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caisson

(Encyclopedia)caisson kāˈsən, –sŏn [key] [Fr.,=big box], in engineering, a chamber, usually of steel but sometimes of wood or reinforced concrete, used in the construction of foundations or piers in or near a...

eccentric

(Encyclopedia)eccentric, in mechanics, device for changing rotary to back-and-forth motion. A disk is mounted off center on a shaft. One flat, open, circular end of a rod fits around the edge of the disk; the other...

icebreaker

(Encyclopedia)icebreaker, ship of special hull design and wide beam, with relatively flat bottom, designed to force its way through ice. When the icebreaker charges into the ice at full speed, its sharply inclined ...

Molnár, Ferenc

(Encyclopedia)Molnár, Ferenc fĕˈrĕnts môlˈnär [key], 1878–1952, Hungarian dramatist and novelist. He studied law in Budapest and Geneva and was for some time a journalist in Budapest. He was a prolific aut...

Athabasca, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Athabasca, Lake, fourth largest lake of Canada, c.3,120 sq mi (8,100 sq km), c.200 mi (320 km) long and from 5 to 35 mi (8–56 km) wide, NE Alta., and SW Sask., at the edge of the Canadian Shield. A ...

pantanal

(Encyclopedia)pantanal pəntənälˈ [key], lowland region of SW Mato Grosso state, Brazil, bordering the Paraguay River and extending to the the western edge of the Brazilian Plateau. Parts of the pantanal extend ...

Palisades

(Encyclopedia)Palisades, cliffs along the west bank of the Hudson River, NE N.J. and SE N.Y., extending from N of Jersey City, N.J., to the vicinity of Piermont, N.Y., with a general altitude of from 350 ft to 550 ...

West Sussex

(Encyclopedia)West Sussex, county (1991 pop. 692,800), 768 sq mi (1,990 sq km), S England. Chichester is the county seat. Administratively, the county is divided into the districts of Chichester, Arun, Worthing, Ad...

complexity

(Encyclopedia)complexity, in science, field of study devoted to the process of self-organization. The basic concept of complexity is that all things tend to organize themselves into patterns, e.g., ant colonies, im...

geometric problems of antiquity

(Encyclopedia)geometric problems of antiquity, three famous problems involving elementary geometric constructions with straight edge and compass, conjectured by the ancient Greeks to be impossible but not proved to...