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New Video Game Releases — July 2012
The new video game releases for July 2012 has very little to get excited about. One interesting note is that while there's not a single new Vita game coming out there are plenty for the 3DS. E3 was pretty light on stuff for Sony's new system but let's hope we start to see more releases in the coming months.
Besides a Final Fantasy rhythm game (seriously!) the new video game releases for July includes The Last Story, which may mark the final time you may ever use your Wii. While it's a JRPG at heart, the gameplay is remarkably similar to modern third-person shooters, with real-time combat, a cover system, and companions ready to take your every command. The game features 6-player co-op and competitive online modes.
The creator and composer for Final Fantasy (Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu) both worked on The Last Story. While the game was released last year in Japan, fans of the developers went nuts when Nintendo announced that they wouldn't be localizing it for English audiences. Fortunately XSEED games picked up the slack.
Check out the rest of the new video game releases for July 2012 below:
July 3rd
Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy [3DS]
The Secret World [PC]
Test Drive: Ferrari Legends [360, PS3]
July 10th
NCAA Football 13 [360, PS3]
Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure [3DS]
The Sims 3 Diesel Stuff [PC]
Ice Age: Continental Drift [360, DS, 3DS, Wii]
July 17th
Heroes of Ruin [3DS]
July 24th
miCoach by Adidas [360, PS3]
Cradle of Persia [3DS]
To-Fu Collection [3DS]
July 31st
Risen 2: Dark Waters Special Edition [360, PS3]
Kingdom Hearts 3D Dream Drop Distance [3DS]
Myst [3DS]
Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time [PSP]
Legends of Pegasus [PC]
The Last Story [Wii]
Let us know which video game releases you're excited about in the comments below.


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February 18, 2010, 3:46 pm
Video: 2010 Colorado New Play Summit
This week, we talk to experts about the four featured readings at the 2010 Colorado New Play Summit.
Guests include: Kent Thompson, Caridad Svich, Tony Garcia, Jane Page, Gavin Cameron-Webb and Beth Holt. Plus … a special appearance by Buntport Theater.
Next Post »
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subset: commoncrawl


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NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Durant's 30-point streak ended at 12 games when he scored 26 in just 30 minutes, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won their 10th in a row with a 120-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.
Serge Ibaka made all 12 shots and added 25 points and nine rebounds for the Thunder, who were so good that Durant sat the entire fourth quarter, the only way to slow him down right now.
The NBA's leading scorer finished 10 of 12 from the field, though his scoring average during his sensational January dropped from 36.6 to 35.9.
Oklahoma City shot 63.6 percent, highest in the NBA this season, and outrebounded Brooklyn 41-17.
Shaun Livingston scored 16 points while drawing the impossible assignment of defending Durant.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Stephen Curry made eight 3-pointers in scoring a season-high 44 points, leading Golden State past Utah on a night the Jazz honored former coach Jerry Sloan.
Curry had 13 points in the fourth quarter and the Warriors came from nine points behind to win on back-to-back nights.
Andrew Bogut had 16 points, 17 rebounds and five assists to help overcome the loss of David Lee (shoulder, hip) and a horrendous shooting night from backcourt mate Klay Thompson, who was 3 of 20 for 11 points.
Reserve guard Alec Burks had with 26 points on a variety of jumpers and acrobatic drives, but it wasn't enough for Utah, which dealt with injuries to three frontcourt players.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Arron Afflalo scored 21 points, Tobias Harris added 18 and the Magic ran past the Bucks.
The Magic snapped a three-game losing streak and extended their home winning streak over Milwaukee to 16 games.
Nik Vucevic had 12 points and six rebounds in his second game back from a concussion.
Caron Butler scored 20 points for Milwaukee, which lost its fifth straight game. The Bucks have lost 14 of their last 15 and eight straight on the road.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Zach Randolph had 26 points and 12 rebounds and the Grizzlies overcame another strong effort by Kevin Love to beat the Timberwolves.
Courtney Lee added 16 points for the Grizzlies, who have won five straight games and 10 of their last 11. The Grizzlies have won six straight on the road.
Playing on a sore left ankle throughout the second half, Love led Minnesota with 28 points and 16 rebounds. Kevin Martin had 14 points for the Timberwolves, who lost for just the second time in seven games.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Al Jefferson tied a career high with 40 points, 16 of them in the fourth quarter, and grabbed 18 rebounds to help Charlotte send floundering Los Angeles to its sixth straight defeat.
Jefferson set a franchise record with his 11th straight game of 20 or more points, eclipsing the mark set by Jason Richardson in 2007-08.
Gerald Henderson added 20 points for the Bobcats. Starting point guard Kemba Walker missed his sixth straight game since a sprained left ankle ended his career-opening consecutive game streak of 190.
Pau Gasol had 24 points and Nick Young 21 off the bench for Los Angeles, which lost for the 18th time in 21 games.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Mike Scott and Elton Brand scored 18 points apiece to lead seven Hawks in double figures and Atlanta routed the 76ers.
DeMarre Carroll contributed 13 points, Paul Millsap, Jeff Teague and Lou Williams had 12 apiece, and Kyle Korver added 11 points for the Hawks.
Thaddeus Young scored 29 points, Michael Carter-Williams added 17 and Elliot Williams had 15 for the Sixers, who have dropped 11 of their last 13 home games, including five straight.
The Sixers, now 8-16 at home, haven't lost five in a row at home since the 2009-10 season.
DALLAS (AP) — Dirk Nowitzki scored 34 points and the Mavericks held off Sacramento, handing the Kings their sixth straight loss in another game without leading scorer DeMarcus Cousins.
A night after being named an All-Star for the 12th time, Nowitzki helped the Mavericks rally in the fourth quarter after they squandered a double-digit lead in the first half and fell behind by 14 in the third.
Brandan Wright had his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Rudy Gay scored 35 to lead the Kings, who have the worst record in the Western Conference (15-31) and were without Cousins for the fifth straight game because of a sprained left ankle.
DENVER (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points, Terrence Ross had 18 and the Raptors ended a decade-long drought in Denver by beating the short-handed Nuggets.
Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Lowry added 13 points apiece for the Raptors, who snapped a nine-game losing streak in the Mile High City dating to 2003.
The Nuggets announced during the game that guard Nate Robinson had season-ending surgery earlier Friday to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
J.J. Hickson and Evan Fournier led the Nuggets with 18 points apiece. Hickson also had 13 rebounds. Randy Foye, playing point guard, had 10 points and 16 assists. But he also committed eight of the Nuggets' 26 turnovers.


text: Argentina beat Nigeria 3-1 today in a friendly in Bangladesh. As usual, Lionel Messi was the engine for Los Albicelestes. He fed Gonzalo Higuain with a beautiful one-touch chip for the first goal. But the real peach was the second goal, created by Messi's blistering midfield run (0:45 in the video).


text:
BeautyRx by Dr. Schultz evolved from the feedback of over 100,000 patient visits to Dr. Schultz's Park Avenue dermatology practice, the experience gained by performing over 55,000 in-office glycolic peels, and 10+ years of patient trials. It offers a comprehensive skincare collection built around Dr. Schultz's industry-leading glycolic exfoliants. With products for all skin types and needs, BeautyRx delivers an authentic, easy-to-use solution to skincare.
Let us guide you to the perfect regimen.
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Sat, May 11, 2019
2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company Theater
7 S. Calvert Street (at Redwood Street)
Baltimore, MD 21202
Preshow Event:
Anne Frank House VR – Virtual Reality Tour
(before this 2pm performance)
Doors open at 12:45pm
Chesapeake Shakespeare Company will offer 15-minute Anne Frank VR tours before Saturday and Sunday performances of The Diary of Anne Frank April 27, 2019 through May 26, 2019. The award-winning Anne Frank House VR produced and developed by Force Field and available with Oculus Inc. offers a tour the "Secret Annex" recreated. Reservations for the Anne Frank VR tour will be offered in 15-minute "timed-ticket" seatings, taking place in the theater's PNC Family Room. Seatings before this performance will be 1:00pm and 1:20pm, by reservation. Click here to learn more about the tour and other CSC events.
The Diary of Anne Frank, 2pm
A Play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
Based upon Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Newly Adapted by Wendy Kesselman
April 26 – May 26, 2019
"In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart."
This vital story asks us to remember a dark moment in world history through the eyes of a young girl: Poignant and powerful, Anne Frank's hopes and dreams shine in her words penned while hiding during the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. This recent adaptation, containing more of Anne's original writing and more forthright about the characters' Judaism, makes this play more necessary than ever.
Click here to learn more about the play.
Questions? Contact email@example.com
Get directions and parking details.
FAQs for CSC Baltimore theater.


