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Habituation to a specific practice, such as drinking alcoholic beverages or using drugs (for example, heroin, cocaine, or amphetamines), and disorders characterized by the chronic use of a drug, alcohol, or similar substance. Addiction and addictive…

A disease of the nervous system characterized by a progressive dementia that leads to profound impairment in cognition and behavior. Dementia occurs in a number of brain diseases where the impairment in cognitive abilities represents a decline from…

An ongoing current event in which a large number of living species are threatened with extinction or are going extinct because of environmentally destructive human activities. The Earth is presently in the midst of a mass extinction event. In the…

A neurodevelopmental condition that impairs the way that a person relates to and communicates with other people. Persons with autism have difficulties with social communication and interaction. They also can have unusual behaviors, such as…

Any of several leguminous plants, or their seeds, long utilized as food by humans or livestock. There are more than 40,000 varieties of beans, with only a small number of these being mass-produced for human or animal consumption. In particular,…

Any member of the grass family (Poaceae or Gramineae) that produces edible grains usable as food by humans and livestock. Cereals are important cultivated crops. Common cereals include rice, wheat, barley, oats, maize (corn), sorghum, rye, and…

The response of corals to environmental stress in which they eject the single-cell algae that live within the transparent coral tissue, making the white coral skeleton visible. Corals (Fig. 1) are animals that live in a partnership (symbiosis) with…

Any interaction between objects that causes motion. Fundamentally, objects interact through the four known physical forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear interactions. In practice, however, many of the forces worked with…

The science, art, and practice of managing and using the natural resources that occur on and in association with forested lands. Forestry is the management of forested lands (see illustration). It involves the planning and implementation of…

The highest-energy form of electromagnetic radiation, or light. The energies of gamma rays range from a few kiloelectronvolts [(keV), where the prefix kilo (k) means 103] to several hundreds of megaelectronvolts [(MeV), where the prefix mega (M)…

Plants that have altered genetic material (DNA) through recombinant DNA (rDNA) manipulation. Genetic engineering of plants allows for very specific genetic changes to be made to a plant's deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), as opposed to the random…

Commercially grown plants that have altered genetic material through artificial recombinant manipulation. Genetic modification is the latest scientific tool for developing improved crop varieties. Such genetically modified (GM) crops can help to…

Electromagnetic radiation whose wavelengths are in the range from about 0.75 micrometer (μm) to 1 millimeter (mm). Infrared radiation (Fig. 1) is outside the range of visible light and cannot be seen with the unaided eye. Infrared radiation was…

A species translocated from one region or continent to another outside its normal range, particularly when the translocation is the result of human activity (intentional or otherwise). Many thousands of species, including animals, plants, fungi,…

The artificial application of water to the soil to produce plant growth. Irrigation also cools the soil and atmosphere, making the environment favorable for plant growth. The use of some form of irrigation (Fig. 1) is well documented throughout the…

The change in the position of an object in a physical space over time. A familiarly encountered phenomenon, motion (see illustration) occurs on all levels of reality, from the constant movements of subatomic particles (conveyed by probabilities of…

The branch of acoustics that deals with the generation of sound by musical instruments, the transmission of sound to the listener, and the perception of musical sound. Musical acoustics has fascinated scientists at least since the time of the Greek…

An annual leafy leguminous vine, Pisum sativum (order Fabales), cultivated for its smooth or wrinkled, round edible seeds, which are borne in dehiscent pods. The garden pea (Fig. 1) is one of the world's oldest cultivated crops. It is a native of…

The planning and implementation of actions to establish, protect, restore, and maintain trees and forests in cities and smaller communities. When the field of urban forestry began in the 1960s, it focused on individual trees along streets and…

In physics, the transference of energy that occurs when a force is applied to a body that is moving in such a way that the force has a component in the direction of the body's motion. Work is accordingly done on a weight that is being lifted (Fig.…

A departure of an optical image-forming system from ideal behavior. Ideally, such a system will produce a unique image point corresponding to each object point. In addition, every straight line in the object space will have as its corresponding…

The time rate of change of velocity. Acceleration is a physics term that measures the rate of change of velocity per unit of time. Because velocity is a directed or vector quantity involving both magnitude and direction, a velocity may change by a…

The technique of measuring the magnitude and direction of acceleration. Measurement of acceleration (see illustration) includes translational acceleration with tangential and radial components and angular acceleration. Acceleration The May 16, 2011…

The use of a combination of mass spectrometers and an accelerator to measure the natural abundances of very rare radioactive isotopes. These abundances are frequently lower than parts per trillion. The most important applications of accelerator mass…

An instrument that utilizes focused acoustic waves to produce images of surface and subsurface features in materials, and to measure elastic properties on a microscopic scale. It has been used to image and measure local elastic properties in metals,…

