The colliery aesthetic: cultural responses at the end of industry

This thesis is concerned with culture at a time of profound change, when coal mining, hitherto the region's industrial mainstay, has been eradicated. It questions notions of cultural regeneration which do not take existing industrial culture into account. It questions how culture regenerates, and who it regenerate for. Monumental public art works are closely associated with cultural regeneration; yet few have significant association with the landscape. Museum, art gallery and other cultural representations are sustained through public funding. Public art re-images the identity of the landscape as a part of a wider process. Specificity of place, and cultural relevance of lived experience, is contrasted with the art at the core of cultural regeneration. Art appears as a surrogate for missing industrial structures. High art practices colonise the cultural spaces previously occupied by low culture. True representations of mining and miners are suppressed by caricature and stereotype, not cultural reality. In contrast much of the spoken word narrative of colliery working life, informed by aesthetics based in experience, goes unrecorded. This culture is not called upon to participate in the regeneration process. Presentation of mining working life, in its own vernacular, is a verbal demonstration of the colliery aesthetic. Cultural dynamics are perceived in visual and narrative forms. Centring investigation on visual material a body of research is embarked upon which develops methods of social investigation, through the use of images to elicit testimonies. This is carried out in the context of focus groups. Obtaining information through research into cultural understanding invests respondents with the role of cultural representatives: expressing concepts of culture, in their own way, reveals their concerns about culture and its representations. Focus groups consider presentations of mining and other local industrial culture in respect to public spending on public cultural forms. Representations through memory and memorial are also considered

Development of optical sensor platforms based on evanescent wave interactions

A study of the principles, fabrication and behaviour of a range of optical sensor platforms based on evanescent wave interactions is presented. The platforms utilise a range of sensing techniques including absorption, fluorescence quenching and surface plasmon resonance. The absorbance-based platforms employ sol-gel-derived planar waveguides and grating couplers to launch light into guided modes, the evanescent fields of which can interrogate a sensing layer. A detailed characterisation of these integrated optic devices is presented. Two platforms employing few-mode and multimode waveguides, respectively, are described and applied to the detection of gaseous ammonia and carbon dioxide. A fluorescence-based sensor platform which utilises the anisotropy of fluorescence emitted near an interface is also presented. The platform consists of a planar waveguide coated with a sol-gel-derived fluorescent layer. A substantial amount of the analytesensitive fluorescence is captured by guided modes in the planar waveguide. This configuration is described in detail and is applied to the detection of gaseous oxygen as a proof of principle. Finally, work leading to the development of a fibre optic probe biosensor based on surface plasmon resonance is presented together with its application to the detection of red blood cells. In summary, this work highlights the feasibility of combining evanescent wave interactions and sol-gel technology to fabricate miniature sensor platforms which may be applied to the detection of a wide range of target analytes in a reliable and cost effective manner

3D printed catalytic converters with enhanced activity for low-temperature methane oxidation in dual-fuel engines

Catalytic converters with non-linear channel structures were prepared using 3D printing and tested in the oxidation of methane in a simulated dual-fuel engine exhaust stream. The design used a simple repeating angular offset between adjacent layers, which was sufficient to introduce complexity with minimal software programming. All 3D printed substrates were mechanically stable and, following washcoating with a composite catalyst, demonstrated higher catalytic activity in methane oxidation than a commercial honeycomb substrate. The methane conversion at e.g. 510 °C was 12.6% on the commercial sample, 72.6% for 90 °, 80.1% for both 30 ° and 45 °, and 89.6 % for the 60 ° oriented structures. This enhancement is attributed to the increased turbulence/mass transfer and surface area than are possible using conventional straight-channelled substrates. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis confirmed that the higher methane conversion over 3D printed substrates is due (at least partially) to its higher turbulence kinetic energy. Backpressures over the 3D printed structures were also experimentally measured and compared with the conventional honeycomb monolith

Luminescent optical detection of volatile electron deficient compounds by conjugated polymer nanofibers

Optical detection of volatile electron deficient analytes via fluorescence quenching is demonstrated using ca. 200 nm diameter template-synthesized polyfluorene nanofibers as nanoscale detection elements. Observed trends in analyte quenching effectiveness suggest that, in addition to energetic factors, analyte vapor pressure and polymer/analyte solubility play an important role in the emission quenching process. Individual nanofibers successfully act as luminescent reporters of volatile nitroaromatics at sub-parts per million levels. Geometric factors, relating to the nanocylindrical geometry of the fibers and to low nanofiber substrate coverage, providing a less crowded environment around fibers, appear to play a role in providing access by electron deficient quencher molecules to the excited states within the fibers, thereby facilitating the pronounced fluorescence quenching response

Waste peat ash mineralogy and transformation to microporous zeolites

The combustion of peat fuel for industrial scale power generation and domestic heating produces toxic ash, most of which is presently buried in landfill. In this study, the mineralogy of waste peat ash was determined, followed by its successful use as a starting reagent to prepare zeolites. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the presence of quartz, anhydrite, calcite, lime, merwinite and magnetite in peat ash, and that a single extraction step using mineral acid was sufficient to remove all non-quartz crystal phases. Alkali fusion of the acid-extracted samples produced GIS-type zeolite. LTA- and FAU-type were also prepared by altering the Si/Al ratio and extending the ageing time. Experiments confirmed that the LTA- and FAU-type zeolites were active in the simultaneous adsorption of lead, cadmium, cobalt, zinc and copper from aqueous solutions, with similar quantities of metals removed to those using a reference zeolite

Hydroisomerization and Hydrocracking of n-Heptane over Nanoporous Trimetallic (Pt-Ni-Co/SBA-15 Catalyst)

The heterogeneous hydroisomerization and hydrocracking of n-heptane was carried out within the pores of the mesoporous SBA-15 silicas, within which was encapsulated trimetallic nanoparticles of Pt-Ni-Co. The structural and textural features of the nanoporoussilicas, both with and without encapsulated nanoparticles, were characterised using small angle X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), EDAX, nitrogen adsorption-desorptionporosimetry/BET surface area analysis,Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopyand transmission electron microscopy (TEM).Catalytic testing was conducted using a plug-flow reactor in a catalyst testing rig under tightly controlled conditions of temperature, reactant flow rate and pressure.Species were leaving the reactor andanalysed by Gas Chromatography. The results show thatPt-Ni-Co/SBA-15 had a high activity for conversion of n-heptane (around 85%). The catalyst was found to be stable to heating and did not undergo any significant deactivation during reaction at temperatures up to 400 °C

Methane oxidation over zeolite catalysts prepared from geothermal fluids

Colloidal silica extracted from geothermal fluid was used as a reagent to produce zeolite Y with high purity. The characteristics of this sample were compared to a sample prepared with a conventional silica sol, namely Ludox. The two samples were treated with ammonium chloride and calcined to partially convert the samples into an H-form. The Na-FAU and H-FAU zeolites were then loaded with Pd and tested as catalysts in the combustion of methane. X-ray diffraction confirmed the characteristic FAU-type framework in all samples. Experiments showed that after addition of Pd, these zeolites were active catalysts in the complete combustion of methane, where the most active catalysts were those prepared from Na-FAU. These findings support the use of low Si/Al FAU-type frameworks in model studies of engine exhaust emissions abatement. The study further shows that the silica sol extracted from geothermal fluids can be successfully utilised for zeolites synthesis

Biodiesel from batch and continuous oleic acid esterification using zeolite catalysts

The esterification of oleic acid with ethanol was studied in both batch and continuous conditions in a fixed-bed reactor over FAU-type zeolites prepared from shale rock. The addition of Co-Ni-Pt to the zeolite increased the catalyst activity over the entire reaction temperature range. Experiments confirmed that esterification follows pseudo first-order kinetics. Thermodynamic analysis and Thiele modulus calculations show that the reaction is kinetically controlled in batch conditions, while diffusional limitations occur at higher flow rates when conducted in continuous mode. The maximum oleic acid conversions were recorded as 93% for batch and 89% for continuous, which exceed those of any analogous studies

Reinforcement Learning for Wildfire Mitigation in Simulated Disaster Environments

Climate change has resulted in a year over year increase in adverse weather and weather conditions which contribute to increasingly severe fire seasons. Without effective mitigation, these fires pose a threat to life, property, ecology, cultural heritage, and critical infrastructure. To better prepare for and react to the increasing threat of wildfires, more accurate fire modelers and mitigation responses are necessary. In this paper, we introduce SimFire, a versatile wildland fire projection simulator designed to generate realistic wildfire scenarios, and SimHarness, a modular agent-based machine learning wrapper capable of automatically generating land management strategies within SimFire to reduce the overall damage to the area. Together, this publicly available system allows researchers and practitioners the ability to emulate and assess the effectiveness of firefighter interventions and formulate strategic plans that prioritize value preservation and resource allocation optimization. The repositories are available for download at https://github.com/mitrefireline.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures including Appendices (A, B). Accepted as a paper in the Proposals track at the "Tackling Climate Change with Machine Learning" workshop at NeurIPS 2023. MITRE Public Release Case Number 23-392

FAU—Type Zeolite Synthesis from Clays and Its Use for the Simultaneous Adsorption of Five Divalent Metals from Aqueous Solutions

In this research, a vermiculite-kaolinite clay (VK) was used to prepare faujasite zeolites via alkaline fusion and hydrothermal crystallisation. The optimal synthesis conditions were 1 h fusion with NaOH at 800 °C, addition of deionised water to the fused sample at a sample to deionised water mass ratio of 1:5, 68 h of non-agitated ageing of the suspension, and 24 h of hydrothermal treatment at 90 °C. The efficacy of the prepared faujasite was compared to raw clay and a reference zeolite material through adsorption experiments of aqueous solutions containing five divalent cations—Cd, Co, Cu, Pb, and Zn. The results showed that in the presence of competing cations at concentrations of 300 mg L−1 and adsorbent loading of 5 g L−1, within the first 10 min, about 99% of Pb, 60% of Cu, 58% of Cd, 28% of Zn, and 19% of Co were removed by the faujasite prepared from clay. Two to four parameter nonlinear adsorption isotherms were used to fit the adsorption data and it was found that overall, three and four parameter isotherms had the best fit for the adsorption process