Croatia is a high-income country as well as member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, CEFTA, and is an elected member of the UN Security Council for the 2008–09 term. The country is also a candidate for membership of the European Union, and a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean upon its establishment in 2008.

Cincinnati is considered to have been the first American boomtown in the heart of the country in the early nineteenth century to rival the larger coastal cities in size and wealth. As the first major inland city in the country, it is sometimes thought of as the first purely American city, lacking the heavy European influence that was present on the east coast. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, Cincinnati’s growth had slowed considerably, and the city was surpassed in population by many other inland cities.

Cincinnati is home to major sports teams including the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals, as well as events like the Cincinnati Masters and the Thanksgiving Day race. The University of Cincinnati traces its foundation to the Medical College of Ohio, which was founded in 1819.

The leatherback turtle behind three is the largest of all living sea turtles and the fourth largest modern reptilecrocodilians. It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell. Instead, its carapace is covered by skin and oily flesh. Instead of teeth, the leatherback turtle has points on the tomium of its upper lip, with backwards spines in its throat to help it swallow food. Leatherback turtles can dive to depths as great as 4,200 feet (1,280 metres).

The leatherback turtle is a global species with a cosmopolitan range. Of all the extant sea turtle species, D. coriacea has the widest distribution, reaching as far north as Alaska and Norway and as far south as the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and the southernmost tip of New Zealand. The leatherback is found in all tropical and subtropical oceans, and its range has been known to extend well into the Arctic Circle. Globally, there are three major, genetically-distinct populations. The Atlantic Dermochelys population is separate from the ones in the Eastern and Western Pacific, which are also distinct from each other.

A third possible Pacific subpopulation has been proposed, specifically the leatherback turtles nesting in Malaysia. This subpopulation however, has almost been eradicated. The beach of Rantau Abang in Terengganu, Malaysia, had once had the largest nesting population in the world with 10,000 nests per year. However in 2008 only 2 leatherback turtles nested at Rantau Abang and unfortunately the eggs were infertile. The major cause for the decline in the leatherback turtles is the practice of egg collection in Malaysia.

Raleigh is the capital city of the state of North Carolina, the seat of Wake County and the second largest city in North Carolina behind Charlotte. Raleigh is known as the “City of Oaks” for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city’s estimated population on July 1, 2008 was 392,552 (a 42% increase from the 2000 Census), making Raleigh the 8th fastest growing city and the 45th largest city in the United States.

Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill make up the three historically primary cities of the Research Triangle metropolitan region. The regional nickname of “The Triangle” originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located between the cities of Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham.