title: Super Mario RPG

text: Mario sets out to rescue Princess Toadstool, infiltrating the castle to which she has been taken and challenging kidnapper King Bowser. During the battle, a giant living sword named Exor falls from the sky, breaks through the Star Road (a pathway that helps grant people's wishes), and crashes into Bowser's castle, sending Mario, Princess Toadstool, and Bowser flying in different directions, as well as scattering the seven-star fragments. Mario lands back at his pad and meets up with Toad, who tells him he has to rescue Toadstool. Mario returns to Bowser's castle, but Exor destroys the bridge, preventing him from entering. Mario makes his way to the Mushroom Kingdom, where Mario encounters a "tadpole" named Mallow who has set out to retrieve a frog coin taken by the local thief Croco. After Mario helps him retrieve the frog coin, they return to the Mushroom Kingdom to find that it is overrun by the Smithy Gang, followers of the evil robotic blacksmith king named Smithy. Mario and Mallow enter the castle to defeat gang boss Mack, and subsequently find a mysterious Star Piece. Mallow accompanies Mario to Tadpole Pond so they can get advice from Frogfucius, Mallow's grandfather. He reveals that Mallow is not really a tadpole, and says Mallow should join Mario on a quest to find the seven Star Pieces as well as Mallow's real parents.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: The duo travel to Rose Town where they meet a star spirit who has animated and taken control of a wooden doll named Geno. After battling the bow-like creature Bowyer, who is immobilizing residents of Rose Town with his arrows, they retrieve another Star Piece. Geno joins Mario and reveals to him the Star Piece is a part of the shattered Star Road, where he normally resides. Geno has been tasked with repairing Star Road and defeating Smithy, so that the world's wishes may again be heard. The trio eventually head to Booster Tower, the home of the eccentric amusement-venue owner, Booster, where they encounter Bowser, whose minions have all deserted him. Bowser reluctantly asks Mario to help him to reclaim his castle; Mario agrees, allowing Bowser to save face by pretending he is joining the Koopa Troop, and Bowser joins the party. The new team intercepts Princess Toadstool just before she is forcibly married to Booster, but it turns out that the wedding wasn't real; Booster, having no idea what a marriage actually is, just thought it was a fun party and abruptly returns home after devouring the cake.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: After her rescue, the princess returns home to Mushroom Kingdom only to then decide to join the party while her grandmother takes her place in disguise. After gathering five star pieces, they search Nimbus Land. A statue maker informs them that Valentina has the rulers of Nimbus Land being held captive, and her sidekick Dodo is impersonating the prince. Dodo would make Valentina his queen. The statue maker recognizes Mallow as the true prince, then disguises Mario as a statue to infiltrate the castle. There they defeat Valentina and Dodo. The newly liberated king and queen, Mallow's parents, inform the group that they saw a star fall into the nearby volcano.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: After traveling to Barrel Volcano to obtain the sixth Star Piece, Mario's party learns that the final piece must be held by Smithy in Bowser's castle. They battle their way through the assembled enemies to enter the castle, where they discover that Exor is actually a gateway to Smithy's factory, the place where Smithy mass-produces his army. Mario and company cross over, find the heart of the factory, and defeat Smithy, thereby stopping his army creation and causing Exor to disappear. The collected Star Pieces are used to repair the Star Road, Geno returns to the Star Road, Bowser rebuilds his castle with his newly reformed army, Mallow regains his rightful title as prince of Nimbus Land, and Mario and Princess Toadstool return to the Mushroom Kingdom to celebrate their victory.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: According to Yoshio Hongo of Nintendo, "Super Mario RPG" came out of Shigeru Miyamoto's desire to make a RPG game using Mario, plus Square's desire to develop an RPG that could do better outside of Japan than their previous titles. Development began in early 1994 after a business meeting between Nintendo and Square. The first phase was spent on deciding a basic system, while the isometric view was chosen to help bring the world to life. To help the game fit with the "Mario" series, it was made to be more action- and movement-focused compared to Square's other RPGs. Development began in earnest during the second quarter of 1995, when the programming, story events, and graphics data were being implemented.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: The game was officially unveiled by both Mario creator and producer Shigeru Miyamoto and co-director Chihiro Fujioka at the 1995 V-Jump Festival event in Japan. Miyamoto led teams at Nintendo and Square, who spent over a year developing the graphics. The story takes place in a newly rendered Mushroom Kingdom based on the "Super Mario Bros." series. Square reported that the game was about 70% complete in October 1995. The developers created the interior elements such as columns, stairways, and exterior elements with advanced computer modeling techniques. Special lighting effects were used to create shadows and reflections that were meant to improve the 3D elements. Shinya Takahashi, who would later become head of Nintendo SPD and Nintendo EPD, designed the game's CG models. With guidance from Miyamoto, Square developed the game, combining role-playing aspects of previous Square games like "Final Fantasy VI" with the platforming elements of Nintendo's games. Square's "Final Fantasy" series was the model for the battle sequences, while the tradition of "Super Mario Bros." games demanded a lot of action. Mario's ability to jog in eight directions and jump up or down in a three–quarter perspective gave him a (comparatively) large range of motion. At 70% completion, the mix of adventure and action gameplay elements placed it in a category closer to "".


title: Super Mario RPG

text: When Nintendo of America received a 60% complete version in November, the staff were surprised at the inclusion of an RPG battle system. The battle screens, using pre-rendered sprites as in the rest of the game, included attack animations of equipped weapons. In December, further development and improvements to the gameplay delayed the translation of the game. For example, the Chancellor, who was named the Mushroom Retainer in Japan, was called the "Minister" in North America. Plans continued through February for the North American version, changing the release date forecast from winter to spring.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: The game's soundtrack was composed by Yoko Shimomura, who incorporated arrangements by Koji Kondo from "Super Mario Bros.", and three tracks by Nobuo Uematsu from "Final Fantasy IV". She regards the "Super Mario RPG" score as one of the turning points in her career as a composer. The music from the game was released as a two-disc soundtrack album in Japan by NTT Publishing on March 25, 1996, titled "Super Mario RPG Original Sound Version".


title: Super Mario RPG

text: "Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars" is one of only seven SNES games released outside Japan to use the Nintendo SA-1 chip. Compared with standard SNES games, the additional microprocessor allows these features: higher clock speeds; faster access to the random-access memory (RAM); greater memory mapping capabilities, data storage, and compression; new direct memory access (DMA) modes, such as bitmap to bit plane transfer; and built-in CIC lockout for piracy protection and regional marketing control. It was not released in the PAL region; Nintendo representatives cited the need to optimize the game for PAL televisions and translate it into multiple languages.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: "Super Mario RPG" became the last Super NES game released by Square in America, with "Treasure of the Rudras" and "Treasure Hunter G" as the last games released in Japan.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: "Super Mario RPG" was released on Virtual Console for Wii in Japan on June 24, 2008. It was released for the first time in Europe and Australia on August 22, 2008 on Virtual Console for Wii, as part of the third Hanabi Festival (a period in which several games not previously available in Europe are released on the Wii's Virtual Console). It was released on Virtual Console for Wii in North America on September 1, 2008, with the distinction of being the 250th Virtual Console game released in that region. "Super Mario RPG" was released on Virtual Console for Wii U in Japan on August 5, 2015, in Europe and Australia on December 24, 2015, and in North America on June 30, 2016. It was also packed into the Super NES Classic Edition in 2017.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: Japanese audiences received "Super Mario RPG" well with 1.47 million copies sold, making it the third highest-selling game in Japan in 1996. Its sales in the United States surpassed Nintendo's expectations. For the game's release in the middle of May 1996, the company shipped 300,000 units to retailers; Nintendo estimated sell-through of more than 200,000 units within one month on shelves. A company representative said that "the title is on track to easily exceed our 500,000 target, and it may easily become a one million seller by the end of this calendar year". By August 24, it had been the most-rented game in the United States for 14 weeks straight. It went on to be the sixth best-selling video game of 1996 in the United States.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: "Super Mario RPG" received positive reviews. Though various aspects of "Super Mario RPG" received mixed reviews, it garnered praise for its graphics and for humor in particular. "Nintendo Power"s review commented that the "excellent" 3D graphics helped the game appeal to a much wider audience than most traditional RPGs. In March 1997, "Nintendo Power" nominated the game for several awards, including "Best Graphics", in a player's choice contest, though "Super Mario 64" won "Best Graphics". "Electronic Gaming Monthly" praised the graphics, stating that they are "the best seen on the Super NES". Scary Larry of "GamePro" gave the game a perfect 5/5 in all four categories (graphics, sound, control, and fun factor), and praised the rendered enemies, cinematics, and spell animations.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: 1UP.com stated that the graphic element is "strong enough to resemble a "Mario" title but still retains the role-playing theme at the same time", and "Electronic Gaming Monthly" commented that the visuals are "typical of Nintendo, using clean and colorful graphics along with nice animation". RPGamer editor Derek Cavin called the backgrounds "beautiful" and stated that they "perfectly bring the Mushroom Kingdom and surrounding areas into 3D". Skyler Miller from Allgame stated that the graphics are "absolutely outstanding, with colorful, 3D rendered visuals that once seemed impossible on the Super NES. This is definitely the high watermark for 3D graphics on any 16-bit system". The editor also called the music "quite extraordinary" and that the songs "match the mood of the surrounding environment". In the Virtual Console re-release, "IGN"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Lucas Thomas's review of "Super Mario RPG" stated that the game's experience "completes itself with a compelling story, a humorous attitude and a variety of interspersed mini-games that break up the adventuring action". The publication also stated that the soundtrack is "spectacular and a joy to listen to" and the graphics "took full advantage of the system's 16-bit technology and looks great".


