1.
California Academy of Sciences
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The California Academy of Sciences is a natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 26 million specimens. Completely rebuilt in 2008, the building covers 400,000 square feet and is among the newest natural history museums in the United States, the primary building in Golden Gate Park reopened on September 27,2008. The Academy Fellows are, in turn, ominated by their colleagues, underlying these operations is a staff of hundreds of employees who operate the day-to-day functions without which the Academy could not offer its programs. The operations branch of the Academy is divided into three departments, Building Operations, Guest Operations, and IT Services, in fact, unbeknownst to most patrons, research and administrative facilities occupy nearly 50% of the Academys physical structure. Prior to being replaced, the old Academy building attracted approximately half a million each year. As has been the case from the start, the main thrust of the exhibits is natural history, Morrison Planetarium - features the worlds largest completely digital planetarium dome measuring in at 27. There also is an emphasis on environmental concerns, with all the various departments collaborating closely to focus on systematic biology. Academy researchers study life around the world, a 2011 expedition to the Philippines discovered an estimated 300 species new to science, the Academy publishes the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, as well as Occasional Papers, Memoirs, and Special Publications. The California Academy of Natural Sciences was founded in 1853, only three years after California joined the United States, becoming the first society of its kind in the Western US. Its stated aim was to undertake a systematic survey of every portion of the State. It was renamed as the more inclusive California Academy of Sciences in 1868, in 1892, Alice Eastwood, a botanist, was hired by the Academy and worked there until she retired in 1949. Fortunately, the 1905-1906 scientific collecting expedition to the Galápagos Islands already was underway, in 1916, the Academy moved to the North American Hall of Birds and Mammals in Golden Gate Park, the first building on the site that was to become its permanent home. In 1923, the Steinhart Aquarium was added, followed in 1934 by the Simson African Hall, the post-war years saw a flurry of new construction on the site, the Science Hall was added in 1951, followed by the Morrison Planetarium in 1952. The Morrison Planetarium was the seventh major planetarium to open in the United States and featured a one-of-a-kind star projector, the Academy Projector produced a remarkably natural-looking star field. It projected irregularly shaped stars, rather than the circular stars projected by many optical star projectors, the irregular shapes were created by placing variously sized grains of silicon carbide onto the glass star plates by hand, then aluminizing the plates, and brushing away the silicon carbide grains. In 1959, the Malliard Library, Eastwood Hall of Botany, in 1969, another new building, Cowell Hall, was added to the site. In 1976, several new galleries were opened, and the year, in 1977. Prior to the old building being torn down in 2005, there was a Life through Time gallery, housing a display on evolution
2.
Exposition Park (Los Angeles)
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Exposition Park is situated in the south region of Los Angeles, California. In a rectangle bounded by Exposition Boulevard to the north, South Figueroa Street to the east, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the south and it is directly south of the main campus of the University of Southern California. The park is open space, managed by the California Natural Resources Agency. Exposition Park houses, LA84 Foundation/John C. of St. Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena The 160-acre site served as an agricultural fairground from 1872 to 1910. In 1880, John Edward, Ozro W. Childs, farmers sold their harvest on the grounds, while horses, dogs, and even camels competed on a racetrack where a rose garden now blooms. Along the northern edge of the park, the Metro Expo Line light rail serves the park with its Expo Park/USC Station. On the northeast, the Metro Silver Line bus rapid transit serves Exposition Park & USC at its 37th Street/USC Station on the Harbor Transitway, the Silver Line station is located on the freeway level of the 1-110 freeway. Leimert Park Beat — a collaborative online community focused nearby Leimert Park, The Soul of Los Angeles, official Expo Center website — recreation center
3.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Science museum
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A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery. Modern trends in museology have broadened the range of subject matter, many if not most modern science museums — which increasingly refer to themselves as science centers or discovery centers — also emphasize technology, and are therefore also technology museums. The mission statements of science centers and modern museums vary, but they are united in being places that make science accessible and they are an integral and dynamic part of the learning environment, promoting exploration from the first Eureka. As early as the Renaissance, many aristocrats collected curiosities for display to their family, universities and particularly medical schools also maintained study collections of specimens for their students. Scientists and collectors displayed their finds in private cabinets of curiosities, such collections were the predecessors of modern natural history museums. The first purpose-built museum covering natural philosophy and open to the public from 1683 was the original Ashmolean museum in Oxford, the first dedicated science museum was the Museo de Ciencias Naturales, in Madrid, Spain. Opened in 1752, it almost disappeared during the Franco regime, the Utrecht University Museum, among others, still displays an extensive collection of 18th-century animal and human rarities in its original setting. Another line in the genealogy of science museums came during the Industrial Revolution, for example, the Great Exhibition in The Crystal Palace eventually gave rise to Londons Science Museum. In America, various Natural History Societies established collections in the early 19th century, notable was the early New England Museum of Natural History, which opened in Boston in 1864. The Academy of Science of Saint Louis was founded in 1856 as the first scientific organization west of the Mississippi, the modern interactive science museum appears to have been pioneered by Munich’s Deutsches Museum in the early 20th century. This museum had moving exhibits where visitors were encouraged to push buttons, the concept was taken to the US by Julius Rosenwald, chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Company, who visited the Deutsches Museum with his young son in 1911. He was so-captivated by the experience that he decided to build a museum in his home town. Chicagos Museum of Science and Industry opened in phases between 1933 and 1940, in 1959 the Museum of Science and Natural History was formally created by the Academy of Science of Saint Louis, featuring many interactive science and history exhibits. In August 1969, Frank Oppenheimer dedicated his new Exploratorium in San Francisco almost completely to interactive science exhibits, the Exploratorium published the details of their own exhibits in Cookbooks that served as an inspiration to many other museums around the world. Opened in September 1969, the Ontario Science Centre continued the trend of featuring interactive exhibits rather than static displays, in 1973, the first Omnimax theater opened as the Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center in San Diegos Balboa Park, the tilted-dome Space Theater doubled as a planetarium. The Science Center was an Exploratorium-style museum included as a part of the complex
6.
American Alliance of Museums
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AAM is dedicated to ensuring that museums remain a vital part of the American landscape, connecting people with the greatest achievements of the human experience, past, present and future. AAM is the organization representing the entire scope of museums and professionals and nonpaid staff who work for. AAM currently represents more than 25,000 individual museum professionals, at the 2014 American Alliance of Museums conference, the Institute of Museum and Library Services announced there are now at least 35,000 museums in the US. 1906, Foundation 1911, Directory of North and South American museums published 1923, Headquarters established in Washington, the M&T Network is the AAM link between museums and media technologies. As such, it identifies, examines, and advocates appropriate uses of technologies in helping museums meet the needs of their diverse publics. Membership is limited to institutions or individuals that are members of AAM, the mission of the M&T is to identify, access, and advocate a broad variety of program uses for media and technology in helping museum professionals meet the needs of their diverse publics. The Spark is the first comprehensive plan in AAM’s recent history. It articulates a vision for museums, the field and AAM, the mission highlights AAMs commitment to leadership, advocacy, collaboration and service. The Spark contains four goals, excellence, advocacy, sustainability and alignment
7.
Association of Science-Technology Centers
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The Association of Science-Technology Centers is a non-profit, global organization based in Washington, D. C. United States that provides a voice, professional support, and programming opportunities for science centers, museums. Through strategic alliances and global partnerships, ASTCs goal is to increase awareness of the valuable contributions its members make to their communities and the field of informal STEM learning. Science centers connect people with science, give science a presence in the community and offer people of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to ask questions, discuss, Science centers provide firsthand experience and an opportunity to develop intuitions about the natural world. Many schools rely on science centers for field trips and auditorium programs, hands-on curriculum, science kits. In the words of Frank Oppenheimer, founder of San Franciscos Exploratorium, “No one flunks a museum. ”For some, the interests awakened by science center experiences have turned into a passion for science, and the beginning of a lifetime devoted to teaching or research. ASTC’s goal is to support efforts of science centers and museums, in addition to their staff, visitors. Some ASTC member institutions also participate in ASTC’s Passport Program, more than 300 institutions in over a dozen countries are currently participating in the Passport Program. ASTC provides professional development opportunities for those who work in science centers, ASTC provides CoPs with resources and support for connecting with colleagues, convening meetings, and organizing workshops, among other activities. They work with partners to support sharing of knowledge and experience, and assist with planning, marketing, ASTC Connect is a learning and resource-sharing area for the informal science education community. Discussion forums, online workshops, and self-paced tutorials are hosted in collaboration with partners throughout the field. The YOUmedia Network is a group of libraries, museums and community-based organizations that invite people to create, learn. There are currently 24 Learning Lab sites operating across the country with programs that are driven by youth interests and connect learning directly back to school, careers, and other realms. This program was inspired by President Obama and other world leaders’ commitment to strengthening the science, technology, engineering, to date, more than 100 science centers have joined the challenge. ExhibitFiles is a community of exhibit practitioners building a shared collection of exhibition records. Its a place to connect with colleagues, find out about exhibits, exhibitFiles was developed to preserve and share experiences and materials that are often unrecorded, temporary, and hard to locate. Visitors to the site can search for, and post exhibitions rentals. ASTC and the National Writing Project received a grant from the National Science Foundation to design a program that will integrate science, through this program, ten partnerships will be created between NWP sites and ASTC-member science centers and museums to develop innovative programs for educators and youth
8.