Unwanted sound. Noise control is the process of obtaining an acceptable noise environment for people in different situations. These definitions and the words “unwanted” and “acceptable” suggest that criteria need to be established to determine when…

The discipline of acoustic phonetics can be narrowly defined as the study of the acoustic output of the vocal tract for speech, but ultimately it encompasses much more. Acoustic phonetics makes direct contact with, and in many cases is the…

A device to measure the acoustic power or intensity of a sound beam by means of the force or torque that the beam exerts on an inserted object or interface. The underlying theory involves the concept of radiation pressure, which is the…

A discipline that deals generally with the extraction of information from acoustic signals in the presence of noise and uncertainty. Acoustic signal processing has expanded from the improvement of music and speech sounds and a tool to search for oil…

The ratio of the current to the voltage in an alternating-current circuit.In terms of complex current I and voltageV, the admittance of a circuit is given by Eq. (1), and is related to the impedance of the circuit Z by Eq. (2). Y is a complex number…

The force retarding an airplane, especially in supersonic flight, as a consequence of the formation of shock waves. Although the physical laws governing flight at speeds in excess of the speed of sound are the same as those for subsonic flight, the…

A group of psychiatric conditions, also known as mood disorders, that are characterized by disturbances of affect, emotion, thinking, and behavior. Affective or mood disorders are strong mental disturbances that interfere with daily life (Fig. 1).…

A branch of meteorology that examines the effects and impacts of weather and climate on crops, rangeland, livestock, and various agricultural operations. Agricultural meteorology, or agrometeorology, addresses topics that often require an…

The pure and applied science that is concerned with botany and management of crop and ornamental plants for utilization by humankind. As it relates to plants, agricultural science concerns itself with the application of scientific methods to…

The art and science of crop and livestock production. In its broadest sense, agriculture comprises the entire range of technologies associated with the production of useful products from plants and animals, including soil cultivation, crop and…

The science and study of crops and soils. Agronomy is the umbrella term for a number of technical research and teaching activities (see illustration): crop physiology and management, soil science, plant breeding, and weed management frequently are…

The branch of mathematics dealing with the solution of equations. These equations involve unknowns, or variables, along with fixed numbers from a specified system (Fig. 1). The origins of algebra were based on the need to develop equations that…

The study of zero sets of polynomial equations. Examples of zero sets of polynomial equations studied in algebraic geometry are the parabola y − x2 = 0, thought of as sitting in the (x, y)-plane, and the locus of all points (t, t2, t3, t4), which is…

A natural process in which harmful or beneficial effects are caused by secondary metabolites that spread from a donor organism to a recipient and are produced by plants, algae, bacteria, and fungi. Allelopathy is a key ecological process and has…

Helium nuclei, which are abundant throughout the universe both as radioactive-decay products and as key participants in stellar fusion reactions. Alpha particles can also be generated in the laboratory, either by ionizing helium or from nuclear…

The analog of linear momentum for rotational motion. A particle with mass m moving with velocity v has linear momentum p = m v (Note: This article follows the convention of using bold, non-italicized variables for vectors and using non-bold,…

A discipline within the field of animal behavior that focuses on the reception and use of signals. Animal communication could well include all of animal behavior because a liberal definition of the term signal could encompass all stimuli perceived…

A psychiatric disorder in which a dramatic reduction in caloric intake consequent to excessive dieting leads to significant bodily, physiological, biochemical, emotional, psychological, and behavioral disturbances. Anorexia nervosa is one of three…

A group of distinct psychiatric disorders including generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, social anxiety disorder, specific phobia, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Whereas fear is an adaptive emotion that is…

A deciduous tree (genus Malus) in the order Rosales, which produces an edible, simple, fleshy, pome-type fruit. Apples (Fig. 1) belong to the family Rosaceae, which includes many other deciduous fruits, including pears, peaches, and cherries. There…

Vegetables that are prevalent in Asian cuisines, but less well known in Western diets. Asian vegetables (Fig. 1), also referred to as Asian greens or oriental vegetables, are very important in Asian countries, but are not as popular in North America…

An analytical technique for determining the composition of a sample in terms of the chemical elements present and their quantities or concentrations. Unlike other methods of elemental analysis, however, the sample is decomposed into its constituent…

A large tropical plant of the genus Musa and its edible fruit. The banana belongs to the family Musaceae (order Zingiberales). The banana of commerce (Musa acuminata), which is believed to have originated in the Asian tropics, was one of the…

The management and maintenance of colonies of honeybees for human purposes. Beekeeping is an ancient art. Although the commonly known honeybee species (Fig. 1) is native to Europe and Africa, humans have transported them to other continents. The…

The study of the hereditary factors that shape behavior. Behavior genetics, that is, the scientific investigation of the hereditary factors that influence behavior, may be studied in animals and humans. Charles Darwin, who originated the theory that…