Effect of type of otolith and preparation technique on age estimation of larval and juvenile spot (Leiostomus xanthurus)

Otoliths of larval and juvenile fish provide a record of age, size, growth, and development (Campana and Neilson, 1985; Thorrold and Hare, 2002). However, determining the time of first increment formation in otoliths (Campana, 2001) and assessing the accuracy (deviation from real age) and precision (repeatability of increment counts from the same otolith) of increment counts are prerequisites for using otoliths to study the life history of fish (Campana and Moksness, 1991). For most fish species, first increment deposition occurs either at hatching, a day after hatching, or after first feeding and yolksac absorption (Jones, 1986; Thorrold and Hare, 2002). Increment deposition before hatching also occurs (Barkmann and Beck, 1976; Radtke and Dean, 1982). If first increment deposition does not occur at hatching, the standard procedure is to add a predetermined number to increment counts to estimate fish age (Campana and Neilson, 1985)

Tax Increment Financing Growth in Iowa

Tax increment financing (TIF) is a mechanism authorized by Iowa law allowing local governments, primarily cities, to capture the taxes collected on property valuation growth in a specified district. The use of TIF authority among Iowa's cities is extremely popular. In fiscal 1991, there were 746 different TIF districts or projects in Iowa. By fiscal 1997 that number had increased to 1,014, and by fiscal 2006, it had increased to 2,358, a 133 percent increase in a nine year period. More cities are using TIF authority, there are many more TIF projects than there were a decade ago, and the amount of statewide property taxable valuation that is sequestered within TIF districts and therefore not available to the general funds of all local governments has also grown strongly over the years. This report analyzes a decade of changes in TIF usage in Iowa.

Cost-push impact of motor spirit price on price indices and inflation

Any increment in the prices of goods or services generally leads to an increase in different products prices indices and inflation. This paper examines the cost-push impact of a motor spirit price increment in Iran on different products prices indices and inflation. An Input-Output (I-O) table adjustment approach is applied. Iran input- output table for the year 2001-2002 is used as database. The empirical results of the model show how the cost-push impact of a 25% increment in the motor spirit price leads to an increment in different products prices indices, but the maximum effect of this increment, which is on transportation services prices, does not exceed 0.7492%. In addition, the cost-push effect of this increase on the Production Prices Index (PPI) is estimated at 0.2540%.Input-Output, Motor Spirit Pricing, Price model, Iran.

The development of a simple basal area increment model

In most cases forest practice in Austria use yield tables to predict the growth of their forests. Common yield tables show the increment of pure even-aged stands which are treated in a way the table developer recommends. The usage of these tables in stands which are either uneven-aged, mixed or treated in another way, may lead to inaccurate predictions. To avoid these problems, forest growth models have been developed. Until now they are not widely used in Austria. One reason may be, that most of the models need some input parameters which are usually not gathered by companies. In this work a basal area increment per hectare model has been developed which is based on the input parameters: diameter at breast height, height to diameter ratio, top height at age 100 years and a selection out of several simple competition indices (growing space, basal area of larger trees, competing basal area, crown cross sectional area, crown competition factor, d/dg, d-dg, basal area and stand density index) which are distance independent. The model parametrization was done with seven different statistical methods (linear regression, linear mixed effect model, resistant linear regression, local polynomial regression, lazy learning model, random forest model and neural network model). By using only few input-parameters it should be possible to parametrize this model for many local areas by using inventory data sets of the specific region. The model works in pure and mixed stands of spruce and beech at the Rosaliengebirge. The observed average diameter increment per 5 years is 18.1 mm for spruce and 21.1 mm for beech. The average difference of the predicted and observed diameter-increment on a validation data-set is 0.3 mm for spruce and -0.3 mm for beech within 5 years and the estimated additional spread caused by the model is +-4.5 mm/5 years for spruce and +-4.0 mm/5 years for beech