Using real particulate matter to evaluate combustion catalysts for direct regeneration of diesel soot filters

The particulate produced by internal combustion engines has a complex composition that includes a large proportion of porous soot within which condensed and adsorbed organic molecules are trapped. However, many studies of the catalytic combustion of particulate are based on the assumption that commercially produced carbon can be used as a reliable mimic of engine soot. Here we show that soot removed from a diesel particulate filter is rich in the polyaromatic molecules that are the precursors of the solid particulate. Through a combination of solvent extraction and evolved gas analysis, we have been able to track the release and transformation of these molecules in the absence and presence of combustion catalysts. Our results reveal that, although the rate of combustion of the elemental carbon in diesel soot is higher than that of graphite, deep oxidation of the polyaromatic molecules is a more demanding reaction. An active and stable Ag–K catalyst lowers the combustion temperature for elemental carbon by >200 °C, but has little effect on the condensed polyaromatic molecules. The addition of a secondary catalyst component, with aromatic-oxidation functionality is required to target these molecules. Although the combined catalyst would not enable a completely passive regeneration system for diesel passenger cars, it would improve the efficiency of existing active systems by reducing the amount of fuel-injection required for trap regeneration

Seriously personal:The reasons that motivate entrepreneurs to address climate change

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is freely available from Springer Verlag via the DOI in this record.Scholars increasingly argue that entrepreneurs and their small- and medium-sized enterprises should play a central role in reducing the rate and magnitude of climate change. However, evidence suggests that while some entrepreneurs recognize their crucial role in addressing climate change, most do not. Why some entrepreneurs nevertheless concern themselves with climate change has largely been overlooked. Some initial work in this area tentatively suggests that these entrepreneurs may engage with climate change because of their personal values, which either focus on financial or socio-ecological reasons, or a combination of both. Yet, it is unclear if all for-profit entrepreneurs engage with climate change for the same reasons, or if indeed their motivations vary across business types. Over a period of four years, we examined entrepreneurs’ motivations to engage with climate change through a variety of qualitative research methods. Our findings illustrate how entrepreneurs who address climate change have motivations specific to their business activity/industry and level of maturity. In each instance, we link these motivations to distinct conceptualizations of time and place. We contend that, through a more differentiated understanding of entrepreneurial motivations, policy-makers can draft climate change-related policies tailored to entrepreneurial needs. Policies could both increase the number of entrepreneurs who already engage in climate change mitigation and leverage the impact of those entrepreneurs already mitigating climate change.This study was funded by the European Social Fund (09099NCO5). We acknowledge with thanks the participation of the entrepreneurs and the support of Business Leaders for Low Carbon, Cornwall Council, and Cornwall Sustainable Tourism Project. The authors wish to thank Professor John Amis, Professor Kenneth Amaeshi and the anonymous reviewers who provided useful feedback on earlier versions of the article

Determinants of volunteering within a social housing community

The Smartline project is receiving up to £4,188,318 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund (Grant No. 05R16P00305) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014–2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (and in London the intermediate body Greater London Authority) is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Additional funding is from the South West Academic Health Science Network.In general research demonstrates that deprivation, education, health, and well-being are determinants of volunteering, and that volunteering can play an important role in building stronger communities and provides many benefits for individual health and well-being. This study concentrates on the effects of physical and mental health and well-being as predictors when the aspect of socioeconomic impact has been minimised. It utilises a unique data-set from a UK Housing Association community with generally high levels of deprivation. Data were analysed using bivariate probit regression. In contrast to previous findings, physical health and mental health were not significantly related to volunteering. The key finding was that mental well-being was significantly related to informal volunteering.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

More than Sweat Equity: Young People as Volunteers in Conservation Work

This paper examines how young people come to be enrolled and engaged in programmes of unpaid environmental conservation in rural areas. Set within a theoretical debate regarding the nature of unpaid work and its relationship to voluntary and coercive forms of environmental action, the paper identifies four pathways and two types of recipient organisations through which young people become involved in efforts to protect and enhance rural landscapes and locales. Drawing on a combination of extended survey and in-depth qualitative research in the west and south of rural England, the paper considers the systems of governance that surround the organisation of these unpaid activities and shows how these are rationalised and designed as practical and embodied experiences of citizenship. The paper argues that enhancing participation rests less on how to foster more young participants into the conservation sector than how to structure these activities in more productive ways that go beyond simple ‘sweat equity’. The findings have implications for the training and organisation of volunteers in other sectors

Fostering engagement with health and housing innovation : development of participant personas in a social housing cohort

Funding: European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the South West Academic Health Sciences Network.Background : Personas, based on customer or population data, are widely used to inform design decisions in the Commercial Sector. The variety of methods available mean that personas can be produced from various sizes and types of project. Objective : To experiment with the use of personas that bring together survey, household air measurements and electricity-usage sensor, and interview data within a research and innovation project, with the aim of supporting eHealth and eWellbeing product, process and service development through broadening the engagement with and understanding of the data about the local community. Methods : The project participants were social housing residents (adults only) living in central Cornwall, a rural unitary authority in the United Kingdom. A total of 329 households were recruited between September 2017 and November 2018, with 235 (71.4%) providing complete baseline survey data on demographics, socioeconomic position, household composition, home environment, technology ownership, pet ownership, smoking, social cohesion, volunteering, caring, mental wellbeing, physical and mental health-related quality of life and activity. K-prototype cluster analysis was used to identify eight clusters among the baseline survey responses. The sensor and interview data were subsequently analysed by cluster and the insights from all three of the data sources brough together to produce the personas, known as the Smartline Archetypes. Results : The Smartline Archetypes proved to be an engaging way of presenting data, accessible to a broader group of stakeholders than those who accessed the raw anonymised data, thereby providing a vehicle for greater research engagement, innovation and impact. Conclusions : Through the adoption of a tool widely used in practice, research projects could generate greater policy and practical impact, while also becoming more transparent and open to the public.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The “healthy dose” of nature: A cautionary tale

Growing cross‐disciplinary interest in understanding if, how, and why time spent with nature can contribute to human health and well‐being has recently prompted efforts to identify an ideal healthy dose of nature; exposure to a specific type of nature at a specified frequency and duration. These efforts build on longstanding attempts to prescribe nature in some way, most recently in the form of so‐called “green prescriptions.” In this critical discussion paper, we draw on key examples from within the fields of health and cultural geography to encourage deeper and more critical reflection on the value of such reductionist dose‐response frameworks. By foregrounding the relationally emergent qualities of people's dynamic nature encounters, we suggest such efforts may be both illusory and potentially exclusionary for the many individuals and groups whose healthy nature interactions diverge from the statistical average or “normal” way of being. We suggest value in working towards alternative more‐than‐human approaches to health and well‐being, drawing on posthumanist theories of social practice. We present two practice examples—beach‐going and citizen science—to demonstrate how a focus on social practices can better cater for the diverse and dynamic ways in which people come to conceptualise, embody, and interpret nature in their everyday lives. We close by reflecting on the wider societal transformations required to foster greater respect for embodied difference and diversity