Letter from [O. C. Haslett ?] to John Muir, 1907 Oct 18.

[illegible] Oct. 18, 1907.Mr. John Muir, Martinez, Cal. Dear Sir:- I wish to impose on your good nature to the extent of settling a little dispute. To begin with, I want to any that I feel as though I were acquainted with you through reading some of your works on California and its forests, more particularly our National Parks , and through the medium of an acquaintance with Miss Ellie Mosgrove who is a friend of my family\u27s and who has often told me of her trip with you. Also Mr. C. F. Some, our former bookkeeper and quite a student of botany, has often [illegible] to no about you.The matter in dispute came about in this manner. I recently made a trip over the Hcoloud River Limber Company\u27s property with come of their [illegible] owners and while going through the timber they and their Manager continually referred to the Red Fir. I remarked that I thought the trees in question were Douglas Spruce and their Manager Disputed me quite vigorously. Later on we drove down Soda Creek, which you may recall ompties into the Sacramento River at soda Springs, and while driving along there were comments on the amount of Red Fir in this particular tract, which was then under offer to some eastern parties. In passing one large tree in particular I said I am quite sure this is not Red Fir but is a genuine Douglas Spruce, a close relative, if not identical with, the Douglas spruce or Oregon Pine of Oregon and Washington. It had a heavy, black corrugated bark and very fine needles and was entirely similar in 2 - J. M.[illegible]many ways - even the lumber itself when manufactured has a strong resemblance. Again their Manager contradicted me emphatically, and so I determined to look it up. Later on another member of the party a California lumberman also with whom I was discussing the matter, was equally emphatic in contradicting me and even went so far as to claim that there was no such thing as Douglas spruce in the Sierra Revada Mountains, or in California for that matter. I told him that I was so positive of my position that I would bet him anything he wanted and leave it to any well known naturalist or botanist to determine, and mentioned your name as a good authority. Since then I returned home and referring to my library consulted your National Parks and find that you support my contention absolutely on a member of different pages. My contention is that the Red Fir does not grow at a lower altitude than about 5000 ft. and from that up to 8000, whereas the spruce grows from 5000 to 8000 ft. and it happened that we were at an altitude of less than 4000 when the discussion arose, and there is a very marked difference in both the bark and needles and in fact general appenrance of the tree closer and look something like the fronde of the palm, whereas the branches of the Spruce stand out much as they do on the Sugar Pine and the needles are smaller and tesselated. To me there is such a marked difference that I cannot see any room for dispute, but as it has arisen I will greatly appreciate it if you will be the means of settling it.In conclusion I want to any that while my business requires me to be a fallen of trees, I am nearly as much a lover of the forests as your good self and try to study them, whenever I am in them, largely as a result of your teachings. Thanking you in advance for this information, 5- J. M.I am, Yours very truly, Have you ever published anything of your trip to the Caucasus or do you intend to [illegible] I have been looking for it but so far have not heard whether you did or not

A Comparison of Methods for Poverty Estimation in Developing Countries

Small area estimation is a widely used indirect estimation technique for micro-level geographic profiling. Three unit level small area estimation techniques-the ELL or World Bank method, empirical best prediction (EBP) and M-quantile (MQ) - can estimate micro-level Foster, Greer, & Thorbecke (FGT) indicators: poverty incidence, gap and severity using both unit level survey and census data. However, they use different assumptions. The effects of using model-based unit level census data reconstructed from cross-tabulations and having no cluster level contextual variables for models are discussed, as are effects of small area and cluster level heterogeneity. A simulation-based comparison of ELL, EBP and MQ uses a model-based reconstruction of 2000/2001 data from Bangladesh and compares bias and mean square error. A three-level ELL method is applied for comparison with the standard two-level ELL that lacks a small area level component. An important finding is that the larger number of small areas for which ELL has been able to produce sufficiently accurate estimates in comparison with EBP and MQ has been driven more by the type of census data available or utilised than by the model per se

Increased gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) receptor expression in tumour cells confers sensitivity to [Arg6,D-Trp7,9,NmePhe8]-substance P (6-11)-induced growth inhibition.

[Arg(6),D-Trp(7,9),N(me)Phe(8)]-substance P (6-11) (SP-G) is a novel anticancer agent that has recently completed phase I clinical trials. SP-G inhibits mitogenic neuropeptide signal transduction and small cell lung cancer (SCLC) cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Using the SCLC cell line series GLC14, 16 and 19, derived from a single patient during the clinical course of their disease and the development of chemoresistance, it is shown that there was an increase in responsiveness to neuropeptides. This was paralleled by an increased sensitivity to SP-G. In a selected panel of tumour cell lines (SCLC, non-SCLC, ovarian, colorectal and pancreatic), the expression of the mitogenic neuropeptide receptors for vasopressin, gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP), bradykinin and gastrin was examined, and their sensitivity to SP-G tested in vitro and in vivo. The tumour cell lines displayed a range of sensitivity to SP-G (IC(50) values from 10.5 to 119 microM). The expression of the GRP receptor measured by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, correlated significantly with growth inhibition by SP-G. Moreover, introduction of the GRP receptor into rat-1A fibroblasts markedly increased their sensitivity to SP-G. The measurement of receptor expression from biopsy samples by polymerase chain reaction could provide a suitable diagnostic test to predict efficacy to SP-G clinically. This strategy would be of potential benefit in neuropeptide receptor-expressing tumours in addition to SCLC, and in tumours that are relatively resistant to conventional chemotherapy

Self-stabilised fractality of sea-coasts through damped erosion

Erosion of rocky coasts spontaneously creates irregular seashores. But the geometrical irregularity, in turn, damps the sea-waves, decreasing the average wave amplitude. There may then exist a mutual self-stabilisation of the waves amplitude together with the irregular morphology of the coast. A simple model of such stabilisation is studied. It leads, through a complex dynamics of the earth-sea interface, to the appearance of a stationary fractal seacoast with dimension close to 4/3. Fractal geometry plays here the role of a morphological attractor directly related to percolation geometry.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure