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Note 11 - Employee Benefit Plans
12 Months Ended
Oct. 31, 2011
Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Text Block]
11. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PLANS

U.S. defined contribution plan.  We sponsor a defined contribution plan, which qualifies under Section 401(k) of the Internal Revenue Code and covers United States employees who meet certain age and service requirements. We may make matching contributions to the plan based on a percentage of employee compensation and actual contributions. For fiscal 2011, 2010 and 2009, we elected to make matching contributions of 50% of employee contributions up to 6% of compensation, which was $0.5 million for each of fiscal 2011, 2010 and 2009.

Austrian pension commitments. In April and May 2004, we formalized our defined contribution pension agreements with certain Austrian employees. We pay contributions to an external pension fund administered by ÖPAG Pensionskassen AG. Aggregate pension expense relating to our Austrian agreements for fiscal 2011, 2010 and 2009 were $0.08 million, $0.07 million and $0.08 million, respectively.