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parathion (insecticide)
an organic phosphorus compound well known as an insecticide that is extremely toxic to humans. The compound acts in mammals, as in insects, as a cholinesterase inhibitor (cholinesterase being the enzyme that controls the normal functioning of the nervous system), causing death by inducing respiratory failure. The specific antidote for poisoning by parathion and other organophosphorus insecticides...
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parathormone (hormone)
Parathyroid hormone secretion tends to increase slightly with age, but serum calcium concentrations do not significantly change. The possible reasons for increased secretion of parathyroid hormone include decreased calcium and vitamin D intake (and possibly decreased sun exposure) and decreased kidney function that causes a reduction in the amount of vitamin D that an older individual can......
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parathyroid adenoma (pathology)
disorder characterized by loss of mineral materials from the skeleton, the development of kidney stones, and occasionally progressive kidney insufficiency. Increase in the number (hyperplasia) of secretory cells of one or more of the parathyroid glands results in an excess of parathyroid hormone in the circulation. The action of parathyroid hormone removes calcium from the bones...
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parathyroid gland (anatomy)
endocrine glands occurring in all vertebrate species from amphibia upward, usually located close to and behind the thyroid gland. The parathyroid glands secrete parathyroid hormone, which functions to maintain normal serum calcium and phosphate concentrations. Humans usually have four parathyroid glands, each composed of c...
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parathyroid glandular disease
endocrine glands occurring in all vertebrate species from amphibia upward, usually located close to and behind the thyroid gland. The parathyroid glands secrete parathyroid hormone, which functions to maintain normal serum calcium and phosphate concentrations. Humans usually have four parathyroid glands, each composed of c...
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parathyroid hormone (hormone)
Parathyroid hormone secretion tends to increase slightly with age, but serum calcium concentrations do not significantly change. The possible reasons for increased secretion of parathyroid hormone include decreased calcium and vitamin D intake (and possibly decreased sun exposure) and decreased kidney function that causes a reduction in the amount of vitamin D that an older individual can......
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Paratitla (work by Cujas)
...Valence and Bourges, Cujas attracted outstanding students from all over Europe, among them the Dutch classical scholar Joseph Justus Scaliger. In jurisprudence Cujas specialized in Justinian; his Paratitla, or summaries of Justinian’s Digest and Codex, expresses in short, clear axioms the elementary principles of Roman law. He also edited the Codex Theodosianus. A complete edition...
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paratuberculosis (livestock disease)
serious infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis. Although principally a disease of cattle, it can affect sheep, deer, and goats, and it occurs worldwide. Cows may not show signs of the disease for as long as a year after exposure to it....
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paratype (biology)
...by someone who subsequently revises the taxon; the neotype occupies a position equivalent to that of the holotype. The first type validly designated has priority over all other type specimens. Paratypes are specimens used, along with the holotype, in the original designation of a new form; they must be part of the same series (i.e., collected at the same immediate locality and at......
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paratyphoid fever (disease)
infectious disease similar to typhoid, though usually milder, caused by any of several organisms: Salmonella paratyphi (paratyphoid A), S. schottmulleri (paratyphoid B), or S. hirschfeldii (paratyphoid C). The means of infection, spread, clinical course, pathology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment are similar to those for typhoid....
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parauque (bird)
(Nyctidromus albicollis), nocturnal bird of brushlands from southern Texas to northern Argentina. It is a relative of the nightjar, belonging to the family Caprimulgidae. The pauraque is about 30 cm (about 12 inches) long, with rounded wings and a longish tail. It is mottled brown with a bold white bar on each wing; in the male the outer tail feathers are white. ...
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Parautoptic lock
In this period lock patents came thick and fast. All incorporated ingenious variations on the lever or Bramah principles. The most interesting was Robert Newell’s Parautoptic lock, made by the firm of Day and Newell of New York City. Its special feature was that not only did it have two sets of lever tumblers, the first working on the second, but it also incorporated a plate that revolved w...
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“Paravents, Les” (work by Genet)
His subsequent plays, Le Balcon (1956; The Balcony), Les Nègres (1958; The Blacks), and Les Paravents (1961; The Screens), are large-scale, stylized dramas in the Expressionist manner, designed to shock and implicate an audience by revealing its hypocrisy and complicity. This “Theatre of Hatred” attempts to wrest the maximum dramatic.....
