sub TestMCa {
   my ($test_cat, $rec_cat, $level) = @_;

   my ($num_m, $buf, $i, $retstat, $master);
   
   my (@m);

   $test_cat .= ".";
   $rec_cat  .= ".";
   
   $master = $test_cat;
   
   @m = split(/\./, $master);
   $num_m = @m;

   $buf = "";
   for ($i = 0; $i < $level; $i++) {
      if ($i >= $num_m) {
         last;          
      } 
      $buf .= $m[$i] . ".";       
   }
    
   if ($rec_cat =~ /^$buf/i) {
      $retstat = 1;
                   
   } else {
      $retstat = 0;
        
   }
   return($retstat);
} # end TestMCa


sub TestMCb
{
   my ($test_cat, $rec_cat, $level) = @_;

   my $re = '^'
           . join('\.' => (split /\./, $test_cat, $level + 1)[0 .. $level - 1]);
           
    $re .= $re =~ /\.$/ ? '[^.]' : '(?:[.]|$)';

    if ($rec_cat =~ /$re/i) {
       $retstat = 1;		
	} else {
	   $retstat = 0;
	}

    return($retstat);
	
} # end TestMCb