Danny Hillis: Walt Disney, the Long Now, and Applied Minds: …Hillis left Disney to cofound Applied Minds, a technology and R&D firm. In 2014 he founded the spinoff company Applied Invention.

architecture: Applied ornament: Architectural ornament in the 19th century exemplified the common tendency for mimetic ornament, in all times and places, to turn into mere applied decoration, lacking either symbolic meaning or reference to the structure on which it is placed. By the 5th century bce…

applied psychology, the use of methods and findings of scientific psychology to solve practical problems of human and animal behaviour and experience. A more precise definition is impossible because the activities of applied psychology range from laboratory experimentation through field studies to

research and development: Introduction and definitions: Applied research carries the findings of basic research to a point where they can be exploited to meet a specific need, while the development stage of research and development includes the steps necessary to bring a new or modified product or process into production. In…

technology, the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life—or, as it is sometimes phrased, to the change and manipulation of the human environment. The word technology is a combination of the Greek technē, which means “art, craft,” and logos, which means “word, speech.”

Google: Strategic acquisitions and monetizing Google’s search engine: …spent $102 million to acquire Applied Semantics, the makers of AdSense, a service that signed up owners of websites to run various types of ads on their web pages. In 2006 Google again paid $102 million for another Web advertisement business, dMarc Broadcasting, and that same year it announced that…

Paul Felix Lazarsfeld: …served as director of the Office of Radio Research, a Rockefeller project at Princeton University (1937–40), and, when the project was transferred to Columbia University in 1940 (it was later renamed the Bureau of Applied Social Research), he continued as its director and was appointed to the sociology department of…

Lester Frank Ward: …with James Quayle Dealey), and Applied Sociology (1906), which concerns his ideas of “social telesis,” sociocracy, and social planning.

Chico Carrasquel: …took over for the popular Luke Appling, who had been the White Sox shortstop for 20 seasons. Although Chicagoans were at first reluctant to accept Appling’s replacement, Carrasquel’s grace and agility soon won them over, and he was the White Sox regular shortstop for the next six years. Carrasquel led…

appliqué, sewing technique in which fabric patches are layered on a foundation fabric, then stitched in place by hand or machine with the raw edges turned under or covered with decorative stitching. From the French appliquer, “to put on,” appliqué is sometimes used to embellish clothing or

pottery: Impressing and stamping: …separately modeled decoration, known as applied ornament (or appliqué), such as knops (ornamental knobs) or the reliefs on Wedgwood jasperware, came somewhat later. The earliest known examples are found on Mediterranean pottery made at the beginning of the 1st millennium. Raised designs are also produced by pressing out the wall…

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has been part of the education landscape for decades. But starting with the 2024 application (available as of January 2024 on the Federal Student Aid website), the FAFSA is getting a major overhaul. One of the mainstays of the old FAFSA—the

appoggiatura, (from Italian appoggiare, “to lean”), in music, an ornamental note of long or short duration that temporarily displaces, and subsequently resolves into, a main note, usually by stepwise motion. During the Renaissance and early Baroque, the appoggiatura was of moderate length,

John O’Hara: His first novel, Appointment in Samarra (1934), explored the disintegration and death of an upper-class inhabitant of a small city; the book was highly acclaimed. In 1956 he received a National Book Award for Ten North Frederick (1955; film version, 1958). Although awarded few honours for his fiction,…

Lewis Allen: The two men reteamed for Appointment with Danger (1951), a film noir in which Ladd played a postal inspector who calls on a nun (Phyllis Calvert) to help him infiltrate a mob of airmail crooks.

Hercule Poirot: Adaptations: …Under the Sun [1982]; and Appointment with Death [1988]; as well as several made-for-television movies).

