text:
Remember that his strength is his wingspan, not the size.
i think the pic is just misleading somehow look at the difference where there knees and shoulder are. unless tross is a giraffe this doesnt make sense
Here is a photo showing JV to be 216 cm in street shoes. He is likely slightly taller in basketball shoes. 214 cm is over 7 feet.
Edit: as well with the picture on ESPN, it looks like the camera height is at or slightly below Paul's eye-level, which is going to be more accurate for things at that height. In the Raptors photo, it looks like camera height is probably chest-level, which is going to increase the perspective problems. Just look at Ross's shoulders! His right shoulder is about three to four inches higher than his left. Which is why I mentioned comparing the shoulder heights of JV and Ross in the photo, because their shoulders are pretty close together, making it one of the few places where a useful comparison can be done.
Last edited by octothorp; Fri Aug 31st, 2012 at 12:49 PM.
Amazing, a NY Post article not talking negatively about us:
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/more_...#ixzz267fZ7TqvKnicks' Chandler among difficult tests for Raptors rookie
By TIM BONTEMPS
Jonas Valanciunas is in for a steep learning curve in his rookie year.
The Raptors center – who likely would have been the No. 2 pick in this year's draft behind Anthony Davis if he'd been in this year's draft – will have to go up against Tyson Chandler, Brook Lopez, Kevin Garnett and Andrew Bynum this year in the Atlantic Division.
But Valanciunas, the fifth pick in the 2011 draft who then spent last season playing in Europe, is looking forward to going up against each of them all season long.
"I like challenges, because I'm a young guy and I have to improve myself in this league, and challenges are going to help me," he said last month at the 2012 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot with Panini, the NBA's trading card partner for the past four years.
"I'm not expecting to beat those guys from the start, but I'm going to work hard and prove that I can play with those guys."
The 20-year-old from Lithuania already got some exposure this summer, when he was a member of his country's Olympic team in London. Valanciunas and his teammates gave Team USA one of its most difficult games of the tournament, leading 82-80 with less than seven minutes remaining before the U.S. eventually won 99-94.
Valanciunas spent that game matched up against Chandler, the starting center for Team USA.
"I had a great experience," said Valanciunas, who was the fifth pick in the 2011 draft and played professionally last year in Lithuania.
"The Olympics are the best [competition] I could get this summer. I got a lot of experience playing against USA's Dream Team, a lot of different teams like Argentina, France … there were a lot of great players."
The Raptors made several moves to improve their team this summer besides bringing Valanciunas over from Europe. They traded for Kyle Lowry, signed former Knick Landry Fields, drafted guard Terrence Ross and should have Andrea Bargnani back healthy after he spent much of last season sidelined with a lingering calf injury.
"We have a young team," Valanciunas said. "We have energy, speed … we're gonna try to win games.
"I'm excited. I've heard [Toronto] is a great city. I'm looking forward to moving there. It's [a great] opportunity … it's going to be good."
I didn't read anything negative there. EDIT: But then again, this article is 90% quotes. It's not really saying anything at all, lol.
Last edited by Nilanka; Tue Sep 11th, 2012 at 09:35 AM.
I know this is old, but I just found it...
Skip to the 40 second mark for both these videos
Jonas Valanciunas
sounds better speaking English
than Jose Calderon.
His pronounciation might be better. I doubt his English is anywhere near Jose's though
That's true.
By the way, this is very off-topic, but in my sig, did I get the Lithuanian right?
(Iš Lietuvos, skaičius septyniolika)
Sweeeeeet. Let's hope Herbie Kuhn can pronounce that!
Statistical Expectations for Jonas Valanciunas
when compared to "top 10" big men of this decade in their rookie seasons:
I'm expecting 9ppg 8rpg 1.5bpg
No, the most accurate translation and fitting the subject matter would be 'septynioliktas numeris'...
Wait, what are we doing here again?..
Currently reading a local interview with JV about leaving Lithuania for NBA (I think it's today's).
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text:
National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2008 (ICPSR 26701)
Principal Investigator(s): United States Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Office of Applied Studies
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) series (formerly titled National Household Survey on Drug Abuse) primarily measures the prevalence and correlates of drug use in the United States. Detailed NSDUH 2008 documentation is available from SAMHSA. The surveys are designed to provide quarterly, as well as annual, estimates. Information is provided on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco among members of United States households aged 12 and older. Questions included age at first use as well as lifetime, annual, and past-month usage for the following drug classes: marijuana, cocaine (and crack), hallucinogens, heroin, inhalants, alcohol, tobacco, and nonmedical use of prescription drugs, including pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives. The survey covered substance abuse treatment history and perceived need for treatment, and included questions from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders that allow diagnostic criteria to be applied. The survey included questions concerning treatment for both substance abuse and mental health related disorders. Respondents were also asked about personal and family income sources and amounts, health care access and coverage, illegal activities and arrest record, problems resulting from the use of drugs, and needle-sharing. Questions introduced in previous administrations were retained in the 2008 survey, including questions asked only of respondents aged 12 to 17. These "youth experiences" items covered a variety of topics, such as neighborhood environment, illegal activities, drug use by friends, social support, extracurricular activities, exposure to substance abuse prevention and education programs, and perceived adult attitudes toward drug use and activities such as school work. Several measures focused on prevention-related themes in this section. Also retained were questions on mental health and access to care, perceived risk of using drugs, perceived availability of drugs, driving and personal behavior, and cigar smoking. Questions on the tobacco brand used most often were introduced with the 1999 survey. For this 2008 survey, Adult mental health questions were added to measure symptoms of psychological distress in the worst period of distress that a person experienced in the past 30 days and suicidal ideation. A split-sample design also was included to administer separate sets of questions to assess impairment due to mental health problems. Background information includes gender, race, age, ethnicity, marital status, educational level, job status, veteran status, and current household composition.
Series: National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Series
Access Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
WARNING: This study is over 150MB in size and may take several minutes to download on a typical internet connection.
ASCII + SAS Setup SPSS Setup Stata Setup
Study Description
United States Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Office of Applied Studies. National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2008. ICPSR26701-v6. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2015-11-23. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR26701.v6
Persistent URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR26701.v6
Export Citation:
- RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
- EndNote XML (EndNote X4.0.1 or higher)
This study was funded by:
- United States Department of Health and Human Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Office of Applied Studies (283-2004-00022)
Scope of Study
Subject Terms: addiction, alcohol, alcohol abuse, alcohol consumption, amphetamines, barbiturates, cocaine, controlled drugs, crack cocaine, demographic characteristics, depression (psychology), drinking behavior, drug abuse, drug dependence, drug treatment, drug use, drugs, employment, hallucinogens, health care, heroin, households, income, inhalants, marijuana, mental health, mental health services, methamphetamine, pregnancy, prescription drugs, sedatives, smoking, stimulants, substance abuse, substance abuse treatment, tobacco use, tranquilizers, youths
Geographic Coverage: United States
- 2008
- 2008
Unit of Observation: individual
Universe: The civilian, noninstitutionalized population of the United States aged 12 and older, including residents of noninstitutional group quarters such as college dormitories, group homes, shelters, rooming houses, and civilians dwelling on military installations.
Data were collected and prepared for release by Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
Since 1999, the survey sample has employed a 50-State design with an independent, multistage area probability sample for each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia.
Prior to the 2002 survey, this series was titled National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse.
Although the design of the 2008 survey is similar to the design of the 1999 through 2001 surveys, there are important methodological differences since 2002 that affect the 2008 estimates. Each NSDUH respondent since 2002 has been given an incentive payment of $30. This change resulted in an improvement in the survey response rate. In addition, in 2002 new population data from the 2000 decennial Census became available for use in NSDUH sample weighting procedures. Therefore the data from 2002 and later should not be compared with data collected in 2001 or earlier to assess changes over time.
For selected variables, statistical imputation was performed following logical inference to replace missing responses. These variables are identified in the codebook as "...LOGICALLY ASSIGNED" for the logical procedure, or by the designation "IMPUTATION-REVISED" in the variable label when the statistical procedure was also performed. The names of statistically imputed variables begin with the letters "IR". For each imputation-revised variable, a corresponding imputation indicator variable indicates whether a case's value on the variable resulted from an interview response or was imputed. Missing values for some demographic variables were imputed by the unweighted hot-deck technique used in previous surveys. Beginning in 1999, imputation of missing values for most variables was accomplished using predictive mean neighborhoods (PMN), a new procedure developed specifically for this survey. Both the hot-deck and PMN imputation procedures are described in the codebook.
To protect the privacy of respondents, all variables that could be used to identify individuals have been encrypted or collapsed in the public use file. To further ensure respondent confidentiality, the data producer used data substitution and deletion of state identifiers and a subsample of records in the creation of the public use file.
Previously published estimates may not be exactly reproducible from the variables in the public use file due to the disclosure protection procedures that were implemented.
The setup and dictionary files for Stata are designed to be compatible with StataSE, Version 8. This is a large data file requiring that approximately 250 megabytes of Random Access Memory be allocated to Stata. Operations within Stata, including conversion of the ASCII data to Stata format, are likely to be slow. Analysts may wish to download subsets of data from the SAMHDA Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA) system for use with Stata.
In the income section, which was interviewer-administered, a split-sample study had been embedded within the 2006 and 2007 surveys to compare a shorter version of the income questions with a longer set of questions that had been used in previous surveys. This shorter version was adopted for the 2008 NSDUH and will be used for future NSDUHs.
Sample: A multistage area probability sample for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia has been used since 1999. The 2005 NSDUH was the first survey in a coordinated five-year sample design. Although there is no overlap with the 1999-2004 samples, the coordinated design for 2005 through 2009 facilitated a 50 percent overlap in second-stage units (area segments [see below]) between each two successive years from 2005 through 2009. This design was intended to increase precision of estimates in year-to-year trend analyses because of the expected positive correlation resulting from the overlapping sample between successive survey years. The 2008 design allows for computation of estimates by state in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. States may therefore be viewed as the first level of stratification as well as a reporting variable. Eight states, referred to as the large sample states, had a sample designed to yield 3,600 respondents per state for the 2008 survey. This sample size was considered adequate to support direct state estimates. The remaining 43 states (which include the District of Columbia) had a sample designed to yield 900 respondents per state in the 2008 survey. In these 43 states, adequate data were available to support reliable state estimates based on SAE methodology. Within each state, sampling strata called state sampling (SS) regions were formed. Based on a composite size measure, states were partitioned geographically into roughly equal-sized regions. In other words, regions were formed such that each area yielded, in expectation, roughly the same number of interviews during each data collection period. The eight large sample states were divided into 48 SS regions each. The remaining states were divided into 12 SS regions each. Therefore, the partitioning of the United States resulted in the formation of a total of 900 SS regions. Unlike the 1999 through 2004 surveys, the first stage of selection for the 2005 through 2009 NSDUHs was Census tracts. The first stage of selection began with the construction of an area sample frame that contained one record for each Census tract in the United States. If necessary, Census tracts were aggregated within SS regions until each tract had, at a minimum, 150 dwelling units in urban areas and 100 dwelling units in rural areas. These Census tracts served as the primary sampling units (PSUs) for the coordinated five-year sample. One area segment (one or more Census blocks) was selected within each sampled Census tract. In advance of the survey period, specially trained listers had visited each area segment and listed all addresses for housing units and eligible group quarters units in a prescribed order. Systematic sampling was used to select the allocated sample of addresses from each segment. Beginning in 2002, each respondent who completed a full interview was given a $30 cash payment as a token of appreciation for his or her time. To improve the precision of the estimates, the sample allocation process targeted five age groups: 12 to 17 years, 18 to 25 years, 26 to 34 years, 35 to 49 years, and 50 years or older. The size measures used in selecting the area segments were coordinated with the dwelling unit and person selection process so that a nearly self-weighting sample could be achieved in each of the five age groups. The achieved sample size for the 2008 survey was 67,928 persons. The public use file contains 55,739 records due to a subsampling step used in the disclosure protection procedures. A key step in the data processing procedures established the minimum item response requirements in order for cases to be retained for weighting and further analysis (i.e., "usable" cases). These requirements, as well as full sampling methodology, are detailed in the codebook.
Due to unequal selection probabilities at multiple stages of sample selection and various adjustments, such as those for nonresponse and poststratification, the 2008 NSDUH sample design is not self-weighting. Analysts are advised to use the final sample weight when attempting to use the 2008 NSDUH data to draw inferences about the target population or any subdomains of the target population. All estimates published in SAMHSA reports (such as the results from the 2008 NSDUH) are weighted using the final analysis weight for the full sample (ANALWT). For the public use file, the corresponding final sample weight is denoted as ANALWT_C, with the "C" denoting confidentiality protection. This sample weight represents the total number of target population persons each record on the file represents. Note that the sum of ANALWT_C, over all records on the data file, represents an estimate of the total number of people in the target population.
In the mental health module of the 2008 NSDUH, the adult sample was split into sample A (MHSAMP08 = 1) who received the World Health Organization-Disability Assessment Scale (WHODAS) questions LIREMEM through LIAD68, and sample B (MHSAMP08 = 2) who received the Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS) questions MHAD66a through MHAD68. The mental health adult split-sample weight (MHSAWT_C) was created to accommodate analysis using either one of the split samples, and it is the product of person-level analysis weight (ANALWT_C) and a poststratification adjustment that was done separately for both sample A and sample B. The mental health adult split-sample weight for both sample A and sample B was controlled to the Census population estimates for the civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged 18 or older. It is noted that the MHSAWT_C was set to zero for all 12 to 17 year olds and the 10 adults who were not assigned to either of the split samples. The MHSAWT_C can be used for generating mental health estimates when using just sample A data or when using just sample B data separately. However, if mental health estimates are generated using both sample A and sample B combined data, then the person-level analysis weight (ANALWT_C) should be used.
Mode of Data Collection: audio computer-assisted self interview (ACASI), computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI), computer-assisted self interview (CASI)
Response Rates: Strategies for ensuring high rates of participation resulted in a weighted screening response rate of 88.62 percent and a weighted interview response rate for the CAI of 74.24 percent. (Note that these response rates reflect the original sample, not the subsampled data file referenced in this document.)
Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed consistency checks.
- Standardized missing values.
- Created online analysis version with question text.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Restrictions: Users are reminded that these data are to be used solely for statistical analysis and reporting of aggregated information and not for the investigation of specific individuals or treatment facilities.
Original ICPSR Release: 2009-11-16
- 2015-11-23 Covers for the PDF documentation were revised.
- 2014-09-05 Changed the Stata system data file from version 13 to version 12 for compatibility on a wider range of systems. Updated codebook to include correct frequencies from the data.
- 2014-06-13
Since the release of the previous version of the 2008 Public Use Data File and Codebook a number of variables have been added. Some of the additional variables are revised versions of previous variables and replace the ones removed from the data file.
A model to predict adult mental illness was revised in the 2012 NSDUH to produce more accurate estimates. The mental illness variables included in the 2008 NSDUH data files are based on the revised 2012 model.
One new geographic variable(PDEN00), has been added to the data file to replace the previous PDEN variable. In this case, the only difference is the variable name. The variable has been renamed to indicate which census data was used in its construction.
- 2013-06-24 Released methodological resource documentation and updated xml file to include variable groupings.
- 2012-12-10 The 2008 NSDUH public-use data file has been updated to include 23 new variables related to non-medical drug usage and adult depression. Please view Table 4 of the codebook for more information on these variables.
- 2009-12-16 Corrections were made to misspelled variable labels for variables CPNPSYYR and CPNPSYMN.
Related Publications
- List all ~331 citations associated with this study
- List ~124 citations that match your query
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Export Options: RIS/EndNote
Browse Matching Variables
NOTE: The following 10 variables contain information on the number of times a youth received mental health services from specific mental health sources.
The values in the section may be inconsistent with values from the core section(s). Items in this section were edited when respondents legitimately skipped out of these items based on prior answers in the core section(s). Otherwise, non-core items generally were not edited to make them consistent with core items, and core items were not edited to make them consistent with non-core items.
The values in the section may be inconsistent with values from the core section(s). Items in this section were edited when respondents legitimately skipped out of these items based on prior answers in the core section(s). Otherwise, non-core items generally were not edited to make them consistent with core items, and core items were not edited to make them consistent with non-core items.
NOTE: The variables in this section are recoded variables that were created from one or more variables from the following sections: Adult Mental Health Treatment and Recoded Substance Treatment.
The following variable, AMHOUTP3, is defined as SAS missing if a respondent reported receiving outpatient mental health treatment/counseling in the past year at "Some Other Place" (AUOPTYR=1 and AUOPOTOP=1) only and their write-in response was classified as an invalid outpatient mental health treatment/counseling location or alternative treatment/support (AUOPYRS2=7,8,10). In addition to the responses described above, respondents aged 12-17 and those coded as bad data, legitimate skip, don't know, refused, or blank (AUOPTYR=85,89,94,97,98,99) were also defined as SAS missing. A respondent was assigned a positive response if they indicated they had received outpatient mental health treatment/counseling in the past year (AUOPTYR=1) and they did not indicate an alternative source or invalid outpatient location (AUOPYRS2=7,8,10) as their only location for outpatient treatment.
The following variable, MHSAWT_C, is a weight variable created for mental health analysis for adult Sample A or Sample B. A separate post-stratification was done for both Sample A and Sample B so that the weights for each of the sub-samples were controlled to the Census population estimates for the civilian non-institutional population aged 18+. MHSAWT_C is set to zero for youths aged 12-17 and the 8 adults not assigned to either portion of the split sample. MHSAWT_C can be used for generating adult mental health estimates using Sample A data, or using Sample B data, separately. However, if mental health estimates are generated using both Sample A and Sample B combined data then ANALWT_C should be used.
The following variable, AMHSVTYP, classifies what type of mental health treatment/counseling was received in the past year. Respondents who reported receiving treatment for mental health were classified in one of 7 mutually exclusive categories. A respondent was assigned to level one if they reported receiving inpatient treatment only (AMHINP2=1 and AMHOUTP3=2 and AMHRX2=2), to level two if they reported receiving outpatient treatment only (AMHINP2=2 and AMHOUTP3=1 and AMHRX2=2), to level three if they reported receiving prescription medication treatment only (AMHINP2=2 and AMHOUTP3=2 and AMHRX2=1), to level four if they reported receiving both inpatient and outpatient treatment only (AMHINP2=1 and AMHOUTP3=1 and AMHRX2=2), to level five if they reported receiving inpatient and prescription medication treatment only (AMHINP2=1 and AMHOUTP3=2 and AMHRX2=1), to level six if they reported receiving outpatient and prescription medication treatment only (AMHINP2=2 and AMHOUTP3=1 and AMHRX2=1), or to level seven if they reported receiving inpatient, outpatient, and prescription medication treatment (AMHINP2=1 and AMHOUTP3=1 and AMHRX2=1). Respondents who did not receive mental health treatment in the past year were assigned to level eight (AMHINP2=2 and AMHOUTP3=2 and AMHRX2=2). Respondents whose specific treatment was not distinguishable due to missing values in one or more of the three source variables (AMHINP2, AMHOUTP3, or AMHRX2) were assigned a SAS missing.
The following variable, AMHTXND2, is defined as feeling a perceived need for mental health treatment/counseling that was not received. This is often referred to as "Unmet need."
The following variable, ANYSMHPS, indicates whether a youth reported receiving specialty mental health services along with services from either education or general medical (family doctor/pediatrician) settings in the past year for problems with behavior or emotions that were not caused by alcohol or drugs. This variable was created using the following 3 source of treatment variables: received specialty mental health services (ANYSMH), education setting-based mental health services (ANYMHED), and treatment from a family doctor/pediatrician (YPED). Included in the unknown/18+ category were adults and youths who did not provide enough information to determine whether mental health care was received at both a specialty mental health service along with services from either an education or general medical setting [ANYSMH=. or {ANYSMH=1 and ((ANYMHED=0 and YPED=.) or (ANYMHED=. and YPED=0) or (ANYMHED=. and YPED=.))}].
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text:
Scary Moment at Petco
It was a scary moment at Petco Park on Wednesday, when Padres pitcher Chris Young got hit in the face by an Albert Pujols' line drive. Fortunately, Young wasn't knocked out and emerged with only a broken nose. Albert immediately went to check on Young to make sure he was okay. Albert knocked out two Padres unintentionally in the inning, after sliding home into catcher Josh Bard's foot, leaving him with a sprained ankle. Tony took him out of the game, as he was clearly shaken up. Read the full news story here and Albert's comments.
Warning: the video is not for the faint of the heart.