title: Super Mario RPG

text: Cavin said that most of the battle system mechanics "aren't very original" and also criticized the "lack of a unified storyline". In contrast, a reviewer for "Next Generation" found that the battle system refreshingly differed from tradition, and was pleased that "the elements that stand out from the traditional formula are those that make this a recognizable "Mario" game." He wrote that the gameplay was complex enough to challenge even veteran RPG gamers, yet simple enough to not alienate newcomers to the genre. Scary Larry similarly said the game "should please diehard RPG fans as well as novice players", as it is genuinely tough and offers considerable replay value in the form of sidequests and bonus features such as Toadofsky's music levels. He also found Squaresoft's signature humor and puzzle-solving to be as exceptional as usual. Miller commented that after engaging in many battles, "the battle music becomes monotonous" and that after the game is beaten, "There aren't any surprises to be discovered the second time around". While 1UP.com stated that "The characters seem too childish for older gamers", "Next Generation" said the game is "held together by the strength of its characters and well-developed world."


title: Super Mario RPG

text: In 2009, "Official Nintendo Magazine" ranked the game 34th on a list of greatest Nintendo games. "Electronic Gaming Monthly" editors named "Super Mario RPG" a runner-up for both Super NES Game of the Year (behind "Tetris Attack") and Role-Playing Game of the Year (behind ""). In 2018, Complex ranked the game 8th on their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time."


title: Super Mario RPG

text: "Super Mario RPG" received positive reviews and appeared on reader-selected "best game of all time" lists, such as 30th at "IGN", and critic-selected "best games of all time" lists, such as 26th in "Electronic Gaming Monthly".


title: Super Mario RPG

text: "Super Mario RPG" does not have a direct sequel but it established conventions for its thematic and spiritual successors, the "Paper Mario" series and "Mario & Luigi" series. Nintendo originally announced a game titled "Super Mario RPG 2" for 64DD, which was renamed to "Paper Mario" before its release on the Nintendo 64. Themes shared with the original include the use of Flower Points as a shared party resource instead of each character having their own pool of Magic Points, timed action commands during battles, and the collection of seven stars.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: Both Fujioka and Maekawa went on to work at AlphaDream, having a hands-on involvement with almost every single entry in the "Mario & Luigi" series. Yoko Shimomura returned as well, having composed the soundtrack for every title. "" features a cameo of Geno in one of the minigames, and the end credits mention Square Enix as the copyright holder of the character; this cameo was removed for the game's Nintendo 3DS remake. After accumulating a massive debt by March 2018, AlphaDream would file for bankruptcy in October 2019, leaving the future of the "Mario & Luigi" series in limbo.


title: Super Mario RPG

text: Various locations and characters from the game appear in the children's book "Mario and the Incredible Rescue" released by Scholastic in 2006. Though his only starring role in a video game was in "Super Mario RPG", Masahiro Sakurai added the fan-favorite character Geno as a Mii Fighter costume to the crossover fighting game series "Super Smash Bros." as paid DLC, attributing his inclusion to his matching arm cannon. "Super Mario RPG" is among the 21 preinstalled games on the Super NES Classic Edition in all regions, released in September 2017.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was a United States federal government complex located at 200 N.W. 5th Street in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 a.m. the building was the target of the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people. A third of the building collapsed seconds after the truck bomb detonated. The remains were demolished a month after the attack, and the Oklahoma City National Memorial was built on the site.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: The building was designed by architects Stephen H. Horton and Wendell Locke of Locke, Wright and Associates and constructed by J.W. Bateson using reinforced concrete in 1977 at a cost of $14.5 million. The building, named for federal judge Alfred P. Murrah, an Oklahoma native, opened on March 2, 1977.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: By the 1990s, the building contained regional offices for the Social Security Administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the United States Secret Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs vocational rehabilitation counseling center, the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). It also contained recruiting offices for the US Military. It housed approximately 550 employees.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: In October 1983, members of the Christian militia group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), including founder James Ellison and Richard Snell plotted to park "a van or trailer in front of the Federal Building and blow it up with rockets detonated by a timer." While the CSA was building a rocket launcher to attack the building, the ordnance accidentally detonated in a member's hands. The CSA took this as divine intervention and called off the planned attack. Convicted of murder in an unrelated case, Richard Snell was executed on April 19, 1995, the same day the bombing of the federal building was carried out, after Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas declined to hear further appeal.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: At 9:02 a.m. local time on April 19, 1995, a Ryder rental truck, containing approximately 7,000 pounds (3,175 kg) of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane, and diesel fuel was detonated in front of the building, destroying a third of it and causing severe damage to several other buildings located nearby. As a result, 168 people were killed, including 19 children, and over 800 others were injured. It remains the deadliest domestic terrorist attack, with the most property damage, in the U.S.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: Timothy McVeigh, a U.S Army veteran, was found guilty of the attack in a jury trial and sentenced to death. He was executed in 2001. A co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, is serving multiple life sentences in a federal prison. Third and fourth subjects, Michael Fortier and his wife, Lori, assisted in the plot. They testified against both McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a 12-year prison term for Michael and immunity for Lori. Michael was released into the witness protection program in January 2006.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: McVeigh said that he bombed the building on the second anniversary of the Waco siege in 1993 to retaliate for U.S. government actions there and at the siege at Ruby Ridge. Before his execution, he said that he did not know a day care center was in the building and that, had he known, "It might have given me pause to switch targets." The FBI said that he scouted the interior of the building in December 1994 and likely knew of the day care center before the bombing.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: Many works of art were in the building when it was destroyed in the Oklahoma City bombing. The Oklahoma City National Memorial displays art that survived the bombing. 19 pieces of art recovered from the Murrah Building are on permanent display on the first floor of University of Central Oklahoma's Max Chambers Library. These pieces include:


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: Rescue and recovery efforts were concluded at 11:50 pm on May 1, with the bodies of all but three victims recovered. For safety reasons, the remains were to be demolished shortly afterward. However, McVeigh's attorney, Stephen Jones, called for a motion to delay the demolition until the defense team could examine the site in preparation for the trial. More than a month after the bombing, at 7:01 am on May 23, the remains were demolished. The final three bodies, those of two credit union employees and a customer, were recovered. For several days after the remains' demolition, trucks hauled 800 tons of debris a day away from the site. Some of it was used as evidence in the conspirators' trials, incorporated into parts of memorials, donated to local schools, or sold to raise funds for relief efforts.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: Several remnants of the building stand on the site of the Oklahoma City National Memorial. The plaza (on what was once its south side) has been incorporated into the memorial; the original flagpole is still in use. The east wall (within the building's footprint) is intact, as well as portions of the south wall. The underground parking garage survived the blast and is used today, but is guarded and closed to the public.


title: Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building

text: Consideration was given to not replacing the Murrah Building and to renting office space for agencies affected. Ultimately, the General Services Administration broke ground on a replacement building in 2001 which was completed in 2003. The new 185,000 square foot building was designed by Ross Barney Architects of Chicago, Illinois, with Carol Ross Barney as the lead designer. Constructed on a two city block site, one block north and west of the former site, the new building's design maximized sustainable design and workplace productivity initiatives. Security design was paramount to the Federal employees and its neighbors. Secure design was achieved based on the GSA's current standards for secure facilities including blast resistant glazing. Structural design resists progressive collapse. Building mass, glazing inside the courtyard, and bollards help to maintain a sense of openness and security. The art in architecture component of the building incorporates a water feature that acts as an additional security barrier.


title: Schwarz Gruppe

text: The Schwarz Group is a family-owned multinational retail group that operates grocery shops under the Lidl and Kaufland brands. It is the largest European retailer and the fourth-largest retailer in the world by revenue. The Schwarz Group stores sell mostly private label brands and Schwarz group also operates own production facilities for baking goods, soft drinks and ice cream.


title: Schwarz Gruppe

text: Schwarz Group was founded by Josef Schwarz (1903–1977), father of Dieter Schwarz, in 1930. It is headquartered in Neckarsulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The Schwarz Group is an international trading company with 500,000 employees and operates over 12,900 stores in 2021 across 33 countries. It is made up of the two retail divisions Lidl and Kaufland. In addition to the retail business, the Schwarz Group also owns brands in the beverages, baked goods, sweets and ice cream sectors. The Schwarz Group has been involved in the collection, sorting, and recycling of recyclable materials for many years. With the Dieter Schwarz Foundation, the company supports education primarily in Dieter Schwarz's hometown Heilbronn.


title: Cubans

text: Cubans () are people born in Cuba and people with Cuban citizenship. Cuba is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic, religious and national backgrounds.


title: Cubans

text: The largest urban populations of Cubans in Cuba (2012) are to be found in Havana (2,106,146), Santiago de Cuba (506,037), Holguín (346,195), Camagüey (323,309), Santa Clara (240,543) and Guantánamo (228,436).


title: Cubans

text: According to Cuba's Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas ONE 2012 Census, the population was 11,167,325 including: 5,570,825 men and 5,596,500 women.


title: Cubans

text: In the 2012 Census of Cuba, 64.1% of the inhabitants self-identified as white. Based on genetic testing (2014) in Cuba, the average European, African and Native American ancestry in those auto-reporting to be white were 86%, 6.7%, and 7.8%. The majority of the European ancestry comes from Spain. During the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th century especially, large waves of Asturians, Canary Islanders, Galicians and Catalans emigrated from Spain to Cuba. Other European nationalities with significant influx include: English, French, Germans, Irish, Italians, Poles and Scots. Europeans with lesser influx were Greeks, Portuguese, Romanians and Russians. Central and Eastern European influence was mostly during the Cold War years and immigration from the British Isles was mostly to Havana and Pinar del Rio Province. There is also a small European Jewish community.


title: Cubans

text: The Afro-Cuban population was 9.3% in the 2012 Census of Cuba. Just about 1.3 million Cubans described themselves as black. Thus a significant proportion of those living on the island affirm some sub-Saharan African ancestry. The matter is further complicated by the fact that a fair number of people still locate their origins in specific African ethnic groups or regions, particularly the Akan, Yoruba (or Lucumí), Igbo and Congo, but also Arará, Carabalí, Mandingo, Fula, Makua, and others.


title: Cubans

text: Based on genetic testing in 2014, the average African, European and Native American ancestry in those self-reporting to be "negro (Black)" was 65.5% "African", 29% "European" ancestry and 5.5% "Native American" or other ancestry.


title: Cubans

text: Although Afro-Cubans can be found throughout Cuba, Eastern Cuba has a higher concentration of Blacks than other parts of the island, and Havana has the largest population of blacks of any city in Cuba.


title: Cubans

text: In the 2012 Census of Cuba, 26.6% (2.97 million) of the Cubans self-identified as mulatto or mestizo.


title: Cubans

text: Prior to the 20th century, majority of the Cuban population was of mixed race descent to varying degrees, with pure Spaniards or criollos being a significant minority. Between 1902 and 1933, some 750,000 Spaniards migrated to Cuba from Europe, which changed the racial demographics of the region rapidly. Many of the newly arrived Spanish migrants did not intermix with the native Cuban population, unlike the earlier colonial settlers and conquistadors who intermixed with Tainos and Africans at large scale rates. Self identified “white” Cubans with colonial roots on the island usually have Amerindian and or African admixture to varying degrees, as well as self identified “black” Cubans with colonial roots having varying degrees of European and or Amerindian admixture.


title: Cubans

text: Officially called "amarilla" ("yellow" in English) in the Cuban census, Cubans of East Asian origins made up 1.02% of the population in the 2002 Census of Cuba. They are primarily made up of Chinese descendants who came as indentured laborers in the 19th century to build railroads and work in mines. Historically, Chinese descendants in Cuba were once classified as "white". After the Industrial Revolution, many of these laborers stayed in Cuba because they could not afford return passage to China.


title: Cubans

text: Of the Taínos the number of people claiming descent have not been formally recorded. Most, however, live on the eastern part of the island, notably in Granma, Guantánamo, and Las Tunas. The intermixing between European settlers and the native Taíno was prevalent in the early colonial era and left behind an undercounted amount of descendants. According to a 2018 genome-wide data study, the eastern region of the island had an average Native American ancestry contribution of 10% as compared to an average of 5% in the rest of the island.


title: Cubans

text: Additionally, many North American Indians living in Spanish missions in Georgia and Florida were evacuated to Spanish Cuba along with the fleeing Spanish settlers following the loss of Spanish Florida. As a result, descendants of the Calusa, Tequesta, Timucua and other now-extinct indigenous peoples of Florida are now assimilated into the mainstream Cuban population, comprising part of Cuba's Amerindian genetic makeup.


title: Cubans

text: Cuba's birth rate (9.88 births per thousand population in 2006) is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Its overall population has increased continuously from around 7 million in 1961 to over 11 million now, but the rate of increase has stopped in the last few decades, and has recently turned to a decrease, with the Cuban government in 2006 reporting the first drop in the population since the Mariel boatlift. Immigration and emigration have had noticeable effects on the demographic profile of Cuba during the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1930, close to a million Spaniards arrived from Spain.


title: Cubans

text: Since 1959, over a million Cubans have left the island, primarily to Miami, Florida, where a vocal, well-educated and economically successful exile community exists (Cuban-American lobby).


title: Cubans

text: An autosomal study from 2014 found the genetic ancestry in Cuba to be 72% European, 20% African and 8% Amerindian. This study was of Cubans in Cuba, not the Cuban exile community in United States or other parts of the world, who may have different genetic profiles. Of note, there is high variability between regions within Cuba, with individuals from Western provinces having higher European ancestry on average, and those in the Eastern region having more African and Native American genetic contribution. Cuban genealogy has become a rising interest for Cubans in the last 15 years.


title: Cubans

text: A 1995 study done on the population of Pinar del Río, found that 50% of the Mt-DNA lineages (female lineages) could be traced back to Europeans, 46% to Africans and 3% to Americans. This figure is consistent with both the historical background of the region, and the current demographics of it. According to another study in 2008, regarding the geographical origin attributed to each mtDNA haplogroup, 55% of the sequences found in Cubans are of West Eurasian origin (namely, Europe and the Middle East) and 45% of African origin


title: Cubans

text: Regarding Y-chromosome haplogroups (male lineages), 78.8% of the sequences found in Cubans are of West Eurasian origin, 19.7% of African origin and 1.5% of East Asian origin. Among the West Eurasian fraction, the vast majority of individuals belong to West European haplogroup R1b. The African lineages found in Cubans have a Western (haplogroups E1, E2, E1b1a ) and Northern (E1b1b-M81 ) African origin. The North African haplogroup E1b1b1b (E-M81), is found at a frequency of 6.1%.


title: Cubans

text: According to Fregel et al. (2009), the fact that autochthonous male E-M81 and female U6 lineages from the Canaries have been detected in Cuba and Iberoamerica, demonstrates that Canary Islanders with indigenous Guanche ancestors actively participated in the American colonization.


title: Cubans

text: The United States has the largest number of Cubans outside Cuba. As of 2019, the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey showed a total population of 1,359,990 Cubans. As of 2015, 68% of Cuban-born residents of the United States have naturalized automatically losing their Cuban citizenship. Significant populations of Cubans exist in the cities of Hialeah and Miami in Florida (995,439 Cubans in this state in 2017) and in Texas (60,381), New Jersey (44,974), California (35,364), New York (26,875), and Illinois (22,541)


title: Cubans

text: The second largest Cuban diaspora is in Spain. As of 2019, there were 151,423 Cubans in Spain. Smaller numbers of Cubans live in Uruguay, Italy*, Mexico*, and Canada.


title: Cubans

text: After the founding of the republic in 1902, a considerable migration (over 1 million) arrived from the Iberian peninsula to the island, between them were more than a few former Spanish soldiers who participated in the wars, and yet it never created an obstacle for the respect and affection of Cubans, who have always been proud of their origins.


title: Cubans

text: In December 2008, Spain began accepting citizenship applications from the descendants of people who went into exile after its brutal 1936-39 Civil War, part of a 2007 law meant to address the painful legacy of the conflict. This new Historical Memory Law has granted to more than 140,000 Cubans of Spanish ancestry the Spanish citizenship, and there were 143,048 Cubans with Spanish citizenship in Cuba and 93,004 in Spain on January 1, 2019. Under the law, the descendants had until December 2011 to present themselves at the Spanish embassy in their home country and turn in documentation that proves their parents or grandparents fled Spain between 1936 and 1955. They did not need to relinquish their current citizenship.


title: Cubans

text: The first people known to have inhabited Cuba was the Siboney, an Amerindian people. They were followed by another Amerindian people, the Taíno who were the main population both of Cuba and other islands in The Antilles when Christopher Columbus first sighted the island in 1492. He claimed the islands for Spain and Cuba became a Spanish colony. It was to remain so until 1902 apart from a brief occupation by Britain in 1762, before being returned in exchange for Florida. Towards the end of the 19th century, Spain had lost most of its American possessions and a series of rebellions had shaken Cuba. This, combined with calls for annexation of Cuba in the United States, led to the Spanish–American War, and in 1902 Cuba gained formal independence.


title: Cubans

text: During the first decades of the 20th century, USA interests were dominant and in Cuba, leading to large influence over the island. This ended in 1959 when de facto leader Fulgencio Batista was ousted by revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro. Quickly deteriorating relations with the US led to Cuba's alliance with the Soviet Union and Castro's transformation of Cuba into a declared socialist republic. Cuban soldiers were sent overseas to fight in the Angolan Civil War and Ogaden War in the 1970s-1980s. Castro remained in power until 2008, first as Prime Minister then from 1976 as President of Cuba. Fidel was succeeded by his brother Raúl Castro.


title: Cubans

text: One of the most distinctive parts of Cuban culture is Cuban music and dancing, being well-known far outside the country. Well known Hispanic music styles such as mambo, salsa, rumba, cha-cha-chá, bolero, and son originated in Cuba. The origins of much of Cuban music can be found in the mix of Spanish and West African music, while American musical elements such as trombones and big band were also significant elements in the formation of Cuban music. Cuban literature includes some of the most well-known names of the islands, such as writer and independence hero José Martí in the late 19th century. More contemporary Cuban authors include Daína Chaviano, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, Antonio Orlando Rodríguez, Zoé Valdés and Leonardo Padura Fuentes.


title: Cubans

text: The Spanish language is spoken by virtually all Cubans on the island itself. Cuban Spanish is characterized by the reduction of several consonants, a feature that it shares with other dialects of Caribbean Spanish as well as the Canary Islands. Many Cuban-Americans, while remaining fluent in Spanish, use American English as one of their daily languages.


title: Cubans

text: Cuba's prevailing religion is Roman Catholicism, although in some instances it is profoundly modified and influenced through syncretism. A common syncretic religion is Santería, which combined the Yoruba religion of the African slaves with some Catholicism; it shows similarities to Brazilian Umbanda and has been receiving a degree of official support.


title: Cubans

text: The Roman Catholic Church estimates that 60 percent of the population is Catholic, with 10 percent attending mass regularly, while independent sources estimate that as few 1.5 percent of Catholics do so.


title: Cubans

text: Membership in Protestant churches is estimated to be 5 percent and includes Baptists, Pentecostals, Seventh-day Adventists, Presbyterians, Episcopal Church of Cuba|Episcopalians, Methodists, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and Lutherans. Other groups include the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, Jehovah's Witnesses, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Baháʼís, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).


title: Cubans

text: Cuba is home to a variety of syncretic religions of largely African cultural origin. According to a US State Department report, some sources estimate that as much as 80 percent of the population consults with practitioners of religions with West African roots, such as Santeria or Yoruba. Santería developed out of the traditions of the Yoruba, one of the African peoples who were imported to Cuba during the 16th through 19th centuries to work on the sugar plantations. Santería blends elements of Christianity and West African beliefs and as such made it possible for the slaves to retain their traditional beliefs while appearing to practice Catholicism. La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre (Our Lady Of Charity) is the Catholic patroness of Cuba, and is greatly revered by the Cuban people and seen as a symbol of Cuba. In Santería, she has been syncretized with the goddess Ochún. The important religious festival "La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre" is celebrated by Cubans annually on 8 September. Other religions practised are Palo Monte, and Abakuá, which have large parts of their liturgy in African languages.


title: Cubans

text: Many words in traditional Cuban Spanish can be traced to those of the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands. Many Canary Islanders emigrated to Cuba and had one of the largest parts in the formation of the Cuban dialect and accent. There are also many elements from other areas of Spain such as Andalucian, Galician, Asturian, Catalan, as well as some African influence. Cuban Spanish is very close to Canarian Spanish. Canarian emigration has been going on for centuries to Cuba, and were also very numerous in emigration of the 19th, and 20th centuries.


title: Cubans

text: Through cross emigration of Canarians and Cubans, many of the customs of Canarians have become Cuban traditions and vice versa.


title: Cubans

text: The music of Cuba has become part of the Canarian culture as well, such as mambo, salsa, son, and punto Cubano. Because of Cuban emigration to the Canary Islands, the dish "moros y cristianos" (black beans and rice mixed together with traditional spices, different from "frijoles negros", which is a thick black bean soup served over white rice), also known as simply "moros", can be found as one of the foods of the Canary Islands; especially the island of La Palma. Canary Islanders were the driving force in the cigar industry in Cuba, and were called "Vegueros". Many of the big cigar factories in Cuba were owned by Canary Islanders. After the Castro revolution, many Cubans and returning Canarians settled in the Canary islands, among them were many cigar factory owners such as the Garcia family. The cigar business made its way to the Canary Islands from Cuba, and now the Canary Islands are one of the places that are known for cigars alongside Cuba, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Honduras. The island of La Palma has the greatest Cuban influence out of all seven islands. Also, La Palma has the closest Canarian accent to the Cuban accent, due to the most Cuban emigration to that island.


title: Cubans

text: Many of the typical Cuban replacements for standard Spanish vocabulary stem from Canarian lexicon. For example, "guagua" (bus) differs from standard Spanish "autobús" the former originated in the Canaries and is an onomatopoeia stemming from the sound of a Klaxon horn (wah-wah!). The term of endearment "socio" is from the Canary Islands. An example of Canarian usage for a Spanish word is the verb fajarse ("to fight"). In standard Spanish the verb would be "pelearse", while "fajar" exists as a non-reflexive verb related to the hemming of a skirt. Cuban Spanish shows strong heritage to the Spanish of the Canary Islands.


title: Cubans

text: Many names for food items come from the Canary Islands as well. The Cuban sauce mojo, is based on the mojos of the Canary Islands where the mojo was invented. Also, Canarian ropa vieja is the father to Cuban ropa vieja through Canarian emigration. Gofio is a Canarian food also known by Cubans, along with many other kinds.


title: Cubans

text: The flag of Cuba is red, white, and blue; and was first adopted by Narciso López on a suggestion by the poet Miguel Teurbe Tolón. The design incorporates three blue stripes, representing the three provinces of the time (Oriente, Centro, and Occidente), and two white stripes symbolizing the purity of the patriotic cause. The red triangle stands for the blood shed to free the nation. The white star in the triangle stands for independence.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarines were the largest submarines of World War II and remained the largest ever built until the construction of nuclear ballistic missile submarines in the 1960s. The IJN called this type of submarine . The type name was shortened to . They were submarine aircraft carriers able to carry three Aichi M6A "Seiran" aircraft underwater to their destinations. They were designed to surface, launch their planes, then quickly dive again before they were discovered. They also carried torpedoes for close-range combat.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The "I-400" class was designed with the range to travel anywhere in the world and return. A fleet of 18 boats was planned in 1942, and work started on the first in January 1943 at the Kure, Hiroshima arsenal. Within a year the plan was scaled back to five, of which only three (I-400 at Kure, and and I-402 at Sasebo) were completed.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The "I-400" class was the brainchild of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he conceived the idea of taking the war to the United States mainland by making aerial attacks against cities along the U.S. western and eastern seaboards using submarine-launched naval aircraft. He commissioned Captain Kameto Kuroshima to make a feasibility study.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Yamamoto submitted the resulting proposal to Fleet Headquarters on 13 January 1942. It called for 18 large submarines capable of making three round-trips to the west coast of the United States without refueling or one round-trip to any point on the globe. They also had to be able to store and launch at least two attack aircraft armed with one torpedo or bomb. By 17 March, general design plans for the submarines were finalized. Construction of "I-400" commenced at Kure Dock Yards on 18 January 1943, and four more boats followed: "I-401" (April 1943) and "I-402" (Oct 1943) at Sasebo; "I-403" (Sept 1943) at Kobe and "I-404" (February 1944) at Kure. Only three were completed.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Following Yamamoto's death in April 1943, the number of aircraft-carrying submarines to be built was reduced from eighteen to nine, then five and finally three. Only "I-400" and "I-401" actually entered service; "I-402" was completed on 24 July 1945, five weeks before the end of the war, but never made it to sea.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Each submarine had four engines and carried enough fuel to go around the world one-and-a-half times—more than enough to reach the United States travelling east or west. Measuring more than long overall, they displaced , more than double their typical American contemporaries. The cross-section of its pressure hull had a unique figure-of-eight shape which afforded the necessary strength and stability to handle the weight of a large on-deck aircraft hangar. To allow stowage of three aircraft along the vessel's centreline, the conning tower was offset to port.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Located approximately amidships on the top deck was a cylindrical watertight aircraft hangar, long and in diameter. The outer access door could be opened hydraulically from within or manually from the outside by turning a large hand-wheel connected to a rack and spur gear. The door was made waterproof with a rubber gasket.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Situated atop the hangar were three waterproofed Type 96 triple-mount autocannon for AA defence, two aft and one forward of the conning tower. A single autocannon on a pedestal mount was also located just aft the bridge. One Type 11, deck gun was positioned aft of the hangar. It had a range of .


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Stowed in an open recessed compartment on the forward port side, just below top deck, was a collapsible crane used to retrieve the submarine's "Seiran" floatplanes. The crane had an electrically operated hoist and was capable of lifting approximately . It was raised mechanically to a height of via a motor inside the boat. The boom extended out to a length of .


title: I-400-class submarine

text: A special trim system was fitted to the boats, allowing them to loiter submerged and stationary while awaiting the return of their aircraft. However, operation of this system was noisy and its usefulness was in doubt.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Strung along the submarine's gunwales were two parallel sets of demagnetization cables, running from the stern to the bow planes. They were meant to protect against magnetic mines, by nullifying the magnetic field which normally triggers the mines fusing system. A similar demagnetizing system was carried on many Japanese surface ships during the first part of the war, until they were later removed during refitting.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Electronics on board the "I-400"s included a Mark 3 Model 1 air search radar equipped with two separate antennas. This unit was capable of detecting aircraft out to a range of . The boats were also equipped with Mark 2 Model 2 air/surface radar sets with distinctive horn-shaped antennas. Each boat carried an E27 radar warning receiver, connected to both a trainable dipole antenna and a fixed non-directional antenna made up of a wire mesh basket and two metal rods.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The submarines were equipped with two periscopes of German manufacture, about long, one for use during daylight and the other at night.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: A special anechoic coating made from a mixture of gum, asbestos, and adhesives was applied to the hulls from the waterline to the bilge keel. This coating was apparently based on German research, though completely different in composition from German anechoic tiles such as "Alberich" or "Tarnmatte". This was intended to absorb or diffuse enemy sonar pulses and dampen reverberations from the boat's internal machinery, theoretically making detection while submerged more difficult, though its effectiveness was never conclusively established.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: In May 1945, "I-401" was fitted with a German-supplied snorkel, a hydraulically raised air intake device allowing the boat to run its diesel engines and recharge its batteries while remaining at periscope depth. This retrofit occurred while the boat was laid up at Kure for repairs after being damaged by an American mine in April.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: "I-402" was completed shortly before the war ended, but had been converted during building to a tanker and was never equipped with aircraft.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The "I-400"-class subs were unwieldy and relatively difficult to maneuver while surfaced owing to their small rudders. The large superstructure also caused the sub to veer off course during any strong wind. The maximum safe diving depth of the "I-400"-class submarine was only 82% of its overall length, which presented problems if the submarine dived at too steep an angle in an emergency. Because of their large aircraft hangars and conning tower, all "I-400"-class boats had significant visual and radar signatures on the surface, and could be detected by aircraft relatively easily. Dive time was 56 seconds, nearly double that of U.S. fleet subs, which made the boats easier to destroy from the air when caught on the surface.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: When submerged and traveling at a slow speed of two knots, the offset superstructure forced the helmsman to steer seven degrees starboard in order to steer a straight course. When conducting a torpedo attack the captain had to take into account his larger turning circle to starboard than to port, again because of the offset design. Like other Japanese submarines, crew members in "I-400" subs had no air conditioning to control temperatures in tropic waters and no flush toilets. Lack of cold storage greatly limited the crew's diet, while inadequate sleeping quarters forced some of the crew to sleep on the decks or in passageways.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The hangar of the "I-400"s was originally designed to hold two aircraft. In 1943, however, Commander Yasuo Fujimori, Submarine Staff Officer of the Naval General Staff, requested it be enlarged. This was deemed feasible and, as remodelled, "I-400"s could stow up to three Aichi M6A "Seiran" floatplanes.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The "Seiran" was specifically designed for use aboard the submarines and could carry an bomb at . To fit inside the narrow confines of the hangar, the floats were removed and stowed, the wings rotated 90 degrees and folded backward hydraulically against the fuselage, the horizontal stabilizers folded down and the top of the vertical stabilizer folded over so the overall forward profile of the aircraft was within the diameter of its propeller. When deployed for flight, the aircraft had a wingspan of and a length of . A crew of four could prepare and launch all three in 30 minutes (or 15 minutes if the planes' pontoons were not first attached, which would make recovery impossible). As the "Seiran" would normally be launched at night, parts and areas of the plane were coated with luminescent paint to ease assembly in the dark.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The "Seiran"s were launched from a Type 4 No. 2 Model 10 compressed-air catapult on the forward deck of the submarine. Underneath the catapult track were four high-pressure air flasks connected in parallel to a piston. The aircraft, mounted atop collapsible carriages via catapult attachment points along their fuselages, would be slung 70–75 feet along the track, though the piston itself only moved between eight and ten feet during operation.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Two sets of pontoons for the "Seiran"s were stored in special watertight compartments located just below the main deck on either side of the catapult track. From there they could be quickly slid forward on ramps and attached to the plane's wings. A third set of pontoons and additional spares were kept inside the hangar.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The aircraft were to be launched by catapult, and fly their missions. The launching submarine was to submerge and stay in place to allow the aircraft to navigate back to the area by dead reckoning, where it would land on the water with its floats, and be hoisted back aboard by crane. Overall the system was the same as used by Japanese Navy cruisers and light cruisers when launching their reconnaissance floatplanes (like the Aichi E13A), only with aircraft specially designed for use with the I-400 class submarine, and with the added complexity of having to locate a submerged and hidden vessel on return from the mission.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Although this was the typical mode of operation, in cases where fast launching and recovery was essential for escape (see below), the floatplanes could be launched without their floats, and ditched upon landing, saving the time spent recovering and re-hangaring the aircraft, which was a complex and lengthy procedure. This had the added benefit of eliminating the weight and considerable drag of the large and bulky floats, which in turn increased the speed and range of the aircraft, but made any recovery of the aircraft after completing the mission impossible. (For a similar defensive measure involving catapult-launched, disposable aircraft used by Allied convoy groups in the Battle of the Atlantic, see CAM ship.) In extreme circumstances, theoretically the aircraft could be launched and abandoned altogether while the submarine beat a hasty retreat, leaving the crews to fly their missions with no hope of return, perhaps as a "kamikaze" mission.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: As the war turned against the Japanese and their fleet no longer had free rein in the Pacific, the Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Combined Fleet, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, devised a daring plan to attack New York, Washington D.C., and other large American cities.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Following an inspection of Rabaul in August 1943, Captain Chikao Yamamoto and Commander Yasuo Fujimori conceived the idea of using the "sen toku" (secret submarine attack) to destroy the locks of the Panama Canal in an attempt to cut American supply lines to the Pacific Ocean and hamper the transfer of U.S. ships. Intelligence gathering on the proposed target began later that year.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The Japanese were well aware that American fortifications existed on both sides of the Canal. On the Atlantic, the large coastal artillery batteries of Fort Sherman had a range of 30,000 yards (), preventing enemy ships from getting near enough to shell the locks. In the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor, air and sea patrols had been strengthened around both entrances, and barrage balloons and anti-submarine nets erected. In August 1942, the 88th Coast (Anti-Aircraft) Artillery unit was added to help defend against aerial attacks.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: As the war continued and Japan's fortunes declined, however, security around the Canal grew increasingly lax. In January 1944 Commander Fujimori personally interviewed an American prisoner-of-war who had done guard duty there. He told Fujimori that defensive air patrols had virtually ceased, since it was considered increasingly unlikely the Axis powers would ever attack the locks. This further convinced Fujimori of his plan's feasibility.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: A Japanese engineer who had worked on the Canal during its construction handed over hundreds of documents to the Naval General Staff, including blueprints of the Canal structures and construction methods. A team of three shipping engineers studied the documents and concluded that the locks at Miraflores on the Pacific side were the most vulnerable to aerial bombing, but the Gatun locks on the Atlantic side offered a chance of causing greater damage, since it would be harder to halt any outflow of water. They estimated the Canal would be unusable for at least six months following a successful attack on the locks.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: To increase the size of the airborne attack force, Commander Fujimori requested that two additional fleet submarines still under construction at Kobe, "I-13" and "I-14", be modified to house two "Seiran"s each, bringing the total number of planes available to ten. It was originally planned that two of the "Seiran"s would carry torpedoes and the other eight would carry bombs. They were to make a combined torpedo and glide-bombing attack against the Gatun Locks. Eventually though, torpedo-bombing was dispensed with, because only one "Seiran" pilot had mastered the technique.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The Panama Canal strike plan called for four aircraft-carrying submarines ("I-400", "I-401", "I-13" and "I-14") to sail eastward across the Pacific to the Gulf of Panama, a journey expected to take two months. At a point off the coast of Ecuador, the submarines would launch their "Seiran" aircraft at 0300hrs on a moonlit night. The "Seiran"s, without floats, would fly at an altitude of across the northern coast of Colombia to the vicinity of Colón. Now on the Caribbean side of the isthmus, they would turn westward on a heading of 270 degrees, then angle south-west and make their final approach to the Canal locks at dawn. After completing their bombing runs, the "Seiran"s were to return to a designated rendezvous point and ditch alongside the waiting submarines where the aircrews would be picked up.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Around April 1945, Captain Ariizumi, the man appointed to carry out the attack, decided the "Seiran" pilots would make "kamikaze" ramming attacks against the gates, rather than conventional bombing runs, a tactic becoming increasingly common as the war went against the Japanese. The "Seiran" squadron leader had already suggested as much to Ariizumi earlier that month, though for a time this was kept secret from the other pilots. At the end of May, however, one pilot happened to observe a "Seiran" having its bomb-release mechanism removed and replaced with a fixed mount. Realizing the implications of this change, he angrily confronted the executive officer of the squadron, who explained that the decision to withhold this intention from the other men was made to "avoid mental pressures on the aircrews."


