, solitary or clustered. Kaposi sarcoma pri...
  • idiopathic parkinsonism (pathology)
    ...by the British physician James Parkinson in his Essay on the Shaking Palsy. Various types of the disorder are now recognized, but the disease described by Parkinson, called Parkinson disease, is the most common form. Parkinson disease is also called primary parkinsonism, paralysis agitans, or idiopathic parkinsonism. The onset of Parkinson disease typically occurs at.....
  • idiopathic pericarditis (medical disorder)
    inflammation of the pericardium, the membranous sac that encloses the heart. Acute pericarditis may be associated with a number of diseases and conditions, including myocardial infarction (heart attack), uremia (abnormally high levels of urea and other nitrogenous waste products in the blood), allergic disorders, and infec...
  • idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (pathology)
    Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is also known as cryptogenic fibrosing alveolitis. This is a generally fatal lung disease of unknown cause that is characterized by progressive fibrosis of the alveolar walls. The disease most commonly manifests between the ages of 50 and 70, with insidious onset of shortness of breath on exertion. A dry cough is common as well. Sharp crackling sounds, called rales......
  • idiopathic scoliosis (pathology)
    ...equinovarus) is a congenital deformity in which the foot is twisted downward and inward because the ligaments and tendons are too short. Only infrequently are the muscles at fault. Idiopathic scoliosis (lateral curvature of the spine) usually makes its appearance during early adolescence. There is considerable plasticity of the tissues with latitude for correction of these deformities and......
  • idiophone (musical instrument)
    class of musical instruments in which a resonant solid material—such as wood, metal, or stone—vibrates to produce the initial sound. The eight basic types are concussion, friction, percussion, plucked, scraped, shaken, stamped, and stamping. In many cases, as in the gong, the vibrating material itself forms the instrument’s body. Other examples include xylophones and rattles....
  • idiorrhythmic monasticism (Christianity)
    the original form of monastic life in Christianity, as exemplified by St. Anthony of Egypt (c. 250–355). It consisted of a total withdrawal from society, normally in the desert, and the constant practice of mental prayer. The contemplative and mystical trend of eremitic monasticism is also known as Hesychasm. In the Christian East, the “idiorrhythmic”...
  • Idiosepius (squid genus)
    ...species) are the largest living invertebrates; A. dux attains a length of more than 20 metres (60 feet), including the extended tentacles. The smallest cephalopod is the squid Idiosepius, rarely an inch in length. The average octopus usually has arms no longer than 30 centimetres (12 inches) and rarely longer than a metre (39 inches). But arm spans of up to nine metres......
  • idiosoma (arachnid anatomy)
    Behind the gnathosoma is a large region (idiosoma) that bears the legs, the genital and anal openings, and an assortment of tactile and sensory structures. Respiratory pores (stigmata) and sclerotized shields of various shapes and sizes usually are present. The functions of the idiosoma parallel those of the abdomen, thorax, and portions of the head of insects. Although nymphs and adults......
  • Idiospermaceae (plant family)
    ...cotyledons. One of the most primitive angiosperm orders, Magnoliales, has members in which the embryos contain three or four (very rarely two) cotyledons, such as Degeneria (Degeneriaceae). Idiospermum (Idiospermaceae) of the Laurales has three or four cotyledons as well. On the other hand, embryos in some of the more advanced angiosperms also contain more than two......
  • Idiospermum (plant genus)
    ...One of the most primitive angiosperm orders, Magnoliales, has members in which the embryos contain three or four (very rarely two) cotyledons, such as Degeneria (Degeneriaceae). Idiospermum (Idiospermaceae) of the Laurales has three or four cotyledons as well. On the other hand, embryos in some of the more advanced angiosperms also contain more than two......
  • idiosyncrasy (pathology)
    ...of certain individuals to react to a chemical. Because of biological variability among humans, some individuals respond to a chemical at a dose too low to produce a similar effect in others. Idiosyncrasy is a genetically determined hypersusceptibility....
  • “Idiot” (novel by Dostoyevsky)
    ...passed several minutes in the full conviction that he was about to die, and in his novels characters repeatedly imagine the state of mind of a man approaching execution. The hero of The Idiot, Prince Myshkin, offers several extended descriptions of this sort, which readers knew carried special authority because the author of the novel had gone through the terrible......
  • idiot savant
    ...individuals who are chess prodigies or “lightning calculators” (those who have a remarkable memory for figures) but who are otherwise mentally or developmentally disabled (such as “idiot savants”) are not prodigies....
  • Idiot, The (film by Kurosawa Akira)
    Kurosawa was also noted for his adaptations of European literary classics into films with Japanese settings. Hakuchi (1951; The Idiot) is based upon Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s novel of the same title, Kumonosu-jo (Throne of Blood ) was adapted from Shakespeare’s Macbeth...
  • Idiot, The (novel by Dostoyevsky)
    ...passed several minutes in the full conviction that he was about to die, and in his novels characters repeatedly imagine the state of mind of a man approaching execution. The hero of The Idiot, Prince Myshkin, offers several extended descriptions of this sort, which readers knew carried special authority because the author of the novel had gone through the terrible......
  • Idiot’s Delight (play by Sherwood)
    ...Life. His first play, The Road to Rome (1927), criticizes the pointlessness of war, a recurring theme in many of his dramas. The heroes of The Petrified Forest (1935) and Idiot’s Delight (1936) begin as detached cynics but recognize their own bankruptcy and sacrifice themselves for their fellowmen. In Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1939) and There Shall Be...
  • Idiots First (work by Malmud)
    ...human condition with humour and forgiveness. Malamud’s gift for dark comedy and Hawthornean fable was especially evident in his short-story collections The Magic Barrel (1958) and Idiots First (1963). His first three novels, The Natural (1952), The Assistant (1957), and A New Life (1961), were also impressive works of ficti...
  • Iditarod Trail (trail, Alaska, United States)
    The course of the race, roughly 1,100 miles (1,770 km) long, partially follows the old Iditarod Trail dogsled mail route blazed from the coastal towns of Seward and Knik to the goldfields and mining camps of northwest Alaska in the early 1900s; sled teams delivered mail and supplies to such towns as Nome and Iditarod and carried out gold. The trail declined in use in the 1920s, when the......
  • Iditarod Trail Seppala Memorial Race
    annual dogsled race run in March between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska, U.S. The race can attract more than 100 participants and their teams of dogs, and both male and female mushers (drivers) compete together. A short race of about 25 miles (40 km) was organized in 1967 as part of the centennial celebration of the Alaska Purchase and evolved i...
  • Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
    annual dogsled race run in March between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska, U.S. The race can attract more than 100 participants and their teams of dogs, and both male and female mushers (drivers) compete together. A short race of about 25 miles (40 km) was organized in 1967 as part of the centennial celebration of the Alaska Purchase and evolved i...
  • Idiurus (rodent)
    Large and pygmy anomalures are nocturnal and nest in hollow trees, entering and exiting through holes located at various heights along the trunk. Colonies of up to 100 pygmy anomalures live in some trees. Large anomalures gnaw bark and then lick the exuding sap; they also eat flowers, leaves, nuts, termites, and ants. Pygmy anomalures eat oil palm pulp and insects but also gnaw bark, possibly......
  • Idiurus macrotis (rodent)
    ...long and a tail of nearly the same length. The little anomalure (A. pusillus) is about half the size of Pel’s and has a proportionally shorter tail. The pygmy anomalures (I. macrotis and I. zenkeri) are smaller still, ranging from 7 to 10 cm in body length, not including their long tails (9 to 13 cm). The flightless anomalure (Z.......
  • Idiurus zenkeri (rodent)
    ...the same length. The little anomalure (A. pusillus) is about half the size of Pel’s and has a proportionally shorter tail. The pygmy anomalures (I. macrotis and I. zenkeri) are smaller still, ranging from 7 to 10 cm in body length, not including their long tails (9 to 13 cm). The flightless anomalure (Z. insignis) is about 20 cm...
  • Idjil (Mauritania)
    mining village, north-central Mauritania, western Africa, just west of Zouîrât. It is important as the base for the exploitation of extensive iron-ore deposits in the nearby Mount Ijill. The iron ore is exported through the Atlantic port of Nouadhibou, via a 419-mile (674-kilometre) railway. There are salt works near Fdérik. Pop. (1977) 2,200....
  • Idkū (Egypt)
    town, northern Al-Buḥayrah muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Lower Egypt. It lies on a sandy strip behind Abū Qīr Bay, in the northwestern Nile River delta. Immediately south is Lake Idku, a 58-square-mile (150-square-km) lagoon that stretches some 22 miles (35 km) behind and parallel to the coast and has a maximum width of 16 miles (26 km...
