Publications

Boughton, GN & Crews, K 2013, Timber Design Handbook In Accordance with the Australian Limit State Timber Design Code AS 1720.1-2010, Timber Structures, Part 1: Design Methods.
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This revised edition reflects the changes in the Australian Building Industry since the release of the last 1988 edition, in particular the focus on timber and wood products as a key materials in sustainable construction.

Ni, B-J 2013, Formation, characterization and mathematical modeling of the aerobic granular sludge, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
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Chanan, AP, Vigneswaran, S, Kandasamy, J & Simmons, B 2013, 'Wastewater Management Journey – From Indus Valley Civilisation to the Twenty-First Century' in Sharma, SK & Sanghi, R (eds), Wastewater Reuse and Management, Springer Netherlands, Germany, pp. 3-18.
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Throughout the human existence on this planet, water and wastewater infrastructure never attracted as much public attention as it did during the second half of the nineteenth century. Following extensive debate on appropriate solutions for problems associated with hygiene and public health, options were chosen from several competing alternatives, while others foreclosed. Sociocultural impacts of these late nineteenth century decisions have lasted until the present day [1]. The shape of our cities and centralised approach embedded within sanitary engineers mindset today owe its existence to the options selected nearly 200 years ago. The current selection of water and wastewater management options, particularly in the developing world, has the opportunity to learn from 200 years of experience. It is critical that these lessons influence the design of future wastewater management systems because undoubtedly the decisions being made today will impact on the future generations. This chapter highlights the development of wastewater management through human evolution and settlement history.

El Saliby, I, Shon, HK & McDonagh, A 2013, 'Visible-light active doped titania for water purification: nitrogen and silver doping' in Lens, PNL, Virkutyte, J, Jegatheesan, V, Kim, SH & Al-Abed, S (eds), Nanotechnology for Water and Wastewater Treatment, IWA PUBLISHING, London, UK, pp. 189-208.
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Photocatalysis over semiconductors, mainly Ti02, has been employed and extensively studied over the past few decades (Malato et aI., 2009). The so-called "first generation photocatalYSIS" are characterised by their photoexcitation limited to the UV region of the solar spectrum. Nevertheless, many photocatalysts showed outstanding performance in decomposing a large number of pollutants of water and air. A number of water pollutants belong to the family of biorecalcitrant pollutants (non-biodegradable) and these include pharmaceutical and personal care products, industrial wastes, and a large number of pesticides/herbicides. Many of the emerging pollutants are resistant to conventional water treatment processes, noxious to the environment and some are classified as endoctine disrupting agents. The removal of non-biodegradable pollutants from wastewater poses a serious challenge for the water industry. Generally, advanced oxidation processes (AOP) are employed to achieve this goal. Heterogeneous photocatalysis, as part of AOP, is sometimes adopted as a tool to eliminate these contaminants. However, the high cost associated with the use of photocatalysis to treat such compounds has always been a disadvantage for its large-scale adoption in treatment processes. The high cost is mainly associated with: (1) the energy consumed for the UV light irradiation of the photocatalyst, (2) the energy required for the separation of the photocatalyst particles from water. A total of 40% of the solar light reaching the lithosphere is visible light, whereas UV light accounts only for 5% of the total solar radiation. The development of new photocatalysts that can effectively harvest visible light is crucial for making this technology viable in the waler treatment industry. The use of "second-generation riOz photocatalysts" to harvest visible light from solar energy is gaining popularity (Anpo, 1997). Most of the research involving the use of second generation TiOz photocatalysts has...

Lee, JH, Gu, N, Ostwald, MJ & Jupp, J 2013, 'Understanding Cognitive Activities in Parametric Design' in Communications in Computer and Information Science, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 38-49.
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Saco, PM & Rodríguez, JF 2013, '2.14 Modeling Ecogeomorphic Systems' in Treatise on Geomorphology, Elsevier, pp. 201-220.
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Tao, M, Wu, C & Li, XB 2013, 'Numerical simulation of multiple fracture zones in underground dynamic loading processes' in Rock Dynamics and Applications - State of the Art, pp. 451-456.
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The excavation fracture responses around cavities in rock mass with initial stress were examined using three dimensional numerical modelling. In addition to the primary fractured zone in near field, numerical modelling generated the second fractured zone in far field, and an elastic non-fractured zone between the two fractured zones, i.e., the fractured zones and the non-fractured zone occur alternately around deep cavity. This finding proved that the zonal disintegration phenomenon can occur in underground excavation process.

Abdal-hay, A, Tijing, LD & Lim, JK 2013, 'Characterization of the surface biocompatibility of an electrospun nylon 6/CaP nanofiber scaffold using osteoblasts', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 215-216, pp. 57-64.
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The purpose of this research is to improve the biocompatibility of bone tissue engineering scaffolds using a one-step electrospinning process. Calcium phosphate (CaP) was coated on the surface of nylon 6 (N6) nanofibers to form an ultrathin layer, thereby increasing surface roughness and wettability of the N6 nanofiber membrane in order to further improve implant tissue integration. The morphology, composition, chemical interaction bonding and mechanical properties of CaP-coated N6 nanofibers were characterized. The wettability of the scaffold was measured in terms of the water contact angle, and the results indicated that N6 fibers coated with an ultrathin layer of CaP exhibited an excellent surface wettability (water contact angle = 0°). Mechanical testing revealed higher properties of coated CaP layers compared to a plain N6 mat. The biological response induced by the surface modifications of N6 fibers was evaluated by in vitro cell culture with MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts cells. It was found that CaP-coated N6 nanofibrous matrices definitely favored cell proliferation, with the efficiency dependent upon the coating technique. A combination of a nanoscale fibrous structure and a CaP coating could mimic the structure, composition and function of bone tissues

Abdul-Hadi, A, Mansor, S, Pradhan, B & Tan, CK 2013, 'Seasonal variability of chlorophyll-a and oceanographic conditions in Sabah waters in relation to Asian monsoon—a remote sensing study', Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, vol. 185, no. 5, pp. 3977-3991.
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Abedin, MJ, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Sanjid, A, Rahman, SMA & Masum, BM 2013, 'Energy balance of internal combustion engines using alternative fuels', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 26, pp. 20-33.
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Aghdamy, S, Wu, C & Griffith, M 2013, 'Simulation of Retrofitted Unreinforced Concrete Masonry Unit Walls under Blast Loading', International Journal of Protective Structures, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 21-44.
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This paper describes an investigation into the effectiveness of using spray-on nano-particle reinforced polymer and aluminium foam as new types of retrofit material to prevent the breaching and collapse of unreinforced concrete masonry walls subjected to blast over a whole range of dynamic and impulsive regimes. Material models from the LS-DYNA material library were used to model the behaviors of each of the materials and its interface for retrofitted and unretrofitted masonry walls. Available test data were used to validate the numerical models. Using the validated LS-DYNA numerical models, the pressure-impulse diagrams for retrofitted concrete masonry walls were constructed. The efficiency of using these retrofits to strengthen the unreinforced concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls under various pressures and impulses was investigated using pressure-impulse diagrams. Comparisons were made to find the most efficient retrofits for masonry walls against blasts.

Akbarnezhad, A, Ong, KCG, Tam, CT & Zhang, MH 2013, 'Effects of the Parent Concrete Properties and Crushing Procedure on the Properties of Coarse Recycled Concrete Aggregates', Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 1795-1802.
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Due to its considerably lower embodied carbon and making use of industrial by-products including fly ash and ground granulated blast-furnace slag, geopolymer concrete (GPC) is considered as a sustainable alternative to Portland cement (OPC) concrete. However, prior to granting GPC a green label and encouraging its widespread use, a number of other important possible impacts associated with this new material throughout its life cycle need to be further investigated. One of the important aspects of sustainability which has received little attention with regards to GPC is the end-of-life impact. While end-of-life strategies such as recycling and reuse have been widely investigated for conventional concrete, the applicability of such strategies to GPC has not been investigated. This paper presents the results of an experimental study conducted to investigate the recyclability of GPC. Basic properties of recycled geopolymer aggregates (RGAs) including water absorption, density and Los Angeles abrasion loss as well as the effects of size of RGA on these properties were investigated. In addition, the effects of the different replacement ratios of coarse RGA for coarse natural aggregates on the properties of the new recycled aggregate geopolymer concrete (RAG) including compressive strength, flexural strength and modulus of elasticity were investigated. The RGA and RAG properties were compared with those of recycled OPC concrete aggregate (RCA) and recycled aggregate OPC concrete (RAC) produced under relatively similar conditions.

Al Rawashdeh, S, Ruzouq, R, Al-Fugara, A, Pradhan, B, Ziad, SHA-H & Ghayda, AR 2013, 'Monitoring of Dead Sea water surface variation using multi-temporal satellite data and GIS', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 6, no. 9, pp. 3241-3248.
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AlKilani, SG, Jupp, JR & Sawhncy, A 2013, 'Readying a developing economy for national performance measurement and benchmarking: A case study of the Jordanian construction industry', International Journal for Housing Science and Its Applications, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 11-21.
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In many developing countries, national construction performance measures and benchmarking processes are yet to be formulated, implemented and tracked. This inherent weakness of an economic sector has negative impacts on, productivity, efficiency and performance. This paper takes the Jordanian construction industry as a case study of a developing economy and highlights the significant challenges it faces in implementing performance measurement. Findings from this study reveal a number of specific and general characteristics, and the extent and seventy of industry-based barriers. The paper identifies a range of requirements at the national level that must be met to move from a state of relative disarray to an industry ready for the successful implementation of performance measurement and benchmarking. The authors anticipate that the findings of this paper will be of interest to academics and professionals involved in other developing countries' construction industries. Copyright©2013 IAHS.

Alkilani, SZ, Jupp, J & Sawhney, A 2013, 'Issues of construction health and safety in developing countries: a case of Jordan', Construction Economics and Building, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 141-156.
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The construction industry is widely regarded as one of the most significant interms of its impact on health and safety (H&S). Recent findings suggestthat in developing countries H&S awareness and performance is low. In this paper,the current state of H&S on construction sites in Jordan was explored usinga two-part investigation. The first part introduces the area of research in aliterature based study of on-site safety. The second part is a case study onthe Jordanian construction industry and its current H&S practices. Primary datawas collected from field visits, expert interviews and semi-structuredquestionnaires. Supporting secondary data was collected from archival studiesand related research literature. The research findings highlight a lack of governmentcommitment exemplified by regulations, policies and legal constraints thatlimit the operational efficiency of those government departments responsiblefor H&S management, and hindering the development of good H&S practice.Research results also highlight the key constraints of good H&S practice fromthe perspective of construction contractors.The study concludes with discussion ofpotential solutions toimprove H&S performance on construction sites in Jordan.

Al-Mahmoud, F, Castel, A & François, R 2013, 'Modelling of flexural behaviour of RC beams strengthened with NSM CFRP rods including serviceability', European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, vol. 17, no. 7, pp. 532-553.
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Al-shalabi, M, Billa, L, Pradhan, B, Mansor, S & Al-Sharif, AAA 2013, 'Modelling urban growth evolution and land-use changes using GIS based cellular automata and SLEUTH models: the case of Sana’a metropolitan city, Yemen', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 425-437.
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Al-shalabi, M, Pradhan, B, Billa, L, Mansor, S & Althuwaynee, OF 2013, 'Manifestation of Remote Sensing Data in Modeling Urban Sprawl Using the SLEUTH Model and Brute Force Calibration: A Case Study of Sana’a City, Yemen', Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 405-416.
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Al-sharif, AAA, Pradhan, B, Shafri, HZM & Mansor, S 2013, 'Spatio-temporal analysis of urban and population growths in tripoli using remotely sensed data and GIS', Indian Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 5134-5142.
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The remote sensing data and GIS have been used widely to analyse and study the patterns of urban expansions. The capital of Libya, Tripoli was selected to perform this study and to examine its urban growth. Four satellite imageries and population censuses of the study area for the time period 1984 to 2010 were used in this work. The objectives of this paper are identifying and analysing the urban sprawl of Tripoli as a pattern and as process. Also to understand and assess the interchangeable relationship of urban growth and population growth of study area. Urban area extents in different time periods were extracted by supervised classification method of the satellite imageries. Then, the population data and urban extents data were coupled to perform the analysis. Additionally, Shannon's entropy technique was used for further assessment of urban growth. The study findings demonstrate that Tripoli had sprawled urban growth during the period 1984 to 2010. Moreover, during the above mentioned period, the urban expansion dispersion rate has shown in an ascending mode. Consequently, this uncontrolled dispersed urban development had resulted in high consumption land rate per capita despite of decrement in population growth rate.

Altaee, A 2013, 'Theoretical study on feed water designs to reverse osmosis pressure vessel', Desalination, vol. 326, pp. 1-9.
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Scale fouling and power consumption are one of the most important parameters in reverse osmosis (RO) desalination. To reduce scale problems in RO, single or central feeds to the pressure vessel were suggested instead of using end feed. In this paper Reverse Osmosis System Analysis (ROSA) software was used to simulate the differences between single, central and end feed designs. The effect of feed Silt Density Index (SDI) and number of the RO elements in the pressure vessel were investigated here. Feed SDIs 5, 3, and 1 were considered in this paper. To study the effect of the numbers of RO elements, 6 RO and 8 RO elements per pressure vessel were simulated. The simulation results showed that the power consumption in the end feed design was lower than in the single and central feed designs. The simulation results showed that Langelier Silt Index (LSI) and Stiff & Davis Stability Index (SDSI) were lower in the single than central feed design which in turn was lower than in the end feed design. These results indicated that although the power consumption in the single and central feed designs was higher than in the end feed design; the former designs were more efficient in rescuing the RO scale problems. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Altaee, A, Mabrouk, A & Bourouni, K 2013, 'A novel Forward osmosis membrane pretreatment of seawater for thermal desalination processes', Desalination, vol. 326, pp. 19-29.
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Altaee, A, Mabrouk, A & Bourouni, K 2013, 'Corrigendum to “A novel forward osmosis membrane pretreatment of seawater for thermal desalination processes” [Desalination 326 (2013) 19–29]', Desalination, vol. 329, pp. 115-115.
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Alturki, AA, McDonald, JA, Khan, SJ, Price, WE, Nghiem, LD & Elimelech, M 2013, 'Removal of trace organic contaminants by the forward osmosis process', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 103, pp. 258-266.
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Amarjargal, A, Jiang, Z, Tijing, LD, Park, C-H, Im, I-T & Kim, CS 2013, 'Nanosheet-based α-Fe2O3 hierarchical structure decorated with TiO2 nanospheres via a simple one-pot route: Magnetically recyclable photocatalysts', Journal of Alloys and Compounds, vol. 580, pp. 143-147.
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Amarjargal, A, Tijing, LD, Im, I-T & Kim, CS 2013, 'Simultaneous preparation of Ag/Fe3O4 core–shell nanocomposites with enhanced magnetic moment and strong antibacterial and catalytic properties', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 226, pp. 243-254.
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In this study, core–shell Ag/Fe3O4 nanocomposites have been successfully prepared by modified co-precipitation route followed by facile hydrothermal treatment in one-pot synthesis under various (Ag(NH3)2+) ion concentrations without adding any reducing agents. A single crystal Ag core and polycrystallized Fe3O4 shell nanostructures could be obtained when high amount of AgNO3 precursor are used in the presence of Fe2+ ions source, i.e., ferrous salt alone. A mechanism leading to the formation of such morphologies was proposed and samples were characterized with several analytical techniques including field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Significant increase of saturation magnetic moment was observed for the Ag/Fe3O4 nanocomposite. The results showed enhanced magnetic moment and strong catalytic and antibacterial activities of the present Ag/Fe3O4 nanocomposite, demonstrating its importance for potential application in water treatment and biomedical application, with the ability of subsequent removal by means of an external magnetic field.

Amarjargal, A, Tijing, LD, Park, C-H, Im, I-T & Kim, CS 2013, 'Controlled assembly of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles on electrospun PU nanofibrous membrane: A novel heat-generating substrate for magnetic hyperthermia application', European Polymer Journal, vol. 49, no. 12, pp. 3796-3805.
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A facile method of fabricating novel heat-generating membranes composed of electrospun polyurethane (PU) nanofibers decorated with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs) is reported. Electrospinning was used to produce polymeric nanofibrous matrix, whereas polyol immersion technique allowed in situ assembly of well-dispersed Fe3O4 NPs on the nanofibrous membranes without any surfactant, and without sensitizing and stabilizing reagent. The assembly phenomena can be explained by the hydrogen-bonding interactions between the amide groups in the PU matrix and the hydroxyl groups capped on the surface of the Fe3O4 NPs. The prepared nanocomposite fibers showed acceptable magnetization value of 33.12 emu/g, after measuring the magnetic hysteresis loops using SQUID. Moreover, the inductive heating property of electrospun magnetic nanofibrous membranes under an alternating current (AC) magnetic field was investigated. We observed a progressive increase in the heating rate with the increase in the amount of magnetic Fe3O4 NPs in/on the membranes. The present electrospun magnetic nanofibrous membrane may be a potential candidate as a novel heat-generating substrate for localized hyperthermia cancer therapy. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Amarjargal, A, Tijing, LD, Ruelo, MTG, Park, C-H, Pant, HR, Vista IV, FP, Lee, DH & Kim, CS 2013, 'Inactivation of bacteria in batch suspension by fluidized ceramic tourmaline nanoparticles under oscillating radio frequency electric fields', Ceramics International, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 2141-2145.
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Here, we investigated the synergistic effect of fluidized ceramic tourmaline nanoparticles (NPs) with oscillating electric fields to the inactivation of Escherichia coli in batch suspension. Different amounts of tourmaline NPs (5–100 mg) were dispersed in bacterial suspension (50 ml) and oscillating radio frequency (RF) electric field was applied at 3 V (equivalent of 1.5 V/cm electric field strength) and at varying frequencies (100 kHz and 1 MHz). The results showed high inactivation efficiency when combining fluidized tourmaline NPs and oscillating electric fields as compared to individual treatments of electric fields or tourmaline NPs only. The results showed 2.5–5-log reduction of viable E. coli concentration depending on the tourmaline concentration, electric field frequency and solution temperature. The present method shows a lot of promise as a novel and low-cost bacterial inactivation technique for water treatment applications.

Anisur, MR, Mahfuz, MH, Kibria, MA, Saidur, R, Metselaar, IHSC & Mahlia, TMI 2013, 'Curbing global warming with phase change materials for energy storage', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 18, pp. 23-30.
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Arbab, MI, Masjuki, HH, Varman, M, Kalam, MA, Imtenan, S & Sajjad, H 2013, 'Fuel properties, engine performance and emission characteristic of common biodiesels as a renewable and sustainable source of fuel', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 22, pp. 133-147.
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Ardalany, M, Fragiacomo, M, Deam, B & Crews, K 2013, 'Analytical cracking load estimation of Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) beams with holes', European Journal of Wood and Wood Products, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 37-48.
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Predicting the load-carrying capacity of timber beams with holes cannot be performed by usual analysis methods if the failure of the beam is governed by the crack initiation and propagation around the hole at low load levels. Predicting the cracking load is an important design issue because it corresponds to the load-carrying capacity of the timber beam before the crack propagation. One of the models that can be used for the fracture formulation is that of a beam on elastic foundation. In this model a part of the beam is assumed to follow the conditions of beam with elastic foundation which has spring stiffness equal to the fracture properties of the material in the crack surface. Based on beam on elastic foundation model, the cracking load prediction is the target of the paper. Some closed form solutions for the beam with hole are presented. The formulation has been derived for two cases of pure shear and pure bending moment. Finally a semi-empirical formulation for combination of shear and bending moment in the section is presented. The model predictions are compared with the results of an experimental program showing good correlation. The analytical model can therefore be proposed for future revisions of codes of practice such as the Eurocode 5

Asadullah, M, Kabir, MS, Ahmed, MB, Razak, NA, Rasid, NSA & Aezzira, A 2013, 'Role of microporosity and surface functionality of activated carbon in methylene blue dye removal from water', KOREAN JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, vol. 30, no. 12, pp. 2228-2234.
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Aslani, F & Nejadi, S 2013, 'Creep and Shrinkage of Self-Compacting Concrete with and without Fibers', JOURNAL OF ADVANCED CONCRETE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 251-265.
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Fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (FRSCC) is a high-performance building material that combines positive aspects of fresh properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with improved characteristics of hardened concrete as a result of fiber addition. Considering these properties, the application ranges of both FRSCC and SCC can be covered. To produce SCC, either the constituent materials or the corresponding mix proportions may notably differ from the conventional concrete (CC). These modifications besides enhance the concrete fresh properties affect the hardened properties of the concrete including creep and shrinkage. Therefore, it is vital to investigate whether all the assumed hypotheses about conventional concrete are also valid for SCC structures. In the present paper, a numerical and experimental study about creep and shrinkage behavior of FRSCC and SCC is performed. Two new creep and shrinkage prediction models based on the comprehensive analysis on the available models of both CC and SCC are proposed for FRSCC and SCC structures. In order to evaluate the predictability of the proposed models, an experimental program was carried out. For this purpose, four SCC mixes - plain SCC, steel, polypropylene, and hybrid FRSCC - are considered in the test program. Several specimens were loaded and deformation in non-loaded specimens was also measured to assess shrinkage. All specimens were kept under constant stress during at least 364 days in a climatic chamber with temperature and relative humidity of 22°C and 50%, respectively. Results showed that the new models were able to predict deformations with good accuracy, although providing deformations slight overestimated. Copyright © 2013 Japan Concrete Institute.

Aslani, F & Nejadi, S 2013, 'Mechanical characteristics of self-compacting concrete with and without fibres', MAGAZINE OF CONCRETE RESEARCH, vol. 65, no. 10, pp. 608-622.
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Fibre-reinforced self-compacting concrete (FRSCC) is a high-performance building material that combines positive aspects of fresh properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with improved characteristics of hardened concrete as a result of fibre addition. Considering these properties, the application ranges of both FRSCC and SCC can be covered. A test program is carried out to develop information about the mechanical properties of FRSCC. For this purpose, four SCC mixes - plain SCC, steel, polypropylene and hybrid FRSCC - Are considered in the test program. The properties include compressive and splitting tensile strengths, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, and compressive stress-strain curve. These properties are tested at 3, 7, 14, 28, 56 and 91 days. Relationships are established to predict the compressive and splitting tensile strengths, modulus of elasticity, modulus of rupture, and compressive stress-strain curve. The models provide predictions matching the measurements.

Aslani, F & Nejadi, S 2013, 'Self-compacting concrete incorporating steel and polypropylene fibers: Compressive and tensile strengths, moduli of elasticity and rupture, compressive stress-strain curve, and energy dissipated under compression', COMPOSITES PART B-ENGINEERING, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 121-133.
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Fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete (FRSCC) is a high-performance building material that combines positive aspects of fresh properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) with improved characteristics of hardened concrete as a result of fiber addition. Considering these properties, the application ranges of both FRSCC and SCC can be covered. A test program is carried out to develop information about the mechanical properties of FRSCC. For this purpose, four SCC mixes - plain SCC, steel, polypropylene, and hybrid FRSCC - are considered in the test program. The properties include compressive and splitting tensile strengths, moduli of elasticity and rupture, compressive stress-strain curve, and energy dissipated under compression. These properties are tested at 3, 7, 14, 28, 56, and 91 days. Relationships are established to predict the compressive and splitting tensile strengths, moduli of elasticity and rupture, compressive stress-strain curve, and energy dissipated under compression. The models provide predictions matching the measurements. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Asrul, M, Zulkifli, NWM, Masjuki, HH & Kalam, MA 2013, 'Tribological Properties and Lubricant Mechanism of Nanoparticle in Engine Oil', Procedia Engineering, vol. 68, pp. 320-325.
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Atabani, AE, Badruddin, IA, Mahlia, TMI, Masjuki, HH, Mofijur, M, Lee, KT & Chong, WT 2013, 'Fuel Properties of Croton megalocarpus, Calophyllum inophyllum, and Cocos nucifera (coconut) Methyl Esters and their Performance in a Multicylinder Diesel Engine', Energy Technology, vol. 1, no. 11, pp. 685-694.
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AbstractBiodiesel has been considered recently as a viable alternative to fossil diesel fuels. This study aims to evaluate the potential of biodiesel production from Croton megalocarpus oil and compared it with coconut (Cocos nucifera) and Calophyllum inophyllum methyl esters. The study presents the physical and chemical properties of Croton megalocarpus, Calophyllum inophyllum and coconut methyl esters (CMME, CIME, and COME) together with their 10 and 20 % blends by volume (B10 and B20). This is followed by evaluating their blends in a multicylinder Mitsubishi Pajero diesel engine. It has been found that the properties of all biodiesel and their blends are comparable with ASTM D6751 and ASTM D7467 standards, respectively. Over the entire range of speed, it was found that the B10 and B20 blends of CMME, CIME, and COME result in average reduction in torque and brake power (BP) along with increased brake‐specific fuel consumption (BSFC) compared to pure diesel fuel. With respect to engine emissions, the fuel blends resulted in an average reduction in carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions. However, the CMME and COME blends resulted in increased emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO) whereas CIME emits lower NO compared to pure diesel. It is concluded that B10 and B20 biodiesel blends can be used as diesel fuel substitutes without additional modifications.