text:
US teen Shiffrin wins World Cup slalom
ZAGREB, Croatia -- Mikaela Shiffrin is living up to her billing as skiing's next big star.
The 17-year-old captured a slalom by a massive 1.19-second margin Friday night, becoming the first American woman to win two World Cup races before turning 18. Her first career victory came last month in Sweden.
"Everything went really well today," said Shiffrin, who had the fastest time in both runs. "It felt great."
She leads the World Cup slalom standings and even overtook Lindsey Vonn as the top American in the overall standings.
Vonn resumed training Thursday after a monthlong break from the circuit but skipped this race. Shiffrin has 426 points overall to 414 for Vonn. Both are way behind leader Tina Maze of Slovenia, who has 1,139 points despite going out in the second run Friday.
"It's definitely one of my goals to win the slalom title," Shiffrin said. "And then the GS (giant slalom) title, and sometime the overall. Right now, I am taking it day by day and race by race."
The overall crown might take some because Shiffrin competes only in the technical disciplines. But for now she is in the midst of a breakthrough season after becoming the youngest woman since 1977 to win two slalom races in one season. She also has six more top-10 finishes.
"I had a tricky time last year, a couple of races where I straddled (a gate)," Shiffrin said. "This year I fixed that and have found my groove."
Shiffrin leads the slalom standings with 336 points, followed by Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia with 312 and Maze with 310.
Shiffrin led by nearly a half second after the first run and extended her advantage in the second, finishing in a combined 2 minutes, 1.73 seconds.
"I was just letting my skis taking me to the bottom, and that is what I am looking for," she said.
She became the youngest winner in nine editions of the Zagreb event, which is billed as the Snow Queen Trophy. The winner is awarded a crown of glass and a robe. The crown, however, broke into pieces in a box.
"I think I have a new Halloween costume for next year," Shiffrin said. "First I need to glue (the crown) back together."
Shiffrin was helped by mistakes from her closest challengers after the opening leg -- Maze and Sweden's Maria Pietilae-Holmner, who both failed to finish their final run.
Frida Hansdotter of Sweden was second and Erin Mielzynski of Canada was 1.76 behind in third. The rest of the field finished more than two seconds behind Shiffrin.
Hansdotter called Shiffrin an "amazing skier."
"And she doesn't think too much," Hansdotter said. "She just goes for it."
Velez Zuzulova won the last two races -- in Semmering, Austria; Munich -- but finished 24th Friday after a mistake in her second run brought her to a standstill. Maze straddled a gate in the second run.
Slalom world champion Marlies Schild of Austria, who won on this course the last two seasons, has been ruled out for three months after knee surgery in December.
Shiffrin said she was back to full strength after fighting a persistent cold in December.
"I was a little bit sick, I think I have my energy back now," she said after the first run.
Shiffrin's American teammate Resi Stiegler finished ninth for her best result since recovering from knee surgery following her crash at last year's World Cup finals.
The course was in excellent condition despite warmer weather the last couple of days.
A men's slalom on the same course is scheduled for Sunday. The women's circuit travels to St. Anton, Austria, for speed races next week.
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us. We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.


