e-commerce in full electronic commerce business-to-consumer and business-to-business commerce conducted by way of the Internet or other electronic networks.
E-commerce originated in a standard for the exchange of documents during the 1948^49 Berlin block¬ ade and airlift. Various industries elaborated upon the sys¬ tem until the first general standard was published in 1975.
The electronic data interchange (EDI) standard is unam¬ biguous, independent of any particular machine, and flex¬ ible enough to handle most simple electronic transactions.
In addition to standard forms for business-to-business transactions, e-commerce encompasses much wider activity—for example, the deployment of secure private networks (intranets) for sharing information within a com¬ pany, as well as selective extensions of a company’s intra¬ net to collaborating business networks (extranets). A new form of cooperation known as a virtual company, actually a network of firms, each performing some of the pro¬ cesses needed to manufacture a product or deliver a service, has flourished.
e-mail in full electronic mail Messages and other data exchanged between individuals using computers in a network. An e-mail system allows computer users to send text, graphics, and sometimes sounds and animated images to other users. It developed from large organizations using an internal messaging system as a communication link among employees. The mass provision of e-mail addresses for private individu¬ als by Internet service providers led to the development of e-mail as a sys¬ tem to supplement or replace communication by letter.
Ea \'a-a\ In Mesopotamian religion, the god of water. He formed a triad of deities with Anu and Bel. Originally a local deity in the city of Eridu, he evolved into the lord of the fresh waters beneath the earth, the god of ritual purification, and a patron of sorcery and incantations. Akkadian mythology makes him the father of Marduk. His counterpart among the Sumerians was Enki, from whose half-fish, half-goat form the astrologi¬ cal figure of Capricorn is derived.
eagle Any of many large, heavy-beaked, big-footed birds of prey belong¬ ing to the family Accipitridae, found worldwide. Eagles are generally larger and more powerful than hawks and may resemble a vulture in build and flight characteristics, but they have a fully feathered (often crested) head and strong feet equipped with great curved talons. Most species subsist mainly on live prey, which they generally capture on the ground.
Eagles have been a symbol of war and imperial power since Babylo¬ nian times. They mate for life. They nest in inaccessible places and use the same nest each year. Species vary from 24 in. to 3.3 ft (60 cm-1 m) long. The sea eagles include the bald eagle. See also golden eagle.
Eagle See F-l 5
Eakins Ya-konzV Thomas (b. July 25, 1844, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—d. June 25, 1916, Philadelphia) U.S. painter. After early training at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1866-70), he spent most of his life in his native Philadelphia. He reinforced his study of the live model at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts by studying anatomy at a medi¬ cal college. The Gross Clinic (1875), depicting a surgical operation, was too realistic for his contemporaries but is now seen as his masterpiece. In 1876 he began teaching at the Pennsylvania Academy, but he was
forced to resign in 1886 for working with nude models in mixed classes. In addition to numerous portraits, he painted boating and other outdoor scenes that reflect his fascination with the human body in motion. His interest in locomotion led him to the sequential photography of Eadweard Muybridge, and he began producing photographs and sculpture as well as paintings. Perhaps the most outstanding U.S. painter of the 19th century, his work inspired the trend of realism in American painting in the early 20th century.
Eales, John (b. June 27, 1970, Brisbane, Austl.) Australian rugby union player. Between 1990 and 2001 Eales, who stands 6 ft 7 in. (2.01 m), displayed exceptional all-around ability while playing second row forward (lock) for Queensland and Australia. With Australia he won two World Cups (1991, 1999) and two Tri-Nations Cups (2000, 2001) and served as captain of the Walla¬ bies from 1996 to 2001. In 1999 he was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the community and rugby.
Eames Vemz\, Charles and Ray (respectively b. June 17, 1907, St. Louis, Mo., U.S—d. Aug. 21, 1978, St. Louis; b. Dec. 15, 1912, Sacramento, Calif.—d. Aug. 21, 1988, Los Angeles, Calif.) U.S. designers. Charles was trained as an architect, while Ray (b. Ray Kaiser) studied painting with Hans Hofmann. After marry¬ ing in 1941, they moved to California, where they designed movie sets and researched the uses of ply¬ wood for furniture. In 1946 an exhibit of their furni¬ ture designs at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, resulted in the mass production of their molded plywood chairs by the Herman Miller Furniture Co., and their furniture soon became known for its beauty, comfort, and elegance. After 1955 they made educational films, notably Powers of Ten (1969). They worked as design consultants to major U.S. corporations, including IBM.
ear Organ of hearing and balance. The outer ear directs sound vibrations through the auditory canal to the eardrum, which is stretched across the end of the auditory canal and which transmits sound vibrations to the middle ear. There a chain of three tiny bones conducts the vibrations to the inner ear. Fluid inside the cochlea of the inner ear stimulates sensory hairs; these in turn initiate the nerve impulses that travel along the audi¬ tory nerve to the brain. The inner ear is also an organ of balance: the sen¬ sation of dizziness that is felt after spinning is caused when fluid inside the inner ear’s semicircular canals continues to move and stimulate sen¬ sory hairs after the body has come to rest. The eustachian tube connects the middle ear with the nasal passages; that connection allows the com¬ mon cold to spread from the nasal passages to the middle ear, especially in infants and small children. The most common cause of hearing loss is otosclerosis, a surgically correctable disease in which one of the bones of the middle ear loses its capacity to vibrate. See also deafness, otitis. See illustration on opposite page.
EarhartVer-.harA, Amelia (Mary) (b. July 24,1897, Atchinson, Kan. U.S.—disappeared July 2, 1937, near Howland Island, Pacific Ocean) U.S. aviator, the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean. Ear- hart worked as a military nurse in Canada during World War I and later as a social worker in Boston. In 1928 she became the first woman to cross the Atlantic in a plane, though as a passenger. In 1932 she accomplished the flight alone, becoming the first woman and the second person to do so. In 1935 she became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to Cali¬ fornia. In 1937 she set out with a navigator, Fred Noonan, to fly around the world; they had completed over two-thirds of the distance when her plane disappeared without a trace in the central Pacific Ocean. Specula¬ tion about her fate has continued to the present.
earl See count
Early, Jubal A(nderson) (b. Nov. 3, 1816, Franklin county, Va., U.S.—d. March 2, 1894, Lynchburg, Va.) U.S. and Confederate military leader. He graduated from West Point and served in the second of the Seminole Wars and the Mexican War. He opposed secession but supported his home state of Virginia when it joined the Confederacy. He fought at the Battle of Bull Run and in Virginia. In 1864 he led Confederate forces down the Shenandoah Valley and threatened Washington, D.C., but was defeated by Union troops under Philip Sheridan. Relieved of his command, he fled to Mexico and then Canada, returning to Virginia in 1869.