Atabani, AE, Mahlia, TMI, Anjum Badruddin, I, Masjuki, HH, Chong, WT & Lee, KT 2013, 'Investigation of physical and chemical properties of potential edible and non-edible feedstocks for biodiesel production, a comparative analysis', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 21, pp. 749-755.
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Atabani, AE, Mahlia, TMI, Masjuki, HH, Badruddin, IA, Yussof, HW, Chong, WT & Lee, KT 2013, 'A comparative evaluation of physical and chemical properties of biodiesel synthesized from edible and non-edible oils and study on the effect of biodiesel blending', Energy, vol. 58, pp. 296-304.
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Atabani, AE, Silitonga, AS, Ong, HC, Mahlia, TMI, Masjuki, HH, Badruddin, IA & Fayaz, H 2013, 'Non-edible vegetable oils: A critical evaluation of oil extraction, fatty acid compositions, biodiesel production, characteristics, engine performance and emissions production', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 18, pp. 211-245.
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Awad, R, Chambers, J & Jupp, JR 2013, 'Volunteer Tourism and Architecture Students: What motivates and can best prepare them?', Journal of Pedagogic Development, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 6-12.
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This paper explores student attitudes toward volunteering in the context of university-led building development programs, raising questions about the practice of volunteering and its contribution to community development. Focusing on students undertaking tertiary education in Western countries, this literature based study firstly explores the perceptions and motivations behind volunteering, and secondly discusses its developmental impact on low-income communities.

Banasiak, L, Indraratna, B, Regmi, G, Golab, A & Lugg, G 2013, 'Characterisation and assessment of recycled concrete aggregates used in a permeable reactive barrier for the treatment of acidic groundwater', Geomechanics and Geoengineering, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 155-166.
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The acidification of coastal waterways because of acid sulphate soil is an environmental, economic and social problem within Australia. A pilot-scale permeable reactive barrier (PRB), using recycled concrete aggregates as reactive material, was installed in low-lying acid sulphate soil terrain for acidic groundwater remediation. Column experiments were previously undertaken with synthetic groundwater to ascertain the dominant reactions occurring within the PRB. Results showed that armouring of the reactive material surface by precipitated Al- and Fe-bearing minerals significantly reduced its acid neutralisation capacity (ANC). The purpose of this current study was to validate this decline in ANC through characterisation of the virgin and armoured concrete aggregates, and precipitates that formed on the concrete. Samples of concrete aggregates and precipitates were analysed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy-Energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT). The conclusions drawn from these analyses are that Al-bearing (gibbsite 14.3%, boehmite 10.9%) and Fe-bearing (goethite 38.2%) mineral precipitates of diverse morphology form as a thin layer coating the aggregate surfaces. A reduction of CaO in the armoured concrete aggregates by 47% correlates with the reduction in ANC of the virgin concrete by 50% due to armouring. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Bastidas-Arteaga, E, Schoefs, F, Stewart, MG & Wang, X 2013, 'Influence of global warming on durability of corroding RC structures: A probabilistic approach', Engineering Structures, vol. 51, pp. 259-266.
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Chloride ingress and carbonation cause corrosion of reinforced concrete (RC) structures affecting its operational life. Experimental evidence indicates that these deterioration processes are highly influenced by CO2 emissions and climatic conditions in the surrounding environment - i.e., temperature, humidity, etc. Since studies on global warming announce changes in climate, the impact of changing climate on RC durability should also be considered. This paper links RC deterioration mechanisms to CO2 emissions and global warming. Based on various studies on climate change, models for estimating the effect of CO2 emissions and temperature/humidity changes due to global warming are described. Furthermore, various scenarios of global warming that can be used to assess the effect of climate change in structural reliability are proposed. The proposed approach is then illustrated with a numerical example that calculates the probability of failure of a RC bridge beam for future climate scenarios. The paper then outlines some adaptation strategies, particularly focusing on the needs for risk-based selection of optimal adaptation measures. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Bedi, JS, Lester, DW, Fang, YX, Turner, JFC, Zhou, J, Alfadul, SM, Perry, C & Chen, Q 2013, 'Electrospinning of poly(methyl methacrylate) nanofibers in a pump-free process', Journal of Polymer Engineering, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 453-461.
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AbstractThe effects of processing parameters, including solution concentration, viscosity, nozzle diameter, voltage bias and the nozzle to collector distance, on the morphology and diameters of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) fibers have been systematically investigated, using a unique pump-free electrospinning method. For PMMA solution concentrations less than the critical entanglement concentration, ce, prolate spheroid-shaped droplets or beads with fibers were formed, whereas at concentrations above ce, good quality bead-free fibers were formed. Quantitative analysis revealed a linear dependence between the solution viscosity and fiber diameter. Larger fiber diameters were achieved by increasing the nozzle diameter and voltage bias. Increasing the bias voltage has the additional effect of broadening the diameter distribution, as a result of splaying and splitting. By contrast, when the strength of the electrical field was reduced by increasing the distance between the nozzle and collector, the overall fiber diameter was reduced.

Billa, L & Pradhan, B 2013, 'GIS modeling for selection of a transfer station site for residential solid waste separation and recycling', Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 487-498.
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In this study a GIS model was developed and spatial analytical techniques performed to identify and select a suitable location for a waste transfer station in the sprawling suburban town of Petaling Jaya. The lack of a transfer station in urban centres of Malaysia has caused many problems and affects the efficiency of waste collection and disposal. With diminishing space for landfills and the increasing cost of solid waste management, the need for urban solid-waste recycling has become very important. However, finding a place for waste to be efficiently sorted before unwanted waste can be carried to disposal landfills has social and physical constraints. This study applies GIS techniques and analysis for site selection and identifies an acceptable area. In the model, environmental, physical and social constraints were taken into account, resulting in the selection of a potential area that is acceptable to the residents of the area because it is out of range of causing public nuisance and within minimum travelling distance for collection vehicles. The results show that the potential location for the transfer station should be in proximity of the industrial area of Petaling Jaya, allowing for the possible sale of recyclable materials to local industries. The location is also sited near a major highway to allow quick transportation of the rest of the unwanted waste to the landfill. © 2013 Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

Biro, K, Pradhan, B, Buchroithner, M & Makeschin, F 2013, 'LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGE ANALYSIS AND ITS IMPACT ON SOIL PROPERTIES IN THE NORTHERN PART OF GADARIF REGION, SUDAN', Land Degradation & Development, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 90-102.
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ABSTRACTSeveral decades of intensive dry land farming in the Gadarif region, located in the Eastern part of Sudan, has led to rapid land use/land cover (LULC) changes mainly due to agricultural expansion, government policies and environmental calamities such as drought. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyse and monitor the LULC changes using multi‐temporal Landsat data for the years 1979, 1989 and 1999 and ASTER data for the year 2009. In addition, efforts were made to discuss the impact of LULC changes on the selected soil properties. For this, a post‐classification comparison technique was used to detect LULC changes from satellite images. Primarily, three main LULC types were selected to investigate the properties of soil, namely, cultivated land, fallow land and woodland. Moreover, soil samples were also collected at two depths of surface soil from ten sample plots for each of the LULC type. For these soil samples, various soil properties such as texture, bulk density, organic matter, soil pH, electrical conductivity, sodium adsorption ratio, phosphorous and potassium were analysed. The results showed that a significant and extensive change of LULC patterns has occurred in the last three decades in the study area. Further, laboratory tests revealed that soil properties were significantly affected by these LULC changes. The change of the physical and chemical properties of the soil may have attributed to the changes in the LULC resulting in land degradation, which in turn has led to a decline in soil productivity. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Biro, K, Pradhan, B, Sulieman, H & Buchroithner, M 2013, 'Exploitation of TerraSAR-X Data for Land use/Land Cover Analysis Using Object-Oriented Classification Approach in the African Sahel Area, Sudan', Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 539-553.
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Bjarnadottir, S, Li, Y & Stewart, MG 2013, 'Hurricane Risk Assessment of Power Distribution Poles Considering Impacts of a Changing Climate', Journal of Infrastructure Systems, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 12-24.
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Storm-related power outages cause approximately $270 million per year in repair costs in the United States. As a result of increasing sea surface temperatures caused by the changing climate, hurricane patterns (i.e., intensity/frequency) may change; however, there is much uncertainty as to how climate change may affect hurricane patterns. Implications of the changing hazard patterns on hurricane risk warrants an investigation to evaluate the potential impact of climate change on power distribution pole failure. This paper proposes a probabilistic framework to evaluate the vulnerability of power distribution poles to hurricanes under the potential impact of a changing climate. Two methods for the design of distribution poles in the United States, the National Electric Safety Code method and the ASCE method, are considered to investigate the difference of the vulnerability of a distribution pole subjected to hurricane hazard. The framework includes a reliability analysis of the designed power distribution poles using fragility analysis, the effects of degradation of timber poles, probabilistic wind models, and an assessment of the potential impacts of climate change on the annual failure probability of power distribution poles. This paper finds that climate change may have a significant effect on the structural failure probabilities of distribution poles. The age of the poles has a significant impact on the reliability of power distribution poles, which warrants the exploration of cost-effective methods to determine when a distribution pole should be replaced to ensure adequate strength to withstand wind loads. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Castel, A & François, R 2013, 'Calculation of the Overall Stiffness and Irreversible Deflection of Cracked Reinforced Concrete Beams', Advances in Structural Engineering, vol. 16, no. 12, pp. 2035-2042.
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The method proposed in this paper aims to assess both the irreversible deflection of cracked reinforced concrete beams when unloaded and their overall stiffness under loading cycles which is relevant for in-situ analysis of existing structures. Only service stage is modeled and time-dependent effects such as creep and shrinkage are not taken into account. The modeling approach combines an existing model based on an empirical moment-curvature analytic relationship with a new Macro-Finite-Element (MFE) both implemented in a linear finite element analysis. MFEs are Beam Finite Elements, characterized by their average moment of inertia. The average moment of inertia is calculated by homogenization of the steel strain, concrete strain and neutral axis modeled between two consecutive bending cracks. The results of the MFE model have been successfully compared to experiments. The irreversible deflection represents a significant proportion of the total deflection in service and the overall stiffness of the cracked beams during the loading cycles is strongly under-estimated by existing models based on empirical moment-curvature relationships.

Cath, TY, Elimelech, M, McCutcheon, JR, McGinnis, RL, Achilli, A, Anastasio, D, Brady, AR, Childress, AE, Farr, IV, Hancock, NT, Lampi, J, Nghiem, LD, Xie, M & Yip, NY 2013, 'Standard Methodology for Evaluating Membrane Performance in Osmotically Driven Membrane Processes', DESALINATION, vol. 312, pp. 31-38.
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Chanan, AP, Vigneswaran, S, Kandasamy, J & Johir, MA 2013, 'Need for a fresh look at phosphorus management in wastewater treatment: Trash to treasure', Sustainable Environment Research, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 23-31.
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Eutrophication of water bodies is a major, global environmental problem. It is now well understood that its main cause is excessive amounts of nutrients such as phosphorus. Stringent laws were therefore introduced across the world, requiring that the level of the P be significantly reduced. Consequently, the focus for wastewater treatment industry became the elimination of phosphorus in effluent stream. Treatment technologies capable of removing over 90% of phosphorus from wastewater have now been developed. However, these phosphorus removal options are likely to be ineffective in the future. The future would call for a shift to the primary goal of phosphorus removal to 'capturing and reusing' phosphorus. This paper calls for a re-think in developing phosphorus management programs. Discussing Fertigation as step-one in phosphorus reclamation, the paper will further elaborate phosphorus recovery opportunities such as ion-exchange that can be retrofitted to existing wastewater treatment plants.

Che Mat, R, Shariff, ARM, Pradhan, B, Mahmud, AR, Shafry, M, Rahim, M & Rehman, A 2013, 'A Comparison between four-tier framework and three-tier framework for online applications of 3D GIS visualization', Life Science Journal, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 1534-1540.
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Online application of 3D visualization for GIS (Geographic Information System) data is of interest to not only professionals such as cartographers, geographers, geologists and psychologists but also popular among the ordinary people. The system's conventional design is generated from client/server based architecture. This architecture is the main platform for designing the online system architecture, which works based on the distributing concept which is 'tier'. The tier is required to separate the works/tasks between the system architecture. Currently, three-tiers architecture is the most well-known architecture used in GIS applications and other application. However, this architecture has a drawback on the middle tier which needs more processing power to meet the request from multiple of users. GIS applications, especially which involve 3D visualization generate a massive amount of data. Due to this situation, the use of the current three-tier framework for online application of 3D visualization for GIS will decrease the performance of the system in terms of time for processing the request from the users. The aim of this study is to introduce the new four-tier framework and compare it with the existing three-tier framework. This framework consist of four-tier architecture, which is divided into client tier, logic tier, visualization process tier, and database tier. The comparison is based on response time, loading time, frames rate per second, CPU usage, and memory usage. The new framework shows superiority in its performance, and the processing power is reduced.

Chekli, L, Phuntsho, S, Kandasamy, J & Shon, H 2013, 'Assessing the aggregation behaviour of iron oxide nanoparticles by using a multi-method approach.', Technical Proceedings of the 2013 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Expo, NSTI-Nanotech 2013, vol. 1, pp. 47-50.
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Iron nanoparticles are becoming increasingly popular for the treatment of contaminated soil and groundwater; however, their mobility and reactivity in subsurface environments are significantly affected by their tendency to aggregate. Assessing their stability under environmental conditions is crucial for determining their environmental fate. A multi-method approach (including different size-measurement techniques) was used to thoroughly characterise the behaviour of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3NPs) under environmentally relevant conditions. Although recent studies have demonstrated the importance of using a multi-method approach when characterising nanoparticles, the majority of current studies continue to use a single-method approach. Discussions and examples to support the need of a multi-method approach to characterise the aggregation of nanoparticles will be presented in this study.

Chekli, L, Phuntsho, S, Roy, M & Shon, HK 2013, 'Characterisation of Fe-oxide nanoparticles coated with humic acid and Suwannee River natural organic matter', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 461, pp. 19-27.
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Iron oxide nanoparticles are becoming increasingly popular for various applications including the treatment of contaminated soil and groundwater; however, their mobility and reactivity in the subsurface environment are significantly affected by their tendency to aggregate. One solution to overcome this issue is to coat the nanoparticles with dissolved organic matter (DOM). The advantages of DOM over conventional surface modifiers are that DOM is naturally abundant in the environment, inexpensive, non-toxic and readily adsorbed onto the surface of metal oxide nanoparticles.In this study, humic acid (HA) and Suwannee River natural organic matter (SRNOM) were tested and compared as surface modifiers for Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NPs). The DOM-coated Fe2O3 NPs were characterised by various analytical methods including: flow field-flow fractionation (FlFFF), high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The stability of the coated NPs was then evaluated by assessing their aggregation and disaggregation behaviour over time.Results showed that both HA and SRNOM were rapidly and readily adsorbed on the surface of Fe2O3 NPs, providing electrosteric stabilisation over a wide range of pH. HPSEC results showed that the higher molecular weight components of DOM were preferentially adsorbed onto the surface of Fe2O3. As SRNOM consists of macromolecules with a higher molecular weight than HA, the measured size of the SRNOM-coated Fe2O3 NPs was 30% larger than the HA-coated Fe2O3 NPs. FTIR results indicated the occurrence of hydrogen bonding arising from electrostatic interaction between the DOM and Fe2O3 NPs. Finally, a stability study showed that after 14days, small agglomerates and aggregates were formed. The HA-coated Fe2O3 NPs formed agglomerates which were easily disaggregated using a vortex mixer, with the coated NPs returning to their initial size. However, SRNOM-coated Fe2O3 NPs were only partially disagg...

Chekli, L, Phuntsho, S, Roy, M, Lombi, E, Donner, E & Shon, HK 2013, 'Assessing the aggregation behaviour of iron oxide nanoparticles under relevant environmental conditions using a multi-method approach', WATER RESEARCH, vol. 47, no. 13, pp. 4585-4599.
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Iron nanoparticles are becoming increasingly popular for the treatment of contaminated soil and groundwater; however, their mobility and reactivity in subsurface environments are significantly affected by their tendency to aggregate. Assessing their stability under environmental conditions is crucial for determining their environmental fate. A multi-method approach (including different size-measurement techniques and the DLVO theory) was used to thoroughly characterise the behaviour of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3NPs) under environmentally relevant conditions. Although recent studies have demonstrated the importance of using a multi-method approach when characterising nanoparticles, the majority of current studies continue to use a single-method approach.Under some soil conditions (i.e. pH 7, 10mM NaCl and 2mM CaCl2) and increasing particle concentration, Fe2O3NPs underwent extensive aggregation to form large aggregates (>1μm). Coating the nanoparticles with dissolved organic matter (DOM) was investigated as an alternative 'green' solution to overcoming the aggregation issue instead of using the more commonly proposed polyelectrolytes. At high concentrations, DOM effectively covered the surface of the Fe2O3NPs, thereby conferring negative surface charge on the particles across a wide range of pH values. This provided electrostatic stabilisation and considerably reduced the particle aggregation effect. DOM-coated Fe2O3NPs also proved to be more stable under high ionic strength conditions. The presence of CaCl2, however, even at low concentrations, induced the aggregation of DOM-coated Fe2O3NPs, mainly via charge neutralisation and bridging. This has significant implications in regards to the reactivity and fate of these materials in the environment. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Chen, Z, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2013, 'A Critical Review on the End Uses of Recycled Water', CRITICAL REVIEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 43, no. 14, pp. 1446-1516.
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Recycled water provides a viable opportunity to supplement water supplies as well as alleviate environmental loads. The authors examine the sources of recycled water and discusses various end uses. They focus on reviewing the historical development and current status of recycled water on a global scale with containing the evolvement of wastewater treatment technologies, water quality guidelines, and public attitudes. The authors also illustrate typical case studies of recycled water in a number of countries and regions, including Australia, Asia, the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. These pilot studies can be good examples for the future projects. They identify the good prospects of further expansion and exploration of current and new end uses while emphasizing the integrated water planning and management as well as challenging and tasks in the future. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Chen, Z, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2013, 'Risk Control in Recycled Water Schemes', CRITICAL REVIEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 43, no. 22, pp. 2439-2510.
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Recycled water is becoming one of the indispensable and reliable water resources at present. When it is introduced as an alternative source, risks on human health and the environment become major constraints driving the application and extension of recycled water. The authors examine the sources and associated risks of recycled water and introduce the practical risk control technologies on various end uses. They also review some existing risk assessment models by comparing their strengths and weaknesses toward the good approach of integrated modeling. Some critical suggestions on risk management and communication are made based on the given information. © 2013 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Chen, Z, Ngo, HH, Guo, W & Wang, X 2013, 'Analysis of Sydney's recycled water schemes', FRONTIERS OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & ENGINEERING, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 608-615.
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© Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2012. Recycled water provides a viable opportunity to partially supplement fresh water supplies as well as substantially alleviate environmental loads. Currently, thousands of recycled water schemes have been successfully conducted in a number of countries and Sydney is one of the leading cities, which has made massive effort to apply water reclamation, recycling and reuse. This study aims to make a comprehensive analysis of recycled water schemes in Sydney for a wide range of end uses such as landscape irrigation, industrial process uses and residential uses (e.g., golf course irrigation, industrial cooling water reuse, toilet flushing and clothes washing etc.). For each representative recycled water scheme, this study investigates the involved wastewater treatment technologies, the effluent quality compared with specified guideline values and public attitudes toward different end uses. Based on these obtained data, multi criteria analysis (MCA) in terms of risk, cost-benefit, environmental and social aspects can be performed. Consequently, from the analytical results, the good prospects of further expansion and exploration of current and new end uses were identified toward the integrated water planning and management. The analyses could also help decision makers in making a sound judgment for future recycled water projects.

Chen, Z, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Wang, XC, Miechel, C, Corby, N, Listowski, A & O'Halloran, K 2013, 'Analysis of social attitude to the new end use of recycled water for household laundry in Australia by the regression models', JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, vol. 126, no. 1, pp. 79-84.
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Recycled water for household laundry can be regarded as a promising strategy to alleviate the current demand on scarce water supplies. Public acceptability becomes fairly important to ensure the successful establishment and development of this new end use. To address the issue, this study conducted social surveys in two locations of Australia, Port Macquarie and Melbourne, where respondents were asked 17 questions. The regression models provide conclusions about which characteristics are more likely to lead to the acceptance of recycled water from society. Three attitudinal variables (RWAlterDW, Attitude and Cost) and three psychological variables (Odour, Reading and SmallUnit) were found to be the key driving forces behind domestic water reuse behaviour. These findings could drive the future research direction to achieve better public perception of this new end use of recycled water. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Chon, K, Cho, J & Shon, HK 2013, 'A pilot-scale hybrid municipal wastewater reclamation system using combined coagulation and disk filtration, ultrafiltration, and reverse osmosis: Removal of nutrients and micropollutants, and characterization of membrane foulants', Bioresource Technology, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 109-116.
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A pilot-scale municipal wastewater reclamation system using combined coagulation and disk filtration (CCDF), ultrafiltration (UF), and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane has been built to investigate removal of water contaminants and fouling mitigation. The reclaimed water using the pilot system could meet draft regulations on wastewater reuse of the California Department of Public Health (DOC: 0.5 mgC/L; TN: 5 mgN/L). The removal of micropolluants by the CCDF process and UF could not be evaluated by their MW, Log D, and charge characteristics. However, they were identified as governing factors affecting the removal of micropollutants by the RO. The CCDF process might effectively remove particulate materials capable of contributing to cake layer formation on the UF membrane surfaces but the residual coagulants provided a strong effect on fouling formation of the UF membrane. Thus, hydrophobic fractions of the desorbed UF membrane foulants were higher than those of the desorbed RO membrane foulants.

Chon, K, Cho, J & Shon, HK 2013, 'Fouling characteristics of a membrane bioreactor and nanofiltration hybrid system for municipal wastewater reclamation', Bioresource Technology, vol. 130, pp. 239-247.
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A laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) and nanofiltration (NF) hybrid system has been built to investigate effects of changes in characteristics of effluent organic matter by the MBR on fouling characteristics of the NF membranes. Large amounts of polysaccharide-like substances with small molecular weight and strong fluorescence intensity at the excitation wavelength of 230 nm and the emission wavelength of 420 nm were produced by microbial growth in the MBR. These substances had a great influence on fouling formation of the NF membranes. Fouling characteristics of the MBR were governed by both hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions while hydrophilic fractions were found as major constituents of the desorbed NF membrane foulants. Flux decline rates of the NF membranes were closely associated with differences in their fouling layer compositions, meaning that performances of the NF membranes (i.e., flux decline) could be influenced by the membrane characteristics (i.e., surface zeta potential and contact angle).

Consoli, NC, Festugato, L, da Rocha, CG & Cruz, RC 2013, 'Key parameters for strength control of rammed sand–cement mixtures: Influence of types of portland cement', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 49, pp. 591-597.
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Da Rocha, CG & Formoso, CT 2013, 'Configuring product variants in customisa-tion strategies for house-building', Open House International, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 48-56.
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Mass customisation involves the provision of product variants that fulfil clients' specific requirements seeking to increase product values. The configuration process involves a chain of decisions, which needs to be undertaken to create product variants that meet each client specific requirements. In this paper, this chain of decisions is conceptualized in terms of customisation units. Each customisation unit encompasses a customisable attribute (e.g. size, colour) and the range of items offered for this attribute. A design science approach was adopted in this investigation. In this approach, knowledge is produced by creating and testing a solution, which provides practical and theoretical contributions. A method is proposed to analyse and improve the configuration process by conceptualizing this process as a tree diagram. The proposed method is used to analyse the configuration process developed by organisations of the house-building sector based in the U.K. and Brazil: a manufacturer of floor tiles, contractors, and registered providers. These analyses enabled a comparison of the distinct configuration processes adopted. In addition, problems associated to the configuration process (such as burden of choice) and opportunities for improvements were also identified. Finally, alternative chains of decision were also devised based on these analyses to address the problems identified.

da Rocha, CG & Kemmer, SL 2013, 'Method to Implement Delayed Product Differentiation in Construction of High-Rise Apartment Building Projects', Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, vol. 139, no. 10, pp. 05013001-05013001.
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Dackermann, U, Li, J & Samali, B 2013, 'Identification of member connectivity and mass changes on a two-storey framed structure using frequency response functions and artificial neural networks', JOURNAL OF SOUND AND VIBRATION, vol. 332, no. 16, pp. 3636-3653.
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This paper presents a structural health monitoring (SHM) technique that utilises pattern changes in frequency response functions (FRFs) as input parameters for a system of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to assess the structural condition of a structure. To verify the proposed method, it is applied to numerical and experimental models of a two-storey framed structure, on which structural damage is induced by member connectivity and mass changes, respectively. For the numerical structure, simulated time-history data are polluted with various levels of white Gaussian noise in order to realistically represent field-testing conditions. As a damage indicator, residual FRFs are used, which are derived by calculating the differences in FRF data between the undamaged/baseline structure and the structure with changed joint conditions or added mass. To obtain suitable patterns for neural network training, principal component analysis (PCA) techniques are adopted to reduce the size of the residual FRF data and to filter noise. A hierarchical system of individual ANNs, termed network ensemble, is then trained to map changes in PCA-reduced residual FRFs to damage conditions. The results obtained for both damage investigations, namely joint damage and mass changes, demonstrate that the proposed SHM technique is accurate and reliable in assessing the condition of the test structure numerically and experimentally based on direct FRF measurements and network ensemble analysis. From the outcomes of the individual networks, it is found that the proposed hierarchical network ensemble approach is highly efficient in filtering poor results of underperforming networks obtained from measurement locations with low damage sensitivity. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Dackermann, U, Li, J, Rijal, R & Samali, B 2013, 'A Vibration-Based Approach for the Estimation of the Loss of Composite Action in Timber Composite Systems', STRUCTURAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT OF TIMBER STRUCTURES, vol. 778, pp. 462-469.
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This paper presents a novel approach for the determination of the loss of composite action for timber composite systems using only measurements from non-destructive vibration testing. Traditionally, the composite action of a system is evaluated from static load testing using deflection measurements. However, static load testing is expensive, time consuming and inappropriate for existing flooring systems. The method proposed in this paper is based on the Damage Index (DI) method, which uses changes in modal strain energies, to detect locations and severities of damage. In the proposed method, a new Loss of Composite Action Index (LCAI), which is derived from direct mode shape measurements obtained from dynamic testing, is introduced to evaluate the loss of composite action. The proposed method is tested and validated on numerical and experimental models of a timber composite beam structure, which consists of two timber components that are connected with different numbers of screws to simulate various degrees of partial composite states. The results obtained from the new method are very encouraging and show a clear trend of the proposed dynamic-based LCAI in indicating the loss of composite action in the investigated timber composite structure. © (2013) Trans Tech Publicutions, Switzerland.

