- Central Criminal Court (criminal court, England, United Kingdom)
Old Bailey, byname of the Central Criminal Court in London. It is perhaps the best known of several buildings housing the Crown Court, which handles the most serious criminal offenses in England and Wales. The present building (opened in 1907) is a familiar part of London’s skyline, with its copper
- Central Cushitic languages
Cushitic languages: Cushitic, or Beja; Central Cushitic (also known as Agau [Agaw, Agew]), with languages such as Bilin, Kemant, Kwara, Xamtage, and Awngi; South Cushitic (spoken mainly in Tanzania), including Iraqw, Burunge, and Gorowa, the hybrid language Maʾa/Mbugu, and (in Kenya) Dahalo; Highland East Cushitic, including Burji, Sidamo, Kambata, and
- Central Democratic Union (political party, Spain)
Spain: National parties: …Centre (Unión de Centro Democrático; UCD), and the major opposition party was the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (Partido Socialista Obrero Español; PSOE). The only other national parties of importance were the right-wing Popular Alliance (Alianza Popular; AP) and the Spanish Communist Party (Partido Comunista de España; PCE).
- central diabetes insipidus (disease)
diabetes insipidus: Types and causes: …gland) for storage, is called central diabetes insipidus. This condition may be caused by trauma, such as brain or pituitary surgery, and diseases, such as brain tumours, pituitary tumours, or granulomatous infiltration (formation of grainlike lumps that are associated with certain diseases, including tuberculosis and sarcoidosis). When a result of…
- Central do Brasil (film by Salles [1998])
Fernanda Montenegro: …film Central do Brasil (1998; Central Station). Critics praised her portrayal of Dora, an embittered retired schoolteacher in Rio de Janeiro who ekes out a living writing letters for illiterate people and who finds redemption after she decides to help a homeless boy search for his father. Montenegro won the…
- central dogma (molecular biology)
reverse transcriptase: Early retrovirus observations: …biology known as the “central dogma.” This asserted that DNA is first transcribed into RNA, RNA is translated into amino acids, and amino acids assemble into long chains, called polypeptides, that make up proteins—the functional units of cellular life. However, while this central dogma is true, as with many…
- Central Dravidian languages
Dravidian languages: Central Dravidian languages: The Central Dravidian languages are spoken by some 200,000 individuals. Kolami has the largest number of speakers, approximately 122,000 people, and has borrowed heavily from Telugu.
- Central Eskimo (people)
Arctic: Ethnic groups: … were often included in the Central Eskimo, a grouping that otherwise included the Caribou Inuit (Kivallirmiut) of the barrens west of Hudson Bay and the Iglulik (Iglulingmuit), Netsilik (Netsilingmiut), Copper (Inuinnait), and Mackenzie Inuit (Inuvialuit), all of whom live on or near the Arctic Ocean in northern Canada. The Mackenzie…
- Central European climate (meteorology)
Europe: Central European climate: The central European, or transitional, type of climate results from the interaction of both maritime and continental air masses and is found at the core of Europe, south and east of the maritime type, west of the much larger continental type, and…
- Central European Free Trade Agreement (international trade agreement)
Kosovo: Trade: …became a party to the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) in 2006, but Serbia, also a CEFTA member, refused to recognize Kosovo as an independent trading partner.
- Central European University (university, Austria and Hungary)
Hungary: Higher education: …religious universities were established, including Central European University (CEU) of Budapest, founded by the Hungarian American philanthropist George Soros as an English-language postgraduate institution where the students are introduced to Sir Karl Popper’s idea of an “open society.” Changes to Hungarian law relating to higher education that were enacted in…
- Central Falls (Rhode Island, United States)
Central Falls, city, Providence county, northeastern Rhode Island, U.S. It forms part of the lower Blackstone River valley community, which includes the city of Pawtucket and the towns (townships) of Cumberland and Lincoln. Central Falls was originally a part of Smithfield, when that town was set
- Central Female Institute (college, Clinton, Mississippi, United States)
Mississippi College: …Female Institute, which was renamed Hillman College in 1891. In 1942 Mississippi College subsumed Hillman College and again became coeducational. Graduate-level courses were offered from 1950, and the Graduate School was formed in 1975.
