Airborne ultrafine particles in Australian cities. There is an acute deficiency of knowledge in Australia on urban airborne ultrafine particles, originating from transport and other anthropogenic sources, which pose significant health and environmental risks. The aim of this project is to address this deficiency by an extensive multi-city, cross-disciplinary study using state of the art instrumentation and data analytic techniques. The outcome will be an in depth, quantitative insight into the c ....Airborne ultrafine particles in Australian cities. There is an acute deficiency of knowledge in Australia on urban airborne ultrafine particles, originating from transport and other anthropogenic sources, which pose significant health and environmental risks. The aim of this project is to address this deficiency by an extensive multi-city, cross-disciplinary study using state of the art instrumentation and data analytic techniques. The outcome will be an in depth, quantitative insight into the characteristics of the particles, their sources and spatial and temporal variation across different urban areas and time scales. Further, the impacts of changing fuels, vehicle technologies, and climate on future trends of the particles will be elucidated.Read moreRead less
The peopling of East Asia and Australasia. This project aims to recover DNA sequences from ancient human remains from Australia and Asia some dating back 45,000 years. The project will use this information to identify the geographic origin of these people and to determine their genetic histories.
Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. This project aims to develop innovative, cost-effective, high resolution air quality networks. Recent developments in sensor technologies improve the ability to harvest atmospheric data. This project will develop, validate and implement methods for high sensitivity atmospheric sensing and apply cutting-edge statistical and analytic techniques to the data sets, ....Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. Establishing advanced networks for air quality sensing and analyses. This project aims to develop innovative, cost-effective, high resolution air quality networks. Recent developments in sensor technologies improve the ability to harvest atmospheric data. This project will develop, validate and implement methods for high sensitivity atmospheric sensing and apply cutting-edge statistical and analytic techniques to the data sets, unprecedented in scope and resolution. Outcomes include an open access database to quantify and visualise intra-urban air pollution and human exposure and develop air quality maps and smoke pollution management tools. It is expected to advance the evidence-based management of air as a resource, increasing economic prosperity and enhancing human health and quality of life.Read moreRead less
Modelling soil formation in the landscape. Soil is a complex system composed of a set of interconnected physical, chemical and biological factors that function as a whole. Soil system is a key part of natural ecosystems that is significantly affected by land management. This project aims to create a new quantitative model for soil formation in the landscape. This project will investigate whether the soil variability is a result of the soil being a complex system. The outcome of the model will en ....Modelling soil formation in the landscape. Soil is a complex system composed of a set of interconnected physical, chemical and biological factors that function as a whole. Soil system is a key part of natural ecosystems that is significantly affected by land management. This project aims to create a new quantitative model for soil formation in the landscape. This project will investigate whether the soil variability is a result of the soil being a complex system. The outcome of the model will enable us to reconstruct the history of soil profile development in the landscape and help us understand how soil forms and landscape evolves with time.Read moreRead less
Endocrine Disrupting Compounds: Novel tests for Analysis and Field Validation. This project will give community benefits from new analytical technology and research data to help minimise the threat of environmental contamination with endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs). Both urban and rural communities may feel the impacts of EDCs, with potential contamination occurring globally, affecting both wildlife and humans. The main means of transport of EDCs is as contaminants in water and it is ess ....Endocrine Disrupting Compounds: Novel tests for Analysis and Field Validation. This project will give community benefits from new analytical technology and research data to help minimise the threat of environmental contamination with endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs). Both urban and rural communities may feel the impacts of EDCs, with potential contamination occurring globally, affecting both wildlife and humans. The main means of transport of EDCs is as contaminants in water and it is essential to learn the extent of contamination occurring in urban and rural water supplies to decide its significance. The research will involve a multi-disciplinary approach, with benefits falling into all four National Research Priorities of sustainability, good health, frontier analytical technology and national safety.Read moreRead less