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paravertebral ganglion (anatomy)
...motor ganglia are located in the sympathetic trunks, two long chains of ganglia stretching along each side of the vertebral column from the base of the skull to the coccyx; these are referred to as paravertebral ganglia. Prevertebral motor ganglia are located near internal organs innervated by their projecting fibres, while terminal ganglia are found on the surfaces or within the walls of the.....
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Paravicino, Fray Hortensio (Spanish monk)
...a close friend of the leading humanists, scholars, and churchmen. Antonio de Covarrubias, a classical scholar and son of the architect Alonso de Covarrubias, was a friend whose portrait he painted. Fray Hortensio Paravicino, the head of the Trinitarian order in Spain and a favourite preacher of Philip II of Spain, dedicated four sonnets to El Greco, one of them recording his own portrait by the...
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paraxial image (optics)
In a lens that has spherical aberration, the various rays from an axial object point will in general intersect the lens axis at different points after emerging into the image space. By tracing several rays entering the lens at different heights (i.e., distances from the axis) and extrapolating from a graph connecting ray height with image position, it would be possible to infer where a......
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paraxial ray (optics)
...heights (i.e., distances from the axis) and extrapolating from a graph connecting ray height with image position, it would be possible to infer where a ray running very close to the axis (a paraxial ray) would intersect the axis, although such a ray could not be traced directly by the ordinary trigonometrical formulas because the angles would be too small for the sine table to be of any....
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paraxial rod (biology)
...scales or hairs (mastigonemes) on its own outer surface, presumably functionally important to the organism and valuable as taxonomic characters. A fibrillar structure within the flagella, known as a paraflagellar, paraxial, or intraflagellar rod, may lie between the axoneme and the outer membrane of a flagellum; its function is not clear....
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Parazoa (animal subkingdom)
Although the two phyla in this subkingdom, Porifera (sponges) and Placozoa, lack clearly defined tissues and organs, their cells specialize and integrate their activities. Their simplicity has been adaptive, and sponges have remained important in benthic marine habitats since their origin. The sessile, filter-feeding way of life shown by sponges has favoured a body plan of radial symmetry,......
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Parazoanthus axinellae (coral)
Various plants and animals may live on the surface of a sponge or inside its canals and cavities. In some cases the associations are specific; e.g., the coral Parazoanthus axinellae grows on the sponge Axinella. The organisms that live in the cavities of sponges include crustaceans, nematode and polychaete worms, ophiuroid echinoderms (brittle stars), and bivalve mollusks;......
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Parbate (people)
people who constitute about three-fifths the population of Nepal and a majority of the population of neighbouring Himalayan India (in Himachal Pradesh and northern Uttar Pradesh). They speak languages belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family; the people are historically ancient, having been mentioned by the authors Pliny and Herodotus and figuring in India...
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Parbhani (India)
city, east-central Mahārāshtra state, western India, on the Manmād-Hyderābād railway, about 10 miles (16 km) south of the Dudna River. Its name refers to the Prabhāvatī Temple, which was forcibly converted to a mosque during the Mughal period. Now a commercial centre, the city has little industry. The economy of the surrounding region is almost who...
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parblanching (cooking)
...in a covered or open pan, is commonly used to prepare soups, stews, and pot roasts. In blanching, boiling water is poured over vegetables, fruits, or nutmeats in order to loosen the outer skin. Parblanching or parboiling consists in immersing the food in cold water and then bringing it slowly to a simmer or boil....
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parboiling (cooking)
...in a covered or open pan, is commonly used to prepare soups, stews, and pot roasts. In blanching, boiling water is poured over vegetables, fruits, or nutmeats in order to loosen the outer skin. Parblanching or parboiling consists in immersing the food in cold water and then bringing it slowly to a simmer or boil....
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PARC (research centre, Palo Alto, California, United States)
The next wave of GUI innovation occurred at the Xerox Corporation’s Palo Alto (California) Research Center (PARC), to which several of Engelbart’s team moved in the 1970s. The new interface ideas found their way to a computer workstation called the Xerox Star, which was introduced in 1981. Though the process was expensive, the Star (and its prototype predecessor, the Alto) used a tec...
