Fact's About Asian Himalayan Mountain's,

Himalayas, also Himalaya (Sanskrit for “abode of snow”), mountain system in Asia, forming a broad
continuous arc for nearly 2,600 km (1,600 mi) along the northern fringes of the Indian subcontinent, from the bend of the Indus River in the northwest to the Brahmaputra River in the east. The Himalayas range, averaging 320 to 400 km (200 to 250 mi) in width, rises sharply from the Gangetic Plain. North of this mountain belt lies the Tibetan Plateau (Qing Zang Gaoyuan). The Himalayas form the earth’s highest mountain region, containing 9 of the 10 highest peaks in the world. Among these peaks are the world’s highest mountain, Mount Everest (8,850 m/29,035 ft), which is on the Nepal-Tibet border; the second highest peak, K2 or Mount Godwin Austen (8,611 m/28,251 ft), located on the border between China and Jammu and Kashmīr, a territory claimed by India and Pakistan; the third highest peak, Kānchenjunga (8,598 m/28,209 ft) on the Nepal-India border; Makālu (8,481 m/27,824 ft) on the Nepal-Tibet border; Dhaulāgiri (8,172 m/26,811 ft) and Annapūrna 1 (8,091 m/26,545 ft) in Nepal; Nanga Parbat (8,125 m/26,657 ft) in the Pakistani-controlled portion of Jammu and Kashmīr; and Nanda Devi (7817 m/25,645 ft) in India.


II  GEOLOGIC FORMATION AND STRUCTURE, 

The Himalayan mountain system developed in a series of stages 30 to 50 million years ago. The Himalayan range was created from powerful earth movements that occurred as the Indian plate pressed against the Eurasian continental plate (see Plate Tectonics). The earth movements raised the deposits laid down in the ancient, shallow Tethys Sea (on the present site of the mountains) to form the Himalayan ranges from Pakistan eastward across northern India, and from Nepal and Bhutan to the Myanmar (Burmese) border. Even today the mountains continue to develop and change, and earthquakes and tremors are frequent in the area.

III  TOPOGRAPHY, 

Physically, the Himalayas forms three parallel zones: the Great Himalayas, the Middle Himalayas (also known as the Inner or Lesser Himalayas), and the Sub-Himalayas, which includes the Siwālik Range and foothills and the Tarāi and Duars piedmont (an area of land formed or lying at the foot of a mountain or mountain range). Each of these lateral divisions exhibit certain similar topographic features. The Great Himalayas, the highest zone, consists of a huge line of snowy peaks with an average height exceeding 6,100 m (20,000 ft). The width of this zone, composed largely but not entirely of gneiss and granite, is about 24 km (about 15 mi). Spurs from the Great Himalayas project southwards into the Middle Himalayas in an irregular fashion. The Nepal and Sikkim (a state of northern India) portion of the Great Himalayas contains the greatest number of high peaks. The snow line on the southern slopes of the Great Himalayas varies from 4,480 m (14,700 ft) in the eastern and central Himalayas of Nepal and Sikkim to 5,180 m (17,000 ft) in the western Himalayas. To the north of the Great Himalayas are several ranges such as the Zāskār, Ladakh, and the Kailas. The Karakoram Range lies on the Tibetan side of the Great Himalayas.

The Great Himalayan region is one of the few remaining isolated and inaccessible areas in the world today. Some high valleys in the Great Himalayas are occupied by small clustered settlements. Extremely cold winters and a short growing season limit the farmers to one crop per year, most commonly potatoes or barley. The formidable mountains have limited the development of large-scale trade and commerce despite the construction of highways across the mountains linking Nepal and Pakistan to China. Older trails, which cross the mountains at high passes, also have limited trade and are open only during the summer months.

The Middle Himalayas range, which has a width of about 80 km (about 50 mi), borders the Great Himalayan range on the south. It consists principally of high ranges both within and outside of the Great Himalayan range. Some of the ranges of the Middle Himalayas are the Nāg Tibba, the Dhaola Dhār, the Pīr Panjāl, and the Mahābhārat. The Middle Himalayas possess a remarkable uniformity of height; most are between 1,830 and 3,050 m (between 6000 and 10,000 ft).

The Middle Himalayas region is a complex mosaic of forest-covered ranges and fertile valleys. While not as forbidding as the Great Himalayas to the north, this range has nonetheless served to isolate the valleys of the Himalayas from the plains of the Indus and Ganges rivers in Pakistan and northern India. Except for the major valley centers such as Srīnagar, Kāngra, and Kathmandu, and hill towns such as Simla, Mussoorie, and Dārjiling (Darjeeling), the region is moderately populated. Within the Middle Himalayas the intervening mountain ranges tend to separate the densely populated valleys. The numerous gorges and rugged mountains make surface travel difficult in any direction. Few roads or transport routes exist between towns, partly because it is expensive to build them over the high, rough terrain. Only major population centers are linked by air and roads with principal cities in India and Pakistan.

The Sub-Himalayas, which is the southernmost and the lowest zone, borders the plains of North India and Pakistan. It comprises the Siwālik Range and foothills as well as the narrow piedmont plain at the base of the mountains. The width of the Sub-Himalayas gradually narrows from about 48 km (about 30 mi) in the west until it nearly disappears in Bhutan and eastern India. A characteristic feature of the Sub-Himalayas is the large number of long, flat-bottomed valleys known as duns, which are usually spindle-shaped and filled with gravelly alluvium. South of the foothills lies the Tarāi and Duars plains. The southern part of the Tarāi and Duars plains is heavily farmed. The northern part was forest inhabited by wild animals until about the 1950s. Most of the forests of this region have been destroyed, and much of the land has been reclaimed for agriculture.

IV  CLIMATE, 

The Himalayas influences the climate of the Indian subcontinent by sheltering it from the cold air mass of Central Asia. The range also exerts a major influence on monsoon and rainfall patterns. Within the Himalayas climate varies depending on elevation and location. Climate ranges from subtropical in the southern foothills, with average summer temperatures of about 30° C (about 86° F) and average winter temperatures of about 18° C (about 64° F); warm temperate conditions in the Middle Himalayan valleys, with average summer temperatures of about 25° C (about 77° F) and cooler winters; cool temperate conditions in the higher parts of the Middle Himalayas, where average summer temperatures are 15 to 18° C (59 to 64° F) and winters are below freezing; to a cold alpine climate at higher elevations, where summers are cool and winters are severe. At elevations above 4,880 m (16,000 ft) the climate is very cold with below freezing temperatures and the area is permanently covered with snow and ice. The eastern part of the Himalayas receives heavy rainfall; the western part is drier.

V  PLANT AND ANIMAL LIFE, 

The natural vegetation is influenced by climate and elevation. Tropical, moist deciduous forest at one time covered all of the Sub-Himalayan area. With few exceptions most of this forest has been cut for commercial lumber or agricultural land. In the Middle Himalayas at elevations between 1,520 and 3,660 m (between 5,000 and 12,000 ft) natural vegetation consists of many species of pine, oak, rhododendron, poplar, walnut, and larch. Most of this area has been deforested; forest cover remains only in inaccessible areas and on steep slopes. Below the timber line the Great Himalayas contains valuable forests of spruce, fir, cypress, juniper, and birch. Alpine vegetation occupies higher parts of the Great Himalayas just below the snow line and includes shrubs, rhododendrons, mosses, lichens, and wildflowers such as blue poppies and edelweiss. These areas are used for grazing in summer by the highland people of the Great Himalayas.

Animals such as tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, and many varieties of deer once inhabited the forested areas of the Sub-Himalayan foothills and the Tarāi plain. As a result of deforestation the habitat of most of the wildlife has been destroyed. They are now restricted to special protected areas such as the Jaldapara and Kaziranga sanctuaries in India (see Kaziranga National Park) and the Chitawan preserve in Nepal. There are few animals in the Middle Himalayas because of extensive deforestation. In the Great Himalayas musk deer, wild goats, sheep, wolves, and snow leopards are found. The existence of the Abominable Snowman or Yeti has been reported by highland Sherpas in Nepal but has eluded discovery by several expeditions.

VI  PEOPLE AND ECONOMY, 

The population, settlement, and economic patterns within the Himalayas have been greatly influenced by the variations in topography and climate, which impose harsh living conditions and tend to restrict movement and communication. People living in remote, isolated valleys have generally preserved their cultural identities. However, improvements in transportation and communication, particularly satellite television programs from Europe and the United States, are bringing access from the outside world to remote valleys. These outside influences are affecting traditional social and cultural structure.

Nearly 40 million people inhabit the Himalayas. Generally, Hindus of Indian heritage are dominant in the Sub-Himalayas and the Middle Himalayan valleys from eastern Kashmīr to Nepal. To the north Tibetan Buddhists inhabit the Great Himalayas from Ladakh to northeast India. In central Nepal, in an area between about 1,830 and 2,440 m (between about 6,000 and 8,000 ft), the Indian and Tibetan cultures have intermingled, producing a combination of Indian and Tibetan traits. The eastern Himalayas in India and nearby areas of eastern Bhutan are inhabited by animistic people whose culture is similar to those living in northern Myanmar and Yunnan province in China. People of western Kashmīr are Muslims and have a culture similar to the inhabitants of Afghanistan and Iran.

The economy of the Himalayas as a whole is poor with low per capita income. Much of the Himalayas area is characterized by a very low economic growth rate combined with a high rate of population growth, which contributes to stagnation in the already low level of per capita gross national product. Most of the population is dependent on agriculture, primarily subsistence agriculture; modern industries are lacking. Mineral resources are limited. The Himalayas has major hydroelectric potential, but the development of hydroelectric resources requires outside capital investment. The skilled labor needed to organize and manage development of natural resources is also limited due to low literacy rates. Most of the Himalayan communities face malnutrition, a shortage of safe drinking water, and poor health services and education systems.

Agricultural land is concentrated in the Tarāi plain and in the valleys of the Middle Himalayas. Patches of agricultural land have also been carved out in the mountainous forested areas. Rice is the principal crop in eastern Tarāi and the well-watered valleys. Corn is also an important rain-fed crop on the hillsides. Other cereal crops are wheat, millet, barley, and buckwheat. Sugarcane, tea, oilseeds, and potatoes are other major crops. Food production in the Himalayas has not kept up with the population growth.

The major industries include processing food grains, making vegetable oil, refining sugar, and brewing beer. Fruit processing is also important. A wide variety of fruits are grown in each of the major zones of the Himalayas, and making fruit juices is a major industry in Nepal, Bhutan, and in the Indian Himalayas.

Since 1950 tourism has emerged as a major growth industry in the Himalayas. Nearly 1 million visitors come to the Himalayas each year for mountain trekking, wildlife viewing, and pilgrimages to major Hindu and Buddhist sacred places. The number of foreign visitors has increased in recent years, as organized treks to the icy summits of the Great Himalayas have become popular. While tourism is important to the local economy, it has had an adverse impact on regions where tourist numbers exceed the capacity of recreational areas.

Historically, all transport in the Himalayas has been by porters and pack animals. Porters and pack animals are still important, but the construction of major roads and the development of air routes have changed the traditional transportation pattern. Major urban centers such as Kathmandu, Simla, and Srīnagar, as well as important tourist destinations, are served by airlines. Railways link Simla and Dārjiling, but in most of the Himalayas there are no railroads. The bulk of goods from the Himalayas, as well as goods destined for places within the Himalayas, generally come to Indian railheads, located in the Tarāi, by road. The pack animals and porters transport goods from road heads to the interior and back.

VII  ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES,

Economic changes and population increases are threatening the ecology of the Himalayas. In recent years deforestation in the foothills and the Middle Himalayas and overgrazing on the high pastures have led to soil erosion and other environmental problems. Deforestation is a particular concern in the western Himalayas, where increased demand for firewood, extensive tree trimming in order to feed livestock, and construction of roads in the border regions have increased the destruction rate of forests and the number of landslides. Rapid population growth has accelerated pollution, and Himalayan streams that were once clear are now polluted with refuse and sewage. Hill people who use the water for drinking suffer from dysentery; cholera and typhoid epidemics are also common. Large lakes like Dal in Kashmīr and Naini Lake (Nainital) have also become polluted.
Regional variations in environmental degradation exist in the Himalayas. Conditions range from a critical situation in the Himalayas of Nepal, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, and Kashmīr to a moderately serious situation in Bhutan and the eastern Himalayas. If rapid development continues in Bhutan and the eastern Himalayas without due regard for conservation, the problems there may assume critical proportions in the near future. The governments of India, Nepal, and Bhutan are aware of the dangers of environmental degradation in the Himalayas, and environmental management concerns are being integrated in development projects in this region.

Pain, International Association for the Study of Pain,

Pain, unpleasant sensory and emotional experience caused by real or potential injury or damage to the body or described in terms of such damage. Scientists believe that pain evolved in the animal kingdom as a valuable three-part warning system. First, it warns of injury. Second, pain protects against further injury by causing a reflexive withdrawal from the source of injury. Finally, pain leads to a period of reduced activity, enabling injuries to heal more efficiently.

Pain is difficult to measure in humans because it has an emotional, or psychological component as well as a physical component. Some people express extreme discomfort from relatively small injuries, while others show little or no pain even after suffering severe injury. Sometimes pain is present even though no injury is apparent at all, or pain lingers long after an injury appears to have healed.

II  PHYSIOLOGY OF PAIN, 


The signals that warn the body of tissue damage are transmitted through the nervous system. In this system, the basic unit is the nerve cell or neuron. A nerve cell is composed of three parts: a central cell body, a single major branching fiber called an axon, and a series of smaller branching fibers known as dendrites. Each nerve cell meets other nerve cells at certain points on the axons and dendrites, forming a dense network of interconnected nerve fibers that transmit sensory information about touch, pressure, or warmth, as well as pain.

Sensory information is transmitted from the different parts of the body to the brain via the spinal cord, which is a complex set of nerves that extends from the brain down along the back, protected by the bones of the spine. About as wide as a finger, the spinal cord is like a cable packed with many bundles of wires. The bundles are nerve pathways for transmitting information. But the spinal cord is more than just a message transmitter, it is also an extension of the brain. It contains neurons that process incoming sensory information, and generates messages to be sent back down to cells in other parts of the body.

Information being transmitted between and within the brain and spinal cord travels through the nervous system using both chemical and electrical mechanisms. A message-carrying impulse travels from one end of a nerve cell to another by means of an electric signal. When the electric signal reaches the terminal end of a nerve cell, a gap called a synapse prevents the electric signal from crossing to the next cell. The electric signal triggers the cell to release chemicals called neurotransmitters, which float across the synapse to the neighboring nerve cell. These neurotransmitters fit into specialized receptors found on the adjacent nerve cell, much as a key fits into a lock, generating an electric impulse in the neighboring cell. This new impulse travels to the end of the long cell, in turn triggering the release of neurotransmitters to carry the message across the next synapse. Not all neurotransmitters initiate a message in a neighboring nerve cell. Some specialize in preventing neighboring cells from generating an electrical signal, while others function as helpers, fascilitating the message's journey to the brain.


While most of the sensory nerves in the skin and other body tissues have special structures covering their nerve endings, those nerves that signal injury have free nerve endings. These simple nerve endings specialize in detecting noxious stimuli—a catchall term for injury-causing stimuli such as intense heat, extreme pressure, or sharp pricks or cuts. The nerve endings that detect pain are called nociceptors, and the process of transmitting pain signals when harmful stimulation occurs is called nociception. Several million nociceptors are interlaced through the tissues and organs of the body.

An injury triggers pain signals in two types of nociceptors, one with large, insulated axons known as A-delta fibers and one with small, uninsulated axons known as C fibers. The large A-delta fibers conduct signals quickly, and the smaller C fibers transmit information slowly. The difference in the functions of these two fibers becomes obvious to a person who stubs a toe. At first the injured person is aware of a sharp, flashing pain at the point of injury. Generated by the A-delta fibers, this short-lived pain intrudes upon the thoughts and perceptions occurring in the brain. Just as this first pain subsides, a second pain begins that is vague, throbbing, and persistent. This sensation is derived from the C fibers.

Pain information from the A-delta and C fibers travels through the spinal cord to the brain. When it receives the pain message, the spinal cord generates impulses that travel back down to muscles, which lead to a reflexive contraction that pulls the body away from the source of injury. Other reflexes may affect skin temperature, blood flow, sweating, and other changes.

While this reflex action is underway, the pain message continues up the spinal cord to relay centers in the brain. The sensory information is routed to many other parts of the brain, including the cortex, where thinking processes occur.

III  PSYCHOLOGY OF PAIN,

When messages from pain-generating nerve endings finally reach higher centers in the brain, they are processed much like other forms of perception—that is, the sensory information is integrated with memories, expectations, emotions, and thoughts in order to form a complete perceptual experience. While it seems convenient to think of pain as a simple message that sounds an alarm in the brain, contemporary understanding stresses that pain is much more complicated. The emotional aspects of an injury may be more significant than the extent of the physical damage in determining the perceived intensity of pain.

Each person perceives pain a little differently, and as a result, each person also responds to painful stimulation differently. Pain research specialists have observed a wide variety of subtle variations in pain response. For instance, children are quicker to cry after a relatively minor injury than are adults. Learned cultural behaviors often dominate the way individuals express pain. Older children and young adults are often taught that crying, sometimes viewed as a sign of weakness, is inappropriate behavior, while younger children have no such understanding. Some people are more willing to express pain than others, but this does not mean they hurt more.

Broad cultural differences in pain responsiveness have also been documented. In some aboriginal societies, extreme tissue injury is often incurred willingly by people undergoing important rituals, and typically, pain is not expressed. Aboriginal men in Australia, for instance, traditionally celebrated passage into manhood with a ritual that involved circumcision, extensive scarring of the chest, and extraction of the two upper front teeth. The initiate was expected to show no reaction to the injury. It may be that the person undergoing the rite managed to suppress expressions of suffering, but it may also be that the individual was able to perceive less pain by making use of natural pain control mechanisms.

IV  PAIN CONTROL,


The body has many mechanisms that amplify or reduce pain. When cells are damaged, they release chemicals, such as bradykinins and prostaglandins. These chemicals intensify pain sensation both by making nociceptor nerve endings more sensitive and by causing inflammation around the damaged cells. Without these chemicals, nociceptors would cease transmitting pain information as soon as the source of injury was removed. Some scientists suspect that bradykinins activate nociceptors in the first place.

Other mechanisms reduce pain sensation by blocking, or inhibiting, the transmission of the pain message to the brain. To alter the pain sensation, the brain and spinal cord release specialized neurotransmitters called endorphins and enkephalins. These chemicals interfere with pain impulse transmission by occupying the nerve cell receptors required to send the impulse across the synapse. By making the pain impulse travel less efficiently, endorphins and enkephalins can significantly lessen the perception of pain. In extreme circumstances, they can even make severe injuries nearly painless. If an athlete is injured during the height of competition, or a soldier injured during combat, they may not realize they have been injured until after the stressful situation has ended. This happens because the brain produces abnormally high levels of endorphins or enkephalins in periods of intense stress or excitement.

In addition to the body’s own mechanisms, humans have devised many different ways to manipulate the body’s ability to control pain. Drugs that relieve pain, known as analgesics, usually interfere with pain impulse transmission in the nervous system. Narcotic analgesics, such as codeine, have chemical structures that are similar to the pain-blocking neurotransmitter endorphin. Other drugs that relieve pain alter the way damaged nerves transmit information. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen, are analgesics that reduce pain by inhibiting the synthesis of prostaglandins, the body chemicals that intensify pain and cause inflammation.

Another way humans control pain is by injection of drugs that temporarily deaden the nerves that transmit pain signals. These drugs bring about anesthesia, a loss of sensation that renders the body completely or partially insensitive to pain, or even touch. Local anesthetics, such as procaine, deaden nerves in a particular area of the body but interfere little with other body functions. General anesthesia renders people unconscious so they do not feel pain at all. People who undergo general anesthesia also have no memory of events that occurred while they were unconscious.

Many people learn to control their pain with strategies that do not rely on drugs or surgery. Some people control the normally involuntary components of pain message transmission using a behavior modification technique called biofeedback. Acupuncture is widely used for pain relief. Many scientists now believe that this ancient medical procedure may trigger the release of endorphins and enkephalins, the body’s own pain-inhibiting neurotransmitters. Others suspect that the pain-relieving attributes of acupuncture are due, in part, to a patient’s expectation of relief. Although it is not completely understood, physicians and pain specialists have found that when a person suffering from pain expects that a particular procedure—in this case acupuncture—will make their pain subside, it actually does.

In cases where no treatment effectively relieves pain, doctors may recommend a surgical procedure in which pain-transmitting nerves in the brain or spinal cord are severed. Only a small fraction of pain sufferers need such surgical treatment. Another pain-relieving procedure involves placing electrical stimulators on the skin, nerves, spinal cord, or brain to reduce pain sensation.

Some injuries take a long time to heal, and even then, pain does not always completely subside. People suffering from this condition, known as chronic pain, may continue to experience debilitating pain for years, without having any apparent tissue damage. This may be the result of permanent damage to the nervous system. There is new evidence that the nerves in the spinal cord and brain can alter their connections after severe pain—that is, even after healing, the nervous system never returns to normal. Pain that subsides and then returns periodically, such as headaches or low back pain, also falls under the category of chronic pain. In their search for pain relief, many chronic pain sufferers become dependent on strong painkilling medicines, and they often fall into an endless cycle of pain, depression, and inactivity.

The complexity of human pain often requires a combination of pain therapies to achieve relief. Pain management specialists are usually medical doctors with specialized training in neurology, psychiatry, or surgery who have restricted their practice to the analysis and treatment of pain. Psychologists are usually important members of a pain management team. Many people are turning to alternative healthcare practitioners, such as those that specialize in acupuncture or chiropractic, for pain relief. Often, pain management specialists and practitioners of alternative pain therapies join forces in multidisciplinary pain clinics.

Bromine, Chemical Properties, Occurrence And Uses,

Bromine, symbol Br, poisonous element that at room temperature is a dark, reddish-brown liquid. In group 17 (or VIIa) of the periodic table (see Periodic Law), bromine is one of the halogens. The atomic number of bromine is 35.

PROPERTIES AND OCCURRENCE, 

Bromine is widely distributed in nature. It melts at -7.25° C (18.95° F), boils at 58.78° C (137.8° F), and has a specific gravity of 3.10; the atomic weight of the element is 79.90. Bromine is so similar in its chemical properties to chlorine, with which it is almost invariably associated, that it was not recognized as a separate element until 1826, when it was discovered and isolated by the French chemist Antoine Jérôme Balard.

At room temperature, bromine is an extremely volatile liquid, giving off a poisonous, suffocating, reddish vapor composed of diatomic molecules. If the liquid comes in contact with the skin, it causes sores that heal very slowly. Bromine is slightly soluble in water, 100 parts of the latter dissolving about 4 parts of bromine when cold or 3 parts when hot; at temperatures below 7° C (44° F) it forms with water a solid, reddish hydrate, Br2·10H2O. In the presence of alkalies, bromine reacts chemically with water to yield a mixture of hydrobromic acid (HBr), and hypobromous acid (HOBr). Bromine is very soluble in a wide variety of organic solvents, such as alcohol, ether, chloroform, and carbon disulfide. It reacts chemically with many compounds and metallic elements and is slightly less active than chlorine.

Bromine does not occur in nature as a free element, but is found in bromide compounds. It was formerly a by-product of the production of common salt or of potassium from brines rich in bromides. Elemental bromine can be prepared from bromides by treatment with manganese dioxide or sodium chlorate. Increasing demand has led to the production of bromine from seawater, which contains on the average 65 parts of bromine per million.

III  USES, 

Bromine has been used in the preparation of certain dyes and of dibromoethane (commonly, ethylene bromide), a constituent of antiknock fluid for leaded gasoline. Bromides are used in photographic compounds and in natural gas and oil production.

Women Voluntary Emergency Service /Waves

WAVES, acronym for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service, a unit of the United States Navy established in 1942 during World War II. Women who enlisted in the WAVES were commissioned in the Women's Reserve of the U.S. Naval Reserve and held ranks up to that of commander. Their work included air traffic control, naval air navigation, and communications. Recruiting continued until 1945, and in 1948 with the passage of the Women's Armed Service Integration Act, the WAVES became an integral part of the regular navy as well as the reserve. The acronym is retained as an unofficial nickname.

National Geographic Society,

National Geographic Society,
nonprofit scientific and educational organization, established in 1888 for the purpose of increasing and diffusing geographical knowledge. The society sponsors research projects and expeditions, particularly in the areas of archaeology, biology, and geography. Noteworthy studies and expeditions sponsored by the society include those of British-Kenyan Louis S. B. Leakey on early humans and humanlike creatures in east Africa and those of French marine explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau on aquatic life. The society has organized and funded a network of geographic alliances across the United States aimed at improving and expanding geography education in the classroom.

The society publishes National Geographic, a monthly journal for society members, as well as other magazines, books, and maps. The society also produces classroom and television programs, and educational games; and offers educational trips to its members. The society's headquarters is in Washington, D.C.


Geography may be divided into two fundamental branches: systematic and regional geography. Systematic geography is concerned with individual physical and cultural elements of the earth. Regional geography is concerned with various areas of the earth, particularly the unique combinations of physical and cultural features that characterize each region and distinguish one region from another. Because the division is based only on a difference in approach to geographic studies, the two branches are interdependent and are usually applied together. Each branch is divided into several fields that specialize in particular aspects of geography.

Heaven And Earth,

Heaven And Earth, 
American director and screenwriter, whose motion pictures examine various aspects of American society. Stone has raised controversy with the interpretations of history in his works.

Born in New York City, Stone attended Yale University in the mid-1960s but did not graduate. After working as a teacher in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) and as a merchant seaman, Stone enlisted in the United States Army in 1967. He served and was wounded during the Vietnam War (1959-1975). After leaving the army in 1968, Stone took film courses at New York University, graduating from the school in 1971. He also made the independent films Street Scenes (1970) and Seizure (1974). In 1978 Stone won an Academy Award for best screenplay for Midnight Express (1978), a film based on the true story of a young American arrested and imprisoned in Turkey for attempting to smuggle hashish out of the country.

After writing and directing the horror film The Hand (1980), Stone wrote screenplays for Conan the Barbarian (1982), Scarface (1983), Year of the Dragon (1985), and 8 Million Ways to Die (1986). He then gained recognition as an important director with two motion pictures set in war zones. Platoon (1986), a realistic look at combat during the Vietnam War, was inspired by Stone's own experiences. The motion picture won an Academy Award for best picture, and Stone won the Oscar for best director. Salvador (1986), a film based on the experiences of an American journalist in El Salvador, criticizes U.S. military and political involvement in Central America.

Stone subsequently wrote and directed Wall Street (1987), about insider trading and other misdealings in the world of high finance; Talk Radio, about a controversial talk-show host (1988); and Born on the Fourth of July (1989), the story of a man paralyzed in the Vietnam War, for which Stone won another Academy Award as best director. The Doors (1991) is about 1960s rock music star Jim Morrison. JFK (1991), which examines the investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, portrays a broad-based conspiracy among the government, military, and intelligence communities involved with the inquiry. The motion picture's release provoked heated debate over both the assassination and Stone's dramatic interpretation of it.

After JFK, Stone continued to explore issues in modern American life with such works as Heaven and Earth (1993), the third installment (after Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July) in Stone's trilogy focusing on the Vietnam War; Natural Born Killers (1994), which examines the fascination of the media and the public with serial killers; and Nixon (1995), which depicts the rise and fall of American president Richard M. Nixon. Stone then directed U Turn (1997), about a deadly romantic entanglement, and Any Given Sunday (1999), about life in the National Football League (NFL). In 2003 he released Comandante, a documentary of his meeting with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Gamma-Ray Astronomy, International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory,

Gamma-Ray Astronomy, field of astronomy involving the observation of gamma rays from outer space. A gamma ray is a very-high-energy form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength even shorter than that of an X ray. Gamma rays are produced by changes in atomic nuclei and are also decay products of collisions between cosmic rays and interstellar matter. Their study aids in understanding the high-energy processes

Although highly energetic, most gamma rays are absorbed by Earth’s atmosphere. Gamma-ray astronomy did not really begin until the space age provided satellite-borne detecting devices (see Satellite, Artificial). In 1991 NASA launched the 17-ton Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (GRO) into orbit high above Earth. GRO’s observations added a quasar, called 3C279, to the list of known gamma-ray sources, which also include the pulsar in the Crab Nebula and the binary star system Cygnus X-3.

Within only a few months of operation, GRO’s four telescopes had already detected over 100 gamma-ray bursters, brief bursts of energy at gamma-ray wavelengths. The origin of these bursts was unknown. The GRO was unable to pinpoint the location of a burst, so astronomers did not even know whether the bursters originated in Earth’s galaxy or in distant galaxies. In 1996 the Italian Space Agency launched an Italian-Dutch gamma-ray and X-ray space telescope called BeppoSAX into orbit around Earth. BeppoSAX was able to locate the origin of gamma-ray bursts in the sky. In 1997 American astronomers using the Palomar Observatory on Mount Palomar near San Diego, California, and the Keck II telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii discovered an afterglow of visual light in a spot that BeppoSAX had found a gamma-ray burst. By studying the way that the light from the object had changed as it traveled to Earth, the astronomers were able to estimate the distance to the object. They concluded that the burst occurred about 12 billion light-years, more than half of the size of the observable universe, from Earth.

In 1998 astronomers studying data from the initial BeppoSAX observation and the afterglow of the burst concluded that, for a few seconds, the burst was brighter than the rest of the entire observable universe. This brightness means the event was more energetic than any other known event besides the big bang, the explosion at the very beginning of the universe. Since 1998 astronomers have matched the locations of several gamma-ray bursts with explosions of massive stars called supernovas.

In 2002 the European Space Agency and Russia launched the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL). INTEGRAL can better discriminate between different gamma-ray wavelengths and can more finely determine the locations of gamma-ray sources than previous satellites. X-ray and visible light detectors will allow INTEGRAL to observe gamma-ray sources simultaneously at a range of different wavelengths.


occurring in outer space, such as those associated with neutron stars, quasars, and black holes. Because positrons (antimatter electrons) produce gamma rays when they are annihilated, gamma-ray astronomy also serves as a means of measuring the presence of antimatter. See also Astronomy.

Wifi, Wireless Communications,

Wireless Communications, 
various telecommunications systems that use radio waves to carry signals and messages across distances.
Wireless communications systems include cellular telephones, pagers, radio telegraphs, satellite telephones, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), shortwave radios, and two-way radios. They are used primarily to transmit private communications. Commercial radio and television are also wireless telecommunications systems, but radio and television are mainly public broadcast services rather than private communications systems (see Radio and Television Broadcasting). This article focuses on wireless communications systems that are used primarily for private communications.

Wireless communications allow people greater flexibility while communicating, because they do not need to remain at a fixed location, such as a home or office, but instead can communicate with other people while traveling in a car or walking along a street. Wireless technologies make communications services more readily available than traditional wire-based services (such as ordinary telephones), which require the installation of wires in fixed locations. Wireless communications devices are useful in places where communications services are only temporarily needed, such as at outdoor festivals or large sporting events. These technologies are also useful for communicating in remote locations, such as mountains, jungles, or deserts, where wire-based telephone service might not exist. Police, fire, and other emergency departments use wireless devices, such as two-way radio, to communicate information between vehicles that are already responding to emergency calls. Construction and utility workers frequently use handheld radios for short-range communication and coordination. Many businesspeople use wireless devices, such as cellular radio telephones, also known as cell phones, to stay in contact with colleagues and clients while traveling. Increasingly, people are using wireless devices for a variety of everyday purposes, such as scheduling appointments, arranging meeting places, shopping for food, or agreeing on home video selections while in a video store.

All wireless communications devices use radio waves to transmit and receive signals. These devices operate on different radio frequencies so that signals from one device will not overlap and interfere with nearby transmissions from other devices. The number of companies offering wireless communications services has grown steadily in recent years. For example, in 1988 about 500 companies offered cell phone services. By 2001 that number had grown to more than 2,500 companies serving about 120 million subscribers. Currently, telecommunications companies throughout the world are activating more wireless service subscriptions than they are conventional wire-based service subscriptions. Wireless communication is becoming increasingly popular because of the convenience and mobility it affords; the expanded availability of radio frequencies for transmitting, which makes it possible to handle a larger volume of calls; and improvements in technology, which have added other services such as Internet access and improved the clarity of voice transmissions.

II  PRINCIPLES OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS,

Wireless communications begin with a message that is converted into an electronic signal by a device called a transmitter. There are two types of transmitters: analog and digital. An analog transmitter sends electronic signals as modulated radio waves. The analog transmitter modulates the radio wave to carry the electronic signal and then sends the modified radio signal through space. A digital transmitter encodes electronic signals by converting messages into a binary code, the series of zeros and ones that are the basis of all computer programming. The encoded electronic signal is then sent as a radio wave. Devices known as receivers decode or demodulate the radio waves and reproduce the original message over a speaker.

Wireless communications provide more flexibility than wire-based means of communication. However, there are some drawbacks. Wireless communications are limited by the range of the transmitter (how far a signal can be sent), and since radio waves travel through the atmosphere they can be disturbed by electrical interferences (such as lightning) that cause static.

Wireless communications systems involve either one-way transmissions, in which a person merely receives notice of a message, or two-way transmissions, such as a telephone conversation between two people. An example of a device that only receives one-way transmission is a pager, which is a high-frequency radio receiver. When a person dials a pager number, the pager company sends a radio signal to the desired pager. The encoded signal triggers the pager’s circuitry and notifies the customer carrying the pager of the incoming call with a tone or a vibration, and often the telephone number of the caller. Advanced pagers can display short messages from the caller, or provide news updates or sports scores.

Two-way transmissions require both a transmitter and a receiver for sending and receiving signals. A device that functions as both a transmitter and a receiver is called a transceiver. Cellular radio telephones and two-way radios use transceivers, so that back-and-forth communication between two people can be maintained. Early transceivers were very large, but they have decreased in size due to advances in technology. Fixed-base transceivers, such as those used at police stations, can fit on a desktop, and hand-held transceivers have shrunk in size as well. Several current models of handheld transceivers weigh less than 0.2 kg (0.5 lb). Some pagers also use transceivers to provide limited response options.  These brief return-communication opportunities allow paging users to acknowledge reception of a page and to respond using a limited menu of options.

III  MODES OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION,

Wireless communications systems have grown and changed as technology has improved. Several different systems are used today, all of which operate on different radio frequencies. New technologies are being developed to provide greater service and reliability.

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Stanton, Elizabeth Cady (1815-1902), Leader Of The Women Suffrage Movement,

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady (1815-1902), Leader Of The Women Suffrage Movement,
American social reformer, who, along with Susan B. Anthony, led the struggle for woman suffrage. Elizabeth Cady was born on November 12, 1815, in Johnstown, New York, the fourth of six children. Although she never went to college, she studied subjects such as Greek, Latin, and mathematics. Her father served in the Congress of the United States and later as a New York judge; through him she was exposed to the study of law. She became interested early in the temperance and antislavery movements and spent time at the house of an uncle who was an abolitionist. There she met Henry Brewster Stanton, a journalist and abolitionist orator. They were married in 1840 and eventually had seven children.