text:
Resistors is a program to calculate the most suitable E-series resistors for voltage dividers or for generating other values by putting two resistors in parallel. It is especially useful for selecting resistor values for the voltage dividers used in variable voltage regulators. In effect, the voltage in the middle of the divider is known, and you want to achieve a regulated voltage (the top value).
JTAGTest is an IEEE 1149.1 JTAG Boundary scan tester for embedded designers, production houses, and service companies. It provides a significant aid for PCB debugging, prototyping, testing, and repairing. Using an IEEE 1149.1 (JTAG) boundary-scan, the device pin signals or internal signals can be monitored in real-time without interfering with normal device operation, and you can change pin state manually. It runs under Wine on 32-bit Linux distributions using special Linux support libraries, which are included in the distribution.
TTA-based Co-design Environment (TCE) is a toolset that provides a complete co-design flow from C programs down to synthesizable VHDL and parallel program binaries. Processor customization points include the register files, function units, supported operations, and the interconnection network.
ElectricFormula is a program that can help with electronic based projects or problems. It can calculate electric power, resistance, current, or voltage. If given two of these variables as input, it can determine the other two. For example, if you want to calculate the resistance, you will have to supply the value for the electric power and current or you can supply the value of the power and voltage.


text:
April 11, 2013
Members of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth were among those gathered in Austin on April 9 to participate in the Catholic Faith in Action Advocacy Day. The event was organized by the Texas Catholic Conference. (Photo by Pat Svacina, Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth Communications Director)
AUSTIN, Texas (CNS) -- More than 1,500 Catholics and their bishops from across the state gathered in Austin April 9 to advocate on issues such as payday lending, health and human services, school choice tax credit scholarships, justice for immigrants, health care and protecting human life.
Catholic Faith in Action Advocacy Day was organized by the Texas Catholic Conference, which advocated on behalf of the public policy arm of the 15 Catholic dioceses of the state of Texas.
"I am grateful to be standing before you on the steps of our beautiful state Capitol, to look out at the faithful who are gathered here from so many regions of this great state," said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.
"We should all be reminded that this act of religious expression is perhaps is the most cherished and precious of American freedoms. This is more than a freedom to practice our faith like it was some kind of hobby," he said at the rally that opened the day.
"This is an opportunity to live and express our faith in our daily lives and in our actions. I point this out today because, unfortunately, our most cherished freedom -- that of religious liberty and freedom -- has come under increasing threat both in Washington and even here in Texas," the cardinal added.
Participants had the opportunity after the rally to visit the House and Senate chambers, followed by legislative visits with specified representatives and senators.
In addition to the cardinal, the other Texas bishops who participated in the day were: Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio; Bishops Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Joe S. Vasquez of Austin, Curtis J. Guillory of Beaumont, W. Michael Mulvey of Corpus Christi, Michael D. Pfeifer of San Angelo, Placido Rodriguez of Lubbock, and Patrick J. Zurek of Amarillo; and Auxiliary Bishops Mark J. Seitz of Dallas and George A. Sheltz of Galveston-Houston.
Cardinal DiNardo also spoke to the Catholic crowd about threats to religious freedom he said are "rooted in a particular form of secularism in our culture," one that "threatens to actually delegitimize the church's participation in publicly living out our faith."
He said that the church's "strongest and best hope" to fight it is "our faithful, such as you, who have demonstrated your willingness and courage to counter this kind of secularism."
The state legislators were impressed by their presence, he said. "For some of them it evokes such pride, perhaps in a couple, even some fear, let it be, but we want your presence."
"God bless you for being here and strongly exercising your rights to protect and defend our precious Constitutional right to religious freedom," Cardinal DiNardo added. "We need to make that clear to our lawmakers and you are doing that."
Bishop Flores also addressed the crowd, telling them that society today wants believers to keep their "religious private" and "keep our thoughts about God and about what he asks of us to ourselves and perhaps limit them to our families."
But, he continued, "there is no issue which is more significant to us as Catholics and as contributing members of our society than the importance of protecting the life of the unborn."
"Not only here in the state of Texas but throughout the nation and in many parts of the world and we see violence -- violence against the elderly, sometimes violence by youths against youths," the bishop said. "We see an increasingly violent world. ... One can get the sense that many, many people in the society we live in are losing confidence in the goodness of life, as a gift, as something to be cherished, as something to be encouraged as something to be supported."
He said the Catholic Church and Christ's followers "must witness to the goodness of life, to believe in the Resurrection ... and exactly to believe that God affirms that life is a great gift and in the end, life always wins."
"We are called to witness to the goodness of life from the moment of conception to natural death," Bishop Flores said. "We look at our society today, With these many difficulties that we face in society, we know in our hearts, if society permits violence in the womb, then we cannot be surprised if there is an outbreak of unstoppable violence everywhere else in society."
Bishop Flores urged Catholics to support a bill in the state Senate and the House that would require clinics where abortions are performed to undergo "mandatory standards of medical inspections and regulation so that they be held up to the same standards as any medical institution for the sake of the woman who makes a tragic decision and for the sake of the protection of life."
He also urged support for a House measure to strengthen parental consent laws and judicial bypass statutes when a minor child is contemplating terminating a pregnancy.
- - -
Ybarra is on the staff of The Valley Catholic, newspaper of the Diocese of Brownsville. Contributing to this story was editor Brenda Nettles Riojas.
Copyright (c) 2013 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
AUSTIN, Texas (CNS) -- More than 1,500 Catholics and their bishops from across the state gathered in Austin April 9 to advocate on issues such as payday lending, health and human services, school choice tax credit scholarships, justice for immigrants, health care and protecting human life.