  • Idku, Lake (lake, Egypt)
    ...muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Lower Egypt. It lies on a sandy strip behind Abū Qīr Bay, in the northwestern Nile River delta. Immediately south is Lake Idku, a 58-square-mile (150-square-km) lagoon that stretches some 22 miles (35 km) behind and parallel to the coast and has a maximum width of 16 miles (26 km). Drained by......
  • IDL (physiology)
    The major classes of lipoproteins are chylomicrons, very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), intermediate-density lipoproteins (IDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL), and high-density lipoproteins (HDL). Disorders that affect lipid metabolism may be caused by defects in the structural proteins of lipoprotein particles, in the cell receptors that recognize the various types of lipoproteins, or in......
  • Idler, The (essays by Johnson)
    Johnson’s busiest decade was concluded with yet another series of essays, called The Idler. Lighter in tone and style than those of The Rambler, its 104 essays appeared from 1758 to 1760 in a weekly newspaper, The Universal Chronicle. While not admired as greatly as The Rambler, Johnson...
  • Idlib (Syria)
    town, northwestern Syria. It is situated in a fertile basin midway between Aleppo and Latakia and is an important textile centre and a market for one of Syria’s better agricultural districts. Major crops include cotton, cereals, olives, figs, grapes, tomatoes, sesame, and almonds. Local industries include spinning and olive-oil pressing. Pop. (2003 est.) 116,080....
  • Ido (language)
    artificial language constructed by the French logician and Esperantist Louis de Beaufront and presented at the Délégation pour l’Adoption d’une Langue Auxiliaire Internationale (Delegation for the Adoption of an International Auxiliary Language) of 1907. The language is a reworking of Esperanto, intended by its originator to improve upon what he cons...
  • idocrase (mineral)
    common silicate mineral that occurs in crystalline limestones near their contacts with igneous rocks, and in beds of marble and calcsilicate granulite that are associated with gneiss and mica schist. Fine glassy crystals coloured yellow, green, or brown have been found in the Ala Valley in the Piedmont, and on Mte. Somma, Italy; the Vilyuy River, Siberia; Christiansand, Nor.; Litchfield, Quebec; a...
  • idol (philosophy)
    ...discussed logical fallacies, commonly found in human reasoning, but Bacon was original in looking behind the forms of reasoning to underlying psychological causes. He invented the metaphor of “idol” to refer to such causes of human error....
  • idol worship
    in Judaism and Christianity, the worship of someone or something other than God as though it were God. The first of the biblical Ten Commandments prohibits idolatry: “You shall have no other gods before me.”...
  • idolatry
    in Judaism and Christianity, the worship of someone or something other than God as though it were God. The first of the biblical Ten Commandments prohibits idolatry: “You shall have no other gods before me.”...
  • Idoma (people)
    inhabitants of the region east of the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers in southern Nigeria. A number of peoples, including the Agala, Iyala, Okpoto, Nkum, and Iguwale, are classified as speakers of distinguishable Idoma dialects, which belong to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family of languages. Within the dialect cluster there is a considerable degree of mutual inte...
  • Idoma language
    The eight Idomoid languages are found in central Nigeria mostly south of the Benue River southwest of Makurdi, but three languages are north of the river. The principal language is Idoma (700,000)....
  • Idomeneo, rè di Creta (opera by Mozart)
    In Idomeneo, rè di Creta Mozart depicted serious, heroic emotion with a richness unparalleled elsewhere in his operas. Though influenced by Christoph Gluck and by Niccolò Piccinni and others, it is not a “reform opera”: it includes plain recitative and bravura singing, but always to a dramatic purpose, and, though the texture is more continuous than in Mozart...
  • Idomeneus (Greek mythology)
    in Greek legend, son of Deucalion, grandson of Minos and Pasiphae, and king of Crete. Because he had been one of Helen’s suitors, he led the Cretan army to Troy and took a distinguished part in the Trojan War. According to Book III of the Odyssey, he returned home safely; but a later tradition, preserved by the mythographer Apollodorus, relates that he was overtaken by a violent stor...
  • Idomoid languages
    The eight Idomoid languages are found in central Nigeria mostly south of the Benue River southwest of Makurdi, but three languages are north of the river. The principal language is Idoma (700,000)....
  • Idoru (novel by Gibson)
    ...The Difference Engine (1990), a story set in Victorian England, Gibson returned to the subject of cyberspace in Virtual Light (1993). His Idoru (1996), set in 21st-century Tokyo, focuses on the media and virtual celebrities of the future. All Tomorrow’s Parties (1999) concerns a clairvoyant cyberpunk ...
