Ulster University (Irish: Ollscoil Uladh; Ulster Scots: Ulstèr Universitie or Ulstèr Varsitie), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It is the largest university in Northern Ireland and the second-largest university on the island of Ireland, after the federal National University of Ireland.Established in 1968 as the New University of Ulster, it merged with Ulster Polytechnic in 1984, incorporating its four Northern Irish campuses under the University of Ulster banner. The university incorporated its four campuses in 1984; located in Belfast, Coleraine, Derry (Magee College), and Jordanstown. The university has branch campuses in both London and Birmingham, and an extensive distance learning provision. The university rebranded as Ulster University from October 2014 and this included a revised visual identity, though its legal name remained unchanged.It has one of the highest further study and employment rates in the UK, with over 92% of graduates being in work or further study six months after graduation. The university is a member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association, Universities Ireland and Universities UK.
Large-scale storage tanks are widely used for flammable liquid fuels, where crosswind, ullage height, and wall properties can strongly alter fuel combustion, flame–wall interaction, and the resulting thermal load on the tank wall. This study experimentally investigates the coupled effects of wind velocity, ullage height, and wall material on flame behavior, fuel burning rate, wall-temperature evolution, and heat-transfer mechanisms in n-heptane storage-tank fires. Under the combined effects of crosswind and ullage height, two characteristic internal flame regimes, namely bottom-contacting and non-bottom-contacting flames, are identified. Flame bottom-contacting occurs more readily in quartz-glass tanks than in steel tanks under otherwise identical conditions, indicating that differences in wall thermal and radiative properties significantly affect flame–wall–fuel thermal coupling. These material-dependent heat-transfer characteristics also modify the thermal feedback to the fuel and consequently influence the burning rate. Crosswind-induced flame asymmetry further produces distinct thermal responses on the windward and leeward walls. Based on the identified flame modes and regional heat-transfer mechanisms, separate governing equations are established for the two sides of the tank. A physics–machine learning hybrid framework is then developed by coupling the physical-model predictions with XGBoost-based residual correction. The hybrid model achieves coefficients of determination above 0.80, with prediction errors generally within ±20%. Additional evaluation using a larger-diameter steel tank shows that the framework can capture the overall wall-temperature variation beyond the original experimental scale, although quantitative accuracy remains affected by scale effects and flame-mode transitions. These results provide a physically interpretable framework for analyzing and predicting wall thermal loads in liquid-fuel storage-tank fires.
This study presents a techno-economic assessment of a conceptual 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) biorefinery integrating ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment with lignocellulosic biomass conversion. This work provides a novel comparative techno-economic assessment of corn stover (CS) and brewer's spent grain (BSG) as feedstocks for ILbased 3-HP production. A literature-based process model was developed for the continuous production of 50,000 t/year of 3-HP and evaluated using both feedstocks. IL pretreatment was selected for its recyclability and potential to reduce chemical consumption compared with conventional pretreatment methods. Biomass-to-3-HP conversion efficiencies (on a dry basis) of 25.63% and 23.31% were obtained for CS and BSG, respectively, reflecting the lower fermentable sugar recovery achieved from BSG. Economic assessment yielded break-even selling prices (BESP) of $2472/tonne 3-HP for CS and $2643/tonne for BSG, indicating that both configurations are economically competitive with literature-reported bio-based 3-HP values. Sensitivity analysis identified yeast consumption as the dominant cost driver, followed by enzyme and IL requirements. The results highlight the potential of IL-assisted lignocellulosic biorefineries for competitive 3-HP production and identify the optimisation of yeast production and recycling, enhanced IL recovery and recycling, and co-product valorisation through bioethanol and lignin recovery as key opportunities to further reduce production costs.