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Parc National de la Vanoise (park, France)
nature reserve, located in the département of Savoie, southeastern France, and contiguous with the Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy. The park, created in 1963, is the oldest French national park and occupies 130,565 ac (52,839 ha). The park is dominated by the Massif de la Vanoise, which is bounded by the Isère River to the east and the Arc River to the south. The Pointe ...
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Parc National de Waza (park, Cameroon)
...tiny sunbirds to giant hawks and eagles. A few elephants survive in the forest and in the grassy woodlands, where baboons and several types of antelope are the most common animals. The Waza National Park in the north, which was originally created for the protection of giraffes and antelope, abounds in both forest and savanna animals, including monkeys, baboons, lions, leopards, and......
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Parc National des Garamba (park, Democratic Republic of the Congo)
large natural area in northeastern Congo (Kinshasa), bordering on The Sudan. The park, created in 1938, has an area of 1,900 square miles (4,920 square km) and is a continuation of the Sudanese savanna fed by the Garamba and Dungu rivers; it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980. The park, which lies at an elevation between 2,3...
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Parc Provincial de la Gaspésie (park, Quebec, Canada)
park in eastern Quebec province, Canada. The park occupies 500 square miles (1,295 square km) on the Gaspé Peninsula, near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. It was established in 1937 to protect the fast-diminishing herds of caribou as well as to preserve the natural beauty of the region, which is heavily wooded with many lakes and streams. Extending from east to west are the Monts Chic-...
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Parc, Thérèse Du (French actress)
...tragedy—to present a “second premiere” of Alexandre on December 15. The break with Molière was irrevocable—Racine even seduced Molière’s leading actress, Thérèse du Parc, into joining him personally and professionally—and from this point onward all of Racine’s secular tragedies would be presented by the actors o...
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Parc Zoologique de Clères (zoo, Clères, France)
specialty zoo that has one of the world’s finest bird collections. The park was founded in 1919 by Jean Delacour, a widely known aviculturist and ornithologist, on his 26-hectare (65-acre) estate in Clères, Fr. Its bird collection comprises 1,800 specimens representing some 360 species. Waterfowl and pheasants predominate, but cranes, pigeons, pa...
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Parca (Greek and Roman mythology)
in Greek and Roman mythology, any of three goddesses who determined human destinies, and in particular the span of a person’s life and his allotment of misery and suffering. Homer speaks of Fate (moira) in the singular as an impersonal power and sometimes makes its functions interchangeable with those of the Olympian gods. From the time of the poet Hesiod (8th century bc...
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Parcae (Greek and Roman mythology)
in Greek and Roman mythology, any of three goddesses who determined human destinies, and in particular the span of a person’s life and his allotment of misery and suffering. Homer speaks of Fate (moira) in the singular as an impersonal power and sometimes makes its functions interchangeable with those of the Olympian gods. From the time of the poet Hesiod (8th century bc...
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parcel post
...activities also expanded. In addition to its primary role, it gradually extended its functions to cover other international services provided by postal administrations, such as money orders (1878), parcel post (1885), postal checks (1920), cash on delivery (1947), and savings banks (1957). The UPU has been a specialized agency of the United Nations since 1948....
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Parcham Party (political party, Afghanistan)
...Mohammad Daud Khan in April 1978 by left-wing military officers led by Nur Mohammad Taraki. Power was thereafter shared by two Marxist-Leninist political groups, the People’s (Khalq) Party and the Banner (Parcham) Party, which had earlier emerged from a single organization, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan, and had reunited in an uneasy coalition shortly before the cou...
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Parcheesi (game)
board game, sometimes called the national game of India. Four players in opposing partnerships of two attempt to move pieces around a cross-shaped track. Moves are determined by throws of cowrie shells or dice. Each player has four pieces, which begin at the centre space, move down the middle track nearest the player, and counterclockwise around the outer track of the board. The partnership whose ...
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parchment (writing material)
the processed skins of certain animals—chiefly sheep, goats, and calves—that have been prepared for the purpose of writing on them. The name apparently derives from the ancient Greek city of Pergamum (modern Bergama, Turkey), where parchment is said to have been invented in the 2nd century bc. Skins had been used for writing materi...