Association of Zoos and Aquariums
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The AZA is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. In October 1924, the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums was formed as an affiliate of the American Institute of Park Executives, in 1966, the AAZPA became a professional branch affiliate of the newly formed National Recreation and Park Association. In January 1994, the shorter name American Zoo and Aquarium Association was adopted, in 1998, there were 134 million visits to North American zoos and aquariums. Ten years later, in 2008, there were 175 million visits to AZA-accredited zoos, the organization is active in institution accreditation, animal care initiatives, education and conservation programs, collaborative research and advocacy in order to achieve this goal. It serves as a body for zoos and aquariums and ensures that accredited facilities meet higher standards of animal care than are required by law. Institutions are evaluated every five years in order to ensure standards are met, the association also facilitates both Species Survival Plans and Population Management Plans, which serve to sustainably manage genetically diverse captive populations of various animal species. In addition, the association sponsors the scientific journal Zoo Biology, the association has established a computerized database called the Annual Report on Conservation and Science. It provides a model for a database to help track research projects worldwide. The database can be searched by key word, name of researcher, topic, country or region, name of institution, conservation program title, name of cooperating institution, type of research, or date. In 2000-2001, member institutions reported that they participated in over 2,230 conservation projects in 94 countries and they published 1,450 books, book chapters, journal articles, conference proceeding papers, posters and theses or dissertations. The publications can be searched using keywords, name of author, type of publication, institution name, or date. Depending on the animals they exhibit, the activities of zoos are regulated by laws including the Endangered Species Act, the Animal Welfare Act, additionally, zoos in North America may choose to pursue accreditation by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. They shall further be defined as having as their business the exhibition, conservation and preservation of the earths fauna in an educational. Inspection is performed by three experts and then reviewed by a panel of experts before accreditation is awarded. This accreditation process is repeated every five years. The AZA estimates that there are approximately 2,400 animal exhibits operating under USDA license as of February 2007, list of AZA member zoos and aquariums Official website
9.
Expo Line (Los Angeles Metro)
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This is a list of rail accidents since 2010. Ten people, including the driver of one of the trains, are injured, at Pratapgarh,61 kilometres from Allahabad, the Sarayu Express ploughs into a tractor trailer at an unmanned railway crossing. Though nobody is injured, the engine of the train is severely damaged,2 January 2010 – India – The Arunachal Pradesh Express derails near Helem. All seven cars leave the track, timely actions of operators and a guard diverted the train to a secondary track, and the platform was evacuated. One of the carriages plunged into a Holiday Inn hotels offices causing severe structural damage, only the conductor of the train, which carried no passengers, was slightly hurt. 3 January 2010 – Turkey – Two trains collide between Bayirkoy and Vezirhan, One person is killed and three are injured. 4 January 2010 – United Kingdom – A freight train hauled by a Class 66 locomotive derails at Carrbridge in snowy weather, the freight train passed a signal at danger and was deliberately derailed on trap points. The line is reopened on 12 January 2010,4 January 2010 – Finland – Helsinki Central railway station accident – A passenger train suffers a brake failure and crashes into a hotel at Helsinki Central station. 12 February 2010 – United States – At 10.13, of the nearly 400 passengers on board, one person was taken to hospital. The NTSB concluded that the operator was at fault for rule violations. Contributing factors were poor supervision of the operator which prevented correct configuration of the train for the signal, there were also difficulties with the radio systems. 15 February 2010 – Belgium – Halle train collision - Two passenger trains collide head-on in Buizingen near Brussels,18 people were killed and 162 were injured. 15 March 2010 – United States – A METRO bus collides with a light rail METRO train in Houston, Texas, police and METRO investigators claim that the bus ran a traffic light that was red for ten seconds before the bus passed it at 29 miles per hour. 24 March 2010 – Norway –2010 Sjursøya train crash - Sixteen goods wagons runaway for 8 km from a yard at Alnabu in Oslo. Three people died and four were seriously injured,12 April 2010 – Italy –2010 Merano train derailment - A passenger train is hit by a landslide and partially derails near Merano, South Tyrol, killing 9 and injuring 28. 21 April 2010 – South Africa – Pretoria train accident - The coaches of a luxury tourist train operated by Rovos Rail run away and derail at Pretoria during a locomotive changeover. Three crew members died in the incident, two died at the scene while the third, a four months pregnant, died in the hospital. The accident left 9 passengers injured, six of them critically,4 May 2010 – Australia – A passenger train collides with a freight train approximately 3 km south of Craigieburn railway station, injuring 5
10.
Expo Park/USC station
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Expo Park/USC is an at-grade light rail station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system. It is located at Exposition Boulevard and Trousdale Parkway, directly between the USC campus and Exposition Park, in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles and it also serves the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the under construction Banc of California Stadium. This station is served by the Expo Line, Expo Line service hours are approximately from 4 AM to 12,30 AM daily. Service resumed Saturday, April 28,2012, regular scheduled service resumed Monday, April 30,2012. Expo Park/USC Station is located in the median of Exposition Boulevard, on the east side of Trousdale/Exposition, the stations entrance is on the east side of Trousdale/Exposition. The stations platforms slope down slightly toward the east, in order to accommodate the lines descent into a tunnel passes under Figueroa Street. The stations art was created by artist Robbert Flick, the untitled installation includes sequences of photographs taken on the boulevards near the station, creating a document of the local people and places as they were when the station was built. The USC main campus occupies the area to the north of the station, to the south is Exposition Park, which includes several popular L. A. Many stakeholders cited the importance of the station, citing the convenient access it would provide the USC students/employees, the administration of USC opposed at-grade light-rail along Exposition Boulevard, claiming that light-rail would separate the campus from Exposition Park. USC President Steven Sample, in particular, was opposed to the project, dr. Sample said he feared the line would create physical and psychological barriers between USC, Exposition Park, and the local community, and would be dangerous for pedestrians. However, general sentiment of students and neighbors was in support of the line, the Coliseum Commission took a strong position in support of this station, and the USC Student Senate also passed a resolution. The report also recommended a tunnel segment under the impacted intersections of Exposition/Figueroa. Once the FEIR had been approved, Expo worked to secure the funds for this station, one other issue remaining to be resolved was USC’s request for special architecture for the three stations serving the campus. Ultimately, USC did not contribute toward the cost of the station, Expo also abandoned any considerations for special architecture requested by USC. On September 19,2007, the board of Metro approved funding for the cost of the station and this allowed the station to be built along with the rest of Phase 1. It was completely rebuilt for the opening of the Expo Line from little more than a stop marker. Regular scheduled service resumed Monday, April 30,2012 and it is the last former station stop of the Santa Monica Air Line to be re-opened. The Expo line travels north on a new right-of-way along Flower street from this stop, the original Air line right-of-way remains owned by Metro and continues east to the Blue line tracks, however no plans are in place for its use
11.