Purpose Maintaining student engagement with lecture content beyond the classroom remains a persistent challenge in higher education. While lecture recordings are widely used, they often require substantial time to revisit and may not align with students' study habits. This reflective article examines the introduction of concise AI-assisted podcast summaries as a supplementary learning resource within a second-year module in the MPharm programme. The purpose of this reflection is to explore how this intervention influenced student engagement with lecture material and how the experience reshaped my assumptions about how students revisit and consolidate learning. Description Podcast summaries of approximately ten minutes were created to capture key concepts from lectures and were made available through the university's learning platform with captions and transcripts to support accessibility. The summaries were reviewed and edited to ensure pedagogical alignment with the lecture content. Student engagement was explored through learning platform analytics and open-ended survey responses, alongside informal peer feedback. The intervention emerged from ongoing reflections on students' difficulties revisiting full lecture recordings and their expressed preference for shorter revision resources. Analysis Student feedback and usage patterns indicated that the podcasts were primarily used after lectures as tools for reinforcement rather than preparation. Many students integrated listening into daily activities such as commuting or exercising, indicating the flexible nature of podcast-based learning. Reflecting on this experience challenged my assumption that students primarily require preparatory materials and instead highlighted the importance of supporting post-lecture consolidation. The intervention also raised considerations about balancing concise summaries with the need to maintain depth in complex public health topics. Conclusions The experience suggests that podcast summaries can provide a flexible means for students to revisit complex material while complementing existing teaching approaches. More broadly, the project illustrates how reflective engagement with teaching practice can reveal mismatches between educator expectations and students' learning behaviours.
Liquid fuel fires pose growing risks to environmental sustainability and industrial safety. Conventional foam extinguishing agents are limited by poor thermal stability, increasing the risk of re-ignition, and often rely on fluorinated surfactants, which persist in the environment. This study proposes a novel thermo-responsive gel foam that integrates heat-induced gelation with high-temperature ceramization. The foam is made from environmentally benign materials, such as konjac glucomannan (KGM) and low-melting glass powders (LGP). By optimizing KGM concentration (0.5 wt%) and NaHCO3/Na2CO3 ratio (0.2-0.4), precise control over the gelation transition was achieved. At room temperature, the foam rapidly spreads over the liquid fuel surface. Upon flame exposure, it undergoes in-situ gelation, forming a stable foam layer that significantly reduces the likelihood of reignition. Experimental results show a 366.7-464.7% increase in drainage time on an n-heptane surface. At elevated temperatures, melted LGP infiltrates the carbonaceous residue from the carbonized gel network, forming an in-situ thermal barrier and protective char/silica layer. In small-scale flame suppression tests, the gel foam prolonged the burning delay by 297.0% compared to standard film-forming fluoroprotein (FFFP) foam. In large-scale suppression and anti-reignition tests, although the extinguishing time was similar to that of commercial FFFP foam, the gel foam completely prevented re-ignition, highlighting its potential as a highperformance fire-extinguishing agent for liquid fuel fires.
Abstract This study investigates the feasibility of using basaltic laterite (BL), generated as a waste from Northern Ireland’s aggregate industry, as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) and/or a fine-grained aggregate in portland cement (PC)-based construction mortars. BL was pulverized and calcined (BL_C) at 700°C, before being blended with Limestone-PC at 10%–50% replacement by mass. The calcination process resulted in the dehydroxylation of secondary mineral phases within the BL, but not of the aluminosilicate clay weathering products. The engineering performance of mortars was assessed based on compressive strength ( f c ) and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) measurements after 7 and 28 days of curing, with insights gained into changing microstructure, geochemistry and mineralogy. Using 10%–21% BL_C content had relatively little effect on 28-day f c or UPV values; whereby strengths ranged between 33 and 35 MPa. However, increasing BL_C content beyond 21% caused significant reductions in mechanical strength, whereby C─S─H formation was inhibited and the BL_C content served more as a microfiller agent. Sigmoidal trends were observed between f c , BL_C content, and corresponding CaO, SiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , and Fe 2 O 3 compositions. A new exponential empirical correlation has been proposed for predicting f c based on UPV measurements, which has superior performance over previously published correlations. In summary, BL shows potential as an SCM at low replacement levels, particularly 10% which maintains strength and reduces cement content. However, using higher replacement levels ( > 30 % ) reduced the strength and density of mortars, accompanied by an increase in porosity. This highlights that BL pretreatment requires optimization through thermal and mechanochemical activation methods. Furthermore, the slightly coarser particle size distribution of the BL_C considered in this study meant that the material provided more microfiller effects, rather than purely functioning as an SCM.
