1.
Houston
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Houston is the most populous city in the state of Texas and the fourth-most populous city in the United States. With a census-estimated 2014 population of 2.239 million within an area of 667 square miles, it also is the largest city in the southern United States and the seat of Harris County. Located in Southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico, it is the city of Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land. Houston was founded on August 28,1836, near the banks of Buffalo Bayou and incorporated as a city on June 5,1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded, the burgeoning port and railroad industry, combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the citys population. Houstons economy has an industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics. Leading in health care sectors and building equipment, Houston has more Fortune 500 headquarters within its city limits than any city except for New York City. The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled, the city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. Houston is the most diverse city in Texas and has described as the most diverse in the United States. It is home to cultural institutions and exhibits, which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has a visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District. In August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs from New York, Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city. The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the general at the Battle of San Jacinto. The great majority of slaves in Texas came with their owners from the slave states. Sizable numbers, however, came through the slave trade. New Orleans was the center of trade in the Deep South. Thousands of enslaved African Americans lived near the city before the Civil War, many of them near the city worked on sugar and cotton plantations, while most of those in the city limits had domestic and artisan jobs. Houston was granted incorporation on June 5,1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor, in the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas
2.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
3.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
4.
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
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Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP is an American architectural, urban planning, and engineering firm. It was formed in Chicago in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings, with a portfolio spanning thousands of projects across 50 countries, SOM is one of the largest architectural firms in the world. Their primary expertise is in commercial buildings, as it was SOM that led the way to the widespread use of the modern international-style or glass box skyscraper. They have designed several of the tallest buildings in the world, including the John Hancock Center, Willis Tower, due to their faithful following of Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohes ideas, Frank Lloyd Wright nicknamed them The Three Blind Mies. Notable SOM architects include, Edward Charles Bassett, Natalie de Blois, Gordon Bunshaft, David Childs, Myron Goldsmith, Bruce Graham, Gertrude Kerbis, Fazlur Rahman Khan. Lucien Lagrange, Walter Netsch, Larry Oltmanns, Brigitte Peterhans, Adrian Smith, indeed, Khan is responsible for developing the algorithms that made the Hancock building and many subsequent skyscrapers possible. Another notable SOM engineer is Bill Baker, who is best known as the engineer of Burj Khalifa, to support the towers record heights and slim footprint, he developed the buttressed core structural system, consisting of a hexagonal core reinforced by three buttresses that form a Y shape. Davis Allen, a pioneer in corporate interior design, had a tenure at SOM. Throughout its history, SOM has been recognized more than 1,700 awards for quality. More than 900 of these awards have received since 1998. In 1996 and 1962, SOM received the Architecture Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects, SOM is the only firm to have received this honor twic13 R+D Awards from Architect Magazine. In addition, a collaboration between SOM and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, The Center for Architecture, Science and Ecology, was honored with a fifth award. SOM has completed over 10,000 projects around the United States and in more than 50 other countries around the world, london, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mumbai, and Abu Dhabi. Smaller field offices supplement these in such as the Philippines. Burj Khalifa is the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 829.8 m, construction began on 21 September 2004, and the building officially opened on 4 January 2010. The towers architect and engineer was Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, george J. Efstathiou was the Managing Partner for the project. Bill Baker, the Chief Structural Engineer for the project, invented the buttressed core structural system in order to enable the tower to achieve such heights economically, Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill until 2006, was the Consulting Design Partner. The primary builder is a joint venture of South Korean Samsung C&T, one World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, is located in Manhattan, New York City, and is 1,776 ft high, making it the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere
5.