- central fissure
brain: Two major furrows—the central sulcus and the lateral sulcus—divide each cerebral hemisphere into four sections: the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes. The central sulcus, also known as the fissure of Rolando, also separates the cortical motor area (which is anterior to the fissure) from the cortical sensory…
- Central Florida, University of (university, Orlando, Florida, United States)
University of Central Florida, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Orlando, Florida, U.S. It is part of the State University System of Florida. It consists of a main campus in Orlando and branch campuses in Cocoa (Brevard campus) and Daytona Beach, as well as two additional
- Central Food Committee (French revolutionary organization)
Jean-Baptiste-Robert Lindet: …Lindet assumed direction of the Central Food Committee, which was to requisition food and military supplies for the troops. Soon the efficient bureaucratic apparatus he set up was regulating much of the production and distribution of agricultural and industrial goods. Nevertheless, he remained essentially a moderate. He looked forward to…
- Central German (language)
West Germanic languages: History: …of the South Germanic “Franconian,” or Frankish. The crucial early period of this contact occurred in the 7th and 8th centuries and resulted from the expansion of Frankish (Merovingian and early Carolingian) power into the western coastal areas that were populated by North Sea Germanic groups. The most important…
- Central German Uplands (upland, Germany)
Germany: The Central German Uplands: Geographically, the Central German Uplands form a region of great complexity. Under the impact of the Alpine orogeny, the planed-off remnants of the former Hercynian mountains were shattered and portions thrust upward to form block mountains, with sedimentary rocks preserved between them…
- central government
government, the political system by which a country or community is administered and regulated. Most of the key words commonly used to describe governments—words such as monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—are of Greek or Roman origin. They have been current for more than 2,000 years and have not
- Central Greece (region, Greece)
Central Greece, region of mainland Greece lying south of the provinces of Epirus (Modern Greek: Ípeiros) and Thessaly (Thessalía), and north of the gulfs of Pátrai and Corinth (Korinthiakós) and the Saronic Gulf. Because the main mountain ranges of the Greek peninsula have a definite
- Central Gur languages
Gur languages: …into one of two groups: Central Gur and Senufo. Central Gur itself breaks down into two major subgroups, termed Oti-Volta (with some 25 languages in Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso) and Grusi (with a further 20 languages, some to the west and others to the east of the Oti-Volta…
- Central Harmony, Hall of (hall, Beijing, China)
Beijing: Public and commercial buildings: …beyond another courtyard, is the Hall of Central (or Complete) Harmony (Zhonghedian), where the emperor paused to rest before going into the Hall of Supreme Harmony. Beyond the Hall of Central Harmony is the last hall, the Hall of Preserving Harmony (Baohedian), after which comes the Inner Court (Neiting). The…
- central heating (process and system)
heating: Historical development: …modern times is known as central, or indirect, heating. It consists of the conversion of energy to heat at a source outside of, apart from, or located within the site or sites to be heated; the resulting heat is conveyed to the site through a fluid medium such as air,…
- central highlands (region, Afghanistan)
Afghanistan: Physiographic regions: The central highlands—actually a part of the Himalayan chain—include the main Hindu Kush range. Its area of about 160,000 square miles (414,000 square km) is a region of deep, narrow valleys and lofty mountains, some peaks of which rise above 21,000 feet (6,400 metres). High mountain…
- Central Highlands (region, Arizona, United States)
Arizona: Relief: …broad valleys south through the Transition Zone and into the Basin and Range Province. The Transition Zone bordering the plateaus comprises separated plateau blocks, rugged peaks, and isolated rolling uplands so forbidding that they remained mostly unexplored until the late 19th century. The zone marks the ecological border between the…
- Central Highlands (mountains, Dominican Republic)
Cordillera Central, mountain range in western Dominican Republic. The core of its highlands rises just west of Santo Domingo, the national capital, and extends northwestward to the Haitian border; from it flow the headstreams of the nation’s three chief river systems—the Yuna, the Yaque del Norte,
- Central Highlands (region, Brazil)
Brazilian Highlands, eroded plateau region of central and southeastern Brazil. Comprising more than half of the country’s landmass, the highlands are located mainly in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Goiás, and Mato Grosso estados (states). Rising to an average elevation of 3,300 feet (1,000 metres) above
- central hypothyroidism (pathology)
hypothyroidism: Causes of hypothyroidism: …form of hypothyroidism known as central hypothyroidism, in which there is a deficiency of thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone; TSH), the hormone of the anterior pituitary gland that controls the thyroid. Central hypothyroidism may be caused by pituitary disease or deficiency of thyrotropin-releasing hormone, the hypothalamic hormone that maintains thyrotropin secretion.
