ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7258-2076
Current Organisation
Southern Cross University
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In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Water Treatment Processes | Other Chemical Sciences | Organic Chemical Synthesis | Microbiology Not Elsewhere Classified | Polymers and Plastics | Chemical Sciences Not Elsewhere Classified | Materials Engineering |
Expanding Knowledge in the Chemical Sciences | Land and water management | Plastic products (incl. Construction materials) | Polymeric Materials (e.g. Paints) | Meat products
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2002
DOI: 10.1002/1521-3900(200206)182:1<131::AID-MASY131>3.0.CO;2-C
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 02-2002
DOI: 10.1021/MA011535V
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-09-2017
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 05-12-2016
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHEMOSPHERE.2016.11.130
Abstract: Historic arsenic contamination of soils occurs throughout the world from mining, industrial and agricultural activities. In Australia, the control of cattle ticks using arsenicals from the late 19th to mid 20th century has led to some 1600 contaminated sites in northern New South Wales. The effect of aging in As-mobility in two dip-site soil types, ferralitic and sandy soils, are investigated utilizing isotopic exchange techniques, and synchrotron X-ray adsorption spectroscopy (XAS). Findings show that historic soil arsenic is highly bound to the soils with >90% irreversibly bound. However, freshly added As (either added to historically loaded soils or pristine soils) has a significantly higher degree of As-accessibility. XAS data indicates that historic soil arsenic is dominated as Ca- (svenekite, & weilite), Al-(mansfieldite), and Fe- (scorodite) like mineral precipitates, whereas freshly added As is dominated by mineral adsorption surfaces, particularly the iron oxy-hydroxides (goethite and hematite), but also gibbsite and kaolin surfaces. SEM data further confirmed the presence of scorodite and mansfieldite formation in the historic contaminated soils. These data suggest that aging of historic soil-As has allowed neoformational mineral recrystallisation from surface sorption processes, which greatly reduces As-mobility and accessibility.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-06-2000
DOI: 10.1002/(SICI)1099-0518(20000615)38:12<2192::AID-POLA80>3.0.CO;2-G
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-02-2005
DOI: 10.1038/NMAT1326
Abstract: The switching or isomerization speed of photochromic dyes in a rigid polymeric matrix (such as an ophthalmic lens) is generally significantly slower than that observed in the mobile environment of a solution. Here we describe that the attachment of flexible oligomers having a low glass-transition temperature-such as poly(dimethylsiloxane)-to photochromic dyes greatly increases their switching speeds in a rigid polymer matrix. The greatest impact was observed in the thermal fade parameters T(1/2) and T(3/4)-the times it takes for the optical density to reduce by half and three quarters of the initial optical density of the coloured state-which were reduced by 40-95% and 60-99% respectively for spirooxazines, chromenes and an azo dye in a host polymer with a glass-transition temperature of 120 degrees C. The method does not alter the electronic nature of the dyes but simply protects them from the host matrix and provides greater molecular mobility for the switching process. In addition to ophthalmic lenses, the generic nature of the method may find further utility in data recording or optical switching.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-10-2001
DOI: 10.1002/POLA.10034
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-08-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.NIOX.2018.01.005
Abstract: The work found that the electron-donating properties of ferrous ions (Fe
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2009
Publisher: The Royal Society of Chemistry
Date: 12-11-2015
DOI: 10.1039/9781782622314-00183
Abstract: Packaging serves a number of essential functions and conventional thermoplastics derived from fossil fuels are dominant in the packaging industry. However, there are serious issues with their environmental persistence and the leaching of their various additives. In contrast, the use of natural, biodegradable bioplastics supports sustainable development. The family of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) offers versatility in the properties required for plastic packaging. While their biodegradation ensures the continued development of PHAs for sustainable packaging, researchers are also using this property for the controlled release of agricultural agents such as herbicides and pesticides. Similarly, the biocompatibility and FDA approval have supported the investigation of PHAs in the packaging and delivery of pharmaceutical agents and cells for medical applications. Thus, PHAs have been used to produce value-added packaging with properties beyond current plastics while promoting an environmentally friendly alternative for a sustainable future. This chapter summarises the requirements for sustainable packaging and how the properties of PHAs support their continued development in their environmentally-friendly medical packaging applications.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-07-2016
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.COLSURFB.2010.08.042