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Sometimes reading the news on car shows makes you feel like you're taking crazy pills. They like that? Seriously? Well, here's a place to vent you pent-up Paris Motor Show rage.
It doesn't have to be rage either. When we showed off the McLaren P1 in Jalopnik 360-mode, emmsys gave a very open-minded reply.
I feel like there's so much peer pressure to have to like the styling! The side view is pretty sweet but I just don't like the front or the rear. There's always an angle or crease that ruins it for me. I think I will need to put some pictures of the P1 in my rotating desktop images and let it grow on me. I reacted this way to the 458 Italia when I first saw it in pictures but now I love it so maybe in time the P1 will be the same.
So what new cars at the Paris Motor Show just don't do it for you?
Photo Credit: McLaren


text:
Editors note: This is a guest post by Ethan Hagan from One Project Closer.
A Quick Intro
In the video, I share that you're about to learn how to make "the only workbench you'll ever need." That's a bit of an overstatement, especially for woodworking enthusiasts who will need features like an integrated vice and bench dogs. If that's you, I'll bet you already have an exceptional workbench. For the rest of us, what we need is a solid, versatile work-surface for assembling a bird feeder one day and re-sharpening a mower blade the next.
Maybe you don't think a workbench is really all that important. After all, you've only got a few tools and everyone knows the folding table in the basement is your space. A dedicated workbench isn't worthwhile, is it? I've seen too many guys stashing their tools in a kitchen drawer or expecting their kids to not touch the freshly painted picture frame. You need a proper place to work and store your tools, and I'm going to show you how to build it.
How to Build an All-Purpose Workbench
Your workbench is going to have some key features like a strong, rigid work surface, power for your corded tools or chargers, a shelf to store tools and accessories, and wheels so that you can move about. The materials are going to run about $120 (cheap ≠ quality) and you should secure a drill/driver, miter* saw or circular saw*, and jig saw* before getting started.
*You can substitute a handsaw if you're up to the challenge.
Head over to the local home improvement center with this shopping list:
- (1) sheet of 3/4″ sanded plywood
- (1) sheet of 3/8″ plywood
- (9) 2—4×8's
- (8) Simpson rigid tie connectors (see below)
- (200 count) #8 x 1-1/4″ screws
- (4 count) 3″ screws
- (1) tube of heavy-duty construction adhesive
- (4) 2-1/2″ locking casters
- Mountable power strip
I've listed nominal plywood thicknesses, however the store will display actual thicknesses. For instance 3/4″ plywood is actually 23/32″ and 3/8″ plywood is actually 11/32″ thick. Sanded plywood will give you a nice, splinter-free surface, and, at 3/4″ thick, it'll absorb a lot of deflection.
Straight boards make for a straight workbench, so look down the length for any cupping (side-to-side curve) or crowning (up-down curve), and put those boards back.
Down to Size
Since the home improvement center ripped the plywood for you, all you need to do is cut the 2×4's down to size. Use a square to mark straight lines. Here are the lengths:
- (5) 90″ for the lengthwise supports
- (4) 17″ for the width-wise supports
- (4) 36″ for the legs
- (2) 24″ for the caster supports
Let me save you some confusion and tell you that the plywood is going to overhang one side by 3″. This is on purpose because that overhang will protect the power strip that we'll mount to the side.
Some Assembly Required
Step back and marvel at your creation because you have just finished building a hardcore workbench. Go ahead and feel the solid work surface that won't bounce when you're hammering something together. Unlock the casters and move your workbench around the room. Set up a battery charger on the conveniently mounted power strip. Best of all, call up your friends and brag.
Ethan Hagan is the primary editor at One Project Closer. He spends most of his days shadowing real contractors on actual job sites and most of his nights writing about the experience. To see what I mean, check out their latest "Pro-Follows" or finished, expert guides on things like How to Build A Shed and How to Build a Deck. If learning and interacting with pro contractors sounds like something you'd enjoy, sign up for OPC email updates.


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Opened in July 2008, this beautiful Bed and Breakfast boasts contemporary styling in an inn-like setting. Bright, clean and tastefully decorated rooms will ensure a pleasant stay.
Two Rivers Bed and Breakfast is nestled close to the junction of the Niagara and Welland Rivers, offering an abundance of regional activities to stimulate all travellers. Whether your interests are focused on visiting Niagara Area Attractions, taking part in recreational activities or just allowing yourself a well deserved rest, Two Rivers Bed and Breakfast is the place to be.
Your host, Emina is excited about welcoming you personally.


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GustavoVC wrote:in notepad ++ its much easier
What ever would give you that idea?
GustavoVC wrote:in notepad ++ its much easier
iistapp wrote:Uhm.. I'm pretty sure I just opened the file in notepad, searched for the phrase "password" and voila, mission complete!

This is, I don't know maybe a year ago or so, and today I saw a movie about it on youtube, and well I didn't understand why he just opened it in notepad like I did, so I downloaded the application again, and hey, it doesn't work!

So, what I'm trying to say here, when I completed the mission, simply opening the app with notepad, was that the wrong way to do it and/or a bug?

If this is too much of a spoiler, please just delete my post and send me a PM
Gatito wrote:Well Application 1 is supposed to be easy, the serial is saved as a constant string. When you enter the serial it compares it with the string, if it matches it does its thing. Because it is saved as a constant string by opening a text editor you can see the string directly. Now in real-life applications the string would be encrypted, hidden etc etc and to find it you would have to use programs which shows how the software works behind the scenes and try reverse engineering the validation.
Monica wrote:It is highly suggested that you complete Basic missions before attempting Application missions.
If you need help with this mission, make sure you have a legitimate question. Questions like, "How can I find the password?" or "Where do I find the string?" is UNacceptable. Why? Because a.) You're stupid. b.) You obviously want to be spoonfed BECAUSE you're stupid or c.) You want to complete the mission for points because you think you can redeem them for a cheeseburger at McDonalds. I'll tell you what - below is a list of what you may need to know to complete many Application missions. Please note, not all are necessary to complete this particular mission.
In the end, we hope you do learn. That is the point of being here on HTS.
Knowledge May Be Required:
- Code Analysis/Hex-Editing
- ASM Knowledge
- Compiled Languages (i.e. C/C++, VB)
- Interpreted Languages (i.e. PHP, Perl)
Useful Tools:
- Ollydbg
- Decompiler
** P.S. Posting answers and/or spoilers (i.e. mission links, mission file names/gages, scripts/code) will DEFINITELY result in multiple warnings/bans.
The End.
iistapp wrote:Ok I get what hex editing, compiled languages and interpreted languages all are but what does ASM stand for? I search google and all I found were the American society of microbiology and Advantage sale and marketing which doesn't sound relevant to these challenges.
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text:
ROBOTC 3.51 Update – Now Available!
The ROBOTC Development team is proud to announce an update to ROBOTC – Version 3.51 for the LEGO Mindstorms, VEX Cortex and PIC, Arduino, and Robot Virtual World platforms is now available! The new ROBOTC 3.51 update is free-of-charge for ALL existing ROBOTC 3.0 license holders. This build fixes a number of the issues reported by end users – A full change log is below.
Change log for ROBOTC 3.51 (since version 3.50):
- Change joystick button commands to return a short to avoid "int == bool" comparison warning.
- Incorrect calculation of "sizeof" operator for 'call by reference' variables. Was returning the size of a single pointer rather the the size of the item!!
- Prevent crash when downloading header file to Emulator.
- Fixed bug in Tetrix motor encoders not reading correctly.
- Update File I/O intrinsic definitions to fix issues with string parameters.
- Operator precedence was changed so that it was all left-to-right order when precedence is equal. Except the assignment operators — +, ++, -+, *=, … are evaluated right-to-left.
- Trinary — improved calculation of expression type to avoid allocating a temp string variable when both true and false sides are "char *".
- Update "motors and sensors setup to re-enable "encoder equipped" check box for Tetrix 12V motors.
- Add a separate string for "standard models" directory that is different from "sample programs" directory since TETRIX shares the sample programs with NXT but has a different standard models directory.
- Fix issue with VEX LCD assignment. If two ports are inadvertently assigned to VEX LCD only one is active. But removing assignment from inactive port was wiping out the mapping for the active port. Now when second port is assigned, any existing assignment on another port is changed to "uart none".
- Code generation for char string on platforms that don't support constant pool was not working right. e.g. "display const char string on VEX PIC LCD" was not working. Compiler was incorrectly attempting to store the string constant into the "constant pool" even through the result value was never used. Fixed.
- Debugger "Task Status" window was incorrectly trying to read address of "variable stack" from VEX PIC. VEX PIC does not support 'variable stack' and instead stores everything in global variables (and hence has no recursion). Fixed.
- Prevent IDE crash when trying to format an invalid property.
- Emulator was not automatically stopping motors for NXT and TETRIX.
- Improve definition of the two different enums for "LCD buttons" to make differences clear.
- Create compiler error when negative value is specified for size of array bounds.
- Fix bug introduced with "Matrix Controller" support when servo index name to numeric mapping is incorrect.
- Add new NXT high speed write function to write a single char. Previous opcode only wrote a pointer to an array of bytes and you had to specify the number of bytes to write.
- Tetrix Servo controller — hold servos on user program stop – variable was not working as expected – now fixed.
- Correct intrinsic definitions for 'nxtWriteRawHS' and 'nxtReadRawBluetooth'.
- Cast of "(string *)" was incorrectly calculating the nested "*" level. E.g. "(string *) (char *)" was calculated as if it was "**" (double pointer) rather than "*" (single).
- Prevent IDE crash when closing file from 'X' on top right of main frame and debugger is open; the debugger should also be closed at same time. NOTE: Debugger was closed if you used the "Close" command on the file.
- Add code to generate compiler errors for mix of '*' and 'array index' in a single expression.
- Add compiler error when trying to dereference ('*') an expression that is not a pointer.


