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rRNA (genetics)
molecule in cells that forms part of the protein-synthesizing organelle known as a ribosome and that is exported to the cytoplasm to help translate the information in messenger RNA (mRNA) into protein. The three major types of RNA that occur in cells include rRNA, mRNA, and tr...
RRP (Dutch art history)
an interdisciplinary collaboration by a group of Dutch art historians to produce a comprehensive catalog of Rembrandt van Rijn’s paintings. Its initial aim was to free Rembrandt’s oeuvre of the attributions that were thought to have harmed the image of Rembrandt as a painter. Over time, the project’s aim...
Rrurrambu, George (Australian Aboriginal musician)
1957Galiwinku, N.Terr., AustraliaJune 10, 2007GaliwinkuAustralian Aboriginal rock musician who was the charismatic front man of the popular Warumpi Band, the first Australian rock group to have a hit song in an indigenous language. Rrurrambu and three other men formed the multiracial band i...
RS (political organization, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
...and Herzegovina’s 3.1 million eligible voters elected representatives to the country’s tripartite presidency, the federal parliament, and the assemblies of the republic’s two entities: the Serb-run Republika Srpska (RS) and the Bosniac-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition, voters in the RS elected their republic’s president, and voters in the Feder...
RSA encryption
type of public-key cryptography widely used for data encryption of e-mail and other digital transactions over the Internet. RSA is named for its inventors, Ronald L. Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard M. Adleman, who created it while on the faculty at the Massa...
Ṛṣabhanātha (Jaina saint)
the first of the 24 Tirthankaras (“Ford-Makers,” i.e., saviours) of Jainism, a religion of India. His name comes from the series of 14 auspicious dreams that his mother had, in which a bull (rishabha) appeared, before his birth. He is also known as Adinatha (“Lord of the Beginning”) and is portrayed by Jain legend as...
RSDWP (political party, Russia)
Marxist revolutionary party ancestral to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Founded in 1898 in Minsk, the Social-Democratic Party held that Russia could achieve socialism only after developing a bourgeois society with an urban proletariat. It rejected the populist idea that the peasant commune, or ...
RSF (international organization)
international organization founded in France in 1985 to advocate for press freedom worldwide. Named in reference to the international medical charity Doctors Without Borders, Reporters Without Borders (commonly referred to by its French acronym, RSF) has received numerous awards for its work, including the European Parliament...
RSHA (division of SS, Nazi Germany)
The Allgemeine-SS dealt mainly with police and “racial” matters. Its most important division was the Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA; Reich Security Central Office), which was made up of the Ordnungspolizei (Orpo; Order Police) and the Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo; Security Police), which, in turn, was divided into the Kriminalpolizei (Kripo; Criminal Police) and the dreaded Gestapo......
Rshtuni, Theodor (Armenian governor)
The first, unsuccessful, Arab raid into Armenia in 640 found the defense of the country in the hands of the Byzantine general Procopius and the nakharar Theodor Rshtuni. Unable to prevent the pillage of Dvin in 642, Theodor in 643 gained a victory over another Arab army and was named commander in chief of the Armenian army by the Byzantine emperor Constans......
Ṛṣi-pañcamī (Indian festival)
The last day of the festival, Bhadra-śukla-pañcamī (“Fifth Day of the Bright Fortnight of Bhādra”), is also an ancient Indian festival day known to Hindus as Ṛṣi-pañcamī (“The Fifth of the Seers”), the day on which Hindus pay homage to the seven seers, who are identified with the seven stars of the constellation Ur...
RSS (computer science)
format used to provide subscribers with new content from frequently updated Web sites....
RSS (Hindu organization)
organization founded in 1925 by Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1889–1940), a physician living in the Maharashtra region of India, as part of the movement against British rule and as a response to rioting between Hindus and Muslims....
RSV
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes a potentially fatal lower respiratory disease in children. The only pharmacological therapy available for treatment of the infection is ribavirin, which can be administered orally, parenterally, or by inhalation. Ribavirin must also be activated by phosphorylation in order to be effective. An injectable humanized monoclonal antibody is available for......