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If Bynum is willing to bolt LA, should the Raps be interested?
What do you guys think?
Bynum for Calderon and Bargnani?
If Bynum is willing to bolt LA, should the Raps be interested?
What do you guys think?
Bynum for Calderon and Bargnani?
If we land Bynum, what happens to Valanciunas?
FUCK no... I don't believe in wrapping up 16 million in low character knuckleheads with no heart
I would not give up any assets for Bynum.
He is a great player but he is also a great pain in the bottom.
no way in hell...he's a prissy baby who only plays when he feels like it. "hmm, should I be the best center in the league today, or just coast....It IS the Western conference semi's....but naaahh."
I'm not sure why people automatically assume JV can't play PF.
I will point out that I think there is little to no chance that Bynum is playing here.
can we please not entertain this disaster any longer.
That would be a Hells naw!!!!! He seems like a cancer with his attitude.
The NBA Larry O'Brien Trophy's 'Big Decision': "This is hard..(smiling)...but..I've decided to take my talents to North Texas, to join The Dallas Mavericks.
"My Gladiator verses VS. what ya verse says"--Adversaree
Check out my song "Beat Fighter 2010" (prod. by Pete Cannon)
http://twitter.com/#!/GiftOfSpeech (Twitter)
On a related 'unlikely Raptors deal involving star C' thought, I was reading a few rumors on ESPN/CNNSI that Orlando may be looking to move Howard "sooner rather than later". Obviously the Raptors have Valanciunas set to come over next season, but what if...
If Howard was willing to sign long-term with the Raptors to be 'the man' for an entire country, I'm curious what the consensus would be for a deal that would likely start with the Raps sending their 2012 lottery pick & Valanciunas & DeRozan to Orlando for Howard, thus using their entire $12M cap space to absorb his contract (some filler like Davis or JJ or Forbes might also need to go to Orlando for salary purposes). A Raptors starting lineup next season that could coneceivably start with Howard, Bargnani and Nash...
As good as Howard is and as interesting as a front court pairing of Howard/Bargnani might be, I'd personally be a little wary of throwing all the trade assets and cap space at one player. But an intriguing, albeit unlikely thought.
We have a better chance of landing Juwan Howard
are we finally at the point where we have exhausted all other discussion. Howard wants to leave a large market with no state income tax....he is not going to come to a smaller market with lube requiring taxes.
I totally agree, FAs keep criticizing Canada for its taxes and weather, but what they dont get is that when they play in NY or LA, they get a state, when you play for Toronto, you get a country!
I would be more interested in seeing a JV/Bynum pairing than a Howard/Bargnani. That's just my opinion tho.
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Build Solid Boards to Avoid Heartache: Editor/Publisher's Column
"Directors are at once our greatest strength and at once our greatest weakness," now-retired CUES CEO Fred Johnson told me in his exit interview. Unfortunately, it is uttered far too often and is far too true. Governance is a common topic of conversation, but I'm not confident much is being done to improve it among credit unions boards.
Governance is a frequent subject at conferences, and some really excellent speakers are acquired to discuss the topic. But like so many educational sessions, attendees go home and, as they say in New Jersey, fuhgeddaboudit.
Assessments are essential for the modern board, yet many boards won't use them. Some don't know how, some are comfortable with the status quo and some just don't want the rock the boat. If a credit union is scared to address the quality of the board, a major problem exists. The anticipated results are apparent. Being able to feign ignorance doesn't resolve the root of the issue.
Credit unions must be careful to select the appropriate board assessment tools for the institution's needs. This is about the ability of the board to address the credit union's and members' needs. It's not about board politicking or hurting feelings. Everyone wants to be viewed as a nice person, but with board responsibilities and liabilities becoming increasingly defined, it's individual board member's assets on the line. If the so-called good directors don't step up to question the abilities of the board, or individual board members, then those folks are not good board members either.
Assessments are understandably delicate matters. They should be handled with respect and dignity–privately in a one-on-one environment as needed–or with the entire board as warranted. Preserving cooperation among the board members is crucial.
Every director should understand from the outset that the goal is strictly to improve the credit union for the members. The credit union must ensure that the members are continuously educating themselves regarding strategic threats, such as economic circumstances or regulations and how these issues could impact the credit union. So long as the best-interest-of-the-member parameter is established and true, no one can legitimately argue against it.
Assessments are a means to an end, not an end. Goals must be set and measured to improve weaknesses. Start over again each year.
It should also be made clear as board members come on what their responsibilities are. Provide information beyond the dates and times of the board meetings. Inform them what's expected of them if they are to serve the credit union.
The board recruitment process is also problematic in attracting qualified board members. If your nominating committee is out of touch with the community, it isn't going to be very good at the job. There are credit union board members that handpick their successors or new board members, which only helps ensure more of the same. Boards cannot arbitrarily determine a certain candidate may not be "our kind of people." Not only does this mentality stifle innovation, but it also can contribute to collusion.
Obviously, certain standards must be adhered to but one goal should absolutely be diversity. Diversity in backgrounds, age, gender and ethnicity are important to the success of any business because it provides different viewpoints. Credit union boards must reflect their membership and the expertise necessary to run a credit union.
Forty years ago, when many board members began serving, a group of astronauts could run a credit union. There's no doubt astronauts are brilliant but that does not qualify them to oversee today's credit union. Be true to your primary or original field of membership but also recognize the weaknesses therein and fortify them with less traditional board nominations.
Local entrepreneur-members could provide great insights into running a business, while a high school teacher-turned-stay at home Mom can speak to the financial issues of motherhood and what young adults are thinking and doing. Strategically recruiting solid board members will save future heartache.
Perhaps having the option to pay board members a reasonable stipend would help grab the attention of more and better candidates for the board. For those who invest the necessary time for oversight and continuous learning, it's certainly justified. That state of Washington, which is heavily banked, is exploring the possibility. In reality, it's no different than sending board members to an educational conference to Palm Springs or the Puerto Rico. Directly paying stipends to keep up to date is just more transparent.


