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In this paper, we aim to explore students' experiences of support mechanisms that support their wellbeing on an engineering degree programme at a research-intensive higher education institution and understand how theory relates to practice. This study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach involving student survey responses (N = 173), interviews with 16 students and focus groups. Kahu and Nelson's conceptual framework was used as a lens through which to explore student support mechanisms. Preliminary data analysis indicates that the intense workload adversely affects students as do some of the interactions they have with personal tutors and their peers. Our findings suggest that workload needs to be reduced, personal tutors need to fill gaps in their skills set, especially associated with student support, and institutional and departmental protocols be continually updated to support student wellbeing. Additionally, student wellbeing officers and professional, dedicated wellbeing advisors could be part of a long-term solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents an investigation into how the pore diameter, pore throat diameter and permeability of emulsion templated macroporous polymers (polyM/HIPE) can be controlled by the energy input to the original surfactant stabilized medium/high internal phase emulsion (M/HIPE) template. Templates with internal phase volumes of 60%, 70% and 80% were examined. It was found that the equations used for predicting droplet size in emulsions are also suitable for predicting pore size in emulsion templated macroporous polymers. Pores were found to be larger for macroporous polymers produced from emulsions with lower internal phase volume ratios for the same energy input to the emulsion template. The relative size of pore throats compared to that of the pores was found to increase with decreasing mean pore size especially those produced from emulsions with 80% internal phase volumes. Gas permeability was found to increase linearly with pore throat diameter of polymers with similar porosity but decreases with decreasing porosity. However it was possible to produce highly permeable macroporous polymers by polymerisation of MIPEs with an internal phase percentage of 60% if the energy input during emulsification was minimal as this resulted in larger droplets leading to larger pore and pore throat sizes in the polyMIPE. However high levels of coalescence in the template emulsion prior to polymerisation were seen to drastically decrease the permeability of the resulting macroporous polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The use of the monolith as an adsorptive reactor (MAR) is proposed as a viable and novel alternative for VOC disposal. The MAR combines adsorptive separation and catalytic combustion of the VOC in a single reactor unit and is thought to make effective utilisation of energy due to efficient heat integration. Theoretical studies on the feasibility and application of the adsorptive reactor concept for VOC oxidation is presented in this paper. Thus unlike previous work, present studies focus on an exothermic reaction system and the ability of the MAR to control thermal runaway. A two dimensional mathematical model accounting for non isothermal adsorption and reaction, mass transfer limited adsorption kinetics and non linear (Tóth) adsorption equilibria, has been developed. The process is operated cyclically in two steps: adsorption and desorption/reaction. The VOC is fed into the reactor in the adsorption step and captured to produce a pure carrier gas effluent. Concentration and thermal swing is induced in the second step by means of an air feed. The most outstanding feature of the MAR is its ability to prevent thermal runaway whilst maintaining a high VOC conversion. Simulation results indicate that the careful selection of step times for adsorption and desorption, feed temperatures and inlet velocities lead to stability and energy requirements which outperform equivalent conventional designs. The MAR is thermally more stable due to the controlled release of the reactant from the adsorbed phase into the reaction zone, and also the heat integration of endothermic desorption and exothermic reaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Students as partners (SaP) is becoming an increasingly common notion in higher education , but we continue to grapple with questions around how to best involve our students with the work we do as educators. Queries around responsibility, accountability and trust are raised when considering SaP. Participatory action research is presented from an introductory chemistry module in chemical engineering, whereby students were actively involved as partners at various stages of the research, design and development of the module. The action research spanned a 2-year period, accommodating 2 iterations of the module's development. The student partners actively participated in this process in 4 different ways: to set the research agenda (at the beginning), to create suitable formative assessment questions for their peers (ongoing), to manage other students in designing learning tools (as part of the second iteration), and to design and develop appropriate assessment. Some initial structuring was required to establish what the working relationship should look like, but the student partners engaged constructively with the process and added considerable value to reshaping the module. The end result was a more student-focused module, where the student partners had challenged the status quo, used their experiences constructively, and truly empathised with their peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nitration of toluene and 2-nitrotoluene with acetyl nitrate was investigated using several solid acid catalysts. In the nitration of toluene, enhanced para-selectivity was observed only with zeolite BEA. For the nitration of 2-nitrotoluene, all the catalysts displayed good para-selectivity, but only BEA led to high yields. The superior performance of BEA was due to the fact that only with this zeolite did the heterogeneously catalyzed reaction compete successfully with the homogeneous nitration in the liquid phase. Geometrical considerations showed that the high para-selectivity of BEA was not caused by classical transition-state selectivity but was induced by the reaction of the arene with a surface-bound acetyl nitrate complex. The existence of this complex was supported by NMR measurements, which showed that its formation is a specific property of zeolite BEA. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]