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interplanetary medium ... Iol

interplanetary medium: thinly scattered matter that exists between the planets and other bodies of the solar system, as well as the forces (e.g., magnetic and electric) that pervade this region of space. ...
Interpol: intergovernmental organization that facilitates cooperation between the criminal police forces of more than 180 countries. Interpol aims to promote the widest-possible mutual assistance between criminal police forces and to establish ...
interpolation: in mathematics, the determination or estimation of the value of f(x), or a function of x, from certain known values of the function. If x₀ < &elipsis; < x_n and y₀ = f(x₀),&elipsis;, y_n = f(x_n) ...
interrex: in ancient Rome, a provisional ruler specially appointed for a period during which the normal constituted authority was in abeyance (the interregnum). The title originated during the period of the ...
interrogation: in criminal law, process of questioning by which police obtain evidence. The process is largely outside the governance of law except for rules concerning the admissibility at trial of confessions ...
Interrogation of the Old Men, The: in Irish literature, the preeminent tale of the Old Irish Fenian cycle of heroic tales. The "old men" are the Fenian poets Oisin (Ossian) and Caoilte, who, having survived the ...
interstate commerce: in U.S. constitutional law, any commercial transactions or traffic that cross state boundaries or that involve more than one state. The traditional concept that the free flow of commerce between ...
Interstate Commerce Commission: (1887-1996), the first regulatory agency established in the United States, and a prototype for independent government regulatory bodies. See regulatory agency.
interstellar medium: region between the stars that contains vast, diffuse clouds of gases and minute solid particles. Such tenuous matter in the interstellar medium of the Milky Way system, in which the ...
intertropical convergence zone: belt of converging trade winds and rising air that encircles the Earth near the Equator. The rising air produces high cloudiness, frequent thunderstorms, and heavy rainfall; the doldrums, oceanic regions ...
Intertype: (trademark), typesetting machine similar to Linotype that sets type in full lines called slugs, long used to set newspaper copy. The Intertype machine incorporates a keyboard, a magazine that contains ...
interval: in music, the distance in pitch between one tone and another, whether sounded simultaneously (harmonic interval) or successively (melodic interval). Simple intervals encompass one octave or less. Compound intervals exceed ...
interval estimation: in statistics, the evaluation of a parameter-for example, the mean (average)-of a population by computing an interval, or range of values, within which the parameter is most likely to be ...
interval training: method of competitive training in which rest and exercise intervals of controlled duration are alternated. Rest intervals allow time for the athlete's pulse rate to return to near normal before ...
intestate succession: in the law of inheritance, succession to property that has not been disposed of by a valid last will or testament. Although laws governing intestate succession vary widely in different ...
intestinal gas: material contained within the digestive tract that consists principally of swallowed air and partly of by-products of digestion. In humans the digestive tract contains normally between 150 and 500 cubic ...
intestinal juice: clear to pale yellow, watery secretion composed of hormones, digestive enzymes, mucus, and neutralizing substances released from the glands and mucous-membrane lining of the small and large intestines. Intestinal juice ...
intestinal obstruction: functional or mechanical blockage of the alimentary canal. Functional blockage occurs when the muscles of the intestinal wall fail to contract normally in the wavelike sequence (peristalsis) that propels the ...
intestinal squeeze: pain and possible injury to the small or large intestine caused by expansion of trapped gases when a person, especially a pilot or underwater diver, goes from areas of greater ...
intestine: tubular part of the alimentary canal that extends from the stomach to the anus. The intestine is the site of most chemical digestive processes and the place where digested food ...
Inthanon, Mount: mountain in northwestern Thailand that is the country's highest peak (8,481 feet [2,585 m]). It lies southwest of Chiang Mai, in a spur of the Danen Range between the Chaem ...
Inti: in Inca religion, the sun god; he was believed to be the ancestor of the Incas. Inti was at the head of the state cult, and his worship was imposed ...
Intimism: variety of late 19th- and early 20th-century painting that made an intense exploration of the domestic interior as subject matter. It was practiced principally by Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard, ...
Intolerable Acts: (1774), in U.S. colonial history, four punitive measures enacted by the British Parliament in retaliation for acts of colonial defiance, together with the Quebec Act establishing a new administration for ...
intonation: in phonetics, the melodic pattern of an utterance. Intonation is primarily a matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice (see also tone), but in such languages as ...