RSV (Bible)
The American Standard Version had been an expression of sensitivity to the needs of the American public. At the same time, several individual and unofficial translations into modern speech made from 1885 on had gained popularity, their appeal reinforced by the discovery that the Greek of the New Testament used the common nonliterary variety of the language spoken throughout the Roman Empire......
RT-PCR (genetics)
...immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and human T-cell lymphotrophic virus I (HTLV-I), which causes leukemia. Reverse transcriptase is also a fundamental component of a laboratory technology known as reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), a powerful tool used in research and in the diagnosis of diseases such as cancer....
RTA (public-transit agency, Illinois, United States)
The move to the automobile left public transit in crisis. In 1973 the Illinois General Assembly created the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) and gave it the power to levy a sales tax to support the CTA as well as a failing commuter rail system (which was unified and named Metra). Privately owned and municipal bus routes in the suburbs were similarly united under the name of Pace (1983).......
ṛta (Hinduism)
in Indian religion and philosophy, the cosmic order mentioned in the Vedas, the ancient sacred scriptures of India. As Hinduism developed from the ancient Vedic religion, the concept of rita led to the doctrines of dharma (duty) an...
ṛta-druh (Vedic concept)
The moral dualism expressed in the opposition Asha–Druj (truth–falsehood) goes back at least to Indo-Iranian times, for the Veda knows it too, as ṛta-druh, although the contrast is not as sharply defined as in the Avesta. Between these two principles, the Twin Spirits made an ominous choice, the Bounteous One becoming in thoughts, words, and deeds a partisan of Asha,......
Rta-mgrin (Buddhist god)
...cults into the liturgies in honour of buddhas and bodhisattvas. Such favoured deities include Mahakala, the great black divinity; the mother goddess Hariti; Kuvera, the god of wealth; and especially Hayagriva, a fierce horse-faced god who is powerful in driving off unconverted demonic forces. The Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions have also identified local deities as manifestations of various.....
RTBF
...in Belgium. As early as 1913, weekly musical broadcasts were given from the Laeken Royal Park. Radio-Belgium, founded in 1923, was broadcasting the equivalent of a spoken newspaper as early as 1926. Belgian Radio-Television of the French Community (RTBF), which broadcasts in French, and the Flemish Radio and Television Network (VRT; formerly Belgian Radio and Television [BRTN]), in Flemish, wer...
RTC (American organization)
...of the local Scientology churches and organizations is the Church of Scientology International (CSI), which coordinates the activities of the movement and promotes the church internationally. The Religious Technology Center (RTC) has ultimate ecclesiastical authority for the teachings of Scientology, owns all the movement’s trademarks, and grants the churches and organizations their lice...
RTÉ (Irish company)
Best-known of the Irish classical composers are John Field, whose work influenced that of Frédéric Chopin, and Michael Balfe. Based in Dublin and maintained by Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ; the state-owned broadcasting company), the National Symphony Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra are the country’s principal orchestral groups. Ireland’...
RTI (drug)
...is a retrovirus. Like other retroviruses, HIV contains reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that converts viral RNA into DNA. This DNA is integrated into the DNA of the host cell, where it replicates. Reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors work by inhibiting the action of reverse transcriptase. There are two groups of RT inhibitors. Nucleoside RT inhibitors (e.g., zidovudine, didanosine,......
RTL (Luxembourger broadcasting company)
...grand duchy’s newspapers express diverse political points of view—conservative, liberal, socialist, and communist. Luxembourg’s influence is felt far beyond its borders through the medium of Radiotelevision Luxembourg (RTL), a privately owned broadcasting company that transmits radio programs in five languages and television programs in two (French and German). RTL has a to...
RTM (Malaysian broadcaster)
...many public and private radio stations cater to urban listeners, radio is the primary information channel in remote rural areas. Both on the peninsula and in East Malaysia, the government-operated Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) broadcasts in Malay, English, and assorted Chinese languages, as well as in various indigenous languages, such as Iban in Sarawak. RTM also broadcasts internationally.....