Appomattox Court House, in the American Civil War, site in Virginia of the surrender of the Confederate forces to those of the North on April 9, 1865. After an engagement with Federal cavalry, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia was surrounded at Appomattox, seat of Appomattox county,

Battle of Appomattox Court House, (April 9, 1865), one of the final battles of the American Civil War. After a weeklong flight westward from Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee briefly engaged Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant before surrendering to the Union at Appomattox

Albert, Count Apponyi was a Hungarian statesman whose political philosophy blended the conservative traditions of his background with Hungarian nationalism. Born into an ancient and famous family, he was the son of Count György Apponyi, who was leader of the Progressive Conservatives and chancellor

apport, in occultism, a material object that arrives suddenly and mysteriously through the powers of a medium. Often the arrival of an apport may require its passage through other material objects. Apports usually occur during a séance (q.v.) and may involve living or inanimate objects. The

legislative apportionment, a process by which representation is distributed among the constituencies of a representative assembly. This use of the term apportionment is limited almost exclusively to the United States. In most other countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the countries of the

photoreception: Apposition eyes: Apposition eyes were almost certainly the original type of compound eye and are the oldest fossil eyes known, identified from the trilobites of the Cambrian Period. Although compound eyes are most often associated with the arthropods, especially insects and

adjective: Types of adjectives: …quest); these are known as appositive adjectives.

perception, in humans, the process whereby sensory stimulation is translated into organized experience. That experience, or percept, is the joint product of the stimulation and of the process itself. Relations found between various types of stimulation (e.g., light waves and sound waves) and their

Paul Dukas: …dazzling, ingenious L’Apprenti sorcier (1897; The Sorcerer’s Apprentice).

Jeremy Strong: Succession and accolades: …he appeared in the biopic The Apprentice, about a young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan), whose rise to prominence is aided by mentor Roy Cohn (Strong), a controversial attorney. While the film received mixed reviews, Strong’s performance was praised and earned him an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.

reality TV: Social impacts and criticism: …from his business competition show, The Apprentice (2004–17), which aired its final season after its celebrity host moved into the White House.

Jacques Pépin: Author, television chef, and educator: Pépin published an autobiography, The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen, in 2003. Throughout his career, he has published more than 30 books, including Art of the Chicken: A Master Chef’s Paintings, Stories, and Recipes of the Humble Bird (2022), which he also illustrated. Pépin was a columnist for…

United Kingdom: The Tudor ideal of government: The Statute of Apprentices of 1563 embodied this concept, for it assumed the moral obligation of all men to work, the existence of divinely ordered social distinctions, and the need for the state to define and control all occupations in terms of their utility to society.…

apprenticeship, training in an art, trade, or craft under a legal agreement that defines the duration and conditions of the relationship between master and apprentice. From the earliest times, in Egypt and Babylon, training in craft skills was organized to maintain an adequate number of craftsmen.

apprenticeship novel, biographical novel that concentrates on an individual’s youth and his social and moral initiation into adulthood. The class derives from Goethe’s Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (1795–96; Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship). It became a traditional novel form in German literature,

Richard Dreyfuss: Breakthrough roles: …ambitious, self-destructive young entrepreneur in The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974) remains one of his most-praised performances. For director Steven Spielberg, Dreyfuss starred in two of the most popular films of the decade: first as scruffy young marine biologist Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975), and then as a family man…

Canadian literature: Fiction: and Paris, Mordecai Richler’s novels The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959), St. Urbain’s Horseman (1971), Joshua Then and Now (1980), Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989), and Barney’s Version (1997) satirize the condition and hypocrisy of modern society through black humour.

Giacomo Leopardi: …bitterness in poems such as Appressamento della morte (written 1816, published 1835; “Approach of Death”), a visionary work in terza rima, imitative of Petrarch and Dante but written with considerable poetic skill and inspired by a genuine feeling of despair.