Wells Fargo
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Wells Fargo & Company is an American international banking and financial services holding company headquartered in San Francisco, California, with hubquarters throughout the country. It is the worlds second-largest bank by market capitalization and the third largest bank in the U. S. by assets, Wells Fargo surpassed Citigroup Inc. to become the third-largest U. S. bank by assets at the end of 2015. Wells Fargo is the second-largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing, the firms primary U. S. operating subsidiary is national bank Wells Fargo Bank, N. A. which designates its main office as Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In 2016, Wells Fargo ranked 7th on the Forbes Magazine Global 2000 list of largest public companies in the world, in 2015, the company was ranked the 22nd most admired company in the world, and the 7th most respected company in the world. As of October 2015, the company had a rating of AA−. However, for a period in 2007, the company was the only AAA-rated bank. Along with JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Citigroup, as of December 31,2015, it had 8,700 retail branches and 13,000 automated teller machines. The company operates across 35 countries and has over 70 million customers globally, in February 2014, Wells Fargo was named the worlds most valuable bank brand for the second year running in The Banker and Brand Finance study of the top 500 banking brands. In December 2016, following the scandal, the company amended its by-laws to separate the roles of chairman, in January 2017, it emerged that Wells Fargo had kept its talks with the U. S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau about the fake account investigation silent from shareholders for up to six months beginning as early as March 2016. A regulatory filing by Wells Fargo revealed in November 2016 that it was under investigation by the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission in relation to its accounts sales practices. Also in November 2016, three U. S. senators alleged that Wells Fargos sales scandal had extended from retail bankers to its employees. Wells Fargo delineates three different business segments when reporting results, Community Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Wealth, Brokerage, the Community Banking segment includes Regional Banking, Diversified Products, and the Consumer Deposits groups, as well as Wells Fargo Customer Connection. Wells Fargo also has around 2,000 stand-alone mortgage branches throughout the country, in March 2017, Wells Fargo announced a plan to offer smartphone-based transactions with mobile wallets including Wells Fargo Wallet, Android Pay and Samsung Pay. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is the largest retail mortgage lender in the United States, as of Q32011, originating one out of every four home loans. Wells Fargo services $1.8 trillion in home mortgages, the 2nd largest servicing portfolio in the U. S. Now, in 2013 its share is closer to 22%, of which eight percentage points is aggregation. Wells Fargo private student loans are available to students to pay for college expenses, such as, tuition, books, computers. Loans are available for undergraduate, career and community colleges, graduate school, law school, Wells Fargo also provides private student loan consolidation and student loans for parents
6.
Downtown Houston
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Downtown Houston is Houstons central business district, containing the headquarters of many prominent companies. There is a network of pedestrian tunnels and skywalks connecting the buildings of the district. The tunnel system is home to restaurants, shops and services. What is now Downtown made up almost all of the City of Houston until expansions of the city limits in the early 20th century, Downtown Houston was the original founding point of the city. After the Texas Revolution, two New York real estate promoters, John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, purchased 6,642 acres of land from Thomas F. L, parrot and his wife, Elizabeth, for $9,428. The Allen brothers first landed in the area where the White Oak Bayou and Buffalo Bayou meet, gail Borden, Jr. a city planner, laid out wide streets for the town. The city was granted incorporation by the Texas legislature on June 5,1837, Houston was the temporary capital of Texas. In 1840, the town was divided into four wards, each with different functions in the community, by 1906 what is now Downtown was divided among six wards. The wards are no longer political divisions, but their names are used to refer to certain areas. Houston became a choice, as only the most powerful storms were able to reach the city. The second came a year later with the 1901 discovery of oil at spindletop, shipping and oil industries began flocking to east Texas, many settling in Houston. From that point forward the area grew substantially, as many skyscrapers were constructed, in the 1980s, however, economic recession canceled some projects and caused others to be scaled back, such as the Bank of the Southwest Tower. Ralph Bivins of the Houston Chronicle wrote that Fox said that area was a neighborhood of Victorian-era homes. Bivins said that the construction of Union Station, which occurred around 1910, hotels opened in the area to service travelers. Afterwards, according to Bivins, the area began a downward slide toward the skid row of the 1990s. Passenger trains stopped going to Union Station in 1974, the construction of Interstate 45 in the 1950s separated portions of the historic Third Ward from the rest of the Third Ward and brought those portions into Downtown. Beginning in the 1960s the development of the 610 Loop caused the focus of the Houston area to move away from Downtown Houston, in the mid-1980s, the bank savings and loan crisis forced many tenants in Downtown Houston buildings to retrench, and some tenants went out of business. Barna said that this development further caused Downtown Houston to decline, the Gulf Hotel fire occurred in 1943
7.
