as well as dives of their own choice, each rated according to its degree of difficulty. Judges score each dive, and the total score is multiplied by the degree of difficulty.
diving duck Any duck that obtains its food by diving to the bottom in deep water rather than by dabbling in shallows (see dabbling duck). Div¬ ing ducks prefer marine environments and are popularly called either bay ducks or sea ducks. Bay ducks (tribe Aythyini, family Anatidae), includ¬ ing canvasback, redhead, scaup, and allied species, are found more fre¬ quently in estuaries and tidal lagoons than on the open sea. Sea ducks (20 species in tribes Mergini and Somateriini) include the bufflehead, eiders, goldeneye, mergansers, oldsquaw, and scoters; some are also or mainly found on inland waters.
division of labour Specialization in the production process. Complex jobs can usually be less expensively completed by a large number of people each performing a small number of specialized tasks than by one person attempting to complete the entire job. The idea that specialization reduces costs, and thereby the price the consumer pays, is embedded in the principle of comparative advantage. Division of labour is the basic principle underlying the assembly line in mass production systems. See Emile Durkheim.
divorce Dissolution of a valid marriage, usually freeing the parties to remarry. In societies in which religious authority is strong and the reli¬ gion holds that marriage is indissoluble (e.g., Roman Catholicism, Hindu¬ ism), divorce may be difficult and rare. In the U.S. at the beginning of the 21st century there was about one divorce for every two marriages. The rate of divorce in the U.S. is greater than it is in most other Western coun¬ tries, though divorce rates climbed in those countries in the last decades of the 20th century. The most common grounds for divorce are absence from the marital home, drug or alcohol addiction, adultery, cruelty, con¬ viction of a crime, desertion, insanity, and nonsupport. See also annul¬ ment.
Diwali See Divali
Dix, Dorothea (Lynde) (b. April 4, 1802, Hampden, District of Maine, Mass., U.S.—d. July 17, 1887, Trenton, N.J.) U.S. social reformer on behalf of the mentally ill. She opened a school for girls in Boston in 1821, and in 1841 she began teaching Sunday school in a jail, where she was distressed to see the mentally ill imprisoned with criminals. For 18 months she toured mental institutions, and in 1843 she reported their deplorable conditions to the Massachusetts legislature. After improve¬ ments were made, she expanded her campaign to other states. Through her work, special mental hospitals were built in 15 states and in Canada.
Dix, Otto (b. Dec. 2, 1891, Untermhaus, Thuringia, Ger.—d. July 25, 1969, Singen, Baden-Wiirttemberg,
W.Ger.) German painter and print- maker. He studied at the academies of Diisseldorf and Dresden and experimented with Impressionism and Dada before arriving at Expressionism with a nightmarish personal vision of contemporary social reality, depict¬ ing the horrors of war and the depravities of a decadent society with great emotional effect. He was appointed professor at the Dresden Academy in 1926 and elected to the Prussian Academy in 1931. His anti¬ military works aroused the wrath of the Nazi regime and he was dis¬ missed from his academic posts in 1933. His later work was marked by religious mysticism. See also Neue Sachlichkeit.
Dixiecrat or States' Rights Democrat In the U.S., member of a right-wing Democratic splinter group in the 1948 election. Organized by Southerners who objected to the Democrats’ civil rights program, the Dixiecrats met in Birmingham, Ala., and nominated Gov. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president. He received more than one million votes in the 1948 election and won four states.
Dixieland Jazz played by a small ensemble featuring collective and solo improvisation. The term is often ascribed especially to the New Orleans
"Parents of the Artist," oil on canvas by Otto Dix, 1921; in the Offentliche Kunstsammlung, Basel, Switzerland
COURTESY OF THE OFFENTLICHE KUNSTSAMMLUNG AND THE EMANUEL HOFFMAN-STIFTUNG, BASEL, SWITZ; PHOTOGRAPH, HANS HINZ
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Dixon ► DNA computing I 555
pioneers of jazz, although many critics of popular music believe the term better describes the music of a later wave of white Chicago musicians including Jimmy McPartland, Bud Freeman, and Frank Teschemacher. The earliest jazz ensembles grew out of the ragtime and brass bands of New Orleans, incorporating elements of the blues. In early jazz ensembles, such as those led by King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton, the trumpet or comet plays the melody, with clarinet and trombone providing accompa¬ niment. The tension created by soloists contrasts with the release of ensemble refrains. It is played with a distinctive two-beat rhythm, result¬ ing in a joyous cacophony at fast tempos or slow, mournful dirges. Dix¬ ieland groups usually include banjo, tuba, and drums.
Dixon, Joseph (b. Jan. 18, 1799, Marblehead, Mass., U.S.—d. June 15, 1869, Jersey City, N.J.) U.S. inventor and manufacturer. Largely self- taught, Dixon began his pioneering industrial use of graphite in 1827 with the manufacture of lead pencils, stove polish, and lubricants. He discov¬ ered that graphite crucibles withstood high temperatures, and he secured patents on graphite crucibles for making steel and pottery. He established a crucible steelworks in Jersey City in 1850. He also experimented with photography and photolithography and devised a technique for printing banknotes in colour to prevent counterfeiting.
Dixon, Willie orig. William James Dixon (b. July 1, 1915, Vicks¬ burg, Miss., U.S.—d. Jan. 29, 1992, Burbank, Calif.) U.S. musician who influenced the emergence of electric blues and rock music. In 1936 Dixon moved from his native Mississippi to Chicago, won an Illinois Golden Gloves boxing championship, and began selling his songs. He played double bass in several bands before joining Chess Records. His lively compositions, which he sold for as little as $30, included “Little Red Rooster,” “You Shook Me,” and “Back Door Man”; many were later recorded by Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, and the Rolling Stones. Dixon toured widely throughout the U.S. and Europe.
Djakarta See Jakarta
Djibouti \ji-'bu-te\ officially Republic of Djibouti, formerly (1967-
77) French Territory of the Afars and Issas \a-'far...e-'sa, a-'farz...e-'saz\ Country, eastern Africa, on the Gulf of Aden at the entrance
to the Red Sea. Area: 8,950 sq mi (23,200 o 25 so mi SC 1 km). Population (2005 est.): 476,700.
6 25 ' so 75 km Capitaclass="underline" Djibouti. Roughly half of the
people are Issas and related Somali clans; Afars are about one-third; the balance includes Yemeni Arabs and Europeans, mostly French. Languages: French, Arabic (both official). Religion: Islam (predominantly Sunni). Currency: Djibouti franc. Djibouti is divided into three principal regions: the coastal plain, the volcanic plateaus in the country’s south and centre,
and the mountain ranges in the north, reaching 6,654 ft (2,028 m) high at Mount Moussa (Mousa). The land is primarily desert—hot, dry, and desolate; virtually none is arable. Djibouti has a developing market economy that is based almost entirely on trade and commercial services, centring on Djibouti city. The country is a republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president. Settled by the Arab ancestors of the Afars, it was later populated by Somali Issas. In ad 825 Islam was brought to the area by missionaries. Arabs controlled the trade in this region until the 16th century; it became a French pro¬ tectorate in the 19th century. It was made a French overseas territory in 1946, assumed the name French Territory of the Afars and Issas in 1967, and gained its independence in 1977. In the late 20th century it received refugees from the Ethiopian-Somali war and from civil conflicts in Eri¬ trea. From the 1990s the country experienced political unrest.