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parchment worm (polychaete genus)
(genus Chaetopterus), any of several species of segmented worms of the class Polychaeta (phylum Annelida), especially C. variopedatus of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They live on the sea bottom in U-shaped tubes that are lined with parchmentlike material. Parchment worms grow to a length of about 25 cm (10 inches). ...
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Parcoblatta pennsylvanica (insect)
Wood roaches are not domestic pests. Parcoblatta pennsylvanica, the common wood cockroach, is found under logs and stones in northern latitudes. The male and female are so different in appearance that they were once considered separate species. The male, 15 to 25 mm (0.6 to 1 inch) long, has wings that extend past the abdomen; the female is smaller and has much shorter wings.......
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pard (mammal)
(Panthera pardus), large cat closely related to the lion, tiger, and jaguar. The name leopard was originally given to the cat now called cheetah—the so-called hunting leopard—which was once thought to be a cross between the lion and the pard. The term pard was eventually replaced by the name leop...
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parda (Islamic custom)
practice that was inaugurated by Muslims and later adopted by various Hindus, especially in India, and that involves the seclusion of women from public observation by means of concealing clothing (including the veil) and by the use of high-walled enclosures, screens, and curtains within the home....
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pardah (Islamic custom)
practice that was inaugurated by Muslims and later adopted by various Hindus, especially in India, and that involves the seclusion of women from public observation by means of concealing clothing (including the veil) and by the use of high-walled enclosures, screens, and curtains within the home....
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pardalote (bird)
any of four species of Australian songbirds of the family Pardalotidae (order Passeriformes), with a simple tongue and a thickish, unserrated bill. Three of the four species have gemlike white spangles on the dark upper parts (the striated pardalote [Pardalotus striatus] does not). All pardalotes are tiny and stub-tailed. Pardalotes glean ...
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Pardalotidae (bird family)
...and New Zealand through the Papuan region, north to Marianas, east to Hawaii, 2 species in southern Africa. Habitat forests, brushlands, cultivated lands.Family Pardalotidae (pardalotes and bristlebirds)Small to medium-sized songbirds, 9–27 cm (3.5–11 inches). Pardalotes once allied ...
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Pardalotus (bird)
any of four species of Australian songbirds of the family Pardalotidae (order Passeriformes), with a simple tongue and a thickish, unserrated bill. Three of the four species have gemlike white spangles on the dark upper parts (the striated pardalote [Pardalotus striatus] does not). All pardalotes are tiny and stub-tailed. Pardalotes glean ...
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Pardalotus punctatus (bird)
...[Pardalotus striatus] does not). All pardalotes are tiny and stub-tailed. Pardalotes glean insects from leaves and bark. They nest in tree holes or in crannies of buildings. The spotted pardalote (P. punctatus), with a yellow throat and rump, digs tunnels in sandbanks or in level ground....
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Pardesi synagogue (synagogue, Mattancheri, India)
...adjacent to the city of Cochin on the Arabian Sea coast. In 1970 Mattāncheri township was incorporated with the Cochin urban agglomeration. The township is notable chiefly for the impressive Pardesī synagogue of the Jewish community as well as for the palace of the rajas of Cochin....
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pardo (people)
Brazilians of African descent (referred to by outside scholars as Afro-Brazilians) can be further characterized as pardos (of mixed ethnicities) or pretos (entirely African); the latter term is usually used to refer to those with the darkest skin colour. Although skin colour is the main basis of the distinction between pardo......
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Pardo Bazán, Emilia, condesa de (Spanish writer)
Spanish author of novels, short stories, and literary criticism....
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Pardo, Manuel (president of Peru)
...of a Peruvian political movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that opposed military control of the government. The party of the Civilistas, the Partido Civilista, was founded in 1871 by Manuel Pardo to oppose the corrupt military regime of President José Balta (served 1868–72). Pardo was elected president in May 1872, taking office that summer after a military coup to...
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Pardo, Pact of (Spanish history)
...XII died on November 25, 1885, Cánovas secured the peaceful transmission of power to Queen María Cristina and the future accession to the throne of Alfonso XIII by the so-called Pact of Pardo with Sagasta and Martínez Campos and by his own resignation as prime minister....
