Personal practice (PP) is widely practised and a requirement across major psychology and psychotherapy organizations and modalities. However, one of the challenges for training institutions is how to assess the quality of such PP. The Reflective Essay Marking Scale (REMS) was developed to improve standardization of marking reflective essays in cognitive behavioural psychotherapy (CBT) training. A small sample of 16 expert CBT participants recruited by email used the REMS to rate two mock reflective essays in a within-subjects design. The internal consistency of REMS was acceptable (Cronbach’s α=.73) with excellent inter-rater reliability. Across the raters, it sufficiently differentiated quality (t 12=4.91; p<.0001). Although these are the results of a preliminary and very small study with a small sample using mock essays, the REMS may be a useful scale, allowing CBT courses to account for students’ reflective work in a standardized way. A larger validation study is required in the future.

Studies and projects undertaken under the auspices of conservation of wildlife are often treated as being synonymous with working to promote individual animal welfare. However, human interventions, with respect to wild animals, carry with them multiple risks for the animal subjects. Unfortunately, these risks and problems are sometimes given little consideration by practitioners, often because they are judged relative to natural processes or are incurred for the good of the species or population. Obviously, animals are subjected to a variety of natural factors likely to cause stress and poor welfare in the wild, and conservation and management of differing species to differing extents will probably always be necessary. However, in all these interventions, the welfare of the individual animal always needs to be upheld. One way of addressing this issue is by the provision of robust training. The Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) have recently developed a training course (winner of the UFAW Wild Animal Welfare Award 2010) which centres around promoting and educating best practice in wildlife, particularly with respect to improved methods of capture, handling, marking and release. As well as standard training techniques, the course includes the use of practical scenarios and discussion platforms, tackling varying issues pertinent to working with wild species with the overall aim of ensuring high standards of welfare.

The dramatic difference in typical Black and White lifeworlds—or sets of “cultural givens” assumed by Black and White Americans and used to interpret experience—impedes the development of a cross-racial solidarity oriented toward racial justice. If such a cross-racial solidarity is to be realized, actors must reorient the average White lifeworld in ways that make Whites more receptive to Black claims. I identify, theorize, and assess a particular strategy for transforming the dominant White lifeworld, and thus facilitating cross-racial solidarity, that directly confronts contemporary Whiteness: “marking Whiteness.” The idea of “marking Whiteness” is abstracted from three different texts—the blog-turned-book Stuff White People Like, a satiric essay entitled “I Am a Martyr (And So Can You!): A Guide to White Male Victimhood” published in Esquire magazine, and the sketch comedy phenomenon Chappelle’s Show. Interventions that “mark Whiteness” make Whiteness hyper-visible—as is characteristic of “marked” groups—and portray average White behavior and ideas as integral to the systemic reproduction of racial injustice. “Marking Whiteness” renders the racial polity visible, and makes contemporary Whites’ complicity in racial injustice undeniable. While there are good reasons to be skeptical of the progressive credentials of any mass cultural product and popular texts are often subject to misinterpretation, popular culture should be recognized as an important site in lifeworld and solidarity construction and reconstruction.

This work focuses on investigating the potential of calcein and manganese as growthmarkers of the common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) in the bay of Somme(France). Recapture of shells, previously marked using a chemical marking and then bred innatural conditions, was performed in order to determine the shell growth patterns. Calceinmarking has shown a fluorescent increment in shells after only 30 min immersion time at150 mg L-1, but also for shells immersed 3 h at 50 mg L-1. Likewise,manganese shell marking was revealed under cathodoluminescence for shells immersed 1 h at120 mg L-1 as well as for shells which spent 4 h at 90 mg L-1. Anumerical analysis performed on each marked cockles has revealed 23 micro-incrementsbetween the mark and the ventral edge of the valves, corresponding to the 23 tides thatoccurred during the 12 days at liberty post marking. The periodicity of incrementformation is thus validated for a tidal frequency. The growth rates of C.edule, ranged from 11.67 to 19.94 μm d-1, decreasedsignificantly with increasing shell length. This preliminary study gives a clue to theunderstanding of cockle growth and could be used in shellfish production for cockle agemonitoring, but also for chemical analysis to learn more about biomineralization processof this species.

In a field study on the behavioural response of grey-sided voles Clethrionomys rufocanus to predator odour ear tattoos were used for individual marking of the voles in the field. The study was conducted over three summer seasons in the tundra of northern Norway. In this paper we report our experience with ear-tattooing in order to compare it with other methods used for marking small mammals. Methods should be compared for their different influences on physiology and behaviour and to find alternatives to the widely used toe-clipping. Looking for alternatives becomes mandatory because in many countries this method needs a special permit or is totally prohibited by law. Marking a vole with ear-tattoos took us 2 min on average. The rate for the first recapture after marking voles was 87%. This is much higher than reported recapture rates for toe-clipped voles. From all recaptured individuals we were able to identify > 89.9% of the codes. The time lag between marking and first recapture was higher than the lag between second and third recapture, which indicates a trauma caused by the marking procedure. However, there was no evidence of any weight loss as reported for other marking methods, and most of the tattooed animals did not show any behaviour indicating irritation after being marked. It is concluded that ear-tattooing, as an alternative to other methods of marking small mammals is useful even in the field. However, to assess different advantages and disadvantages in other circumstances, the chosen method should be examined critically before use.

Evaluation of the use of food-dye marking method for the study of sandfly behaviour was carried out in Baringo district, Kenya. A solution of sucrose and food dye was sprayed as bait on the vegetation around a selected source of flies in an animal burrow.

The extent of marking and distribution of coloured flies within a radius of 200 m was monitored for four nights. The species caught were Sergentomyia clydei, S. schwetzi, S. antennatus, S. squamipleuris, S. bedfordi, S. africanus S. ingrami and S. affinis and the number of coloured flies was 1017. Feeding on the dyed solution labelled 68.9% of the exiting flies near the burrow and 49.2% of the flies caught at the burrow's entrance. The total number of coloured flies caught at a distance of 50, 100, 150 and 200 m was similar toa linear distribution. The greater numbers of S. clydei caught at 200 m and the smaller numbers of S. squamipleuris and S. ingrami trapped between 50 and 200 m deviated from this pattern. These results are discussed as well as the possible application of the method.