Abstract: Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) in combination with a fluorescently labeling enzyme dye, LavaPurple™, was demonstrated as a technique for the visualization of Thermomyces (Humicola) lanuginosa lipase (LIP(HLL)) and Candida antarctica lipase A (LIP(CA)) within a transparent latex coating. Addition of Teric Surfactants (C(16) non-ionic Teric 475, 1.8% (w/w) or C(10) non-ionic Teric 460, 2.0% (w/w)) significantly increased the accumulation of both LIP(HLL) and LIP(CA) to the surface of a latex coating. An α-naphthyl acetate substrate assay was used to quantify the accumulated lipase. The results derived from the acetate assay correlated with the enzyme accumulation (at the surface) observed in the CLSM images of the latex coating. This correlation demonstrated that the increased enzyme accumulation within the top 2μm of the latex film was responsible for the increase in surface enzymatic activity. The combination of CLSM imagery and quantifiable image analysis provided a valuable tool for the optimization of surfactant concentrations for maximizing the activity of an enzyme (and potentially other additives) within a latex coating.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 11-10-2013
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 10-11-2022
DOI: 10.20944/PREPRINTS202211.0189.V1
Abstract: Mechanical recycling of solid plastic wastes on a small-scale level can be accomplished with the correct approaches. Thermoplastics are mostly considered for mechanical recycling because of their physical properties and ease of reprocessing. This paper reviews the mechanical reprocessing techniques of selected thermoplastics (polyethylene terephthalate and polyolefins) since they constitute a significant proportion of plastics used commercially. Furthermore, necessary considerations for effective operation of small-scale plants, including energy requirements of machinery and optimisation in order to improve efficiency and product quality, are discussed. A clearer understanding and addressing of the process-related challenges will lead to successful establishment and management of small-scale mechanical recycling facilities to benefit communities. Efficient small-scale mechanical reprocessing establishments have become essential in reducing the environmental impacts of solid plastic wastes and for energy conservation.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2017
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 13-06-2022
DOI: 10.3389/FMARS.2022.830425
Abstract: Water temperature is a major abiotic driver, controlling the rates and nature of biochemical reactions and subsequently affecting the physiology of marine organisms. However, relatively little is known about the implications of heat stress or predicted ocean climate change on marine secondary metabolites. The predatory gastropod Dicathais orbita is a useful model organism for climate change and natural product studies. Here we determine the upper thermal limit (CTMax) of D. orbita and investigate the effects of thermal stress on the bioactive compounds stored in their biosynthetic organ, the hypobranchial gland. Two CTMax experiments were undertaken, along with a static heat stress experiment where whelks were exposed to an elevated temperature of 30°C for one week, compared to a 20°C seawater control. An additional 35-day ocean climate change experiment used combinations of temperature (ambient: 23°C and future: 25°C) and p CO 2 (ambient: ~380 ppm and future: ~765 ppm). The impacts on secondary metabolites in all experiments were assessed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The mean CTMax of the whelks, from the northern limit of their distribution, was found to be 35.2°C using a rapid temperature increase rate of 1°C/1 h, but was only 30.6°C when a gradual heating rate of 1°C/12 h was used. The overall composition of the secondary metabolites was significantly affected by heat stress in all four experiments, but not by elevated pCO 2 in the ocean climate change experiment. The proportion of the choline ester murexine was significantly reduced in heat-stressed snails compared to the controls. Tyrindoxyl sulphate was significantly reduced under prolonged exposure to future temperature, whereas the relative abundance of the oxidation product, 6-bromoisatin significantly increased with elevated temperature exposure. Despite the fact that intertidal gastropods like D. orbita might be able to buffer the impact of external temperatures within the predicted future range, this study provides evidence that ocean warming could have significant implications for secondary metabolite production and/or storage in marine invertebrates. Impacts on bioactive molecules with multifunctional ecological roles could have implications for predator populations with possible flow on effects in some marine communities.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-01-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-04-2010
DOI: 10.1007/S10532-010-9354-Z
Abstract: The biodegradation of chlorinated organics in vadose zone soils is challenging owing to the presence of oxygen, which inhibits reductive dehalogenation reactions and consequently the growth of dehalorespiring microbes. In addition, the hydraulic conductivity of vadose zone soils is typically high, hence attempts to remediate such zones with biostimulation solutions are often unsuccessful due to the short residence times for these solutions to act upon the native bacterial community. In this study we have identified sodium alginate as a hydrogel polymer that can be used to increase the residence time of a nutrient solution in an unsaturated sandy soil. Additionally we have identified neutral red as a redox active compound that can catalyse the reductive dechlorination of the chlorinated organic hexachloro-1,3-butadiene by activated sludge fed with lactate and acetate. Finally we have shown that a nutrient solution amended with neutral red and sodium alginate can lower the redox potential and reduce hexachloro-1,3-butadiene concentrations in a contaminated vadose zone soil.