Daqamseh, ST, Mansor, S, Pradhan, B, Billa, L & Mahmud, AR 2013, 'Potential fish habitat mapping using MODIS-derived sea surface salinity, temperature and chlorophyll-a data: South China Sea Coastal areas, Malaysia', Geocarto International, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 546-560.
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Devkota, KC, Regmi, AD, Pourghasemi, HR, Yoshida, K, Pradhan, B, Ryu, IC, Dhital, MR & Althuwaynee, OF 2013, 'Landslide susceptibility mapping using certainty factor, index of entropy and logistic regression models in GIS and their comparison at Mugling–Narayanghat road section in Nepal Himalaya', Natural Hazards, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 135-165.
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Ding, G 2013, 'Demolish or refurbish – Environmental benefits of housing conservation', Construction Economics and Building, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 18-34.
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Climate change and energy efficiency are some of the most pressing issues facing China today. With its economic growth since 1978, the government has struggled to contain environmental damages and social unrest related to the economy’s rapid transformation. With the rapid growth in population and urbanization the demand for housing has escalated and traditional housing has been under threat of demolition to make way for new construction. Traditional housing is generally considered wasteful in its use of land and/or energy, and is often demolished for more intensive and more energy-efficient housing, despite the resulting loss of embodied energy and urban amenity. A research project was undertaken to study the environmental performance of traditional housing in Hangzhou. The project looks into analyzing and comparing embodied energy and CO2 for seven dwellings. In addition indoor climate data were recorded and collected in the form of hourly temperature and humidity readings for one year in six local houses and in a modern unit as a control for one year. The research results reveal that there is little difference in environmental performance between traditional and conventional modern construction and the value of conservation rather than demolition as a strategic development for the construction industry.

Ding, G & Forsythe, PJ 2013, 'Sustainable construction: life cycle energy analysis of construction on sloping sites for residential buildings', Construction Management and Economics, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 254-265.
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In 2010, the Australian residential construction sector contributed about 28% of the value of all construction and was responsible for 8% of the total energy consumption. Residential construction will continue to increase to cope with the demand due to population growth. Owing to land scarcity, construction on sloping sites has become a common construction method for residential development in Australia. This method has economic benefits but poses environmental issues as it damages topsoil, disturbs natural drainage and groundwater pathways and imposes additional stress on soil under fill. The life cycle energy consumption of the construction process is examined in relation to residential projects on sloping sites on a range of slopes and soil types in New South Wales, Australia. Forty-one detached dwellings were selected and a service life of 60 years assumed for the study. The research findings reveal that the slope for each type of soil has a positive correlation with life cycle energy consumption. As part of the onsite construction process, the results also show that the energy consumption of construction on sloping sites plays a significant factor in the life cycle energy analysis of a building. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Ding, GKC 2013, 'Strategies for sustainable housing development-the challenges from renewable energy', International Journal for Housing Science and Its Applications, vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 239-248.
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One-fifth of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions come from households. There are 7 million households in Australia and each is producing about 15 tonnes of greenhouse gas every year. Energy use, car use and waste are the largest sources of household emissions. Improving the energy efficiency of homes is one of the most effective ways of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and has been the main focus of the government's energy policy. In addition to the introduction of BASIX as mandatory to all new homes in NSW in 2004, the federal and state governments have introduced incentive schemes to subsidize Australian homes to install solar panels and other renewable energy technologies as a way to improve energy performance of existing homes since 2006. This paper examines the opportunities and challenges of renewable energy in improving energy efficiency of existing dwellings. The paper also presents the results of an economic analysis of renewable energy source in a dwelling in NSW. Finally a strategic direction of providing affordable and environmentally sustainable practices in upgrading existing homes to improve energy efficiency is also developed and discussed. Copyright © 2013 IAHS.

Diyaljee, V 2013, 'Discussion of “Stress-Strain Degradation Response of Railway Ballast Stabilized with Geosynthetics” by Buddhima Indraratna and Sanjay Nimbalkar', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 139, no. 12, pp. 2232-2233.
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Dom, NC, Ahmad, AH, Latif, ZA, Ismail, R & Pradhan, B 2013, 'Coupling of remote sensing data and environmental-related parameters for dengue transmission risk assessment in Subang Jaya, Malaysia', Geocarto International, vol. 28, no. 3, pp. 258-272.
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Dragos, J & Wu, C 2013, 'A new general approach to derive normalised pressure impulse curves', International Journal of Impact Engineering, vol. 62, pp. 1-12.
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Dragos, J, Wu, C & Oehlers, DJ 2013, 'Simplification of fully confined blasts for structural response analysis', Engineering Structures, vol. 56, pp. 312-326.
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Dragos, J, Wu, C & Vugts, K 2013, 'Pressure-Impulse Diagrams for an Elastic-Plastic Member under Confined Blasts', International Journal of Protective Structures, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 143-162.
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Pressure-impulse (P-I) diagrams based on the equivalent single-degree-of-freedom approach (SDOF) have been used during building design in order to assess the effects of blasts on structures. They provide an easy way to describe the likely outcome of the combination of blast pressures and impulses on a particular structural element in a building at the moment an explosion occurs. However, only P-I diagrams of structural members under external blasts have been addressed in current guidelines and previous studies. Due to the complexity of confined scenarios, confined blast pressure-time histories cannot be approximated by simplified representations of pressure-time histories used for external blasts, such as triangular shapes representing linear decay or curves indicating exponential decay. Rather, they should be simplified as bilinear pressure-time histories. Thus, SDOF models which incorporate bilinear blast loads were developed to predict the response of a member with a bilinear, elastic-plastic-hardening, resistance-deflection function. Then using the developed SDOF model, normalised P-I Diagrams for structural members with bilinear resistance-deflection functions under bilinear blasts were generated. These results were then used to undertake a parametric study to investigate the influence of varying blast load shapes and varying bilinear resistance-deflection function shapes on the normalised P-I curves. Also, comparisons against other techniques employed to eliminate pulse load shape effects were also undertaken for bilinear pulse loads and bilinear resistance-deflection function shapes.

Dragos, J, Wu, C, Haskett, M & Oehlers, D 2013, 'Derivation of Normalized Pressure Impulse Curves for Flexural Ultra High Performance Concrete Slabs', Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 139, no. 6, pp. 875-885.
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El Saliby, I, Erdei, L, Kim, J-H & Shon, HK 2013, 'Adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue over hydrogen-titanate nanofibres produced by a peroxide method', WATER RESEARCH, vol. 47, no. 12, pp. 4115-4125.
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In this study, Degussa P25 TiO2 was partially dissolved in a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydroxide at high pH. The fabrication of nanofibres proceeded by the hydrothermal treatment of the solution at 80 C. This was followed by acid wash in HCl at pH 2 for 60 min, which resulted in the formation of hydrogenetitanate nanofibres. The nanofibres were annealed at 550 C for 6 h to produce crystalline anatase nanofibres. The nanofibres were characterised for physico-chemical modifications and tested for the adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue as a model water pollutant. An average specific surface area of 31.54 m2/g, average pore volume of 0.10 cm3/g and average pore size of 50 A were recorded. The nanofibres were effective adsorbents of the model pollutant and adsorbents and good photocatalysts under simulated solar light illumination. No reduction in photocatalytic activity was observed over three complete treatment cycles, and the effective separation of nanofibres was achieved by gravity settling resulting in low residual solution turbidity.

Elsener, R, Dackermann, U, Li, J, Samali, B & Crews, K 2013, 'Experimental Investigations of Material Properties of Timber Utility Poles using various Material Testing Approaches', STRUCTURAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT OF TIMBER STRUCTURES, vol. 778, pp. 265-272.
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Fam, W, Phuntsho, S, Lee, JH & Shon, HK 2013, 'Performance comparison of thin-film composite forward osmosis membranes', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 51, no. 31-33, pp. 6274-6280.
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Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging low-energy technology. Much effort was given on developing a new membrane material and engineering membrane structure to improve the performance of FO membranes. The performances of two newly developed polyamide-based thin-film composite (TFC) FO membranes were tested and compared with the commercially available cellulose triacetate (CTA) FO membrane. The intrinsic properties of the two TFC FO membranes determined in RO experiments indicate superior performance of the membranes. When tested in FO experiments, TFC membranes delivered consistent results, confirming their outstanding permeability and selectivity properties. The study shows that future studies on membrane fouling will be necessary to have a better understanding of membrane performance and to further optimize membrane properties. © 2013 Copyright Balaban Desalination Publications.

Fan, J, Wang, W, Zhang, B, Guo, Y, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Zhang, J & Wu, H 2013, 'Nitrogen removal in intermittently aerated vertical flow constructed wetlands: Impact of influent COD/N ratios', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 143, no. 1, pp. 461-466.
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The performance response of eight vertical flow constructed wetlands (VFCWs) to different influent COD/N ratios and intermittent aeration in domestic wastewater treatment was investigated. Almost complete nitrification was obtained by intermittent aeration, which well developed alternate anaerobic and aerobic conditions for nitrification and denitrification. Sufficient carbon source supply resulted from influent COD/N ratio of 10 simultaneously obtained high removals of COD (96%), ammonia nitrogen (99%) and total nitrogen (90%) in intermittently aerated VFCWs. In all non-aerated VFCWs, poor nitrification was observed due to oxygen deficiency whilst high COD/N ratios further led to lower COD and nitrogen removal efficiency. The results suggest that intermittent aeration combined with high influent COD/N ratios could achieve high nitrogen removal in VFCWs.

Fan, J, Zhang, B, Zhang, J, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Liu, F, Guo, Y & Wu, H 2013, 'Intermittent aeration strategy to enhance organics and nitrogen removal in subsurface flow constructed wetlands', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 117-122.
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In this study, an intermittent-aerated subsurface flow constructed wetland (SFCW) A was set up to assess its performance in decentralized rural sewage treatment. A conventional SFCW B and a subsurface wastewater infiltration system (SWIS C) were also constructed for comparison. Alternate anaerobic and aerobic conditions were well developed by intermittent aeration. High removal of organic pollutants (29.3 g m-2 d-1), ammonium nitrogen (3.5 g m-2 d-1) and total nitrogen (3.3 g m-2 d-1) were obtained simultaneously in SFCW A compared with SFCW B and SWIS C. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis proved that the intermittent aeration obviously enhanced the growth of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in SFCW A. These results suggest that intermittent aeration strategy is reliable to enhance the performance of SFCWs in decentralized rural sewage treatment.

Fang, J, Gao, Y, Sun, G & Li, Q 2013, 'Multiobjective reliability-based optimization for design of a vehicledoor', Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, vol. 67, pp. 13-21.
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Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2013, 'Optimising the pattern of semi-rigid columns to improve performance of rail tracks overlying soft soil formation', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 89-97.
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With Australia facing a rapid increase in population in the next 30 years, the government is being proactive in handling the forecasted growth. The release of 2010 Metropolitan Transport Plan by the New South Wales (NSW) Government shows that the State of NSW will see an increase in commuter travel by rail. The NSW rail system is one of the most complex networks in the world and due to population growth, the network will require further expansion with construction of new railway lines partly on weak and marginal ground and will also require more frequent train running on existing lines. This study seeks to identify the effectiveness of semi-rigid inclusion ground improvement techniques particularly stone columns and deep soil mixing in controlling settlement of soft soils when placed under the dead loads of the rail structure and the large live loads of freight trains. The employed numerical study assesses the relationship between the column position in the track cross section and the overall settlement of the ballasted rail formation. The numerical results show that the overall settlement of the track reduces significantly with the use of columns close to the centre of the track and not just under the rail. In addition, application of one layer of geogrids between sub-ballast and sub-grade assists to reduce the maximum settlement of track decreasing the future maintenance costs.

Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2013, 'PREDICTING SETTLEMENT OF CHEMICALLY STABILISED LANDFILLS', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOMATE, vol. 5, no. 10, pp. 700-705.

Fatahi, B, Fatahi, B, Le, TM & Khabbaz, H 2013, 'Small-strain properties of soft clay treated with fibre and cement', GEOSYNTHETICS INTERNATIONAL, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 286-300.
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To improve the dynamic properties of soft soil, the cement treatment technique combined with fibre reinforcement can be employed. In this study, the effects of two types of fibres (polypropylene and recycled carpet) on the hardening process and small-strain properties of cement-treated kaolinite and bentonite clays are investigated. Cement-treated clay specimens were prepared using cement contents of 5%, 10% and 15% by weight of dry soil for the kaolinite samples, and 30%, 40% and 50% for the bentonite samples. To investigate and understand the influence of different fibre types and contents, three different percentages of fibre content were adopted: 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.5% polypropylene fibres, and 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% carpet fibres. The results of bender element tests on 126 cylindrical samples of cement-treated clay with various cement and fibre contents were analysed to discern the relationships between fibre and cement content and the small-strain mechanical properties, including the shear wave velocity and maximum small-strain shear modulus of the treated soil. The influence of fibres and cement contents on the hardening time of treated soil has also been investigated. © 2013 Thomas Telford Ltd.

Fatahi, B, Le, TM, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2013, 'Shrinkage Properties of Soft Clay Treated with Cement and Geofibers', Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 1421-1435.
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In this study, effects of two types of geofibers, namely polypropylene and recycled carpet, on three dimensional shrinkage properties of cement treated kaolinite and bentonite clays are investigated. Cement treated clay specimens were prepared with cement contents of 5, 10, and 15 % by weight of dry soil for kaolinite samples, and 30, 40 and 50 % for bentonite samples. To investigate and understand the influence of different fiber types and contents, three different percentages of fiber content (i.e. 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 % polypropylene fibers; and 0.5, 0.75 and 1 % carpet fibers) were adopted. The results of shrinkage tests on 126 cylindrical samples of cement treated clay with various cement and fiber contents were analysed to understand the relationships between these parameters and the shrinkage percentage of treated soil. Results of this study indicate that combination of cement and fiber is effective in reducing the volume change of clayey soils undergoing drying process. In the applied ranges of cement and fiber contents, the influence of cement addition on the shrinkage reduction is more significant than the addition of fibers for the treated kaolinite. However, addition of fibers in curtailing the shrinkage of bentonite clay is more significant than the cement addition. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Fatahi, B, Le, TM, Le, MQ & Khabbaz, H 2013, 'Soil creep effects on ground lateral deformation and pore water pressure under embankments', Geomechanics and Geoengineering, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 107-124.
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Analysing the behaviour of the soft ground under embankments is a challenging task and is of significant interest to practising geotechnical engineers. This paper revisits a well known case study of an embankment of Boston Blue Clay, which was thoroughly instrumented and measured with piezometers, settlement rods and inclinometers over a long time period during and after construction. The soil parameters were very comprehensively collected by both in situ and laboratory tests in several major test programs. The behaviour of the ground considering the modified Cam-Clay model including and excluding soil creep is simulated using finite element method. The analysed data are verified with field measurements and a parametric study is conducted to evaluate the influence of creep index on excess pore water pressures generated and the displacement of the ground under the embankment. It is observed that both horizontal displacements and excess pore water pressures of the ground under the embankment increased by the creep index. Thus effects of soil creep should be precisely considered in predicting the ground performance under embankments. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Fauzi, H, Metselaar, HSC, Mahlia, TMI, Silakhori, M & Nur, H 2013, 'Phase change material: Optimizing the thermal properties and thermal conductivity of myristic acid/palmitic acid eutectic mixture with acid-based surfactants', Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 60, no. 1-2, pp. 261-265.
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Forsythe, P, Jupp, J & Sawhney, A 2013, 'Building Information Modelling in Tertiary Construction Project Management Education: A Programme-wide Implementation Strategy', Journal for Education in the Built Environment, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 16-34.
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This paper reports on the on-going development of teaching and learning supported by Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the undergraduate Construction Project Management Programme at the University of Technology Sydney. BIM is a model-driven approach to designing, constructing, operating and maintaining buildings and civil engineering facilities. The model that forms the core of the BIM approach is a smart, shared and computable three-dimensional model of the building or the civil engineering facility. At its heart, BIM and Virtual Construction Models (VCMs) are used to facilitate a more integrated and visual mode of teaching. The approach provides a new basis for developing problem based learning - one that has the potential to allow students to aggregate their learning around a central project whilst enabling problems to be scaled at different levels of complexity. This approach aims to better integrate and link individual subjects together as well as improve the development of core student attributes such as communication, understanding, decision making, collaboration and information gathering skills; very much mimicking the on-going technology driven transformation happening in industry. The VCMs aim to be regularly used in various formats as students progress through their undergraduate degree programme - and we adopt the term `vertical problems' to capture the way models and problem based learning are being utilised, where staff author `sub-plots' that utilise information models in a way that best suits their specific subjects, e.g. cost, time, quality, sustainability subject areas. To this end, the article reports on findings from the research, development and early implementation stages of a programme-wide teaching and learning proposition supported by BIM. This includes a typology that helps target varying degrees of model utilisation and diffusion in given subjects and transitional requirements for both staff and students.

Fu, Q, Halim, A, Kim, J, Scofield, JMP, Gurr, PA, Kentish, SE & Qiao, GG 2013, 'Highly permeable membrane materials for CO2 capture', Journal of Materials Chemistry A, vol. 1, no. 44, pp. 13769-13769.
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Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA, Henderson, RK, Poussade, Y, Drewes, JE & Nghiem, LD 2013, 'Effects of membrane fouling on N-nitrosamine rejection by nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 427, pp. 311-319.
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Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA, Roux, A, Poussade, Y, Drewes, JE & Nghiem, LD 2013, 'N-nitrosamine rejection by reverse osmosis membranes: A full-scale study', Water Research, vol. 47, no. 16, pp. 6141-6148.
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Fujioka, T, Oshima, N, Suzuki, R, Khan, SJ, Roux, A, Poussade, Y, Drewes, JE & Nghiem, LD 2013, 'Rejection of small and uncharged chemicals of emerging concern by reverse osmosis membranes: The role of free volume space within the active skin layer', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 116, pp. 426-432.
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Grassman, TJ, Carlin, JA, Galiana, B, Yang, L-M, Yang, F, Mills, MJ & Ringel, SA 2013, 'Nucleation-related defect-free GaP/Si(100) heteroepitaxy via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 102, no. 14, pp. 142102-142102.
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GaP/Si heterostructures were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition in which the formation of all heterovalent nucleation-related defects (antiphase domains, stacking faults, and microtwins) were fully and simultaneously suppressed, as observed via transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This was achieved through a combination of intentional Si(100) substrate misorientation, Si homoepitaxy prior to GaP growth, and GaP nucleation by Ga-initiated atomic layer epitaxy. Unintentional (311) Si surface faceting due to biatomic step-bunching during Si homoepitaxy was observed by atomic force microscopy and TEM and was found to also yield defect-free GaP/Si interfaces.

Grassman, TJ, Ratcliff, C, Carlin, AM, Carlin, JA, Yang, L, Mills, MJ & Ringel, SA 2013, '(Invited) III-V/GaP Epitaxy on Si for Advanced Photovoltaics and Green Light Emitters', ECS Transactions, vol. 50, no. 9, pp. 321-332.
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Epitaxy of III-V compound semiconductors on Si-based substrates with lattice constants between Si and Ge is of great interest for photovoltaic applications as it opens a pathway for achieving near ideal bandgap profiles for maximum solar energy conversion efficiency while simultaneously providing a low-cost Si production platform for III-V cell technologies. The same range of lattice constants also enables access to direct gap III-Vs that can fill the 'green gap' present in light emitting devices. This presentation focuses on the materials and III-V/Si heteroepitaxy issues that are currently being addressed, which can lead to breakthrough technologies for both photovoltaics and light emitting devices. We focus on an approach in which the grading between Si and Ge (GaAs) is achieved via wider bandgap GaAsyP1-y metamorphic buffers, from GaP to GaAs, enabling access to the underlying Si as an active solar cell component.

Guadie, A, Xia, S, Zhang, Z, Guo, W, Ngo, HH & Hermanowicz, SW 2013, 'Simultaneous removal of phosphorus and nitrogen from sewage using a novel combo system of fluidized bed reactor-membrane bioreactor (FBR-MBR)', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 149, no. 1, pp. 276-285.
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A FBRMBR combo system was designed as a novel approach for simultaneous phosphorus and nitrogen removal from sewage. The combo system was evaluated more than 7 months under variable pH (7.5-9.5), hydraulic retention times (HRT = 2-10 h), intermittent aeration cycles (IAC) (on/off = 60/60-15/45 min) and sludge retention times (SRT = 1060 d). Prior recovery of phosphorus as struvite in the FBR enhanced nitrogen and COD removal efficiency in MBR. Under optimum operating conditions (pH = 9, HRT = 6 h and IAC = 45/15 min), PO43-P, NH4-N and COD removal efficiencies were 92.6 ± 4.2, 98.7 ± 1.2 and 99.3 ± 0.5%, respectively. Stable mixed liquor suspended solid concentration (3.0-5.0 g/L); enhanced nitrificationdenitrification activity (78-92%) and reduced transmembrane pressure were also achieved. Compared to soluble microbial products, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) showed strong correlation with fast membrane fouling. Among EPS components, carbohydrate rather than protein was associated with membrane fouling. Except HRT, all parameters considered (pH, IAC, SRT) showed a significant effect on removal efficiency.

Ha, QP, Nguyen, MT, Li, J & Kwok, NM 2013, 'Smart Structures With Current-Driven MR Dampers: Modeling and Second-Order Sliding Mode Control', IEEE-ASME TRANSACTIONS ON MECHATRONICS, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 1702-1712.
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Smart structures are civil or mechanical structures that can automatically and intelligently react to external dynamic loadings such as vibration shocks, strong winds, destructive waves, and earthquakes. The use of magnetorheological (MR) dampers has been of increasing interest in smart structures as they have reliable, stable and fail-safe operations, small energy requirements, and fast responses. The challenges of MR damper structural control rest with the complex dynamics involved, high nonlinearity due to the force-velocity hysteresis, nonaffinity, and constraints of the control system with the magnetization current as its input. To address these problems, this paper presents the modeling and control design as well as the implementation results of a second-order sliding mode controller for the MR dampers embedded in the building structures subject to quake-induced vibrations. Based on the static hysteresis model of the MR damper using computationally tractable algebraic expressions, algorithms are proposed to control directly the magnetization current to the dampers, configured in a differential mode to counteract the offset force. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is verified in simulation by using a building model under quake-like excitations. The experimental results are provided on a laboratorial setup tested on a shake table. © 2013 IEEE.

Hagare, D, Hagare, P & Borg, M 2013, 'Economic Evaluation of Stormwater Harvesting-A Case Study', JOURNAL OF THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 285-293.
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Harvesting Stormwater is gaining importance as it is viewed as a potential alternative source for meeting non-potable water demand from consumers. However, there are not many economic studies carried out on the cost of supplying stormwater to consumers. The study reported in this paper makes an effort to estimate the cost of supplying the stormwater to consumers using a case study from Gosford Local Government Area (GLGA). A significant finding of this study is that the larger urbanised catchments are the most suitable locations for stormwater harvesting projects. The results obtained indicate that the cost of supplying treated stormwater for non-potable purposes varied between $3/kL and $5/kL, which is significantly higher than the cost of town water supply. In depth analysis revealed that, the major component of the capital cost is attributed to the cost of distribution system. Therefore, in areas that are already serviced by dual reticulation, it is possible that the cost of supplying stormwater would be equal to or lower than that of the existing town water supply. In addition, further refinement of cost functions can lead to more realistic $/kL values for the water harvested from stormwater.

Heitor, A, Indraratna, B & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2013, 'Laboratory study of small-strain behavior of a compacted silty sand', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 179-188.
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Small-strain behavior is a key indicator for assessing the performance of compacted fills. Compaction conditions, i.e., initial moisture content and applied energy, govern compaction effectiveness and thus, the structure and matric suction of compacted soil. This paper presents an experimental study of the small-strain behavior of compacted silty sand prepared with different compaction conditions. Specimens with varying initial moisture contents and compaction energies were tested with bender elements to determine the small-strain shear modulus (G0), while the post-compaction matric suction was measured using the filter paper method and tensiometer. The experimental data suggest a pronounced relationship between G0and the degree of saturation (Sr) of the as-compacted soil specimens. X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans were performed to examine structural changes of selected specimens upon compaction. The laboratory results are also examined in light of common end-product specifications, which show that it is beneficial to compact the soil slightly dry of optimum moisture content from the modulus point of view.