- Central Inland Water Transport Corporation, Ltd. (Indian company)
Ganges River: Navigation: …waterways, while the publicly owned Central Inland Water Transport Corporation, Ltd., is responsible for transporting cargo in the waterway system and maintains the transport vessels as well as the facilities at several ports. Approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of waterways in the Ganges basin from Prayagraj to Haldia are included…
- Central Institute for Intelligence and Security (Israeli intelligence agency)
Mossad, (Hebrew: “Central Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations”), one of the three major intelligence organizations of Israel, along with Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security). The Mossad is concerned with foreign intelligence gathering, intelligence analysis,
- Central Intelligence (film by Thurber [2016])
Dwayne Johnson: …Hart in the buddy comedy Central Intelligence.
- Central Intelligence Agency (United States government)
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), principal foreign intelligence and counterintelligence agency of the U.S. government. Formally created in 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) grew out of the World War II Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Previous U.S. intelligence and
- Central Intelligence Office (Soviet military intelligence organization)
GRU, (Russian: Chief Intelligence Office), Soviet military intelligence organization. It had no formal connection to the KGB, the Soviet political police and security agency, though Western intelligence authorities believed that the KGB had agents within the
- Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (American organization)
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), the oldest African American athletic conference in the United States. Originally named the Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association, the CIAA was formed in 1912 to link and regulate sports competitions between historically African American
- Central Java (province, Indonesia)
Central Java, propinsi (or provinsi; province), central Java, Indonesia. It is bounded by West Java (Jawa Barat) province to the west, the Java Sea to the north, East Java (Jawa Timur) province to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south, and Yogyakarta daerah istimewa (special district) to the
- Central Jersey (region, New Jersey, United States)
New Jersey: Settlement patterns: Central Jersey, all of five counties and part of three, is largely a plain, but hilly areas occur in Hunterdon and Somerset counties. Middlesex and Mercer counties, especially the former, are industrialized. Princeton University is located in Mercer county and the borough of Princeton, which…
- Central Jurisdiction (American Methodist organization)
Methodism: America: In 1939 the Central Jurisdiction was formed for all African American members of the church. It was one of six jurisdictions—administrative units responsible for electing bishops—of the church and the only racial jurisdiction. Unlike the other jurisdictions, which were determined by geography, the Central Jurisdiction was shaped by…
- Central Kalahari Game Reserve (park, Botswana)
Kalahari Desert: San: …distinct, the G/wi of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve can be considered an example of the traditional San hunter-gatherer way of life.
- Central Kalimantan (province, Indonesia)
Central Kalimantan, propinsi (or provinsi; province), south-central Borneo, Indonesia, bounded by the provinces of East Kalimantan (Kalimantan Timur) to the north and northeast and South Kalimantan (Kalimantan Selatan) to the southeast, by the Java Sea to the south, and by the province of West
- Central Karakum (desert, Turkmenistan)
Karakum Desert: Physiography: …northern Trans-Unguz Karakum; the low-lying Central Karakum; and the southeastern Karakum, through which runs a chain of salt marshes. Along the border of the Trans-Unguz and Central Karakum runs the Unguz chain of saline, isolated, eolian (wind-formed) hollows.
- Central Karoo (plateau, South Africa)
Great Karoo, plateau basin in Western Cape province, South Africa, lying between the Great Escarpment (north) and the Swartberg (south). It represents the effect of headwater erosion by rivers flowing southwest and southeast from the escarpment. The Great Karoo is divided into a western basin and a
- Central Khoisan languages
Khoisan languages: Classification of the Khoisan languages: …three effectively unrelated groups: Northern, Central, and Southern. Sandawe of Tanzania has a distant relationship to the Central group, but the place of Hadza even in relation to Sandawe has always been unclear; and the status of Kwadi, an extinct language of Namibe (formerly Moçâmedes) in southwestern Angola, remains uncertain.…
- Central Latinoamericana de Trabajadores (Latin American labor organization)
Latin American Central of Workers, (CLAT), regional Christian Democrat trade union federation linked to the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). Its affiliated member groups represent some 10,000,000 workers in more than 35 Latin-American and Caribbean countries and territories. Its headquarters
- Central League (Japanese baseball)
Central League, one of the two associations of professional baseball teams in Japan (the other being the Pacific League). Both the Central League and the Pacific League were founded in 1950. The Central League comprises six teams, each of which is owned and sponsored by a major corporation. The
- Central Lenin Museum (museum, Moscow, Russia)
museum: Early period of reassessment: Sometimes, as with the Central Lenin Museum in Moscow (1936–93), they were means of communicating political propaganda.
