J.M. LANGHAM
African log amadinda xylophone; property of the Uganda Museum, Kam¬ pala
HILLEGEIST/KUBIK
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Y2K bug ► Yalu River I 2089
Y2K bug or Year 2000 bug or millennium bug Potential prob¬ lem in computers and computer networks at the beginning of the year 2000. Until the 1990s, most computer programs used only the last two digits to designate the year, the first two digits being fixed at 19. As the year 2000 approached, many programs had to be partly rewritten or replaced to prevent interpretation of “00” as 1900 rather than 2000. It was feared that such a misreading would lead to software and hardware fail¬ ures in computers used in such important areas as banking, utilities sys¬ tems, government records, and so on, with the potential for widespread chaos on and following Jan. 1, 2000. Up to $200 billion may have been spent (half in the U.S.) to upgrade computers and application programs to be Y2K-compliant. Despite international alarm, few major failures occurred, partly because these measures were effec¬ tive and partly because the likely incidence of fail¬ ure was exaggerated.
Ya-lung River See Yalong River
yacht \'yat\ Sail- or motor-driven vessel used for racing or recreation. The term is popularly applied to large recre¬ ational engine-powered boats; the sailboats known as yachts and used for racing are usually light and comparatively small.
Until the mid-19th century, yachts were designed along the lines of naval craft such as schooners and cutters. Yacht design was greatly affected by the 1851 success of the America in the race that established the America's Cup. In the 20th century, notably after World War II, smaller racing and recreational craft became more common. See also sailing.
yachting See sailing
Yagoda \y3-'go-d3\, Genrikh (Grigoryevich) (b. 1891,
Lodz, Pol., Russian Empire—d. March 15, 1938, Moscow,
Russia, U.S.S.R.) Soviet politician. A leader of the Cheka secret police (1920-24) and its successor, the OGPU (1924-34), and a close associate of Joseph Stalin, he organized the Soviet’s forced-labour camps from 1930 and became a member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee in 1934. As head of the Commissariat of Internal Affairs, or NKVD, he pre¬ pared the first of the purge trials (1936). In 1937 he was replaced as police chief by Nikolay Yezhov and himself became a victim of the widespread purges. Accused of being a member of a “Trotskyite” conspiracy intent on destroying the Soviet Union through sabotage, he was convicted, sen¬ tenced to death, and executed.
yahrzeit or jahrzeit Vyar-.tsitX In Judaism, the anniversary of the death of a parent or close relative, commonly observed by burning a candle for an entire day. On that day, the Kaddish is recited in the synagogue, and the Torah is read. Some mark the anniversary by studying portions of the Mishna, choosing those sections from the sixth division that begin with letters from the name of the deceased. Yahrzeit developed from an early Jewish custom of fasting on the anniversaries of deaths of certain lead¬ ers, and some Jews still fast on yahrzeit.
Yahweh See Tetragrammaton
yak Massive ox (Bos grunniens mutus ) of high Tibetan plateaus. Bulls grow to 6 ft (1.8 m) at the shoulder hump. The wild yak’s hair is black and short, except for a long, shaggy fringe on the flanks and tail. The horns spread outward and upward; the head is held low. Wild females and young live in large herds; mature bulls form smaller groups. Yaks graze on grass and require much water, eating snow in winter. Wild yaks are now endangered. Domestic yaks, which breed freely with domestic cattle, are used as pack, draft, milk, and beef animals. The hide provides leather; the tail, fly whisks; the fringe hair, ropes; the dried dung, fuel.
Yakima Vya-ko-.mo, 'ya-k9-m3\ River River, south-central Washing¬ ton, U.S. Rising in the Cascade Range, it flows southeast for about 200 mi (320 km) to join the Columbia River near Kennewick. The Yakima and its tributaries irrigate about 460,000 acres (190,000 hectares) in the river valley.
yakuza Vya-ku-z3\ Japanese gangsters. Yakuza, who trace their roots back to ronin (masterless samurai), often adopt samurai-like rituals and identify themselves with elaborate body tattoos. They traditionally engage in such organized-crime pursuits as extortion, blackmail, smuggling, pros¬ titution, drugs, and gambling, and they control many restaurants, bars, trucking companies, and taxi fleets in Japanese cities. In the 1980s they also became involved in land speculation, fueling the “bubble economy” that burst by the end of the decade. From a high of more than 180,000 in the early 1960s, their membership has dropped to less than half that num¬ ber. They are organized into some 2,000 gangs, most affiliated under the umbrella of one of a dozen or fewer conglomerate gangs. Yakuza gangs are rigidly hierarchical and follow strict codes of behaviour.
Yale University Private university in New Haven, Conn., a traditional member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701, it is the third-oldest institu¬ tion of higher learning in the U.S. Yale’s initial curricu¬ lum emphasized classical studies and strict adherence to orthodox Puritanism. Medical, divinity, and law schools were added in 1810, 1822, and 1824. The geologist Benjamin Silliman (1779-1864), who taught at Yale from 1802 to 1853, did much to expand the experimental and applied sciences. Beginning in the mid 19th century, schools of architecture, art, drama, forestry, graduate studies, management, music, and nursing were organized. Yale’s library, with more than 10 million volumes, is one of the largest in the U.S. Its extensive art galleries were established in 1832. The Peabody Museum of Natural History houses important collections of paleontology, archaeology, and ethnology. Yale is one of the most highly regarded schools in the nation; its graduates have included several U.S. presi¬ dents.
Yalong \'ya-luq\ River or Ya-lung River River, Sichuan province, southern China. It rises in mountains at an elevation of nearly 16,500 ft (5,000 m) in Qinghai province and flows into the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) on the Yunnan border. It is 822 mi (1,323 km) long. It is torrential for most of its course and is unnavigable.
Yalow\'ya-lo\, Rosalyn (Sussman) orig. Rosalyn Sussman (b.
July 19, 1921, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. medical physicist. She received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois. She developed the technique of radioimmunoassay (RIA) by combining techniques from radioisotope tracing and immunology. RIA proved a very sensitive and simple way to measure tiny concentrations of biological substances or drugs in blood or other body fluids. She originally applied RIA to study blood insulin levels in diabetes mellitus (1959), but the method soon found hundreds of other applications. In 1976 she became the first woman awarded the Albert Lasker Prize, and in 1977 she shared a Nobel Prize with Andrew V. Schally and Roger C.L. Guillemin.
Yalta City (pop., 2001: 82,000), southern Crimea, Ukraine. It faces the Black Sea on the southern shore of the Crimean Peninsula. Settlement on the site dates from prehistoric times, but modern Yalta developed only in the early 19th century, becoming a town in 1838. Its mild winters and scenic location between sea and mountains have made it one of the most popular vacation and health resorts of Ukraine. In 1945 during World War II it was the site of the Allied leaders’ Yalta Conference.
Yalta Conference (Feb. 4-11, 1945) Conference of Allied leaders at Yalta to plan Germany’s defeat in World War II. Franklin Roosevelt, Win¬ ston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin discussed the postwar occupation of Ger¬ many, postwar assistance to the German people, German disarmament, war-crimes trials, the fate of the defeated or liberated states of eastern Europe, voting in the future United Nations Security Council, and German reparations. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan after the German surrender. Roosevelt died two months later, and Stalin broke his promise to allow democratic elections in eastern Europe. See also Potsdam Con¬ ference; Tehran Conference.