Improving the wool product. Using mathematical modelling to improve the efficiency of wool scouring. Our aim is to improve the quality of scoured wool by improving the efficiency of wool scouring. Wool scouring is the process of washing greasy wool once it has been removed from the sheep's back. After being rinsed to remove sweat and salt the wool is passed through a scour bowl consisting of settling tanks from which dirty water is periodically expelled. Mathematical modelling will optimise us ....Improving the wool product. Using mathematical modelling to improve the efficiency of wool scouring. Our aim is to improve the quality of scoured wool by improving the efficiency of wool scouring. Wool scouring is the process of washing greasy wool once it has been removed from the sheep's back. After being rinsed to remove sweat and salt the wool is passed through a scour bowl consisting of settling tanks from which dirty water is periodically expelled. Mathematical modelling will optimise use of the scour bowl, reduce consumption of water, increase the recovery of wool grease and improve the quality and cleanliness of the wool.Read moreRead less
The Effects of Nano and Ultrafine Particles from Traffic Emissions on Children's Health. The socio-economic benefits to Australia will include (i) quantitative knowledge of the exposure to nano and ultrafine particles, pollutants in the centre of current scientific, medical and policy debates and (ii) a breakthrough in the scientific understanding of the specific particle properties, which have impacts on health effects. The ultimate economic benefit will be improved urban design to lower, in pa ....The Effects of Nano and Ultrafine Particles from Traffic Emissions on Children's Health. The socio-economic benefits to Australia will include (i) quantitative knowledge of the exposure to nano and ultrafine particles, pollutants in the centre of current scientific, medical and policy debates and (ii) a breakthrough in the scientific understanding of the specific particle properties, which have impacts on health effects. The ultimate economic benefit will be improved urban design to lower, in particular, children's exposure to ultrafine particles, thus reducing life long impacts, health care cost and productivity losses. The research will also place Australia at the forefront of international progress towards better methods for achieving environmental and public health sustainability.Read moreRead less
Physical, Chemical and Radiative Characteristics of Australian Continental Aerosols. Australian desert dust, and the biomass burning aerosol particles produced in the top-end burning season, have the potential to impose an environmental burden not only on Australia, but also on the surrounding region. While most of the world's major aerosol types have been well studied in recent years, these two remain largely unknown. There are good reasons to believe that Australian aerosols are different from ....Physical, Chemical and Radiative Characteristics of Australian Continental Aerosols. Australian desert dust, and the biomass burning aerosol particles produced in the top-end burning season, have the potential to impose an environmental burden not only on Australia, but also on the surrounding region. While most of the world's major aerosol types have been well studied in recent years, these two remain largely unknown. There are good reasons to believe that Australian aerosols are different from many others. We therefore intend to fully characterize their relevant properties, so we may monitor them from space, and evaluate their environmental impacts.Read moreRead less
Optimisation of cell culture and molecular typing for the characterisation of Cryptosporidium in water. Cryptosporidium is an important waterborne agent of diarrhoeal disease in people and animals. Improved methods for accurately detecting viable parasite stages recovered from water are a priority research need for the water industry. They are dependent upon improved in vitro cultivation procedures that can be combined with DNA-based assays for identifying species and strains of Cryptosporidi ....Optimisation of cell culture and molecular typing for the characterisation of Cryptosporidium in water. Cryptosporidium is an important waterborne agent of diarrhoeal disease in people and animals. Improved methods for accurately detecting viable parasite stages recovered from water are a priority research need for the water industry. They are dependent upon improved in vitro cultivation procedures that can be combined with DNA-based assays for identifying species and strains of Cryptosporidium and closely related protozoa recovered from freshwater. This project addresses these needs in a collaborative study between scientists at Murdoch University with expertise in both in vitro cultivation and genetic characterisation of Cryptosporidium, and scientists from two of the major water utilities in Australia.Read moreRead less
A novel environment friendly energy efficient ventilation system using wind turbine ventilator and advanced active flow control. This project addresses a growing demand of modern day living: cost effective and efficient ventilation in building using a novel hybrid system of wind turbine ventilator and air circulation control technology providing significant savings in total building energy consumption and carbon emissions creating frontier technology industries and new jobs.