This conference is now the sixth of the Optical Fiber Sensors (OFS) series, the first having been launched in London in 1983. Progress over the last six years has been rapid and the number of laboratories working in the field has grown significantly. In addition, the number of commercially available sensors is growing, although, as usual, not as rapidly as the wilder optimists originally predicted. The subject is now maturing significantly, yet this volume shows that there is still no shortage of bright, new ideas. The OFS series is devoted to the most recent research developments in the field and, in most respects, leaves commercially oriented conferences to cover items closest to production. However, as the technology progresses, it is appropriate to provide some coverage of applications-oriented research and development, and more applied sessions of this nature have been included. The standard of papers contributed to the conference has been very high this year, and it has unfortunately been necessary to reject a number of interesting papers. Those that remain, invited, contributed and poster papers, are included in this volume. The poster papers were chosen for their greater suitability for presentation to smaller groups of people, giving more scope for detailed discussion around the poster display.

Note Not long after publication of Orchid Biology, Reviews and Perspectives (OB) volume VII, my co-editor, Dr. Alec M. Pridgeon informed me that the pressure of other duties, especially the editing of Genera Orchidacearum (GO) will make it impossible for him to continue as co-editor and eventually editor ofthe series. Alec is an excellent orchid scientist and editor. I was sorry to that he had to leave OB, but glad that GO will be in his able hands. The first volume of GO attests to his considerable abilities and I wish him much success in the future. Editors of orchid publications are not the most common of species (to use a botanical analogy) and finding a replacement for Alec was not easy. However I was fortunate that Dr. Tiiu Kull agreed to become my co-editor and eventually take over the series. As is obvious from the Contributors section Dr. Kull has extensive experience as both writer and editor. My interactions with her while editing this volume have convinced me she is an excellent choice. Scientifically she brings to OB an appreciation and understanding of northern terrestrial orchids, a group, which has not received as much attention as it deserves. Another addition to OB is Dr. Tim Wing Yam who agreed to become an associate editor. Tim, who holds a position at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, will provide expertise on seed germination, hybridization, tissue culture, species and conservation.

A Personal Note I decided to initiate Orchid Biology: Reviews and Perspectives in about 1972 and (alone or with co-authors) started to write some of the chapters and the appendix for the volume in 1974 during a visit to the Bogor Botanical Gardens in Indonesia. Professor H. C. D. de Wit of Holland was also in Bogor at that time and when we discovered a joint interest in Rumphius he agreed to write a chapter about him. I visited Bangkok on my way home from Bogor and while there spent time with Professor Thavorn Vajrabhaya. He readily agreed to write a chapter. The rest of the chapters were solicited by mail and I had the complete manuscript on my desk in 1975. With that in hand I started to look for a publisher. Most of the publishers I contacted were not interested. Fortunately Mr James Twiggs, at that time editor of Cornell University Press, grew orchids and liked the idea. He decided to publish Orchid Biology: Reviews and Per spectives, and volume I saw the light of day in 1977. I did not know if there would be a volume II but collected manuscripts for it anyway. Fortunately volume I did well enough to justify a second book, and the series was born. It is still alive at present - 20 years, seven volumes and three publishers later. I was in the first third of my career when volume I was published."

As stated many times before the purpose of Orchid Biology, Reviews and Perspectives (OB) is to present reviews on all aspects of orchids. The aim is not to balance every volume, but to make a balanced and wide ranging presentation of orchids in the series as a whole. The chapters in this, the last volume of the series, range over a number of topics which were not covered before. Singapore is justly famed for its orchids. They can be seen on arrival (or dep- ture) in its modern, highly efficient and comfortable Changi Airport and on the way from it to town. Vanda Miss Joaquim, the first hybrid to come from Singapore became its National Flower. This natural hybrid can be seen on its currency, stamps, and public and private decorations. Many excellent breeders, starting with Prof. Eric Holttum who bred the first man made hybrid (Spathoglottis Primrose), produced numerous magnificent hybrids and won countless awards in Singapore and elsewhere. These hybrids served to enrich the country's orchid mystique. In the opening chapter of this volume Dr. Teoh Eng Soon (Western style: Eng Soon Teoh), himself a prize winning orchid breeder, grower and author writes about some of the breeders who contributed to the Singapore orchid fame. Prof. Hans Fitting was one of the best known plant physiologists of his time. As a young man he studied the effects of pollen on orchid flowers.

Long-Long Misis Bilong Plaua (A. Millar).

HISTORY.

History of Orchids in Europe, from Antiquity to the 17th Century (P. Jacquet).

ECOLOGY.

Interactions Between Orchids and Ants (R. Peakall).

DEVELOPMENT.

Resupination (R. Ernst & J. Arditti).

PHYSIOLOGY.

Physiology of Orchid Flowers (P. Avadhani, et al.).

ECONOMICS-HORTICULTURE.

Orchid Cut-Flower Production in ASEAN Countries (C. Hew).

POLLINATION.

Fly Pollination in the Orchidaceae (D. Christensen).

Appendix.

Indexes.

Family Problems: Stress, Risk, and Resilience presents an interdisciplinary collection of original essays that push the boundaries of family science to reflect the increasingly diverse complexity of family concerns in the modern world. * Represents the most up-to-date family problem research while addressing such contemporary issues as parental incarceration, same sex marriage, health care disparities, and welfare reform * Features brief chapter introductions that provide context and direction to guide the student to the heart of what s important in the piece that follows * Includes critical thinking questions to enhance the utility of the book for classroom use * Responds to family problem issues through the lens of a social justice perspective

Divided into three volumes, Micropropagation of Orchids Third Edition retains the exhaustive list of micropropagation protocols for many genera and updates each section to include new and/or revised information about: * Culture media and vessels * Techniques and procedures for both orchids which were previously cultured and for those which were not * Plant hormones and growth regulators * Media components * Methods for tissue decontamination * Historical information * Procedures for the cultivation for plantlets which have been removed from flasks * Sources of light and illumination methods Written by two globally acknowledged experts in the field, the third edition of this definitive text on the micropropagation of orchids is a detailed and comprehensive collection of procedures and methods for multiplying orchids, including organ, tissue, and cell culture techniques in vitro and is intended for researchers in plant science and propagation, professional and amateur orchid growers, and plant breeding professionals. Much of the general information about techniques and procedures can be applied to plants other than orchids.

A Personal Note I decided to initiate Orchid Biology: Reviews and Perspectives in about 1972 and (alone or with co-authors) started to write some of the chapters and the appendix for the volume in 1974 during a visit to the Bogor Botanical Gardens in Indonesia. Professor H. C. D. de Wit of Holland was also in Bogor at that time and when we discovered a joint interest in Rumphius he agreed to write a chapter about him. I visited Bangkok on my way home from Bogor and while there spent time with Professor Thavorn Vajrabhaya. He readily agreed to write a chapter. The rest of the chapters were solicited by mail and I had the complete manuscript on my desk in 1975. With that in hand I started to look for a publisher. Most of the publishers I contacted were not interested. Fortunately Mr James Twiggs, at that time editor of Cornell University Press, grew orchids and liked the idea. He decided to publish Orchid Biology: Reviews and Per spectives, and volume I saw the light of day in 1977. I did not know if there would be a volume II but collected manuscripts for it anyway. Fortunately volume I did well enough to justify a second book, and the series was born. It is still alive at present - 20 years, seven volumes and three publishers later. I was in the first third of my career when volume I was published."