Following their wedding, the Stantons traveled to London, England, to attend the World Anti-slavery Convention. However, women were denied entry to the convention. In London Cady Stanton met Lucretia Coffin Mott, a Quaker who had helped organize the American Anti-Slavery Society in the 1830s. In 1847 Cady Stanton and her family moved to Seneca Falls, New York, where in July 1848 she and Mott organized the first women's rights convention in the United States, known as the Seneca Falls Convention. Between 100 and 300 people attended, including Frederick Douglass, the noted abolitionist and former slave. For this convention, Cady Stanton drafted a Declaration of Sentiments modeled after the U.S. Declaration of Independence, in which she declared, “men and women are created equal.” Among the resolutions in her declaration, Cady Stanton included voting rights for women, despite the disapproval of Mott. From this point forward Cady Stanton worked actively for women's rights.

In 1851 Cady Stanton met Susan B. Anthony, with whom she would work for women's causes for the next 50 years. However, their efforts were temporarily redirected toward the fight against slavery, and they formed the National Women's Loyal League in 1863. After the Civil War ended in 1865 , Stanton and other women working toward the vote found themselves at odds with abolitionists working for the franchise of male former slaves. From 1868 to 1870, Cady Stanton and Anthony published the weekly Revolution in New York City, and in 1869 they founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, which after 1890 was called the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Cady Stanton served as its president until 1892. Cady Stanton's efforts were largely responsible for the introduction in 1878 of a constitutional amendment for woman suffrage. The amendment was reintroduced until it became law as the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Cady Stanton was an activist for women's causes in general, including liberalizing divorce laws and laws affecting women's rights to own property. On February 8, 1861, Cady Stanton addressed the Judiciary Committee of the New York Senate in support of a divorce bill. Speaking of the existing divorce laws, she said, “The laws on divorce are quite as unequal as those on marriage; yes, far more so. The advantages seem to be all on one side, and the penalties on the other.”

Cady Stanton's views on certain issues, including divorce, reproduction, and religion, separated her from more conservative advocates of women's rights. The publication of her two-volume book The Woman's Bible (1895, 1898), a commentary on women in the Bible, alienated her from the National-American Woman Suffrage Association. Cady Stanton was also active internationally and helped prepare the founding of the International Council of Women in 1888. She was coauthor, with Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage, of the first three volumes of A History of Woman Suffrage (6 volumes, 1881-1922). She published her autobiography, Eighty Years and More, in 1898.

14th President Of The United States (1853-1857), Pierce, Franklin.

14th President Of The United States (1853-1857),
Pierce, Franklin (1804-1869), 14th president of the United States (1853-1857). He came to office in the decade before the Civil War. Although his roots and home were in the Northern, largely antislavery, state of New Hampshire, Pierce sided with the South on the slavery issue. His position on this issue caused him, in the words of a friend, “to immolate himself on the altar of slavery.” Yet Pierce was devoted to the federal Union of the states, his chief aim being to uphold the Constitution of the United States as a sacred and therefore unchangeable document and to avoid civil war at all costs. Although he was a weak, but well-meaning and honest, man with a social nature, few presidents have led so tragic a personal life or have left office so publicly hated and discredited. However, it is uncertain that even a president of superior ability could have dealt effectively with the great problems of the pre-Civil War era.

II  EARLY LIFE,

Pierce was born in 1804 of pioneer stock, his ancestors having settled at Charlestown, Massachusetts, in the 1630s during the great Puritan migration from England. He was the second son of Anna Kendrick Pierce and Benjamin Pierce, who was a militia general, a veteran of the American Revolution (1775-1783), and, at the time of Pierce's birth, a passionate Jeffersonian Democrat. Benjamin Pierce exerted great influence on his son, imbuing him with his own devotion to public service and sense of patriotism.

Pierce was educated at the local Hillsborough school until the age of 12 and prepared for college at academies in Hancock and Francestown, New Hampshire. Franklin's older brother was at Dartmouth College, but General Pierce disagreed with the political philosophy at Dartmouth and sent Franklin to the newer Bowdoin College at Brunswick, Maine. When he entered Bowdoin, Pierce was a sociable and friendly 15-year-old. He quickly made friends, among them future American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was to be his friend for life.

Pierce graduated from Bowdoin in 1824 and the following year entered the law office of Levi Woodbury in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1826 he transferred to a law school in Northampton, Massachusetts, and completed his studies with Judge Edmund Parker at Amherst, New Hampshire. Pierce proved to have a keen aptitude for the law.

III  EARLY CAREER,

In 1827 Pierce's father ran successfully for governor of New Hampshire. The same year, Franklin was admitted to the practice of law. It was inevitable that, as the governor's son, he should be drawn into politics. In 1828 he was elected moderator of the Hillsborough convention, one of five county conventions called to nominate members of the five-man governor's council. He served as moderator for six successive years.

In 1829 when his father was elected governor for the second time, Pierce was elected to the New Hampshire legislature. He was twice reelected and was speaker of the house in 1831 and 1832. In 1833, at the age of 29, he was elected to the Congress of the United States as representative from Hillsborough.

League Of Women Voters Of The United States,

League Of Women Voters Of The United States, formerly National League of Women Voters, nonpartisan political organization, founded in 1920 in Chicago for the purpose of educating women in the use of the newly won vote (see Woman Suffrage). The National League of Women Voters was an outgrowth of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, which was dissolved after its goal of woman suffrage had been achieved. Woman suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt was elected honorary president of the new group.

Today, the organization is concerned with political education and action on a wide variety of local, national, and international issues, including governmental reform, education, civil liberties, social welfare, and foreign trade. It conducts an intensive educational program designed to encourage the responsible participation by all citizens in government. The league publicizes the views and qualifications of political candidates of all parties and attempts to secure the passage of legislation in the public interest.

The league has groups in every state and Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Its national headquarters is in Washington, D.C.

