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This study explored the disposal strategies of menstrual sanitary products through in-depth semi-structured interviews with women aged 18–30 years. There have been many educational campaigns to improve solid waste disposal, but inappropriate disposal and blockages are still a major problem for the water industry. While quantitative studies exploring self-reporting of flushing norms have been conducted, there is evidence to suggest that these results may not take into account the complex set of socio-cultural factors associated with menstrual product disposal. Bridging this gap, the interviews undertaken in this work revealed that although all participants had a desire to dispose responsibly, their ability to utilise solid waste streams or to minimise waste by using reusable products was not always possible because they felt, to some degree, restricted by the wider societal requirements for discretion and the design, accessibility and availability of bins and bathroom facilities. Based on these findings, industry recommendations are suggested.

Student engagement is intrinsically linked to two important metrics in learning: student satisfaction and the quality of the student experience. One of the ways that engagement can be influenced is through careful curriculum design. Using the knowledge that many students are ‘assessment-driven’, a low-stakes continuous weekly summative e-assessment was introduced to a module. The impact this had on student engagement was measured by studying student activity within the module virtual learning environment. It was found that introduction of the e-assessments led to a significant increase in virtual learning environment activity compared to the virtual learning environment activity in that module the previous year, and also compared to the virtual learning environment activity of two other modules studied by the same student cohort. As many institutions move towards greater blended or online deliveries, it will become more important to ensure that virtual learning environments encourage high levels of student engagement in order to maintain or enhance the student experience.

Student engagement is an important issue in higher education, and is related to the quality of the student experience. Increasing student engagement is one way of enhancing quality at a higher education institution. An institution is able to influence student engagement in a number of ways, one being through curriculum design. The use of a low-stakes continuous weekly summative e-assessment had a positive influence on student engagement in an optional level 5 (second year) undergraduate geography module. Students considered their increased engagement was a direct consequence of this assessment method. It was also found that students thought they improved their learning, particularly their understanding, as a result of the continuous assessment. This study suggests that carefully designed assessments can be used to increase student engagement and learning, and, as a result, contribute to improving the quality of the overall student experience.\ud Keywords : continuous assessment, student engagement, student views

The aim was to investigate the potential use and the student experiences of using virtual reality (Oculus Rift) devices for field trips. Virtual reality field trips have been used by a number of HE institutions for a number of reasons: To give students the opportunity to prepare for a ‘real-life’ field trip (risk assessments, kit selection, project preparation etc)To allow students to reflect on a recent field tripTo provide an additional field trip experience without incurring extra costs for the student or institutionTo improve accessibility to field work experiencesTo allow distance learning students to participate in field work Computer-based (virtual reality) field trips have in the past been perceived negatively by students, often due to a poor representation of reality. Currently these field trips take place in 3D environments on a 2D computer screen. There has been an emphasis on enhancing the realism of these virtual field trips. The recent release of Oculus Rift, a relatively low-cost virtual-reality headset which tracks the user’s head movements, allowing users to ‘walk through’ a virtual landscape immersively, offers an opportunity to further improve the virtual reality field trip experience. Thirteen Environmental and Geographical Sciences student volunteers tested the Oculus Rift. The students used the Oculus Tuscany Demo software to work around a landscape, spending between 10 and 30 minutes in the landscape. No students had used an Oculus Rift previously. After using the devices they fed back through a questionnaire their views on its use from a learner's perspective.

Background: The relative frequency of wind- and animal-pollinated plants a non-randomly distributed across the globe and numerous hypotheses have been raised for the greater occurrence of wind pollination in some habitats and towards higher latitudes. To date, however, there has been no comprehensive global investigation of these hypotheses. Aims: Investigating a range of hypotheses for the role of biotic and abiotic factors as determinants of the global variation in animal vs. wind pollination. Methods: We analysed 67 plant communities ranging from 70º north to 34º south. For these we determined habitat type, species richness, insularity, topographic heterogeneity, current climate and late-quaternary climate change. The predictive effects of these factors on the proportion of wind- and animal-pollinated plants were tested using correlations, ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression analyses with information-theoretic model selection. Results: The proportion of animal-pollinated plant species was positively associated with plant species richness and current temperature. Furthermore, in forest, animal pollination was positively related to precipitation. Historical climate was only weakly and idiosyncratically correlated with animal pollination. Conclusion: Results were consistent with the hypothesised reduced chance for wind-transported pollen reaching conspecific flowers in species-rich communities, fewer constraints on nectar production in warm and wet habitats, and reduced relative effectiveness of wind dispersal in humid areas. There was little evidence of a legacy of historical climate change affecting these patterns.

Background: The relative frequency of wind- and animal-pollinated plants a non-randomly distributed across the globe and numerous hypotheses have been raised for the greater occurrence of wind pollination in some habitats and towards higher latitudes. To date, however, there has been no comprehensive global investigation of these hypotheses. Aims: Investigating a range of hypotheses for the role of biotic and abiotic factors as determinants of the global variation in animal vs. wind pollination. Methods: We analysed 67 plant communities ranging from 70º north to 34º south. For these we determined habitat type, species richness, insularity, topographic heterogeneity, current climate and late-quaternary climate change. The predictive effects of these factors on the proportion of wind- and animal-pollinated plants were tested using correlations, ordinary least squares (OLS) and logistic regression analyses with information-theoretic model selection. Results: The proportion of animal-pollinated plant species was positively associated with plant species richness and current temperature. Furthermore, in forest, animal pollination was positively related to precipitation. Historical climate was only weakly and idiosyncratically correlated with animal pollination. Conclusion: Results were consistent with the hypothesised reduced chance for wind-transported pollen reaching conspecific flowers in species-rich communities, fewer constraints on nectar production in warm and wet habitats, and reduced relative effectiveness of wind dispersal in humid areas. There was little evidence of a legacy of historical climate change affecting these patterns.