3D modeling → CME Group, Sarcopterygii, Mercia

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  3D modelingIn 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of a surface of an object in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, and polygons in a simulated 3D space. Three-dimensional (3D) models represent a physical body using a collection of points in 3D space, connected by various geometric entities such as triangles, lines, curved surfaces, etc. Being a collection of data, 3D models can be created manually, algorithmically, or by scanning. Their surfaces may be further defined with texture mapping.
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  CME GroupCME Group Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, operates exchanges and provides clearing services for trading in financial derivatives such as futures contracts, options, and swaps. Its exchanges include the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and the Commodity Exchange (COMEX). The company also owns 27% of S&P Dow Jones Indices. The company operates the Globex Trading System, an electronic trading platform that allows customers in approximately 150 countries to trade futures and options contracts. The company also operates two platforms for spot market trading: BrokerTec, which facilitates dealer-to-dealer trading in fixed-income products, and EBS, which provides spot trading in foreign exchange markets. CME Clearing serves as a counterparty to every transaction cleared by the company. Financial derivatives traded on CME's exchanges are tied to interest rates, stock market indexes, energy-related products, agricultural products, exchange currencies, metals, and cryptocurrency. Institutional trading represents 85% to 90% of the company's trading volume. In 2025, 81% of the company's revenues were from clearing and transaction fees, 12% of revenues were from market data fees, and 7% of revenues were from other sources, primarily access and communication fees. In 2025, over 7 billion futures and options contracts were traded on the company's platforms; the company received average fees of $0.70 per contract traded. The company has witnessed increased trading volumes during periods of high market volatility.
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  SarcopterygiiSarcopterygii is a clade of vertebrate animals which includes a group of bony fishes and all four legged land animals, including humans. The common name for this clade is lobe-finned fish. Lobe-finned fish have muscular limb buds (lobes) within their fins, which are supported by appendicular skeletons. This is in contrast to the other clade of bony fishes, the Actinopterygii, which have only skin-covered bony spines supporting the fins. Sarcopterygii emerged in the Silurian and early Devonian periods consisting entirely of aquatic species, but today the vast majority of its species are land animals called tetrapods. This mostly terrestrial clade of vertebrates are now recognized as having evolved from sarcopterygian ancestors and are most closely related to lungfishes. The lobed fins evolved into limbs, and foregut diverticulum eventually evolved into air-breathing lungs. These changes made it possible for tetrapods to explore and eventually permeate terrestrial ecosystems. While it is technically correct to include tetrapod species with Sarcopterygii, the phrase "lobe-finned fish" normally refers to the aquatic species that are not tetrapods. Most species of lobe-finned fish are now extinct, but during the Carboniferous and Permian periods these non-tetrapod sarcopterygians were dominant predators of freshwater ecosystems. The entire clade suffered significant decline after the Permian–Triassic extinction event known as the Great Dying. It is estimated that at least two thirds of tetrapod species went extinct during this time. The lobe-finned fish were hit even harder. Today, the only living non-tetrapod sarcopterygians are the two species of coelacanths and six species of lungfishes.
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  MerciaMercia was an early medieval English kingdom, one of the seven kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon period. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlands of England. The royal court moved around the kingdom without a fixed capital city. Early in its existence Repton seems to have been the location of an important royal estate. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Great Heathen Army deposed the King of Mercia from Repton in 873–874. Slightly earlier, King Offa seems to have favoured Tamworth. He was crowned there, and Tamworth is where he resided during multiple Christmases. For the three centuries between 600 and 900, known as Mercian Supremacy or the "Golden Age of Mercia", having annexed or gained submissions from five of the other six kingdoms of the Heptarchy, Mercia dominated England south of the Humber estuary. During King Offa's reign, a dyke was created as the boundary between Mercia and the Welsh kingdoms. Nicholas Brooks noted that "the Mercians stand out as by far the most successful of the various early Anglo-Saxon peoples until the later ninth century", and some historians, such as Sir Frank Stenton, believe the unification of England south of the Humber estuary was achieved during Offa's reign. King Peada converted to Christianity around 656. The Diocese of Mercia was founded in this year, with the first bishop (Diuma) based at Repton. The religion was firmly established in the kingdom by the late 7th century. After 13 years at Repton, in 669, Saint Chad moved the bishopric to Lichfield and, in 691, the Diocese of Mercia became the Diocese of Lichfield. There has been a diocese based in the city ever since. For a brief period between 787 and 799 or 803 the diocese was an archbishopric. The current bishop, Michael Ipgrave, is the 99th since the diocese was established. At the end of the 9th century, following the invasions of the Vikings and their Great Heathen Army, Danelaw absorbed much of the former Mercian territory. Danelaw at its height included London, all of East Anglia and most of the North of England. The final Mercian king, Ceolwulf II, died in 879 with the kingdom appearing to have lost its political independence. Initially, it was ruled by a lord or ealdorman under the overlordship of Alfred the Great, who styled himself "King of the Anglo-Saxons". The kingdom had a brief period of independence in the mid-10th century and in 1016, by which time it was viewed as a province with temporary independence. Wessex conquered and united all the kingdoms into the Kingdom of England. The kingdom became an earldom until 1071.

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