JPMorgan Chase Tower (Houston)
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The JPMorgan Chase Tower, formerly Texas Commerce Tower, is a 305.4 m, 75-story,2,243,013 sq. ft skyscraper at 600 Travis Street in Downtown Houston, Texas. The tower was built between 1979 and 1981 as the Texas Commerce Tower and it was designed by noted architects I. M. Pei & Partners. In some early plans, the building reached up to 80 stories, however, nonetheless, when it was completed, it was the eighth tallest building in the world. The building was developed as part of a partnership between Texas Commerce Bank and Khalid bin Mahfouz and it was built on the site where the Uptown Theatre, demolished in 1965, once stood. S. Bank Tower, was built in 1990, JPMorgan Chase Tower is not currently connected to the Houston Downtown Tunnel System. This system forms a network of subterranean, climate-controlled, pedestrian walkways that link twenty-five full city blocks, the Tower also includes 22,000 square feet of retail space. The sky lobby observation deck is located on the 60th floor, one can take the express elevator, providing a panoramic view of the city of Houston thanks to the use of wide glass spans and thirteen-foot ceilings. While the towers name reflects the bank JPMorgan Chase, the space designated to Chase is a single branch office on the bottom floor. The tower is owned by Prime Asset Management and managed by its original owner, police were forced to cordon off the area due to the amount of debris in the streets. At first, it was speculated that the glass came off the building due to impact from debris or due to high-speed winds in the confined spaces, however, flying glass debris must be entirely governed by drag and lift forces that overcome gravity for a considerable time period. This theory was proposed because an increase in speed produces a drop in external pressure. List of tallest buildings in Houston List of tallest buildings by U. S
8.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
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PricewaterhouseCoopers is a multinational professional services network headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the second largest professional services firm in the world, vault Accounting 50 has ranked PwC as the most prestigious accounting firm in the world for seven consecutive years, as well as the top firm to work for in North America for three consecutive years. PwC is a network of firms in 157 countries,756 locations, as of 2015, 22% of the workforce worked in Asia, 26% in North America and Caribbean and 32% in Western Europe. The companys global revenues were $35.9 billion in FY2016, of which $15.2 billion was generated by its Assurance practice, $9.1 billion by its Tax practice, the firm was formed in 1998 by a merger between Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse. The trading name was shortened to PwC in September 2010 as part of a rebranding, as of 2016, PwC is the 5th-largest privately owned company in the United States. The firm was created in 1998 when Coopers & Lybrand merged with Price Waterhouse, both firms had histories dating back to the 19th century. In 1854 William Cooper founded a practice in London, which became Cooper Brothers seven years later when his three brothers joined. In 1898, Robert H. Montgomery, William M. Lybrand, Adam A. Ross Jr. and his brother T. Edward Ross formed Lybrand, Ross Brothers and Montgomery in the United States. In 1957 Cooper Brothers, Lybrand, Ross Bros & Montgomery, in 1973 the three member firms in the UK, US and Canada changed their names to Coopers & Lybrand. Then in 1980 Coopers & Lybrand expanded its expertise in insolvency substantially by acquiring Cork Gully, in 1990 in certain countries including the UK, Coopers & Lybrand merged with Deloitte Haskins & Sells to become Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte, in 1992 they reverted to Coopers & Lybrand. Samuel Lowell Price, an accountant, founded a practice in London in 1849. In 1865 Price went into partnership with William Hopkins Holyland and Edwin Waterhouse, Holyland left shortly afterwards to work alone in accountancy and the firm was known from 1874 as Price, Waterhouse & Co. The original partnership agreement, signed by Price, Holyland and Waterhouse could be found in Southwark Towers, by the late 19th century, Price Waterhouse had gained significant recognition as an accounting firm. As a result of growing trade between the United Kingdom and the United States, Price Waterhouse opened an office in New York in 1890, and the American firm itself soon expanded rapidly. It was said by those involved with the merger that at the end of the discussion, the partners at the table realized they had different views of business. In 1998, Price Waterhouse merged with Coopers & Lybrand to form PricewaterhouseCoopers, after the merger the firm had a large professional consulting branch, as did other major accountancy firms, generating much of its fees. Management Consulting Services was the fastest growing and often most profitable area of the practice, the major cause for growth in the 1990s was the implementation of complex integrated ERP systems for multi-national companies. PwC came under increasing pressure to avoid conflicts of interests by not providing some consulting services, particularly financial systems design and implementation, since it audited a large proportion of the worlds largest companies, this was beginning to limit its consulting market
9.