title: I-400-class submarine

text: By 5 June 1945, all four aircraft-carrying submarines had arrived at Nanao Wan where a full-scale wooden model of the Gatun Locks gate had been built by the Maizuru Naval Arsenal, placed on a raft and towed into the bay. The following night, formal training commenced with the "Seiran" flight crews practising rapid assembly, catapult launch and recovery of their aircraft. There was also rudimentary formation flying. From 15 June the "Seiran" pilots made practice daylight bombing runs against the wooden gate mock-up. By 20 June, all training ended and the operation was set to proceed.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Before the attack could commence, Okinawa fell, and word reached Japan that the Allies were preparing an assault on the Japanese home islands. The Japanese Naval General Staff concluded the Panama Canal attack would have little impact on the war's outcome, and more direct and immediate action was necessary to stem the American advance.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Fifteen American aircraft carriers had assembled at the Ulithi atoll, preparatory to making a series of raids against the home islands. The Japanese mission was changed to an attack on the Ulithi base.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The attack on Ulithi Atoll was to take place in two phases. The first, codenamed "Hikari" (light), involved transporting four C6N "Saiun" (Myrt) single-engined high-speed reconnaissance planes to Truk Island. They were to be disassembled, crated and loaded into the water-tight hangars of submarines "I-13" and "I-14". Upon reaching Truk, the "Saiun"s would be unloaded, reassembled and then flown over Ulithi to confirm the presence of American carriers anchored there. Following the delivery, "I-13" and "I-14" were to sail for Hong Kong, where they would embark four "Seiran" attack planes. They would then head to Singapore and join "I-400" and "I-401" for further operations.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The second phase of the Ulithi attack was codenamed "Arashi" (storm). "I-400" and "I-401" were to rendezvous at a predetermined point on the night of 14/15 August. On 17 August they would launch their six "Seiran"s before daybreak on a "kamikaze" mission against the American carriers. The "Seiran"s, each with an bomb bolted to its fuselage, were to fly less than above the water to avoid radar detection and the American fighters expected to be patrolling above.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Just before departing Maizuru Naval Station, the "Seiran"s were completely over-painted in silver with American stars and bars insignias covering the red Hinomarus, a direct violation of the rules of war. This was an attempt to further confuse recognition if the aircraft were prematurely spotted, but it was not well received by the pilots. Some felt it was both unnecessary and a personal insult to fly under American markings, as well as dishonorable to the Imperial Navy.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Following the attack on Ulithi, "I-400" and "I-401" would sail for Hong Kong. There they would take on six more "Seiran"s and sail for Singapore, where fuel oil was more readily available. They would then join "I-13" and "I-14" and stage further attacks with a combined force of ten "Seiran" aircraft.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: On 22 June, "I-13" and "I-14" arrived at Maizuru Harbor to take on fuel. They reached Ominato on 4 July to pick up their "Saiun" reconnaissance aircraft. "I-13" departed for Truk on 11 July but never reached her destination. She was detected running on the surface, attacked, and damaged by radar-equipped TBM Avengers on 16 July. An American destroyer escort later arrived and sank her with depth charges.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Japan surrendered before the Ulithi attack was launched, and on 22 August 1945, the crews of the submarines were ordered to destroy all their weapons. The torpedoes were fired without arming and the aircraft were launched without unfolding the wings and stabilizers. When "I-400" surrendered to the American destroyer, , the U.S. crew was astounded at her size, nearly longer than the USS "Blue" and just as wide – considerably longer and wider than the largest American fleet submarine of the day.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The Japanese conceived of an attack on the United States through the use of biological weapons specifically directed at the civilian population in San Diego, California. Dubbed "Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night", the plan was to launch aircraft from five "I-400" submarines near Southern California at night, who would then drop "infected flea" bombs on the intended target, in the hope that the resulting infection would spread to the entire Western seaboard and kill tens of thousands of people. The plan was scheduled for September 22, 1945, but Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, before the operation was carried out.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The U.S. Navy boarded and recovered 24 submarines, including the three "I-400" submarines, taking them to Sasebo Bay to study them. While there, they received a message that the Soviets were sending an inspection team to examine the submarines. To prevent this, Operation "Road's End" was instituted. Most of the submarines were taken to a position designated as Point Deep Six, about southeast of Fukue Island, packed with charges of C-3 explosive and destroyed; they sank to a depth of .


title: I-400-class submarine

text: Four remaining submarines, "I-400", "I-401", and , were sailed to Hawaii by U.S. Navy technicians for further inspection. Upon completion of the inspections, the submarines were scuttled in the waters off Kalaeloa near Oahu in Hawaii by torpedoes from US submarine on June 4, 1946, to prevent the technology from being made available to the Soviets who were demanding access to them. Dr. James P. (Jim) Delgado of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's maritime heritage program reported that the official government position that the exact location of the sinking was unknown has been confirmed by declassified US Navy documents.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: The wreckage of "I-401" was discovered by the "Pisces" deep-sea submarines of the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory in March 2005 at a depth of . It was reported that "I-400" was later found by the same team off the southwest coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu in August 2013 at a depth of . NOAA researcher Jim Delgado, working aboard "Pisces V", told the Chicago Tribune "It was torpedoed, partially collapsed and had sunk at a steep angle." The submarines scuttled off the Japanese coast were located in July 2015.


title: I-400-class submarine

text: A restored "Seiran" airplane is displayed at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in suburban Washington, D.C. It is the only surviving example of this aircraft, and was found at the Aichi Aircraft Factory following the end of the war in August 1945. Shipped to Naval Air Station Alameda, it was left on outdoor display until 1962, when it was transferred to the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility in Silver Hill, Maryland. There it remained in storage until 1989, when a comprehensive restoration effort was mounted. Though the plane had been ravaged by weather and souvenir collectors, and original factory drawings were lacking, the restoration team was able to reconstruct it accurately, and by February 2000 it was ready for display.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The "g" factor (also known as general intelligence, general mental ability or general intelligence factor) is a construct developed in psychometric investigations of cognitive abilities and human intelligence. It is a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks, reflecting the fact that an individual's performance on one type of cognitive task tends to be comparable to that person's performance on other kinds of cognitive tasks. The "g" factor typically accounts for 40 to 50 percent of the between-individual performance differences on a given cognitive test, and composite scores ("IQ scores") based on many tests are frequently regarded as estimates of individuals' standing on the "g" factor. The terms "IQ, general intelligence, general cognitive ability, general mental ability", and simply "intelligence" are often used interchangeably to refer to this common core shared by cognitive tests. However, the "g" factor itself is merely a mathematical construct indicating the level of observed correlation between cognitive tasks. The measured value of this construct depends on the cognitive tasks that are used, and little is known about the underlying causes of the observed correlations.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The existence of the "g" factor was originally proposed by the English psychologist Charles Spearman in the early years of the 20th century. He observed that children's performance ratings, across seemingly unrelated school subjects, were positively correlated, and reasoned that these correlations reflected the influence of an underlying general mental ability that entered into performance on all kinds of mental tests. Spearman suggested that all mental performance could be conceptualized in terms of a single general ability factor, which he labeled "g", and many narrow task-specific ability factors. Soon after Spearman proposed the existence of "g", it was challenged by Godfrey Thomson, who presented evidence that such intercorrelations among test results could arise even if no "g"-factor existed. Today's factor models of intelligence typically represent cognitive abilities as a three-level hierarchy, where there are many narrow factors at the bottom of the hierarchy, a handful of broad, more general factors at the intermediate level, and at the apex a single factor, referred to as the "g" factor, which represents the variance common to all cognitive tasks.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Traditionally, research on "g" has concentrated on psychometric investigations of test data, with a special emphasis on factor analytic approaches. However, empirical research on the nature of "g" has also drawn upon experimental cognitive psychology and mental chronometry, brain anatomy and physiology, quantitative and molecular genetics, and primate evolution. Some scientists consider "g" as a statistical regularity and uncontroversial, and a general cognitive factor appears in data collected from people in nearly every human culture. Yet, there is no consensus as to what causes the positive correlations between tests.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Research in the field of behavioral genetics has shown that the construct of "g" is highly heritable in measured populations. It has a number of other biological correlates, including brain size. It is also a significant predictor of individual differences in many social outcomes, particularly in education and employment. The most widely accepted contemporary theories of intelligence incorporate the "g" factor. However, critics of "g" have contended that an emphasis on "g" is misplaced and entails a devaluation of other important abilities. Stephen J. Gould famously denounced the concept of "g" as supporting an unrealistic reified view of human intelligence.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Cognitive ability tests are designed to measure different aspects of cognition. Specific domains assessed by tests include mathematical skill, verbal fluency, spatial visualization, and memory, among others. However, individuals who excel at one type of test tend to excel at other kinds of tests, too, while those who do poorly on one test tend to do so on all tests, regardless of the tests' contents. The English psychologist Charles Spearman was the first to describe this phenomenon. In a famous research paper published in 1904, he observed that children's performance measures across seemingly unrelated school subjects were positively correlated. This finding has since been replicated numerous times. The consistent finding of universally positive correlation matrices of mental test results (or the "positive manifold"), despite large differences in tests' contents, has been described as "arguably the most replicated result in all psychology". Zero or negative correlations between tests suggest the presence of sampling error or restriction of the range of ability in the sample studied.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Using factor analysis or related statistical methods, it is possible to compute a single common factor that can be regarded as a summary variable characterizing the correlations between all the different tests in a test battery. Spearman referred to this common factor as the "general factor", or simply "g". (By convention, "g" is always printed as a lower case italic.) Mathematically, the "g" factor is "a source of variance among individuals", which entails that one cannot meaningfully speak of any one individual's mental abilities consisting of "g" or other factors to any specified degrees. One can only speak of an individual's standing on "g" (or other factors) compared to other individuals in a relevant population.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Different tests in a test battery may correlate with (or "load onto") the "g" factor of the battery to different degrees. These correlations are known as "g" loadings. An individual test taker's "g" factor score, representing their relative standing on the "g" factor in the total group of individuals, can be estimated using the "g" loadings. Full-scale IQ scores from a test battery will usually be highly correlated with "g" factor scores, and they are often regarded as estimates of "g". For example, the correlations between "g" factor scores and full-scale IQ scores from David Wechsler's tests have been found to be greater than .95. The terms IQ, general intelligence, general cognitive ability, general mental ability, or simply intelligence are frequently used interchangeably to refer to the common core shared by cognitive tests.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The "g" loadings of mental tests are always positive and usually range between .10 and .90, with a mean of about .60 and a standard deviation of about .15. Raven's Progressive Matrices is among the tests with the highest "g" loadings, around .80. Tests of vocabulary and general information are also typically found to have high "g" loadings. However, the "g" loading of the same test may vary somewhat depending on the composition of the test battery.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The complexity of tests and the demands they place on mental manipulation are related to the tests' "g" loadings. For example, in the forward digit span test the subject is asked to repeat a sequence of digits in the order of their presentation after hearing them once at a rate of one digit per second. The backward digit span test is otherwise the same except that the subject is asked to repeat the digits in the reverse order to that in which they were presented. The backward digit span test is more complex than the forward digit span test, and it has a significantly higher "g" loading. Similarly, the "g" loadings of arithmetic computation, spelling, and word reading tests are lower than those of arithmetic problem solving, text composition, and reading comprehension tests, respectively.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Test difficulty and "g" loadings are distinct concepts that may or may not be empirically related in any specific situation. Tests that have the same difficulty level, as indexed by the proportion of test items that are failed by test takers, may exhibit a wide range of "g" loadings. For example, tests of rote memory have been shown to have the same level of difficulty but considerably lower "g" loadings than many tests that involve reasoning.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: While the existence of "g" as a statistical regularity is well-established and uncontroversial among experts, there is no consensus as to what causes the positive intercorrelations. Several explanations have been proposed.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Charles Spearman reasoned that correlations between tests reflected the influence of a common causal factor, a general mental ability that enters into performance on all kinds of mental tasks. However, he thought that the best indicators of "g" were those tests that reflected what he called "the eduction of relations and correlates", which included abilities such as deduction, induction, problem solving, grasping relationships, inferring rules, and spotting differences and similarities. Spearman hypothesized that "g" was equivalent with "mental energy". However, this was more of a metaphorical explanation, and he remained agnostic about the physical basis of this energy, expecting that future research would uncover the exact physiological nature of "g".


