Designing curation for student engagement

In this article we discuss the ways students currently engage with, and navigate through, their learning resources. Working from the argument that students now read and research in ways that privilege assembly, visualisation and interconnection, we propose that questions of student engagement can be opened up profitably by concentrating on a particular trope of learning and assembly. That trope is ‘curation’ and we explore how this approach and activity might be used to enhance student learning, creativity and ownership. In our discussion we explore particular theories of curation, ‘bricolage’ and collaborative assembly, and explain ways in which these are directly relevant to today’s patterns and habits of student scholarship. After offering case-studies of curation pedagogy at the scales of module, programme, project and institution, we conclude by visualising and explaining our ‘curation learning cycle’. In this way, we tie theory, case-studies and taxonomy together to propose a curriculum design approach that heightens student learning and engagement

Challenges and opportunities for the utilisation of ionic liquids as solvents for CO2 capture

Ionic Liquids have been extensively investigated as promising materials for several gas separation processes, including CO 2 capture. They have the potential to outperform traditional solvents, in terms of their capacity, selectivity, regenerability and stability. In fact, hundreds of ionic liquids have been investigated as potential sorbents for CO 2 capture. However, most studies focus on enhancing equilibrium capacity, and neglect to consider other properties, such as transport prop- erties, and hence ignore the effect that the overall set of properties have on process performance, and therefore on cost. In this study, we propose a new methodology for their evaluation using a range of monetised and non-monetised process performance indices. Our results demonstrate that whilst most research effort is focused on improving CO 2 solubility, viscosity, a transport prop- erty, and heat capacity, a thermochemical property, might preclude the use of ionic liquids, even those which are highly CO 2 -philic, and therefore increased effort on addressing the challenges associated with heat capacity and viscosity is an urgent necessity. This work highlights a range of potential challenges that ionic liquids will face before they can be applied at process scale, and identifies some key research opportunities

A Neutron Scattering Study of the Structure of Poly(dimethylsiloxane)-Stabilized Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PDMS–PMMA) Latexes in Dodecane

Hard-sphere particles in nonpolar solvents are an essential tool for colloid scientists. Sterically stabilized poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) particles have long been used as the exemplary hard-sphere system. However, neither the particles themselves nor the poly(12-hydroxystearic acid) (PHSA) stabilizer necessary to prevent aggregation in nonpolar solvents are commercially available. To counter this, several alternatives have been proposed. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stabilizers as a commercially available alternative to PHSA, yet the structure of particles made in this way is not as well understood as those produced using PHSA. In this work, we employ small-angle neutron scattering to determine the internal structure of PDMS-stabilized PMMA particles, synthesized with and without an additional crosslinking agent. We report data consistent with a homogeneous PMMA core with a linearly decaying PDMS shell. The thickness of the shell was in excess of 50 nm, thicker than the PHSA layer typically used to stabilize PMMA but consistent with reports of the layer thickness for similar molecular weight PDMS at planar surfaces. We also show that the amount of the hydrogenous material in the particle core of the crosslinked particles notably exceeds the amount of added ethylene glycol dimethacrylate crosslinker, suggesting some entrapment of the PDMS stabilizer in the PMMA matrix

Internet Outreach / A Guide for Health Promoters & Peer Educators

This manual brings together the experiences of an Internet outreach project conducted by theWestern Australian AIDS Council (WAAC) and the Western Australian Centre for Health PromotionResearch (WACHPR) at Curtin University of Technology along with other selected research. It presents guidelines on the development and implementation of Internet outreach programs for health promotion practitioners and peer education workers.It is divided into sections for ease of navigation, including an overview of Internet outreach as a health promotion strategy and the CyberReach project (through the implementation of which the contents were produced). There are additional components to support agencies interested in learning more about whether Internet outreach may be a useful strategy for them in expanding the range of their current services.Who this manual is for: Anyone working in health service delivery with an interest in developing Internet-based health promotion outreach programs. Although based on a project targeting same sex attracted youth (SSAY) and men who have sex with men (MSM), we believe there are aspects applicable to health practitioners working with other groups in a range of health and human services areas

Solvent selection and design for CO2 capture - how we might have been missing the point

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a vital technology for the cost-effective mitigation of anthropogenic CO2 emissions. However, a key obstacle to its deployment on a large scale remains its cost – both capital and operating costs. In this context, the development of improved sorbents is a key research priority. Consequently, there is a vast global effort to develop new materials for this purpose, with literally thousands of new materials having been proposed since the beginning of the millennium. One common element of these contributions is that they focus on the equilibrium capacity of the material to absorb CO2 and rarely, if ever, other key factors such as transport properties. To date, the majority of this effort has cost significant amounts of time and resources and has almost exclusively focused on developing sorbents with increased CO2 capacity and/or reduced heat of regeneration. Given that sorbent regeneration largely dictates operational cost, this would, on the surface, appear rational. However, it is vital to recall that the cost structure of $ per MWh of electricity generated is composed of contributions from both capital and operational costs. Consequently, this single-minded focus on equilibrium CO2 capacity and heat of regeneration excludes the contribution of transport and kinetic properties which determine the equipment size and thus the capital cost. Therefore, in order to develop sorbents which will result in a non-negligible cost reduction, it is essential to move beyond equilibrium-based metrics of sorbent performance. In this paper, we present a new methodological approach for sorbent screening which explicitly includes rate-based phenomena. Our approach uses both monetised and non-monetised performance indicators. Our results suggest that whilst equilibrium CO2 capacity is a key determinant of process performance, transport properties (e.g., viscosity) and other thermophysical properties (e.g., heat capacity) have a significant effect on the capital cost, and thus on the price of the carbon captured. The key contribution of this work is the identification of the minimum set of thermophysical and kinetic parameters which must be reported in order to justify the claim of adequacy for a new sorbent for CO2 capture in particular and gas separations in general

Beyond 90% capture: Possible, but at what cost?

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Carbon capture and storage (CCS) will have an essential role in meeting our climate change mitigation targets. CCS technologies are technically mature and will likely be deployed to decarbonise power, industry, heat, and removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. The assumption of a 90% CO2 capture rate has become ubiquitous in the literature, which has led to doubt around whether CO2 capture rates above 90% are even feasible. However, in the context of a 1.5 °C target, going beyond 90% capture will be vital, with residual emissions needing to be indirectly captured via carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. Whilst there will be trade-offs between the cost of increased rates of CO2 capture, and the cost of offsets, understanding where this lies is key to minimising the dependence on CDR. This study quantifies the maximum limit of feasible CO2 capture rate for a range of power and industrial sources of CO2, beyond which abatement becomes uneconomical. In no case, was a capture rate of 90% found to be optimal, with capture rates of up to 98% possible at a relatively low marginal cost. Flue gas composition was found to be a key determinant of the cost of capture, with more dilute streams exhibiting a more pronounced minimum. Indirect capture by deploying complementary CDR is also assessed. The results show that current policy initiatives are unlikely to be sufficient to enable the economically viable deployment of CCS in all but a very few niche sectors of the economy