Pilates
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Pilates is a physical fitness system developed in the early 20th century by Joseph Pilates. It is practiced worldwide, and especially in countries such as Canada, the United States. As of 2005, there were 11 million people practicing the discipline regularly and 14,000 instructors in the United States, there is only limited evidence to support the use of Pilates to alleviate low back pain, or improve balance in elderly people. Pilates has not been shown to be a treatment for any medical condition. There is some evidence Pilates can help muscle conditioning in healthy adults, in his book Return to Life through Contrology, Joseph Pilates presents his method as the art of controlled movements, which should look and feel like a workout when properly manifested. If practiced with consistency, Pilates improves flexibility, builds strength and develops control and it puts emphasis on alignment, breathing, developing a strong core, and improving coordination and balance. The core, consisting of the muscles of the abdomen, low back, intensity can be increased over time as the body conditions and adapts to the exercises. Pilates was developed by Joseph Pilates, from Mönchengladbach, Germany and his father was a prize-winning gymnast and his mother a naturopath. It is widely claimed on the internet that Joseph Pilates studied Yoga, however there is no evidence for this in his writings, during the first half of the twentieth century, he developed a system of exercises which were intended to strengthen the human mind and body. Pilates believed that mental and physical health were interrelated, in his youth he had practiced many of the physical training regimes available in Germany, and it was from these he developed his own work. It has clear connections with the culture of the late nineteenth century, such as the use of special apparatuses. It is also related to the tradition of corrective exercise or medical gymnastics as typified by Pehr Henrik Ling, Joseph Pilates accompanied his method with a variety of equipment, for which he used the term apparatus. Each apparatus was designed to accelerate the process of stretching, strengthening, body alignment. The best-known and most popular today, the Reformer, was originally called the Universal Reformer. Eventually Pilates designed other apparatus, including the Cadillac, Wunda Chair, High Electric Chair, Spine Corrector, Ladder Barrel, contemporary Pilates includes both the Modern Pilates and the Classical/Traditional Pilates. Modern Pilates is partly derived from the teaching of some first generation students, a number of versions of Pilates are taught today and the majority are based on up to nine principles. These have been widely adopted—and adapted—by the wider community, the original six principles were concentration, control, center, flow, precision, and breathing. Breathing is important in the Pilates method, in Return to Life, Pilates devotes a section of his introduction specifically to breathing bodily house-cleaning with blood circulation
10.
Ohio University
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Ohio University is a large, primarily residential, public research university in Athens, Ohio, United States. One of Americas oldest universities, the second oldest in Ohio, it was chartered in 1787 and approved in 1804, as of 2014, the Athens campus had 23,300 students, the other five campuses had approximately 10,000, and eLearning 5,900. The Heritage College of Medicine maintains its separate select admissions criteria, Ohio University offers more than 250 areas of undergraduate study. On the graduate level, the university grants masters degrees in many of its academic divisions. Ohio University is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching classifies Ohio as a Research University under the Basic Classification category. Ohios athletic teams are called the Bobcats and compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I level as members of the Mid-American Conference. Ohio football has participated in ten games through the 2016 season. George Washington stated the settlement of southeastern Ohio was not accidental, but the result of the deliberation of wise, prudent. The Confederation Congress, which operated under the Articles of Confederation, executive roles transacted from committees of Congress or appointed persons. The Ordinance of 1787 made Ohio University the first ever to be chartered through acts of Congress and this epithet is engraved on the universitys main college gateway. The university was appropriated and envisioned by Manasseh Cutler, credited as the founder along with Rufus Putnam. Cutler had served as a chaplain in Washingtons Continental Army, the institutions first name was American University. President Thomas Jeffersons policy initiatives included an expansion of the new nation. In 1802 approval was granted by the government for the establishment of the American Western University. Ohio University was recognized by the new state on February 18,1804 and this approval came eleven months after Ohio was admitted to the Union. The first three students enrolled in 1809, the university graduated two students with bachelors degrees in 1815. The university was not gifted by the stalwart Republicans with lands and monies for the agricultural, the 20th century brought unprecedented growth in student enrollment, academic offerings, and research facilities. Between 1955 and 1970, the university realized a tripling of enrollment in the post-World War II expansion of college education