- Central Library for Students (library, London, United Kingdom)
Albert Mansbridge: …and a scholarly library (National Central Library) for working people unaffiliated with an academic institution. He organized WEA branches in Australia, New Zealand, and Canada; and, after recovering from spinal meningitis, he established other adult-education groups: the World Association for Adult Education (1918), the Seafarers’ Educational Service (1919), and…
- central limit theorem (mathematics)
central limit theorem, in probability theory, a theorem that establishes the normal distribution as the distribution to which the mean (average) of almost any set of independent and randomly generated variables rapidly converges. The central limit theorem explains why the normal distribution arises
- central lobe (anatomy)
human nervous system: Lobes of the cerebral cortex: …of the cerebrum is the insular, or central, lobe, an invaginated triangular area on the medial surface of the lateral sulcus; it can be seen in the intact brain only by separating the frontal and parietal lobes from the temporal lobe. The insular lobe is thought to be involved in…
- Central Lowland (region, United States)
United States: The Interior Lowlands and their upland fringes: …the United States—is the great Central Lowland, which stretches for 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometres) from New York to central Texas and north another 1,000 miles to the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. To some, the landscape may seem dull, for heights of more than 2,000 feet (600 metres) are unusual, and…
- Central Lowland (region, Connecticut, United States)
Connecticut: Relief and drainage: The Central Lowland is different in character from the other two regions, being a downfaulted block of land approximately 20 miles (30 km) wide at the Massachusetts border and narrowing as it progresses toward the sea, which it meets at New Haven. It is filled with…
- Central Lowlands (region, Scotland, United Kingdom)
Lowlands: …regions: the Midland Valley (or Central Lowlands) and the Southern Uplands (of southern Scotland).
- Central Malayo-Polynesian languages
Austronesian languages: Central Malayo-Polynesian (CMP): The Central Malayo-Polynesian languages are found throughout much of eastern Indonesia, including the Lesser Sunda Islands from Sumbawa through Timor, and most of the Moluccas. Many of the changes that define this linguistic group cover most of the languages but do not reach the geographic extremes,…
- Central Maryland (area, Maryland, United States)
Maryland: Settlement patterns: Central Maryland comprises the city of Baltimore and five counties. Four of the counties contain most of Baltimore’s suburbs; the fifth is Montgomery, on the northwestern edge of Washington, D.C. Only about one-sixth of Marylanders live outside metropolitan areas. Central Maryland is one long, contiguous…
- Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute (university, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States)
Central Michigan University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Mount Pleasant, Mich., U.S. The university is composed of the colleges of business administration, communication and fine arts, education and human services, health professions, humanities and social and behavioral
- Central Michigan University (university, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States)
Central Michigan University, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Mount Pleasant, Mich., U.S. The university is composed of the colleges of business administration, communication and fine arts, education and human services, health professions, humanities and social and behavioral
- Central Middle English language
Middle English language: …still in use; (2) the Central Middle English period from about 1250 to about 1400, which was marked by the gradual formation of literary dialects, the use of an orthography greatly influenced by the Anglo-Norman writing system, the loss of pronunciation of final unaccented -e, and the borrowing of large…
- Central Mnong language
Mnong language: …are divided into three groups: Central Mnong, including Bu Dang, Biat, Bu Nar, Bu Dih, and Preh; Eastern Mnong, including Chil, Kuanh, Mnong Gar, and Mnong Rlam; and Southern Mnong, including Prang and Nong.
- central mudminnow (fish)
mudminnow: …sometimes called rockfish, and the central mudminnow (U. limi) mudfish or dogfish. Mudminnows are often used as bait and sometimes kept in home aquariums.