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Pardo y Barreda, José (president of Peru)
José Pardo y Barreda, an able Civilista president, served two terms (1904–08 and 1915–19); he led efforts to enact labour-reform laws, moved forcefully to improve primary education, and oversaw fiscal reforms directed by the treasury minister Augusto B. Leguía y Salcedo, who followed Pardo as president in 1908–12. The Civilista movement waned when Leguía.....
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Pardofelis marmorata (mammal)
(species Felis marmorata), rare Southeast Asian cat, family Felidae, often referred to as a miniature version of the unrelated clouded leopard. The marbled cat is about the size of a domestic cat; it measures roughly 45–60 cm (18–24 inches) long, excluding a tail of approximately the same length. The coat is long, soft, and pale brown to brownish gray, with large, dark-edged ...
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pardon (law)
in law, release from guilt or remission of punishment. In criminal law the power of pardon is generally exercised by the chief executive officer of the state. Pardons may also be granted by a legislative body, often through an act of indemnity, anticipatory or retrospective, for things done in the public interest that are illegal....
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Pardosa (spider genus)
...of the genus Pirata, often found near ponds or streams, have a V-shaped pale mark on the back. The abdomen often has chevronlike marks and paired yellow spots. Thin-legged wolf spiders (Pardosa), which have a lens-shaped, greenish or gray egg sac, have relatively long legs with long spines on the “foot.” Burrowing wolf spiders (Geolycosa), which spend most of....
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Pardubice (Czech Republic)
city, north-central Czech Republic, at the confluence of the Labe and Chrudimka rivers, east of Prague. Originating in the 13th century as a trade mart, it received civil rights in 1340 and by 1490 had become a possession of the Czech Pernštejn family, who renovated it in Renaissance style during the 16th century. The town was razed by Swedish troops in 1645. Its square i...
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Pardubitz (Czech Republic)
city, north-central Czech Republic, at the confluence of the Labe and Chrudimka rivers, east of Prague. Originating in the 13th century as a trade mart, it received civil rights in 1340 and by 1490 had become a possession of the Czech Pernštejn family, who renovated it in Renaissance style during the 16th century. The town was razed by Swedish troops in 1645. Its square i...
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pardus (mammal)
(Panthera pardus), large cat closely related to the lion, tiger, and jaguar. The name leopard was originally given to the cat now called cheetah—the so-called hunting leopard—which was once thought to be a cross between the lion and the pard. The term pard was eventually replaced by the name leop...
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Paré, Ambroise (French surgeon)
French physician, one of the most notable surgeons of the European Renaissance, regarded by some medical historians as the father of modern surgery....
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Parecis Mountains (mountains, Brazil)
mountains, Rondônia and Mato Grosso estados (“states”), west-central Brazil. Rising out of the tropical rain forests of Rondônia, near the Bolivian border, the range extends southeastward for 500 miles (800 km) to the vicinity of Diamantino in Mato Grosso. Its northwestern section consists of rolling plateaus, which rise to more than 2,300 feet (700 m) above sea ...
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Parecupa Merú (waterfall, Venezuela)
waterfall in the Guiana Highlands in Bolívar state, southeastern Venezuela, on the Churún River, a tributary of the Caroní, 160 miles (260 km) southeast of Ciudad Bolívar. The highest waterfall in the world, the cataract drops 3,212 feet (979 metres) and is 500 feet (150 metres) wide at the base. It leaps from a flat-topped plateau, Auyán-Tepuí (“De...
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Paredes, Carlos (Portuguese musician)
Portuguese guitarist and composer (b. Feb. 16, 1925, Coimbra, Port.—d. July 23, 2004, Lisbon, Port.), mastered the distinctive round-shaped Portuguese guitar, a 12-string mandolin-like instrument usually associated with the national style of music known as fado. Though he often performed alone, Paredes composed songs for the legendary fadista Amália Rodrigues and was known for...
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Paredes y Arrillaga, Mariano (president of Mexico)
...U.S. troops captured New Mexico and Upper California. General Zachary Taylor led the main U.S. force to quick victories in northeastern Mexico. At that juncture the government of Mexican president Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga was overthrown, and Santa Anna reemerged as president in September 1846. Almost immediately, Santa Anna mobilized Mexican forces and marched northward, boasting that the......