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Jan. 25, 2013
Here is the latest edition of Week In Review - a series of weekly messages from the Mayor and City Council to help Richardson residents and businesses keep up to date on events at City Hall.
Mayor to Present 2013 State of the City Address
Mayor Bob Townsend will give the annual State of the City address at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30, at the Eisemann Center. The presentation will include a review of the City's accomplishments in the past year and a preview of what's ahead.
Parking and attendance are free and open to the public. The address will be shown live on the City's website at www.cor.net/stateofthecity and on Time Warner Cable channel 16 and AT&T U-Verse channel 99. It will also be replayed on the City's TV channels through February and on demand through the website.
Uncle Kracker to Perform at Wildflower! Festival
Rock/country singer Uncle Kracker will perform at this year's Wildflower! Richardson's Arts & Music Festival, set for May 17-19 at Galatyn Park. He will be one of the headlining acts on Friday, May 17.
Festival organizers made the announcement on Wednesday morning on the Wildflower! Facebook page. Fans of the Wildflower! Facebook page will be the first to know about additional performer announcements as they are posted to the site in the coming weeks.
The information will also be included on the Festival's website, the City's homepage, and the Richardson Today Facebook and Twitter feeds.
Wildflower! Festival website: www.wildflowerfestival.com
Wildflower! Festival Facebook: www.facebook.com/wildflowerfestival
Christmas "Tree-Cycling" Ends Thursday
Now through Thursday, Jan. 31, Richardson residents may "tree cycle" their Christmas trees by dropping them off at the Municipal Service Center, 1260 Columbia Dr. The site is open 24 hours seven days a week. Residents may also call 972-744-4111 to request a FREE Brush and Bulky Item Collection (BABIC), then set the tree out at the front curb for collection.
All trees must be natural and unflocked, with all ornaments, tinsel, lights and other decorative items removed. Calls for BABIC must be received before the designated collection day (your BABIC day is the same as your recycling day).
The trees are shredded, mulched and taken to a composting site in Melissa. In three to four months, the organic material becomes yard compost, some of which is used on Richardson golf courses, ornamental medians and landscaping projects.
City Hall Resumes Normal Operations
City services at Richardson City Hall resumed normal operations on Wednesday after a water pipe break on Jan. 10 resulted in flooding to parts of the building. Several departments set up temporary offices within the building and were able to provide services.
Tax Preparation Help Starts Feb. 1
Tax-Aide, sponsored by AARP and the IRS, will provide free tax return preparation and e-filing for low to moderate income taxpayers, with an emphasis on seniors. The service will be available from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays beginning Feb. 1 at the Senior Center and noon to 4 p.m. Mondays beginning Feb. 4 at the Richardson Public Library.
The service is offered first come, first served. People should bring Social Security cards and all pertinent tax forms, including Social Security statements.
"Video Games Live" at Eisemann Center
"Video Games Live" will be performed at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Eisemann Center. The show is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Produced and hosted by superstar game industry veteran Tommy Tallarico, the performance will also include the RISD All-City Orchestra and Chorus along with exclusive video, music, lighting, solo performers and more.
Tickets cost $38 to $56 and are available at www.eisemanncenter.com or by calling 972-744-4650.
Richardson Community Band to Perform at Eisemann Center
The Richardson Community Band will perform "In the Good Ol' Summertime" at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27, at the Eisemann Center. The show will feature favorite selections from summer concerts, including "Semper Fidelis," "America the Beautiful," and "Deep in the Heart of Texas."
Tickets cost $7 and are available at www.eisemanncenter.com or by calling 972-744-4650. For more information, visit www.richardsoncommunityband.org.
Guitar-Violin Duo to Make Texas Debut at UT Dallas
Duo Sonidos will make its Texas recital debut at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, in the Alexander Clark Center at UT Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd.
The group is comprised of guitarist Adam Levin and violinist William Knuth, who will perform original transcriptions of Baroque pieces and the world premiere of "Jardin Bajo la Luna," written by Spanish composer David Del Puerto.
The concert is open to the public and free for UT Dallas students. General admission tickets cost $20. Tickets may be purchased at the door one hour before show time or in advance by calling 972-883-2552 or visiting http://bit.ly/b2od3o.
Professional Organizer to Speak at Library
Professional Organizer Allison Venuto will give a presentation 10:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 26, in the Richardson Public Library's Basement Program Room. She will share the most critical steps to quickly clear out a space and discover how to go forward with a new attitude about clutter.
The program is free and open to the public. No advance registration is required. For more information, call Janet Vance at 972-744-4376.
Richardson Animal Shelter Pet of the Week
This is Elsie. She is two years old, spayed female, catahoula mix, about 82 pounds and is up to date on all her vaccinations. She's very active and playful and would do best in a home without other dogs. Very well behaved and knows basic commands. Contact the Animal Shelter (972-744-4480) about Elsie or other animals available for adoption.
For information about other animals available for adoption, visit the Animal Shelter's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RichardsonAnimalShelter.
Related Links
City Council videos: http://bit.ly/LSHJzE
City Council agenda: http://bit.ly/QoOWF4
City Council meeting documents: http://bit.ly/OrSIQ2
Find Richardson Today on Facebook and Twitter.
411 W. Arapaho Rd. Richardson, TX 75080-4551 PH# 972 -744-4100 | Mailing Address P.O. Box 830309 Richardson, TX 75083-0309
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| Accommodations for Persons with Disabilities call, 972-744-0908 or Email email@example.com


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Kenmore Refrigerator Water Filter Replacements
Replacing your Kenmore refrigerator water filter according to manufacturer guidelines, usually once every six months, is the best way to ensure you continue to serve great tasting water and ice in your home! Better yet, all genuine OE replacement filters we offer are protected by our No Worries Price Match Guarantee, meaning if you see them for less anywhere else, just call us and we'll honor the lower price. For help finding the replacement Kenmore refrigerator water filter you need, use our Filter Finder below or call 1-800-277-3458.
46-9010 / 4396510 Kenmore Refrigerator Cyst Water Filter$34.99 MSRP: $49.99 Save 30%
46-9006 Kenmore Refrigerator Water Filtration Cartridge$29.99 MSRP: $49.99 Save 40%


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These are the remote controlled miniature racing cars that require only 10 minutes of charging between races. Each car's built-in lithium-ion battery recharges via the remote, providing up to seven minutes of operation, ideal for round-robin racing tournaments that last five minutes per round. Reaching 200+ mph scale speed, each 2 3/4" long car responds nimbly to left/right turn and forward/reverse commands from the radio remote up to 30' away, providing quick negotiation of impromptu race courses defined by eight included 1" high road cones. Each car operates on a separate radio frequency, allowing multiple cars to race at the same time. With working LED-powered headlights. Cars, remotes, and cone sets store inside 16 oz. "cans." Requires four AA batteries. 5" H x 2 3/4" Diam. (8 oz.) Set of Two.
Lifetime Guarantee
The 10 Minute Charge Mini Racers come with The Hammacher Schlemmer Lifetime Guarantee. If this product ever disappoints you, for any reason, you may return your Hammacher Schlemmer purchase for exchange, credit, or refund.
Should you have any questions, we are available seven days a week (8:00 am – midnight EST). Please call 1-800-321-1484 to speak with a specialist or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com to receive a response within three business hours or less.
Shipping charges noted in parentheses apply in addition to our standard shipping & service.
We're sorry, but gift wrap is not available. Please call 1-800-395-7006 for Premium or Express delivery rates.
Oversized items scheduled for expedited delivery (Premium or Express) may incur additional shipping and services charges because of their unusual size. Please call 1-800-321-1484 for an estimate of S&S charges. International callers, please call 1-513-860-3397.
We're sorry, but gift wrap is not available for oversized items.
Shipped via truck and may require customer assistance upon delivery. You will be contacted to make an appointment for delivery.
We're sorry, but gift wrap and gift cards are not available.
GST still applies and will be charged upon processing. For complete shipping & service charges please call Customer Service at
May we recommend:
COPYRIGHT © 2018 HAMMACHER SCHLEMMER & COMPANY, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. W104147 E. 57th ST • NEW YORK, NY • 10022 • 1-800-_321-1484


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Affordable Health Care Tops Taxpayer Wish List: Survey
What do Americans want from their tax dollars? Affordable health care, for one.
If Americans could choose how the government spends their tax dollars, they'd designate affordable health care (38%) as the top priority, according to a new tax survey released by TD Ameritrade.
The desire for more affordable health care also increases with age, the survey finds. While 35% of Gen Y most want affordable health coverage, 38% of Gen X and 44% of baby boomers say the same.
Job creation is also a top priority for tax dollars (36%), as is improving the quality of public education (24%) and improving the quality of health care (24%).
"Over the last quarter, slow and steady job growth and improvements in the housing market have Americans feeling more optimistic that the economy is on the rebound, but they also want the government to focus on the things that impact them most," said Carrie Braxdale, managing director, investor services at TD Ameritrade.
"And as more and more baby boomers enter retirement, quality and affordable health care will continue to be a growing concern among Americans," Braxdale said.
Women were more adamant about tax dollars going to health care than men, who most cited job creation. According to the Department of Labor, women make about 80% of the health care decisions for their families.
"Women also typically live longer than men, so it's not surprising to see that they want their tax dollars being used to improve health care and make it more affordable," Braxdale said.
This article was originally posted at BenefitsPro.com, a sister site of Credit Union Times.


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Thursday, October 3, 2013 - 4:00pm - 5:45pm
Let's get crafty! Work on papercraft, knitting, cross-stitch, and more! No experience necessary, make great gifts for friends and family, or maybe even start your own crafting business. Find new ideas on Pinterest and come in with even more projects we can work on!
Age:Teens, ages 13-18, HYPE card required


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Under 50 Crowd Picks Up Pace on Retirement Savings
Those falling under the label Gen X or Gen Y (born between 1965 and 1995) may have received a bad rap in terms of their ability and willingness to save and plan for reitrement, but that's not entirely the case, according to life insurance company MassMutual.
According to its fourth quarter 2013 research, 58.4% of total defined contribution participants were in the Gen X and Gen Y cohort and continue to gain on baby boomers, who accounted for just 38.5% of participants on MassMutual's platform.
For 2013 as a whole, the percentage of combined assets controlled by Gen X and Gen Y (34.2%) was still below that of boomers (60.2%), but, according to MassMutual, that gap is gradually closing.
More specifically, women continued to close the gap in retirement plan account balances as well as in savings rates compared to those of their male counterparts, according to MassMutual. The company's fourth quarter 2013 data showed the average deferral rate for female participants was 5.3%, up from 5.25% in Q3 of 2013. Though the average account balance for women still trailed that of men by 37.4%, it continues to improve.
MassMutual saio the current level marks a "significant improvement" over the highest recorded gap level of 40.5% in the fourth quarter of 2008.
"We see many positive trends in our data overall, and it's particularly gratifying to see that women and Gen X/Gen Y savers are taking such positive action steps," said Elaine Sarsynski, executive vice president of MassMutual's Retirement Services Division and chairman of MassMutual International LLC.
Originally published on LifeHealthPro. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Greeting cards spell joy for sponsored children
Recently, while working on a video project in Malawi, I had the chance to see a group of young children eagerly waiting as World Vision staff members delivered their sponsors' greeting cards to them. If you're a child sponsor, you've most likely seen these cards in the mail. World Vision sends them to you throughout the year for special occasions -- Christmas, Easter, your sponsored child's birthday, etc. -- so that you can sign them and mail them back to us. As they come in, we package them and send them to the appropriate World Vision sponsorship programs around the globe, where they are distributed to the children. At times, I've wondered whether it's really a big deal for me to remember to send a card back. Would my sponsored child really care whether she got one or not? Then I saw how the cards are handed out. Because World Vision distributes over 1 million of these to sponsored children every year, our staff often give them to the children when they are at school or in other group settings. It's an efficient way to pass out the cards. And this is what I saw at a school in Malawi: Expectant, even anxious little faces with eyes fixed on the mail bag as a large group of sponsored children waited and hoped their names would be called to receive a card or letter. Joy lighting up faces and shouts of delight as names were called and the luckiest children began examining the cards and playing with the stickers and other activities inside.
These children in Southeast Asia are thrilled to receive greeting cards from their sponsors.
At this particular school, a bright-eyed little girl named Naomi shyly asked the translator if I would deliver a message: "Will you ask my sponsor to send me a card? The other children get them, but I never have." One of the first things I did when I returned to the United States was to fulfill my promise to Naomi to write a letter to her sponsor with just that message. But, then it occurred to me -- why stop there? So, I'm asking you today: Please watch for the next World Vision greeting card in the mail, sign it, and send it back to us. Every sponsored child wants to hear from his or her sponsor. Greeting cards are treasured. I've seen them carefully stored in small boxes and proudly posted on walls in homes. Poverty has a way of sending children the message that they don't matter. With the simple act of signing and mailing back a card, you offer your child the tremendously encouraging reminder that someone far away thinks they are important and cares very much about their hopes and dreams.
When you return your greeting card, you can include a $5 donation to help pay the cost of international shipping and handling if you wish, but this is optional. What's most important is the encouragement you're giving to your sponsored child. If you are a sponsor who has not received World Vision greeting cards, but would like to do so, please call us at 1-888-511-6534. Not yet a sponsor? Find a child today who is waiting for the love and support that will build stability for the present and hope for the future. Other lives will be changed -- and so will yours!


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Humanity has wondered about the heavens above since before recorded history. Recently, the discovery of hundred of planets in other star systems has sparked extraordinary interest in determining the odds of extraterrestrial life.
The Kepler mission will seek to explain one part of the puzzle by observing the brightness of over 100,000 stars over the next forty-two months. In doing so, it will be able to track earth-sized planets, generating future targets of interest for more advanced future space observatories like the Terrestrial Planet Finder and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna.
Nearly all of the extrasolar planets detected thus far are giant planets the size of Jupiter or larger. Kepler will look for planets 30 to 600 times less massive, closer to the size of Earth and more likely to support life.
All planets in stable orbits transit across their star during their own unique annual cycle. This causes a dip in the star's apparent magnitude for an observer in the same plane. By timing these transits, the orbit and length of year can be calculated. The orbit of a planet can be used to determine if it lies within the "zone of life", where it is close enough to the sun to support liquid water, yet far enough that potential life is not destroyed by it.
"Kepler's mission is to determine whether Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of other stars are frequent or rare; whether life in our Milky Way galaxy is likely to be frequent or rare", said William Borucki, NASA's Principal Investigator on the Kepler Mission.
While Kepler will only focus on a small area of the sky, its results will be enough to enable accurate estimates of the number of earth-sized planets in our galaxy.
Kepler will use an array of 42 CCD (charge-coupled device) cameras, each measuring 50x25 mm. With a resolution of 1024x2200 each, Kepler has a total resolution of approximately 95 megapixels.
CCD cameras are used in most digital cameras and optical scanners. They are also used in astronomy and in night-vision devices due to their sensitivity to the ultraviolet and infrared ranges of light.
Mission operations will be conducted by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, and are included as part of the $600 million total mission cost. Ames will contact the Kepler spacecraft twice a week using the X-band for command updates as well as system status updates. Scientific data is only downloaded once a month using the Ka-band, at a data rate of up to 4.33 Mb/s. To conserve bandwidth, Kepler will conduct partial analysis on board and only transmit data of interest to researchers.
The Kepler spacecraft will be launched at 2250 Eastern Standard Time from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. It will use the Delta II multi-stage rocket, which has flown 140 missions while achieving a success rate of almost 99 percent.
Instead of a typical earth orbit, it will launch Kepler into an earth trailing orbit in order to block light from the sun and the moon. This orbit also avoids gravitational perturbations inherent in an Earth orbit, thus allowing for additional platform stability.
The Kepler Mission is named for Johannes Kepler, best known for his Laws of Planetary Motion.
Updated 3/8/2009
The Kepler spacecraft was launched successfully aboard a Delta II rocket in the D2925-10L launch configuration from pad 17B at 22:49:57 EST on Friday March 6th. The three-stage launch vehicle had nine additional solid rocket boosters, six for the first stage and three for the second stage. The third stage boosted the Kepler payload to its heliocentric orbit trailing Earth. Two months of testing and systems verification will occur for the next two months before Kepler begins its inspiring mission.


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The hard drive capacity war isn't
coming to any end anytime soon and it's obvious from the way the
industry's top manufacturers are raising the stakes. Western
Digital is one of those key players and recently introduced a single-platter
320GB desktop hard drive. This new platter density falls slightly behind Samsung's high water mark of 334GB/platter.
The Caviar
SE16 series will lead this new 320GB platter into the market
starting with a single-platter 320GB desktop hard drive, model
WD3200AAKS, that will feature a 16MB buffer and Native Command
Queuing. All of the other specifications of this drive adhere to the
Caviar SE16 line with a SATA 3.0 Gb/sec interface and a maximum
buffer-to-disk transfer rate of 972 Mb/sec.
Pricing on the Western Digital
Caviar SE16 320GB (WD3200AAKS) is listed at $100, but a quick search
on your favorite price search engine will show prices as low as $70
from various e-tailers.
Update 1/25/2008: According to a close source at Western Digital, the WD3200AAKS model
number is currently in use for the single 320GB platter model as well
as the double 160GB platter model until the latter is phased out of the