- Central Museum (museum, Lahore, Pakistan)
Lahore Museum, in Lahore, Pak., archaeological museum opened in 1894 and containing examples of the arts and crafts of the province of Punjab, including sculpture, coins, and Kangra (Pahari) and Mughal paintings and fabrics. Greco-Buddhist sculptures excavated from sites in the Peshāwar district
- Central Museum of Indonesian Culture (museum, Jakarta, Indonesia)
museum: The spread of the European model: …1778, eventually to become the Central Museum of Indonesian Culture and finally part of the National Museum. The origins of the Indian Museum in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) were similar, based on the collections of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which commenced in 1784. In South America a number of national…
- Central Museum of the Revolution (museum, Moscow, Russia)
museum: Early period of reassessment: Petersburg); after 1924 the Central Museum of the Revolution in Moscow became the focal point for these collections. Another type was the memorial museum housing the personal effects of well-known figures. Sometimes, as with the Central Lenin Museum in Moscow (1936–93), they were means of communicating political propaganda.
- Central Music Hall (building, Chicago, Illinois, United States)
Louis Sullivan: Work in association with Adler: …an independent architect Adler designed Central Music Hall in Chicago (1879), which was the prototype of theatres later designed by the firm of Adler and Sullivan. Adler was a consultant on acoustics and in his later years was a writer on the technical and legal aspects of architecture.
- Central National Herbarium of the Botanical Survey of India (building, Kolkata, India)
Indian Botanic Garden: …plant specimens eventually became the Central National Herbarium of the Botanical Survey of India, which comprises 2.5 million items. Over the years attractive display gardens for the public have been developed and many kinds of plants have been cultivated for scientific observation. During the 1970s the garden initiated a program…
- central nervous system
central nervous system, system of nerve tissue in vertebrates that consists of the brain and spinal cord. The central nervous system controls both voluntary movements, such as those involved in walking and in speech, and involuntary movements, such as breathing and reflex actions. It also is the
- Central Netherlands Urban Ring (region, Netherlands)
Netherlands: Settlement patterns: …Eindhoven), thus forming the so-called Central Netherlands Urban Ring. Other urban centres are Groningen in the northeast, Enschede and Hengelo in the east, and Maastricht and Heerlen in the southeast. It is government policy to keep traditional towns and cities separated by strips of agricultural or recreational land.
- Central Nicobar languages
Nicobarese languages: …Chowra, Teressa, and Bompaka languages; Central Nicobar, including the Camorta, Nancowry, Trinkat, and Katchall languages; South Nicobar, including the Coastal Great Nicobar and the Little Nicobar languages; and Inland Great Nicobar, including the Shompe language.
- Central Numic languages
Great Basin Indian: Language: Central Numic languages are spoken by the Panamint (Koso) and several Shoshone groups, including the Gosiute, Timbisha, Western Shoshone, and Comanche. Although they originated in the Great Basin, the Comanche acquired horses during the early colonial period, moved to present-day Texas, and became nomadic buffalo…
- central obesity (medical disorder)
pancreatic cancer: Symptoms and causes: …percent of pancreatic tumours, and central obesity (accumulation of fat primarily around the abdomen), which can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by as much as 70 percent in some postmenopausal women. In both men and women, central obesity is associated with increased levels of insulin and with disruption of…
- central office (telephone communications)
telephone: Manual switching: …a central switching point, or telephone exchange, than it was to run wires between all the instruments. In 1878 the first telephone exchange was installed in New Haven, Connecticut, permitting up to 21 customers to reach one another by means of a manually operated central switchboard. The manual switchboard was…
- Central Oklahoma, University of (university, Edmond, Oklahoma, United States)
University of Central Oklahoma, public, coeducational institution of higher learning in Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. It consists of the colleges of Arts, Media, and Design; Business Administration; Education; Liberal Arts; and Mathematics and Science. The graduate college offers master’s degree programs
- Central Order of Lenin Museum (museum, Moscow, Russia)
museum: Early period of reassessment: Petersburg); after 1924 the Central Museum of the Revolution in Moscow became the focal point for these collections. Another type was the memorial museum housing the personal effects of well-known figures. Sometimes, as with the Central Lenin Museum in Moscow (1936–93), they were means of communicating political propaganda.