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 13-03-2002
DOI: 10.1021/MA0118264
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 28-10-2016
Abstract: In this study, we developed poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC)-solvent casted mixed metal copper and iron complexes capable of catalytic generation of the antibiofilm nitric oxide (NO) from endogenous nitrite. In the absence of additional reducing agent, we demonstrated that the presence of iron complex facilitates a redox cycling, converting the copper(II) complex to active copper(I) species, which catalyzes the generation of NO from nitrite. Assessed by protein assay and surface coverage analyses, the presence of the mixed metal complexes in systems containing water industry-relevant nitrite-producing nitrifying biofilms was shown to result in a "nontoxic mode" of biofilm suppression, while confining the bacterial growth to the free-floating planktonic phase. Addition of an NO scavenger into the mixed metal system eliminated the antibiofilm effects, therefore validating first, the capability of the mixed metal complexes to catalytically generate NO from the endogenously produced nitrite and second, the antibiofilm effects of the generated NO. The work highlights the development of self-sustained antibiofilm materials that features potential for industrial applications. The novel NO-generating antibiofilm technology erts from the unfavorable requirement of adding a reducing agent and importantly, the less tendency for development of bacterial resistance.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCITOTENV.2017.01.009
Abstract: Bio-accessibility and bioavailability of arsenic (As) in historically As-contaminated soils (cattle tick pesticide), and pristine soils were assessed using 3 different approaches. These approaches included human bio-accessibility using an extraction test replicating gastric conditions (in vitro physiologically-based extraction test) an operationally defined bioaccessibility extraction test - 1.0M HCl extraction and a live organism bioaccumulation test using earthworms. A sequential extraction procedure revealed the soil As-pool that controls bio-accessibility and bioaccumulation of As. Findings show that As is strongly bound to historically contaminated soil with a lower degree of As bio-accessibility (<15%) and bioaccumulation (<9%) compared with freshly contaminated soil. Key to these lower degrees of bio-accessibility and bioaccumulation is the greater fraction of As associated with crystalline Fe/Al oxy-hydroxide and residual phases. The high bio-accessibility and bioaccumulation of freshly sorbed As in pristine soils were from the exchangeable and specifically sorbed As fractions. Arsenic bioaccumulation in earthworms correlates strongly with both the human bio-accessible, and the operationally defined bioavailable fractions. Hence, results suggest that indirect As bioavailability measures, such as accumulation by earthworm, can be used as complementary lines of evidence to reinforce site-wide trends in the bio-accessibility using in vitro physiologically-based extractions and/or operationally defined extraction test. Such detailed knowledge is useful for successful reclamation and management of the As contaminated soils.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2007
DOI: 10.1080/08927010701366280
Abstract: Antifouling solutions that leave little or no impact in the world's oceans are constantly being sought. This study employed the immobilisation of the antifouling bacterium Pseudoalteromonas tunicata in kappa-carrageenan to demonstrate how a surface may be protected from fouling by bacteria, i.e. a 'living paint'. Attempts so far to produce a 'living paint' have been limited in both longevity of effectiveness and demonstration of applicability, most noticeably regarding the lack of any field data. Here survival of bacteria immobilised in kappa-carrageenan for 12 months in the laboratory is demonstrated and evidence presented for inhibition of fouling for up to 7 weeks in the field (Sydney Harbour, NSW, Australia).
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 21-11-2022
DOI: 10.3390/S22229013
Abstract: High equipment cost is a significant entry barrier to research for small organizations in developing solutions to air pollution problems. Low-cost electrochemical sensors show sensitivity at parts-per-billion by volume mixing ratios but are subject to variation due to changing environmental conditions, in particular temperature. In this study, we demonstrate a low-cost Internet of Things (IoT)-based sensor system for nitric oxide analysis. The sensor system used a four-electrode electrochemical sensor exposed to a series of isothermal/isohume conditions. When deployed under these conditions, stable baseline responses were achieved, in contrast to ambient air conditions where temperature and humidity conditions may be variable. The interrelationship between working and auxiliary electrodes was linear within an environmental envelope of 20–40 °C and 30–80% relative humidity, with correlation coefficients from 0.9980 to 0.9999 when measured under isothermal/isohume conditions. These data enabled the determination of surface functions that describe the working to auxiliary electrode offsets and calibration curve gradients and intercepts. The linear and reproducible nature of in idual calibration curves for stepwise nitric oxide (NO) additions under isothermal/isohume environments suggests the suitability of these sensors for applications aside from their role in air quality monitoring. Such applications would include nitric oxide kinetic studies for atmospheric applications or measurement of the potential biocatalytic activity of nitric oxide consuming enzymes in biocatalytic coatings, both of which currently employ high-capital-cost chemiluminescence detectors.
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 06-10-2015
Abstract: In this study, catalytic generation of nitric oxide by a copper(II) complex embedded within a poly(vinyl chloride) matrix in the presence of nitrite (source of nitric oxide) and ascorbic acid (reducing agent) was shown to effectively control the formation and dispersion of nitrifying bacteria biofilms. Amperometric measurements indicated increased and prolonged generation of nitric oxide with the addition of the copper complex when compared to that with nitrite and ascorbic acid alone. The effectiveness of the copper complex-nitrite-ascorbic acid system for biofilm control was quantified using protein analysis, which showed enhanced biofilm suppression when the copper complex was used in comparison to that with nitrite and ascorbic acid treatment alone. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and LIVE/DEAD staining revealed a reduction in cell surface coverage without a loss of viability with the copper complex and up to 5 mM of nitrite and ascorbic acid, suggesting that the nitric oxide generated from the system inhibits proliferation of the cells on surfaces. Induction of nitric oxide production by the copper complex system also triggered the dispersal of pre-established biofilms. However, the addition of a high concentration of nitrite and ascorbic acid to a pre-established biofilm induced bacterial membrane damage and strongly decreased the metabolic activity of planktonic and biofilm cells, as revealed by CLSM with LIVE/DEAD staining and intracellular adenosine triphosphate measurements, respectively. This study highlights the utility of the catalytic generation of nitric oxide for the long-term suppression and removal of nitrifying bacterial biofilms.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 31-12-2003
DOI: 10.1081/MC-120025978
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-10-2016
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 31-01-2023
DOI: 10.3390/EN16031406
Abstract: The mechanical recycling of solid plastic waste on a small-scale level can be accomplished with the correct approaches. Thermoplastics are the types of plastic mostly considered for mechanical recycling because of their physical properties and ease of reprocessing. This paper reviews the mechanical reprocessing techniques of selected thermoplastics (polyethylene terephthalate and polyolefins), since they constitute a significant proportion of the plastics used commercially. Furthermore, necessary considerations for the effective operation of small-scale plants, including energy requirements of machinery and optimisation in order to improve efficiency and product quality, are discussed. A clearer understanding and addressing of the process-related challenges will lead to the successful establishment and management of small-scale mechanical recycling facilities to benefit communities. Efficient small-scale mechanical reprocessing establishments have become essential in reducing the environmental impacts of solid plastic waste and for energy conservation.
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 12-04-2010
DOI: 10.1021/JO100081G
Abstract: Photochromic spirooxazines functionalized with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) oligomers were monitored using NMR spectroscopy at temperatures between 193 and 233 K before and after in situ exposure to UV irradiation. NOESY and ROESY experiments reveal the TTC (trans-s-trans-cis) isomer to be the dominant merocyanine isomer formed on photolysis, with some CTC (cis-s-trans-cis) isomer also present. Significant ROE cross peaks were observed between the "bulk" of the oligomeric units and protons across the entire photochromic core of the molecule, the intensity of these cross peaks suggesting that the interaction of the oligomer side chain and core of the molecule is significantly enhanced by the permanent attachment, especially with the PDMS side chain. The 2D NMR spectra indicate that there is exchange between the TTC and CTC isomers even at 193 K. This isomerization of the parent spirooxazine compounds, lacking the oligomeric side chains, was found to be acid-catalyzed, and DFT calculations support the strong possibility that it is the protonated merocyanine form that undergoes the facile isomerization process. Interconversion of the different merocyanine isomers is suggested to be fast on the NMR time scale under many experimental conditions, precluding the observation of different isomers using NMR spectroscopy at room temperature.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 03-12-2015
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-04-2017
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-12-2010
DOI: 10.1002/PI.2746
Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
Date: 28-04-2001
DOI: 10.1021/MA001952S
Start Date: 2015
End Date: 2017
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2009
End Date: 2011
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 06-2016
End Date: 06-2019
Amount: $231,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 03-2010
End Date: 03-2013
Amount: $390,000.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity