Catchment sources of microorganisms - developing an integrated strategy for the sustained prevention of waterborne disease outbreaks in humans in Melbourne. This project will develop a quality scientific and technological program in national priority areas, leading to strong basic research and development of new concepts. It will enhance collaborative links between academia and industry as well as between basic and applied research. Development of pan-Australian collaboration will result in a mo ....Catchment sources of microorganisms - developing an integrated strategy for the sustained prevention of waterborne disease outbreaks in humans in Melbourne. This project will develop a quality scientific and technological program in national priority areas, leading to strong basic research and development of new concepts. It will enhance collaborative links between academia and industry as well as between basic and applied research. Development of pan-Australian collaboration will result in a more efficient use of resources in national and international contexts; enhance the skills-base in biology, biotechnology and bioinformatics; and increase global visibility potentially increasing investment in Australian science. It will result in improved surveillance and prevention of waterborne diseases; providing tangible outcomes with benefits to the water industry in regional and rural communities.Read moreRead less
Adaptive and Integrated Resource Allocation. By leveraging progress in communication technologies, adaptive and integrated optimization systems will open innovative application areas critical to Australia, yet outside the scope of existing optimization technology. For instance, they will dispatch and reallocate ambulances in real time, help contain pandemics, allocate resources dynamically to extinguish bushfires, and assist in failure recovery of energy infrastrutures. These systems will also s ....Adaptive and Integrated Resource Allocation. By leveraging progress in communication technologies, adaptive and integrated optimization systems will open innovative application areas critical to Australia, yet outside the scope of existing optimization technology. For instance, they will dispatch and reallocate ambulances in real time, help contain pandemics, allocate resources dynamically to extinguish bushfires, and assist in failure recovery of energy infrastrutures. These systems will also solve existing logistics and manufacturing applications better, making these industries more effective and reactive. The project also aims at establishing a center of excellence in optimization in Melbourne with an international reputation in research, teaching, and industrial collaboration.Read moreRead less
Novel water treatment technologies for minimisation of bromide and iodide in drinking water. This project will develop innovative new water treatment processes to selectively remove bromide and iodide from potable source waters. The project promotes Australia as a leader in water treatment technology. Successful outcomes will have excellent potential for international commercialisation by spin-off companies and will provide economic benefits and prestige locally. Economic benefits include lower ....Novel water treatment technologies for minimisation of bromide and iodide in drinking water. This project will develop innovative new water treatment processes to selectively remove bromide and iodide from potable source waters. The project promotes Australia as a leader in water treatment technology. Successful outcomes will have excellent potential for international commercialisation by spin-off companies and will provide economic benefits and prestige locally. Economic benefits include lower costs to water utilities through the availability of improved technology for treatment of marginal quality water supplies and improved ability to comply with water quality guidelines. Public perception and confidence in water supply quality will be enhanced, due to reduction in taste and odour issues and disinfection by-products. Read moreRead less
Assessing willingness to pay for urban water, wastewater, gas and electricity delivery service standards. The utility industry is a substantial component of the Australian economy (2.2 % of GDP), underpinning national production. Recent infrastructure failures, costing up to $200 million per week, have been blamed largely on regulatory approaches that emphasise minimum price and cost solutions to utility service provision without any assessment or consideration of the willingness to pay for serv ....Assessing willingness to pay for urban water, wastewater, gas and electricity delivery service standards. The utility industry is a substantial component of the Australian economy (2.2 % of GDP), underpinning national production. Recent infrastructure failures, costing up to $200 million per week, have been blamed largely on regulatory approaches that emphasise minimum price and cost solutions to utility service provision without any assessment or consideration of the willingness to pay for service quality and the value people place on surety of supply. Research on the role of WTP for service standards in regulating price and service quality is required to prevent future infrastructure failures. This research will provide substantial economic benefits to Australia through improved regulation and better targeting of infrastructure investment.Read moreRead less
Advanced water treatment technologies to minimize the formation of emerging disinfection by-products in potable and reuse water. Disinfectant management and disinfection by-products are of concern to water utilities, water treatment researchers and consumers worldwide. The project will make a world-class contribution to these issues, through use of state-of-the-art equipment and developed technologies. Sophisticated characterization of disinfection by-product precursors, especially poorly define ....Advanced water treatment technologies to minimize the formation of emerging disinfection by-products in potable and reuse water. Disinfectant management and disinfection by-products are of concern to water utilities, water treatment researchers and consumers worldwide. The project will make a world-class contribution to these issues, through use of state-of-the-art equipment and developed technologies. Sophisticated characterization of disinfection by-product precursors, especially poorly defined less volatile species, will provide insights into the relationship between their chemical structures and behaviour in treatment processes, benefiting all water utilities. The project will inform new drinking water guidelines and assist water utilities to balance the competing requirements of maintaining effective pathogen barriers versus disinfection by-product control.Read moreRead less
Determination of factors effecting pathogen removal in lagoons treating and storing effluent for reuse. Waste stabilisation ponds are a preferred treatment option for wastewater in many rural and remote communities within Australia and overseas because of their low-tech, robust structure. Reducing numbers of pathogens in the final treated effluent of these systems so that it can be reused, will minimise risks to the public and the environment and improve management of this sustainable water reso ....Determination of factors effecting pathogen removal in lagoons treating and storing effluent for reuse. Waste stabilisation ponds are a preferred treatment option for wastewater in many rural and remote communities within Australia and overseas because of their low-tech, robust structure. Reducing numbers of pathogens in the final treated effluent of these systems so that it can be reused, will minimise risks to the public and the environment and improve management of this sustainable water resource throughout the region. This research also provides an opportunity for Australia to export knowledge on the efficient use of these systems to 2.4 billion people worldwide currently without access to affordable sanitation.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0567386
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$98,000.00
Summary
Mechanisms for Ultra-secure Access to Large Repositories of Sensitive Data over the Grid. Large repositories of data that are typically geographically distributed and are subject to varying degrees of legal and ethical constraints are not available for open scientific research due to the sensitive and private nature of the information they contain, e.g. personal health records offer significant value for medical research, but are not readily available due to privacy legislation and the requireme ....Mechanisms for Ultra-secure Access to Large Repositories of Sensitive Data over the Grid. Large repositories of data that are typically geographically distributed and are subject to varying degrees of legal and ethical constraints are not available for open scientific research due to the sensitive and private nature of the information they contain, e.g. personal health records offer significant value for medical research, but are not readily available due to privacy legislation and the requirement to maintain end-user’s trust in healthcare information system. This project will build a demonstrator, based upon advanced cryptographic and information research and technologies to provide ultra-secure and sanitized access to this data via a data network grid.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100771
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$278,780.00
Summary
Automated system for bone texture analysis of osteoarthritis in hand radiographs. Early detection and prediction of hand osteoarthritis are not feasible by current methods of visual grading of hand radiographs. This project will develop a novel, fully automated system for selection of bone texture regions on hand radiographs and their analysis to address this problem.
Fluorescence as a tool for sensitive detection of failures in recycled water treatment and distribution systems. Water reuse is emerging as a key strategy for the conservation of drinking water supplies around Australia. Accordingly, there is a need for fast, reliable, affordable and highly sensitive means of ensuring the reliability of treatment processes and final water quality. This research aims to meet such needs by providing new tools based on fluorescence analysis. These tools are to be i ....Fluorescence as a tool for sensitive detection of failures in recycled water treatment and distribution systems. Water reuse is emerging as a key strategy for the conservation of drinking water supplies around Australia. Accordingly, there is a need for fast, reliable, affordable and highly sensitive means of ensuring the reliability of treatment processes and final water quality. This research aims to meet such needs by providing new tools based on fluorescence analysis. These tools are to be implemented for online monitoring of treatment performance and for the identification of accidental contamination of drinking waters by recycled water. The enhanced ability to ensure both recycled water quality and drinking water quality will have public health and environmental benefits as well as protecting public confidence in water recycling systems.Read moreRead less