Hoque, MA-A, Saika, U, Sarder, BC & Biswas, KK 2013, 'Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts of Salinity Intrusion in the Coastal Area: A Case Study on Munshigong Union, Shymnagor, Satkhira', Jahangirnagar University Environmental Bulletin, vol. 2, pp. 41-49.
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Jahangirnagar University Environmental Bulletin, Vol.2, 41-49, 2013 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jueb.v2i0.16329

Hossain, MD, Ngo, H & Guo, W 2013, 'Introductory of Microsoft Excel SOLVER function-Spreadsheet method for isotherm and kinetics modelling of metals biosorption in water and wastewater', Journal of Water Sustainability, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 223-237.
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This paper aims to introduce a simple method to run a complicated non-linear analysis of isotherm and kinetics models for metals biosorption based on input functions of spreadsheets. A robust method is demonstrated here to exploit the `SOLVER function available in Microsoft (MS) Excel spreadsheet. It is more economic and user friendly than specialized computer programmes. In this study, an iterative method was proposed to produce the optimal goodness of fit between experimental data and predicted data. This was described the implementing method of a set of real data (garden grass as biosorbent) and the predicted results were compared with linear analysis and MATLAB analysis. The R2 values found from MS Excel spreadsheet were 0.995, 0.999 and 0.996 while being 0.997, 1.000 and 0.999 by MATLAB for copper, lead and cadmium adsorption, respectively onto garden grass. The prediction of maximum adsorption, qm by excel (59.336, 63.663 and 42.310 mg/g) were very similar to MATLAB (59.889, 63.509 and 41.560 mg/g). The predictions of kinetics parameters were also close to MATLAB analysis. Hence, the MS Excel Spreadsheet method could be a handy tool for biosorption models.

Hu, H, Jiang, X, Li, Y, Wang, J & Qian, S 2013, 'Integrated design and controllability test of piezoelectric self-powered MR absorber', Zhendong Ceshi Yu Zhenduan/Journal of Vibration, Measurement and Diagnosis, vol. 33, no. 4, pp. 712-718.
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Aiming at the piezoelectric self-powered MR absorber, the feasibility of structure composite and function integration is studied, by combining the semi-active vibration control device based on MR technology with energy harvesting equipment based on piezoelectric vibrator. A theory model of piezoelectric self-powered MR absorber is established. Then, its magnetic circuit structure of MR absorber is optimized and designed by using the numerical simulation method, its influences of piezoelectric vibrator's geometric parameters on the outputting voltage of the vibration energy harvesting equipment are also analyzed, and the vibration energy harvesting circuit is simulated and tested, respectively. The simulation results show that the current of 1.67 A could be provided into the coil of MR absorber once the ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator is excited by AC voltage source. Finally, an experimental platform is constructed in order to test its controllability of the piezoelectric self-powered MR absorber. The experimental results show that the ring-shaped piezoelectric vibrator could provide an enough amount of electrical energy for the piezoelectric self-powered MR absorber's semi-active vibration control, and its damping force achieves 2.4 times before and after the on-off controlling strategy.

Huang, Z, Eagles, M, Porter, S, Sorte, EG, Billet, B, Corey, RL, Conradi, MS & Zhao, J-C 2013, 'Thermolysis and solid state NMR studies of NaB₃H₈, NH₃B₃H₇, and NH₄B₃H₈', Dalton Trans., vol. 42, no. 3, pp. 701-708.
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Huang, Z, Lingam, HK, Chen, X, Porter, S, Du, A, Woodard, PM, Shore, SG & Zhao, J-C 2013, 'Synthesis, structural analysis, and thermal decomposition studies of [(NH3)2BH2]B3H8', RSC Advances, vol. 3, no. 20, pp. 7460-7460.
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Hussan, MJ, Hassan, MH, Kalam, MA & Memon, LA 2013, 'Tailoring key fuel properties of diesel–biodiesel–ethanol blends for diesel engine', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 51, pp. 118-125.
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Imran, A, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Varman, M, Hasmelidin, M, Mahmud, KAHA, Shahir, SA & Habibullah, M 2013, 'Study of Friction and Wear Characteristic of Jatropha Oil Blended Lube Oil', Procedia Engineering, vol. 68, pp. 178-185.
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Imran, A, Varman, M, Masjuki, HH & Kalam, MA 2013, 'Review on alcohol fumigation on diesel engine: A viable alternative dual fuel technology for satisfactory engine performance and reduction of environment concerning emission', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 26, pp. 739-751.
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Indraratna, B & Nimbalkar, S 2013, 'Closure to “Stress-Strain Degradation Response of Railway Ballast Stabilized with Geosynthetics” by Buddhima Indraratna and Sanjay Nimbalkar', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 139, no. 12, pp. 2233-2233.
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Indraratna, B & Nimbalkar, S 2013, 'Stress-Strain Degradation Response of Railway Ballast Stabilized with Geosynthetics', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 139, no. 5, pp. 684-700.
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Indraratna, B, Athukorala, R & Vinod, J 2013, 'Estimating the Rate of Erosion of a Silty Sand Treated with Lignosulfonate', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 139, no. 5, pp. 701-714.
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Indraratna, B, Balasubramaniam, AS, Poulos, H, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Ameratunga, J 2013, 'Performance and prediction of marine clay treated with vacuum and surcharge consolidation at port of brisbane', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 161-180.
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During the past decade, the application of vacuum preloading for stabilising soft coastal clay and other low-lying estuarine soils has become popular in Australia. The cost-effectiveness is a major factor in most projects in view of the significantly reduced time for achieving a relatively high degree of consolidation. Due to an increase in trade activities at the Port of Brisbane, new facilities on Fisherman Islands at the mouth of the Brisbane River will be constructed on the new outer area (235 ha) adjacent to the existing port facilities via land reclamation. A vacuum assisted surcharge load and conventional surcharge scheme in conjunction with prefabricated vertical drains was selected to reduce the required consolidation time through the deeper subsoil layers. The performance of the combined vacuum and surcharge fill system and the construction of the embankment are described in this paper. A comparison of the performance of the vacuum combined surcharge loading system with a standard surcharge fill highlights the clear benefits of vacuum consolidation. Field monitoring data are presented to demonstrate how the embankment performed during construction. The paper also evaluates the relative performance of the two contrasting preloading systems (i.e. vacuum and nonvacuum system). An analytical solution for radial consolidation considering both time-dependent surcharge loading and vacuum pressure is proposed to predict the settlements and associated excess pore pressures of the soft Holocene clay deposits.

Indraratna, B, Basack, S & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2013, 'Numerical Solution of Stone Column–Improved Soft Soil Considering Arching, Clogging, and Smear Effects', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 139, no. 3, pp. 377-394.
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Indraratna, B, Hussaini, SKK & Vinod, JS 2013, 'The lateral displacement response of geogrid-reinforced ballast under cyclic loading', Geotextiles and Geomembranes, vol. 39, pp. 20-29.
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Indraratna, B, Kianfar, K & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2013, 'Laboratory Evaluation of Coefficient of Radial Consolidation Based on Pore-Water-Pressure Dissipation and Settlement', GEOTECHNICAL TESTING JOURNAL, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 107-118.
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Indraratna, B, Ngo, NT & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2013, 'Deformation of Coal Fouled Ballast Stabilized with Geogrid under Cyclic Load', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 139, no. 8, pp. 1275-1289.
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This paper presents the results of laboratory investigations into the deformation of coal fouled ballast stabilized with geogrid at various degrees of fouling. A novel track process simulation apparatus was used to simulate realistic rail track conditions subjected to cyclic loading, and the void contamination index (VCI) was used to evaluate the level of ballast fouling. The experimental results show that coal fines act as a lubricant, causing grains of ballast to displace and rotate, and as a result, accelerate its deformation. However, coal fines also reduce ballast breakage because of a cushioning effect, that is, by reducing interparticle attrition. The inclusion of geogrid at the interface between the layer of ballast and subballast provides additional internal confinement and particle interlocking via geogrid apertures, which reduces deformation. A threshold value of VCI540% is proposed to assist practitioners for conducting track maintenance. If the level of fouling exceeds this threshold, the geogrid reinforcement significantly decreases its effectiveness and the fouled ballast exhibits a premature dilation. Based on the experimental results, an equation incorporating the VCI was proposed to predict the deformation of fresh and fouled ballast. This equation improves track design and assists in favorable decision support for track maintenance. Additionally, the discrete element method (DEM) was also used to capture the deformation of fouled ballast subjected to cyclic loading, whereas the DEM results were compared with experimental observations © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2013, 'Modernisation of Rail Tracks for Higher Speeds and Greater Freight', International Journal of Railway Technology, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 1-20.
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INDRARATNA, B, PREMADASA, W & BROWN, ET 2013, 'Shear behaviour of rock joints with unsaturated infill', Géotechnique, vol. 63, no. 15, pp. 1356-1360.
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Behaviour of soil-infilled rock joints has significant importance with respect to the strength of fractured rock mass. The presence of even a small amount of fine-grained infill material within a joint can reduce its shear strength considerably, depending on the degree of saturation of infill. Therefore, it is crucial to examine how the infill material can adversely affect the joint shear strength. Previous studies of infilled joints have mainly been focused on idealised regular joint patterns owing to the simplicity and reproducibility in laboratory testing. Current literature on infilled rock joints has also neglected the effect of the degree of saturation of infill on the shear behaviour. In most instances, fully saturated infill has been used or assumed, and the contribution of matric suction on the shear strength of joints having unsaturated infill has not been studied. In this study, a series of triaxial tests on natural joint profiles having joint roughness coefficient (JRC) of 10–12 is carried out at constant moisture content. A semi-empirical model is proposed and validated on the basis of laboratory data.

Indraratna, B, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Balasubramaniam, AS 2013, 'Ground improvement at the port of Brisbane, Australia using vertical drains and vacuum assisted preloading', Geotechnical Special Publication, no. 230, pp. 540-550.
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Soft clays in coastal areas have low shear strength and high compressibility. Thus construction activities for infrastructure developments in these deposits often pose geotechnical problems due to large time dependent settlements and lateral movements. Ground improvement techniques are adopted to reduce the water content of the soft clays by preloading techniques with vertical drains. Depending on the magnitude of the surcharge used substantial immediate settlement with lateral movements can takes place during preloading. This in turn causes stability problems in the loaded areas. The use of vacuum assisted preloading has now become a popular method in Australia where substantial loads need to be carried out to meet a desired rate of settlement and mitigate undrained failure. To assist the vacuum propagation to significant depths, vertical drains are used in conjunction. At the Port of Brisbane, Australia, vacuum assisted surcharge preloading and conventional surcharge preloading schemes were used to reduce the time required for consolidation and long term settlement in soft Holocene clays. The design of the combined vacuum and surcharge fill system and construction of the embankment are described in this paper. A comparison made on the performance of a combined vacuum surcharge loading system with a standard surcharge fill highlights the clear benefits of vacuum consolidation. Field monitoring data on surface and sub-surface settlements, pore pressures and lateral movements on test embankments performed during construction are presented. An analytical solution for radial consolidation that considers both time-dependent surcharge loading and vacuum pressure to predict the settlement and associated excess pore pressures in soft clay deposits is also proposed. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

INDRARATNA, B, TENNAKOON, N, NIMBALKAR, S & RUJIKIATKAMJORN, C 2013, 'Behaviour of clay-fouled ballast under drained triaxial testing', Géotechnique, vol. 63, no. 5, pp. 410-419.
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Contamination or fouling of rail ballast with external fines, including slurried and pumped subgrade material (e.g. clay and silt), is one of the primary reasons for track deterioration. Fouling causes differential settlement of the track, and also decreases the load-bearing capacity, owing to the reduction in the friction angle of the granular assembly. In certain circumstances, fouled ballast needs to be cleaned or replaced to maintain the desired track stiffness, load-bearing capacity and track alignment, all of which influence safety. This paper presents and discusses the results of a series of large-scale triaxial tests conducted on latite basalt, a rail ballast of volcanic origin, commonly used in Australia. Consolidated drained triaxial tests were conducted under three different levels of confining pressure and varying degrees of clay fouling. Stress–strain degradation characteristics are discussed in detail. This paper also describes the non-linear strength envelope and a novel empirical relationship to capture the detrimental effects of clay fouling on the performance of ballasted tracks.

Ismail, MS, Moghavvemi, M & Mahlia, TMI 2013, 'Analysis and evaluation of various aspects of solar radiation in the Palestinian territories', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 73, pp. 57-68.
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Ismail, MS, Moghavvemi, M & Mahlia, TMI 2013, 'Characterization of PV panel and global optimization of its model parameters using genetic algorithm', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 73, pp. 10-25.
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Ismail, MS, Moghavvemi, M & Mahlia, TMI 2013, 'Current utilization of microturbines as a part of a hybrid system in distributed generation technology', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 21, pp. 142-152.
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Ismail, MS, Moghavvemi, M & Mahlia, TMI 2013, 'Design of an optimized photovoltaic and microturbine hybrid power system for a remote small community: Case study of Palestine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 75, pp. 271-281.
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Ismail, MS, Moghavvemi, M & Mahlia, TMI 2013, 'Techno-economic analysis of an optimized photovoltaic and diesel generator hybrid power system for remote houses in a tropical climate', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 69, pp. 163-173.
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Jayawardhana, M, Zhu, X & Liyanapathirana, R 2013, 'Damage detection of reinforced concrete structures based on the Wiener Filter', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 57-70.
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This paper presents a novel decentralised structural damage detection method based on the Wiener filter. The Wiener filter is customarily used for filtering out the noise that has corrupted a signal, and it is also used for system identification by matching the output of the filter with that of the unknown system. In this study, a damage index based on the mean square error of the Wiener filter is proposed to indicate the damage in structures. The current measurement is the input of the filter and the response of the undamaged structure is the design signal. Another index calculated from the cross correlation responses of neighbouring sensors is used to determine the damage location. An experimental study has been carried out on a reinforced concrete structure. The results show that this method is effective and reliable for structural damage detection and localization. © Institution of Engineers Australia, 2013.

Jayawardhana, M, Zhu, XQ & Liyanapathirana, R 2013, 'An Experimental Study on Damage Detection of Concrete Structures Using Decentralized Algorithms', Advances in Structural Engineering, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 33-50.
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In this paper, an experimental study has been carried out to detect damage on a simply supported two-span reinforced concrete slab. Different crack damages are created by static loads on the slab and impact tests are carried out before and after removing the static loads. Two decentralized damage detection methods – Auto Correlation Function-Cross Correlation Function (ACF-CCF) method and Auto Regressive-Auto Regressive with exogenous input (AR-ARX) method, are used to localize damage from measured responses. The accuracy and sensitivity as well as the effect of sensor location and loading status of the structure were analysed with these two methods. The results show that the ACF-CCF method is more effective in detecting and locating damage than the AR-ARX method. The Novelty Index value of the ACF-CCF method could be a reliable indicator of damage in concrete structures.

Jayawardhana, M, Zhu, XQ, Liyanapathirana, R & Gunawardana, U 2013, 'Compressive Sensing for Structural Damage Detection of Reinforced Concrete Structures', Key Engineering Materials, vol. 569-570, pp. 742-750.
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High energy consumption, excessive data storage and transfer requirements are prevailing issues associated with structural health monitoring (SHM) systems, especially with those employing wireless sensors. Data compression is one of the techniques being explored to mitigate the effects of these issues. Compressive sensing (CS) introduces a means of reproducing a signal with a much less number of samples than the Nyquist's rate, reducing the energy consumption, data storage and transfer cost. This paper explores the applicability of CS for SHM, in particular for damage detection and localization. CS is implemented in a simulated environment to compress SHM data. The reconstructed signal is verified for accuracy using structural response data obtained from a series of tests carried out on a reinforced concrete (RC) slab. Results show that the reconstruction was close, but not exact as a consequence of the noise associated with the responses. However, further analysis using the reconstructed signal provided successful damage detection and localization results, showing that although the reconstruction using CS is not exact, it is sufficient to provide the crucial information of the existence and location of damage.

Jeong, S, Bae, H, Naidu, G, Jeong, D, Lee, S & Vigneswaran, S 2013, 'Bacterial community structure in a biofilter used as a pretreatment for seawater desalination', Ecological Engineering, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 370-381.
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In this study, two biofilters with different media, anthracite and granular activated carbon (GAC), were used to pre-treat seawater for desalination. Both biofilters had the same operating conditions that lasted for 75 days. The bacterial community struc

Jeong, S, Kim, S-J, Kim, CM, Vigneswaran, S, Nguyen, TV, Shon, H-K, Kandasamy, J & Kim, IS 2013, 'A detailed organic matter characterization of pretreated seawater using low pressure microfiltration hybrid systems', JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, vol. 428, pp. 290-300.
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In this study, two different submerged membrane hybrid systems (SMHSs) namely (i) submerged membrane coagulation hybrid system (SMCHS) and (ii) submerged membrane coagulation-adsorption hybrid system (SMCAHS) were investigated as pretreatment options for seawater reverse osmosis. Organic matters in seawater before and after pretreatment were characterized in terms of XAD fractionation, molecular weight distribution (MWD) and fluorescence. A detailed study on the seawater organic matter (SWOM) structure was made through 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR), pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-ion trap-time of fright (LC/MS-IT-TOF). The seawater investigated in this study is mainly composed of hydrophilic matter (57±3.2%). SMHSs removed a significant amount of organic matter. The EEM fluorescence showed a removal of humic-like materials by SMHSs. In addition, humic-like materials relative to protein-like compounds were reduced significantly but the aromaticity of humic-like materials increased. After pretreatment by SMHSs, humics and biopolymers of over 900Da. were found to be reduced and their structure associated with element composition was also changed. The transformation of the SWOM structure after SMHSs pretreatment may have been due to hydrolyzation or oxidization of the organic compounds such as humics and biopolymers resulting in poly-conjugation to aromatic compounds. SMHSs were effective in improving the RO performance leading to higher RO permeate flux and lower permeate flux decline. The pretreatment reduced the amount of foulants on the RO membrane. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Jeong, S, Kim, S-J, Kim, LH, Shin, MS, Vigneswaran, S, Nguyen, TV & Kim, IS 2013, 'Foulant analysis of a reverse osmosis membrane used pretreated seawater', JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, vol. 428, pp. 434-444.
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This study focused on the characterization of organic and biological foulants on reverse osmosis (RO) membrane and fouled RO membrane characterization with seawater pretreated by submerged membrane hybrid systems (SMHSs). New low pressure membrane based pretreatments namely submerged membrane coagulation hybrid system (SMCHS) and submerged membrane coagulation-adsorption hybrid system (SMCAHS) were investigated. Organic foulants on RO membrane were characterized in terms of molecular weight distribution (MWD), fluorescence and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) analyses. The organic foulants were mainly composed of high molecular weight matters representing biopolymers in the foulants. The fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (F-EEM) analysis showed that protein-like materials were dominant with samples pretreated by SMHSs. Humic-like materials which have lower aromaticity were also present in the foulant. Biological foulants were investigated in terms of total direct cell (TDC) count, cell viability and biomass activity (adenosine tri-phosphate; ATP). Biological fouling was found to be reduced by organic removal with SMHSs. The fouled membranes were characterized using environmental scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy, attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, zeta-potential measurement, atomic force microscopy, and contact angle measurement. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Jeong, S, Naidu, G & Vigneswaran, S 2013, 'Submerged membrane adsorption bioreactor as a pretreatment in seawater desalination for biofouling control', Bioresource Technology, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 57-64.
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Submerged membrane adsorption bioreactor (SMABR) was investigated as a pretreatment to reverse osmosis (RO). SMABR removed organic matter by adsorption and biological degradation. At a powder activated carbon (PAC) residence time of 66 d (1.5% of PAC replacement daily), higher organic removal was achieved with removal of a majority of biopolymers (9497%) and humics (7176%). A continuous MBR operation with the optimal PAC residence time of 66 d was conducted and compared with MBR with no PAC replenishment in terms of the removal of organic and microbes. High removal of organics of up to 72% was maintained with only a marginal increment of trans-membrane pressure and stable bioactivity (total cell number and adenosine tri-phosphate) during the 50 d of operation. The SMABR was found to be a sustainable biological pretreatment to RO with only a small amount of PAC requirement (2.14 g of PAC/m3 of seawater treated).

Jeong, S, Naidu, G, Vigneswaran, S, Ma, CH & Rice, SA 2013, 'A rapid bioluminescence-based test of assimilable organic carbon for seawater', Desalination, vol. 317, pp. 160-165.
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The accumulation of biological materials and bacteria on water purification membranes, termed biofouling, is associated with decreased membrane performance and increased cost of operation. One strategy to minimize biofouling is pretreatment of the influent water. In this regard, tools and indicators that can assess the influent water are required, enabling an optimum selection of pretreatment methods. One parameter directly linked to biofouling potential is the concentration of assimilable organic carbon (AOC) in the feed-water. High AOC levels are associated with increased growth potential of the microbial fouling community. This work focused on the development of a new method for rapid and accurate quantification of AOC concentration in seawater. The method is based on the quantification of the bioluminescence response of the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri MJ-1. Compared to previous methods, this new V. fischeri method was rapid (within 1. h), sensitive (detection limit. = 0.1. μg-C glucose equivalents/L) and highly suitable for seawater samples. V. fischeri method was evaluated using real seawater samples. The results showed positive reproductive AOC values. The new V. fischeri AOC method developed has a highly promising potential to be practically adopted as a rapid indicator of AOC concentration and hence biofouling potential of influent marine water. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Jeong, S, Okour, Y, Nguyen, TV, Shon, HK & Vigneswaran, S 2013, 'Ti-salt flocculation for dissolved organic matter removal in seawater', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 51, no. 16-18, pp. 3591-3596.
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In this study, the removal of different fractions of organic matter in seawater was investigated using titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) flocculation and compared with ferric chloride (FeCl3) flocculation. The organic matter fractions were characterised using liquid chromatography-organic carbon detector (LC-OCD). Results showed the hydrophobic compounds removal was dominant by both flocculants. However, the removal of hydrophilic organic compounds, such as humics and low-molecular weight neutral compounds of seawater, was superior by TiCl4 flocculation compared to FeCl3 flocculation and this removal increased considerably with the increase of TiCl4 doses. The flocculated sludge after TiCl4 flocculation was incinerated to produce titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticle. TiO2 from seawater sludge characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) showed predominant anatase phase with Si as a main dopant. © 2013 Copyright Balaban Desalination Publications.

Jia, W, Liang, S, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Zhang, J, Wang, R & Zou, Y 2013, 'Effect of phosphorus load on nutrients removal and N2O emission during low-oxygen simultaneous nitrification and denitrification process', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 123-130.
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Three laboratory scale anaerobicaerobic (low-oxygen) SBRs (R1, R2 and R3) were conducted at different influent phosphorus concentration to evaluate the impacts of phosphorus load on nutrients removal and nitrous oxide (N2O) emission during low-oxygen simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) process. The results showed that TP and TN removals were enhanced simultaneously with the increase in phosphorus load. It was mainly caused by the enrichment of polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) under high phosphorus load and low COD/P ratio (<50), which could use nitrate/nitrite as electron acceptors to take up the phosphorus. N2O emission was reduced with increasing phosphorus load. N2O-N emission amount per cycle of R3 was 24.1% lower than that of R1. It was due to the decrease of N2O yield by heterotrophic denitrification. When the phosphorus load increased from R1 to R3, heterotrophic denitrification (D) ranged from 42.6% to 36.6% of the N2O yield.

Jia, W, Liang, S, Zhang, J, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Yan, Y & Zou, Y 2013, 'Nitrous oxide emission in low-oxygen simultaneous nitrification and denitrification process: Sources and mechanisms', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 136, no. 1, pp. 444-451.
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This study attempts to elucidate the emission sources and mechanisms of nitrous oxide (N2O) during simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) process under oxygen-limiting condition. The results indicated that N2O emitted during low-oxygen SND process was 0.8 ± 0.1 mg N/gMLSS, accounting for 7.7% of the nitrogen input. This was much higher than the reported results from conventional nitrification and denitrification processes. Batch experiments revealed that nitrifier denitrification was attributed as the dominant source of N2O production. This could be well explained by the change of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) community caused by the low-oxygen condition. It was observed that during the lowoxygen SND process, AOB species capable of denitrification, i.e., Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrosomonas-like, were enriched whilst the composition of denitrifiers was only slightly affected. N2O emission by heterotrophic denitrification was considered to be limited by the presence of oxygen and unavailability of carbon source.

Johir, MA, Shanmuganathan, S, Vigneswaran, S & Kandasamy, J 2013, 'Performance of submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) with and without the addition of the different particle sizes of GAC as suspended medium', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 141, pp. 13-18.
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In this study the effect of different particle sizes of granular activated carbon (GAC) on the performance of a submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) was investigated. The sizes of GAC used were 150-300, 300-600 and 600-1200μm. The SMBR was operated at a filtration flux of 20L/m2h. The removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) with the addition of GAC was 95%. The concentration of biopolymers, humic, building block and low molecular weight neutral and acids in the SMBR effluent was reduced by 20%, 66-76%, 20-50%, 30-56%, respectively. It helped to reduce the sludge volume index (SVI) and transmembrane pressure (TMP) development by 30-40% and 58%, respectively. However, the removal of NH4+ and PO43- was relatively low of 35-45% and 34-43%, respectively. The SMBR effluent was rich in PO43- and was removed/recovered using hydrated ferric oxide (HFO). The removal of PO43- was almost 90%. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Johir, MAH, Vigneswaran, S, Kandasamy, J & Sleigh, R 2013, 'Coupling of physico-chemical treatment and steel membrane filtration to enhanced organic removal in wastewater treatment', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 51, no. 13-15, pp. 2695-2701.
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In this study, the application of steel membrane filtration was tested with the pre-treated wastewater. The pre-treatment methods tested before membrane filtration application were flocculation using FeCl3, Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) adsorption, purolite ion-exchange column and purolite ion-exchange column followed by flocculation (FeCl3). The effect of two different modes of membrane application (cross-flow and dead-end modes) was examined. The ability of these filters in removing organic matters and solids were examined. It was found that the decline of flux was slightly lower for dead-end mode of operation to that of cross-flow mode of operation. Pre-treatment increased the performance of membrane filtration. The flux decline of raw water (without pre-treatment) was 31-10%, whereas after pre-treatment, it was about 2.5-21%. Pre-treatment followed by microfiltration (MF) showed 68-91% removal efficiency of dissolved organic carbon

Johir, MAH, Vigneswaran, S, Kandasamy, J, BenAim, R & Grasmick, A 2013, 'Effect of salt concentration on membrane bioreactor (MBR) performances: Detailed organic characterization', Desalination, vol. 322, no. 1, pp. 13-20.
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The gradual increase of salt concentration (0 to 35g-NaCl/L) on the performance of membrane bioreactor (MBR) was studied. The uptake rate of dissolved organic carbon and ammonia decreased from around 17.0mg-DOC/g-MLVSS.d to 1.8mg-DOC/g-MLVSS.d and from 8.2mg-NH4-N/g-MLVSS.d to 0mg-NH4-N/g-MLVSS.d respectively when salt concentration reached to 35g-NaCl/L. Similarly the specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) reduced from 8 to 9 to around 0.3mg-O2/g-MLVSS.h. The removal of bio-polymers, humic acids, building blocks and low molecular weight neutral decreased with increase in salt concentration. The concentration of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in bio-polymer increased from 0.05 to 3.31mg/L when the salt concentration reached to 35g-NaCl/L. This study provides good information for understanding the effect of continuous increase of salt concentration in treating saline wastewater in a MBR process. © 2013.

Jupp, JR & Awad, R 2013, 'Developing Digital Literacy in Construction Management Education: A Design Thinking Led Approach', Journal of Pedagogic Development, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 24-30.
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Alongside the digital innovations in AEC (Architectural, Engineering and Construction) practice, are calls for a new type of digital literacy, including a new information-based literacy informed by creativity, critical analysis and the theoretical and practical knowledge of the construction profession. This paper explores the role of design thinking and the promotion of abductive problem situations when developing digital literacies in construction education. The impacts of advanced digital modelling technologies on construction management practices and education are investigated before an examination of design thinking, the role of abductive reasoning and the rise of normative models of design thinking workflows. The paper then explores the role that design thinking can play in the development of new digital literacies in contemporary construction studies. A three-part framework for the implementation of a design thinking approach to construction is presented. The paper closes with a discussion of the importance of models of design thinking for learning and knowledge production, emphasising how construction management education can benefit from them.

Kabiri, K, Pradhan, B, Samimi-Namin, K & Moradi, M 2013, 'Detecting coral bleaching, using QuickBird multi-temporal data: A feasibility study at Kish Island, the Persian Gulf', Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, vol. 117, pp. 273-281.
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Kabiri, K, Pradhan, B, Shafri, HZM, Mansor, SB & Samimi-Namin, K 2013, 'A Novel Approach to Estimate Diffuse Attenuation Coefficients for QuickBird Satellite Images: A Case Study at Kish Island, the Persian Gulf', Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 797-806.
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Kang, S-J, Tijing, LD, Hwang, B-S, Jiang, Z, Kim, HY & Kim, CS 2013, 'Fabrication and photocatalytic activity of electrospun nylon-6 nanofibers containing tourmaline and titanium dioxide nanoparticles', Ceramics International, vol. 39, no. 6, pp. 7143-7148.
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Khorsandnia, N, Valipour, HR & Crews, K 2013, 'Nonlinear finite element analysis of timber beams and joints using the layered approach and hypoelastic constitutive law', ENGINEERING STRUCTURES, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 606-614.
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This paper focuses on development and application of finite element models for nonlinear analysis of timber, timberâconcrete composite (TCC) beams and joints. A new piecewise continuous orthotropic failure envelope in the bi-axial stress space is proposed for modelling timber behaviour. The proposed orthotropic surface is simplified based on isotropic behaviour of timber along the grains and the model is formulated within the framework of hypoelastic constitutive law. The developed constitutive law and finite element (FE) models are verified by examples taken from the literature including timber beams with and without notches and holes subject to three- and four-point bending as well as push-out test results of TCC connections. Further, the accuracy and performance of the proposed constitutive law for capturing nonlinear behaviour and failure load of timber beams and connections is compared with orthotropic Hashin damage model. The FE results show good agreement with experimental results in terms of loadâdisplacement response and ultimate loading capacity of members and it is concluded that the developed timber model can adequately capture the global as well as the local behaviour of timber beams and TCC connections.

Kianfar, K, Indraratna, B & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2013, 'Radial consolidation model incorporating the effects of vacuum preloading and non-Darcian flow', GEOTECHNIQUE, vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 1060-1073.
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Kim, HJ, Pant, HR, Park, CH, Tijing, LD, Choi, NJ & Kim, CS 2013, 'Hydrothermal growth of mop-brush-shaped ZnO rods on the surface of electrospun nylon-6 nanofibers', Ceramics International, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 3095-3102.
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Kim, HJ, Pant, HR, Park, CH, Tijing, LD, Hwang, BS, Choi, NJ & Kim, CS 2013, 'Electrical properties of ZnO/nylon-6 spider-wave-like nanonets prepared via electrospinning', Digest Journal of Nanomaterials and Biostructures, vol. 8, pp. 385-393.
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In this work, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) incorporated electrospun nylon-6 spider-wave-like nanonets with improved electrical properties were successfully fabricated by simple blending of ZnO NPs with nylon-6 solution. Proper dispersion of ZnO NPs with nylon-6 solution not only produce well distributed ZnO NPs on/into the fibres but also accelerate the formation of large number of thin fibres in the form of spider-wave-like nanonets. The incorporation of ZnO NPs through spider-wave-like nylon-6 nanonets was verified by FESEM, EDX, TEM, TGA, FT-IR analysis. The electrical properties of pristine nylon-6 and ZnO/nylon-6 composite fibres was investigated by current-voltage (I-V) characteristic measurement. It was found that ZnO incorporated nylon-6 composite mats had better electrical conductivity than pristine nylon-6 mat. This result was due to the influence of ultrathin nanofibers and well incorporated ZnO NPs through electrospun nylon-6 fibers. The significant enhanced electrical properties of composite mat may open a new direction for future polymer electronics.

Kim, JB, Lee, KW, Park, SM, Shon, HK, Shahid, M, Saliby, IE, Lee, WE, Kim, G-J & Kim, J-H 2013, 'Preparation of Iron-Doped Titania from Flocculated Sludge with Iron-Titanium Composite Coagulant', Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, vol. 13, no. 6, pp. 4106-4109.
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The main drawback of flocculation process with dye wastewater is the large amount of unrecyclable sludge which needs disposal. A novel process using Ti-salt flocculation to purify wastewater was developed to produced sludge that can be calcined to produce titania. In this study, irondoped TiO2 nanomaterial was successfully produced from sludge obtained by the flocculation of dye wastewater with a composite floculant including TiCl4 and FeSO4. The titania was characterised using scanning electron microscopy (SEM/EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the photodecomposition of acetaldehyde. The XDR results showed that the anatase and rutile structures were found after sludge calcination at 550 C and 640 C respectively. The elemental analyses were carried out using EDX. The rutile titania sample consisted of Ti (35.7 wt.%), Fe (14.7 wt.%), O (42.3 wt.%), P (2.6 wt.%) and Ca (4.7 wt.%). The photocatalytic activity was monitored for the photodecomposition of gas acetaldehyde. Iron-doped titania seems to play an important role in increasing the photocatalytic activity under UV light irradiation.

Kim, JE, Phuntsho, S & Shon, HK 2013, 'Pilot-scale nanofiltration system as post-treatment for fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis desalination for direct fertigation', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 51, no. 31-33, pp. 6265-6273.
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The integration of the fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis with nanofiltration (NF) has been investigated to evaluate the performance of NF process as a post-treatment. The primary objective of this study is to optimize the operating conditions such as feed flow rate and feed concentration, while producing fresh water including low nutrient (N) concentration can be directly used for irrigation. Investigation of operating parameters at the pilot-scale level focused on specific water flux and ammonium sulphate rejection. Results from this study showed that NF process applied as the post-treatment can effectively reject the N concentration more than 90%. Although other factors such as the applied pressure and the cross-flow rates played a certain role in the performance of the pilot-scale NF process, the influence of the feed concentration was more significant on the specific water flux and N rejection. © 2013 Copyright Balaban Desalination Publications.

Kim, TH, Hwang, BS, Kang, HY, Kim, JH, Tijing, LD, Kim, CS & Lim, JK 2013, 'Enhanced wetting and adhesion of polycarbonate by ultraviolet light surface treatment', Digest Journal of Nanomaterials and Biostructures, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 1415-1421.
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In this study, polycarbonate (PC) surfaces were treated with ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation at different treatment times (0 to 48 h) and at two UV wavelengths, i.e., at 365 nm (UVA) and at 254 nm (UVC). Morphological and surface properties were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle (CA) measurements. To check the shear strength of the treated polycarbonates, single-lap shear test was carried out. Both UVA and UVC treatment produced rougher PC surface compared to untreated PC, however, UVA did not affect much the wettability of PC. But for UVC treatment, the CA of PC decreased with increasing treatment time to a maximum reduction of 23% after 48 h. The shear strength of UVC-treated PC increased by 63% than that of untreated PC, which is attributed to the formation of functional groups at the surface making it hydrophilic and the rougher surface topography that gives more surface area for adhesion.

Kong, Q, Zhang, J, Ngo, HH, Ni, S, Fu, R, Guo, W, Guo, N & Tian, L 2013, 'Nitrous oxide emission in an aerobic granulation sequencing batch airlift reactor at ambient temperatures', INTERNATIONAL BIODETERIORATION & BIODEGRADATION, vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 533-538.
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This study aims to investigate the nitrous oxide (N2O) emission in an aerobic granulation sequencing batch airlift reactor (SBAR) and the associated microbial community of aerobic granular sludge at ambient temperature (18+-3)0C. After 48 days of operation, 1-2 mm granules were obtained and excellent chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonium NH4-N removal efficiencies were stably achieved. N2O concentration in the off gas was maximal at the beginning of the aerobic period and stabilized at a lower concentration after an initial peak. (0.60+-0.17, n=3) % of the total nitrogen load to the SBAR was emitted as N2O. A dramatic change in the microbial community structure was noted between the initial seed sludge and the final mature aerobic granular sludge. Nitrosospira was identified to be the dominant ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) which was attributed as the dominant source of N2O production in aerobic granular sludge by analysis of 16S rDNA sequences.

Krami, LK, Amiri, F, Sefiyanian, A, Shariff, ARBM, Tabatabaie, T & Pradhan, B 2013, 'Spatial patterns of heavy metals in soil under different geological structures and land uses for assessing metal enrichments', Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, vol. 185, no. 12, pp. 9871-9888.
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Kus, B, Kandasamy, J, Vigneswaran, S, Shon, HK & Moody, G 2013, 'Gravity driven membrane filtration system to improve the water quality in rainwater tanks', WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-WATER SUPPLY, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 479-485.
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The characterisation of rainwater in metropolitan Sydney and in rural New South Wales was undertaken. The results showed that factors such as the lack of vehicular traffic, air pollution and urban contamination meant that rural rainwater water quality was better. The rain water collected in both metropolitan and rural areas generally complied with the 2004 Australian Drinking Water Guidelines except for parameters such as the pH in both the metropolitan and rural rainwater tanks and the turbidity, and lead levels from the metropolitan tanks. This paper also reports the results of a laboratory and a pilot scale study with a deep bed filter (granular activated carbon, GAC) and microfiltration (MF) hollow fibre membrane filter system used to treat raw rainwater collected from a metropolitan rainwater tank. The results of the laboratory experiment and pilot scale systems focus on the non-compliant parameters of the sampling program, i.e. turbidity, lead and dissolved organic carbon (DOC). It was found that rainwater treated by the GAC filter removed the majority of the turbidity and organic substances. The treatment system reduced the concentration of turbidity, lead and DOC to below the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines limits. The pilot plant experiment demonstrated that a GAC filter system and gravity driven membrane could result in low cost and low maintenance operation.

Kus, B, Kandasamy, J, Vigneswaran, S, Shon, HK & Moody, G 2013, 'Household rainwater harvesting system - pilot scale gravity driven membrane-based filtration system', WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY-WATER SUPPLY, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 790-797.
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This paper presents the results of a pilot scale study consisting of pre-treatment with a granular activated carbon (GAC) filter followed by membrane filtration. Detailed characterisation of rainwater tanks has highlighted that turbidity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and heavy metals, in particular lead, were not compliant with the 2004 Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG). Further, organic matter present in the water causes membrane fouling and leads to carcinogenic compounds upon chlorination. A GAC filter was used as a first step to remove dissolved organic matter (measured in terms of DOC) in particular and also to reduce the concentration, of turbidity and lead. Membrane filtration can remove any remaining solids reducing the concentrations of turbidity and microorganisms. In this study a pilot scale rainwater treatment system consisting of a gravity fed GAC filter and membrane filter (Ultra Flo) was operated for a period of 120 days. The performance of this system was assessed in terms of membrane flux and improvement in water quality measured against the 2004 Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. Determination of the flux especially in the later stages of membrane operation was important to be able to size the filters in a manner that meets the expected demand. The treatment system of GAC filter and membrane filter was effective in reducing the turbidity, DOC and heavy metals. The system reduced the turbidity to levels of 0.30.4 NTU, below the ADWG limit of 1 NTU.

Langston, C 2013, 'The role of coordinate-based decision-making in the evaluation of sustainable built environments', Construction Management and Economics, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 62-77.
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Existing environmental performance assessment approaches focus on the overall performance to reflect sustainability of built projects. However, the impacts caused by construction activities on the environment occur throughout a project's life cycle which may be different at different stages. Similarly, the economic benefits and social impacts from implementing a construction project may be different in different project stages. This paper presents a model of the sustainable development value (SDV), which integrates sustainability assessment into the building process. SDV measures the significance of the concerned project to the attainment of sustainable development values at different stages of a building life cycle, and the SDV at each stage will be amalgamated into the model of sustainable development ability (SDA). SDA is used as a prototype to demonstrate the extent of sustainable performance to aid decision making. This paper presents the methodological framework of SDV and SDA, and the implementation was demonstrated using a case study.

Law, SS, Zhu, XQ, Tian, YJ, Li, XY & Wu, SQ 2013, 'Statistical damage classification method based on wavelet packet analysis', Structural Engineering and Mechanics, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 459-486.
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Li, C, Liang, S, Zhang, J, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Zheng, N & Zou, Y 2013, 'N2O reduction during municipal wastewater treatment using a two-sludge SBR system acclimatized with propionate', CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, vol. 222, pp. 353-360.
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A two-sludge denitrifying phosphorus removal process (A2N-SBR), acclimatized with propionate, was proposed as an efficient method for nitrous oxide (N2O) reduction during municipal wastewater treatment. Compared with the conventional nitrification-denitrification process (AO-SBR) operated in parallel, the A2N-SBR not only significantly improved total nitrogen and soluble phosphorus removal efficiencies by around 32.3% and 23.5%, respectively, but also greatly reduced N2O generation by around 31.5%. Moreover, like the anoxic stage of AO-SBR, nearly zero N2O (merely 0.054% of the removed nitrogen) was generated during the anoxic stage of A2N-SBR. The substantial N2O reduction achieved in the proposed A2N-SBR can be reasonably explained by: (i) the use of independent nitrification reactor resulting in higher activity of nitrifying bacteria and no occurrence of heterotrophic denitrification in aerobic stage, and (ii) the use of propionate as carbon source decreasing nitrite accumulation in anoxic stage. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Li, C, Wang, T, Zheng, N, Zhang, J, Ngo, HH, Guo, W & Liang, S 2013, 'Influence of organic shock loads on the production of N2O in denitrifying phosphorus removal process', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 160-166.
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In this work, the influences of short-term organic shock loads on N2O production during denitrifying phosphorus removal were investigated by changing the influent COD concentrations (100, 200, 350, and 500mg/L). After switching the COD concentrations from 200 to 350 or 500mg/L, N2O-N production amount increased from 1.62% to 7.12% or 3.29% of the TN removal, respectively, while the corresponding effluent phosphorus concentrations increased from 1.84 to 16.55 and 56.08mg/L, respectively, which were higher than the influent phosphorus concentration (4.93mg/L). Furthermore, when the COD concentration was decreased to 100mg/L, N2O-N production amount was only 1.20%. All results suggested that higher organic shock loads increased N2O production. The main reason was that higher organic shock loads increased anaerobic poly-β-hydroxyalkanoates (PHA) synthesis, which resulted in higher nitrite accumulation. The influences of higher organic shock loads on N2O production could be minimized by adopting continuous nitrate addition strategy. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Li, C, Zhang, J, Liang, S, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Zhang, Y & Zou, Y 2013, 'Nitrous oxide generation in denitrifying phosphorus removal process: main causes and control measures', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH, vol. 20, no. 8, pp. 5353-5360.
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Despite the many benefits of denitrifying phosphorus removal process, the significant generation of nitrous oxide (N2O), a potent greenhouse gas, remains a problem for this innovative and promising process. To better understand and more effectively control N2O generation in denitrifying phosphorus removal process, batch experiments were carried out to investigate the main causes of N2O generation, based on which the control measures were subsequently proposed. The results showed that N2O generation accounted for 0.41 % of the total nitrogen removal in denitrifying phosphorus removal process, whereas, in contrast, almost no N2O was generated in conventional denitrification process. It was further demonstrated that the weak competition of N2O reductase for electrons and the high nitrite accumulation were the two main causes for N2O generation, evidenced by N2O production and reduction rates under different conditions. Accordingly, the reduction of N2O generation was successfully achieved via two control measures: (1) the use of continuous nitrate addition reducing N2O generation by around 91.4 % and (2) the use of propionate as the carbon source reducing N2O generation by around 69.8 %. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Li, J & Hao, H 2013, 'Numerical study of structural progressive collapse using substructure technique', Engineering Structures, vol. 52, pp. 101-113.
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During their service life, modern structures may experience extreme loading conditions. Large loads generated from bomb explosion may have catastrophic consequences with a large number of casualties as well as great economical loss. Ever since the terrorist attack of 2001, great safety concerns have been raised for urban areas where more and more high-rise buildings have been erected and thus are more prone to suffer the potential threat. Among all the structural responses to blast loads, the catastrophic progressive collapse has attracted great attention around the world. Experimental studies on this topic are not only expensive but also are often prohibited due to safety concerns. With the advancement of computational mechanics techniques and computer power, reliable computer simulations of structural response and collapse to blast loads become possible. However, even with modern computer power, such computer simulations are still extremely time and resource consuming. In this paper, a new numerical approach that incorporates static condensation into the FE model is presented to simulate blast load induced structural response and progressive collapse. Two 6-story RC frame buildings are used as examples to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method. For comparison, direct finite element modeling of the same example frame structure is also carried out. Comparing the results from both approaches, it is found that the proposed method is efficient and reliable in simulating the structural response and progressive collapse with substantially less computational effort as compared to the direct FE model simulations. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Li, J, Li, J, Wang, H, Cheng, B, He, B, Yan, F, Yang, Y, Guo, W & Ngo, HH 2013, 'ChemInform Abstract: Electrocatalytic Oxidation of n‐Propanol to Produce Propionic Acid Using an Electrocatalytic Membrane Reactor.', ChemInform, vol. 44, no. 37, pp. no-no.
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AbstractAn electrocatalytic membrane reactor assembled using a nano‐MnO2 loading microporous Ti membrane as an anode and a tubular stainless steel as a cathode is used to oxidize PrOH to produce propionic acid.

Li, J, Li, J, Wang, H, Cheng, B, He, B, Yan, F, Yang, Y, Guo, W & Ngo, HH 2013, 'Electrocatalytic oxidation of n-propanol to produce propionic acid using an electrocatalytic membrane reactor', CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS, vol. 49, no. 40, pp. 4501-4503.
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An electrocatalytic membrane reactor assembled using a nano-MnO2 loading microporous Ti membrane as an anode and a tubular stainless steel as a cathode was used to oxidize n-propanol to produce propionic acid. The high efficiency and selectivity obtained is related to the synergistic effect between the reaction and separation in the reactor.

Li, J, Wang, C, Wei, W, Li, M & Liu, C 2013, 'Efficient Mining of Contrast Patterns on Large Scale Imbalanced Real-Life Data', Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 7818, no. 1, pp. 62-73.
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Contrast pattern mining has been studied intensively for its strong discriminative capability. However, the state-of-the-art methods rarely consider the class imbalanced problem, which has been proved to be a big challenge in mining large scale data. This paper introduces a novel pattern, i.e. converging pattern, which refers to the itemsets whose supports contrast sharply from the minority class to the majority one. A novel algorithm, ConvergMiner, which adopts T*-tree and branch bound pruning strategies to mine converging patterns efficiently, is proposed. Substantial experiments in online banking fraud detection show that the ConvergMiner greatly outperforms the existing cost-sensitive classification methods in terms of predicative accuracy. In particular, the efficiency improves with the increase of data imbalance.

Li, Q, Wang, XC, Zhang, HH, Shi, HL, Hu, T & Ngo, HH 2013, 'Characteristics of nitrogen transformation and microbial community in an aerobic composting reactor under two typical temperatures', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 137, pp. 270-277.
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Batch experiments were conducted for feces composting using an aerobic composting reactor with sawdust as bulky matrix. In the 14-day composting processes at 35 ± 2 and 55 ± 2 C, compost samples were collected daily and chemical analyses and PCR-DGGE were carried out for investigating the influence of composting temperature on organic decomposition, nitrogen transformation, and microbial communities. At 55 ± 2 C, in addition to a slightly higher COD removal, nitrogen loss was greatly restrained. As organic nitrogen took about 85% of the total nitrogen originated from human feces, the suppression of ammonification process under thermophilic environment might be the main reason for less nitrogen loss at 55 ± 2 C. By PCR-DGGE analysis, the microbial community was found to undergo successions differently at 35 ± 2 and 55 ± 2 C. Certain sequences identified from the compost at 55 ± 2 C represented the microbial species which could perform nitrogen-fixation or sustain a lower pH in the compost so that gaseous ammonia emission was suppressed.

