Are Guard Traces Necessary?

http://www.sigcon.com/Pubs/news/15_02
I like the way Dr Johnson explains guard traces and how they work and where to apply them. But there are no hard numbers in this article. Maybe too technical and maybe there's too many variables, but numbers help the argument. I still hear that guard rings should still be used even with a solid ground plane.
Has anyone done a study where they have actual hard numbers showing this one way or another?
Thanks,
Allen

IPC Names Mitchell President and CEO

http://pcdandf.com/cms/fabnews/8894-ipc-names-mitchell-president-and-ceo
.................IPC has appointed John W. Mitchell president and CEO, effective April 23.

...............

Coming Back to America

http://www.ipc.org/ContentPage.aspx?pageid=New-IPC-Survey-to-Measure-Impact-of-On-Shoring-in-the-Electronics-Industry

Has your company outsourced your projects off shore? Has your company talked about bring projects back to North America? Has your company kept your project in the US? What are your reasons for doing this? Given all expenses for the project is it really cheaper to outsource projects off shore as opposed to keeping them in the United States?

I'm interested in any comments posted below.

Thanks,

Allen