Octal notation is a method of representing octal (base 8) numbers using the eight numerals 0-7. Octal notation uses positional notation and powers of 8 to express to express numbers in a manner similar to that of the familiar decimal syste...

1875-1957 French bacteriologist who with Jules Bordet described the bacterium responsible for causing whooping cough (Pertussis). While working at the Pasteur Institute in Brussels, the two researchers successfully cultured the bacterium i...

Octavia Butler (born 1947) is best known as the author of the Patternist series of science fiction novels in which she explores topics traditionally given only cursory treatment in the genre, including sexual identity and racial conflict. ...

The octet rule is used to describe the attraction of elements towards having, whenever possible, eight valence-shell electrons (4 electron pairs) in their outer shell. Because a full outer shell with eight electrons is relatively stable, m...

Can two divorced men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? That was the question that fueled a play, a movie, and a classic sitcom. Neil Simon's 1965 play The Odd Couple and the subsequent 1967 movie, starring Walter ...

“Ode on the Reconquest of al-Hadath” by al-Mutanabbi Al-Mutanabbi is one of the most celebrated poets in the Arabic literary tradition. He was born Ahmad ibn al-Husayn in the city of Kufah, Iraq, in 915, then traveled around t...

Swedish soil scientist and chemist Svante Odén is known because of his efforts in the 1960s to publicize the problem of acid rain and connect it with the deterioration of forests and fisheries. Acid rain was known to European scient...

Refuse-handlers and many industries release unpleasant odors into the air which can travel for miles. Odors inside factories can also make it difficult for people to work, and pollutants can impart a strong odor to water. Odors can be re...

"Could I forget that kingly man, Odysseus?  There is no mortal half so wise; no mortal gave so much to the lords of the open sky." proclaims Zeus, the king of all gods in Homer's The Odyssey.  He, among countless others, harbors h...

490?-420? B.C. Greek mathematician and astronomer credited by some sources with discovering that the Sun moves in an oblique circle from east to west (the obliquity of the zodiac). He also calculated the length of the Great Year of the Sun...

John Steinbeck's novelette Of Mice and Men contains an abundance of symbols which work together to produce a deeper meaning.  George's idealistic farm and Lennie's alfalfa-eating rabbits symbolize happiness, protection, freedom, and th...

Office productivity is influenced by a number of factors, one of which is office layout. Because office layout influences the entire white-collar-employee segment of the organization, its importance to organizational productivity should ne...

Since the space program began in the early 1960s, there has been talk of the possible commercial exploitation of space. One of the earliest satellites launched into space was the giant metallic Mylar balloon called "Echo." Ra...

When World War II began in 1939, the United States was years behind Germany in technical military research. Foreign weaponry was clearly superior. The United States had to catch up and catch up fast. On June 12, 1940, Dr. Vannevar Bush (18...

The U.S. Congress established the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in 1972, late in the administration of President Richard Nixon (1969–1974). The brainchild of Representative Emilio Q. Daddario, a Connecticut Democrat (1959&#x...

Drug labeling refers to all of the printed information that accompanies a drug, including the label, the wrapping and the package insert. Drug labeling is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration's Division of Drug Marketing, Advertis...

The goal of each living thing is to pass on its own genetic information. The limited resources of the world have created a complex, biological community under intense selective pressure. In order to ensure survival of oneself and one...

The Ogasawara (or Bonin) Islands lie between the Japanese mainland and the Marianas in the North Pacific. The first known inhabitants were a tiny group of American, European, and Pacific Islander settlers who arrived on the main island of ...

Ohm's law is a relationship between the voltage across an electric circuit, the electrical resistance in the circuit, and the current in the circuit. This law is named after its discoverer, Georg Simon Ohm. Ohm found that for most electric...

Four main issues control the occurrence and distribution of oil and gas: source, reservoir, seal, and trap. A source is a fine-grained rock unit containing sufficient organic matter so that when it is heated and/or placed under pressure (m...

The Oil Man of Obange by John Munonye John Munonye was born in 1929 in Akokwa, Imo State, Nigeria. Like most young boys in the region, he was raised as the son of a farmer. But unlike his father, Munonye attended Christian schools and recei...

The countries of the Persian Gulf region sit atop 65 percent of the world's total oil reserves, and Western Asia's critical importance to the world oil market is obvious. Iraq has 11 percent of world oil reserves, and Iran ha...

The term oil shale is technically incorrect in that the rock to which it refers, marlstone, is neither oil nor shale. Instead, it is a material that contains an organic substance known as kerogene. When heated to a temperature of 900...

Petroleum occurs naturally in the earth in porous rock, found anywhere from thousands of meters underground all the way to the earth's surface. The porous layer of rock normally lies between two nonporous layers, so oil does not flo...

(2002 est. pop. 1.2 million). Oita Prefecture is situated in the northeast of Japan's island of Kyushu, where it occupies an area of 6,338 square kilometers. Oita's primary geographical features are the Kyushu Mountains, a vo...