- Central Organization of Trade Unions (Kenyan labor organization)
Kenya: Labour and taxation: The Central Organization of Trade Unions was founded in 1965. Many professions are unionized, including metal workers, airline pilots, game hunting and safari workers, jockeys and betting workers, journalists, and textile workers. Government revenue is derived from taxes on income and profits and on goods and…
- Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express (mail carrier)
Southern Overland Mail Company: …contract was awarded to the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express, which operated through Salt Lake City, Utah. The Central Overland was purchased in 1862 by Ben Holladay, and the Holladay Overland Stage Company was sold to Wells, Fargo and Company in 1866. The company’s stagecoach operations were maintained…
- Central Pacific Basin (basin, Pacific Ocean)
Central Pacific Basin, major submarine basin of the central part of the north Pacific Ocean, between the Line Islands to the east and the Marshall Islands to the west. It occupies a large area of the north Pacific and extends westward to a zone of trenches, the Andesite Line (a region of intense
- Central Pacific Railroad (railway, United States)
Central Pacific Railroad, American railroad company founded in 1861 by a group of California merchants known later as the “Big Four” (Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker); they are best remembered for having built part of the first American transcontinental rail
- Central Pahari languages
Pahari languages: …represented by Nepali of Nepal; Central Pahari, spoken in Uttarakhand state; and Western Pahari, found around Simla in Himachal Pradesh state. The most important language is Nepali (Naipali), also called Khas-kura and Gorkhali (Gurkhali). Because many of the inhabitants of Nepal speak
- central pain
human nervous system: Central pain: Pain arising within the central nervous system when there is no damage to the body is known as central pain. The most common central pain is caused by lesions in or near the thalamus and is called the thalamic syndrome. This condition is…
- Central Park (documentary film by Wiseman [1990])
Frederick Wiseman: …and a public park (Central Park [1990]). In his films Wiseman eschewed polemics in favour of a complex and sympathetic presentation of such institutions’ effects on individual people.
- Central Park (park, New York City, New York, United States)
Central Park, largest and most important public park in Manhattan, New York City. It occupies an area of 840 acres (340 hectares) and extends between 59th and 110th streets (about 2.5 miles [4 km]) and between Fifth and Eighth avenues (about 0.5 miles [0.8 km]). It was one of the first American
- Central Park East primary school network (school network, New York City, New York, United States)
Deborah Meier: …director of the highly regarded Central Park East (CPE) primary school network, based in the East Harlem section of New York City, Meier gained a reputation as an innovator of small schools that forged creative collaborations between educators and the communities in which the classrooms were based. The CPE schools…
- Central Park Five, The (documentary by Burns [2012])
Ken Burns: The Central Park Five (2012) was a departure from the sepia-toned television programs with which Burns had become associated. The theatrically released documentary, also codirected with his daughter and her husband, shed new light on a controversial case involving a violent crime committed in New…
- central perspective (art)
perspective: …a single vanishing point, called one-point perspective. Perceptual space and volume may be simulated on the picture plane by variations on this basic principle, differing according to the number and location of the vanishing points. Instead of one-point (or central) perspective, the artist may use, for instance, angular (or oblique)…
- central place theory (economics and geography)
central-place theory, in geography, an element of location theory (q.v.) concerning the size and distribution of central places (settlements) within a system. Central-place theory attempts to illustrate how settlements locate in relation to one another, the amount of market area a central place can
- Central Places in Southern Germany (work by Christaller)
central-place theory: …theory in his book entitled Central Places in Southern Germany (1933). The primary purpose of a settlement or market town, according to central-place theory, is the provision of goods and services for the surrounding market area. Such towns are centrally located and may be called central places. Settlements that provide…
- Central Plain (region, Thailand)
Thailand: Relief: …Khorat Plateau is the extensive Chao Phraya River basin, which is the cultural and economic heartland of Thailand. The region, sometimes called the Central Plain, consists of two portions: heavily dissected rolling plains in the north and the flat, low-lying floodplain and delta of the Chao Phraya in the south.…
- Central Planning Bureau (Netherlands)
economic planning: Stages of planning in developed countries: …of economic trends to the Central Planning Bureau. In that country, however, business and labour have generally been ready to take account of such projections when drawing up their own plans. In Belgium, after the period of strained relations between the main language groups during the 1960s, regional considerations have…
- Central Plateau (region, Australia)
Tasmania: Relief: …geography is the glaciated, lake-studded Central Plateau, bounded on the north and east by a 2,000-foot (610-metre) fault scarp and sloping gently southeastward from 3,500 to 2,000 feet (1,070 to 610 metres). Much of the east is made up of a low, dissected plateau averaging about 1,200 feet (370 metres).…
- Central Plateau (region, Hispaniola)
Haiti: Relief and drainage: …interior basin, known as the Central Plateau in Haiti and the San Juan Valley in the Dominican Republic, occupies about 150 square miles (390 square km) in the center of the country. The plateau has an average elevation of about 1,000 feet (300 meters), and access to it is difficult…
- Central Plateau (region, Namibia)
Namibia: Relief: …western mountain scarp of the Central Plateau, abuts on the sea.