fungus: Parasitism in plants and insects: …produce special pressing organs called appressoria, from which a microscopic, needlelike peg presses against and punctures the epidermis of the host; after penetration, a mycelium develops in the usual manner. Many parasitic fungi absorb food from the host cells through the hyphal walls appressed against the cell walls of the…

mango: Physical description: Inarching, or approach grafting (in which a scion and stock of independently rooted plants are grafted and the scion later severed from its original stock), is widely practiced in tropical Asia but is tedious and relatively expensive. In Florida, more efficient methods—veneer grafting and chip…

conflict: …between two desired gratifications (approach-approach conflict), as when a youth has to choose between two attractive and practicable careers, may lead to some vacillation but rarely to great distress. A conflict between two dangers or threats (avoidance-avoidance conflict) is usually more disturbing. A man may dislike his job intensely…

conflict: …of situation is termed an approach-avoidance conflict. Psychologically, a conflict exists when the reduction of one motivating stimulus involves an increase in another, so that a new adjustment is demanded.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins: Appropriate: …in 2014, when his play Appropriate debuted Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre in New York. An unsettling family drama, it centers on a group of white siblings as they clean out their childhood home, a former plantation in Arkansas, shortly after their father’s death. The play was well reviewed, and…

Jeff Koons: …was an early pioneer of appropriation, which called for reproducing banal commercial images and objects with only slight modifications in scale or material. By the 21st century he was best known for his fabricated objects from commercial sources—primarily inflatable pool toys and balloon animals—in highly polished and colored stainless steel.…

government budget: The United States: …among the subcommittees of the Appropriations Committee. Each subcommittee is concerned with a particular organizational unit. There is virtually no consideration of the budget as a whole by the committee as a whole. Revenues fall under the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee of the House and are considered…

approximant, in phonetics, a sound that is produced by bringing one articulator in the vocal tract close to another without, however, causing audible friction (see fricative). Approximants include semivowels, such as the y sound in “yes” or the w sound in

Yoko Ono: Plastic Ono Band and other projects with John Lennon: …efforts, including Fly (1971) and Approximately Infinite Universe (1973), were acclaimed by some as exemplars of rock’s cutting edge, although Ono’s abrasive style alienated many listeners. Ono and Lennon retreated to private life following the birth of their son, Sean, in 1975, but collaborated again on Double Fantasy (1980), which…

analysis: Approximations in geometry: …to a high degree of approximation. The idea is to slice the circle like a pie, into a large number of equal pieces, and to reassemble the pieces to form an approximate rectangle (see figure). Then the area of the “rectangle” is closely approximated by its height, which equals the…

APRA, political party founded by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (1924), which dominated Peruvian politics for decades. Largely synonymous with the so-called Aprista movement, it was dedicated to Latin American unity, the nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises, and an end to the exploitation of

Apra Harbor, port on the west coast of Guam, one of the Mariana Islands, northern Pacific Ocean. It is the best anchorage on the island and is located just west of Hagåtña (Agana). It is the port of entry and site of a U.S. naval base. The Apra Harbor complex includes a naval station, naval supply

brahmavihāra, (Sanskrit: “living in the Brahman-heaven”), in Buddhist philosophy, the four noble practices of mental development through which men can attain subsequent rebirth in the Brahman heaven. These four practices are: (1) perfect virtue of sympathy, which gives happiness to living beings

apraxia, the inability to carry out useful or skilled acts while motor power and mental capacity remain intact. Apraxia is usually caused by damage to specific areas of the cerebrum. Kinetic, or motor, apraxia affects the upper extremities so that the individual cannot carry out fine motor acts,

April Theses, in Russian history, program developed by Lenin during the Russian Revolution of 1917, calling for Soviet control of state power; the theses, published in April 1917, contributed to the July Days uprising and also to the Bolshevik coup d’etat in October 1917. During the February

Le Corbusier: Education and early years: …published together the Purist manifesto, Après le cubisme (1918; “After Cubism”). In 1920, with the poet Paul Dermée, they founded a polemic avant-garde review, L’Esprit Nouveau. Open to the arts and humanities, with brilliant collaborators, it presented ideas in architecture and city planning already expressed by Adolf Loos and Henri…

Henry Bernstein: Isräel (1908; “Israel”) and Après moi (1911; “After Me”) denounced antisemitism in France; riots followed the premiere of Après moi and forced its closing.

dance: Music: …in L’Après-midi d’un faune (1912; “Afternoon of a Faun”), used Claude Debussy’s music purely for atmosphere, permitting it to set the mood rather than influence the organization of movements.

