tapas Vt3-p3s\ Ascetic practice carried out to achieve spiritual power or purification. In Hinduism, it is associated with Yoga as a way of purifying
the body in preparation for the more exacting spiritual exercises leading to liberation. In Jainism, its practice is a central means of breaking the cycle of rebirths by preventing new karma from forming and by eliminating the old. Tapas can take many forms, including fasting, controlling the breath, and holding difficult and painful body postures. Extreme forms are car¬ ried out by sadhus, many of whom earn alms for their unusual abilities or deprivations.
tape recorder Recording system that makes use of electromagnetic phenomena to record and reproduce sound waves. The tape consists of a plastic backing coated with a thin layer of tiny particles of magnetic pow¬ der. The recording head of the tape deck consists of a tiny C-shaped mag¬ net with its gap adjacent to the moving tape. The incoming sound wave, having been converted by a microphone into an electrical signal, produces a time-varying magnetic field in the gap of the magnet. As the tape moves past the recording head, the powder is magnetized in such a way that the tape carries a record of the shape of the wave being recorded.
tapestry Heavy, reversible, patterned or figured hand-woven textile, usually in the form of a hanging or upholstery fabric. Tapestries are usu¬ ally designed as single panels or as sets of panels related by subject and style and intended to be hung together. The earliest known tapestries were made from linen by the ancient Egyptians. Tapestry weaving was well established in Peru by the 6th century, and outstanding silk tapestries were made in China beginning in the Tang dynasty (ad 618-907). In western Europe, tapestry making flourished from the 13th century. Among the greatest European tapestries are the 15th-century Lady with the Unicorn set and the 16th-century Acts of the Apostles set, based on cartoons by Raphael. Tapestry art was revitalized in late-19th-century Britain with the Arts and Crafts Movement. In the 20th century, abstract tapestries were produced at the Bauhaus, and many painters, including Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, allowed their paintings to provide the basis for tapestry art.
tapeworm Any of about 3,000 species (class Cestoda, phylum Platy- helminthes) of bilaterally symmetrical parasitic flatworms found world¬ wide. Tapeworms range from 0.04 in. (1 mm) to more than 50 ft (15 m) long. The head bears suckers and often hooks for attaching to the liver or digestive tract of the host. Once attached, a tapeworm absorbs food through its body wall. The body is often divided into a head, or scolex, possessing the suckers and hooks, an unsegmented neck, and a series of proglottids (units containing both male and female reproductive organs) that continually form in a growth region at the base of the neck. Follow¬ ing fertilization, each mature proglottid containing thousands of embryos breaks off and is eliminated in the host’s feces. If these are ingested by an animal (the intermediate host) grazing on food contaminated with feces, they develop into larvae, which bore through the intestinal wall into the circulatory system and are carried to muscle tissues, which they bur¬ row into, forming a dormant cyst. When meat is inadequately cooked, humans become infested with the larvae, which attach to the intestinal wall. Many species that infest humans belong to the genus Taenia', the intermediate host is implied by the name (e.g., beef tapeworm, T. sagi- nata ). Humans can also acquire tapeworms through fecal contamination of soil or water. See illustration on the following page.
Tapi \'ta-pe\ River or Tapti River Vtap-te\ River, west-central India. It flows west from the mountains of Madhya Pradesh to the Gulf of Kham¬ bhat and the Arabian Sea. It is about 435 mi (700 km) long and largely unnavigable.
Tapies \'tap-yes\, Antoni (b. Dec. 13, 1923, Barcelona, Spain) Catalan painter. In 1946 he abandoned the study of law to devote his time to paint¬ ing, which he taught himself. His early works were influenced by Surreal¬ ism, Paul Klee, and Joan Miro. In 1953, after seeing the works of Jean Dubuffet, he developed a unique blend of abstraction, assemblage, and impasto that established his interna¬ tional reputation. He has produced lithographs and illustrated books; his belief in the validity of commonplace materials has had worldwide influ¬ ence. In 1990 the Tapies Foundation, housing some 2,000 of his works, opened in Barcelona.
tapir Vta-p9r\ Any of four extant members (genus Tapirus ) of the fam¬ ily Tapiridae, heavy-bodied, odd¬ toed ungulates, 6-8 ft (1.8-2.5 m)
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Tappan ► Tarantino I 1873
rostellum scolex
Principal features of the beef tapeworm (Taenia saginata). The head, or scolex, con¬ tains suckers and hooks for attaching to the host. A series of reproductive organs (proglottids) continually form at the base of the neck, and following fertilization they mature and break off. Each proglottid, eliminated in the host's feces, contains thou¬ sands of embryos to continue the life cycle.
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long and up to 3 ft (1 m) high. They have short ears and legs and a fleshy snout overhanging the upper lip. The feet have three functional toes. Body hair is usually short and sparse, but two species have a short, bristly mane. The Malayan tapir ( T. indicus) has a black head, shoulders, and legs and white rump, back, and belly. The single Central and two South American species are plain brown or gray. Tapirs inhabit the deep forest or swamp.
Tappan \’tap-on \, Arthur (b. May 22, 1786, Northampton, Mass., U.S.—d. July 23, 1865, New Haven, Conn.) U.S. merchant and philan¬ thropist. He operated various businesses, including a silk-importing firm in New York (1826-37) with his brother Lewis Tappan (1788-1873); they also founded the first commercial credit-rating service (1841). He used his wealth to support missionary societies and the abolitionist crusade, helping found the American Anti-Slavery Society and serving as its first president (1833-40). After breaking with William Lloyd Garrison, he cre¬
ated the American and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (1840). The Tappan brothers later supported the Underground Railroad.
taproot Main root of a primary-root system. It grows vertically down¬ ward. From the taproot arise smaller lateral roots (secondary roots), which in turn produce even smaller lateral roots (tertiary roots). Most dicotyle¬ donous plants (see cotyledon), such as dandelions, produce taproots. The system may be modified into a fibrous, or diffuse, system, in which the initial secondary roots soon equal or exceed the primary root in size and there is no well-defined single taproot. Fibrous root systems are generally shallower than taproot systems. Carrots and beets are tuberous roots modi¬ fied from taproots.
Tapti River See Tapi River
taqiyyah \to-'ke-3\ In Islam, the practice of concealing one’s faith and forgoing ordinary religious duties under threat of death or injury to one¬ self or one’s fellow Muslims. Its basis is found in the Qur’an, and Muham¬ mad is regarded as having set its first example when he chose to make the Hijrah. It has since been practiced mostly among minority groups, par¬ ticularly those of the ShTite branch. Various rules governing its applica¬ tion are meant to ensure that taqiyyah does not become an excuse for cowardice or for failure to take appropriate action. Consideration of com¬ munity rather than private welfare is generally stressed.
taqlld \ta-'kled\ In Islamic canon law, the unquestioning acceptance of legal precedent. The interpretation of taqlid varies widely among the major schools of Islamic law. Taqlld is compulsory for Shi*ites. Of the four Sunnite legal schools, views are mixed; most scholars of the ShafiT, MalikI, and Hanafi schools embrace taqlld, but those of the Hanbal! do not view the opinions of earlier scholars as necessarily binding. Support for the practice is based mainly on the belief that early Muslim scholars, being closer in time to Muhammad, were in the best position to derive authoritative legal opinions.