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paregoric (drug)
preparation principally used in the treatment of diarrhea. Paregoric, which decreases movement of the stomach and intestinal muscles, is made from opium tincture (laudanum) or from powdered opium and includes anise oil, camphor, benzoic acid, glycerin, and diluted alcohol. The usual adult dose is 5–10 millilitres. I...
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pareiasaur (paleontology)
...found in South Africa as fossils in deposits from the Permian Period (299 million to 251 million years ago). Bradysaurus belonged to a larger group of reptiles called pareiasaurs, which were characterized by massive bodies, strong limbs and limb supports, and grotesque skulls with many bony protuberances. Pareiasaurs were not dinosaurs, but they were the first......
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Pareisauria (reptile order)
...as or longer than body and flattened side to side; limbs well developed, hind feet enlarged and paddlelike. Total length to about 1 metre (3 feet).†Order Pareisauria (pareisaurs)Middle to Upper Permian. Two or 3 families, 10 or more genera. Small to moderately large (2 metres [about 7 feet]...
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Pareja, Juan de (Spanish painter)
Spanish painter and student of Diego Velázquez....
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Parement de Narbonne (Gothic painting)
...example, probably executed before 1364, is a portrait of John II (Louvre, Paris), which is firmly modeled in a rather Italianate manner. More important, however, is the workshop of the master of the “Parement de Narbonne” (1370s; Louvre), an altar hanging (parement) found at the Cathedral of St. Justin Narbonne. These artists, who were active c. 1370–1410, wor...
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parenchyma (plant tissue)
in plants, tissue typically composed of living cells that are thin-walled, unspecialized in structure, and therefore adaptable, with differentiation, to various functions. Parenchyma may be compact or have extensive spaces between the cells. It is often called ground, or fundamental, tissue and makes up the mesophyll (internal layers) of leaves and the cortex (outer layers) and pith (innermost la...
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parenchyma (anatomy)
...to the acinus. The wall of the acinus consists of blood capillaries, and the remaining structures are extremely thin, only providing supporting tissue for the rich capillary bed that constitutes the parenchyma, or the essential tissue of the lung itself. The parenchyma is the gas-exchanging tissue of the lung and has a surface area roughly comparable to that of a tennis court. Blood is......
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parenchyma cell (plant anatomy)
...tissue layer within the epidermis of the leaves (mesophyll), the cortex of roots, the pulp of fruits, and the endosperm of seeds. Parenchyma is composed of relatively simple, undifferentiated parenchyma cells. In most plants, metabolic activity (such as respiration, digestion, and photosynthesis) occurs in these cells because they, unlike many of the other types of cells in the plant......
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parenchymella (sponge)
...outward and is surrounded by round granular cells (macromere), which are distinguished from other cells with flagella (micromere). The most common larval form among the Demospongiae is called a parenchymella; it is solid and compact, with an outer layer of flagellated cells and an inner mass of cells....
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parent (kinship)
one who has begotten offspring, or one who occupies the role of mother or father. In Western societies, parenthood, with its several obligations, rests strongly on biological relatedness. This is not the case in all societies: in some, a distinction is made between a biological parent and social parent, with the former producing the child and latter raising the child and acting as a mother or fat...
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parent (chemical nomenclature)
Alkanes with branched chains are named on the basis of the name of the longest chain of carbon atoms in the molecule, called the parent. The alkane shown has seven carbons in its longest chain and is therefore named as a derivative of heptane, the unbranched alkane that contains seven carbon atoms. The position of the CH3 (methyl) substituent on the seven-carbon chain is specified by......
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Parent, Antoine (French mathematician)
...of a point from an axis that passes through the section centroid, parallel to the torque axis, and I is the integral of y2 over the section area. The French mathematician Antoine Parent introduced the concept of shear stress in 1713, but Coulomb was the one who extensively developed the idea, first in connection with beams and with the stressing and failure of soil in.....