Intracoastal Waterway: navigable toll-free shipping route, extending for about 3,000 miles (4,800 km) along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico coasts in the southern and eastern United States. It utilizes sounds, ...
Intramuros: urban district and historic walled city within Metropolitan Manila, in the Philippines. The name, from the Spanish word meaning "within walls," refers to the fortified city founded at the mouth ...
intrigue, comedy of: in dramatic literature, a comic form in which complicated conspiracies and stratagems dominate the plot. The complex plots and subplots of such comedies are often based on ridiculous and contrived ...
intrinsic factor: a glycoprotein (i.e., a complex compound containing both polysaccharide and protein components) with which vitamin B₁₂ (cyanocobalamin) must combine to be absorbed by the gut. Intrinsic factor is secreted by ...
introspection: (from Latin introspicere, "to look within"), the process of observing the operations of one's own mind with a view to discovering the laws that govern the mind. In a dualistic ...
introvert and extravert: basic personality types according to the theories of the 20th-century Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung. According to these theories, an introvert is a person whose interest is generally directed inward toward ...
introverted quatrain: a quatrain having an enclosed rhyme. An example of an introverted quatrain is the In Memoriam stanza (named for the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson), which has an abba rhyme ...
intuition: in philosophy, the power of obtaining knowledge that cannot be acquired either by inference or observation, by reason or experience. As such, intuition is thought of as an original, independent ...
intuitionism: school of mathematical thought introduced by the 20th-century Dutch mathematician L.E.J. Brouwer that contends the primary objects of mathematical discourse are mental constructions governed by self-evident laws. Intuitionists have challenged ...
intussusception: telescoping of a segment of the intestine into an adjacent segment, producing a mechanical obstruction of the alimentary canal. Primary intussusception is sometimes congenital and rarely appears later than the ...
Inugsuk culture: Eskimo culture that developed from the Thule culture (q.v.) in northern Greenland during the 12th and 13th centuries. It was distinguished by an increased dependence on hunting by means of ...
Inuit: the Eskimo (q.v.) of Canada and Greenland.
Inuit language: the northeastern division of the Eskimo languages, spoken in northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland.
Inukai Tsuyoshi: Japanese politician and prime minister whose assassination marked the end of party participation in the Japanese government in the period preceding World War II.
inulin: polysaccharide that is a commercial source of the sugar fructose. It occurs in many plants of the family Asteraceae (Compositae), particularly in such roots and tubers as the dahlia and ...
inulin clearance: procedure by which the filtering capacity of the glomeruli (the main filtering structures of the kidney) is determined by measuring the rate at which inulin, the test substance, is cleared ...
Inuvik: northwestern region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Inuvik region was created in the early 1970s by the territorial government and was formerly part of Mackenzie and Franklin districts. It extends ...
Inuvik: town, Inuvik region, Northwest Territories, Canada. It lies along the East Channel of the Mackenzie River delta, just east of the northernmost point of the Yukon. Planned as a model ...
Invar: alloy of iron that expands very little when heated; it contains 64 percent iron and 36 percent nickel. Invar was formerly used for absolute standards of length measurement and is ...
invention: in music, any of a number of markedly dissimilar compositional forms dating from the 16th century to the present. While its exact meaning has never been defined, the term has ...
inventory: in business, any item of property held in stock by a firm, including finished goods ready for sale, goods in the process of production, raw materials, and goods that will ...
Inveraray: royal burgh (town), Argyll and Bute council area, historic county of Argyllshire, Scotland, on Loch Fyne on the Atlantic coast near the mouth of the River Aray. It was made ...
Invercargill: city, Southland local government region, South Island, New Zealand. The city lies along the Waihopai River near its confluence with the New River estuary and is the southernmost city of ...
Inverclyde: council area, west-central Scotland, lying entirely within the historic county of Renfrewshire. Inverclyde extends along the River Clyde and the Firth of Clyde on the north and encompasses an area ...
Inverell: town, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, at the junction of the Swanbrook and Macintyre rivers in the Western Slopes district. Established in 1848 as a stock station, it was declared ...