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LCA with binary and categorical indic...
Mplus Discussion
Latent Variable Mixture Modeling
posted on Thursday, February 07, 2002 - 5:17 pm
Is it possible to do LCA with binary and categorical indicators, as well as continuous outcomes? Mplus manual includes examples of LCA with binary indicators and continuous outcomes and of LCSA with 3-category latent class indicators. How would the syntax be combined? Thanks. Dagmar
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, February 07, 2002 - 5:47 pm
Yes, this is possible although it would not technically be Latent Class Analysis or Latent Profile Analysis. Indicators that are on the CATEGORICAL list would be binary or polytomous and their thresholds would be referred to useing the $ convention, while variables that are not on the CATEGORICAL list would be assumed to be continuous and would be referred to by their variable names.
posted on Sunday, February 17, 2002 - 5:09 pm
Hello, I tried writing the syntax for this nameless analysis, but can't get it to run. Some of the categorical variables are binary, others have three to five categories. I don't know how whether this is the right way to deal with this. Thanks very much for your help--the error message is at the end of the syntax file. Dagmar
TITLE: Categorical and Continuous Variables; MS Survey
FILE IS "C:\My Documents\work\MS\Profile Analysis\ms.dat";
NAMES ARE id msmh9 es1 uhw2 speech thinking pain1 pain4 edss
marryliv cours2 female educ lwith vscat age_10 dur_10 wk_40
perinc cesd_10 hhinc50 volhalf hhwk_5 fat_5 socsup10;
USEVARIABLES ARE msmh9 es1 uhw2 speech thinking pain1 pain4
edss marryliv cours2 female educ lwith vscat age_10 dur_10
wk_40 perinc cesd_10 hhinc50 volhalf hhwk_5 fat_5 socsup10;
CLASSES = c (1);
CATEGORICAL = msmh9 es1 uhw2 speech thinking pain1 pain4
marryliv cours2 female educ lwith vscat;
FILE IS rawdatams1;
FILE (SAMPLE) IS samplems1;
FILE (RESULTS) IS resultsms1;
FILE (TECH3) IS tech3ms1;
FILE (TECH4) IS tech4ms1;
[msmh9$1*6 es1$1*5 uhw2$1*4 speech$1*3 thinking$1*2 pain1$1*1
pain4$1*0 marryliv$1*-1 cours2$1*-2 female$1*-3 educ$1*-4
lwith$1*-5 vscat$1*-6];
[msmh9$2*7 uhw2$2*6 speech$2*5 thinking$2*4 pain4$2*3
cours2$2*2 educ$2*1 lwith$2*0];
[speech$3*6 thinking$3*5 pain4$3*4 educ$3*3 lwith$3*2];
[thinking$4*6 educ$4*5];
[edss*-1 age_10*-1 dur_10*-1 wk_40*-1 perinc*-1 cesd_10*-1
hhinc50*-1 volhalf*-1 hhwk_5*-1 fat_5*-1 socsup10*-1];
edss age_10 dur_10 wk_40 perinc cesd_10 hhinc50 volhalf hhwk_5 fat_5 socsup10;
Error message:
*** WARNING in Model command
All variables are assumed to be y-variables. Check that the covariances
between these and other variables are as intended.
*** ERROR in Model command
Unknown threshold value 2 for variable MSMH9
*** ERROR in Model command
Ordered thresholds 3 and 4 for class indicator PAIN4 are not
increasing. Check your starting values.
The following MODEL statement(s) in Class 1 are ignored:
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 9:36 am
What the error message is trying to tell you is that PAIN4 has four thresholds. You are giving starting values for three, so we are assigning zero to the fourth by default and zero is smaller than the value assigend to threshold 3.
Regarding MSMH9, it must be binary but you are assigning two thresholds so we are ignoring the second.
It might be a good idea to run a regular TYPE=BASIC on your data to see how may thresholds each variable has according to Mplus to make sure this is what you expect.
Howard Degenholtz
posted on Monday, October 21, 2002 - 1:06 pm
I am new to IRT/LCA methods, and have a question. I have data that were collected where respondents had a choice between a dichotomous (yes/no) response and 4 point likert type (degree of agreement) response.
Is this something that can be done using MPlus?
Thank you,
posted on Monday, October 21, 2002 - 2:28 pm
Do you mean that the subject chose the response format or that 2 response types were randomly offered to subjects? If the former, I guess one has to figure out which type of person tended to choose which format and if the response of similar people measured by the different formats relate the same way or differently to other variables. I think I have seen analogous situation in achievement testing situations.
posted on Monday, October 21, 2002 - 5:47 pm
The former: individual respondents chose the response format. Respondents in this case are elderly nursing home residents. Those who were more cognitively impaired were more likely to use the dichotomous response format. (There may be other variables, but we have not done thorough exploration of this.) We have done some multiple group CFA on our instruments to see if the same multidimensional structure holds up. We found evidence of stability, but also some differences. However, this could only be done by recoding the dichotomous data onto the 1-4 scale (using a z-score). IRT has been recommended as a preferred approach to calibrating the response formats. It seems like we could do a 2-class LCA model using cognitive status as a predictor of class membership. Part of my confusion has to do with the fact that we want to do CFA on our multidimensional structure, then proceed to causal modeling. However, I think the LCA part and the factor structure are interdependent. For example, what if a particular item should be deleted or assigned to a different latent variable? Won't that change the associated IRT parameters?
As I write this, I wonder if it matters - once we have fit the best model, won't we optimize both the factor structure and the IRT part?
Thank you for your reply this afternoon. I appreciate your further advice.
posted on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 10:15 am
I think the measurement modeling is strongly intertwined with the structural modeling in this situation. It is hard to give general advice without knowing the situation better, but I'll give you some quick thoughts. One can certainly jointly analyze the people to took the 2-point questions and the 4-point questions - without reformatting the 4-point data. And one can see if descriptively similar factor structures arise. And then relate factors to other variables. Such a 2-group analysis is, however, unusual in that both variables and people are different across groups, whereas typically only the people are different (and they are also typically obtained through random sampling which is not the case here because people choose group membership) - so at the end we are not sure we are measuring the same thing. This would also be true for the LCA. You mention CFA, factor structure, IRT, and LCA - it is not clear to me if you think of the first 3 as different - I don't. I see LCA and CFA as complementary procedures and both would be affected by the non-random choice of response formats, a non-random choice that may distort structural conclusions. I don't know if one can assume in this case that conditional on cognitive impairment status, the choice between the 2 formats is random, and I am not sure how this could be incoporated into the modeling.
posted on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 11:15 am
Well, I put a lot of ideas out there, but perhaps I should be more specific about my goals. We have collected the data in this way to allow people with limited cognitive abilities to provide as much information as they can (instead of being coded as missing). We now want to combine the data together. So my question is, can we use LCA to do that? If so, how? and what assumptions would we have to make about the multidimensional structure?
Thank you.
posted on Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 1:44 pm
Tell me a bit more. How are you thinking about the LCA - e.g. how would the LCA classes be different from the known groups of individuals (those who chose the 2-cat format and those who chose the 4-cat format)? Are you thinking that there are 2 classes of individuals, having to do with cognitive impairment, and the tendency to choose one format over the other is related to those 2 classes?
posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 10:41 am
Yes, I am thinking that there is a tendency to use one response format or the other. You are right that the class is observed: we know their choices. What is not observed is why.
One point to clarify: The choice is at the item level - some people choose 2-cat for only a small number of items, using 4-cat mostly. Others use 2-cat mostly.
posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 6:03 pm
Let me think aloud although it may not get at what you are after. It sounds like it would be valuable to achieve a calibration of the 2 formats, so that one can translate the response to one of the formats into the other format. If not, you don't know if relationships between the response and covariates differ across people because of the format difference or because of people differences.
The problem of getting a calibration is that nobody has taken both formats. Optimally, a random subset of individuals should take both formats. I wonder if it is possible to calibrate even without this. Perhaps you have to first study (by logistic regression with a binary dependent outcome and with cognitive impairment etc as predictors) who chooses which format. And then see, for example if impairment is the key factor, how format outcomes relate for people with the same impairment, but who chose different formats. Once the responses on different formats are calibrated, you can get to the structural part.
But, my answer may be beside the point. I remember that ETS had a related situation where people could choose a reading topic and then answer questions on it. Perhaps other readers remember this, or have input to give.
posted on Wednesday, October 23, 2002 - 7:25 pm
If we were to do a logit to predict response format, how would that help us calibrate the data? It sounds like we would still need to do an experimental study where people did both response formats.
If we were to plan such an experiment where we had a sample of people respond to both forms (in random order), the following questions arise: (1) how would we analyze the data to develop the proper calibration parameters; and (2) how would we determine the sample size requirements for such a study? In some places I have read that to do this with IRT requires very large samples eg n > 1000.
It occurs to me that within each level of cognitive impairment (on a 6 point scale), there are some people who used each format. Could we use these groups for calibration? There may be some heterogeneity with respect to cognitive impairment within each level of our cognitive impairment score. However, this would give us at lease a rough estimate of the parameters we are interested in.
Thank you very much for all of your advice so far.
posted on Thursday, October 24, 2002 - 6:53 am
Your paragraph "It occurs to me..." refers to the approximate calibration I had in mind in my paragraph "The problem of...". The logistic regression would make is plausible that impairment was a key factor in the choice.
If you had an experiment with a random subsample of people responding to both forms, you have 3 subgroups of people (one group has the 2-cat format, 1 has the 4-cat format, 1 has both formats). You could calibrate within a 3-group analysis while you are also doing the structural analysis. By which I mean that the random subsample has 2 indicators (1 2-cat, 1 4-cat) which enables identification of a factor. Each of the groups with only one indicator sets its threshold and loading equal to the loadings and thresholds of these 2 indicators. I don't think you need n> 1000; it depends on the number of variables. But I think I will now step aside from this topic and leave room for a consultant who can get more familiar with your particular situation.
posted on Thursday, October 24, 2002 - 9:01 am
Thank you very much for all of your careful attention to these questions.
If I understand your last comment correctly, if we had a sample that did both forms, we could set the parameters as you mention. But in the absence of such a sample we need to use an 'approximate' calibration approach.
This has been very helpful - I feel much better about what questions to ask of a consultant.
Thank you,
posted on Thursday, October 24, 2002 - 9:46 am
Yes. Good.
Sarah Varughese
posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 - 9:46 pm
I am new to MPLUS and LCA. The problem I have at hand is I have to assign values ranging from 0 to 100 which are called the disability weights to a sample of 200 individuals based on certain 5 continuous variables which can be considered as indicator variables. Can this be handled under the umbrella of latent structure analysis and with MPLUS.
Thank You
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - 10:24 am
It sounds like you may want factor analysis rather than latent class analysis. LCA is used to group individuals. Factor analysis is used to group variables.
Sarah Varughese
posted on Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - 8:46 pm
Thank you for your prompt reply. Is it possible to consider it as a case of grouping individuals into 100 different classes because what I ultimately require is a disability score for each individual that could range from 0 to 100 based on the 5 variables which are indicators of the patients health condition.
Thank You
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 - 6:12 am
Perhaps the following paper can help you understand the difference between factor analysis and latent class analysis. It can be download from the Mplus website from Mplus papers.
Muthén, B. & Muthén, L. (2000). Integrating person-centered and variable-centered analyses: Growth mixture modeling with latent trajectory classes. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 24, 882-891.
Tom Hildebrandt
posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 6:21 am
I was wondering if there were guidelines for the local dependence assumption in LCA, in terms of how to handle indicators that may be correlated (approx = .65). I have 10 indicators I'm interested in using, but 2 of the variables are correlated. The rest of the indicators don't correlate higher than .35. It is my understanding that local dependence is likely violated here. Should those that have a higher correlation be combined? Does MPLUS have any features for handeling local dependence?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 6:46 am
I don't think that the assumption of conditional independence in LCA says anything about the correlation of the observed latent class indicators. I think that the assumption means that the model is estimated such the the residual covariances among the observed latent class indicators are zero.
Tom Hildebrandt
posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 7:47 am
Thank you for your prompt reply. I had recently recieved a review on a manuscript that used LCA to define subtypes of weightlifters in terms of body image disturbance and the reveiwer claimed that the correlations between observed indicator variables suggested violations of conditional independence. I will look into the residual covariances. Do you know of any usefull references on this assumption in LCA?
posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 8:19 am
Just to add to this discussion. Note that the LCA model - with its assumption of conditional (local) independence - tries to explain correlations among observed variables. With zero observed correlations there is nothing to explain. So high correlations among observed variables is not a sign that the model assumptions are violated, on the contrary. Think about how 2 variables become correlated by mixing 2 classes of uncorrelated individuals, one class low on both variables and one class high on both variable (plot it and you will see).
You may also want to model local DEpendencies among some variables within class if that makes substantive sense - an this can be done using Mplus. For a good reference, see the edited book
