The Malaise Trap: Its Utility and Potential for Sampling Insect Populations

Slightly over three decades have elapsed since Malaise (1937) first published plans for the insect trap now bearing his name a stationary mesh tent with open sides, a central baffle, and a top-mounted collecting apparatus (Fig. 1). A non-attractant device, the Malaise trap is based upon the observation that most flying insects hitting an obstacle respond by flying (or crawling) upward (and thus into captivity). In recent years, the Malaise trap has become increasingly popular among insect taxonomists and collectors as a means of augmenting catch and collecting rare or ephemeral representatives. Many variations have been developed (e.g., Townes, 1962; Gressitt and Gressitt, 1962; Marston, 1965; Chanter, 1965; Butler, 1965), most aimed at making the trap more portable and/or efficient for collecting a particular insect group. To date, however, the Malaise trap has received little notice among other biologists, although it would appear to have considerable potential in almost any field study involving flying insects, and particularly in ecological investigations

Dissertation: issues in guidance, supervision and assessment

This guide explores some key issues concerning the supervision and assessment of dissertations. It explores the definition of a ‘dissertation’ in this context, preparing students to undertake dissertation work, the supervision process itself and the preparation of supervisors. Finally, it explores some issues around the marking criteria and the assessment process. It argues primarily for clear guidance for both students and staff, particularly in relation to criteria for assessment, and for much closer attention to the interpretation of those criteria by assessors

Impact of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 on Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Funding

State Allocations for $2 Billion in CCDBG Funding. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes$2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). CLASP has estimated the state allocations for the child care funding as well as the share of funds states will receive for quality initiatives

Landing in Kent: the experiences of unaccompanied children arriving in the UK

A report by the Office of the Children's Commissioner on a visit to Millbank Reception and Assessment Centre in Ken

Knowledge management and innovation: How are they related?

Companies in today’s globalised world must innovate to compete. Many successful companies have found that knowledge management strategies and practices are central to ongoing innovation (Boutellier et al., 1999; David & Foray, 2001; ADLittle, 2001; Tidd et al., 1997). This paper brings together research regarding knowledge management processes and practices that are found in R&D organisations and in other innovative firms. The paper contends that such practices could be employed across a range of firms to enable and enhance the potential for innovation within firms in multiple sectors

Source attribution and perceptual effects.

Following a string of recent controversies involving journalists and their sources, public awareness in the UK of sourcing and sourcing practices has increased. There are, however, only a handful of studies that have considered how source attribution may affect audiences’ evaluation of the quality or objectivity of news. This paper examines the influence of source attribution upon perceptions of news credibility. It reports the initial findings of a media experiment designed to test the effect of attributing information to different institutional sources on two component measures of credibility: participants’ assessment of the believability and accuracy of news. Using a between-subjects design (n=147), participants were presented with one of four versions of the same news story, manipulated to attribute key information to different institutional sources. The data indicates that the effect of source attribution, as a subtle or nuanced variation in content, is limited and that attitudinal characteristics are more significant determinants of audiences’ perceptions of news credibility. Specifically, the findings show significant relationships between trust in the media, concern over the issue reported and participants’ assessment of the believability and accuracy of news

Techtrends

Michio Kaku, author of Vis ions: How Science will Revolutionize the 21 \u27 Century, spoke at the most recent Texas Library Association conference in Dallas, Texas. A summary of his comments follow