  • idoxuridine (drug)
    ...a phosphate group before they have antiviral activity. Some of the agents (acyclovir) are activated by a viral enzyme, so they are specific for the cells that contain viral particles. Other agents (idoxuridine) are activated by cellular enzymes, so these have less specificity. Non-nucleoside inhibitors of herpesvirus replication include foscarnet, which directly inhibits the viral DNA......
  • IDP
    ...a phosphate group before they have antiviral activity. Some of the agents (acyclovir) are activated by a viral enzyme, so they are specific for the cells that contain viral particles. Other agents (idoxuridine) are activated by cellular enzymes, so these have less specificity. Non-nucleoside inhibitors of herpesvirus replication include foscarnet, which directly inhibits the viral DNA.........
  • IDP (astronomy)
    a small grain, generally less than a few hundred micrometres in size and composed of silicate minerals and glassy nodules but sometimes including sulfides, metals, other minerals, and carbonaceous material, in orbit around the Sun. The existence of interplanetary dust particles was first deduced from observations of zodiacal light, a glowing band visible in the night sky that co...
  • IDR channel (biology)
    The best-known flow of K+ is the outward current following depolarization of the membrane. This occurs through the delayed rectifier channel (IDR), which, activated by the influx of Na+, counteracts the effect of that cation by allowing the discharge of K+. By repolarizing the membrane in this way, the IDR......
  • Idria columnaris
    (Idria columnaris), tree that is the only species of its genus, in the family Fouquieriaceae. The boojum tree is an unusual plant found native only in the deserts of Baja California and Sonora, Mexico. Fancifully, it resembles a slender upside-down carrot, up to 15 metres (50 feet) tall and covered with spiny twigs that bear yellowish flowers in hanging clusters. As with its relative the o...
  • Idrieus (Persian satrap)
    ...of the World), showed strong Greek influence. The mausoleum was planned by Mausolus himself but was built by his wife and successor, Artemisia II (353–351). Later satraps were the second son Idrieus (351–344), his wife and successor, Ada (344–341), and Pixodarus, the youngest son (341–334)....
  • Idrimi (king of Mukish)
    Excavations also revealed a towered palace, occupied by several successive rulers, one of whom, Idrimi, ruled for 30 years and probably died about 1450 bc. The town was raided frequently because of its border location, but it was always rebuilt and remained a rich centre until its final destruction by the Sea Peoples shortly after 1200 bc....
  • Idrīs (Islamic mythology)
    an immortal figure in Islamic legend, mentioned in the Qurʾān (Islamic sacred scriptures) as a prophet. According to the traditions of the Sunnah, the major sect of Islam, Idrīs appeared sometime between the prophets Adam and Noah and transmitted divine revelation through several books. He did not die but was taken bodily to paradise to spend eternity with G...
  • Idrīs (prophet of Islam)
    ...and proceed through all seven levels until they reach the throne of God. Along the way they meet the prophets Adam, Yaḥyā (John), ʿĪsā (Jesus), Yūsuf (Joseph), Idrīs, Hārūn (Aaron), Mūsā (Moses), and Ibrāhīm (Abraham) and visit hell and paradise. Mūsā alone of all the inhabitants of heaven s...
  • Idris Alawma (king of Kanem-Bornu)
    ...also came to the central Sudan about the same time through the trading relations that existed between Bornu and the Ottoman Turks in North Africa. Together with Muslim cavalry, they enabled Idris Alawma of Bornu (end of 16th century) to impose a Muslim bureaucracy on his pagan subjects and to reconquer Kanem. This revival of the Kanem-Bornu dynasty, however, was relatively short-lived.......
  • Idrīs I (king of northern Morocco)
    ...chief of the powerful tribal confederation of the Awrāba, to consolidate his authority in northern Morocco by giving his rule an Islamic religious character. For that purpose he invited Idrīs ibn ʿAbd Allāh, a sharif (descendant of the Prophet Muhammad) living in Tangier, to settle at his seat of government in Walīla (Oulili). Idrīs moved to Walī...
  • Idris I (king of Libya)
    the first king of Libya when that country gained its independence in 1951....
  • Idrīs ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥasan II (king of northern Morocco)
    ...chief of the powerful tribal confederation of the Awrāba, to consolidate his authority in northern Morocco by giving his rule an Islamic religious character. For that purpose he invited Idrīs ibn ʿAbd Allāh, a sharif (descendant of the Prophet Muhammad) living in Tangier, to settle at his seat of government in Walīla (Oulili). Idrīs moved to Walī...
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