Li, Y, Li, J & Samali, B 2013, 'On the magnetic field and temperature monitoring of a solenoid coil for a novel magnetorheological elastomer base isolator', 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ELECTRORHEOLOGICAL FLUIDS AND MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL SUSPENSIONS (ERMR2012), vol. 412, no. 1, pp. 1-7.
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Following a successful experimental validation of a magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) base isolator, this study presents one of the major concerns, the heating of the magnetic coil, in the design and development of the adaptive MRE based isolator. In this research, the MRE materials, with a total thickness of nearly 150 mm, are placed as the magnetic core of the device to best utilize the magnetic energy provided by the coil. A series of tests are undertaken to investigate the magnetic fields inside the coil with or without the MRE materials. Thermocouples are used to monitoring the surface temperature of the coil when it is applied with various currents for 10 min. It is shown that the measurement of field inside the solenoid when no MRE is placed inside agrees with the theoretical analysis. It is also shown that the temperature of the coil increase dramatically when a current is applied. Cooling of the coil may takes even longer, about 4 h, till down to the room temperature. Dropping of the magnetic field is observed when the temperature goes high. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Li, Y, Li, J, Li, W & Samali, B 2013, 'Development and characterization of a magnetorheological elastomer based adaptive seismic isolator', SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 1-12.
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One of the main shortcomings in current base isolation design/practice is lack of adaptability. As a result, a base isolation system that is effective for one type earthquake may become ineffective or may have adverse effect for other earthquakes. The vulnerability of traditional base isolation systems can be exaggerated by two types of earthquakes, i.e. near-field earthquakes and far-field earthquakes. This paper addresses the challenge facing current base isolation design/practice by proposing a new type of seismic isolator for the base isolation system, namely an adaptive seismic isolator. The novel adaptive seismic isolator utilizes magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) for its field-sensitive material property. Traditional seismic isolator design with a unique laminated structure of steel and MRE layers has been adopted in the novel MRE seismic isolator. To evaluate and characterize the behavior of the MRE seismic isolator, experimental testing was conducted on a shake table facility under harmonic cycling loading. Experimental results show that the proposed adaptive seismic isolator can successfully alter the lateral stiffness and damping force in real time up to 37% and 45% respectively. Based on the successful development of the novel adaptive seismic isolator, a discussion is also extended to the impact and potential applications of such a device in structural control applications in civil engineering. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Li, Y, Li, J, Tian, T & Li, W 2013, 'A highly adjustable magnetorheological elastomer base isolator for applications of real-time adaptive control', SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, vol. 22, no. 9, pp. 1-18.
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Inspired by its controllable and field-dependent stiffness/damping properties, there has been increasing research and development of magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) for mitigation of unwanted structural or machinery vibrations using MRE isolators or absorbers. Recently, a breakthrough pilot research on the development of a highly innovative prototype adaptive MRE base isolator, with the ability for real-time adaptive control of base isolated structures against various types of earthquakes including near- or far-fault earthquakes, has been reported by the authors. As a further effort to improve the proposed MRE adaptive base isolator and to address some of the shortcomings and challenges, this paper presents systematic investigations on the development of a new highly adjustable MRE base isolator, including experimental testing and characterization of the new isolator. A soft MR elastomer has been designed, fabricated and incorporated in the laminated structure of the new MRE base isolator, which aims to obtain a highly adjustable shear modulus under a medium level of magnetic field. Comprehensive static and dynamic testing was conducted on this new adaptive MRE base isolator to examine its characteristics and evaluate its performance. The experimental results show that this new MRE base isolator can remarkably change the lateral stiffness of the isolator up to 1630% under a medium level of magnetic field. Such highly adjustable MRE base isolator makes the design and implementation of truly real-time adaptive (e.g. semi-active or smart passive) seismic isolation systems become feasible. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Liaquat, AM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Fattah, IMR, Hazrat, MA, Varman, M, Mofijur, M & Shahabuddin, M 2013, 'Effect of Coconut Biodiesel Blended Fuels on Engine Performance and Emission Characteristics', Procedia Engineering, vol. 56, pp. 583-590.
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Liaquat, AM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Fazal, MA, Khan, AF, Fayaz, H & Varman, M 2013, 'Impact of palm biodiesel blend on injector deposit formation', Applied Energy, vol. 111, pp. 882-893.
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Listowski, A, Ngo, HH & Guo, WS 2013, 'Establishment of an economic evaluation model for urban recycled water', RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING, vol. 72, pp. 67-75.
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This study aimed at establishing an economic evaluation model to encourage continuing improvement in performance analysis and applying for any infrastructure system of urban recycled water. A thorough study towards characterization and economic performance assessment of urban water reuse scheme were carried out. An integrated evaluation technique was developed by synthesizing the quantitative and qualitative performance indicators related to the water recycled technology and urban water cycle system. Specific performance indicators and indexes were aggregated into an economic analytical modelling for effective evaluation of the water reuse scheme and technology using uniform economic performance standards. Detailed economic analyses were successfully applied to enable determination of economic lifetime of the technology and the whole water reuse scheme. This research confirmed that productivity, efficiency and reliability measurements and factors could be successfully deployed for determining the scheme performance during various life cycle stages (e.g. design development, operational and functional verification, or comparison with other reuse projects). The economic assessment model was applied to improve uniformity of analytical process and performance measure. This article demonstrates benefits associated with the application of a standardized methodology for performing economic assessment and by maintaining strong correlation between multi-parameter approach and adopted performance criteria in terms of productivity, efficiency and reliability. However, to ensure effectiveness of this assessment, the process would require systematic and perpetual inventory of the scheme performance data, consideration of variable factors such as capital and recurrent costs.

Liu, B, Ray, A & Thomas, PS 2013, 'Investigation of autoclaved cement systems with reactive MgO and Al₂O₃-SiO₂ rich fired clay brick', Advances in Cement Research, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 281-287.
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Portland cement (PC) is one of the world's most important building materials, as it is a fundamental component of concrete. However, the manufacture of PC is highly energy intensive and leads to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO2). One promising control measure is the use of industrial wastes and by-products as supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) in order to minimise PC consumption, thereby producing greener cement-based products. This study investigates mechanical properties and phase development of hydrothermally treated cement–ground quartz sand blends with the incorporation of fired clay-brick (CB) waste and reactive magnesia (MgO). The addition of CB waste in autoclaved PC–quartz mortar mixes showed that the alumina–silica rich CB waste was pozzolanic when the Al2O3 accelerated formation and increased crystallinity of Al substituted 1·1 nm tobermorite, resulting in the observed strength gain. Autoclaved mortar specimens incorporating reactive MgO showed a reduction in strength with increasing MgO addition. This was a result of dilution when the relative proportion of PC available for the formation of the strength contributing hydration products including tobermorite is decreased.

Liu, J, Ding, GKC & Samali, B 2013, 'Building Sustainable Score (BSS)—A Hybrid Process Approach for Sustainable Building Assessment in China', Journal of Power and Energy Engineering, vol. 01, no. 05, pp. 58-62.
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Sustainable building in China has gained attention both domestically and abroad. Despite the fast increase in sustainable assessment tools developed locally or adopted from overseas, there are still criticisms about the current situation of weak implementation and lack of comprehensive consideration. The lack of consideration of economic and social as-pects or building performance on whole building life cycle all lead to departure from the true meaning of sustainable development. And lack of participation on the part of stakeholders makes it too theoretical to be carried out. This re-search aims to develop a model to address this problem. This research started with review of current sustainable as-sessment tools applied in China. As the assessment indicators have clear regional disparities, and almost no current tool considers all three pillars of environmental, economic and social in building life cycle. An industry survey was therefore designed for generation of indicators at different building stages, and personal interviews relevant to different occupa-tion in building industry were conducted to complement the questionnaire survey. After that, the model Building Sus-tainable Score (BSS) was developed based on the stakeholders participation. Finally, the model is verified by a case study.

Loganathan, P, Vigneswaran, S & Kandasamy, J 2013, 'Enhanced removal of nitrate from water using surface modification of adsorbents - A review', JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, vol. 131, no. 1, pp. 363-374.
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Elevated concentration of nitrate results in eutrophication of natural water bodies affecting the aquatic environment and reduces the quality of drinking water. This in turn causes harm to people's health, especially that of infants and livestock. Adsorbents with the high capacity to selectively adsorb nitrate are required to effectively remove nitrate from water. Surface modifications of adsorbents have been reported to enhance their adsorption of nitrate. The major techniques of surface modification are: protonation, impregnation of metals and metal oxides, grafting of amine groups, organic compounds including surfactant coating of aluminosilicate minerals, and heat treatment. This paper reviews current information on these techniques, compares the enhanced nitrate adsorption capacities achieved by the modifications, and the mechanisms of adsorption, and presents advantages and drawbacks of the techniques. Most studies on this subject have been conducted in batch experiments. These studies need to include continuous mode column trials which have more relevance to real operating systems and pilot-plant trials. Reusability of adsorbents is important for economic reasons and practical treatment applications. However, only limited information is available on the regeneration of surface modified adsorbents, © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Loganathan, P, Vigneswaran, S & Kandasamy, J 2013, 'Road-Deposited Sediment Pollutants: A Critical Review of their Characteristics, Source Apportionment, and Management', CRITICAL REVIEWS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 43, no. 13, pp. 1315-1348.
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Road-deposited sediments (RDS) often contain elevated concentrations of inorganic and organic pollutants such as heavy metals, metalloids, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The authors trace new developments and trends on RDS pollutant characteristics with respect to their distribution in time and space, total and labile fractions in the different particle size and density fractions, source apportionment, and chemical speciation, as well as on the management of the pollutants. Recent research provides more reliable information to understand pollutants origin, bioavailability, transport pathways, and methods to minimize their risks. Use of special chemical, physical, mineralogical, and statistical methods has contributed to a better understanding of source apportionment of many of the pollutants but more research is needed on others. The degree of accumulation of pollutants in RDS that are derived from roads and vehicles has been quantified by using enrichment factors. Many of the studies on RDS pollutant management dealt with reducing pollutants by road sweeping and water flushing but these have not been found to be very effective. Pollutants that enter the water bodies through stormwater runoff need to be removed to protect the aquatic environment in the receiving water. The current knowledge on stormwater treatment methods to remove pollutants is also presented. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Loganathan, P, Vigneswaran, S, Kandasamy, J & Naidu, R 2013, 'Defluoridation of drinking water using adsorption processes', JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, vol. 248, no. 1, pp. 1-19.
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Excessive intake of fluoride (F), mainly through drinking water, is a serious health hazard affecting humans worldwide. There are several methods used for the defluoridation of drinking water, of which adsorption processes are generally considered attractive because of their effectiveness, convenience, ease of operation, simplicity of design, and for economic and environmental reasons. In this paper, we present a comprehensive and a critical literature review on various adsorbents used for defluoridation, their relative effectiveness, mechanisms and thermodynamics of adsorption, and suggestions are made on choice of adsorbents for various circumstances. Effects of pH, temperature, kinetics and co-existing anions on F adsorption are also reviewed. Because the adsorption is very weak in extremely low or high pHs, depending on the adsorbent, acids or alkalis are used to desorb F and regenerate the adsorbents. However, adsorption capacity generally decreases with repeated use of the regenerated adsorbent. Future research needs to explore highly efficient, low cost adsorbents that can be easily regenerated for reuse over several cycles of operations without significant loss of adsorptive capacity and which have good hydraulic conductivity to prevent filter clogging during the fixed-bed treatment process. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Lu, Y, Li, J, Ye, L & Wang, D 2013, 'Guided waves for damage detection in rebar-reinforced concrete beams', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 370-378.
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The propagation properties of ultrasonic waves in rebar-reinforced concrete beams were investigated for the purpose of damage detection. Two types of piezoelectric (PZT) elements were used in experiments in which PZT disks were attached on the surfaces of concrete beams to observe wave propagation in concrete before and after a four-point bending test, while rectangular PZT patches were attached at the exposed ends of the rebar to monitor wave transmission along the rebar with and without simulated corrosion in the form of partial material removal from the rebar. Experimental testing demonstrated that the surface-attached PZT disks were capable of detecting the change in material properties due to the existence of cracking. In consideration of the inevitable discrepancies in different concrete beams due to specimen preparation and sensor installation, principal component analysis based on statistical parameters extracted from wave signals was applied to highlight the difference between benchmark and damaged rebar. The results show the potential of the principal components as damage indices for quantifying integrity conditions of concrete structures.

Ma, XY, Wang, XC, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Wu, MN & Wang, N 2013, 'Reverse osmosis pretreatment method for toxicity assessment of domestic wastewater using Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.-Q67', ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY, vol. 97, no. 1, pp. 248-254.
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Luminescent bacterial test is a fast and sensitive method for acute toxicity assessment of water and wastewater. In this study, an improved toxicity testing method was developed using the freshwater luminescent bacteria Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.-Q67 that involved pretreatment of water samples with reverse osmosis (RO) to eliminate the interferences caused by nutrients in concentrated samples and to improve the reliability and sensitivity of the analysis. Because water samples contain low concentrations of several target toxic substances, rapid acute toxicity testing method that is commonly employed does not achieve enough sensitivity. The proposed RO pretreatment could effectively enrich organic and inorganic substances in water samples to enable a more effective and sensitive toxicity evaluation. The kinetic characteristics of toxicity of raw sewage and secondary effluent were evaluated based on the relative luminescence unit (RLU) curves and timeconcentration-effect surfaces. It was observed that when the exposure time was prolonged to 8-h or longer, the bacteria reached the logarithmic growth stage. Hence, the stimulating effects of the coexisting ions (such as Na+, K+, NO3-) in the concentrated samples could be well eliminated. A 10-h exposure time in proposed Q67 test was found to quantitatively evaluate the toxicity of the organic and inorganic pollutants in the RO-concentrated samples.

Mahlia, TMI, Tohno, S & Tezuka, T 2013, 'International experience on incentive program in support of fuel economy standards and labelling for motor vehicle: A comprehensive review', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 25, pp. 18-33.
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Mainali, B, Pham, TTN, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2013, 'Maximum allowable values of the heavy metals in recycled water for household laundry', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 452, no. 1, pp. 427-432.
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Household laundry as a new end use of recycled water in dual reticulation systems has a great potential as the significant amount of potable water from urban households can be saved. However, there is still no sufficient evidence and supporting recycled water quality guidelines for this particular use. A key gap in knowledge is the impact of heavy metals in recycled water on clothes and washing machines. Thus, this study aims to determine the maximum allowable values (MAVs) of the heavy metals iron (Fe), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) in recycled water for washing clothes in washing machines. Six different concentrations of each targeted metals were prepared in tap water for the washing machine experiments. The tearing/tensile strength tests were used for the assessment of cloth durability. MINITAB 16 as a statistical tool was used and ANOVA one way test was applied for the significance analysis (Turkey's test p. <. 0.05). The results show that the MAVs of the heavy metals Fe, Pb, Zn, Cu and Mn were found to be 1. mg/l, 1. mg/l, 10. mg/l, 5. mg/l and 1. mg/l respectively in terms of cloth durability. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Mainali, B, Pham, TTN, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Miechel, C, O'Halloran, K, Muthukaruppan, M & Listowski, A 2013, 'Vision and perception of community on the use of recycled water for household laundry: A case study in Australia', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 463, no. 1, pp. 657-666.
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This study investigates the community perception of household laundry as a new end use of recycled water in three different locations of Australia through a face to face questionnaire survey (n=478). The study areas were selected based on three categories of (1) non-user, (2) perspective user and (3) current user of recycled water. The survey results indicate that significantly higher number (70%) of the respondents supported the use of recycled water for washing machines (χ2=527.40, df=3; p=0.000). Significant positive correlation between the overall support for the new end use and the willingness of the respondents to use recycled water for washing machine was observed among all users groups (r=0.43, p=0.000). However, they had major concerns regarding the effects of recycled water on the aesthetic appearance of cloth, cloth durability, machine durability, odour of the recycled water and cost along with the health issues. The perspective user group had comparatively more reservations and concerns about the effects of recycled water on washing machines than the non-users and the current users (χ2=52.73, df=6; p=0.000). Overall, community from all three study areas are willing to welcome this new end use as long as all their major concerns are addressed and safety is assured. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Manap, MA, Sulaiman, WNA, Ramli, MF, Pradhan, B & Surip, N 2013, 'A knowledge-driven GIS modeling technique for groundwater potential mapping at the Upper Langat Basin, Malaysia', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 1621-1637.
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Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Mofijur, M & Shahabuddin, M 2013, 'Biofuel: Policy, Standardization and Recommendation for Sustainable Future Energy Supply', Energy Procedia, vol. 42, pp. 577-586.
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Masum, BM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Rizwanul Fattah, IM, Palash, SM & Abedin, MJ 2013, 'Effect of ethanol–gasoline blend on NOx emission in SI engine', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 24, pp. 209-222.
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Mat, RC, Shariff, ARM, Pradhan, B, Mahmud, AR & Rahim, MSM 2013, 'An effective visualization and comparison of online terrain draped with multi-sensor satellite images', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 4881-4889.
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Mehrali, M, Latibari, ST, Mehrali, M, Indra Mahlia, TM & Cornelis Metselaar, HS 2013, 'Preparation and properties of highly conductive palmitic acid/graphene oxide composites as thermal energy storage materials', Energy, vol. 58, pp. 628-634.
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Mehrali, M, Latibari, ST, Mehrali, M, Indra Mahlia, TM, Cornelis Metselaar, HS, Naghavi, MS, Sadeghinezhad, E & Akhiani, AR 2013, 'Preparation and characterization of palmitic acid/graphene nanoplatelets composite with remarkable thermal conductivity as a novel shape-stabilized phase change material', Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 61, no. 2, pp. 633-640.
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Mofijur, M, Atabani, AE, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Masum, BM 2013, 'A study on the effects of promising edible and non-edible biodiesel feedstocks on engine performance and emissions production: A comparative evaluation', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 23, pp. 391-404.
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Mofijur, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Atabani, AE 2013, 'Evaluation of biodiesel blending, engine performance and emissions characteristics of Jatropha curcas methyl ester: Malaysian perspective', Energy, vol. 55, pp. 879-887.
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Mofijur, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Atabani, AE, Shahabuddin, M, Palash, SM & Hazrat, MA 2013, 'Effect of biodiesel from various feedstocks on combustion characteristics, engine durability and materials compatibility: A review', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 28, pp. 441-455.
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Naidu, G, Jeong, S, Vigneswaran, S & Rice, SA 2013, 'Microbial activity in biofilter used as a pretreatment for seawater desalination', Desalination, vol. 309, pp. 254-260.
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Biofilters as a pretreatment process in seawater desalination can reduce biofoulants through adsorption and biodegradation. In this study, the performance of granular activated carbon (GAC) biofilter with three different filtration velocities was studied in terms of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal. This apart, the microbial activities in the biofilters were measured in terms of concentration of active biomass (adenosine tri-phosphate; ATP) and total cell count. Biofouling potential in biofilter effluents were assessed in terms of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) and assimilable organic carbon (AOC) concentration. AOC was carried out using a new rapid bioluminescence method. Upon reaching mature stage, the GAC biofilters achieved high DOC removal efficiency of more than 60%, especially the low molecular weight organics. This organic removal was mostly attributed to active biomass on the GAC media. In addition, GAC biofilters led to significant reduction of the AOC and TEP concentration amounting to only 0.6. ±0.2. μg-C glucose/L and 5.3 ± 1.1. μg-C/L, respectively in effluents. Thus, GAC biofilter is an effective pretreatment in reducing biofouling potential. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Nghiem, LD, Price, WE, Guo, W, Ngo, HH & Tung, K-L 2013, 'Comparison between sequential and simultaneous application of activated carbon with membrane bioreactor for trace organic contaminant removal', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 130, pp. 412-417.
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The removal efficiency of 22 selected trace organic contaminants by sequential application of granular activated carbon (GAC) and simultaneous application of powdered activated carbon (PAC) with membrane bioreactor (MBR) was compared in this study. Both sequential application of GAC following MBR treatment (MBRâGAC) and simultaneous application of PAC within MBR (PACâMBR) achieved improved removal (over 95%) of seven hydrophilic and biologically persistent compounds, which were less efficiently removed by MBR-only treatment (negligible to 70%). However, gradual breakthrough of these compounds occurred over an extended operation period. Charged compounds, particularly, fenoprop and diclofenac, demonstrated the fastest breakthrough (complete and 50â70%, in MBRâGAC and PACâMBR, respectively). Based on a simple comparison from the long-term performance stability and activated carbon usage points of view, PACâMBR appears to be a better option than MBRâGAC treatment.

Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2013, 'Coupling granular activated carbon adsorption with membrane bioreactor treatment for trace organic contaminant removal: Breakthrough behaviour of persistent and hydrophilic compounds', Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 119, pp. 173-181.
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Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2013, 'Removal of emerging trace organic contaminants by MBR-based hybrid treatment processes', International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, vol. 85, pp. 474-482.
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Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Yang, S, Kang, J, Leusch, FDL, Roddick, F, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2013, 'Removal of trace organic contaminants by an MBR comprising a mixed culture of bacteria and white-rot fungi', Bioresource Technology, vol. 148, pp. 234-241.
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Nguyen, TAH, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Zhang, J, Liang, S & Tung, KL 2013, 'Feasibility of iron loaded 'okara' for biosorption of phosphorous in aqueous solutions', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 150, no. 1, pp. 42-49.
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This study investigated the feasibility of using soybean milk by-products (okara) as a sustainable biosorbent for phosphate removal in water and wastewater. The results show that raw okara could hardly decontaminate phosphate from aqueous solutions. Hence, in this work, okara was modified by being cationized using FeCl3 0.25M (namely iron loaded okara, ILO) to enhance the phosphorus adsorption capacity. The phosphate sorption onto ILO was well achieved under the conditions of pH 3, initial phosphorous concentration of 25mg/L, biosorbent dose of 20mg/L and contact time of 7h. Based on Langmuir model, the maximum adsorption capacity of phosphate by ILO was 4.785mg/g. The effects of interfering anions were in the order of CO32->SO42->NO3 It was also observed that Fe(III) was detached during operation. This problem can hinder the sustainable usability of ILO. Thus, further research would be necessary for improving the modification method. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Nguyen, TAH, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Zhang, J, Liang, S, Yue, QY, Li, Q & Nguyen, TV 2013, 'Applicability of agricultural waste and by-products for adsorptive removal of heavy metals from wastewater', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 148, no. 1, pp. 574-585.
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This critical review discusses the potential use of agricultural waste based biosorbents (AWBs) for sequestering heavy metals in terms of their adsorption capacities, binding mechanisms, operating factors and pretreatment methods. The literature survey indicates that AWBs have shown equal or even greater adsorption capacities compared to conventional adsorbents. Thanks to modern molecular biotechnologies, the roles of functional groups in biosorption process are better understood. Of process factors, pH appears to be the most influential. In most cases, chemical pretreatments bring about an obvious improvement in metal uptake capacity. However, there are still several gaps, which require further investigation, such as (i) searching for novel, multi-function AWBs, (ii) developing cost-effective modification methods and (iii) assessing AWBs under multi-metal and real wastewater systems. Once these challenges are settled, the replacement of traditional adsorbents by AWBs in decontaminating heavy metals from wastewater can be expected in the future. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Nguyen, TT, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2013, 'Pilot scale study on a new membrane bioreactor hybrid system in municipal wastewater treatment', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 141, pp. 8-12.
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A pilot scale membrane bioreactor hybrid system (MBR-HS) was evaluated for municipal wastewater treatment. This novel system comprised of a granular activated carbon-sponge fluidized bed bioreactor (GACS-FBBR) followed by a submerge membrane bioreactor (MBR) with the capacity of 2L/min. The results indicated that the MBR-HS could effectively remove 90% DOC and 95% NH4-N. PO4-P removal efficiency was remained stable at about 70% throughout the experiment. Specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) of activated sludge increased from 0.72 to 2.21mg O2/gVSSh for the first 10days and then followed by a steady stage until the end of experiment. Sludge volume index (SVI) was always below 50mL/g, demonstrated an excellent settling properties of sludge. The system also showed an achievement in terms of low trans-membrane pressure (TMP) development rate. The TMP increasing rate was only 0.65kPa/day, suggesting GACS-FBBR can be a promising pre-treatment for MBR. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Nguyen, TT, Ngo, HH & Guo, WS 2013, 'Effect of sponge volume fraction on the performance of a novel fluidized bed bioreactor', WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 67, no. 11, pp. 2645-2650.
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A novel fluidized bed bioreactor (FBBR) was designed by integration of anaerobic granular activated carbon and aerobic sponge reactors. This FBBR was evaluated at different sponge volume fractions for treating a synthetic wastewater. Polyester urethane sponge with cube size of 1 × 1 × 1 cm and density of 28-30 kg/m3 with 90 cells per 25 mm was used as biomass carrier. The results indicate that the FBBR could remove more than 93% of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The highest nutrient removal efficiencies (58.2% PO4 -P and 75.4% NH4-N) were achieved at 40% sponge volume fraction. The system could provide a good condition for biomass growth (e.g. 186.2 mg biomass/g sponge). No significant different performance in specific oxygen uptake rate was observed between 30, 40, and 50% sponge volume fractions. © IWA Publishing 2013 Water.

Nguyen, VT, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Indraratna, B 2013, 'Analytical Solutions for Filtration Process Based on Constriction Size Concept', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 139, no. 7, pp. 1049-1061.
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Ni, B, Yuan, Z, Chandran, K, Vanrolleghem, PA & Murthy, S 2013, 'Evaluating four mathematical models for nitrous oxide production by autotrophic ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria', Biotechnology and Bioengineering, vol. 110, no. 1, pp. 153-163.
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AbstractThere is increasing evidence showing that ammonia‐oxidizing bacteria (AOB) are major contributors to N2O emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Although the fundamental metabolic pathways for N2O production by AOB are now coming to light, the mechanisms responsible for N2O production by AOB in WWTP are not fully understood. Mathematical modeling provides a means for testing hypotheses related to mechanisms and triggers for N2O emissions in WWTP, and can then also become a tool to support the development of mitigation strategies. This study examined the ability of four mathematical model structures to describe two distinct mechanisms of N2O production by AOB. The production mechanisms evaluated are (1) N2O as the final product of nitrifier denitrification with NO as the terminal electron acceptor and (2) N2O as a byproduct of incomplete oxidation of hydroxylamine (NH2OH) to NO. The four models were compared based on their ability to predict N2O dynamics observed in three mixed culture studies. Short‐term batch experimental data were employed to examine model assumptions related to the effects of (1) NH concentration variations, (2) dissolved oxygen (DO) variations, (3) NOJournal of Membrane Science, vol. 428, pp. 163-171.
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Ni, B-J, Ruscalleda, M, Pellicer-Nàcher, C & Smets, BF 2013, 'Reply to Comment on “Modeling Nitrous Oxide Production during Biological Nitrogen Removal via Nitrification and Denitrification: Extensions to the General ASM Models”', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 47, no. 20, pp. 11910-11911.
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Ni, B-J, Smets, BF, Yuan, Z & Pellicer-Nàcher, C 2013, 'Model-based evaluation of the role of Anammox on nitric oxide and nitrous oxide productions in membrane aerated biofilm reactor', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 446, pp. 332-340.
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Ni, B-J, Ye, L, Law, Y, Byers, C & Yuan, Z 2013, 'Mathematical Modeling of Nitrous Oxide (N₂O) Emissions from Full-Scale Wastewater Treatment Plants', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 47, no. 14, pp. 7795-7803.
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Ni, J, Indraratna, B, Geng, X-Y, Carter, JP & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2013, 'Radial consolidation of soft soil under cyclic loads', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 50, pp. 1-5.
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Ong, HC, Silitonga, AS, Masjuki, HH, Mahlia, TMI, Chong, WT & Boosroh, MH 2013, 'Production and comparative fuel properties of biodiesel from non-edible oils: Jatropha curcas, Sterculia foetida and Ceiba pentandra', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 73, pp. 245-255.
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Ou, G, Wang, Y, Hao, H & Zhu, XQ 2013, 'Identification of de-bonding between steel bars and concrete using wavelet techniques: Comparative study', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 43-56.
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The interface between steel bar and concrete plays an important role in retaining the strength of reinforced concrete structures. When the interface is damaged by cracking, de-bonding between the two materials and/or other kinds of damage, significant degradation of the structural performances will occur owing to loss of composite actions. In this study, wave propagation on several steel bars embedded in two concrete plates with different de-bonding scenarios is tested. Piezoelectric actuators and sensors are attached to steel bars for recording input and response signals. This paper uses the wavelet transform combined with the wavelet packet decomposition, component energy and Shannon entropy to analyze the experimental results. The results demonstrate that both damage index and relative entropy are sensitive to the existence of de-bonding damage and change linearly with de-bonding length when there is only a single de-bonding damage, while energy and entropy distribution are largely influenced by the property of the excitation signal. When multiple de-bonding exists, however, both the damage index and relative entropy have no such clear tendency. © Institution of Engineers Australia, 2013.

