Kantorovich \ I kan-t3- , ro-vich\ / Leonid (Vitalyevich) (b. Jan. 19, 1912, St. Petersburg, Russia—d. April 7, 1986, U.S.S.R.) Soviet math¬ ematician and economist. A professor at Leningrad State University (1934-60), he developed the linear prograaaming model as a tool of eco¬ nomic planning. He used mathematical techniques to show how decen¬ tralization of decision making in a planned economy ultimately depends on a system in which prices are based on the relative scarcity of resources. His nondogmatic critical analyses of Soviet economic policy often clashed with the views of his orthodox Marxist colleagues. His most notable work is The Best Use of Economic Resources (1959). In 1975 he and Tjalling Koopmans (1910-85) shared the Nobel Prize for their work on optimal allocation of scarce resources.
Kanuri \k9-'nur-e\ People of northeastern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, with smaller numbers in Chad, Cameroon, and Sudan. They num¬ ber about four million. Their language, Kanuri, is one of the Nilo-Saharan languages. The Kanuri developed the powerful empire of Kanem-Bornu, which reached its peak in the 16th century. They have been Muslims since the 11th century. The Kanuri economy is based on millet agriculture and trade with the Fulani and Arab herders.
Kao-hsiung Vkau-'shyuqV Port city (pop., 2002 est.: 1,504,061), south¬ western Taiwan. It is Taiwan’s leading port and a major industrial centre. Settled late in the Ming dynasty, it became a treaty port in 1863 and a customs station in 1864. It grew in importance during the Japanese occu¬ pation (1895-1945) and served as the southern terminus of the main north-south railway line. The city was named Takao by the Japanese and was made a municipality in 1920. It came under Chinese rule in 1945.
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1016 i kaolinite ► Karajan
kaolinite Vka-3-b- 1 nIt\ Group of common clay minerals that are hydrous aluminum silicates and constitute the principal ingredients of kaolin (china clay). The group includes kaolinite, dickite, nacrite, halloysite, and allophane. They are natural alteration products of feldspars, feldspathoids, and other silicates.
Kapalika and Kalamukha \ka-'pa-h-k9... , ka-la- 1 mu-k3\ Members of either of two groups of extreme Hindu ascetics, prominent in India in the 8th—13th century. They were an offshoot of the Shaivites (see Shaivism), who worshiped Shiva, and their notorious practices included human sac¬ rifice. After sacrificing a Brahman or other high-ranking person, they embraced a 12-year vow of self-abnegation that included eating and drink¬ ing from the skull of the sacrificed person and following tantric practices such as going about naked, eating the flesh of the dead, and smearing themselves with the ashes of corpses. Their modern successors are the Aghoris, or Aghorapanthis.
Kapila Vko-pe-lsX (fl. 550 bc?) Founder of the Samkhya school of Vedic philosophy in India. Legend says he was a descendant of Manu, the pri¬ mal human being, and a grandson of the creator god, Brahma. He has also been thought of as an incarnation of Vishnu. In Buddhist sources he was a well-known philosopher whose students built Kapilavastu, the birth¬ place of Buddha Gautama. He lived as a hermit, and his ascetic regimen was said to have given him an inner store of such intense heat that he was capable of reducing 60,000 men to ashes.
Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem (b. June 11, 1881, Svencionys, Lithu.—d. Nov. 8, 1983, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Lithuanian-born U.S. theologian. He came to the U.S. with his family in 1889. Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary, he later taught there for 50 years. In 1916 he organized the Jewish Center in New York as a secular community organization with a synagogue as its nucleus. In 1922 he founded the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, which became the core of Reconstructionism. Denying the literal accuracy of the Bible, he called for a new conception of God in an attempt to adapt Judaism to the modem world. He founded the journal The Reconstructionist in 1935; his books include Judaism as a Civilization (1934) and Judaism without Supersti¬ tion (1958).
kapok \'ka-,pak\ Fibre obtained from the large, tropical silk cotton, or kapok, tree ( Ceiba pentandra, family Bombacaceae), which bears hun¬ dreds of seedpods filled with fibrous seeds. The tree is grown chiefly in Asia and Indonesia. Sometimes called silk cotton or Java cotton, this moisture-resistant, quick-drying, resilient, buoyant fibre has been used in life preservers and other water-safety equipment. Kapok is also used to stuff pillows, mattresses, and upholstery, as insulation, and as a cotton substitute in surgery. However, it is highly flammable, and the fibres are too brittle for spinning. Its importance has decreased with the develop¬ ment of foam rubber, plastics, and man-made fibres.
Kapoor, Raj (b. Dec. 14, 1924, Peshawar, India—d. June 2, 1988, New Delhi) Indian film actor and director. In the 1930s Kapoor worked as a clapper boy for Bombay Talkies and as an actor for Prithvi Theatres, two companies owned by his father. Kapoor’s first major screen role was in Aag (1948; “Fire”), which he also produced and directed. In 1950 he formed his own Bombay (now Mumbai) film studio, RK, and the next year he achieved romantic stardom in Awara (1951; “The Vagabond”). He wrote, produced, directed, and starred in many successful films. Although he portrayed romantic leads in his early movies, his best-known characters were based on Charlie Chaplin’s tramp. His use of sexual imag¬ ery often challenged traditionally strict Indian film standards, and many of his film songs became musical hits.
Kaposi \'ka-po-se\ sarcoma Usually lethal cancer appearing as red- purple or blue-brown spots on the skin and other organs. It has been linked to one of the herpes viruses, and there is considerable debate about how it should be classified. When described in 1872 by Moritz Kaposi, it was extremely rare, confined to specific Mediterranean and African popula¬ tions. Since c. 1980 it has become common in AIDS patients. More homo¬ sexual male HIV patients have developed it than heterosexual intravenous- drug-using HIV patients. Remissions have occurred, but there is no known cure.
Kapp Putsch \'kap-'puch\ (1920) In Germany, a coup d’etat that attempted to overthrow the fledgling Weimar Republic. Its immediate cause was the government’s attempt to demobilize two Freikorps brigades. One of the brigades took Berlin, with the cooperation of the Berlin army dis¬
trict commander. Wolfgang Kapp (1858-1922), a reactionary member of the Reichstag, formed a government with Erich Ludendorff, and the legiti¬ mate republican regime fled to southern Germany. Within four days, a general strike by labour unions and the refusal by civil servants to follow Kapp’s orders led to the coup’s collapse.
Kara Koyunlu or Qara Qoyunlu \ , ka-ra- I k6-yun-Tii\ Turkish "Black Sheep" Turkmen tribal federation that ruled Azerbaijan and Iraq (c. 1375-1468). Their second leader, Kara Yusuf (r. 1390-1400, 1406-20), secured their independence by seizing Tabriz, the capital of the Jalayrid dynasty. He was beaten back by the armies of Timur but regained Tabriz in 1406. He captured Baghdad in 1410. His successor, Jihan Shah, died in battle against a rival Turkmen federation, the Ak Koyunlu, in 1466, and the empire fell in 1468.