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parent company
...statements, reflecting the total assets, liabilities, owners’ equity, net income, and cash flows of all the corporations in the group. Thus, for example, the consolidated balance sheet of the parent corporation (the corporation that owns the others) does not list its investments in its subsidiaries (the companies it owns) as assets; instead, it includes their assets and liabilities with....
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parent corporation
...statements, reflecting the total assets, liabilities, owners’ equity, net income, and cash flows of all the corporations in the group. Thus, for example, the consolidated balance sheet of the parent corporation (the corporation that owns the others) does not list its investments in its subsidiaries (the companies it owns) as assets; instead, it includes their assets and liabilities with....
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parent isotope (chemistry)
...of radioactive atoms in a sample of geologic material, or (2) a mass spectrometer, which permits the identification of daughter atoms formed by the decay process in a sample containing radioactive parent atoms. The particles given off during the decay process are part of a profound fundamental change in the nucleus. To compensate for the loss of mass (and energy), the radioactive atom......
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parent language (linguistics)
...it was quite generally accepted and had become the cornerstone of the comparative method. Using the principle of regular sound change, scholars were able to reconstruct “ancestral” common forms from which the later forms found in particular languages could be derived. By convention, such reconstructed forms are marked in the literature with an asterisk. Thus, from the......
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Parent, Marie (Canadian artist)
French-Canadian painter and engraver (b. Sept. 8, 1924, Montreal, Que.—d. June 14, 2005, Switzerland), participated in most of the major Surrealist exhibitions of the mid-20th century, including the 1959 “Eros” exhibit in Paris; her masculine-feminine poster featured a tie fashioned from her own hair, set against a man’s suit lapels and white shirt. She studied at the ...
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Parent, Mimi (Canadian artist)
French-Canadian painter and engraver (b. Sept. 8, 1924, Montreal, Que.—d. June 14, 2005, Switzerland), participated in most of the major Surrealist exhibitions of the mid-20th century, including the 1959 “Eros” exhibit in Paris; her masculine-feminine poster featured a tie fashioned from her own hair, set against a man’s suit lapels and white shirt. She studied at the ...
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parent molecule (astronomy)
...astronomer Raymond A. Lyttleton), the presence of large amounts of gaseous fragments of volatile molecules in the coma suggested to Bobrovnikoff the release by the nucleus of a bulk of unobserved “parent” molecules such as H2O, CO2, and NH3 (ammonia). In 1948, Swings proposed that these molecules should be present in the nucleus in the solid state....
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Parent-Teacher Association (American organization)
American organization concerned with the educational, social, and economic well-being of children. The PTA was founded on Feb. 17, 1897, as the National Congress of Mothers; membership was later broadened to include teachers, fathers, and other citizens. There are 52 state branches, including one in the District of Columbia and one in Europe to serve American dependents on military bases. Within t...
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Parent-Teacher Organization (American organization)
American organization concerned with the educational, social, and economic well-being of children. The PTA was founded on Feb. 17, 1897, as the National Congress of Mothers; membership was later broadened to include teachers, fathers, and other citizens. There are 52 state branches, including one in the District of Columbia and one in Europe to serve American dependents on military bases. Within t...
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parental care
Among the organisms that remain with the eggs or offspring, one particular behaviour is striking—that of nest construction to keep the eggs and larvae in one spot and to protect them against predators as well as such environmental factors as sun and rain. The placement of a nest usually serves an antipredatory purpose, as in birds that put their nests near those of social wasps or......
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parental society (biology)
...it is necessary to examine it throughout the range of animal life. W.C. Allee, in his classic book The Social Life of Animals, distinguishes two major types of animal societies. One is the parental, or familial, society, in which parent and offspring stay together for varying lengths of time. The other is the pair bond, or club, society, composed of individuals that come together from......
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Parentalia (work by Ausonius)
...of the Seven Sages”), a forerunner of the morality play; and many epigrams, including adaptations from the Greek Anthology. His sentimental fondness for old ties is seen in Parentalia, a series of poems on deceased relatives, and Professores Burdigalenses, on the professors of Burdigala; these are delightful portraits that give a valuable picture of......
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Parentalia (Roman religious festival)
Roman religious festival held in honour of the dead. The festival, which began at noon on February 13 and culminated on February 21, was essentially a private celebration of the rites of deceased family members. It was gradually extended, however, to incorporate the dead in general. During the days of the festival, all temples were closed and no weddings could be performed. On the last day a publ...