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On June 30, 2010, the SEC unanimously adopted Rule 206(4)-5 under the Investment Advisers Act in an effort to curb a practice commonly known as pay-to-play. Pay-to-play refers to contributions to political campaigns, which attempt to influence awarding of contracts for the management of public pension plan assets and other government investment accounts such as 403(b), 457, and Section 529 plans. Pursuant to the new rule, RIAs may not receive compensation for providing advisory services to state and local government clients for two years if the firm or covered associates made contributions to individuals and entities involved in awarding those contracts.
By adopting the pay-to-play rule, the SEC left the door open for third-party solicitors, such as broker-dealer placement agents, to solicit advisory business involving government entities and public pension plans. RIAs are permitted to use a third party to solicit government advisory business if the solicitor is registered as either an investment advisor or a broker-dealer and is subject to the SEC's pay-to-play rule or a comparable regulation adopted by FINRA.
The pay-to-play rule was modeled after the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) rules which were implemented to curb improper influence in the municipal bond market. MSRB Rule G-37 prohibits a broker-dealer from engaging in the municipal securities business after making certain political contributions. Similarly, the new pay-to-play rule requires RIAs to take a two-year break from receiving payment for services following a contribution to a public official of a government entity, or a candidate for that office, in a position to influence the awarding of an advisory contract.
The Rationale for a Pay-to-Play Rule
Ideally, public pension plans should choose RIAs for fund management based on their qualifications, customer service, and performance returns, not their political contributions. When contributions are a factor in the selection or retention of investment advisors, the most qualified firm may not be chosen or retained.
Unfair selection processes might lead to hiring a less qualified money manager. A public pension plan may pay higher fees to a firm that was chosen as a result of contributions. Furthermore, the public pension plan might be indirectly paying for soft dollar benefits, which the RIA receives.
A significant amount of money is at stake here. According to the Adopting Release that accompanied the pay-to-play rule, public pension plans now represent one-third of all pension assets in the U.S., and contain more than $2.6 trillion in assets under management. According to SEC Chairperson Mary L. Schapiro's speech in conjunction with the adoption of the pay-to-play rule, state-sponsored higher education plans—frequently referred to as Section 529 plans—hold approximately $100 billion in assets.
How the Pay-to-Play Rule Operates
There are three major restrictions in the pay-to-play rule.
- The rule prohibits an RIA from providing advisory services for compensation to a government entity for two years if the firm, certain employees, or executives make a political contribution to an elected official or candidate who might influence the selection process.
- It prevents an RIA, as well as certain executives and employees, from soliciting or coordinating campaign contributions from others in order to influence an elected official.
- The rule forbids payments by an investment advisor to third-parties for soliciting advisory business from government entities unless they are regulated persons. The term, "regulated persons," is limited to RIAs and broker-dealers subject to pay-to-play restrictions.
The pay-to-play rule applies to any investment advisor registered with, or required to register with the SEC. Generally, it also applies to any investment advisor permitted to be unregistered, because the firm is exempted from registration. The Adopting Release for the pay-to-play rule states that it was written for addressing situations where unregistered advisors to hedge funds and private equity funds are marketing advisory services to government entities. Although the Dodd-Frank Act now requires many private advisors to register, certain exemptions from registration are still available.
The SEC's rules implementing the Dodd-Frank Act amended the pay-to-play rule, so that it applies to both exempt reporting advisors and foreign private advisors. Prior to this amendment, the rule applied to advisors either registered with the SEC or unregistered in reliance upon the private advisor exemption. The amendment prevents a narrowing of the pay-to-play rule.
The SEC amended the date RIAs must comply with the ban on third-party solicitation, which was extended from September 13, 2011 to June 13, 2012.
State-registered advisors are not considered a regulated person. The SEC made that decision, because they do not possess regulatory authority overseeing state-registered advisors through recordkeeping and examination rules. The SEC does possess that authority over FINRA. The SEC rule does not, however, preempt state or local restrictions imposed on pay-to-play practices. Furthermore, once a smaller RIA increases its assets under management to $100 million or more, it will be subject to SEC registration and the federal pay-to-play rule.
Assuming an RIA is subject to the pay-to-play rule, it applies to contributions made by covered associates. The two-year compensation break applies, even if the covered associate leaves the firm. Certain contributions made by the covered associate will be attributed to the RIA that hires the individual.
How Political Contributions Are Impacted
The pay-to-play rule does not necessarily ban political contributions, but it does prevent an RIA from receiving compensation for providing services to a government entity for two years after a specified contribution is made. Therefore, the rule certainly discourages political contributions if they are made for the purpose of obtaining a government advisory contract.
The word "contribution" is broadly defined under the pay-to-play rule as making any gift, subscription, loan, advance, deposit of money or any item of value for the purpose of influencing a federal, state, or local election. The term also encompasses the payment of debt related to an election, and includes payment of transition or inaugural expenses of a successful candidate.
Contributions are not always given in cash. If a key employee for an investment adviser works on a public official's campaign during business hours, these activities are typically viewed as contributions and will trigger a two-year compensatory break under a government contract for advisory services.
Certain contributions are viewed as de minimis. If a contribution is small, there is little danger it will influence an elected official or a candidate who might participate in the award of an advisory services contract. Any contribution made by the firm itself will not be treated as de minimis.
Members of a firm may make aggregate contributions up to $350 per election to an elected official or candidate for whom the individual is eligible to vote. If the individual is not entitled to vote for that candidate or official, the contribution limit is $150. However, the new rule prohibits bundling—the practice of soliciting or coordinating political contributions for an elected official or candidate influencing the award of a government advisory services contract. The rule also prevents an RIA from soliciting or coordinating payments to political parties in order to win a contract from a government entity.
The pay-to-play rule carves out an exception for newly covered associates. The two year ban does not apply if the contribution was made by a newly-hired, covered associate if he or she made the contribution more than six months prior to being hired. There is also an exception made in certain cases if the contribution is returned.
Rules Relating to Unregulated Solicitors
The pay-to-play rule originally prohibited RIAs from paying a third party to solicit government advisory business. In response to significant feedback, the SEC agreed that third-party placement agents can provide important services to RIAs competing for government business. Placement agents help small and new advisors, as well as offshore managers, with marketing services to government clients without incurring higher costs to hire internal marketing personnel. Placement agents enable RIAs to focus on their strength, which is money management not marketing.
The SEC decided to regulate the use of third-party solicitors instead of banning them in the new rule. This allows RIAs to engage solicitors if they are regulated persons subject to pay-to-play restrictions. Regulated persons would be either a broker-dealer subject to the rules of a registered national securities association prohibiting pay-to-play practices, or an SEC-registered investment advisor.
Books and Records and the Pay-to-Play Rule
RIAs were required to create the following books and records by March 14, 2011:
- Names, home addresses, and titles of all covered associates
- A list of all government entities to which the firm provided services
- All direct or indirect contributions made by the RIA over the past five years
Firms must keep records substantiating contributions made by the RIA and any of its covered associates to political action committees, as well as political parties. Even though contributions from spouses or other family members need not be reported, the SEC will be watching out for schemes designed to circumvent the rule's contribution restrictions.
The Big Picture
Violating the pay-to-play rule can result in serious consequences. Where a prohibited political contribution has occurred, the two year ban on providing advisory services for compensation becomes immediately effective. Assuming the contribution cannot be returned, the RIA must stop charging fees to the government client. In the Adopting Release, the SEC states that to fulfill its fiduciary obligations, an advisor should provide management services free of charge during the time-out period.
RIAs should adopt robust policies and procedures designed to prevent and detect contributions made to influence the selection of the firm by a government entity, even if a firm is state-registered and not subject to the SEC's pay-to-play rule. For example, an RIA might implement a policy requiring covered associates to validate their political contributions through the firm's CCO or designee. These policies and procedures should also promote education on pay-to-play issues and require supervisory review for detecting potential violations. In addition, RIAs should address potential pay-to-play problems in the firm's code of ethics.
It is imperative that RIAs implement specific policies and procedures if they are using registered persons to solicit business from government plans. These should stipulate that a careful vetting of candidates is used in soliciting business. The goal of this review is to determine if the firm and its covered persons acting as solicitors have engaged in conduct that would disqualify them from being registered persons.
Having policies and procedures in place may help an RIA who inadvertently violates the pay-to-play rule. The SEC, upon application, may conditionally or unconditionally exempt an RIA from the rule. Among other requirements to qualify for the exemption, the RIA must have adopted and implemented policies and procedures designed to prevent violations of the pay-to-play rule.


text:
AACUC Elects Lynette Smith New Chairperson
The African-American Credit Union Coalition has elected Lynette Smith, president/CEO of the $89 million Washington Gas Light Federal Credit Union in Springfield, Va., as its new board chairperson.
Smith succeeds Sheilah Montgomery, president/CEO of the $80 million Credit Union of Atlanta, who will continue to serve on the AACUC's board for a three-year term.
Smith is familiar with the organization, having previously served as vice chair. Mark Brantley, board chairman at the $1.9 billion Municipal Credit Union in New York, is the AACUC's new vice chair.
Timothy Anderson, president/CEO of the $36 million Government Printing Office Federal Credit Union in Washington, will serve as treasurer. He succeeds Helen Godfrey-Smith, president/CEO of the $93 million Shreveport Federal Credit Union in Shreveport, La., who will continue to serve on the board for a three-year term.
Tonita Webb, senior vice president/chief administrative officer of the $589 million Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union, is the newly elected secretary. She succeeds Brantley, who is now the AACUC board's vice chair.
The newest board member is Ed Presnell, vice president of administrative services of the $669 million SRP Federal Credit Union in North Augusta, S.C., who was elected to serve for a three-year term.
Others serving on the AACUC board are Bert Hash, president/CEO of $1.2 billion MECU of Baltimore and Barbara Stephens, president/CEO of the $43 million Houston Metropolitan Federal Credit Union.
The elections took place at the AACUC's annual conference, which was held in Detroit July 31-Aug. 4.


text:
We've seen leaked information on
Google's latest smartphone for the past month or so, but Google today
the Nexus S official. The Nexus S is made by Samsung and will be
the flagship for Google's new Android
2.3 "Gingerbread" smartphone OS.
The Nexus
S is a GSM phone that also comes packed with 802.11n, Bluetooth
2.1+EDR, Near
Field Communication (NFC) and A-GPS. The screen is a gorgeous
4.0" (480x800) Super AMOLED, and a front-facing VGA camera sits
right above the screen. On the back, the Nexus S features a 5MP
camera with auto focus and LED flash (it also support H.264 720p
The Nexus S packs a 1GHz
Hummingbird processor and 16GB of internal storage. The phone
measures 63mm x 123.9mm x 10.88mm and weighs 4.51 ounces.
The Nexus S will be available for
purchase starting December 16 online or at Best Buy stores.
In other news, Google has announced it
Android 2.3 SDK and has cited some new features/improvements for the
popular smartphone OS. These include:
Android 2.3 also includes a number of
new features to aid video game developers. You can check out a whole
slew of Android 2.3 enhancements here.


