Robert Neville Haszeldine. 3 May 1925—13 October 2016

Robert Neville Haszeldine was particularly associated with fluorine chemistry. He did outstanding synthetic work on inorganic and organic fluorocarbon derivatives, including fluoroalkyl Grignard and lithium reagents; fluoroalkyl derivatives of mercury, phosphorus, nitrogen and sulphur; fluoroalkyl silicones; fluoro-olefins; and hexafluorobenzene, pentafluoropyridine and their derivatives. He also made major contributions to the study of free-radical addition reactions and developed new routes to carbenes. He discovered a new class of polymers by copolymerizing a nitroso-compound with an olefin or fluoro-olefin to give the –N–O–C–C– repeating unit. His research revealed a mastery of modern ideas on the mechanism of organic and inorganic reactions coupled with outstanding experimental skill and originality. His work yielded over 500 publications, plus more than 150 patents concerning industrial applications of fluorocarbons, and he was awarded several medals. As head of chemistry at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) he developed a world-class fluorine research group and oversaw a new building for the department, which became one of the largest in the UK. Later, as principal of UMIST, he instigated academic developments just before the government severely cut university funding and imposed full-cost fees for overseas students, drastically reducing UMIST's income. His crisis plan for budget cuts proved divisive, and he took early retirement, citing intolerable financial pressures on UMIST. Initially, he continued with consultancy; later, he became deeply involved with his local community, and created a garden that received local and national recognition, including a plant variety named after him.

Study on stress sensitivity of lignite reservoir under salinity and pH composite system

The stress sensitivity of a coal reservoir is an important factor affecting the productivity of the coalbed methane well. Determining methods to reduce the stress sensitivity of coal reservoirs in the process of coalbed methane well drainage and recovery is of significance for the efficient development of coalbed methane. Based on a multiindex comprehensive evaluation of the stress sensitivity of a lignite reservoir under different pH and salinity, a permeability prediction model and productivity model of the coalbed methane well are established in consideration of the stress sensitivity under the influence of pH and salinity. Analysis is conducted on changes in permeability with effective stress and the mechanism involved in the stress-sensitive effect in a lignite reservoir under these two influencing factors. Results show that the relation between dimensionless permeability and effective stress is in good agreement with a negative exponential relationship. In addition, the relation between the stress-sensitive coefficient and effective stress can be divided into a fluctuation stage and a stabilization stage using 15–17 MPa as the boundary. It is also apparent that an increase in salinity is beneficial for decreasing the stress sensitivity of a reservoir under alkaline conditions, but this effect gradually decreases with an increase in the pH. Salinity has less influence on stress sensitivity under acidic conditions. In terms of pH, which is bounded by critical salinity, a lower pH is beneficial for reservoir protection in low to intermediate salinity conditions. In contrast, when the pH is higher, the reservoir is better protected. Acidic conditions involve inorganic chemical reactions, whereas alkaline conditions involve organic–inorganic reactions, and the influence of salinity on permeability sensitivity is affected by the amount of H+.

The impact of instructional strategy based on the triplet model of content representation on elimination of students’ misconceptions regarding inorganic reactions

Recently we reported on the efficient teaching instruction based on integration of macroscopic, submicroscopic and symbolic levels of knowledge representation, from the standpoints of performance and mental effort. Based on obtained results a goal of this study was set - to identify misconceptions in the group of students trained in traditional manner and to determine whether the same misconceptions occur among students in the treatment group in the field of inorganic reactions. A two-tier test was used in the research, administered by 189 second grade high school students. Analysis was performed by calculating the frequencies of choosing distractors in the tasks. Results revealed a total of nine misconceptions in the group of students trained in traditional manner, while only one misconception remained in the treatment group, after implementing the intervention program. It can be concluded that the applied intervention strategy proved to be very efficient in elimination of majority of misconceptions in the examined group of students.