Background Academic dishonesty (AD) is an increasing challenge for universities worldwide. The rise of the Internet has further increased opportunities for students to cheat. Aims In this study, we investigate the role of personality traits defined within Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) as potential determinants of AD. RST defines behaviour as resulting from approach (Reward Interest/reactivity, goal‐drive, and Impulsivity) and avoidance (behavioural inhibition and Fight–Flight–Freeze) motivations. We further consider the role of deep, surface, or achieving study motivations in mediating/moderating the relationship between personality and AD. Sample A sample of UK undergraduates (N = 240). Method All participants completed the RST Personality Questionnaire, a short‐form version of the study process questionnaire and a measure of engagement in AD, its perceived prevalence, and seriousness. Results Results showed that RST traits account for additional variance in AD. Mediation analysis suggested that GDP predicted dishonesty indirectly via a surface study approach while the indirect effect via deep study processes suggested dishonesty was not likely. Likelihood of engagement in AD was positively associated with personality traits reflecting Impulsivity and Fight–Flight–Freeze behaviours. Surface study motivation moderated the Impulsivity effect and achieving motivation the FFFS effect such that cheating was even more likely when high levels of these processes were used. Conclusions The findings suggest that motivational personality traits defined within RST can explain variance in the likelihood of engaging in dishonest academic behaviours.

A methodology is presented whereby the relationship between temperature and emissivity for fused quartz has been used to correct the temperature values of a quartz impingement plate detected by an SC3000 thermal imaging camera. The methodology uses an iterative method using the initial temperature (obtained by assuming a constant emissivity) to find the emissivity values which are then put into the thermal imaging software and used to find the subsequent temperatures, which are used to find the emissivities, and so on until converged. This method is used for a quartz impingement plate that has been heated under various flame conditions, and the results are compared. Radiation losses from the plate are also calculated, and it is shown that even a slight change in temperature greatly affects the radiation loss. It is a general methodology that can be used for any wall material whose emissivity is a function of temperature.

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Single slit diffraction and the thermal expansion of materials are common components of an undergraduate physics course, though these topics are often taught independently in both lectures and laboratory based courses. Higher levels of cognitive domains can be achieved by building on these established topics and combining them into a single experiment that also introduces new tools and techniques for data handling and analysis. Here we describe an experiment where the thermal expansion of a metal bar shifts an attached razor blade such that the separation between this blade and another fixed blade decreases. This decrease in blade separation allows for changes in the peak separation for single slit diffraction to be measured and the expansion coefficient of three metal bars (copper, steel and aluminium)