Palash, SM, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH, Masum, BM, Rizwanul Fattah, IM & Mofijur, M 2013, 'Impacts of biodiesel combustion on NOx emissions and their reduction approaches', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 23, pp. 473-490.
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Palash, SM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Masum, BM, Sanjid, A & Abedin, MJ 2013, 'State of the art of NOx mitigation technologies and their effect on the performance and emission characteristics of biodiesel-fueled Compression Ignition engines', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 76, pp. 400-420.
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Pan, Y, Ni, B-J & Yuan, Z 2013, 'Modeling Electron Competition among Nitrogen Oxides Reduction and N₂O Accumulation in Denitrification', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 47, no. 19, pp. 11083-11091.
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Pan, Y, Ni, B-J, Bond, PL, Ye, L & Yuan, Z 2013, 'Electron competition among nitrogen oxides reduction during methanol-utilizing denitrification in wastewater treatment', Water Research, vol. 47, no. 10, pp. 3273-3281.
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Pang, SC, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Hazrat, MA 2013, 'Correlation of Engine Cooling System Parameters and SegmentedHeat Exchangers’ Analysis', Journal of Applied Sciences, vol. 13, no. 11, pp. 2027-2032.
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Pang, SC, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Hazrat, MA 2013, 'Liquid absorption and solid adsorption system for household, industrial and automobile applications: A review', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 28, pp. 836-847.
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Pant, HR, Pant, B, Park, CH, Kim, HJ, Lee, DS, Tijing, LD, Hwang, BS, Kim, HY & Kim, CS 2013, 'RGO/Nylon-6 composite mat with unique structural features and electrical properties obtained from electrospinning and hydrothermal process', Fibers and Polymers, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 970-975.
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In this work, the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets were effectively uploaded through nylon-6 fibers using combined process of electrospinning and hydrothermal treatment. Good dispersion of graphene oxide (GO) with nylon-6 solution could allow to upload GO sheets through nylon-6 fibers and facilitate the formation of spider-wave-like nano-nets during electrospinning. GO sheets present on/into nylon-6 spider-wave-like nano-nets were further reduced to RGO using hydrothermal treatment. The impregnated GO sheets into nylon-6 nanofibers and their reduction during hydrothermal treatment were confirmed by FE-SEM, TEM, FT-IR and Raman spectra. The electrical characteristics of pristine nylon-6, GO/nylon-6 and RGO/nylon-6 nanofibers were investigated and it was found that RGO/nylon-6 composite mat had better electrical conductivity than others. The formation of spider-wave-like nano-nets as well as indirect route of incorporation of RGO sheets on electrospun nylon-6 mat may open a new direction for future graphene/polymer electronics.

Pant, HR, Pant, B, Pokharel, P, Kim, HJ, Tijing, LD, Park, CH, Lee, DS, Kim, HY & Kim, CS 2013, 'Photocatalytic TiO2–RGO/nylon-6 spider-wave-like nano-nets via electrospinning and hydrothermal treatment', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 429, pp. 225-234.
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A new route for the formation of reusable photocatalytic TiO2 (P25)-reduced graphene oxide/nylon-6 (P25-RGO/nylon-6) composite filter membrane using electrospinning and hydrothermal techniques is being reported. Addition of small amount of graphene oxide (GO) into nylon-6 solution prior to electrospinning was able to cause the formation of a large-scale uniform bimodal fibers with distributed thick (≈200 nm) and thin (≈13 nm) fiber diameters in spider-wave-like nano-nets by electrospinning, and facilitated the deposition of P25 NPs during its reduction at the time of hydrothermal treatment. Different analyses confirmed that GO was successfully incorporated into the electrospun nylon-6 fibers and simultaneous reduction of GO as well as deposition of P25 NPs on the surface of fibers was possible during hydrothermal treatment. The photoactive property of the as-prepared nanocomposites was tested against methylene blue. The results showed that P25-RGO/nylon-6 nanocomposite mat is more effective than the TiO2/nylon-6 electrospun composite mat. The water flux at a given pressure of different mats was measured to find out the filter efficiency of the membranes. The as-prepared composite mat has great potentiality as an economically–friendly water filter media and reusable photocatalyst.

Pant, HR, Pant, B, Sharma, RK, Amarjargal, A, Kim, HJ, Park, CH, Tijing, LD & Kim, CS 2013, 'Antibacterial and photocatalytic properties of Ag/TiO2/ZnO nano-flowers prepared by facile one-pot hydrothermal process', Ceramics International, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 1503-1510.
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In this paper, a simple and efficient strategy of one-pot synthesis of Ag doped TiO2/ZnO photocatalyst was developed using hydrothermal process. Simultaneous crystallization of Ag and ZnO crystals from their precursor solution containing P25 (TiO2) NPs could form effectively bonded Ag/TiO2/ZnO composite photocatalyst during hydrothermal treatment. Several analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy have been used to characterize the resulting Ag/TiO2/ZnO photocatalyst. Results showed that ZnO nano-flowers doped with TiO2 and Ag NPs were formed by this simple facile one-step process. The unique properties of Ag NPs on binary semiconductor composite not only provide the decreased rate of electron-hole separation but also prevent from the loss of photocatalyst during recovery due to the fixed attachment of Ag and TiO2 NPs on the surface of flower shaped large ZnO particles. Therefore, as-synthesized composite is an economically and environmentally friendly photocatalyst. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.

Pant, HR, Park, CH, Pokharel, P, Tijing, LD, Lee, DS & Kim, CS 2013, 'ZnO micro-flowers assembled on reduced graphene sheets with high photocatalytic activity for removal of pollutants', Powder Technology, vol. 235, pp. 853-858.
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In this paper, a simple and efficient strategy was developed for preparing flower-shaped ZnO doped reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composite material by simultaneous crystal growth (of ZnO) and reduction (of graphene oxide) using hydrothermal process. Several analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence spectroscopy have been used to characterize the resulting ZnO/RGO photocatalyst. Results showed that highly crystalline ZnO nano-flowers were effectively doped on the surface of RGO sheets. The unique properties of RGO sheets not only provide the decreased rate of electron–hole separation in ZnO but also prevent from the loss of photocatalyst during recovery due to the fixed attachment of ZnO NPs on the surface of high aspect ratio graphene sheets. Therefore, as-synthesized composite is an economically and environmentally friendly photocatalyst.

Pant, HR, Risal, P, Park, CH, Tijing, LD, Jeong, YJ & Kim, CS 2013, 'Core–shell structured electrospun biomimetic composite nanofibers of calcium lactate/nylon-6 for tissue engineering', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 221, pp. 90-98.
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In this work, core-shell structured nylon-6/lactic acid (LA) nanofibers have been produced via single-spinneret electrospinning from the simple blending of LA and nylon-6 solution. The low evaporation rate and plasticizer property of LA was found to be responsible for the formation of point-bonded morphology whereas solvent degradation of nylon-6 with complex phase separation mechanism could give spider-wave-like architecture of the mat and core–shell structure of the composite fibers. The core–shell nanostructure and existence of LA on the shell layer of the fiber were confirmed by TEM and XPS analysis. These fibers were further treated with calcium base to convert surface LA into calcium lactate (CL) which could increase the biocompatibility of composite mat. The SBF incubation test not only confirmed the nucleation capacity of CL to accelerate the deposition of calcium compound on the surface of nanofibers but also facileated the formation of hollow calcium phosphate particles at biomimetic conditions. The adhesion, viability and proliferation properties of osteoblast cells on the composite nanofibers were analyzed by in vitro cell compatibility test. This study demonstrated the non-cytotoxic behavior and good proliferation capacity of calcium lactate/nylon-6 (CL/nylon-6) composite mat. Therefore, the novel nanofibrous composite mat may become a potential candidate for bone tissue engineering

Pant, HR, Risal, P, Park, CH, Tijing, LD, Jeong, YJ & Kim, CS 2013, 'Synthesis, characterization, and mineralization of polyamide-6/calcium lactate composite nanofibers for bone tissue engineering', Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, vol. 102, pp. 152-157.
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Park, C-H, Kang, S-J, Tijing, LD, Pant, HR & Kim, CS 2013, 'Inductive heating of electrospun Fe2O3/polyurethane composite mat under high-frequency magnetic field', Ceramics International, vol. 39, no. 8, pp. 9785-9790.
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Park, CH, Kim, C-H, Pant, HR, Tijing, LD, Yu, MH, Kim, Y & Kim, CS 2013, 'An angled robotic dual-nozzle electrospinning set-up for preparing PU/PA6 composite fibers', Textile Research Journal, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 311-320.
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This paper presents the design and development of a robust electrospinning set-up for the processing of polymer composites at the nanoscale. A robotic-controlled movable dual-nozzle (keeping the rotating collector at a fixed position) set-up with two power supplies is presented for nanocomposite electrospinning. We studied the effect of different angles between two nozzles on the physicochemical properties of composite PU/PA6 electrospun mats obtained from this electrospining set-up. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the mats indicated that the diameter of the nanofibers and their evenness was affected by the angle between the nozzles. The effect of angle (between the nozzles) on the mechanical strength of the composite mats was also evaluated. The hybrid mat obtained from the dual- nozzle system was found to be mechanically stronger than the individual fibrous mat. Furthermore, the mechanical strength of the composite mat could be increased by decreasing the angle between the tips of the nozzles.

Park, C-H, Tijing, LD, Pant, HR, Kim, T-H, Amarjargal, A, Kim, HJ & Kim, CS 2013, 'Accelerated in vitro durability testing of nonvascular Nitinol stents based on the electrical potential sensing method', Applied Physics A, vol. 112, no. 4, pp. 919-926.
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Paul, M, Haque, SME & Chakraborty, S 2013, 'Human detection in surveillance videos and its applications - a review', EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing, vol. 2013, no. 1.
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Phuntsho, S, Hong, S, Elimelech, M & Shon, HK 2013, 'Forward osmosis desalination of brackish groundwater: Meeting water quality requirements for fertigation by integrating nanofiltration', JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE, vol. 436, no. 1, pp. 1-15.
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The concept of fertiliser drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) desalination lies in the premise that fertilisers that serve as draw solutions (DS) add value to the FDFO product water for fertigation. However, because FDFO desalination is concentration based, the process cannot continue beyond the concentration equilibrium, one of the major limitations of the forward osmosis (FO) process. This results in final FDFO product water that, unless subjected to substantial dilution with fresh water, exceeds the acceptable nutrient concentrations for direct fertigation. In this study, nanofiltration (NF) has been assessed as an integrated process to FDFO desalination, either as a pre-treatment or post-treatment, to reduce the nutrient concentrations in the final product water and thereby allow direct use of the product water for fertigation without further dilution. NF as pre-treatment or post-treatment was found effective in reducing the nutrient concentrations using brackish groundwater (BGW) sources with relatively low total dissolved solid (TDS). However, when using higher TDS BGW sources, the product water still required further dilution or post-treatment before fertigation. NF as post-treatment was found to be more advantageous both in terms of reduced nutrient concentrations in the final product water and energy consumption. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Phuntsho, S, Kim, J, Lotfi, F & Shon, HK 2013, 'MONO/DI-ammonium phosphate fertilizers as draw solutions for forward osmosis desalination', IDA Journal of Desalination and Water Reuse, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 34-39.
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Forward osmosis (FO) can be suitably used to desalinate water for irrigation using fertilizer as draw agent due to the desalinated water containing diluted draw solution. Mono-ammonium hydrogen phosphate (MAP) and di-ammonium hydrogen phosphate (DAP) are the important group of the most concentrated soluble fertilizer materials containing both N and P, essential fertilizer elements needed by the plants. The comparative assessment of these two fertilizers as draw solution (DS) for FO desalination was conducted. The results indicate that both MAP and DAP can be used as a DS for FO desalination and for direct fertigation although concentration polarization significantly affected the water flux. MAP performed slightly better in terms of pure water flux. However, the performance ratio of DAP was comparable to MAP when saline feed water was used. Furthermore, DAP was seen as a better DS candidate for desalination and fertigation due to significantly lower reverse solute flux.

Phuntsho, S, Sahebi, S, Majeed, T, Lotfi, F, Kim, JE & Shon, HK 2013, 'Assessing the major factors affecting the performances of forward osmosis and its implications on the desalination process', CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, vol. 231, pp. 484-496.
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This study evaluates the influence of some of the major factors affecting the performances of forward osmosis (FO) desalination and assessed their potential implications on the overall process. The major factors assessed include membrane properties, draw solution (DS) properties, feed solution (FS) properties and the operating conditions. The influence of the membrane properties was evaluated using three types of membranes and in doing so we have also introduced one newly synthesized proprietary thin film composite FO (TFC-FO) membrane. The performances of TFC-FO membrane in terms of water flux and reverse solute flux were significantly higher than the commercial cellulose triacetate FO membrane and TFC reverse osmosis membrane in FO process. Although adequate osmotic pressure of DS is desirable for FO process, the influence of DS osmotic pressure was less significant at higher DS osmotic pressure and therefore selecting an optimum initial osmotic pressure is essential for FO process to minimize pumping energy. A critical DS concentration has been hypothesized to minimize the implications of DS concentrations on the capital and operational cost of the FO desalination plant. Total dissolved solids (TDS) of the FS play a significant role in the performance of FO process however the influence of feed TDS was less significant for feed higher than 20,000. mg/L indicating that FO has a promising potential for use with high TDS feed water. Although, water flux decreased, the reverse solute flux (RSF) and specific RSF also decreased slightly at higher feed TDS. For operating parameters, the influence of crossflow velocity and the crossflow direction was also investigated. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Pirasteh, S, Pradhan, B, Safari, HO & Ramli, MF 2013, 'Coupling of DEM and remote-sensing-based approaches for semi-automated detection of regional geostructural features in Zagros mountain, Iran', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 91-99.
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Pourghasemi, H, Pradhan, B, Gokceoglu, C & Moezzi, KD 2013, 'A comparative assessment of prediction capabilities of Dempster–Shafer and Weights-of-evidence models in landslide susceptibility mapping using GIS', Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 93-118.
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POURGHASEMI, HR, JIRANDEH, AG, PRADHAN, B, XU, C & GOKCEOGLU, C 2013, 'Landslide susceptibility mapping using support vector machine and GIS at the Golestan Province, Iran', Journal of Earth System Science, vol. 122, no. 2, pp. 349-369.
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Pourghasemi, HR, Pradhan, B, Gokceoglu, C, Mohammadi, M & Moradi, HR 2013, 'Application of weights-of-evidence and certainty factor models and their comparison in landslide susceptibility mapping at Haraz watershed, Iran', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 6, no. 7, pp. 2351-2365.
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Pradhan, B 2013, 'A comparative study on the predictive ability of the decision tree, support vector machine and neuro-fuzzy models in landslide susceptibility mapping using GIS', Computers & Geosciences, vol. 51, pp. 350-365.
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Rahman, SMA, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Abedin, MJ, Sanjid, A & Sajjad, H 2013, 'Impact of idling on fuel consumption and exhaust emissions and available idle-reduction technologies for diesel vehicles – A review', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 74, pp. 171-182.
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Rahman, SMA, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Abedin, MJ, Sanjid, A & Sajjad, H 2013, 'Production of palm and Calophyllum inophyllum based biodiesel and investigation of blend performance and exhaust emission in an unmodified diesel engine at high idling conditions', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 76, pp. 362-367.
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Raj Pant, H, Pant, B, Joo Kim, H, Amarjargal, A, Hee Park, C, Tijing, LD, Kyo Kim, E & Sang Kim, C 2013, 'A green and facile one-pot synthesis of Ag–ZnO/RGO nanocomposite with effective photocatalytic activity for removal of organic pollutants', Ceramics International, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 5083-5091.
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In this study, Ag-ZnO/reduced graphene oxide (Ag-ZnO/RGO) composite was synthesized by a green and facile one-step hydrothermal process. Aqueous suspension containing Ag and ZnO precursors with graphene oxide (GO) sheets was heated at 140 °C for 2 h. The morphology and structure of as-synthesized particles were characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy which revealed the formation of composite of metal, metal oxide and RGO. It was observed that the presence of Ag precursor and GO sheets in the hydrothermal solution could sufficiently decrease the size of ZnO flowers. The hybrid nanostructure, with unique morphology, obtained from this convenient method (low temperature, less time, and less number of reagents) was found to have good photocatalytic and antibacterial activity. The perfect recovery of catalyst after reaction and its unchanged efficiency for cyclic use showed that it will be an economically and environmentally friendly photocatalyst. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.

Ran, NHM, Yuliati, L, Lee, SL, Mahlia, TMI & Nur, H 2013, 'Liquid–gas boundary catalysis by using gold/polystyrene-coated hollow titania', Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, vol. 394, pp. 490-497.
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Regmi, AD, Yoshida, K, Nagata, H, Pradhan, AMS, Pradhan, B & Pourghasemi, HR 2013, 'The relationship between geology and rock weathering on the rock instability along Mugling–Narayanghat road corridor, Central Nepal Himalaya', Natural Hazards, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 501-532.
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Rismanchi, B, Saidur, R, Masjuki, HH & Mahlia, TMI 2013, 'Modeling and simulation to determine the potential energy savings by implementing cold thermal energy storage system in office buildings', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 75, pp. 152-161.
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Rizwanul Fattah, IM, Masjuki, HH, Liaquat, AM, Ramli, R, Kalam, MA & Riazuddin, VN 2013, 'Impact of various biodiesel fuels obtained from edible and non-edible oils on engine exhaust gas and noise emissions', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 18, pp. 552-567.
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Ruelo, MTG, Tijing, LD, Amarjargal, A, Park, C-H, Kim, HJ, Pant, HR, Lee, DH & Kim, CS 2013, 'Assessing the effect of catalytic materials on the scaling of carbon steel', Desalination, vol. 313, pp. 189-198.
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The present study investigated the efficacy of catalytic materials, i.e., tourmaline, zinc and aluminum, in mitigating calcium carbonate scaling of carbon steel material. Artificial hard water (480 ± 20 mg/l) was used to re-circulate in the system loop for 3 days of fouling test. Tests were carried out at various solution temperatures (27, 40, and 70 °C) and flow rates (800, 1200, and 1600 ml/min). Different measurements and characterization methods were carried out. The results showed consistently lower deposition of scales when the catalytic materials were incorporated in the system (i.e., treatment case), with as much as 21% reduction compared to the no-treatment case, depending on the solution temperature and flow rate. There was more corrosion activity observed in the no-treatment case compared to the treatment case. Furthermore, the scales at the no-treatment case showed pointed, sea-urchin-like structure, while those of the treatment case were dull, star-like structures and with thicker crystals than those at no-treatment case. In this study, we have shown the potential of catalytic materials in reducing scaling formation on non-heated carbon steel surface.

Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Indraratna, B 2013, 'Current state of the art in vacuum preloading for stabilising soft soil', Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 77-87.
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In this paper the analytical solutions for radial consolidation that include time dependent surcharge loading and vacuum pressure are proposed, whilst also considering the impact of the parabolic variation of permeability in the smear zone. The use of the spectral method for multilayered soil consolidation is introduced and verified. The Elliptical Cavity Expansion Theory is used to predict the extent of soil disturbance (smear zone) caused by the installation of mandrel driven vertical drains. The predicted smear zone is then compared to the data obtained from large-scale radial consolidation tests. Furthermore, the advantages and limitations of applying a vacuum through vertical drains are discussed using the proposed solutions. The vacuum pressure applied generates a negative pore water pressure that increases the effective stress within the soil, which leads to an accelerated consolidation. Vacuum pressure is modelled as a distributed negative pressure (suction) along the length of the drain and across the surface of the soil. Analytical and numerical analyses that incorporate the Authors' equivalent plane strain solution are conducted to predict the excess pore pressures, lateral and vertical displacement. The application of the theoretical models for selected case histories at the site of the 2nd Bangkok International Airport and the Port of Brisbane, are discussed and analysed. The predictions are compared with the available field data and show that the proposed model can be confidently used to predict the performance with acceptable accuracy through rigorous mathematical modelling and numerical analysis. The research findings verify that the role of the smear zone and vacuum distribution can significantly affect the consolidation of soil, but these aspects need to be modelled appropriately to obtain reliable.

RUJIKIATKAMJORN, C, ARDANA, MDW, INDRARATNA, B & LEROUEIL, S 2013, 'Conceptual model describing smear zone caused by mandrel action', Géotechnique, vol. 63, no. 16, pp. 1377-1388.
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In this study the characteristics and extent of the smear zone are investigated using a large, undisturbed sample. The aim of using such a sample is to capture the realistic characteristics of the smear zone in relation to the in situ soil structure during the installation of prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) using a mandrel. The extent of the smear zone for Bulli clay (New South Wales, Australia) is determined on the basis of normalised permeability (kh/khu) and the reduction in the water content upon consolidation. The permeability and compressibility of the soil are investigated to determine the extent to which the soil surrounding the PVD has become disturbed. In laboratory testing, the soil consolidation behaviour due to a PVD is studied using a large-scale consolidometer apparatus. The numerical results have shown that the writers' solutions give excellent agreement with laboratory observations.

Rujikiatkamjorn, C, Indraratna, B & Chiaro, G 2013, 'Compaction of coal wash to optimise its utilisation as water-front reclamation fill', Geomechanics and Geoengineering, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 36-45.
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The coal mining industry in and around Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia, is responsible for producing an ever growing quantity of coal washery reject materials and other mine waste aggregates. Considerable effort is being undertaken to reuse, beneficially, these waste products in the immediate suburbs of Wollongong. In this paper, detailed laboratory investigations carried out on coal wash (i.e. coarse coal washery reject), produced at Dendrobium coal mine near Wollongong, are presented. Geotechnical tests were conducted to determine the particle size distribution, compaction characteristics, shear resistance and collapse potential. Compaction tests were performed under dry and submerged conditions to examine comprehensively the compactability and the strength properties of coal wash. The laboratory tests show that, if properly compacted, Dendrobium coal wash has a good potential as effective low-porosity fill for embankments and port reclamation. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Safari, HO, Pirasteh, S, Pradhan, B & Amid, H 2013, 'Geohazards analysis of Pisa tunnel in a fractured incompetent rocks in Zagros Mountains, Iran', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1101-1112.
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Samarin, A 2013, 'New method of pavement construction and encapsulation of hazardous wastes', Concrete in Australia, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 51-55.
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the difficulty of safe disposal of hazardous wastes and particularly of low and intermediate level radioactive wastes is well recognized. In most cases it involves relocation of waste from one residential or industrial site to another, which is usually located in close proximity to the built -up areas. The paper proposes a new method of 'highway construction-waste disposal' of hazardous wastes, which should guarantee not only a long term safe removal of harmful materials, but also a significant improvement in the long term maintenance with defect-free surfaces of highway pavements. The history and practical development of special high durable concrete is founded on the principle of thermodynamic systems far from equilibrium. It should ensure safe long term encapsulation of hazardous wastes, including low and intermediate level radioactive wastes. Although the initial cost of highway construction using this method is somewhat higher than the conventional technique, if the cost of waste disposal is taken into consideration, the total expenditure, in most cases, should be actually lower than the combined cost of individual construction and disposal.

Samarin, A 2013, 'Use of Concrete as a Biological Shield from Ionising Radiation', Energy and Environmental Engineering, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 90-97.
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The controversy over the use of nuclear energy fundamentally comes down to three main considerations: its safety of use, ability of nuclear energy generation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and finally its long term sustainability. The paper addressed the problem of safety in the industrial and medical use of nuclear energy, as it is affected by the design and construction of light and heavy weight concrete biological shields from ionising radiation.

