Tensionmeters can be applied as indicators for the manual control of sprinkling systems, if they are in a good operating condition. The major reasons for false tensionmeter readings are air enclosures within and the influence of temperature upon the tensionmeter system. Recommendations based on field and laboratory tests are made for the construction and operation of tensionmeters. [Org. Abstr.].

The recreational boating industry is an important component of Florida's economy. Previous Florida Sea Grant College supported research has documented this economic importance to the state's economy in 1980 (see Milon and Riddle, 1983, and Milon et al. 1983). Since that initial research, the manufacturing, retailing, and service sectors comprisingthe industry have continued to grow and prosper as the state's resident and tourist populations increased. This report is an update on the economic significance of the recreational boating industry in Florida since 1980 based on economic indicators of change within the industry. (21pp.)

A technical report addresses major factors influencing nutritional status, including the major stages of nutritional deficiency disease and the causes of inadequate nutrition (especially, poverty). Correlations between indicators for identifying hunger at national, regional, local, and household levels are discussed, including the prediction of nutritionally at-risk individuals or groups based on cross-country correlations and typical profiles of malnourished families. Summary data on correlation coefficients relative to population characteristics, food and nutrient intake, health and nutritional practices, and economy and education status are presented and discussed. The role of nutritionists in treating and preventing nutritional disorders also is addressed.(wz)

Extract: Data from agricultural reporting systems in Botswana for the period 1978-83 are combined with data from the Ministry of Health's clinic-based nutritional surveillance system in a retrospective analysis to investigate the usefulness of agricultural indicators for timely warning of unusually severe child malnutrition due to drought. In the arable farming areas in eastern Botswana, deficits in an index of ground water sufficiency for maize growth during the growing season, (January-April) were associated with the deviation from trend to children's malnutrition (measured by weight-for-age) during the peak season for malnutrition, later in the year, across regions and over time. In arid Western Botswana, as well as the East, qualitative reports on the condition of cattle were also shown to useful predictors of child malnutrition. Decisions on the allocation of resources for relief could be made early in the year, based on agricultural data, even before confirmation from clinic data is available. (author)

The variety in abundance and occurrence of rice pests between fields, seasons, and growth stages made prophylactic control measure counter productive. The number of eggs (0.5-1/hill) for rice whorl maggot, Hydrellia philippina Ferino and the number of larvae (1-2/hill) for defoliators, rice green semi-looper Naranga aenescens Moore, rice hairy caterpillar Rivula atimeta (Swinhoe), rice leaf folders Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenee), and Marasmia patnalis Bradley were more appropriate indicators of action threshold than the usual unit of damaged leaves. Control for stem borer Scirpophaga incertulas was improved using indicator based on egg mass (0.5-1/m square) than on percent deadhearts. The use of effective but selective chemicals was necessary to achieve satisfactory and stable insect control.

A nutritional status survey of 738 children under 5 years of age in northeast Brazil compared 4 different anthropometric measurements (weight-for-age (W/A); height-for-age (H/A); weight-for-height (W/H); and middle-upper-arm circumference (MUAC)). Based on W/A data, 43 per cent were adequately nourished and 2 per cent were severely malnourished. Stunting incidence was low (8 per cent less than 85 per cent H/A) and wasting was rare (1 per cent less than 70 per cent W/H). The most reliable indicators of nutritional status were found to be H/A and W/H, with poor agreement found between MUAC and W/H.(wz)

Domesticated and wild animal populations are important resources in evaluating human health risks. Animals not only share man's environment, but some of them are also part of the human food chain. Three examples of monitoring the health of animal populations and using these data in evaluating human health risk were reviewed. A study of horses, cattle and wildlife in a Missouri lead mining and smelting area revealed that horses were sensitive indicators of environmental lead contamination; they developed clinical signs of lead poisoning and died, while other animal species in the same area did not exhibit signs of illness. Although they did not appear ill, cattle in the same area had liver and kidney lead concentrations that were higher than tolerance levels established in England, Wales and Canada. Wildlife such as bullfrogs, muskrats, and greenbacked herons collected downstream from an old lead mining area had significantly higher lead and cadmium levels than either upstream samples or comparable downstream samples collected at a new lead mining area. Some of these data were used in a court trial which resulted in the lead company buying the farmland so that humans and domestic animals would not be exposed. Another study of municipal sludge application on Ohio farms did not reveal excess illness rates for either livestock or humans living on farms receiving the sludge, as compared with those on control farms. However, cattle were more sensitive than humans as early indicators of low level exposure to toxic heavy metals such as cadmium and lead. Also, calves on sludge-receiving farms accumulated cadmium and lead in their kidneys. The National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS), currently in a pilot stage in eight states, is another example of the use of animal populations to evaluate human health risk. Information from NAHMS about zoonotic infections, use of drugs in food producing animals and diseases common to both animals and man, provide a better understanding of human disease. Population-based animal studies are desirable adjuncts to laboratory animal studies in assessing human health risk due to environmental exposure.

The paper aims mainly to present an overall profile of the multiplex special employment scheme that was undertaken in Bangladesh and to provide a preliminary evaluation of their impact. Evaluation of the scheme is based on such performance indicators as employment generation, promotion of skill training and entrepreneurship, income generation and distribution, multiplier effects, the local labor market, female participation and other dimensions. It also provides a sketch of the costs, funding, and general cost-effectiveness of these programmes as well as the various demand and supply constraints confronting them. The study pays special attention to the pivotal role of credit-its dimensions, utilization and dispensation structure-as the catalyst of employment promotion programmes. Finally, the paper discusses policy issues related to the strengthening of the strategy of special rural employment creation. While the paper showed the significance and urgency of promoting special employment schemes in rural Bangladesh, it concludes that "the strategy perhaps count, given its current scale and future possibilities, stand on its own as a major attack on poverty". The review suggests that these programmes are useful as partial measures of poverty alleviation and should be cautiously fostered.

The variability of spontaneous and cultivated (selected) <em>Trifolium pannonicum</em> Jacq. (2n=16x - 22x) has been studied by using herbal specimens, samples collected from spontaneous populations, cultivated ones and selected elite plants. The biometry of economically and/or taxonomically important characters have been performed, results tabulated and statistical indicators - mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation - calculated. These values indicate differences between the eastern and western accessions with regard to peduncle length, petiole length, leaf size, hairiness etc. Based on these differences a new taxon var. <em>moldavicum</em> var. nova has been proposed. Cultivation revealed that the diploid <em>T. ochroleucon</em> Huds. is a short living plant (1-2 years), but polyploid <em>T. pannonicum</em> persisted up to 10 years or more. Natural selection for disease resistance and persistence did not narrowed sharply the variability of the selected elites. In elite plants the coefficient of variability was especially high for underground organs (number of lateral roots, root noduls for unit root length etc.), characters positively correlated with yield components. Problems relating to taxonomy, evolution, domestication and use of the species are also briefly discussed.