RTM (Moroccan broadcasting network)
Morocco’s government-owned radio and television network, Radiodiffusion Télévision Marocaine (RTM), broadcasts throughout the country. Radio broadcasts are in Arabic, French, Tamazight, Spanish, and English, while television is broadcast in Arabic, Tamazight, and French. In addition, a private television network is headquartered in Casablanca and a private radio network in......
RTM (materials science)
Resin transfer molding, or RTM, is a composites processing method that offers a high potential for tailorability but is currently limited to low-viscosity (easily flowing) thermosetting polymers. In RTM, a textile preform—made by braiding, weaving, or knitting fibres together in a specified design—is placed into a mold, which is then closed and injected with a resin. After......
RTS (Soviet institution)
In 1958, as part of a major agricultural reform, the MTS were abolished and their equipment was sold to the kolkhozy. Some of the stations were transformed into Repair and Technical Service Stations (Remontno-tekhnicheskie stantsii; RTS), which repaired the machinery, supplied spare parts, and continued to rent machines for special purposes—e.g., road building. In 1961 the......
RTS game (electronic game genre)
As personal computers became more powerful, real-time games became viable, with the first commercial success being Dune II (1992), based on American director David Lynch’s 1984 film version of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel Dune (1965). Dune II allowed players to select and control multiple uni...
rtsi-shing (tree)
...(strong durable forest trees used to make food containers), glang-ma (a willow tree used for basketry), and rtsi-shings (the seeds of which are used for making varnish). Fruit-bearing trees and certain roots are used for food, as are the leaves of the lca-wa,......
RTV silicone rubber (rubber)
...polysiloxanes make excellent lubricants and hydraulic fluids and are known as silicone oils. Vulcanized silicone rubber is prepared in two principal forms: (1) as low-molecular-weight liquid room-temperature-vulcanizing (RTV) polymers that are interlinked at room temperature after being cast or molded into a desired shape or (2) as heat-curable, high-temperature-vulcanizing (HTV)......
RTVE (Spanish government network)
...into Spain in 1956. During the Franco regime and the first few years of the constitutional monarchy, there were only two television stations, both part of the government-owned and -controlled Radio-Televisión Española (RTVE). They still broadcast today, solely in Castilian, and have been split into separate organizations: Radio Nacional de España (RNE) and......
Ru (chemical element)
chemical element, one of the platinum metals of Groups 8–10 (VIIIb), Periods 5 and 6, of the periodic table, used as an alloying agent to harden platinum and palladium. Silver-gray ruthenium metal looks like platinum but is ra...
Ru kiln (Chinese pottery)
kiln known for creating highly prized Chinese stoneware. The Ru kiln produced ware for a short period during the years when Northern Song emperors Zhezong (1085–1110) and Huizong (1110–1125) ruled....
Ru River (river, China)
river in Hebei province, northern China. The Luan rises in northern Hebei and flows northward into the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region through steep gorges; in its headstream it is called the Shandian River. It passes north of the ancient Mongol capital of Shangdu (Kaiping), for which this section of the upper course is named the Shangdu Ri...
Ru yao (Chinese pottery)
kiln known for creating highly prized Chinese stoneware. The Ru kiln produced ware for a short period during the years when Northern Song emperors Zhezong (1085–1110) and Huizong (1110–1125) ruled....
RU-486 (drug)
first trade name for mifepristone, a synthetic steroid drug prescribed for inducing abortion during the early weeks of pregnancy. The name is derived from an abbreviation for the pharmaceutical company Roussel-Uclaf plus a serial number. RU-486 was approved for use in France in 1988, and almost immediately it became the object of ardent opposition by right-to-life groups and equ...
Ruacana (dam, Africa)
site of an important hydroelectric-power station and a diversion dam directly above the Ruacana Falls, on the Kunene River at the border between Angola and Namibia. The Ruacana Dam and power station, together with the Calueque Dam (completed in 1976) 25 miles (40 km) farther upriver in Angola, are designed to provide irriga...
ruach (Judaism)
...The word nefesh originally meant “neck” or “throat,” and later came to imply the “vital spirit,” or anima in the Latin sense. The word ruach had at all times meant “wind” but later came to refer to the whole range of a person’s emotional, intellectual, and volitional life. It even designated ghosts. Both terms w...
