Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and gas). Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms (reducing or increasing the number of electrons in them), thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions.

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door." - Emma Lazarus, inscription for the Statue of Liberty

A utility cooperative is a type of cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications to its members. Profits are either reinvested for infrastructure or distributed to members in the form of "patronage" or "capital credits", which are essentially dividends paid on a member's investment into the cooperative. Each customer is a member and owner of the business with an equal say as every other member of the cooperative, unlike investor-owned utilities where the amount of say is governed by the number of shares held.

The Criminal Grand Jury of Los Angeles County attends hearings brought by the District Attorney’s Office . The objective of this jury is to determine, on the basis of evidence presented by the District Attorney’s Office, whether certain persons should be charged with crimes an d required to stand trial in Superior Court. The Criminal Grand Jury is an accusatory body and not a trial jury; therefore, the burden of proof is much lower. Specifically, the Criminal Grand Jury must decide if there is a strong suspicion the individual committed the alleged crime.

The Scientific Services Bureau operates one of the largest full-service crime laboratories in the United States. A staff of 198 members provides forensic science support to all Los Angeles County law enforcement agencies, except the Los Angeles Police Department. Approximately one half of the nearly 70,000 cases submitted annually to the Crime Lab is from Sheriff's Department investigators , while the remainder is from local, state, and federal agencies. Since 1989 the Scientific Services Bureau has been an accredited laboratory through the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB).