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The public health benefits of needle exchange programs (NEPs) are well known. NEPs lower risk factors for HIV transmission by providing injection drug users (IDUs) with clean syringes and needles; harm reduction materials; and referrals to drug, sexually transmitted disease, mental health, and medical treatment facilities. While exchange programs continue to be implemented, there have been few reports illustrating how social science and community assessment research can be used to guide the development of NEPs. Using the Lifepoint needle exchange program in Milwaukee as a case study, this paper shows how social science methods can be used to understand IDU culture through the community identification process, link qualitative and observational findings to program decision making, and guide the implementation and operation of a needle exchange. The community identification process showed that there were different IDU subcultures in the city indicating that the NEP would need to be tailored to meet the distinctive needs of multiple drug use networks. Ethnographic field observations and key informant and systems representative interviews resulted in a two-stage NEP planning process that included a community task force on IDUs and of the development of methods to operationalize community assessment findings into the operating plan of the NEP. This process illustrates the importance of integrating a systematic community analysis in the planning of a NEP.

I was asked by the Editor to discuss the Freshman Learning Community Project at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. I was also asked to consider Hans Mauksch's paper on "Doing Sociology" which appears in this issue. Since Dr. Mauksch's general orientation is quite compatible with my own, it is an easy task to meet Dr. Green's welcome request. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 1-D full-life-cycle, Individual-based model (IBM), two-way coupled with a hydrodynamic/biogeochemical model, is demonstrated for anchovy and sardine in the N. Aegean Sea (Eastern Mediterranean). The model is stage-specific and includes a ‘Wisconsin’ type bioenergetics, a diel vertical migration and a population dynamics module, with the incorporation of known differences in biological attributes between the anchovy and sardine stocks. A new energy allocation/egg production algorithm was developed, allowing for breeding pattern to move along the capital-income breeding continuum. Fish growth was calibrated against available size-at-age data by tuning food consumption (the half saturation coefficients) using a genetic algorithm. After a ten-years spin up, the model reproduced well the magnitude of population biomasses and spawning periods of the two species in the N. Aegean Sea. Surprisingly, model simulations revealed that anchovy depends primarily on stored energy for egg production (mostly capital breeder) whereas sardine depends heavily on direct food intake (income breeder). This is related to the peculiar phenology of plankton production in the area, with mesozooplankton concentration exhibiting a sharp decrease from early summer to autumn and a subsequent increase from winter to early summer. Monthly changes in somatic condition of fish collected on board the commercial purse seine fleet followed closely the simulated mesozooplankton concentration. Finally, model simulations showed that, when both the anchovy and sardine stocks are overexploited, the mesozooplankton concentration increases, which may open up ecological space for competing species. The importance of protecting the recruit spawners was highlighted with model simulations testing the effect of changing the timing of the existing 2.5-months closed period. Optimum timing for fishery closure is different for anchovy and sardine because of their opposite spawning and recruitment periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 130-year old association between tobacco production and Norwegian-American farmers in southern Wisconsin provides a setting in which to examine the relationship between ethnicity and economics, and the changing and multi-faceted mechanisms through which ethnicity is expressed. The relationship between Norwegians and tobacco in Wisconsin has been mediated by different socio-economic processes at different historical periods. Tobacco was introduced into Wisconsin by farmers from New England in 1838 but it did not become a major market commodity until the 1850s. It was in Norwegian colonies of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin where the technology and techniques of tobacco cultivation were transmitted from Americans to Norwegians. Vernon County, located in southwestern Wisconsin, encompasses an area of approximately 805 square miles. Changes in Vernon County relative to the tobacco complex can be seen at the end result of cultural, social, political, and economic factors which tended to differentially select and reinforce decisions made about tobacco production in Norwegian and non-Norwegian populations. Throughout the history of Norwegian settlement in Vernon and surrounding counties there has been a significant relationship between tobacco and Norwegians. But it has not been a constant relationship. Mechanisms which linked the two were different at different times, as was the direction of the influence. Ethnic variables affected production decisions in the past, while production decisions affect ethnic symbols and ritual at the present time. It appears that an attempt to rigidly define the concept of ethnicity along one or two dimensions negates the power of the concept for the analysis of symbolic, institutional, and behavioral variation in complex societies.