Hagenaars, J.A & McCutcheon, A. (2002). Applied latent class analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tom Hildebrandt
posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 9:53 am
This is very helpful indeed. How would I go about modeling conditional (local) dependencies in Mplus?
I will order the book today.
posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 10:24 am
For continuous outcomes it is easy, just say y1 with y2 within a certain class. For other outcomes it is harder but the Version 3 User's Guide has an example. Note, however, that you should have a good substantive reason for making this deviation from the standard model.
Salma Ayis
posted on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 - 3:52 am
How can I detect for local dependency among the indicators while fitting a Latent class model?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 - 10:24 am
You can look at the standardized bivariate residuals in TECH10. If you have many large standardized residuals, you can increase the number of classes and see if that reduces the residuals. You can also add a factor to the model that has as indicators the latent class indicators.
Alexandre Morin
posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 10:36 am
I would like to predict continuous outcomes (out1-out4 from a categorical latent variable (latent profile analysis, 7 continuous indicators - 5 classes). I tried the following syntax (with numerical integration) but it does not work: out1 out2 out3 out4 ON C#1-C#4
Is there any other way to do it. I imagine I could just add the outcomes to the usevariables list without any other specifications but then they will be used in the clustering algorythm and I do not want these variables to influence the classification (as outcomes).
Thank you in advance for your time.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 11:51 am
You would add the variables to the USEVARIABLES list as shown in Example 8.6. These variables will influence the classes.
Alexandre Morin
posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 12:30 pm
Greetings and thank you for the prompt answer.
However, if I do not want the outcomes to influence the classes ?
The only things I can think of is to work from the best fitting model without outcomes and then to fix "@" class characteristics (means, variances) before including the outcomes. However, given the fact that I have almost as many class indicators as I have outocomes, I'm afraid it may reflect badly on the model.
Else, I will have to work from the saved class membership and analyse the outcomes via MANOVA. But then, I will loose the information from the posterior class probabilities...
Any advice ?
Thanks again.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 12:40 pm
I would not recommend either of these approaches. When you have a distal outcome, the parameters of interest are the means and how they vary across classes. I would instead use the AUXILIARY option with the e setting to test the equality of the means of the distal outcome variables across classes. See the user's guide for more information about this option.
Alexandre Morin
posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 1:19 pm
Thank you again Linda,
That is a very nice improvement from version 5!
So nice, that I have a new question.
Reading the Technical appendice on this function, I saw that it can be used for any covariate. When would you suggest the use of this method versus the direct inclusion of covariates as predictors of class membership? In my case, I have a theoretical/pratical rationale (antecedents are included as predictors of c#1-c#4 in the model and outcomes, which arrive after, are kept out of the model so as not to influence something occuring before) but are there any other arguments to consider in this choice (other than the slower computation and harder interpretability already noted in the appendice)?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, January 28, 2008 - 3:57 pm
The AUXILIARY option is good to use to select covariates when you have many covariates to choose from. It is quicker than including them all in the model to assess their importance.
A distal outcome is a dependent variable not a covariate.
Alexandre Morin
posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008 - 6:27 am
Thanks a lot Linda,
You are right, as usual. Excuse the confusion, I got carried over by the new feature.
posted on Sunday, February 17, 2008 - 12:16 pm
I have 2 questions regarding the "new" function of the AUXILIARY option to test the equality of means for variables not used in the mixture model (auxiliary variables).
First, I have 3 classes and used this function ("auxiliary" with "e" behind auxiliary variables of interest) to produce "EQUALITY TESTS OF MEANS ACROSS CLASSES USING POSTERIOR PROBABILITY-BASED MULTIPLE IMPUTATIONS WITH 2 DEGREE(S) OF FREEDOM" and the correponding class means. I can see that the omnibus test for a variable is significant. Is there a way to produce Class by Class tests of mean differences (post-hoc tests)?
Second, where can I find more information regarding exactly how these means and tests are being computed using "POSTERIOR PROBABILITY-BASED MULTIPLE IMPUTATIONS". I couldn't find anything regarding this in the MPLUS Manual 5.
Thanks so much.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Sunday, February 17, 2008 - 5:32 pm
There is not currently a way to do class by class tests. See the following link for a description of the method:
Alexandre Morin
posted on Monday, March 10, 2008 - 7:37 am
Is it possible, with the auxilliary (e) command, to obtain estimates of class-specific variances (in addition to class specific means and Wald test) for the auxilliary variables ? I yes, how ?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, March 10, 2008 - 8:00 am
Not in the current version - such information is obtained only if the variable is in the model (e.g. as a covariate). What would you use the class-specific variance for - are you aiming to get the standard error for each mean?
Alexandre Morin
posted on Monday, March 10, 2008 - 8:08 am
I was mostly trying to be report the results as completely as possible. With means and variances, box plot would be possible. Would aiming to get the means SE be a good idea ?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, March 10, 2008 - 8:11 am
In the upcoming Mplus version 5.1 the SEs for the means will be provided.
Herb Marsh
posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 2:28 am
I have conducted an LPA based on 8 y variables used to define 5 groups (arrows from ys to latent groups). I also have a set of 10 criterion variables that might be considered as auxiliary variables in MPLUS terminology. I have done separate analyses based on:
I have a latent profile analysis with 8 y variables that define 5 groups and 10 criterion variables as auxiliary variables.
I can test of the equality of the criterion variable means across the five latent groups. Although I understand that these are based on pseudo-class draws (equality test of means across latent classes using Wald chi-square based on draws from posterior probabilities, a strategy seems to be a combination of relating the auxiliary variables to group dichotomies and group probabilities), I am not sure how to interpret them.
The values for auxiliary variables are, I assume, means for each variable on the corresponding pseudo groups (classes in the output).
How do these relate to the corresponding path coefficients or odds ratios in analyses in which the criterion variables are treated as covariates?
Can I determine the amount of variance in one set of variables (group dichotomies or probabilities) explained by the other (auxiliary variables)? � or even the amount of variance in each grouping variable (dichotomy or probability) explained by the set of auxilary variables?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 - 9:25 am
Regarding the equality testing of means for auxiliary variables (criterion vbles; I'll call them x's in the following) across classes, you are correct in your interpretation. I see this as univariate information and not informative for including all the auxiliary variables as predictors of latent class membership (c in the following). So this is just a first step for seeing which x's might be useful. This information does not directly related to having several of the x's as predictors of c. In Mplus Version 5.1 coming out next month we will have a second-stage approach where we do pseudo-class draws and provide output for "c on x" multinomial regressions. This new output is relevant for choosing a set of x's.
Regarding the amount of variance explained, I don't think that is a common usage in logistic regression or multinomial logistic regression. Perhaps a better way to understand how important x's are is to plot the probability curves for c on x as can be done in Mplus graphics.
Jinseok Kim
posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 6:36 am
I conducted an LCA with covariates (7 indicators; 12 covariates) using a complex survey data, which seems to work fine. However, when I call in the saved data (using savedata: command) into stata to do some more next step analyses, I found that the raw class counts based on the most likely LC membership in Mplus output are different from the same from the saved data. Later I found that the proportion in mplus (based on most likely class membership) is same as the estimated proportion in the saved data (using stata survey estimation module). Now, the question is which class counts would you recommend to report? Would you rather not report the class counts at all in survey data? It seems to me that the class counts in complex survey data may be kind of misleading. Any suggestion would be most appreciated. Thanks.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, May 29, 2008 - 2:10 pm
If you are not using Version 5.1, please do. If you are, please send your input, data, output and license number to
posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 12:33 pm
I would like to estimate categorical variables, such as gender or diagnostic group, as potential class predictors in an LCA. I know I can test the equality of means for continuous variables using the "auxiliary" option. Is there an option for categorical variables? Is it robust/legitimate to use the same?
Also, is there a way to get the proportions of categorical variables per class (as in a contingency table) in the output without having to read them from the histogram?
Many thanks.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 1:57 pm
Covariates are either binary or continuous. In both cases they are treated as continuous. So you would use the AUXILIARY option the same for both.
If you ask for SAMPSTAT in the OUTPUT command, you will obtain these values.
posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 2:34 pm
Thanks very much.
Sampstat seems to only provide information on those variables that are an explicit part of the model and not the auxiliary variables. But I might be missing something.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, August 14, 2008 - 2:50 pm
You are correct. Then you can get them from the AUXILIARY option. The means are given for each class.
posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 - 5:28 am
Thank you.
Yes, true about the means in Auxiliary. It does not, however, seem to provide the proportions of an (auxiliary) categorical variable per latent class, say the proportion of males per latent class 1. I seem to be able to get this through the histogram by resting the mouse on the relevant bar. I just wanted to ensure that is right and find out whether there was an alternative. Sorry to persevere.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 - 8:22 am
The mean of a binary variable is a proportion.
posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 - 8:51 am
Quite. These means/proportions of auxiliary categorical variables do not appear anywhere in the output though--only in the histograms, it would seem. The means provided in the equality of means part of the output are the means of the binary codings of the variables (eg. 1.43 for a variable coded between 1 and 2;see copied output below). The query is more about confirming that what I get by resting the cursor on the bars is, indeed, the mean/proportion, given it appears nowhere else. Sorry about the confusion.
Thanks very much.
Mean S.E.
Class 1 1.321 0.053 Class 2 1.454 0.055
Class 3 1.537 0.037 Class 4 1.520 0.031
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Friday, August 15, 2008 - 9:03 am
You must not be using the most recent version of the program. It has means.
Nan Zhang
posted on Monday, February 23, 2009 - 9:45 pm
I want to save the posterior probabilities and the related syntax is as following:
savedata: file is D:\09spring\RA(take action)\data\binaryresults;
There is error in the output:
*** ERROR in SAVEDATA command
The syntax for the FILE option has changed. Please refer to the
Mplus User's Guide for available options.
Is there any change for the savedata option or anything wrong with my command?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - 6:45 am
This looks correct to me. Please send the input, data, output, and license number to
for further help.
Blair Beadnell
posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - 1:43 pm
When there are categorical indicators in an LCA, the output includes the LATENT CLASS ODDS RATIO RESULTS section. I understand that these odds ratios represent the comparisons of each pair of classes. However, i'm not sure how to interpret the statistical signficance test. The way it's calculated, it appears to be a test of whether the odds ratio differs significantly from 0. Is that correct? (In other words, one should not interpret these to mean that the odds ratio is significantly different than 1?). Is there a way to use these results to calculate whether the odd ratio differs from 1?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 - 7:13 pm
Yes, the 3rd column of the Mplus output is always Est./S.E., so this tests against zero. To test against the more relevant value of 1 in this case, you simply consider
(Est. - 1)/S.E.
But it is more common to provide a confidence interval around the odds ratio point estimate. This interval can be requested in the Mplus Output command saying Cinterval. As in the literature, these intervals are derived from those of the logodds and then exponentiated.
Jinseok Kim
posted on Tuesday, October 20, 2009 - 11:47 pm
I conducted an LCA with auxiliary option. It ran with not problem but presented no SE values for a variable but "*******". Does this mean that the SE of the auxiliary variable is not computed or something like "out of range"? In either case, is there anyway that I can get the SE values for the variable for each class?
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 - 6:20 am
Asterisks would mean the value is too large to fit in the space allowed. For further information, please send your output and license number to
Richard Silverwood
posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 2:38 am
I am conducting a pretty simple LCA on complete cases only (LISTWISE IS ON). When I use the AUXILIARY option to compare means across classes for some auxiliary variables the number of observations used in the model is reduced - presumably because Mplus is now using the subset of observations for which all the model variables *and* all the auxiliary variables are non-missing. Is it possible to make Mplus fit the model to the same subset of observations it would if AUXILIARY was not specified, but still compare means for the auxiliary variables (where available)?
Many thanks.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, July 01, 2010 - 9:09 am
Before Version 6 the listwise deletion was done on the full set of variables inlcuding the auxiliary variables. This has been changed in Version 6 so that the listwise deletion is done on only the analysis variables.