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Following Spearman, Arthur Jensen maintained that all mental tasks tap into "g" to some degree. According to Jensen, the "g" factor represents a "distillate" of scores on different tests rather than a summation or an average of such scores, with factor analysis acting as the distillation procedure. He argued that "g" cannot be described in terms of the item characteristics or information content of tests, pointing out that very dissimilar mental tasks may have nearly equal "g" loadings. Wechsler similarly contended that "g" is not an ability at all but rather some general property of the brain. Jensen hypothesized that "g" corresponds to individual differences in the speed or efficiency of the neural processes associated with mental abilities. He also suggested that given the associations between "g" and elementary cognitive tasks, it should be possible to construct a ratio scale test of "g" that uses time as the unit of measurement.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The so-called sampling theory of "g", originally developed by Edward Thorndike and Godfrey Thomson, proposes that the existence of the positive manifold can be explained without reference to a unitary underlying capacity. According to this theory, there are a number of uncorrelated mental processes, and all tests draw upon different samples of these processes. The intercorrelations between tests are caused by an overlap between processes tapped by the tests. Thus, the positive manifold arises due to a measurement problem, an inability to measure more fine-grained, presumably uncorrelated mental processes.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: It has been shown that it is not possible to distinguish statistically between Spearman's model of "g" and the sampling model; both are equally able to account for intercorrelations among tests. The sampling theory is also consistent with the observation that more complex mental tasks have higher "g" loadings, because more complex tasks are expected to involve a larger sampling of neural elements and therefore have more of them in common with other tasks.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Some researchers have argued that the sampling model invalidates "g" as a psychological concept, because the model suggests that "g" factors derived from different test batteries simply reflect the shared elements of the particular tests contained in each battery rather than a "g" that is common to all tests. Similarly, high correlations between different batteries could be due to them measuring the same set of abilities rather than "the" same ability.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Critics have argued that the sampling theory is incongruent with certain empirical findings. Based on the sampling theory, one might expect that related cognitive tests share many elements and thus be highly correlated. However, some closely related tests, such as forward and backward digit span, are only modestly correlated, while some seemingly completely dissimilar tests, such as vocabulary tests and Raven's matrices, are consistently highly correlated. Another problematic finding is that brain damage frequently leads to specific cognitive impairments rather than a general impairment one might expect based on the sampling theory.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The "mutualism" model of "g" proposes that cognitive processes are initially uncorrelated, but that the positive manifold arises during individual development due to mutual beneficial relations between cognitive processes. Thus there is no single process or capacity underlying the positive correlations between tests. During the course of development, the theory holds, any one particularly efficient process will benefit other processes, with the result that the processes will end up being correlated with one another. Thus similarly high IQs in different persons may stem from quite different initial advantages that they had. Critics have argued that the observed correlations between the "g" loadings and the heritability coefficients of subtests are problematic for the mutualism theory.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Factor analysis is a family of mathematical techniques that can be used to represent correlations between intelligence tests in terms of a smaller number of variables known as factors. The purpose is to simplify the correlation matrix by using hypothetical underlying factors to explain the patterns in it. When all correlations in a matrix are positive, as they are in the case of IQ, factor analysis will yield a general factor common to all tests. The general factor of IQ tests is referred to as the "g" factor, and it typically accounts for 40 to 50 percent of the variance in IQ test batteries. The presence of correlations between many widely varying cognitive tests has often been taken as evidence for the existence of "g", but McFarland (2012) showed that such correlations do not provide any more or less support for the existence of "g" than for the existence of multiple factors of intelligence.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Charles Spearman developed factor analysis in order to study correlations between tests. Initially, he developed a model of intelligence in which variations in all intelligence test scores are explained by only two kinds of variables: first, factors that are specific to each test (denoted "s"); and second, a "g" factor that accounts for the positive correlations across tests. This is known as Spearman's two-factor theory. Later research based on more diverse test batteries than those used by Spearman demonstrated that "g" alone could not account for all correlations between tests. Specifically, it was found that even after controlling for "g", some tests were still correlated with each other. This led to the postulation of "group factors" that represent variance that groups of tests with similar task demands (e.g., verbal, spatial, or numerical) have in common in addition to the shared "g" variance.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Through factor rotation, it is, in principle, possible to produce an infinite number of different factor solutions that are mathematically equivalent in their ability to account for the intercorrelations among cognitive tests. These include solutions that do not contain a "g" factor. Thus factor analysis alone cannot establish what the underlying structure of intelligence is. In choosing between different factor solutions, researchers have to examine the results of factor analysis together with other information about the structure of cognitive abilities.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: There are many psychologically relevant reasons for preferring factor solutions that contain a "g" factor. These include the existence of the positive manifold, the fact that certain kinds of tests (generally the more complex ones) have consistently larger "g" loadings, the substantial invariance of "g" factors across different test batteries, the impossibility of constructing test batteries that do not yield a "g" factor, and the widespread practical validity of "g" as a predictor of individual outcomes. The "g" factor, together with group factors, best represents the empirically established fact that, on average, overall ability differences "between" individuals are greater than differences among abilities "within" individuals, while a factor solution with orthogonal factors without "g" obscures this fact. Moreover, "g" appears to be the most heritable component of intelligence. Research utilizing the techniques of confirmatory factor analysis has also provided support for the existence of "g".


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: A "g" factor can be computed from a correlation matrix of test results using several different methods. These include exploratory factor analysis, principal components analysis (PCA), and confirmatory factor analysis. Different factor-extraction methods produce highly consistent results, although PCA has sometimes been found to produce inflated estimates of the influence of "g" on test scores.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: There is a broad contemporary consensus that cognitive variance between people can be conceptualized at three hierarchical levels, distinguished by their degree of generality. At the lowest, least general level there are many narrow first-order factors; at a higher level, there are a relatively small number – somewhere between five and ten – of broad (i.e., more general) second-order factors (or group factors); and at the apex, there is a single third-order factor, "g", the general factor common to all tests. The "g" factor usually accounts for the majority of the total common factor variance of IQ test batteries. Contemporary hierarchical models of intelligence include the three stratum theory and the Cattell–Horn–Carroll theory.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Spearman proposed the principle of the "indifference of the indicator", according to which the precise content of intelligence tests is unimportant for the purposes of identifying "g", because "g" enters into performance on all kinds of tests. Any test can therefore be used as an indicator of "g". Following Spearman, Arthur Jensen more recently argued that a "g" factor extracted from one test battery will always be the same, within the limits of measurement error, as that extracted from another battery, provided that the batteries are large and diverse. According to this view, every mental test, no matter how distinctive, calls on "g" to some extent. Thus a composite score of a number of different tests will load onto "g" more strongly than any of the individual test scores, because the "g" components cumulate into the composite score, while the uncorrelated non-"g" components will cancel each other out. Theoretically, the composite score of an infinitely large, diverse test battery would, then, be a perfect measure of "g".


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: In contrast, L. L. Thurstone argued that a "g" factor extracted from a test battery reflects the average of all the abilities called for by the particular battery, and that "g" therefore varies from one battery to another and "has no fundamental psychological significance." Along similar lines, John Horn argued that "g" factors are meaningless because they are not invariant across test batteries, maintaining that correlations between different ability measures arise because it is difficult to define a human action that depends on just one ability.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: To show that different batteries reflect the same "g", one must administer several test batteries to the same individuals, extract "g" factors from each battery, and show that the factors are highly correlated. This can be done within a confirmatory factor analysis framework. Wendy Johnson and colleagues have published two such studies. The first found that the correlations between "g" factors extracted from three different batteries were .99, .99, and 1.00, supporting the hypothesis that "g" factors from different batteries are the same and that the identification of "g" is not dependent on the specific abilities assessed. The second study found that "g" factors derived from four of five test batteries correlated at between .95–1.00, while the correlations ranged from .79 to .96 for the fifth battery, the Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence Test (the CFIT). They attributed the somewhat lower correlations with the CFIT battery to its lack of content diversity for it contains only matrix-type items, and interpreted the findings as supporting the contention that "g" factors derived from different test batteries are the same provided that the batteries are diverse enough. The results suggest that the same "g" can be consistently identified from different test batteries.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The form of the population distribution of "g" is unknown, because "g" cannot be measured on a ratio scale. (The distributions of scores on typical IQ tests are roughly normal, but this is achieved by construction, i.e., by normalizing the raw scores.) It has been argued that there are nevertheless good reasons for supposing that "g" is normally distributed in the general population, at least within a range of ±2 standard deviations from the mean. In particular, "g" can be thought of as a composite variable that reflects the additive effects of many independent genetic and environmental influences, and such a variable should, according to the central limit theorem, follow a normal distribution.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: A number of researchers have suggested that the proportion of variation accounted for by "g" may not be uniform across all subgroups within a population. Spearman's law of diminishing returns (SLODR), also termed the "cognitive ability differentiation hypothesis", predicts that the positive correlations among different cognitive abilities are weaker among more intelligent subgroups of individuals. More specifically, (SLODR) predicts that the "g" factor will account for a smaller proportion of individual differences in cognitive tests scores at higher scores on the "g" factor.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: (SLODR) was originally proposed by Charles Spearman, who reported that the average correlation between 12 cognitive ability tests was .466 in 78 normal children, and .782 in 22 "defective" children. Detterman and Daniel rediscovered this phenomenon in 1989. They reported that for subtests of both the WAIS and the WISC, subtest intercorrelations decreased monotonically with ability group, ranging from approximately an average intercorrelation of .7 among individuals with IQs less than 78 to .4 among individuals with IQs greater than 122.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: (SLODR) has been replicated in a variety of child and adult samples who have been measured using broad arrays of cognitive tests. The most common approach has been to divide individuals into multiple ability groups using an observable proxy for their general intellectual ability, and then to either compare the average interrelation among the subtests across the different groups, or to compare the proportion of variation accounted for by a single common factor, in the different groups. However, as both Deary et al. (1996). and Tucker-Drob (2009) have pointed out, dividing the continuous distribution of intelligence into an arbitrary number of discrete ability groups is less than ideal for examining (SLODR). Tucker-Drob (2009) extensively reviewed the literature on (SLODR) and the various methods by which it had been previously tested, and proposed that (SLODR) could be most appropriately captured by fitting a common factor model that allows the relations between the factor and its indicators to be nonlinear in nature. He applied such a factor model to a nationally representative data of children and adults in the United States and found consistent evidence for (SLODR). For example, Tucker-Drob (2009) found that a general factor accounted for approximately 75% of the variation in seven different cognitive abilities among very low IQ adults, but only accounted for approximately 30% of the variation in the abilities among very high IQ adults.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: A recent meta-analytic study by Blum and Holling also provided support for the differentiation hypothesis. As opposed to most research on the topic, this work made it possible to study ability and age variables as continuous predictors of the "g" saturation, and not just to compare lower- vs. higher-skilled or younger vs. older groups of testees. Results demonstrate that the mean correlation and "g" loadings of cognitive ability tests decrease with increasing ability, yet increase with respondent age. (SLODR), as described by Charles Spearman, could be confirmed by a "g"-saturation decrease as a function of IQ as well as a "g"-saturation increase from middle age to senescence. Specifically speaking, for samples with a mean intelligence that is two standard deviations (i.e., 30 IQ-points) higher, the mean correlation to be expected is decreased by approximately .15 points. The question remains whether a difference of this magnitude could result in a greater apparent factorial complexity when cognitive data are factored for the higher-ability sample, as opposed to the lower-ability sample. It seems likely that greater factor dimensionality should tend to be observed for the case of higher ability, but the magnitude of this effect (i.e., how much more likely and how many more factors) remains uncertain.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The practical validity of "g" as a predictor of educational, economic, and social outcomes is the subject of ongoing debate. Some researchers have argued that it is more far-ranging and universal than any other known psychological variable, and that the validity of "g" increases as the complexity of the measured task increases. Others have argued that tests of specific abilities outperform "g" factor in analyses fitted to real-world situations.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: A test's practical validity is measured by its correlation with performance on some criterion external to the test, such as college grade-point average, or a rating of job performance. The correlation between test scores and a measure of some criterion is called the "validity coefficient". One way to interpret a validity coefficient is to square it to obtain the variance accounted by the test. For example, a validity coefficient of .30 corresponds to 9 percent of variance explained. This approach has, however, been criticized as misleading and uninformative, and several alternatives have been proposed. One arguably more interpretable approach is to look at the percentage of test takers in each test score quintile who meet some agreed-upon standard of success. For example, if the correlation between test scores and performance is .30, the expectation is that 67 percent of those in the top quintile will be above-average performers, compared to 33 percent of those in the bottom quintile.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: The predictive validity of "g" is most conspicuous in the domain of scholastic performance. This is apparently because "g" is closely linked to the ability to learn novel material and understand concepts and meanings.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: In elementary school, the correlation between IQ and grades and achievement scores is between .60 and .70. At more advanced educational levels, more students from the lower end of the IQ distribution drop out, which restricts the range of IQs and results in lower validity coefficients. In high school, college, and graduate school the validity coefficients are .50–.60, .40–.50, and .30–.40, respectively. The "g" loadings of IQ scores are high, but it is possible that some of the validity of IQ in predicting scholastic achievement is attributable to factors measured by IQ independent of "g". According to research by Robert L. Thorndike, 80 to 90 percent of the "predictable" variance in scholastic performance is due to "g", with the rest attributed to non-"g" factors measured by IQ and other tests.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Achievement test scores are more highly correlated with IQ than school grades. This may be because grades are more influenced by the teacher's idiosyncratic perceptions of the student. In a longitudinal English study, "g" scores measured at age 11 correlated with all the 25 subject tests of the national GCSE examination taken at age 16. The correlations ranged from .77 for the mathematics test to .42 for the art test. The correlation between "g" and a general educational factor computed from the GCSE tests was .81.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Research suggests that the SAT, widely used in college admissions, is primarily a measure of "g". A correlation of .82 has been found between "g" scores computed from an IQ test battery and SAT scores. In a study of 165,000 students at 41 U.S. colleges, SAT scores were found to be correlated at .47 with first-year college grade-point average after correcting for range restriction in SAT scores (the correlation rises to .55 when course difficulty is held constant, i.e., if all students attended the same set of classes).


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: There is a high correlation of .90 to .95 between the prestige rankings of occupations, as rated by the general population, and the "average" general intelligence scores of people employed in each occupation. At the level of individual employees, the association between job prestige and "g" is lower – one large U.S. study reported a correlation of .65 (.72 corrected for attenuation). Mean level of "g" thus increases with perceived job prestige. It has also been found that the dispersion of general intelligence scores is smaller in more prestigious occupations than in lower level occupations, suggesting that higher level occupations have minimum "g" requirements.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Research indicates that tests of "g" are the best single predictors of job performance, with an average validity coefficient of .55 across several meta-analyses of studies based on supervisor ratings and job samples. The average meta-analytic validity coefficient for performance in job "training" is .63. The validity of "g" in the highest complexity jobs (professional, scientific, and upper management jobs) has been found to be greater than in the lowest complexity jobs, but "g" has predictive validity even for the simplest jobs. Research also shows that specific aptitude tests tailored for each job provide little or no increase in predictive validity over tests of general intelligence. It is believed that "g" affects job performance mainly by facilitating the acquisition of job-related knowledge. The predictive validity of "g" is greater than that of work experience, and increased experience on the job does not decrease the validity of "g".


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: In a 2011 meta-analysis, researchers found that general cognitive ability (GCA) predicted job performance better than personality (Five factor model) and three streams of emotional intelligence. They examined the relative importance of these constructs on predicting job performance and found that cognitive ability explained most of the variance in job performance. Other studies suggested that GCA and emotional intelligence have a linear independent and complementary contribution to job performance. Côté and Miners (2015) found that these constructs are interrelated when assessing their relationship with two aspects of job performance: organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and task performance. Emotional intelligence is a better predictor of task performance and OCB when GCA is low and vice versa. For instance, an employee with low GCA will compensate his/her task performance and OCB, if emotional intelligence is high.


title: G factor (psychometrics)

text: Although these compensatory effects favour emotional intelligence, GCA still remains as the best predictor of job performance. Several researchers have studied the correlation between GCA and job performance among different job positions. For instance, Ghiselli (1973) found that salespersons had a higher correlation than sales clerk. The former obtained a correlation of 0.61 for GCA, 0.40 for perceptual ability and 0.29 for psychomotor abilities; whereas sales clerk obtained a correlation of 0.27 for GCA, 0.22 for perceptual ability and 0.17 for psychomotor abilities. Other studies compared GCA – job performance correlation between jobs of different complexity. Hunter and Hunter (1984) developed a meta-analysis with over 400 studies and found that this correlation was higher for jobs of high complexity (0.57). Followed by jobs of medium complexity (0.51) and low complexity (0.38).