Stéphane Mallarmé: …1865, respectively, Hérodiade (“Herodias”) and L’Après-midi d’un faune (“The Afternoon of a Faun”), the latter being the work that inspired Claude Debussy to compose his celebrated Prélude a quarter of a century later.

Aprey faience, tin-glazed earthenware produced by the factory of Jacques Lallemant de Villehaut, Baron d’Aprey, established in 1744 on his estate at Aprey, near Dijon, Fr. The early pieces, which are heavy and rather crude, recall blue-and-white earthenware in the Rouen style or have Rococo forms

Valtellina: … (7,621 feet [2,323 m]), the Aprica (3,858 feet [1,176 m]), and the Umbrail (9,944 feet [3,031 m]).

apricot, (Prunus armeniaca), economically important fruit tree, cultivated throughout the temperate regions of the world, especially in the Mediterranean. Apricots are closely related to peaches, almonds, plums, and cherries. They are eaten fresh or cooked and are preserved by canning or drying.

Apries was the fourth king (reigned 589–570 bce) of the 26th dynasty (664–525 bce; see ancient Egypt: The Late period [664–332 bce]) of ancient Egypt; he succeeded his father, Psamtik II. Apries failed to help his ally King Zedekiah of Judah against the invading armies of Nebuchadrezzar II of

April, fourth month of the Gregorian calendar. Its name probably derives from the Latin aperire (“to open”), a possible reference to plant buds opening at this time of year in

April Fools’ Day, in most countries the first day of April. It received its name from the custom of playing practical jokes on this day—for example, telling friends that their shoelaces are untied or sending them on so-called fools’ errands. A successful April Fools’ Day prank ends with the

Stuart Rosenberg: Early work: Rosenberg had less success with The April Fools (1969), a flat romantic comedy that offered the unlikely pairing of Jack Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve as illicit lovers who intend to run away together; the notable supporting cast included Charles Boyer and Myrna Loy.

Vernon Duke: …most popular songs are “April in Paris” from the revue Walk a Little Faster (1932) and “I Can’t Get Started” from Ziegfeld Follies of 1936.

John Banville: Benjamin Black books and mystery series: Strafford also appeared in April in Spain, and the book is considered to be the second in the Strafford and Quirke series (as well as the eighth in the Quirke series), in which the two popular characters partner up to solve mysteries. The Lock-Up, the third Strafford and Quirke…

March Laws, measures enacted by the Hungarian Diet at Pozsony (modern Bratislava) during the Revolution of 1848 that created a modern national Magyar state. After revolutions had broken out in Paris (Feb. 24, 1848) and in Vienna (March 13), liberal Hungarians, who dominated the lower house of the

April Theses, in Russian history, program developed by Lenin during the Russian Revolution of 1917, calling for Soviet control of state power; the theses, published in April 1917, contributed to the July Days uprising and also to the Bolshevik coup d’etat in October 1917. During the February

Bulgaria: National revolution: The April Uprising broke out prematurely on April 20 (May 2, New Style) and was violently put down. The atrocities committed against the civilian population by irregular Turkish forces, including the massacre of 15,000 Bulgarians near Plovdiv, increased the Bulgarian desire for independence. They also outraged…

Bulgaria: Spread of education: In 1835 Vasil Aprilov founded a Lancasterian school, based on the monitorial system of instruction, in Gabrovo. With the monk Neofit Rilski (Neophyte of Rila) as its teacher, it was the first school to teach in Bulgarian. Its work was facilitated by the appearance of a Bulgarian…

rationalism, in Western philosophy, the view that regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge. Holding that reality itself has an inherently logical structure, the rationalist asserts that a class of truths exists that the intellect can grasp directly. There are, according to the

APRA, political party founded by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (1924), which dominated Peruvian politics for decades. Largely synonymous with the so-called Aprista movement, it was dedicated to Latin American unity, the nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises, and an end to the exploitation of