Manufacturing Of Iron And Steel,

Manufacturing Of Iron And Steel, technology related to the production of iron and its alloys, particularly those containing a small percentage of carbon. The differences between the various types of iron and steel

The exact date at which people discovered the technique of smelting iron ore to produce usable metal is not known. The earliest iron implements discovered by archaeologists in Egypt date from about 3000 bc, and iron ornaments were used even earlier; the comparatively advanced technique of hardening iron weapons by heat treatment was known to the Greeks about 1000 BC.

The alloys produced by early iron workers, and, indeed, all the iron alloys made until about the 14th century ad, would be classified today as wrought iron. They were made by heating a mass of iron ore and charcoal in a forge or furnace having a forced draft. Under this treatment the ore was reduced to the sponge of metallic iron filled with a slag composed of metallic impurities and charcoal ash. This sponge of iron was removed from the furnace while still incandescent and beaten with heavy sledges to drive out the slag and to weld and consolidate the iron. The iron produced under these conditions usually contained about 3 percent of slag particles and 0.1 percent of other impurities. Occasionally this technique of ironmaking produced, by accident, a true steel rather than wrought iron. Ironworkers learned to make steel by heating wrought iron and charcoal in clay boxes for a period of several days. By this process the iron absorbed enough carbon to become a true steel.

After the 14th century the furnaces used in smelting were increased in size, and increased draft was used to force the combustion gases through the “charge,” the mixture of raw materials. In these larger furnaces, the iron ore in the upper part of the furnace was first reduced to metallic iron and then took on more carbon as a result of the gases forced through it by the blast. The product of these furnaces was pig iron, an alloy that melts at a lower temperature than steel or wrought iron. Pig iron (so called because it was usually cast in stubby, round ingots known as pigs) was then further refined to make steel.

Modern steelmaking employs blast furnaces that are merely refinements of the furnaces used by the old ironworkers. The process of refining molten iron with blasts of air was accomplished by the British inventor Sir Henry Bessemer who developed the Bessemer furnace, or converter, in 1855. Since the 1960s, several so-called minimills have been producing steel from scrap metal in electric furnaces. Such mills are an important component of total U.S. steel production. The giant steel mills remain essential for the production of steel from iron ore.


are sometimes confusing because of the nomenclature used. Steel in general is an alloy of iron and carbon, often with an admixture of other elements. Some alloys that are commercially called irons contain more carbon than commercial steels. Open-hearth iron and wrought iron contain only a few hundredths of 1 percent of carbon. Steels of various types contain from 0.04 percent to 2.25 percent of carbon. Cast iron, malleable cast iron, and pig iron contain amounts of carbon varying from 2 to 4 percent. A special form of malleable iron, containing virtually no carbon, is known as white-heart malleable iron. A special group of iron alloys, known as ferroalloys, is used in the manufacture of iron and steel alloys; they contain from 20 to 80 percent of an alloying element, such as manganese, silicon, or chromium.

Open Source Software,

Open Source Software, form of software in which users are given or can obtain the original source code from which a computer program is compiled, and which also includes a license allowing users to use, modify, and redistribute the code. Users can then review the software, add features to it or hire programmers to add features, or fix errors known as bugs, rather than wait for the original software publisher or creator to release a “patch” or bring out a new version. With open source software, programmers—many of them nonprofessionals—contribute to the computing community by making their improvements and bug fixes available to other users.

This type of peer review is open to community input, standards, and verification, and is thought to lead to more reliable software. It is also thought to speed up the software development process. In some cases, the peer review may be uninfluenced by deadlines or other commercial concerns. However, as open source software development has evolved, companies such as the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), Sun Microsystems, Inc., and others have offered an increasing number of open source products.

The mere fact of making source code available does not make a program “open source,” according to the definition of open source provided by the Open Source Initiative, a nonprofit corporation. The organization’s formal definition specifies that, among other things, anyone has the right to modify and redistribute program code and derived works. The OSI definition of “open source” is roughly the same as the definition of “free software” advanced by the Free Software Foundation (FSF), founded by United States computer programmer Richard Stallman and embodied in the FSF’s General Public License (GPL). Stallman started the free software movement in 1983 when he announced plans to write a complete UNIX-compatible software system called GNU (which stands for GNU’s Not UNIX) and to give it away for free. Ultimately, this led to the creation of the GNU/Linux and GNU/Hurd operating systems.

The Open Source Initiative group distanced itself from the Free Software Foundation in 1998 when it adopted the open source label, arguing that “open source” carried less ideological baggage than “free software.” The group believed the phrase “open source” would have greater appeal to businesses, even though the software and the open approach were roughly the same as that put forward by the Free Software Foundation. Since 1998, the two movements have generally shifted in philosophy. The Open Source Initiative tends to view itself as a software development-related initiative; the Free Software Foundation views itself as a social movement.

The GNU/Linux operating system, usually called Linux, is the most successful and well-known example of open source software. Linux is a UNIX-like operating system that many use as an alternative to commercial UNIX or Windows operating systems. Finnish-born software engineer Linus Torvalds used GNU C—an open source version of the C programming language—to write the Linux operating system kernel and released it under the Free Software Foundation’s GPL, although it was not written as an FSF project.

As of 2003 Linux had made its greatest inroad as operating system software for servers. Several companies, including IBM and Sun, promoted Linux to compete with various exclusive versions of UNIX and with server software developed by Microsoft Corporation. (Encarta Encyclopedia is published by Microsoft.) In June 2003 a widely distributed memo written by Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer acknowledged that Linux was a growing threat to Microsoft’s business. The memo said that an estimated 500,000 of the approximately 1 million UNIX-operated servers in the United States were considered candidates for migration to Linux. Linux was also being adopted in some businesses and government offices where personal computers (PCs) were networked. According to the publication LinuxWorld, there were 18 million users of Linux in 2003, twice the number estimated in 1998. Many analysts, however, doubted that Linux would achieve popularity as a desktop operating system.

In addition to the Linux operating system, the Apache open source program, which is designed for Web servers, including those running the UNIX and Windows NT operating systems, has been the most popular Web server on the Internet since 1996. According to a 2003 Netcraft Web Server Survey, about 64 percent of Web sites on the Internet were using Apache.