K Frampton
posted on Thursday, April 21, 2011 - 10:07 am
Hello. I have a 5 class LCA with 7 continuous indicators. I'm trying to decipher if there are significant class differences in particular indicators' means (e.g., if class 1 and class 2 are signficantly different from each other on indicator 1). This seems so simple, but I'm having a hard time interpreting the output. Is this provided? If not, any guidance in how to calculate this is much appreciated! Thank you!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, April 21, 2011 - 11:45 am
You can use MODEL TEST to do this. See the user's guide for further information.
Patchara Popaitoon
posted on Monday, July 04, 2011 - 11:02 am
Dear Linda,
I would like to test a relationship using a binary variable as a dependent variable and a few continuous variables as the predictors. I have read from the manual that this type of analysis is allowed. Could you please confirm this.
Also, which chapter should I read if I'd like explore further regarding the above analysis.
Many thanks.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Monday, July 04, 2011 - 1:28 pm
You can do this using probit or logistic regression. Both examples are shown in Chapter 3.
anne marie mauricio
posted on Friday, December 02, 2011 - 11:47 am
I am running a LCGA model with several continuous covariates and a continuous distal outcome-Time 2 Teacher report of Externalizing. I am controlling for Time 1 Teacher report of Externalizing on Time 2 report, however Time 1 report of externalizing is not currently included as a covariate in the model.
To estimate class differences on Time 2 externalizing controlling for Time 1 externalizing, is it enough to have "Extern2 on extern1" in the model or should I also include Time 1 externalizing as a covariate of class.
Thank you for your help,
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Friday, December 02, 2011 - 2:22 pm
To clarify, are you talking about 2 different variables - "externalizing" and "Teacher report of Externalizing"? Perhaps the former is self-reported? So that you have these 2 variables at time 1 and also these 2 variables at time 2?
anne marie mauricio
posted on Friday, December 02, 2011 - 3:45 pm
Thank you for your quick response Dr. Muthen. My apologies for not being clear. I am talking about the same variable- both Time 1 and Time 2 externalizing scores are teacher report. I want to assess between class differences on teacher report of externalizing at Time 2 (Extern2) controlling for teacher report of externalizing at Time 1 (Extern1). I have 4 classes.
My syntax includes "Extern2 on Extern1*" and I allow this estimate to vary between classes. But do I also need to include Extern1 as a covariate of class membership? That is, do I also need to include:
C#1 on Extern1;
C#2 on Extern1;
C#3 on Extern1;
Thank you,
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, December 05, 2011 - 9:22 am
That depends on your substantive theory. Does latent class membership "exist" before Extern1 or can it be viewed as being influenced by Extern1?
anne marie mauricio
posted on Tuesday, December 06, 2011 - 10:15 am
Thank you so much for your response Dr. Muthen.
Jaclyn Harron
posted on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 - 3:32 am
Hi there,
I'm trying to save posterior probabilities and class assignments in a LCGM but I'm getting the following error:
*** ERROR in SAVEDATA command
The syntax for the FILE option has changed. Please refer to the
Mplus User's Guide for available options.
This is my syntax:
SAVEDATA: FILE IS C:\Users\Jaclyn\Documents\PhD\Analysis\General delinquency\
Linear LCGA - with FIML FINAL MODELS with assignment\LCGA count
ZIP (inc non-offenders FIML) FINAL\males;
save = cprobabilities;
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, February 08, 2012 - 8:12 am
I can't see the problem. Please send the output and your license number to
Ann-marie Faria
posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 8:27 am
I am running a multi-level latent profile analyses with three profiles at level 2 and only 1 profile at level 1. Students are level 1 and schools are level 2.
I am trying to determine if profile membership at level 2 distinguishes between the means (by profile) on level 1 auxiliary variables. However, when I add in the auxiliary command
Auxiliary = (2) X1 X2 X3;
I receive the following error message:
*** ERROR in VARIABLE command
Auxiliary variables with 'e' or 'r' specifier are not available with TYPE=MIXTURE
with more than one categorical latent variable.
I currently have the within variables listed in the Use Variables section as �within�- I tried to take them out there and still received the same message.
Could you please advise?
Ann-marie Faria
posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 8:28 am
please excuse my typo, the auxiliary code actually reads
Auxiliary = (e) x1 x2 x3;
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, March 15, 2012 - 9:44 am
The error message refers to the fact that you have more than one categorical latent variable on the CLASSES list. I am not sure that AUXILIARY (e) is available with multilevel models.
Ann-marie Faria
posted on Friday, March 16, 2012 - 9:33 am
Hi Linda-
Thank you for your response. If auxiliary (e) is not possible given the multiple categorical latent variables, would you suggest setting up a series of Wald tests to see if the means at level 1 are signfiicantly different by level 2 profile?
Thank you,
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Saturday, March 17, 2012 - 10:44 am
Yes, you can use Wald tests.
Ann-marie Faria
posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - 7:12 am
Hi Linda-
When I tried to use the Wald tests of equality, I am running into trouble because the variables I would like to test using model statements are at level 1. I am trying to test if auxiliary variables at level 1 are significantly different across the level 2 profiles. However, because my latent profile model has 3 between and 1 within profile, Mplus only sees one group/profile at level 1 and I cannot test the mean differences at Level 1. Also, it seems that Mplus will not let me call for the tests of equality on level 1 variables in the model between statements. Is there a way to get these mean differences at level 1 based on level 2 profile membership? Without outputting the profile memberships or predicted probabilities?
Thank you for your help,
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 - 9:00 pm
I don't think it is possible to do user-specified Wald tests based on auxiliary variables - that is, variables that are not part of the model - you have to have model parameter labels that you refer to.
Mario Mueller
posted on Thursday, August 09, 2012 - 3:38 am
Dear Linda,
I would like to run a LCA with four binary and three 3-level categorical indicators in a sample of n=60.000.
Can I use the the following command for the most simple model without any covariates(?):
categorical=tri1 tri2 tri3 bi1 bi2 bi3 bi4;
missing are all (-999);
I didn't find any examples in the UG.
Thanks, Mario
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, August 09, 2012 - 5:52 am
That looks fine.
Jung-Ah Choi
posted on Thursday, August 23, 2012 - 2:18 am
Dear Linda,
I'm trying to do LCA with binary variables. I performed multiple imputation to deal with missing data.
However, there are not output parts as "results in probability scale" and "odds ratio results" in my output. I guess it is because I put 5 imputation files. Then, how can I treat missing data when trying to do LCA? I know it is required that threre're no blanks(missing data) in data file.
I need your help.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Thursday, August 23, 2012 - 8:32 am
These are not available with multiple imputation. If you want them, you can use MODEL CONSTRAINT to compute them. See the user's guide.
Jung-Ah Choi
posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 6:22 am
Thanks so much, Dr. Linda,
I'm trying to do LCA using dataset with missing data. My syntax is as follows:
DATA: FILE=bulelem0825.dat;
VARIABLE: NAMES=id sex b1-b5 v1-v5;
USEVARIABLES ARE b1-b5 v1-v5;
CATEGORICAL= b1-b5 v1-v5;
However, I got error message,
"Categorical variable B1 contains 59 categories. This exceeds the maximum allowed of 10."
I can't understand this message because b1 is binary variable including 2 categories(0=no, 1=yes).
Could you tell me what this error messgae means and how to fix it?
I do appreciate your help.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Saturday, August 25, 2012 - 12:20 pm
You are reading your data incorrectly. You either have more names in the NAMES list than you have columns of data or you have blanks in your data set and are reading it as free format.
Chia-Yi Chiu
posted on Saturday, September 07, 2013 - 1:58 pm
I am fitting binary data with the LCA in the context of cognitive diagnostic models. Because the model is a reparametrization of the logistic model (not directly a logistic model), I need to impose some constraints to the parameters. When the highest interaction term in the logistic model is 3-way, the iterations converge. However, when the highest interaction term goes up to 4-way, Mplus gives the following error message:
It looks like the starting value is an issue. However, I did not specify any starting value, but used
I then changed the number of random starts to
But it did not work either. Any suggestion is welcome. Thanks!!
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Saturday, September 07, 2013 - 3:23 pm
Please send the output and your license number to
Wen-Hsu Lin
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 - 7:00 am
The example 8.6 indicated that latent class c predicated the distal outcome u. How did we know whether the varying thresholds of u across classes are significantly different? or means are significantly different across classes for continuous distal outcome? Thank you.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 - 12:14 pm
You can use the Wald test of MODEL TEST for this. You label the thresholds of u in each class and use the labels in MODEL TEST. See the user's guide for further information.
Wen-Hsu Lin
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 - 6:01 pm
Thank you Linda
Wen-Hsu Lin
posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015 - 6:52 pm
Hi, again
after reading the example, I still did not get it. It kept showing warring. My command as follow:
usevariables are bmi1
sk1 sk2 sk3 sk4 sk5 sk6 sk8 sk9;
missing is blank;
categorical are sk1 sk2 sk3 sk4 sk5 sk6 sk8 sk9 bmi1;
weight is ipt1;
iteration = 50000;
model test:
is the last line correct? The example showed model constraint and symbol for manipulating. In my case, there is no line for bmi1 in the %overall%. So how do I ask Mplus to do the test? Thank you.
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - 6:33 am
You must specify the parameters, label them, and use the labels in MODEL TEST.
0 = p1 - p2;
Wen-Hsu Lin
posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2015 - 6:05 pm
This clears all up.Thanks a lot.
posted on Thursday, September 22, 2016 - 1:26 am
Hi, I ran an LCA model. I also determined what predicts class membership. I would like to interpret the Odd's ratio but since some of the predictors are categorical variables (i.e.,B41A), I am having trouble interpreting the output.
Categorical Latent Variables
Could you perhaps help?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Thursday, September 22, 2016 - 9:33 am
That's interpreted the same way as for multinomial logistic regression with an observed nominal DV. See for instance UG Chapter 14 or our new book, Chapter 5.
posted on Friday, September 23, 2016 - 2:07 am
Thank you!
samah Zakaria Ahmed
posted on Sunday, January 22, 2017 - 12:03 pm
i have two latent class variables and 10 items (5 items for each latent variable), all items are binary. how can i write the model command to assign the items for each related latent class variable.
i tried to write:
c1 by u1-u5
c2 by v1-v5
but i found warning message
samah Zakaria Ahmed
posted on Sunday, January 22, 2017 - 12:33 pm
i have two latent class variables and 10 items (5 items for each latent variable), all items are binary. how can i write the model command to assign the items for each related latent class variable.
i tried to write:
c1 by u1-u5
c2 by v1-v5
but i found warning message
Naomi Wright
posted on Tuesday, August 22, 2017 - 9:49 am
When attempting a mixture model with both categorical and continuous indicator variables, I receive the error below (all caps). I did not specify the model and left the default random start values. It's possible that the model is non-identified, as this is an exploratory analysis, but I'm not sure if I am doing something wrong with the input. Also, when I run separate analyses with only the categorical or only the continuous variables, the syntax runs. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Parameter 63, %C#3%: [ INC_CAT$7 ]
Linda K. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, August 22, 2017 - 10:51 am
Please send the output and your license number to
samah Zakaria Ahmed
posted on Monday, January 22, 2018 - 4:46 pm
I want to ask about MODEL RESULTS in case of having 2 class latent variable and binary observed variables
what does Thresholds in each class refer to?
Does it refer to the coefficients of logit function directly(alpha and beta)?
logit(prob(y=1|z)=alpha + beta(z)
samah Zakaria Ahmed
posted on Monday, January 22, 2018 - 4:55 pm
and what is the reference category?(no.1 or 2?)
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Monday, January 22, 2018 - 5:05 pm
Answered. Please post the same question only once.
rgm smeets
posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2019 - 10:52 am
Dear Mister Muthen,
I ran a LCA with 9 variables (continuous, binary and nominal variables). I want to run a regular LCA without anything defined in the MODEL. I neither included covariates. Therefore, I did not specify anything in the MODEL command in the input. Is this necessary to do?
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Tuesday, February 12, 2019 - 5:22 pm
J. Gayle Beck
posted on Thursday, October 31, 2019 - 3:11 pm
Dr. Muthen,
I am running a latent class analysis with both dichotomous and continuous variables. It is my understanding that mixed mode data cannot be plotted in the same line graph since we plot probabilities for dichotomous or categorical variables and estimated means for continuous variables.
Is there any way to convert our estimates given for the continuous variables into probabilities that can be plotted with probabilities of the dichotomous variables?
Thank you.
Bengt O. Muthen
posted on Friday, November 01, 2019 - 5:20 pm
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text:
scar precisava de um novo design de site com programação e criou um concurso na 99designs.
Um vencedor foi selecionado entre 10 designs enviados por 5 designers freelancers.
This is a one page design for a website similar to: http://www.5starringtones.com - Keep in mind that Im looking for a similar concept but definately not a similar design. Im looking for a website design template to use. The domain name to be used is: http://www.ringtonegurus.com
A good color combo that you can test out besides white and blue, is this green/white/on dark grey - http://www.franticindustries.com/ (p.s. I also like that designs header)
Desired Color Scheme:
Light Colors
Desired Style:
Web 2.0 iMac style.
Accepted File Formats:
.psd + sliced html
Considering that the page I wish to create is only one page, and the main part of this page is the actual design, i've decided to put up this contest. I like creativity, and as creative as I may be, I'm just not good with photoshop and hence can't do this project myself. Since i'm looking for a permanent designer, the winner of this contest will not only receive the contest money, but will also be asked to work on a few other design projects I have.
Good luck and I'm looking forward to seeing these.


