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This IPA study analyses the effects of creative writing on the emotional well‐being of a group of nine people working in the creative industries. The group attended a series of four creative writing classes and, in addition, volunteered to undertake a programme of four, one‐a‐week, 'Creative Writing for Wellbeing' tasks, using a personal difficulty as a backdrop. Issues presented included bereavement, divorce, domestic violence, rape, body image, personal trust and social isolation. A psychologist was available for participants who experienced emotional difficulty during this programme. Likert scales, weekly reports and semi‐structured interviews were used to chart the emotional journey of participants, all of whom concluded that writing creatively had brought unexpected and significant benefits to their cognitive processing of emotional difficulty and had positively affected their mood and mental well‐being. This has potential implications for low‐cost and accessible mental health treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the arrival of Cassini at Titan in 2004, the Titan atmosphere has been shown to contain large complex polycyclic-aromatic hydrocarbons. Since Cassini has provided a great deal of data, there exists a need for kinetic rate data to help with modeling this atmosphere. One type of kinetic data needed is electron-ion dissociative recombination (e-IDR) rate constants. These data are not readily available for larger compounds, such as naphthalene, or oxygen containing compounds, such as 1,4 dioxane or furan. Here, the rate constants for naphthalene, 1,4 dioxane, and furan have been measured and their temperature dependencies are determined when possible, using the University of Georgia's Variable Temperature Flowing Afterglow. The rate constants are compared with those previously published for other compounds; these show trends which illustrate the effects which multirings and oxygen heteroatoms substitutions have upon e-IDR rate constants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Experientially measure e-IDR rate constants relevant to Titan. [•] Establish trends in benzene analogs to aid prediction. [•] Correlation between e-IDR rate constant and negative Hammett σpara values. [•] Correlation between temperature dependence and negative Hammett σpara values. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Recently, methyl formate, glycolaldehyde, and aceticacid havebeen detected in the Interstellar Medium, ISM. The rate constants,αe, for dissociative electron–ion recombinationof protonated gycolaldehyde, (HOCH2CHO)H, andprotonated methyl formate, (HCOOCH3)H, havebeen determined at 300 K in a variable temperature flowing afterglowusing a Langmuir probe to obtain the electron density. The recombinationrate constants at 300 K are 3.2 × 10–7cm3s–1for protonated methyl formate and 7.5× 10–7cm3s–1for protonated glycolaldehyde. The recombination rate constant ofprotonated acetic acid could not be directly measured, but it appearsto have a rate constant, αe, on the 10–7cm3s–1scale. Several high- and low-temperaturemeasurements for protonated methyl formate were made. In addition,an αemeasurement at 220 K for protonated glycolaldehydewas performed. The astrochemical implications of the rates of recombination,αe, and protonation routes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Electron–ion dissociative recombination rate constants have been determined for protonated single six-membered hydrocarbon rings with varying N-atom substitution in the rings and varying degrees of methyl substitutions to the rings. The species studied have been protonated forms of the xylenes (C8H10; with configurations o, m, and p), the picolines (C6H7N; with methyl substitutions located at 2, 3, and 4), mesitylene (C9H12) and 2, 5-lutidine (C7H9N). By operating at high reactant vapor pressures, ternary association has been made to dominate over recombination to create proton bound dimers and the rate constants of these species have been determined. The studies were made at room temperature in a flowing afterglow with a Langmuir probe to determine the reduction in electron density as a function of distance along the flow tube. All of the data except for mesitylene showed a consistent trend with the numbers of N-atom substitutions and CH3 attached to the rings. For the protonated species, the rate constants increase with the number of nitrogens and decreased with number of CH3 substituents attached to the ring. For proton bound dimers, the rate constants increase with both, the number of N-atoms and number of CH3 substituents. For the xylene and picoline isomer''s the measurements showed that the rate constants were independent of isomeric form, and thus, it is not necessary to study all isomeric forms. The relevance of these studies to the ionosphere of Titan is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The rate constants, α e, for dissociative electron–ion recombination of various isotopic combinations of N2H+ have been determined at 300 and 500K in a variable temperature flowing afterglow using a Langmuir probe to determine the electron density. The values of α e at 300K are 2.77 (14N2H+), 2.12 (14N2D+), 2.31 (15N2H+) and 1.98 (15N2D+)×10−7 cm3 s−1. The equivalent values at 500K are 2.84, 2.33, 2.93, and 2.33 respectively. This has shown that the greatest change occurs between H and D substitution α e(14/15N2D+)/α e(14/15N2H+)∼0.765/0.857 at 300K and 0.820/0.795 at 500K respectively. Values at 500K are consistently larger than at 300K. At both temperatures, the rate constants with H substitution are larger than with D substitution for both 14N and 15N. Values with 14N substitution are larger than with 15N for both H and D. At 500K, the values are independent of whether the ion contains 14N or 15N. Gas-phase 15N fractionation enhancement is predicted in many regions of the interstellar medium including cold and pre-stellar cores. The effect of this fractionation on the recombination process is investigated. The relevance to storage ring measurements of recombination rate constants is considered and applications to the chemistry of the interstellar medium are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]