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sky

(Encyclopedia)sky, apparent dome over the earth, background of the clouds, sun, moon, and stars. The blue color of the clear daytime sky results from the selective scattering of light rays by the minute particles o...

Puget, Pierre

(Encyclopedia)Puget, Pierre pyĕr püzhāˈ [key], 1622–94, French painter and sculptor. At 17 he went on foot to Italy, where he worked for Pietro da Cortona on the ceilings of the Barberini and Pitti palaces. M...

Guinea-Bissau

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Guinea-Bissau bĭsˌsouˈ [key], officially Republic of Guinea-Bissau, republic (2015 est. pop. 1,771,000), 13,948 sq mi (36,125 sq km), W Africa. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, ...

Heilongjiang

(Encyclopedia)Heilongjiang or Heilungkiang both: hāˈlo͝ongˈjyängˈ [key] [Chin.,=black dragon rive...

Cumberland Gap

(Encyclopedia)Cumberland Gap, natural passage through the Cumberland Mts., near the point where Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee meet. The gap was formed by the erosive action of a stream that once flowed there. I...

globe

(Encyclopedia)globe, spherical map of the earth (terrestrial globe) or the sky (celestial globe). The terrestrial globe provides the only graphic representation of the areas of the earth without significant distort...

Golden Legend, The

(Encyclopedia)Golden Legend, The, collection of saints' lives written in the 13th cent. by Jacobus da Varagine. Originally entitled Legenda sanctorum [readings in the lives of the saints], it soon came to be called...

Bokassa, Jean-Bédel

(Encyclopedia)Bokassa, Jean-Bédel zhäN-bĕdĕlˈ bōkäsˈsä [key], 1921–96, president of Central African Republic (1966–79). He served (1939–61) in the French army, then organized his country's army, beco...

digital-to-analog conversion

(Encyclopedia)digital-to-analog or D/A conversion, the process of changing discrete digital data into a continuously varying signal in relation to a standard or reference. There are two types of converters: electro...

Duda, Andrzej Sebastian

(Encyclopedia)Duda, Andrzej Sebastian änˈjā sĕbäsˈtyän do͞odä [key], 1972–, Polish political leader, Ph.D. Jagiellonian Univ., Kraków, 2005. A member of the former Freedom Union party, he joined the Law...