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The Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisation was founded in the 1960s by Sri Sathya Sai Baba to enable its members to undertake service activities as a means to spiritual advancement. The Sathya Sai Organisation derives inspiration, guidance and strength from Sai Baba's mission and message of propagating the truth of man's inherent divinity, which is proclaimed and preached by all religions of the world. In consonance with this truth, the Organisation has as its main objective selfless love and service without any distinction of religion, nationality, race, socio-economic status, either for those who work in the Organisation or for those who are served by them. Thus, it transcends all barriers, leading humanity towards the ideal of 'Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man'. In fact, this spiritual basis enables every one in the Organisation to pursue his own religion better by putting its teachings into practice by way of love and service to the God who dwells in all hearts. That is why the Sai Organisation features in its emblem the symbols of some of the major religions of the world. There is no fee or subscription for membership.
"The main objective of the Sathya Sai Organisation ... is to help you recognize the divinity inherent in you. So, your duty is to emphasize the One, to experience the One in all you do or speak. Do not give importance to differences of religion, sect, status, or color. Have the feeling of one-ness permeate all your acts. Only those who do so have a place in this Organisation; the rest can withdraw."
- Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Speaks IX, 35, 187-188


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News Release — Vt. Dept. of Health
July 3, 2013
BARRE – Eleven people and several pets in Barre were recently exposed to the saliva of a baby skunk that appeared abandoned, and was rescued from the side of a road. The animal later tested positive for rabies.
Everyone who was exposed, including six children, underwent a series of vaccinations as a preventative measure, according to Robert Johnson, DVM, the Health Department's public health veterinarian.
The baby skunk was one of two captured in Barre that tested positive for rabies on June 27. A total of 31 animals have tested positive for rabies so far this year in Vermont.
"Wild animals are not kittens or puppies, and we want to remind Vermonters not to feed or touch wild animals," Dr. Johnson said. "The best prevention is to avoid exposure.
"The tendency is to want to rescue the animal, but our advice is leave it alone."
The only way to rescue a wild animal is to make sure it is handled properly (with gloves and placed into a box) and brought to a state wildlife rehabilitator.
For guidance on what to do if you find a wild animal (such as a baby animal that appears to have been abandoned by its mother), contact the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department (802-241-3700), and visit: http://www.vtfishandwildlife.com/wildlife_rehabilitation.cfm for a wildlife rehabilitator in your area.
VTDigger is underwritten by:
Once the animals are taken in as pets and improperly handled, and people are either bitten or exposed to saliva, the potential for rabies requires that the animal is tested for the disease. Animal testing for rabies involves killing the animal and testing a sample of its brain tissue.
Without treatment, rabies is a fatal disease for humans and animals.
Avoid any wild animal that is acting strangely and contact the Vermont Rabies Hotline:
1-800-472-2437 (1-800-4-RABIES), Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
For more information visit: http://healthvermont.gov/prevent/rabies/Rabies.aspx