Ruaha National Park (park, Tanzania)
national park, west of Iringa town in south-central Tanzania. The park is located at an elevation of 2,500 to 5,200 feet (750 to 1,900 m) and covers an area of 5,000 square miles (12,950 square km) and was originally part of the Rungwa Game Reserve. Lying in the Eastern (Great) Rift Valley, the park, established in 1964, co...
Ruaidh, Màiri Nighean Alasdair (Scottish poet)
Scottish Gaelic poet who is a major representative of the emergent 17th-century poetical school, which gradually supplanted the classical Gaelic bards....
Ruaidhri Ua Conchubair (king of Ireland)
king of Connaught and the last high king of Ireland; he failed to turn back the Anglo-Norman invasion that led to the conquest of Ireland by England....
ruan (musical instrument)
This instrument eventually became the ruan, or ruanxian (named for the musician Ruan Xian, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove). The ruan differed from the qinhanzi in having a longer neck and 13 frets. In performance the......
Ruan Bubing (Chinese poet)
eccentric Chinese poet and most renowned member of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group of 3rd-century poets and philosophers who sought refuge from worldly pressures in a life of drinking and verse making....
Ruan Ji (Chinese poet)
eccentric Chinese poet and most renowned member of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group of 3rd-century poets and philosophers who sought refuge from worldly pressures in a life of drinking and verse making....
Ruan Sizong (Chinese poet)
eccentric Chinese poet and most renowned member of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a group of 3rd-century poets and philosophers who sought refuge from worldly pressures in a life of drinking and verse making....
Ruan Yuan (Chinese scholar and official)
bibliophile, scholar, and official of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty who between 1817 and 1826 served as governor-general of the southern province of Guangdong, through which all British trade was required to pass. Thus, Ruan was the top Chinese official in charge of relations with the West in the crucial decade before the first Opium War (1839...
Ruanda (people)
the peoples of the Republic of Rwanda, who speak an Interlacustrine Bantu language known as Rwanda. The Rwanda are divided into two main ethnic groups: the Hutu, traditionally farmers; and the Tutsi, traditionally cattle-owning pastoralists. A small third group, the Pygmy Twa, are hunters and potters. The Rwanda language...
Ruanda
landlocked republic lying south of the Equator in east-central Africa. Known for its breathtaking scenery, Rwanda is often referred to as le pays des mille collines (French: “land of a thousand hills”). The capital is Kigali, located in the centre of the country on the Ruganwa River....
Ruanda language
a Bantu language spoken by some eight million people primarily in Rwanda and to a lesser extent in Burundi, Congo (Kinshasa), Uganda, and Tanzania. The Bantu languages form a subgroup of the Benue-Congo branch of ...
Ruanda-Urundi (historical territory, Africa)
twin territory in central East Africa that was administered by Belgium from 1922 to 1962 and which thereafter became the independent states of Rwanda and Burundi. After World War I, in 1922, with an adjustment of ...
ruanxian (musical instrument)
This instrument eventually became the ruan, or ruanxian (named for the musician Ruan Xian, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove). The ruan differed from the qinhanzi in having a longer neck and 13 frets. In performance the......
Ruapehu, Mount (volcano, New Zealand)
active volcano and highest peak (9,176 feet [2,797 m]) on North Island, New Zealand, in Tongariro National Park. Mount Ruapehu is situated on the Taupo Plateau, which rises 2,000...
Rubʿ al-Khali (desert, Arabia)
vast desert in the southern Arabian Peninsula, covering about 250,000 square miles (650,000 square km) in a structural basin lying mainly in southeastern Saudi Arabia, with lesser portions in Yemen, Oman, and the ...
Rub, Christian (American actor)
Mel Blanc (Gideon)Dickie Jones (Pinocchio)Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket)Christian Rub (Geppetto)...
rubāʿī (Islamic literature)
in Persian literature, genre of poetry, a quatrain with a rhyme scheme aaba. With the mas̄navī, the rhymed couplet, it is a purely Persian poetic genre and not a borrowing from the Arabic, as were the formal ode (q...
rubaii (Islamic literature)
in Persian literature, genre of poetry, a quatrain with a rhyme scheme aaba. With the mas̄navī, the rhymed couplet, it is a purely Persian poetic genre and not a borrowing from the Arabic, as were the formal ode (q...
“Rubaʿiyat” (work by Khayyam)
The work done in mathematics by early Arabic scholars and by al-Bīrūnī was continued by Omar Khayyam (died 1122), to whom the Seljuq empire in fact owes the reform of its calendar. But Omar has become famous in the West through the free adaptations by Edward FitzGerald of his robāʿīyāt. These quatrains have been translated into almost every k...
rubāʿīyat (Islamic literature)
in Persian literature, genre of poetry, a quatrain with a rhyme scheme aaba. With the mas̄navī, the rhymed couplet, it is a purely Persian poetic genre and not a borrowing from the Arabic, as were the formal ode (q...
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, The (work by Khayyam)
The work done in mathematics by early Arabic scholars and by al-Bīrūnī was continued by Omar Khayyam (died 1122), to whom the Seljuq empire in fact owes the reform of its calendar. But Omar has become famous in the West through the free adaptations by Edward FitzGerald of his robāʿīyāt. These quatrains have been translated into almost every k...
Rubashev, Shneur Zalman (president of Israel)
Israeli journalist, scholar, and politician who was the third president of Israel (1963–73)....
rubato (music)
(from Italian rubare, “to rob”), in music, subtle rhythmic manipulation and nuance in performance. For greater musical expression, the performer may stretch certain beats, measures, or phrases and compact others. The technique is seldom indicated on a musical score but may be utilized according to the p...
rubber (chemical compound)
elastic substance obtained from the exudations of certain tropical plants (natural rubber) or derived from petroleum and natural gas (synthetic rubber). Because of its elasticity, resilience, and toughness, rubber is the basic constituent of the tires used in automotive vehicles, aircraft, and bicycles. More than half of all...
rubber boa (snake)
...less than 70 cm (28 inches). These terrestrial snakes are often subterranean, and most live in arid and semiarid habitats, where they prey on lizards and small mammals. The brown, 45-cm (18-inch) rubber boa (Charina bottae) of western North America is the most northerly boa and is a burrower that looks and feels rubbery. The 90-cm (35-inch) rosy boa (Charina trivirgata), ranging.....
rubber bridge (contract bridge)
Bridge is played in three principal forms: rubber, Chicago, and duplicate. Rubber bridge is the simplest form for four players and is frequently played in casual games among friends. Chicago, or four-deal bridge, is most often used for small card parties in which several tables are used. Because a game of Chicago bridge involves only four deals, it is ideal for allowing each player to play with......
rubber industry (farming and manufacturing)
Bridge is played in three principal forms: rubber, Chicago, and duplicate. Rubber bridge is the simplest form for four players and is frequently played in casual games among friends. Chicago, or four-deal bridge, is most often used for small card parties in which several tables are used. Because a game of Chicago bridge involves only four deals, it is ideal for allowing each player to play with......
rubber plant (tree)
(species Ficus elastica), large tree in its native Southeast Asia and in other warm areas but a common indoor pot plant elsewhere. It has large, thick, oblong leaves, up to 30 cm (12 inches) long and figlike fruits in pairs along the branches. ...
rubber stamp
(species Ficus elastica), large tree in its native Southeast Asia and in other warm areas but a common indoor pot plant elsewhere. It has large, thick, oblong leaves, up to 30 cm (12 inches) long and figlike fruits in pairs along the branches. ...
rubber tree (plant)
South American tropical tree of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). Cultivated on plantations in the tropics and subtropics, especially in Southeast Asia and ...
rubber-band duckpins (game)
A popular variation of the game is rubber-band duckpins. In this version, the pins are the same height as in duckpins, but there is a hard rubber band about the belly of each pin, giving it greater rebounding action when hit by a ball. The ball is also the same size as in duckpins but may weigh no more than 3 pounds 8 ounces (1.6 kg). Only two balls are bowled in each frame....
Rubbia, Carlo (Italian physicist)
Italian physicist who in 1984 shared with Simon van der Meer the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of the massive, short-lived subatomic W particle and Z particle. These particles are the carriers of the so-called ...
rubbing (art)
one of the most universal and perhaps the oldest of the techniques used in printmaking. Rubbings are made by carefully pressing paper onto a carved or incised surface so that the paper conforms to the features to be copied. The paper is then blacked and the projecting areas of the surface become dark, while indented areas remain white. In East Asia...
rubbing alcohol (chemical compound)
one of the most common members of the alcohol family of organic compounds. Isopropyl alcohol was the first commercial synthetic alcohol. It is easily synthesized from the reaction of propylene with sulfuric acid, followed by hydrolysis....
rubbing wear (physics)
There are two basic mechanisms of tribological wear—impingement wear and rubbing wear. In impingement wear, particles impact and erode the surface. This is the major wear mechanism encountered in mineral handling, for example. Rubbing wear, on the other hand, occurs when two materials under load slide against each other. This wear occurs in such devices as rotating shafts, valve seats,......
rubbish (refuse material)
...All nonhazardous solid waste from a community that requires collection and transport to a processing or disposal site is called refuse or municipal solid waste (MSW). Refuse includes garbage and rubbish. Garbage is mostly decomposable food waste; rubbish is mostly dry material such as glass, paper, cloth, or wood. Garbage is highly putrescible or decomposable, whereas rubbish is not. Trash......
rubbish disposal system
technique for the collection, treatment, and disposal of the solid wastes of a community. The development and operation of these systems is often called solid-waste management....
rubble
the use of undressed, rough stone, generally in the construction of walls. Dry-stone random rubble walls, for which rough stones are piled up without mortar, are the most basic form. An intermediate method is coursed rubble walling, for which stones are roughly dressed and laid in courses. Snecked rubble features stones of varying sizes with small fillers or snecks between them....
rubble (geology)
...rocks held together either by cement or by a finer-grained clastic matrix. Both contain significant amounts (at least 10 percent) of coarser-than-sand-size clasts. Breccias are consolidated rubble; their clasts are angular or subangular. Conglomerates are consolidated gravel whose clasts are subrounded to rounded. Sometimes the term rudite (or rudaceous) is used to collectively refer to......
rubble masonry
the use of undressed, rough stone, generally in the construction of walls. Dry-stone random rubble walls, for which rough stones are piled up without mortar, are the most basic form. An intermediate method is coursed rubble walling, for which stones are roughly dressed and laid in courses. Snecked rubble features stones of varying sizes with small fillers or snecks between them....
rubble ore (mining)
Lumps and fines...
rubble sheet (geology)
...of angular fragments of well-jointed, resistant rock. Under such circumstances, solifluction lobes do not often occur, but instead striking sheets or streams of angular rubble form. These are called rock streams or rubble sheets....
rubblework
the use of undressed, rough stone, generally in the construction of walls. Dry-stone random rubble walls, for which rough stones are piled up without mortar, are the most basic form. An intermediate method is coursed rubble walling, for which stones are roughly dressed and laid in courses. Snecked rubble features stones of varying sizes with small fillers or snecks between them....
Rubcovsk (Russia)
city, Altay kray (territory), west-central Russia, on the Aley River and the Turk-Sib Railway. It is the centre of an important region of mining nonferrous ores. The city manufactures agricultural machinery, chiefly diesel tractors and electrical equipment for tractors, as well as...
rubebe (musical instrument)
bowed, stringed musical instrument of European medieval and early Renaissance music. It was originally called a rubebe, developed about the 11th century from the similar Arab rabāb, and was carried to Spain with Muslim culture. Like the rabāb, the rebec had a shallow, pea...