text:
BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//http://www.nmt.edu//NONSGML kigkonsult.se iCalcreator 2.10.23// METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:JCal Pro Calendar X-WR-CALDESC:Your online events calendar X-WR-TIMEZONE:UTC BEGIN:VEVENT UID:20130920T230000UTC-82a916@http://www.nmt.edu/ DTSTAMP:20180123T175816Z DESCRIPTION:
The Street Hockey club invites anyone interested to join us for some friendly\, no contact\, street hockey fun! Even if you have never rollerbladed or played hockey before\, come see what it is all about! Equ ipment is provided (limited stock) so you don't have to worry about buying your own. We play in the parking lot between Speare and MSEC. For more in formation email Jeff Lapierre at: jlapierr at nmt dot edu.DTSTART:20131004T000000Z SUMMARY:Street Hockey END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR


text:
Murray is one of the most famed car designers and engineers in the world and
his most famous creation in the eyes of many enthusiasts is the McLaren F1 that was the
world's fastest production car for years. Murray has since turned his attention
to creating cars that are green and powered by batteries rather than fuel
swilling cars capable of 200 mph top speeds.
Murray has unveiled a new electric minicar called the T.27.
The EV is hailed as the world's most efficient EV and is just as ungainly as
its predecessor, the T.25. Murray worked with powertrain partner Zytek
Automotive to bring the new T-27 to market and the new car uses a lightweight
and fully integrated electric motor, control system, and battery for the best
The T.27's specs include a 25 kW electric motor and a 12 kWh lithium-ion
battery pack. The car is very small with a length of 98 inches, width of 51
inches, and height of 63 inches. The car weighs in a 1,500 pounds with the
battery and has a 70-inch wheelbase. The range on a single charge is expected
to be 100 miles.
Murray said, "The Technology Strategy Board have been incredibly
supportive of the T.27 programme and together we are working to keep this in
the United Kingdom. It is a great opportunity to work with Zytek
Automotive and our other partners on this very exciting programme. We
always strive to lead the way in automotive design and our current goal is to
maximise efficiency of electric vehicles."
Insideline reports that the car
seats three and is slated to debut on November 5 at the RAC Future Car
Challenge. The car was constructed with financial backing of the British Government
Technology Strategy Board.
Pricing hasn't
been announced, but the T.25 sold
for a relatively cheap $9,000.


text:
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Long term international aviation executive to head Star Alliance organisation
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia – December 14th, 2011 -The Chief Executive Board of Star Alliance has appointed Mark Schwab to head the Star Alliance central organisation, based in Frankfurt, Germany as its new Chief Executive.
Schwab comes from Star Alliance member United where he was responsible for the company's alliances as Senior Vice President Alliances. In this capacity he also served as a member of Star Alliance's Management Board. He succeeds Jaan Albrecht, who was appointed as CEO of Austrian Airlines on November 1st, 2011.
"With Mark Schwab we have secured an internationally renowned airline executive, who has all the qualifications required to lead our alliance into the next chapter of its success story," said Rob Fyfe, Chief Executive of Air New Zealand and Chairman of the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board.
"This appointment follows a worldwide search resulting in the comfortable situation of having several high calibre candidates to choose from. Mark convinced us with his vast industry know-how and his tremendous international experience. Having served our business in several executive positions across the globe gives him that specific background that we need for this challenging position".
Mark Schwab held numerous executive positions in the airline industry at United Airlines, US Airways and American Airlines. He began his aviation career in 1975 with Pan American World Airways in Rio de Janeiro.
As a global citizen he spent most of his career outside his home country, the United States of America. Schwab headed organisations in Latin America, Europe and Asia. Being fluent in Portuguese and in Spanish language he holds a bachelor's degree in Latin American affairs from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
Mark Schwab is married and has two daughters.
The Star Alliance Services GmbH, based in Frankfurt, Germany, serves as the central organisation of the world's most experienced airline alliance. It coordinates the projects and activities of its 28 member airlines, aiming at improving the seamless service experience for its international customers when travelling on any of their more than 21.000 daily flights as well as achieving synergies beyond the members' individual capabilities on a global scale.
About Star Alliance:
The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, British Midland International, Brussels Airlines, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAM Airlines, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Avianca-TACA, Copa Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers more than 21,000 daily flights to 1,290 airports in 189 countries.
For further information please contact:
Star Alliance Press Office
Tel: +49 69 96375 183
Fax: +49 69 96375 683
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Helping Young Smokers Quit: Identifying Best Practices for Tobacco Cessation, Phase II National Program Evaluation, 2003-2006 (ICPSR 33161)
Principal Investigator(s): Mermelstein, Robin J., University of Illinois at Chicago. Institute for Health Research and Policy; Curry, Susan J., University of Iowa. College of Public Health
The Helping Young Smokers Quit (HYSQ) initiative was a multi-phase project that addressed the critical need to disseminate effective, developmentally appropriate cessation programs for young smokers. Phase I identified and described tobacco treatment programs available for youth in the United States, Phase II evaluated smoking secession programs tailored for youth to help understand what works, and Phase III identified factors associated with program sustainability. Phase II collected data from five sources: (1) program participants, (2) program providers, (3) program curricula, (4) organizational leaders, and (5) community leaders and community ordinances.
Program participants were interviewed at baseline, end-of program, 6-month follow-up, and 12-month follow-up. Topics covered by the interviews include age, gender, race, Hispanic origin, language spoken at home, employment, income, religiosity, school enrollment, education level, school grades, height, weight, extracurricular activities, recreation, sports, exercise, aspirations after high school, psychological well-being, alcohol consumption, cigarette use and use of other tobacco products, attitudes about smoking, plans to stop/continue smoking, attempts to quit smoking, reasons for participating in the program, topics/issues covered by the program, opinions about the program, and smoking experience since the beginning of the program. In addition, for each follow-up survey, the participants provided a breath sample for carbon monoxide analysis to validate self-reported quit status.
After the last session of each program delivery, the program providers, such as program leaders and cessation counselors, were interviewed about the content and delivery of the program and the reactions of the participants and themselves to the program as delivered. The program providers also kept attendance records.
Curriculum content was abstracted from program manuals and other materials used in each program.
Organizational leaders of the organizations that offered the programs were surveyed about various aspects of each organization, including the organization's smoking cessation program and the organization's mission, general operations, and smoking-related policies and practices.
Community-level information was collected in two ways: (1) interviews of community leaders representing local health departments, school boards, and juvenile justice offices, and (2) archival research of public ordinances relevant to tobacco and control policies.
Nine data files/datasets constitute the data. Datasets 1-4 contain the participant questionnaire data, carbon monoxide measurement data, and program attendance data. Dataset 5 comprises information about each program and its curriculum, some information about the community in which the program was located, and summary data about enforcement of tobacco-related ordinances. Dataset 6 contains information about about the program providers and each program delivery, including recruitment, logistics, content, and the reactions of providers and participants. Dataset 7 covers administrative aspects of the smoking cessation programs and each offering organization's mission, general operations, and smoking-related policies and norms. Dataset 8 contains information about local and state-level tobacco-related ordinances for every state and local jurisdiction where each program was located, and Dataset 9 condenses the information in Dataset 8 into one summary record for each community. The unit of observation for Datasets 1-4 is the participant, for Datasets 5 and 7 the smoking cessation program/offering organization, for Dataset 6 the program delivery/program cohort, for Dataset 8 the ordinance, and for Dataset 9 the community.
Access Notes
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions ; consult the restrictions note to learn more. You can apply online for access to the restricted-use data. A login is required to apply.
The data are restricted from general dissemination for reasons of confidentiality. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete an Agreement for the Use of Confidential Data, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Apply for access to these data through the ICPSR restricted data contract portal, which can be accessed via the study home page.
Any public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
This study is maintained and distributed by the Health and Medical Care Archive (HMCA). HMCA is the official data archive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Study Description
Mermelstein, Robin J., and Susan J. Curry. Helping Young Smokers Quit: Identifying Best Practices for Tobacco Cessation, Phase II National Program Evaluation, 2003-2006. ICPSR33161-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2012-04-04. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR33161.v1
Persistent URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR33161.v1
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This study was funded by:
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (046472, 052624, 052929)
- United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Cancer Institute
- United States Department of Health and Human Services. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Scope of Study
Subject Terms: addiction, adolescents, smoking, smoking cessation, tobacco products, tobacco use, youths
Geographic Coverage: California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, United States, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin
- 2003--2006
- 2003--2006
Universe: Youth tobacco cessation programs in the United States.
Additional information about this project is available on the HYSQ Web site.
ICPSR did not receive the Phase I or Phase III data.
All of the data files except Dataset 8 can be merged with each other by matching on common identification variables.
Phase II selected a purposive sample of 41 youth smoking cessation programs with characteristics hypothesized to be associated with desirable smoking cessation outcomes, offered in diverse locations and to diverse groups of youths, and employing a variety of standard youth smoking cessation curriculum packages. The programs were located in 55 communities in 18 states.
Some of the programs offered their cessation services several times during the Phase II data collection period, each time to a different group of participants. HYSQ defined each such group as a cohort. Each cohort went through the four rounds of data collection on its own individual time cycle, based on the start date of the cessation treatment. There were 79 cohorts in the 41 participating programs, ranging from 1 to 5 cohorts per program.
Mode of Data Collection: record abstracts, self-enumerated questionnaire, on-site questionnaire, telephone interview
Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Original ICPSR Release: 2012-04-04
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