APRA, political party founded by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre (1924), which dominated Peruvian politics for decades. Largely synonymous with the so-called Aprista movement, it was dedicated to Latin American unity, the nationalization of foreign-owned enterprises, and an end to the exploitation of

cat shark: The genus Apristurus, which is made up of the demon cat sharks and ghost cat sharks, contains as many as 39 species and may be the most diverse shark genus known.

prosthesis: After World War II the APRL hand (from U.S. Army Prosthetic Research Laboratory) was developed. This is a metal mechanical hand covered by a rubber glove of a colour similar to that of the patient’s remaining hand. Many attempts have been made to use electrical energy as the source of…

airport: Open apron and linear designs: …which aircraft park on the apron immediately adjacent to the terminal and passengers walk across the apron to board the aircraft by mobile steps. Frequently, the aircraft maneuver in and out of the parking positions under their own power. As airports grow, however, it is impossible to have large numbers…

conveyor: Apron conveyors consist of endless chains with attached overlapping and interlocking plates to provide a continuous-carrying surface that forms a leakproof bed suitable for bulk materials without containers.

theatre: The Restoration playhouse: …provided, in addition, a deep apron stage thrusting out from the proscenium, upon which most of the action took place. Thus, the actor played, as it were, in the auditorium and away from the scenic backing; the English, with their Shakespearean tradition, were loath to abandon the intimate contact between…

acid–base reaction: Nonaqueous solvents: …the reverse is true), and aprotic (in which both acidic and basic properties are almost entirely absent). Finally, concentrated aqueous acids are mentioned as an example—a particularly important one—of mixed solvents.

Abruzzi, regione, central Italy, fronting the Adriatic Sea and comprising the provincie of L’Aquila, Chieti, Pescara, and Teramo. Most of the region is mountainous or hilly, except for such intermontane basins as those of L’Aquila, Sulmona, and Fucino. The Apennines, the dominant physical feature,

Glory: …two main science instruments: the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS) and the Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM). The APS would have used the polarization of light caused by the presence of aerosols such as soot and sulfates, which contribute to global warming, to measure their geographic distribution. The TIM would have used…

organosulfur compound: Thiols: …process is the formation of adenosine phosphosulfate (APS), since direct reduction of sulfate itself is extremely difficult. The ―OSO2O1− group of APS is reduced to a sulfite ion (SO32−) or a protein-bound sulfite, which is then further reduced to hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a direct precursor of cysteine and other natural…

Argonne National Laboratory: Four of these facilities—the Advanced Photon Source (APS), the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS), the Argonne Tandem Linear Accelerator System (ATLAS), and the High-Voltage Electron Microscope- (HVEM-) Tandem Facility—have been designated official U.S. Department of Energy National User Facilities.

printing: Third generation of phototypesetters: electronic: Phototypesetters of this kind (called alphanumerical) have theoretical performance rates exceeding 3,000 characters per second, or more than 10,000,000 per hour, and should be able to approach 30,000,000. Speeds such as these exceed the production rate even of magnetic tape. Consequently, to work at its most efficient output, such a…

Robert O. Keohane: He was president of the American Political Science Association (1999–2000) and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 2009 he was named the most influential scholar of the preceding 20 years in the field of international relations by the journal Foreign Policy.

apsara, in Indian religion and mythology, one of the celestial singers and dancers who, together with the gandharvas, or celestial musicians, inhabit the heaven of the god Indra, the lord of the heavens. Originally water nymphs, the apsaras provide sensual pleasure for both gods and men. They have

Crow, North American Indians of Siouan linguistic stock, historically affiliated with the village-dwelling Hidatsa of the upper Missouri River. They occupied the area around the Yellowstone River and its tributaries, particularly the valleys of the Powder, Wind, and Bighorn rivers in what is now

apse, in astronomy, either of the two points on an elliptical orbit that are nearest to, and farthest from, the focus, or centre of attraction. The line of apsides, connecting the two points, is the major axis of the orbit. The point nearest the focus is the pericentre, or periapsis, and that

apse, in architecture, a semicircular or polygonal termination to the choir, chancel, or aisle of a secular or ecclesiastical building. First used in pre-Christian Roman architecture, the apse often functioned as an enlarged niche to hold the statue of a deity in a temple. It was also used in the

Charles Méryon: The Apse of Notre Dame (1853–54), considered to be Méryon’s masterpiece, characterizes his great sensitivity to the effects of light and atmosphere.