text:
Date and fall in love, discover the joys of online dating.
ArmenianMatch is a free dating site serving single Armenian men and single Armenian women worldwide. We provide a global network where Armenian singles find friendship, romance and life-long partners. Register today to find your Armenian Match.
Hosting & Web Design provided by IMEC Hosting


text:
I'm looking for drivers to an E interactivity Tv Tuner, anyone know a few good driver download sites? I've been looking everywhere but this thing is pretty old and I haven't had any luck. Any help would be appreciated.
Results 1 to 5 of 5
Thread: Drivers for a TV Tuner


text:
Faried helps Nuggets rally past Jazz 101-94
DENVER (AP) Kenneth Faried joined the 20/20 club just 48 hours after sinking his first winning basket.
Faried scored 24 points and pulled down 21 rebounds Saturday night in the short-handed Denver Nuggets' 101-94 come-from-behind win over the Utah Jazz.
Faried was coming off an 18-point, 17-rebound performance at Golden State on Thursday night that would have been overshadowed by Timofey Mozgov's 23-point, 29-board performance were it not for coach Brian Shaw diagramming the last-second shot for him - another first.
So, what's next for Faired?
''Maybe stepping out behind the 3-point line and shooting a 3,'' Shaw suggested.
Faried likes to share the spotlight, so he's thinking more along the line of what he and Mozgov can do for an encore.
''Twenty-twenty together,'' Faired suggested. ''Hey, why not?''
Suddenly, anything seems possible for these Nuggets, who are headed for the NBA lottery instead of the playoffs for the first time in a decade but are somehow playing well despite a depleted roster.
On this night, they lost Anthony Randolph to the paternity ward before tip-off and fellow forward Darrell Arthur to a strained left knee in the first quarter. He was unable to jump and took a seat after logging just two minutes.
Luckily, forward Wilson Chandler returned to action for Denver after missing 10 games with a strained left groin. He scored nine points in 21 minutes.
After a slow start - the Nuggets scored a season-low 34 points in the first half - Faried took over, Randy Foye scored 26 points and Evan Fornier added 23 as Denver sent Utah to its fourth straight loss and evened the season series with their rivals at two games each.
''We told the team at halftime just to flush that half down the drain,'' Shaw said.
Foye's 3-pointer with 6:54 left gave Denver its first lead of the night at 77-76, and the Nuggets wouldn't trail again.
Seconds later, Fornier made the most unlikely of baskets. He was driving in to the lane when he got tripped and let go of the ball as he fell backward into the paint. The ball fluttered through the net just as he hit the floor, and his subsequent free throw put Denver on top 80-76.
Foye and Fornier teamed up for back-to-back 3s that gave the Nuggets a 90-82 lead with three minutes left.
''We've just got to stay with it,'' Utah guard Trey Burke said. ''I feel we really had an opportunity to win this game. Foye got hot tonight, so did Faried. He did a great job of rebounding and giving them second opportunities. You can't give a good team like that to get as many second opportunities as they did in the second half.''
Gordon Hayward led Utah with 23 points, and Enes Kanter added 22 points and 14 rebounds.
The teams combined to go 0-for-15 from 3-point range in the first half in a display befitting two teams headed for the NBA draft lottery this summer instead of their usual playoff perch. Denver, however, hit seven 3s after halftime, including three by Foye.
Mozgov had another double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds as the Nuggets won their third straight.
''I'm proud of them and the way they're finishing up this season,'' Shaw said. ''I think this is exactly what we wanted to see ending up the season to carry over into next season, win or lose, the kind of effort it's going to take and the togetherness we're going to need to be successful.''
NOTES: Utah F Marvin Williams missed his second straight game with a bruised left knee. ... The Nuggets said Arthur was day to day. ... Nuggets PG Ty Lawson missed his fourth straight game with a sprained left ankle.
Follow AP Sports Writer Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton


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This afternoon at 3 EST, I'll be participating in a live chat at Feministe to promote Yes Means Yes! Feministe blogger Rachel will moderate, and the other contributors who will be there are Cara Kulwicki, Toni Amato, Hanne Blank, and Heather Corrina. Just show up at Feministe around 3, and it'll be going.
You won't be able to ask questions during the chat, but there's still time to leave some over there in advance.


text:
Little Red Inn4900 Hwy 175
Hartford, WI 53027 (262) 644-8181
Friday Early Bird Special:
Be seated by 5 pm and get $1.00 off each entree.
We are members of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association.
We accept WRA Gift Certificates.
Sunday: 5pm–8pm
Monday, Tuesday: Closed
Wednesday, Thursday: 5pm–9pm
Friday: 4pm–10pm
Saturday: 5pm–10pm


text:
make an example (out) of (one)(redirected from makes an example out of somebody)
make an example (out) of (one)
To punish one harshly so that others will avoid committing the same offense in order to avoid such punishment. The judge was known to make an example of certain criminals by handing out severe sentences. Miss Johnson made an example of out Timmy when he started talking during the presentation, and everybody else was dead silent afterward.
make an example of someone
to do something to someone that shows the bad results of bad behavior; to point to someone as a bad example. The judge said that he would make an example of Sally and would fine her the maximum amount. The teacher made an example of me to the class, with a detention on the first day of school.
make an example of
Punish someone so as to be a warning to others, as in The teacher made an example of the boy she caught cheating, or The judge imposed a tough sentence to make an example of the car thieves. This usage is first recorded in John Wycliffe's followers' translation of the Bible (c. 1382).


text:
Jerry Brown got some attention last week when, in an interview with the Northern California radio station KGO, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee quipped that he had forgotten what day of the week it is. The overcaffeinated Meg Whitman rapid-response team quickly piled on, suggesting that the 72-year-old was forgetting things.
Given the surpassing vapidity of the campaign, it's a wonder Brown can tell the weeks apart. I can't. No, Brown's problem isn't knowing what day of the week it is. His problem is that he doesn't seem to have learned from the recent past.
In a lesser noticed part of that same KGO interview, Brown was asked to describe how the budget should be balanced now by the state's leaders. His answer?
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
"Look, they've got to make the cuts. They've got to find, whatever they can do. Move functions in local government, find some fees ... talk to Obama, get some more bailout. Their back is to the wall, and the reason is they didn't make the hard decisions in January or February when they could have gone to the voters to ask to be relieved of certain constitutional mandates or to let the voters vote on some choices about what they want or don't want in state and local government."
So let's review, the Brown budget strategy involves 1. making cuts where you can. 2. trying to find some fees or revenues. 3. move functions in local government. 4. talk to Obama and the feds about getting more money. 5. and asking the people to excuse the legisalture from certain mandates.
Why didn' the legislature and governor think of any of those things?
Oh, that's right. They did think of those things. In fact the legislature and governor have tried all those things over the past two years. None of them worked. To review:
The legislature and governor have made tens of billions dollars in cuts to the budget over the past two years. They're about to make more. So that takes care of Brown suggestion #1. They also raised fees (#2) and found some revenues by raising taxes temporarily in a February 2009 budget deal. That same deal shuffled around some money from local government; state leaders this week also delayed some local government payments to conserve cash (Jerry idea #3).
And, if Brown hasn't noticed, legislative leaders and the governor have been making near constant demands for more money from the federal government (That's Brown idea #4). And finally, in 2009, the legislature and governor went to voters asking for their permission to "be relieved of certain constitutional mandates" (Brown idea #5) so they re-do the budget process and get at money reserved for education, the lottery, mental health and early childhood in order to balance the budget. The voters said no, and in the process overturned key parts of a legislative deal (and blew a $6 billion hole in the budget. Yes, the enemy is us).
None of this worked. Why? Because California's governing system doesn't work. The budget process is such a mess of spending mandates and tax limits that it simply doesn't work. To balance the budget requires not just revenue and spending tactics by lawmakers (as Brown suggests) but wholesale changes in the budget process and in the constituion.
But Brown has pointedly opposed the kind of systemic reform that's needed. Instead, he seems inclined to repeat what hasn't worked.
Follow NBCLA for the latest LA news, events and entertainment: Twitter: @NBCLA // Facebook: NBCLA


text:
Start Date: 12/02/19
End Date: 12/31/19
Pepper Group is celebrating 25 years! You can help us celebrate by providing fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy and proteins to our 812,000 neighbors in Cook County, including 1 in 6 children, who face food insecurity by contributing to our virtual food drive. Thanks to the Food Depository's buying power where $1 can help provide 3 meals, you can make an immediate impact! Every dollar raised through this virtual food drive will be used to buy nutritious food for our community.


text:
If you're looking for the LostCousins site please click the logo in the top left corner - these forums are for existing LostCousins members only.
This is the LostCousins Forum. If you were looking for the LostCousins website simply click the logo at the top left.
Only registered members can see all the forums - if you've received an invitation to join (it'll be on your My Summary page) please register NOW!
Checking and correcting entries
Discussion in 'Ask Peter' started by Pauline, Mar 7, 2020.


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Take a look at our collection of running hats and running gloves today so you can add to your running kit. We have specialst options available from top brands including Nike and Karrimor. Our range of running gloves are ideal when winter sets in and you want to beat the chill or we have running hats to keep the sun from your eyes when the weather improves!
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text:
This year I got the chance to attend the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California. Natural Products Expo West is an annual trade show for the natural products industry. More than 56,000 industry professionals attended! Not only is that number a 5 percent increase from the number of attendees during last year's show, it also sets a record as the largest attendance in Natural Products Expo West history. It's amazing to see proof that this industry is constantly growing.
This year, the Natural Products Expo West was at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.
As soon as I arrived at the Anaheim Convention Center I was overwhelmed. (I suppose it was silly of me to invision card tables and poster-board.) These companies take their booths seriously! It was awesome to see the amount of effort put into making these great products stand out. However, it wasn't even the time exhibitors spent on their showcase that overwhelmed me. Almost 2,000 companies showcased their natural products at this event. That's a lot of people! There were so many great things to see, I didn't even know where to begin! (Or which crowds to fight!)
More than 56,000 industry professionals attended this event.
More than 2,000 companies showcased their products. That's a lot of names!
There were many additional highlights from my trip. Here are just a few:
• I got a chance to talk with Jim May, the 'father of stevia' and CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands (the manufacturers of SweetLeaf Sweetener), about stevia. Stevia is an herb that has been sold as a tea, a dietary supplement, and now, as of 2008's FDA approval, as a sweetener. Stevia sweeteners have taken about 10 percent of the US consumer market for tabletop sugar substitutes, according to a report by the Financial Times. This was clear to see at the expo. Many companies showed off their stevia sweetened products. "This is the ideal sweetener for diabetics," says May.
• Nearly everywhere I stood inside the convention center, tea was in my line of vision. It was refreshing to take a short respite while sampling some new tea flavors from companies such as Choice Organic Teas, Two Leaves and a Bud, Bigelow Tea, Honest Tea, Good Earth Teas, The Tea Room and many more.
• There were so many great companies, such as Mountain Rose Herbs, Oregon's Wild Harvest, Gaia Herbs, Frontier Natural Products Coop., that represented the herb world so well. It's so important to understand that herbs play an important role in leading a healthy, eco-friendly life. I was able to meet many of these people who work alongside these wonderful, herbal products.
• I met Bill Nye the Science Guy! (He was there to give a lecture that explains the science behind a product called the ionator by ActiveIon Cleaning Solutions. Learn more here.)
Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill Nye the Science Guy! (Science Rules!)
The weekend was all a-twitter with the hashtag #expowest. Follow Natural Products Expo West on Twitter or become their fan on Facebook. If this trade show seems like something that would interest you, make sure to attend in 2011.