California executive branch
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The California executive branch consists of elected officers and other offices and officers. The elected executive officers are, Total number of employees is 227,536 excluding California State Universities, in 2004, there were 4,462 job classifications, many of which had no employees occupying the position, as a workaround for certain hiring practices. As part of a civil service reform initiative beginning in 2013,700 job titles were eliminated, two agencies, the California Department of Human Resources and the California State Personnel Board, oversee the states civil service system. The duties which apply to one agency versus the other is not always entirely clear, in the 1980s, a recommendations to decentralize hiring to departments was implemented. In 2012, the California Government Operations Agency was created under Governor Jerry Brown and its director, Marybel Batjer, launched an initiative of civil service reform intended to make state employment more attractive to talented employees relative to the private sector. In 2015, the first engagement survey of employees was conducted using a sample of 5,000. In 2016, the state rolled out a new hiring website, unusually, it was programmed by state employees rather than an external contractor. Agencies under the direction of a secretary that report directly to the Governor are cabinet-level agencies, some agencies such as the California State Controller, Attorney General of California, and California Insurance Commissioner and are headed by independent elected officials. The state auditor is the California Bureau of State Audits which is appointed by the governor with confirmation by the legislature, one relatively new top-level agency, California Government Operations Agency, was created in 2012 to help modernize the government. Exceptions include the head of the Department of the California Highway Patrol, notable exceptions include the California Public Utilities Commission and the California Department of Industrial Relations, which are both headquartered in San Francisco. Other defunct statewide elected offices that no longer exist include the Comptroller, the Surveyor General, in June 2012, Governor Jerry Brown obtained approval from the Legislature to proceed with a reorganization plan. California Government of California Politics of California
12.
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
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This large collection is comprised not only of specimens for exhibition, but also of vast research collections housed on and offsite. The three museums work together to achieve their mission, to inspire wonder, discovery. NHM opened in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, United States in 1913 as the Museum of History, Science, the moving force behind it was a museum association founded in 1910. Its distinctive main building, with fitted marble walls and domed and colonnaded rotunda, is on the National Register of Historic Places, additional wings opened in 1925,1930,1960, and 1976. The museum was divided in 1961 into the Los Angeles County Museum of History and Science, LACMA moved to new quarters on Wilshire Boulevard in 1965, and the Museum of History and Science was renamed the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. Eventually, the museum renamed itself again, becoming the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, in 2003, the museum began a campaign to transform its exhibits and visitor experience. The museum reopened its seismically retrofitted renovated 1913 rotunda, along with the new Age of Mammals exhibition and its Dinosaur Hall opened in July 2011. A new Los Angeles history exhibition, Becoming Los Angeles, opened in 2013, the outdoor Nature Gardens and Nature Lab, which explore L. A. wildlife, also opened in 2013. The museum has almost 30 million specimens representing marine zoology, the museums collection of historical documents is held in the Seaver Center for Western History Research. The Museum hosts regular exhibitions which augment its collections and advance its mission. Recent special exhibits have included Mummies and Pterosaurs, the museum also hosts a butterfly pavilion outside every spring and summer and a spider pavilion on the same site in the fall. Over the years, the museum has built additions onto its original building, originally dedicated when the Natural History Museum opened its doors in 1913, the Rotunda is one of the Museums most elegant and popular spaces. This hall is among the most distinctive locales in Los Angeles and has often used as a filming location. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County official website William S. Hart Ranch, page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits Review of the Museums new Dinosaur Hall at the New York Times, July 19,2011 Slide show of exhibit
13.
University of Southern California
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The University of Southern California is a private research university founded in 1880 with its main campus in Los Angeles, California. As Californias oldest private university, USC has historically educated a large number of the regions business leaders. In recent decades, the university has also leveraged its location in Los Angeles to establish relationships with research and cultural institutions throughout Asia, an engine for economic activity, USC contributes $8 billion annually to the economy of the Los Angeles metropolitan area and California. For the 2014–15 academic year, there were 18,740 students enrolled in undergraduate programs. USC also has 23,729 graduate and professional students in a number of different programs, including business, law, engineering, social work, and medicine. The university is one of the top fundraising institutions in the world, consistently ranking among the top 3 in external contributions, multiple academic rankings list the University of Southern California as being among the top 25 universities in the United States. With an acceptance rate of 16 percent, USC is also among the most selective academic institutions in the nation. USC maintains a tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship, with alumni having founded companies such as Lucasfilm, Myspace, Salesforce. com, Intuit, Qualcomm, Box, Tinder. As of 2014, the university has produced the fourth largest number of billionaire alumni out of all institutions in the world. USC is home to the world’s most powerful computer, which is presently housed in a super-cooled. The only other commercially available quantum computing system is operated jointly by NASA, USC was also one of the earliest nodes on ARPANET and is the birthplace of the Domain Name System. Other technologies invented at USC include DNA computing, dynamic programming, image compression, VoIP, USC sponsors a variety of intercollegiate sports and competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Members of the teams, the Trojans, have won 102 NCAA team championships, ranking them third in the nation. Trojan athletes have won 288 medals at the Olympic games, more than any university in the United States. If USC were a country, its athletes would have received the 12th-most Olympic gold medals in history. In 1969, it joined the Association of American Universities, the University of Southern California was founded following the efforts of Judge Robert M. Hellman. The three donated 308 lots of land to establish the campus and provided the seed money for the construction of the first buildings. Originally operated in affiliation with the Methodist Church, the school mandated from the start that no student would be denied admission because of race, the university is no longer affiliated with any church, having severed formal ties in 1952
14.
California African American Museum
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The California African American Museum is a museum located in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California, United States. The Museum focuses on enrichment and education on the heritage and history of African Americans with a focus on California. Admission is free to all visitors, CAAM was chartered by the State of California in 1977 and first opened in 1981, in temporary quarters at the California Museum of Science and Industry. The current facility was built with state and private funds of around $5 million, the museum was designed by the African–American architects Jack Haywood and Vince Proby. The new museum building opened to the public during the Los Angeles Olympic Games in July 1984, a major renovation occurred between 2001 and 2003. The museum occupies a 44,000 square feet building and it includes three exhibition galleries, a theater gallery, a 14, 000-square-foot sculpture court, a conference center special events room, an archive and research library. Behind the scenes there are offices, exhibit design and artifact storage areas. A2011 preliminary planning by design firm Huff and Gooden Architects pegged the cost at $67.3 million for an expansion and renovation that would nearly triple the size of the museum. CAAM exists to research, collect, preserve and interpret for public enrichment, the permanent collection includes paintings, photographs, sculpture and artifacts representing the diverse contributions of African Americans. The collection ranges from African art to 19th-century landscape, along with its permanent collection, CAAM hosts specially mounted exhibitions curated out of its own collection, as well as traveling exhibitions from other museums. The Museums Education Department offers a range of programming and events designed to serve the needs of the greater Los Angeles community. The California African American Museum has a budget of about $3.5 million a year. The state provides $2.5 million, augmented by funds from a nonprofit museum foundation that in recent years has generated annual contributions. In July 2015, George Davis was named as a new director to mainly oversee strategic planning, budget management. CAAM also welcomed Naima Keith, a curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, in February 2016 as its deputy director to manage exhibitions, the California Natural Resources Agency oversees the California African American Museum and the California Science Center. California African American Museum, The Brown decision, A California perspective, biggers, J. T. Hammons, D. Outterbridge, J. Cummings, M. Johnson-Calloway, M. Los Angeles, CA, J. Paul Getty Trust
15.
Space Shuttle Endeavour
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Space Shuttle Endeavour is a retired orbiter from NASAs Space Shuttle program and the fifth and final operational shuttle built. It embarked on its first mission, STS-49, in May 1992 and its 25th and final mission, STS-134, STS-134 was expected to be the final mission of the Space Shuttle program, but with the authorization of STS-135, Atlantis became the last shuttle to fly. The United States Congress authorized the construction of Endeavour in 1987 to replace Challenger, structural spares built during the construction of Discovery and Atlantis were used in its assembly. NASA chose, on cost grounds, to build Endeavour from spares rather than refitting Enterprise or accepting a Rockwell International proposal to build two shuttles for the price of one. The orbiter is named after the British HMS Endeavour, the ship which took Captain James Cook on his first voyage of discovery and this is why the name is spelled in the British English manner, rather than the American English. This has caused confusion, including when NASA itself misspelled a sign on the pad in 2007. The Space Shuttle carried a piece of the wood from Cook’s ship inside the cockpit. The name also honored Endeavour, the Command Module of Apollo 