- Central Plateau (plateau, Africa)
Zambezi River: …from its source on the Central African Plateau to empty into the Indian Ocean. With its tributaries, it drains an area of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 square kilometres). The Zambezi (meaning “Great River” in the language of the Tonga people) includes along its course the Victoria Falls, one…
- Central Plateaus (region, Belgium)
Belgium: Relief, drainage, and soils: …200 metres) in elevation, the Central Plateaus cover northern Hainaut, Walloon Brabant, southern Flemish Brabant, and the Hesbaye plateau region of Liège. The area is dissected by the Dender, Senne, Dijle, and other rivers that enter the Schelde (Escaut) River; it is bounded to the east by the Herve Plateau.…
- Central Polar Basin (Arctic Ocean)
North Polar Basin: …into two main parts, the Central Polar Basin and the Norwegian Basin, by a sill, or narrow underwater ridge, lying between north Greenland and the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. The larger of the two parts, the Central Polar Basin, has a maximum depth of 16,995 feet (5,180 m) and occupies…
- central pontine myelinolysis (pathology)
alcoholism: Chronic diseases: laminar sclerosis, cerebellar degeneration, and central pontine myelinolysis. Alcoholics, especially older ones, frequently experience enlargement of the ventricles as a result of atrophy of brain substance caused in part by the direct effects of alcohol on the central nervous system. In some cases, however, brain atrophy is the result of…
- Central Portuguese (language)
Portuguese language: …mutually intelligible: (1) Central, or Beira, (2) Southern (Estremenho), including Lisbon, Alentejo, and Algarve, (3) Insular, including the dialects of Madeira and the Azores, and (4) Brazilian. Standard Portuguese was developed in the 16th century, basically from the dialects
- Central Powers (European coalition)
Central Powers, World War I coalition that consisted primarily of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, the “central” European states that were at war from August 1914 against France and Britain on the Western Front and against Russia on the Eastern Front. Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy had
- Central Prairie (region, Mississippi, United States)
Mississippi: Relief and soils: …Piney Woods lies the narrow Central Prairie, separated from the Black Prairie by a section of hills and woods. The two prairies, with fertile black soil that is excellent for many types of agriculture, were once the site of large cotton plantations. East of the Black Prairie, in the extreme…
- central processing unit (computer)
central processing unit (CPU), principal part of any digital computer system, generally composed of the main memory, control unit, and arithmetic-logic unit. It constitutes the physical heart of the entire computer system; to it is linked various peripheral equipment, including input/output devices
- Central Procurator’s Office (North Korean government)
North Korea: Justice: The Central Procurator’s Office and the provincial and city public prosecutor’s offices handle criminal cases and maintain surveillance over all citizens; it is headed by a procurator-general, who is selected by the Supreme People’s Assembly. The courts and prosecutor’s offices are independent of each other.
- central projection (optics)
drafting: Perspective: …of what is known as central projection. Lines of sight may be thought of as extending from the points of the object under observation to a central point of convergence—the lens of the eye or the camera, or the reference point of the perspective construction. In the case of the…
- Central Pyrenees (mountains, Europe)
Pyrenees: Physiography: …Eastern (or Mediterranean), Pyrenees, the Central Pyrenees, and the Western Pyrenees. The different vegetation, the linguistic divisions of the people, and—to a point—certain ethnic and cultural distinctions appear to confirm this classification.