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parentela (Germanic law)
The first parentela, or order, consists of the descendants of the decedent; the second, of his parents and their descendants collateral to the decedent; the third, of his grandparents and their descendants collateral to the decedent, etc. As long as there is any person standing in a nearer order, no person standing in a more remote one can succeed. In each parentela, persons of a lower grade......
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parenteral administration (pharmacology)
Drugs are given by two general methods: enteral and parenteral administration. Enteral administration involves the esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines (i.e., the gastrointestinal tract). Methods of administration include oral, sublingual (dissolving the drug under the tongue), and rectal. Parenteral routes, which do not involve the gastrointestinal tract, include intravenous......
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parenteral dosage (pharmacology)
Drugs are given by two general methods: enteral and parenteral administration. Enteral administration involves the esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines (i.e., the gastrointestinal tract). Methods of administration include oral, sublingual (dissolving the drug under the tongue), and rectal. Parenteral routes, which do not involve the gastrointestinal tract, include intravenous......
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parenteral poison (biochemistry)
the poisonous secretion of an animal, produced by specialized glands that are often associated with spines, teeth, stings, or other piercing devices. The venom apparatus may be primarily for killing or paralyzing prey or may be a purely defensive adaptation. Some venoms also function as digestive fluids. The venom poisoning of humans is primarily a problem of rural tropical regions, though it occ...
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Parenteroxenos doglieli (snail)
...reach nearly 10 centimetres in diameter, and the largest marine snail, the Australian Syrinx aruanus, occasionally grows to more than 0.6 metre (two feet). The longest snail probably is Parenteroxenos doglieli, which lives as a parasite in the body cavity of a sea cucumber: it grows to be almost 130 centimetres (50 inches) in length, although it is only 0.5 centimetre (0.2 inch).....
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Parentes (Roman religion)
...an anxious euphemism like the Greek name of “the kindly ones” for the Furies. As a member of the family or clan, however, the dead man or woman would, more specifically, be one of the Di Parentes; reverence for ancestors was the core of Roman religious and social life. Di Indigetes was a name given collectively to these forebears, as well as to other deified powers or spirits who....
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parenthesis (grammar)
...as a rule, carefully punctuated on the inflectional principle. The profusion of points and virgules in the English books of the printer William Caxton pays remarkably little attention to syntax. Parentheses appeared about 1500. During the 15th century some English legal documents were already being written without punctuation; and British and American lawyers still use extremely light......
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parenting
...BBS as an extension of his Whole Earth Catalog, the WELL was one of the first electronic communities organized around forums dedicated to particular subjects such as parenting and Grateful Dead concerts. The latter were an especially popular topic of online conversation, but it was in the parenting forum where a profound sense of community and belonging initially....
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Parent’s Assistant, The (work by Edgeworth)
...by her father, Maria began her writing in the common sitting room, where the 21 other children in the family provided material and audience for her stories. She published them in 1796 as The Parent’s Assistant. Even the intrusive moralizing, attributed to her father’s editing, does not wholly suppress their vitality, and the children who appear in them, especially the impet...
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Parents’ Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God (American organization)
...in Huntington Beach, California, in the late 1960s. It teaches a message of Christian love based on scripture and the prophecies of Berg. The focus of the first anticult organization—the Parents’ Committee to Free Our Children from the Children of God (FREECOG)—The Family attracted attention for alleged child abuse and for its use of sex in missionary work. The group abando...
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Parentucelli, Tommaso (pope)
influential Renaissance pope (reigned 1447–55) and founder of the Vatican Library. Soon after his election, he brought to an end the schism caused by rivalries between popes and councils. By 1455 he had restored peace to the Papal States and to Italy. He began a program for the rebuilding of many of Rome’s architectural wonders, including St. Pet...
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Parerga (work by Korais)
...of the philosopher Theophrastus. His main literary works were a 17-volume Library of Greek Literature, collected between 1805 and 1826, and the 9-volume Parerga, collected between 1809 and 1827. The Library included historical, political, philosophical, and scientific works by classical writers, for which he wrote......
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