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- Puerto Rico defaulted on roughly US$ 900 million in principal and interest due on 1 July, most of which was general obligation (GO) bonds and Commonwealth-guaranteed debt
- Schroders does not believe Puerto Rico's recent default poses broader contagion risk to the municipal bonds market
- Schroders thinks this event marks only the beginning of a long process to restructure debt and repair Puerto Rico's (also known as the Commonwealth) economy and fiscal house
- Opportunistic hedge funds are now the largest holders of Puerto Rico debt
According to Philip Villaluz, Head of Municipal Credit Research at Schroders, Puerto Rico's recent default does not pose a broader contagion risk to the municipal bonds market, but it marks the beginning of a long process to repair the country's economy.
Puerto Rico defaulted on roughly US$ 900 million in principal and interest due on 1 July, most of which was general obligation (GO) bonds and Commonwealth-guaranteed debt.
Despite this historic default, which is the first state or US territory to default since the State of Arkansas in 1933, the municipal market has taken it in its stride. In fact, prices of Puerto Rico bonds are generally flat (increasing by 3.4% since introduction of legislation in the US House; declining by 2.8% following the default).
While the default had been expected by the market for quite some time and risk premium priced in, Schroders thinks this event marks only the beginning of a long process to restructure debt and repair Puerto Rico's (also known as the Commonwealth) economy and fiscal house.
A deteriorating situation has led to a shift in investor base
Puerto Rico has suffered from a recession since 2006; where current unemployment is close to 20%, roughly 50% of the population lives in poverty and hundreds of thousands who have the means have already left the island.
The Commonwealth's pension fund stands at a less than 1% funded rate, with thousands of retirees who rely on the payments to make ends meet.
Due to a decade of economic and fiscal woes, the Commonwealth amassed US$ 70 billion in debt which was bought by islanders and US municipal bond investors who benefit from triple tax-exemption (income is exempt from federal, state and local taxes).
As Puerto Rico credits drifted into junk bond territory over the past few years, mutual funds sold most of their Puerto Rico bonds; only 125 mutual funds actually hold the bonds, and seven of those funds have more than 50%, according to Morningstar. Opportunistic hedge funds are now the largest holders of Puerto Rico debt.
Decision to break its promise
With liquidity nearly exhausted, Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia-Padilla announced the Commonwealth's intention to default on its obligations. He successfully pushed through legislation earlier this year to allow the government to decide whether to make payments on its debt—specifically, its general obligation debt which carries a constitutional guarantee—in order to conserve cash. Puerto Rico itself – like states of the US – does not have the legal authority to declare bankruptcy.
Congress acts
On 30 June, Federal legislation called PROMESA (Spanish for "promise") was passed, creating an Oversight Board consisting of seven appointed officials, with the "exclusive control" to enact and enforce fiscal plans, so the island attains fiscal solvency and access to the capital markets.
The Board would have ultimate control over all economic and fiscal matters for the government and would have the authority to restructure its debts. It would also have the authority to prevent the execution of legislative acts, executive orders, regulations, rules and contracts that undercut economic growth initiatives or violate the Act, in addition to other powers.
The seven members—appointed by the President with recommendations from leaders in the House and Senate—will likely consist of four Republicans and three Democrats with experience in municipal bond markets, finance, or government operations who cannot be a former or current elected official or candidate for office, among other restrictions.
PROMESA states that any debt restructuring must respect the relative lawful priorities or lawful liens, as may be applicable, in the constitution, other laws, or agreements of a covered territory or covered instrumentality in effect prior to the date of enactment of the Act.
To impose a voluntary restructuring agreement on a specific pool of creditors (i.e., GO bondholders, COFINA bondholders, etc.), a two-thirds vote with at least 50% of the creditor pool voting is needed (based on amount outstanding). This would effectively allow one-third of bondholders to bind the entire group. However, if no agreement is possible, the Oversight Board could then petition a court to force an involuntary restructuring.
It also establishes a firewall between creditors and pensions in the development of fiscal plans. The Board will be terminated when the Commonwealth government: (i) has adequate access to short- and long-term credit markets at reasonable rates; (ii) has four consecutive years' worth of budgets in accordance with modified accrual accounting standards; and (iii) balances its budget.
Helped to default
According to Schroders, the passage of PROMESA may have facilitated the GO default, because it initiated a stay of litigation against the Commonwealth through February 15, 2017. Hence, PROMESA wouldn't excuse a default, but gives Puerto Rico cover.
Insured bondholders protected
Investors who hold insured Puerto Rico bonds will be paid their amount owed in full, with bond insurance policies making up the shortfall. Schroders also remains confident that the two bond insurers, Assured Guaranty and MBIA (through National Public Finance), with the largest insured exposures to Puerto Rico will continue to pay as expected.
This is not the end
PROMESA is more the start than the conclusion of the process that will determine outcomes for creditors. The restructuring process is contentious and time-consuming. Furthermore, it forces courts to opine over the power of Puerto Rico's Constitution and the definition of government resources in determining priority of claims between different bondholders (i.e. GO and COFINA) across a very complex debt structure. Creditors may also challenge the constitutionality of PROMESA, which could delay the process even more.
For comparison, the municipal market has recently witnessed other restructurings, albeit on much smaller scales. These include the City of Detroit's restructuring which took nearly a year and a half; Jefferson County, Alabama took over two years and San Bernardino, California remains ongoing after almost four years.
Philip Villaluz thinks that the situation remains fluid and not enough is known, particularly with regard to private negotiations and formation of the Oversight Board, to make any confident predictions or take a more constructive view on Puerto Rico's bonds. However, he emphasizes his belief that Puerto Rico's crisis does not pose a contagion risk to the broader municipal market.


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June 24, 2010, 1:23 pm
$370 million in mortgages saved
Housing counselors in Adams County have helped prevent more than $370 million worth of mortgages from going into foreclosure.
Since 2006, when the Adams County Housing Authority joined a statewide foreclosure-prevention effort, counselors have helped 2,000 clients avoid losing their homes. The average loan was $188,349.
The Adams County Housing Authority is a partner of the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline (1-877-601-HOPE). The hotline has helped housing counseling agencies across the state save more than $4 billion in mortgages from foreclosure.
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The three-member majority of the Oceanside City Council has moved to further strip Mayor Jim Wood of his authority and place one of their own as deputy mayor for the rest of the year.
Councilmen Gary Felien, Jerry Kern and Jack Feller voted this week to tentatively adopt an ordinance that would remove Wood's authority to appoint the deputy mayor.
Instead, they would set up a system under which the position is rotated annually among the council members, with Kern moving into the slot for the rest of 2013.
Wood wanted to appoint Councilwoman Esther Sanchez, with whom he is aligned on key issues. She has held the post before, most recently in 2011; Feller was deputy mayor in 2012.
The job is largely ceremonial — the deputy mayor represents the city at official functions and runs City Council meetings in the mayor's absence.
"I certainly would hope someone taking my place would have similar opinions and philosophical views," Wood said.
The latest move by the council majority follows earlier council votes to remove Wood as the city's representative to SANDAG, a regional planning agency, and strip him of the power to appoint the city's representatives to SANDAG and other regional agencies.
"I don't agree with it. They've taken most of the powers of mayor away from me," Wood said. "It's totally wrong."
A final vote on the ordinance is scheduled for the council's 4 p.m. Wednesday meeting at City Hall, 300 North Coast Highway.
Kern and Felien said the change is meant to remove politics from the decision.
"I don't think it means anything other than it's one less thing for us to fight about," Kern said.
Felien, who suggested the change, said squabbles over who gets to be deputy mayor predate Wood and the current council.
"This is a controversy that's been going on and on," Felien said. "It's certainly been aggravated by the fact that the mayor is in the minority on the council. If you can get rid of it by making it nonpolitical, why not?"
The mayor now has the authority to appoint the deputy mayor, subject to council approval. Earlier this year, the council majority refused Wood's appointment of Sanchez, who held the post in 2011. Council policy prohibits one person from serving in the post for more than one year in a row.
Wood appointed Feller to the job last year, a decision he now regrets.
Under a council policy adopted in 2000, when the council is unable to reach agreement on appointing a deputy mayor, the post remains vacant, Assistant City Clerk Holly Trobaugh said.
In that case, the mayor designates someone to represent him in his absence on a case-by-case basis, Trobaugh said.
The new policy would set up a system under which each council member is assigned a number and the job rotates. No council member could serve as deputy mayor during a year in which he or she is up for re-election.
The initial rotation set by the council majority would start with Kern as deputy mayor this year, Sanchez in 2014, Feller in 2015 and Felien in 2016 if he's re-elected in 2014.
In future years, the city clerk would assign numbers for the rotation.
Besides removing politics from the decision, the new policy would be fairer, Felien said.
"Every council member, regardless of their views, gets to serve at least at one point in their term," Felien said.
The change also fixes a system that's broken, Felien said.
Since Wood was elected mayor in 2004, the council has refused to accept his appointments for deputy mayor four times, leaving the seat vacant for a year each time, Felien said.
"You have a broken-down system that doesn't come to a resolution," Felien said. "If the current system had been working, there would be no problem keeping it."


text:
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Protect your world with reliable cushioning, sealing, impact protection, and energy management solutions critical to product performance.
Power your world with step-changes in efficiency, heat management, and reliability of power conversion modules and devices.
Rogers Corporation empowers breakthroughs in reliability, efficiency and performance by providing advanced materials technologies, application knowledge, global manufacturing, and design collaboration. Let us help you build a cleaner, safer, and more connected world.
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