Rubel, Ira W. (American inventor)
...on the principle that water and grease do not mix, so that a greasy ink can be deposited on grease-treated printing areas of the plate, while nonprinting areas, which hold water, reject the ink. The offset plate is usually of zinc or aluminum or a combination of metals, with the surface treated to render it porous and then coated with a photosensitive material. Exposure to an image hardens......
rubella (disease)
viral disease that runs a mild and benign course in most people. Although rubella is not usually a serious illness in children or adults, it can cause birth defects or the loss of a fetus if a mother in the early stages of pregnancy becomes infected....
rubella virus (virus genus)
Annotated classification...
rubella virus vaccine (biochemistry)
A major epidemic in the United States in 1964 resulted in more than 20,000 cases of congenital rubella. In consequence, active immunization programs with attenuated rubella vaccine were initiated in 1969 in an attempt to prevent an expected epidemic in the early 1970s. The immunization of all children from 1 to 12 years of age was aimed at reducing the reservoir and transmission of wild rubella......
Rubenid dynasty (Armenian history)
kingdom established in Cilicia, on the southeast coast of Anatolia, by the Armenian Rubenid dynasty in the 12th century. The Rubenids ruled first as barons and then, from 1199 to 1226, as kings of Cilicia. Thereafter the family of Oshin, another Armenian noble, ruled as the Hethumid dynasty until 1342. After initial trouble with the Byzantine Empire, Little Armenia established itself and......
Rubenist (art)
any of the artists and critics who championed the sovereignty of colour over design and drawing in the “quarrel” of colour versus drawing that broke out in the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in Paris in 1671 (see also Poussinist). The dispute raged for many years before the Rubenists emerged victorious. The aim of painting, they maintained, i...
Rubens, Peter Paul (Flemish artist)
Flemish painter who was the greatest exponent of Baroque painting’s dynamism, vitality, and sensuous exuberance. Though his masterpieces include portraits and landscapes, Rubens is perhaps best known for his religious and mythological compositions. As the impresario of vast decorative programs, he presided over the most famous painter’s studio in Europe. His powers...
Rubenstein, Louis (Canadian athletic director)
Canadian Louis Rubenstein, a former student of Jackson Haines, was also instrumental in the development of figure skating. He led the effort to formalize competitions and tests by establishing governing bodies for skating in the United States and Canada. He helped organize the Amateur Skating Association of Canada (now called Skate Canada) and the National Amateur Skating Association of the......
rubeola (disease)
contagious viral disease marked by fever, cough, conjunctivitis, and a characteristic rash. Measles is commonest in children but may appear in older persons who have escaped it earlier in life. Infants are immune up to four or five months of age if the mother has had t...
Rubey, William W. (American geologist)
U.S. geologist known for his theory, proposed in 1951, of the origin of the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and crust by fractional melting of the upper mantle, the Earth’s intermediate layer....
“Rübezahl” (German journal)
Görres was sympathetic to the ideals of the French Revolution and published a republican journal, Das rote Blatt (“The Red Page”; renamed Rübezahl), in 1799. After an unsuccessful visit to Paris in 1799 as a political negotiator for the Rhenish provinces, he became disillusioned and withdrew from active politics. He taught natural science in Koblenz and th...
Rubezhnoe (Ukraine)
city, eastern Ukraine, on the Donets River. The settlement dates from the 18th century and was incorporated in 1934. Rubizhne has an engineering industry and, with Lysychansk and Syeverodonetsk, is one of the most important chemical centres in Ukraine. The city’s ...
Rubezhnoye (Ukraine)
city, eastern Ukraine, on the Donets River. The settlement dates from the 18th century and was incorporated in 1934. Rubizhne has an engineering industry and, with Lysychansk and Syeverodonetsk, is one of the most important chemical centres in Ukraine. The city’s ...
Rubi (Italy)
town, Puglia (Apulia) regione, southeastern Italy. It lies on the eastern slopes of the Murge plateau, west of Bari city. Ancient Rubi was the centre of the Peucettii, an ancient Apulian tribe. It then became a flourishing Greek town that was famous in the 5th–3rd century bc for its potteries, which were imitations of imported Corinthian and Attic bla...
Rubia (plant)
any of several species of plants belonging to the genus Rubia of the madder family, Rubiaceae. Rubia tinctorum and R. peregrina are native European plants, and R. cordifolia is native to the hilly districts of India and Java. Rubia is a genus of about 60 species; its memb...