15, Endeavour was named through a national competition involving students in elementary and secondary schools. Entries included an essay about the name, the story behind it and why it was appropriate for a NASA shuttle, Endeavour was the most popular entry, accounting for almost one-third of the state-level winners. The national winners were Senatobia Middle School in Senatobia, Mississippi, in the division and Tallulah Falls School in Tallulah Falls, Georgia. They were honored at ceremonies in Washington, D. C. including a White House ceremony where then-President George H. W. Bush presented awards to each school. Endeavour was delivered by Rockwell International Space Transportation Systems Division in May 1991 and first launched a year later, in May 1992, Rockwell International claimed that it had made no profit on Space Shuttle Endeavour, despite construction costing US$2.2 billion. On its first mission, it captured and redeployed the stranded INTELSAT VI communications satellite, the first African-American woman astronaut, Mae Jemison, was brought into space on the mission STS-47 on September 12,1992. Endeavour flew the first servicing mission STS-61 for the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993, in 1997 it was withdrawn from service for eight months for a retrofit, including installation of a new airlock. In December 1998, it delivered the Unity Module to the International Space Station, Endeavours last Orbiter Major Modification period began in December 2003 and ended on October 6,2005. Morgan was the backup for Christa McAuliffe who was on the ill-fated mission STS-51-L in 1986, as it was constructed later, Endeavour was built with new hardware designed to improve and expand orbiter capabilities. Most of this equipment was incorporated into the other three orbiters during out-of-service major inspection and modification programs. Endeavour’s upgrades include, A 40-foot diameter drag chute that reduced the orbiters rollout distance by 1,000 to 2,000 feet, the plumbing and electrical connections needed for Extended Duration Orbiter modifications to allow up to a 28-day mission
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IMAX
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IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of cinema projection standards developed in Canada by Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr, and William C. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size, since 2002, some feature films have been converted into IMAX format for displaying in IMAX theatres and some have also been partially shot in IMAX. IMAX is the most widely used system for special-venue film presentations, as of June 2016, there were 1,102 IMAX theatres in 69 countries. The desire to increase the impact of film has a long history. In 1929, Fox introduced Fox Grandeur, the first 70 mm film format, in the 1950s, the potential of 35 mm film to provide wider projected images was explored in the processes of CinemaScope and VistaVision, following multi-projector systems such as Cinerama. While impressive, Cinerama was difficult to install, during Expo 67 in Montreal, the National Film Board of Canadas In the Labyrinth and Fergusons Man and the Polar Regions both used multi-projector, multi-screen systems. Each encountered technical difficulties led them to found a company called Multiscreen. As it became clear that a single, large-screen image had more impact than multiple smaller ones and was a viable product direction. An IMAX 3D theatre also is in operation near the former Expo 67 site at the Montreal Science Centre in the Port of Old Montreal, tiger Child, the first IMAX film, was demonstrated at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. The first permanent IMAX installation was built at the Cinesphere theatre at Ontario Place in Toronto and it debuted in May 1971, showing the film North of Superior. The installation is still in place, however, Ontario Place is on hiatus for redevelopment, during Expo 74 in Spokane, Washington, an IMAX screen that measured 27 m ×20 m was featured in the US Pavilion. It became the first IMAX Theatre to not be partnered with any brand of movie theaters. About five million visitors viewed the screen, which covered the total visual field when looking directly forward. This created a sensation of motion in most viewers, and motion sickness in some, much to the dismay of the majority of Spokane and the disapproval of the IMAX Corporation itself, it will be demolished to make way for a parking lot. Another IMAX 3D theater was built in Spokane, not too far from where the original was. However, its screen-size is less than half that of the original, due to protests, the IMAX Corporation has been able to remodel the area with the city, and turn the U. S. Pavilion itself into the first permanent outdoor IMAX screen, the first permanent IMAX Dome installation, the Eugene Heikoff and Marilyn Jacobs Heikoff Dome Theatre at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, opened in San Diegos Balboa Park in 1973, the first permanent IMAX 3D theatre was built in Vancouver, British Columbia for Transitions at Expo 86, and was in use until September 30,2009
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Climbing wall
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A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, recently, manufactured steel and aluminum have also been used. The wall may have places to attach belay ropes, but may also be used to lead climbing or bouldering. Each hole contains a specially formed t-nut to allow modular climbing holds to be screwed onto the wall, with manufactured steel or aluminum walls, an engineered industrial fastener is used to secure climbing holds. The face of the multiplex board climbing surface is covered with textured products including concrete, in addition to the textured surface and hand holds, the wall may contain surface structures such as indentions and protrusions, or take the form of an overhang, underhang or crack. Some grips are formed to mimic the conditions of outdoor rock, including some that are oversized, the earliest artificial climbing walls were typically small concrete faces with protrusions made of medium-sized rocks for hand holds. Schurman Rock in Seattle, WA is believed to be the first artificial climbing structure in the United States, the modern artificial climbing wall began in the UK. The first wall was created in 1964 by Don Robinson, a lecturer in Physical Education by inserting pieces of rock into a corridor wall, the first commercial wall was built in Sheffield, traditionally Englands centre for climbing due to its proximity to the Peak District. The first indoor climbing gym in the U. S. was established by Vertical World in Seattle, the simplest type of wall is of plywood construction, known colloquially in the climbing community as a woody, with a combination of either bolt-on holds or screw on holds. Bolt-on holds are fixed to a wall with iron bolts which are inserted through the hold, which will have specific bolt points, screw-on holds are, by contrast, usually much smaller, owing to the nature of their fixing. These holds are connected to the wall by screws which may be fastened anywhere on the walls surface, holds come in different colours, those of the same colour often being used to denote a route, allowing routes of different difficulty levels to be overlaid on one another. Coloured tape placed under climbing holds is another way that is used to mark different climbing routes. The grade of the route is usually a decision between the setter of the route and the first few people who climb the route. Many indoor climbing walls have people who are assigned to set these different climbing routes and these people are called route setters or course setters. As indoor climbing walls are used to check the development of climbers ability. Climbing Indoor climbing UK Climbing Wall Manufacturers Association Climbing Wall Association, a US non-profit, industry trade association
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Motion simulator
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A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that encapsulates occupants and creates the effect/feelings of being in a moving vehicle. A motion simulator can also be called a base, motion chassis or a motion seat. The movement is synchronous with visual display and is designed to add an element to video gaming, simulation. When motion is applied and synchronized to audio and video signals, the result is a combination of sight, sound, all full motion simulators move the entire occupant compartment and can convey changes in orientation and the effect of false gravitational forces. These motion cues trick the mind into thinking it is immersed in the environment and experiencing kinematic changes in position, velocity. The minds failure to accept the experience can result in motion sickness, Motion platforms can provide movement on up to six degrees of freedom, three rotational degrees of freedom and three translational or linear degrees of freedom. Motion simulators can be classified according to whether the occupant is controlling the vehicle, or whether the occupant is a passive rider, common examples of occupant-controlled motion simulators are flight simulators, driving simulators, and auto racing games. Other occupant-controlled vehicle simulation games simulate the control of boats, motorcycles, rollercoasters, military vehicles, ATVs, or spacecraft, among other craft types. Examples of passive ride simulators are theme park rides where an entire theater system, an enhanced motion vehicle moves the motion base along a track in a show building. See Simulator ride and the Ride simulator section of article for more details on passive motion simulators. Historically, motion platforms have varied widely in scale and cost, modern motion platforms have become complicated machines, but they have simpler roots. Many of the early motion platforms were flight simulators used to train pilots, one of the first motion platforms, the Sanders Teacher, was created in 1910. The Sanders Teacher was an aircraft control surfaces fitted to the ground by a simple universal joint. When wind was present, the pilot in training was able to use the surfaces to move the simulator in the three rotational degrees of freedom. Around 1930, an advance in motion platform technology was made with the creation of the Link Trainer. The Link Trainer used the stick and external motors to control organ bellows located under the simulator. The bellows could inflate or deflate, causing the simulator to rotate with three degrees of freedom, in 1958 the Comet IV was designed using a three-degrees-of-freedom hydraulic system. After the Comet IV both the range of motion and the degrees of freedom exhibited by motion platforms was increased, the most expensive motion platforms utilize high-fidelity six-degrees-of-freedom motion, often coupled with advanced audio and visual systems
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Smithsonian Affiliations
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Any 5013 nonprofit or publicly operated educational entity can apply to become a Smithsonian Affiliate. The Smithsonian Affiliations program was established in 1996 by Smithsonian Secretary I. C, in 1993, the “Commission on the Future of the Smithsonian Institution” introduced the first proposal for initiatives promoting strategic, collections-based partnerships at the Institution. To Educate More of the Nation’s People, “Build collaborative partnerships with other museums, research centers, significant emphasis was placed on the benefits that partnerships with outside museums would create for the Institution. In 1996, during his year as Secretary, Heyman observed several challenges facing the Institution. In addition, the Institution began to see increased interest from outside museums for partnerships, Heyman responded to these challenges by creating the Smithsonian Affiliations program to oversee and manage collections-based partnerships with other museums. As stated by the minutes from the Smithsonian Board of Regents meeting housed in the Smithsonian Institution Archives, there is no value in being just the largest if we do not share the Smithsonian with as many people as possible. It means making sure those who travel to Washington can somehow experience and enjoy the Smithsonian. ”Michael Heyman “ challenge is extending the reach of our collections to communities, museums. The Board of Regents in September strengthened the policy to share our collections with others. ”Michael Heyman The program was received by museums across the country. The end of the fiscal year 1997 recognized 21 organizations as Affiliates, as of 2014 there are nearly 200 Affiliates. On October,21,2016, The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Smithsonian Affiliations considers membership proposals from organizations that will advance the Smithsonian Institutions mission and strategic plan. Successful applicants are non-profit or publicly operated organizations whose missions are directed toward advancing research, knowledge, and education in science, history, and the arts. To qualify as an Affiliate, an organization must prove that it is able to care for, protect. Strong applicants are organizations that are fiscally sound and capable of developing, installing, Affiliates are also responsible for maintaining an annual membership fee. To become an Affiliate, organizations must submit an application package to Smithsonian Affiliations, applicants are required to provide documentation that confirms IRS status as a 5013 entity and a narrative detailing how the agreement will be mutually beneficial. Applications must also include a copy of the mission statement, an organizational chart, an annual report. Once approved, Affiliates are required to sign a Smithsonian Affiliations Agreement form and are assigned a National Outreach Manager to oversee loans, all loan agreements are set for defined period of time. Affiliate organizations participate in a number of training, outreach. Smithsonian Affiliations Visiting Professional Program, Professionals of Affiliate organizations receive training from Smithsonian officials while visiting and working in Washington, the Smithsonian Affiliations program supports, develops, and organizes a number of collaborative programs to promote education in science, art, history, and culture