Caspian Sea: Submarine features: The Abşeron Bank, a belt of shoals and islands rising from submerged elevations of older rocks, marks the transition to the southern Caspian, a depression covering about 57,570 square miles (149,106 square km). That depression is fringed by a shelf that is narrow to the west…

Abşeron Peninsula, peninsula in Azerbaijan that extends 37 miles (60 km) eastward into the Caspian Sea and reaches a maximum width of 19 miles (30 km). An eastern extension of the Caucasus Mountains, the Abşeron Peninsula consists of a gently undulating plain, in part dissected by ravines and

apse, in astronomy, either of the two points on an elliptical orbit that are nearest to, and farthest from, the focus, or centre of attraction. The line of apsides, connecting the two points, is the major axis of the orbit. The point nearest the focus is the pericentre, or periapsis, and that

apse: The line of apsides, connecting the two points, is the major axis of the orbit. The point nearest the focus is the pericentre, or periapsis, and that farthest from it is the apocentre, or apoapsis. Specific terms can be used for individual bodies: if the Sun…

apse, in astronomy, either of the two points on an elliptical orbit that are nearest to, and farthest from, the focus, or centre of attraction. The line of apsides, connecting the two points, is the major axis of the orbit. The point nearest the focus is the pericentre, or periapsis, and that

Lahmu and Lahamu: …created by the merging of Apsu (the watery deep beneath the earth) and Tiamat (the personification of the salt waters); this is described in the Babylonian mythological text Enuma elish (c. 12th century bc).

Ea, Mesopotamian god of water and a member of the triad of deities completed by Anu (Sumerian: An) and Enlil. Ea is considered a member of the special class of Mesopotamian gods called the Anunnaki. From a local deity worshiped in the city of Eridu, Ea evolved into a major god, Lord of Apsu (also

Abkhaz, any member of a Caucasian people living chiefly in the Abkhazia republic in northwesternmost Georgia. The Bzyb Abkhaz, who have a distinct dialect, are found around the Bzyb River; the Abzhui Abkhaz, on whose dialect the literary language is based, live near the Kodori River; and the

tungsten processing: Ammonium paratungstate: Tungsten ores frequently occur in association with sulfides and arsenides, which can be removed by roasting in air for two to four hours at 800° C (1,450° F). In order to produce ammonium paratungstate (APT), an intermediate compound in production of the pure…

ASEAN: ASEAN on the global stage: …other countries are conducted through ASEAN Plus Three, an annual meeting of ASEAN heads of state with the leaders of China, South Korea, and Japan; ASEAN Plus Six, which includes ASEAN Plus Three and Australia, India, and New Zealand; and the East Asia Summit, a meeting of ASEAN Plus Six…

advanced persistent threat (APT), attacks on a country’s information assets of national security or strategic economic importance through either cyberespionage or cybersabotage. These attacks use technology that minimizes their visibility to computer network and individual computer intrusion

automation: Development of robotics: …to the development of the APT (Automatically Programmed Tools) language for programming machine tools.

South Asian arts: Marathi: …Sthiti (1885; “Middle State”), of Hari Narayan Apte, began the novel tradition in Marathi; the work’s message was one of social reform. A high place is held by V.M. Joshi, who explored the education and evolution of a woman (Suśīlā-cha Diva, 1930) and the relation between art and morals (Indu…

David Cronenberg: Other work: …To Die For (1995) and Michael Apted’s Extreme Measures (1996), and he played a reverend in the TV miniseries Alias Grace (2017), an adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel. In 2021 he appeared in season four of the anthology horror TV series Slasher, cast as a wealthy patriarch who makes his…