Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association, Inc. (PIAA) is one of the governing bodies of high school and junior high school sports for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States.

PIAA member schools are known for some of the most highly regarded and competitive high school sports programs in the U.S. The state's lacrosse, football, field hockey, swimming & diving, wrestling, cross country, and basketball programs are generally considered among the best in the U.S.

The PIAA main office is located in the Harrisburg suburb of Mechanicsburg.

History

Beginning in Pittsburgh, on December 29, 1913, the PIAA was charged with serving its member schools and registered officials by establishing policies and adopting contest rules that emphasize the educational values of interscholastic athletics, promote safe and sportsmanlike competition, and provide uniform standards for all interscholastic levels of competition.

As a result of the cooperative efforts of its membership, PIAA has assisted intermediate school, middle school, junior high school, and senior high school students in participating in interscholastic athletic programs on a fair and equitable basis, thus producing important education benefits.

Light-emitting diode

A light-emitting diode (LED) is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a p–n junction diode, which emits light when activated. When a suitable voltage is applied to the leads, electrons are able to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the photon) is determined by the energy band gap of the semiconductor.

An LED is often small in area (less than 1 mm²) and integrated optical components may be used to shape its radiation pattern.

Appearing as practical electronic components in 1962, the earliest LEDs emitted low-intensity infrared light. Infrared LEDs are still frequently used as transmitting elements in remote-control circuits, such as those in remote controls for a wide variety of consumer electronics. The first visible-light LEDs were also of low intensity, and limited to red. Modern LEDs are available across the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with very high brightness.

Volkswagen Golf

The Volkswagen Golf is a small family car produced by the German manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across seven generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates – as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada (Mk1 and Mk5), and as the Volkswagen Caribe in Mexico (Mk1).

The original Golf Mk1 was a front-wheel drive, front-engined replacement for the air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive Volkswagen Beetle. Historically, the Golf is Volkswagen's best-selling model and the world's second best-selling model, with more than 29 million built by 2012.

Most production of the Golf was initially in the 3-door hatchback style. Other variants include a 5-door hatchback, station wagon (Variant, from 1993), convertible (Cabriolet and Cabrio, 1979–2002, 2011–present), and a Golf-derived notchback sedan, variously called Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Vento (from 1992) or Volkswagen Bora (from 1999). The cars have filled many market segments, from basic personal cars, to high-performance hot hatches.

Volkswagen Golf Mk6

The Volkswagen Golf Mk6 (or VW Typ 5K) is a compact car, the sixth generation of the Volkswagen Golf and the successor to the Volkswagen Golf Mk5. It was unveiled at the Paris Auto Show in October 2008. Volkswagen released pictures and information on 6 August 2008, prior to the official unveiling. The vehicle was released to the European market in the winter of 2008. Major investments have been made in production efficiency, with a claimed productivity improvement at launch of nearly 20% in comparison with the previous model, and further gains planned for the next twelve months.

Although billed as the Mk6, the new model was in effect a thoroughly re-engineered facelift of the previous model. In January 2013, it was superseded by the Volkswagen Golf Mk7.

Design

Like its predecessor, the Mk6 Golf is based on the Volkswagen Group A5 (PQ35) platform. Effectively it is a reskin of the Mk5 rather than an all-new design, it was developed with engineering improvements to shorten the previous model's excessive assembly time, and answered criticisms of that model's cheapened interior quality compared to that of the 1997 Mk4.