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Aquarium
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An aquarium is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles such as turtles, the term, coined by English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, combines the Latin root aqua, meaning water, with the suffix -arium, meaning a place for relating to. An aquarist owns fish or maintains an aquarium, typically constructed of glass or high-strength acrylic, cuboid aquaria are also known as fish tanks or simply tanks, while bowl-shaped aquaria are also known as fish bowls. Size can range from a glass bowl to immense public aquaria. Specialized equipment maintains appropriate water quality and other characteristics suitable for the aquariums residents, in the Roman Empire, the first fish to be brought indoors was the sea barbel, which was kept under guest beds in small tanks made of marble. Introduction of glass panes around the year 50 AD allowed Romans to replace one wall of marble tanks, leonhard Baldner, who wrote Vogel-, Fisch- und Tierbuch in 1666, maintained weather loaches and newts. In 1832, Jeanne Villepreux-Power, a pioneering French marine biologist, in 1836, soon after his invention of the Wardian case, Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward proposed to use his tanks for tropical animals. In 1841 he did so, though only with aquatic plants, however, he soon housed real animals. In 1838, Félix Dujardin noted owning a saltwater aquarium, though he did not use the term, in 1846, Anne Thynne maintained stony corals and seaweed for almost three years, and was credited as the creator of the first balanced marine aquarium in London. English chemist Robert Warington experimented with a 13-gallon container, which contained goldfish, eelgrass and he published his findings in 1850 in the Chemical Societys journal. The keeping of fish in an aquarium became a popular hobby, in the United Kingdom, it became popular after ornate aquaria in cast-iron frames were featured at the Great Exhibition of 1851. In 1853, the craze was launched in England by Philip Henry Gosse who created and stocked the first public aquarium in the London Zoo which came to be known as the Fish House. Gosse coined the word aquarium, opting for this term in 1854 in his book The Aquarium, in this book, Gosse primarily discussed saltwater aquaria. In the 1850s, the became a fad in the United Kingdom. Tank designs and techniques for maintaining water quality were developed by Warington, edward Edwards developed these glass-fronted aquaria in his 1858 patent for a dark-water-chamber slope-back tank, with water slowly circulating to a reservoir beneath. Germans soon rivaled the British in their interest, in 1854, an anonymous author had two articles published about the saltwater aquaria of the United Kingdom, Die Gartenlaube entitled Der Ocean auf dem Tische. However, in 1856, Der See im Glase was published, discussing freshwater aquaria, during the 1870s, some of the first aquarist societies were appearing in Germany. Published in 1858, Henry D. Butlers The Family Aquarium was one of the first books written in the United States solely about the aquarium
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Ecosystem
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An ecosystem is a community of living organisms in conjunction with the nonliving components of their environment, interacting as a system. These biotic and abiotic components are regarded as linked together through nutrient cycles, as ecosystems are defined by the network of interactions among organisms, and between organisms and their environment, they can be of any size but usually encompass specific, limited spaces. Energy, water, nitrogen and soil minerals are other essential components of an ecosystem. The energy that flows through ecosystems is obtained primarily from the sun and it generally enters the system through photosynthesis, a process that also captures carbon from the atmosphere. By feeding on plants and on one another, animals play an important role in the movement of matter and they also influence the quantity of plant and microbial biomass present. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors, other external factors include time and potential biota. Ecosystems are dynamic entities—invariably, they are subject to disturbances and are in the process of recovering from some past disturbance. Ecosystems in similar environments that are located in different parts of the world can have different characteristics simply because they contain different species. The introduction of species can cause substantial shifts in ecosystem function. Internal factors not only control ecosystem processes but are controlled by them and are often subject to feedback loops. Other internal factors include disturbance, succession and the types of species present, although humans exist and operate within ecosystems, their cumulative effects are large enough to influence external factors like climate. Biodiversity affects ecosystem function, as do the processes of disturbance, classifying ecosystems into ecologically homogeneous units is an important step towards effective ecosystem management, but there is no single, agreed-upon way to do this. The term ecosystem was first used in 1935 in a publication by British ecologist Arthur Tansley, Tansley devised the concept to draw attention to the importance of transfers of materials between organisms and their environment. He later refined the term, describing it as The whole system, including not only the organism-complex, but also the whole complex of physical factors forming what we call the environment. Tansley regarded ecosystems not simply as natural units, but as mental isolates, Tansley later defined the spatial extent of ecosystems using the term ecotope. G. Raymond Lindeman took these ideas one step further to suggest that the flow of energy through a lake was the driver of the ecosystem. Most mineral nutrients, on the hand, are recycled within ecosystems. Ecosystems are controlled both by external and internal factors, external factors, also called state factors, control the overall structure of an ecosystem and the way things work within it, but are not themselves influenced by the ecosystem
Expo Park/USC (Expo Line)
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