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McKinsey & Company, colloquially known as McKinsey, is an international management consulting firm headquartered in New York City, New York. McKinsey is a private corporation owned by high-level employees. It is considered one of the “big three” management consulting firms and the first firms to offer such services. As a management consulting firm, McKinsey advises other companies, giving suggestions that will help them improve profitability and growth. McKinsey also offers some services to help implement its advice.

Cultural evolution is an anthropological and sociological theory about the way culture changes over time. The theory of cultural evolution is that culture changes as it passes among people and among groups of people. Another definition of cultural evolution is that it is the way people change their behavior based on information learned through teaching by others, through the imitation of others, and through other forms of social transmission. The study of cultural evolution developed out of the ideas of biological evolution, which is the scientific understanding of how living organisms have evolved over time. Anthropologists and sociologists who study cultural evolution believe that culture changes, or evolves, in ways that are similar to the way living things evolve. Despite the similarities some sociologists see between cultural and biological evolution, sociologists point out that the two fields also have some very important differences. The theory of cultural evolution relies on information and theories from many different disciplines including anthropology, sociology, biology, and economics. Researchers can study particular elements of culture (e.g., language or religion) or changes in particular cultures over time.

The Taj Mahal is an enormous structure, originally constructed as a tomb, in Agra, India, across from the River Yamuna. Shah Jahan built the tomb across from his own palace in the 1600s to honor his late wife. The building is an important example of Islamic architecture and includes many themes common among Islamic buildings of the 1500s and early 1600s. Tens of thousands of workers and hundreds of animals labored for almost two decades to complete the massive project. Today, the enormous white marble building is one of the most well-known structures in the world, and millions of people visit the site each year. The term Taj Mahal means “crown of palaces.”

Ernst & Young Global Limited (EY) is a privately held company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Ernst & Young Global Limited is the guiding organization for the network of professional services firms that together make up Ernst & Young, or EY. Ernst & Young firms offer audit, tax, technology, and advisory services around the world. The company was formed in 1989 when two of the world’s largest accounting firms—which had started in the late 1800s and early 1900s—merged. By the mid-2020s, Ernst & Young firms employed more than 390,000 people worldwide.

Ex Libris Group is a library technology company that is owned by ProQuest, a technology company that provides data and analytics. Ex Libris Group was established in 1986 to support software used in the library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The company improved the software and made it available for other libraries to purchase and use. The company expanded its presence around the world and was acquired multiple times in the 2000s and 2010s. Ex Libris Group’s growth and acquisitions made it one of the leading library technology companies in the world and a major partner of institutions in the library and archives industry. The company provides resources to academic, research, and national libraries. It also offers products that are used by museums and higher education institutions. Ex Libris Group has a number of products that help with library management, including tracking circulation and acquisitions. The company also has some software that helps users conduct research.

During the 1800s and early 1900s, Columbia was a female personification of the United States that was created before the United States was even an independent nation. Columbia was used in artwork and political cartoons to symbolize the United States and the American people. Columbia was an important symbol for colonists during the Revolutionary War, for northerners during the Civil War, and for suffragettes when women were fighting for the right to vote. Columbia was a popular representation for more than a century, but she eventually fell out of favor as other symbols, in particular the Statue of Liberty, became more important in American culture.

Parasocial interactions are interactions that involve a person having a one-sided relationship with someone else, real or fictional. The most famous example of a parasocial interaction is between a fan and a celebrity. The fan may watch the celebrity on television, learn about the celebrity’s life, and see the celebrity at a public event. However, the celebrity does not know the fan. Parasocial interactions and relationships are one-sided so that that only one person experiences the relationship. Parasocial interactions were first formally identified in the mid-twentieth century after the introduction of television and radio—two mediums through which people can have parasocial interactions. The internet has developed further ways for people to have parasocial interactions and relationships, including through social media. The idea of parasocial relationships is important in a number of different disciplines and fields including psychology, sociology, and marketing.