Invergordon: small North Sea port, Highland council area, historic county of Ross-shire, historic region of Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, on the deep sheltered waters of the Cromarty Firth. Situated on one ...
Inverness: royal burgh (town), Highland council area, historic county of Inverness-shire, Scotland. It is the long-established centre of the Highlands and lies at the best crossing place of the River Ness, ...
Inverness-shire: historic county of northern Scotland. It is Scotland's largest historic county and includes a section of the central Highlands, Glen Mor, and a portion of the Highlands to the north. ...
inversion: in literary style and rhetoric, the syntactic reversal of the normal order of the words and phrases in a sentence, as, in English, the placing of an adjective after the ...
inversion: in chemistry, the spatial rearrangement of atoms or groups of atoms in a dissymmetric molecule, giving rise to a product with a molecular configuration that is a mirror image of ...
inversion: in music, rearrangement of the top-to-bottom elements in an interval, a chord, a melody, or a group of contrapuntal lines of music. The inversion of chords and intervals is utilized ...
invertebrate: any animal that lacks a vertebral column, or backbone, in contrast to vertebrates, all of which possess some form of cartilaginous or bony internal skeleton. More than 90 percent of ...
Investigator Strait: channel, about 60 mi (100 km) long and nearly 30 mi wide, between Yorke Peninsula to the north and Kangaroo Island to the south, leading eastward from the Indian Ocean ...
Investiture Controversy: conflict during the late 11th and the early 12th century involving the monarchies of what would later be called the Holy Roman Empire (the union of Germany, Burgundy, and much ...
investment: process of exchanging income during one period of time for an asset that is expected to produce earnings in future periods. Thus, consumption in the current period is foregone in ...
investment bank: firm that originates, underwrites, and distributes new security issues of corporations and government agencies. Unlike a savings bank, an investment bank is a commercial bank that does not accept deposits. ...
investment casting: precision-casting technique for forming metal shapes. A typical process for bronze castings involves six steps:
investment credit: tax incentive that permits businesses to deduct a specified percentage of certain investment costs from their tax liability, in addition to the normal allowances for depreciation (q.v.). Investment credits are ...
investment trust: financial organization that pools the funds of its shareholders and invests them in a diversified portfolio of securities. It differs from the mutual fund, or unit trust, which issues units ...
invisible trade: in economics, the exchange of physically intangible items between countries. Invisible trade can be distinguished from visible trade, which involves the export, import, and reexport of physically tangible goods. Basic ...
invocation: a convention of classical literature and of epics in particular, in which an appeal for aid (especially for inspiration) is made to a muse or deity, usually at or near ...
inyoite: a colourless and transparent borate mineral (CaB₃O₃(OH)₅·4H₂O) that occurs as massive granular or sperulitic aggregates in borate deposits. The structure of the mineral consists of two BO₂(OH)₂ tetrahedrons and a ...
Io: in Greek mythology, daughter of Inachus, the river god of Argos. Under the name of Callithyia, Io was regarded as the first priestess of Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus ...
Io: innermost of the four large moons (Galilean satellites) discovered around Jupiter by the Italian astronomer Galileo in 1610. It was probably also discovered independently that same year by the German ...
Ioannina: city and capital, nomos (department) of Ioannina, in the Epirus (Ipiros) region of northwestern Greece. It is located on a plateau on the western side of Lake Ioannina (ancient Pambotis), ...
iodine: (I), chemical element, a member of the halogen elements, or Group VIIa of the periodic table.
iodine deficiency: condition in which iodine is insufficient or is not utilized properly. Iodine is an element that directly affects thyroid gland secretions, which themselves to a great extent control heart action, ...
iodine value: in analytical chemistry, measure of the degree of unsaturation of an oil, fat, or wax; the amount of iodine, in grams, that is taken up by 100 grams of the ...
iodized salt: table salt with small amounts of iodine added, usually as potassium iodide, to ensure against dietary deficiency of iodine. Where iodized salt is used, particularly in Switzerland and the United ...
iodoform: a yellow, crystalline solid belonging to the family of organic halogen compounds, used as an antiseptic component of medications for minor skin diseases.
Iol: ancient seaport of Mauretania, located west of what is now Algiers in Algeria. Iol was originally founded as a Carthaginian trading station, but it was later renamed Caesarea and became ...