Sanjid, A, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Rahman, SMA, Abedin, MJ & Palash, SM 2013, 'Impact of palm, mustard, waste cooking oil and Calophyllum inophyllum biofuels on performance and emission of CI engine', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 27, pp. 664-682.
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Sezer, EA, Pradhan, B & Gokceoglu, C 2013, 'Erratum to: “Manifestation of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy model on landslide susceptibility mapping: Klang valley, Malaysia” [Expert Systems with Applications 38 (2011) 8208–8219]', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 2360-2360.
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Shafie, SM, Mahlia, TMI & Masjuki, HH 2013, 'Life cycle assessment of rice straw co-firing with coal power generation in Malaysia', Energy, vol. 57, pp. 284-294.
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Shahabuddin, M, Liaquat, AM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Mofijur, M 2013, 'Ignition delay, combustion and emission characteristics of diesel engine fueled with biodiesel', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 21, pp. 623-632.
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Shahabuddin, M, Masjuki, HH & Kalam, MA 2013, 'Experimental Investigation into Tribological Characteristics of Bio-Lubricant Formulated from Jatropha Oil', Procedia Engineering, vol. 56, pp. 597-606.
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Shahabuddin, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Bhuiya, MMK & Mehat, H 2013, 'Comparative tribological investigation of bio-lubricant formulated from a non-edible oil source (Jatropha oil)', Industrial Crops and Products, vol. 47, pp. 323-330.
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Shekarchian, M, Zarifi, F, Moghavvemi, M, Motasemi, F & Mahlia, TMI 2013, 'Energy, exergy, environmental and economic analysis of industrial fired heaters based on heat recovery and preheating techniques', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 71, pp. 51-61.
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Shon, HK, Phuntsho, S, Chaudhary, DS, Vigneswaran, S & Cho, J 2013, 'Nanofiltration for water and wastewater treatment – a mini review', Drinking Water Engineering and Science, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 47-53.
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Abstract. The application of membrane technology in water and wastewater treatment is increasing due to stringent water quality standards. Nanofiltration (NF) is one of the widely used membrane processes for water and wastewater treatment in addition to other applications such as desalination. NF has replaced reverse osmosis (RO) membranes in many applications due to lower energy consumption and higher flux rates. This paper briefly reviews the application of NF for water and wastewater treatment including fundamentals, mechanisms, fouling challenges and their controls.

Shon, HK, Phuntsho, S, Chaudhary, DS, Vigneswaran, S & Cho, J 2013, 'Nanofiltration for water and wastewater treatment – a mini review', Drinking Water Engineering and Science Discussions, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 59-77.
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Abstract. The application of membrane technology in water and wastewater treatment is increasing due to stringent water quality standards. Nanofiltration (NF) is one of the widely used membrane processes for water and wastewater treatment in addition to other applications such as desalination. NF has replaced reverse osmosis (RO) membranes in many applications due to lower energy consumption and higher flux rates. This paper briefly reviews the application of NF for water and wastewater treatment including fundamentals of membrane process in general, mechanisms of NF process including few basic models. fouling challenges and their control mechanisms adopted.

Silakhori, M, Naghavi, M, Metselaar, H, Mahlia, T, Fauzi, H & Mehrali, M 2013, 'Accelerated Thermal Cycling Test of Microencapsulated Paraffin Wax/Polyaniline Made by Simple Preparation Method for Solar Thermal Energy Storage', Materials, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 1608-1620.
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Microencapsulated paraffin wax/polyaniline was prepared using a simple in situ polymerization technique, and its performance characteristics were investigated. Weight losses of samples were determined by Thermal Gravimetry Analysis (TGA). The microencapsulated samples with 23% and 49% paraffin showed less decomposition after 330 °C than with higher percentage of paraffin. These samples were then subjected to a thermal cycling test. Thermal properties of microencapsulated paraffin wax were evaluated by Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC). Structure stability and compatibility of core and coating materials were also tested by Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR), and the surface morphology of the samples are shown by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). It has been found that the microencapsulated paraffin waxes show little change in the latent heat of fusion and melting temperature after one thousand thermal recycles. Besides, the chemical characteristics and structural profile remained constant after one thousand thermal cycling tests. Therefore, microencapsulated paraffin wax/polyaniline is a stable material that can be used for thermal energy storage systems.

Silitonga, AS, Masjuki, HH, Mahlia, TMI, Ong, HC & Chong, WT 2013, 'Experimental study on performance and exhaust emissions of a diesel engine fuelled with Ceiba pentandra biodiesel blends', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 76, pp. 828-836.
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Silitonga, AS, Masjuki, HH, Mahlia, TMI, Ong, HC, Atabani, AE & Chong, WT 2013, 'A global comparative review of biodiesel production from jatropha curcas using different homogeneous acid and alkaline catalysts: Study of physical and chemical properties', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 24, pp. 514-533.
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Silitonga, AS, Masjuki, HH, Mahlia, TMI, Ong, HC, Chong, WT & Boosroh, MH 2013, 'Overview properties of biodiesel diesel blends from edible and non-edible feedstock', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 22, pp. 346-360.
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Silitonga, AS, Ong, HC, Mahlia, TMI, Masjuki, HH & Chong, WT 2013, 'Characterization and production of Ceiba pentandra biodiesel and its blends', Fuel, vol. 108, pp. 855-858.
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Silitonga, AS, Ong, HC, Masjuki, HH, Mahlia, TMI, Chong, WT & Yusaf, TF 2013, 'Production of biodiesel from Sterculia foetida and its process optimization', Fuel, vol. 111, pp. 478-484.
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Sleap, SB, Turner, BD, Krabbenhøft, K & Sloan, SW 2013, 'Effects of pCO2 on the Removal of Fluoride from Wastewater by Calcite', Journal of Environmental Engineering, vol. 139, no. 8, pp. 1053-1061.
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Stewart, MG & Mueller, J 2013, 'Aviation Security, Risk Assessment, and Risk Aversion for Public Decisionmaking', Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 615-633.
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This paper estimates risk reductions for each layer of security designed to prevent commercial passenger airliners from being commandeered by terrorists, kept under control for some time, and then crashed into specific targets. Probabilistic methods are used to characterize the uncertainty of rates of deterrence, detection, and disruption, as well as losses. Since homeland security decisionmakers tend to be risk-averse because of the catastrophic or dire nature of the hazard or event, utility theory and Monte Carlo simulation methods are used to propagate uncertainties in calculations of net present value, expected utility, and probabilities of net benefit. We employ a 'break-even' cost-benefit analysis to determine the minimum probability of an otherwise successful attack that is required for the benefit of security measures to equal their cost. In this context, we examine specific policy options: including Improvised Physical Secondary Barriers (IPSBs) in the array of aircraft security measures, including the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), and including them both. Attack probabilities need to exceed 260 percent or 2.6 attacks per year to be 90 percent sure that FAMS is cost-effective, whereas IPSBs have more than 90 percent chance of being cost-effective even if attack probabilities are as low as 6 percent per year. A risk-neutral analysis finds a policy option of adding IPSBs but not FAMS to the other measures to be preferred for all attack probabilities. However, a very risk-averse decisionmaker is 48 percent likely to prefer to retain FAMS even if the attack probability is as low as 1 percent per year-a level of risk aversion exhibited by few, if any, government agencies. Overall, it seems that, even in an analysis that biases the consideration toward the opposite conclusion, far too much may currently be spent on security measures to address the problem of airline hijacking, and many spending reductions could likely be made with little or no consequent...

Stewart, MG & Mueller, J 2013, 'Terrorism Risks and Cost‐Benefit Analysis of Aviation Security', Risk Analysis, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 893-908.
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We evaluate, for the U.S. case, the costs and benefits of three security measures designed to reduce the likelihood of a direct replication of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. To do so, we assess risk reduction, losses, and security costs in the context of the full set of security layers. The three measures evaluated are installed physical secondary barriers (IPSB) to restrict access to the hardened cockpit door during door transitions, the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), and the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) Program. In the process, we examine an alternate policy measure: doubling the budget of the FFDO program to $44 million per year, installing IPSBs in all U.S. aircraft at a cost of $13.5 million per year, and reducing funding for FAMS by 75% to $300 million per year. A break‐even cost‐benefit analysis then finds the minimum probability of an otherwise successful attack required for the benefit of each security measures to equal its cost. We find that the IPSB is costeffective if the annual attack probability of an otherwise successful attack exceeds 0.5% or one attack every 200 years. The FFDO program is costeffective if the annual attack probability exceeds 2%. On the other hand, more than two otherwise successful attacks per year are required for FAMS to be costeffective. A policy that includes IPSBs, an increased budget for FFDOs, and a reduced budget for FAMS may be a viable policy alternative, potentially saving hundreds of millions of dollars per year with consequences for security that are, at most, negligible.

Stewart, MG, O'Callaghan, D & Hartley, M 2013, 'Review of QTRA and risk-based cost-benefit assessment of tree management', Arboriculture and Urban Forestry, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 165-172.
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Quantified Risk Assessment (QRA) has been in wide use in risk management since the 1960s for systems ranging from aviation, nuclear power, and offshore platforms to medical treatment and pharmaceuticals. The Quantified Tree Risk Assessment (QTRA) system is examined considering the principles of QRA. A case study of 14 fig trees in Newcastle, Australia, illustrates some limitations of the QTRA process, and extrapolating risks for a single tree to a group of trees. There is a need for any risk management process involving trees, not only to assess the risk, but to weigh the benefits provided by trees by a risk-based cost-benefit analysis. Tree risk assessors should rely on benchmarks to ensure that their assessment is not outside of the realms of reality or scientific rigor. © 2013 International Society of Arboriculture.

Su, K, Ni, B & Yu, H 2013, 'Modeling and optimization of granulation process of activated sludge in sequencing batch reactors', Biotechnology and Bioengineering, vol. 110, no. 5, pp. 1312-1322.
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AbstractAerobic granulation is a promising process for wastewater treatment, but this granulation process is very complicated and is affected by many factors. Thus, a mathematical model to quantitatively describe such a granulation process is highly desired. In this work, by taking into account all of key steps including biomass growth, increase in particle size and density, detachment, breakage and sedimentation, an one‐dimensional mathematic model was developed to simulate the granulation process of activated sludge in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Discretization methodology was applied by dividing operational time, sedimentation process, size fractions and slices into discretized calculation elements. Model verification and prediction for aerobic granulation process were conducted under four different conditions. Four parameters indicative of granulation progression, including mean radius, biomass discharge ratio, total number, and bioparticle size distribution, were predicted well with the model. An optimum controlling strategy, automatically adjusted of settling time, was also proposed based on this model. Moreover, aerobic granules with a density higher than 120 g VSS/L and radius in a range of 0.4–1.0 mm were predicted to have both high settling velocity and substrate utilization rate, and the corresponding optimum operating conditions were be determined. Experimental results demonstrate that the developed model is appropriate for simulating the formation of aerobic granules in SBRs. These results are useful for designing and optimizing the cultivation and operation of aerobic granule process. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 1312–1322. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Subhani, M, Li, J & Samali, B 2013, 'A comparative study of guided wave propagation in timber poles with isotropic and transversely isotropic material models', Journal of Civil Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 65-79.
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Subhani, M, Li, J, Samali, B & Yan, N 2013, 'Determination of the embedded lengths of electricity timber poles utilising flexural wave generated from impacts', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 85-96.
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Round timbers are extensively used as utility poles in Australia for electricity distribution and communication. Lack of information on their conditions results in great difficulties on asset management for industries. Despite the development of various

Subhani, M, Li, JC, Gravenkamp, H & Samali, B 2013, 'Effect of Elastic Modulus and Poisson's Ratio on Guided Wave Dispersion Using Transversely Isotropic Material Modelling', Advanced Materials Research, vol. 778, pp. 303-311.
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Timber poles are commonly used for telecommunication and power distribution networks, wharves or jetties, piling or as a substructure of short span bridges. Most of the available techniques currently used for non-destructive testing (NDT) of timber structures are based on one-dimensional wave theory. If it is essential to detect small sized damage, it becomes necessary to consider guided wave (GW) propagation as the behaviour of different propagating modes cannot be represented by one-dimensional approximations. However, due to the orthotropic material properties of timber, the modelling of guided waves can be complex. No analytical solution can be found for plotting dispersion curves for orthotropic thick cylindrical waveguides even though very few literatures can be found on the theory of GW for anisotropic cylindrical waveguide. In addition, purely numerical approaches are available for solving these curves. In this paper, dispersion curves for orthotropic cylinders are computed using the scaled boundary finite element method (SBFEM) and compared with an isotropic material model to indicate the importance of considering timber as an anisotropic material. Moreover, some simplification is made on orthotropic behaviour of timber to make it transversely isotropic due to the fact that, analytical approaches for transversely isotropic cylinder are widely available in the literature. Also, the applicability of considering timber as a transversely isotropic material is discussed. As an orthotropic material, most material testing results of timber found in the literature include 9 elastic constants (three elastic moduli and six Poisson's ratios), hence it is essential to select the appropriate material properties for transversely isotropic material which includes only 5 elastic constants. Therefore, comparison between orthotropic and transversely isotropic material model is also presented in this article to reveal the effect of elastic moduli and Pois...

Surawski, NC, Miljevic, B, Bodisco, TA, Brown, RJ, Ristovski, ZD & Ayoko, GA 2013, 'Application of Multicriteria Decision Making Methods to Compression Ignition Engine Efficiency and Gaseous, Particulate, and Greenhouse Gas Emissions', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 1904-1912.
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Compression ignition (CI) engine design is subject to many constraints, which present a multicriteria optimization problem that the engine researcher must solve. In particular, the modern CI engine must not only be efficient but must also deliver low gaseous, particulate, and life cycle greenhouse gas emissions so that its impact on urban air quality, human health, and global warming is minimized. Consequently, this study undertakes a multicriteria analysis, which seeks to identify alternative fuels, injection technologies, and combustion strategies that could potentially satisfy these CI engine design constraints. Three data sets are analyzed with the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluations and Geometrical Analysis for Interactive Aid (PROMETHEE-GAIA) algorithm to explore the impact of (1) an ethanol fumigation system, (2) alternative fuels (20% biodiesel and synthetic diesel) and alternative injection technologies (mechanical direct injection and common rail injection), and (3) various biodiesel fuels made from 3 feedstocks (i.e., soy, tallow, and canola) tested at several blend percentages (20-100%) on the resulting emissions and efficiency profile of the various test engines. The results show that moderate ethanol substitutions (∼20% by energy) at moderate load, high percentage soy blends (60-100%), and alternative fuels (biodiesel and synthetic diesel) provide an efficiency and emissions profile that yields the most 'preferred' solutions to this multicriteria engine design problem. Further research is, however, required to reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) emissions with alternative fuels and to deliver technologies that do not significantly reduce the median diameter of particle emissions. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Tabatabaiefar, SHR, Fatahi, B & Samali, B 2013, 'Lateral seismic response of building frames considering dynamic soil-structure interaction effects', STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING AND MECHANICS, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 311-321.
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In this study, to have a better judgment on the structural performance, the effects of dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) on seismic behaviour and lateral structural response of mid-rise moment resisting building frames are studied using Finite Difference Method. Three types of mid-rise structures, including 5, 10, and 15 storey buildings are selected in conjunction with three soil types with the shear wave velocities less than 600m/s, representing soil classes Ce, De and Ee, according to Australian Standard AS 1170.4. The above mentioned frames have been analysed under two different boundary conditions: (i) fixed-base (no soil-structure interaction), and (ii) flexible-base (considering soil-structure interaction). The results of the analyses in terms of structural lateral displacements and drifts for the above mentioned boundary conditions have been compared and discussed. It is concluded that the dynamic soil-structure interaction plays a considerable role in seismic behaviour of mid-rise building frames including substantial increase in the lateral deflections and inter-storey drifts and changing the performance level of the structures from life safe to near collapse or total collapse. Thus, considering soil-structure interaction effects in the seismic design of mid-rise moment resisting building frames, particularly when resting on soft soil deposit, is essential.

Tabatabaiefar, SHR, Fatahi, B & Samali, B 2013, 'Seismic Behavior of Building Frames Considering Dynamic Soil-Structure Interaction', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOMECHANICS, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 409-420.
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The seismic excitation experienced by structures is a function of the earthquake source, travel path effects, local site effects, and soilstructure interaction (SSI) influences. The result of the first three of these factors is referred to as free-field ground motion. The structural response to free-field motion is influenced by the SSI. In particular, accelerations within structures are affected by the flexibility of the foundation support and variations between the foundation and free-field motions. Consequently, an accurate assessment of inertial forces and displacements in structures can require a rational treatment of SSI effects. In the current study, to depict these effects on the seismic response of moment-resisting building frames, a 10-story moment-resisting building frame resting on a shallow foundation was selected in conjunction with three soil types with shear-wave velocities of less than 600 m/s, representing Soil Classes Ce, De, and Ee according to an existing Australian Standard. The structural sections were designed after applying dynamic nonlinear time-history analysis, based on both the elastic method, and inelastic procedure using the elastic-perfectly plastic behavior of the structural elements. The frame sections were modeled and analyzed using the finite-difference method andthe FLAC 2D software under two different boundary conditions: (1) fixed-base (no SSI) and (2) considering the SSI. Fully nonlinear dynamic analysis under the influence of various earthquake records was conducted and the results of the two different cases for elastic and inelastic behavior of the structuralmodel were extracted, compared, and discussed. The results indicate that the performance level of themodel resting on Soil Class Ce does not change substantially and remains in the life safe level while the performance level of themodel resting on Soil Classes De and Ee substantially increase from the life safe level to near collapse for both elastic and ine...

Tahan Latibari, S, Mehrali, M, Mehrali, M, Indra Mahlia, TM & Cornelis Metselaar, HS 2013, 'Synthesis, characterization and thermal properties of nanoencapsulated phase change materials via sol–gel method', Energy, vol. 61, pp. 664-672.
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Tangaramvong, S, Tin-Loi, F, Wu, D & Gao, W 2013, 'Mathematical programming approaches for obtaining sharp collapse load bounds in interval limit analysis', Computers & Structures, vol. 125, pp. 114-126.
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The paper presents novel mathematical programming approaches for interval limit analysis that are guaranteed to furnish sharp (extreme) bounds to the collapse load of structures subjected to uncertain but bounded parameters. The formulation is cast as a pair of linear programs with interval coefficients. We discuss when sharp collapse load bounds occur when the interval parameters are at the extreme limits of their respective intervals. A mixed 0-1 programming approach is first proposed to compute the minimum collapse limit, and, more importantly, we then develop a pair of robust and efficient nonlinear programming schemes that capture maximum collapse loads in one case and minimum collapse loads in the other. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tao, M, Li, X & Wu, C 2013, '3D numerical model for dynamic loading-induced multiple fracture zones around underground cavity faces', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 54, pp. 33-45.
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Tehrany, MS, Pradhan, B & Jebur, MN 2013, 'Remote Sensing Data Reveals Eco-Environmental Changes in Urban Areas of Klang Valley, Malaysia: Contribution from Object Based Analysis', Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 981-991.
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Tehrany, MS, Pradhan, B & Jebur, MN 2013, 'Spatial prediction of flood susceptible areas using rule based decision tree (DT) and a novel ensemble bivariate and multivariate statistical models in GIS', Journal of Hydrology, vol. 504, pp. 69-79.
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THAKUR, PK, VINOD, JS & INDRARATNA, B 2013, 'Effect of confining pressure and frequency on the deformation of ballast', Géotechnique, vol. 63, no. 9, pp. 786-790.
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Increasing the speed and frequency of trains with the same static axle weight imparts higher dynamic axle loads more frequently. When this occurs on existing track which has not been designed for such loading there can be increased rates of ballast degradation, characterised by unacceptable deformation and lateral spread, leading to more frequent requirements for track maintenance. Recent studies carried out at the University of Wollongong highlighted that confining pressure and frequency have a significant influence on the permanent deformation and degradation of ballast. However, confinement required to keep the deformation and degradation of the ballasted track to an acceptable limit will depend on the train speed (frequency). In this context, a series of cyclic triaxial tests was conducted on latite basalt samples having an initial confining pressure of 120 kPa. After every 25 000 cycles, the confining pressure was decreased in steps to simulate the drop of confining pressure during heavy traffic. This test procedure was adopted to replicate the influence of train speed on the stability of ballast. Test results indicated that both the frequency and confining pressure have a significant influence on the permanent deformation of ballast. Resilient modulus is found to increase with an increase in confining pressure and number of cycles, but to decrease with increasing frequency. The results also showed that the ballast layer requires a minimum level of confinement for preventing an excessive amount of track deformation. An empirical equation is formulated to determine the required confining pressure and resilient modulus of the ballast layer for an allowable limit of track deformation at a given train speed.

Thomas, D, Ding, G & Crews, K 2013, 'Sustainable timber use in the Australian housing market: Are consumers willing to pay the price', International Journal for Housing Science and Its Applications, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 187-196.
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A large proportion of traditional Australian homes contained timber floors and timber exterior cladding until the advent of the standard concrete slab/brick veneer house. Up to 95% of new homes are built by project home companies and the majority of these contain an external envelope consisting of concrete flooring, clay brick walls and concrete tile or steel sheet roofing. This design is currently driven by consumer's expectation of low cost, durable homes that are completed within restricted time limits. There is now a price premium on bespoke housing projects that differ materially or otherwise from a limited set of designs offered by project home firms. The adoption of concrete and brick homes originated from a perceived advantage of longevity, low maintenance and thermal comfort. Innovation in wood treatments, wood protection and insulation has provided solutions to these issues so that timber is now a viable option with added benefits such as environmental sustainability and erection speed. Australian consumers have a growing awareness and desire to live in a way that is sustainable and are making choices that reflect this attitude. This has been demonstrated through the high adoption rate of recent government-supported schemes such as subsidized insulation and solar panel installation. This paper aims at investigating homeowner's perception of timber as a sustainable building product, the desire of homeowners to use sustainable building products, and the willingness of homeowners to pay a premium to live sustainably. This paper highlights Australian homeowners reluctance to use the most sustainable building materials even when they are willing to pay for a more environmentally sustainable home. This paper presents the results of a questionnaire survey to homeowners in the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and some strategies on how to increase the use of timber in new housing projects in Australia. © 2013 IAHS.

Thomas, PS, Guerbois, J-P & Smallwood, A 2013, 'Low temperature DSC characterisation of water in opal', Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry, vol. 113, no. 3, pp. 1255-1260.
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A low temperature (-60 to +105 A degrees C) DSC characterisation of opal was carried out to determine the proportion of crystallisable water and to estimate the cavity size in which the crystallisable water is contained. Circa 10 % of the molecular water

Tien Bui, D, Pradhan, B, Lofman, O, Revhaug, I & Dick, ØB 2013, 'Regional prediction of landslide hazard using probability analysis of intense rainfall in the Hoa Binh province, Vietnam', Natural Hazards, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 707-730.
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Tijing, L, Ruelo, M, Park, C-H, Amarjargal, A, Kim, H, Pant, H, Lee, D-H & Kim, C 2013, 'Efficacy of zinc and tourmaline in mitigating corrosion of carbon steel in non-flow mode', Chemical Papers, vol. 67, no. 10, pp. 1304-1310.
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AbstractLaboratory corrosion immersion tests were carried out to investigate the effectiveness of a physical water treatment (PWT) using zinc and ceramic tourmaline-based catalytic materials for the control of carbon steel corrosion in acidic still water (i.e., pH 4.5–5). The tests were carried out at different water temperatures over 168 h. Our results showed a maximum of 22 % reduction in the corrosion rate using PWT in comparison with the control case. Furthermore, the corrosion products depicted more agglomerated particles after the PWT treatment. In both cases, differences were observed in the crystal structures, showing in general lower corrosion activity when PWT was used. The present results could find potential applications in water distribution systems and where metallic materials are exposed to stagnant acidic water.

Tijing, LD, Amarjargal, A, Jiang, Z, Ruelo, MTG, Park, C-H, Pant, HR, Kim, D-W, Lee, DH & Kim, CS 2013, 'Antibacterial tourmaline nanoparticles/polyurethane hybrid mat decorated with silver nanoparticles prepared by electrospinning and UV photoreduction', Current Applied Physics, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 205-210.
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Tijing, LD, Choi, W, Jiang, Z, Amarjargal, A, Park, C-H, Pant, HR, Im, I-T & Kim, CS 2013, 'Two-nozzle electrospinning of (MWNT/PU)/PU nanofibrous composite mat with improved mechanical and thermal properties', Current Applied Physics, vol. 13, no. 7, pp. 1247-1255.
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Tijing, LD, Park, C-H, Choi, WL, Ruelo, MTG, Amarjargal, A, Pant, HR, Im, I-T & Kim, CS 2013, 'Characterization and mechanical performance comparison of multiwalled carbon nanotube/polyurethane composites fabricated by electrospinning and solution casting', Composites Part B: Engineering, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 613-619.
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Multiwalled carbon nanotube/polyurethane (MWNT/PU) composites were prepared by electrospinning and solution casting. The morphological and thermal properties, and mechanical performance of the nanofiber and film composites were characterized and compared. The tensile strength of neat PU film was 9-fold higher than that of neat PU nanofibrous mat. The incorporation of MWNTs increased the tensile strength and modulus of the composite nanofibers by 69% and 140%, respectively, and 62% and 78%, respectively for composite films. The MWNT/PU composites showed an improved thermal degradation behavior, with the incorporation of low MWNT content in the composites.

Tijing, LD, Park, C-H, Kang, S-J, Amarjargal, A, Kim, T-H, Pant, HR, Kim, HJ, Lee, DH & Kim, CS 2013, 'Improved mechanical properties of solution-cast silicone film reinforced with electrospun polyurethane nanofiber containing carbon nanotubes', Applied Surface Science, vol. 264, pp. 453-458.
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Tran, NH, Urase, T, Ngo, HH, Hu, J & Ong, SL 2013, 'Insight into metabolic and cometabolic activities of autotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms in the biodegradation of emerging trace organic contaminants', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 146, no. 1, pp. 721-731.
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Many efforts have been made to understand the biodegradation of emerging trace organic contaminants (EOCs) in the natural and engineered systems. This review summarizes the current knowledge on the biodegradation of EOCs while having in-depth discussion on metabolism and cometabolism of EOCs. Biodegradation of EOCs is mainly attributed to cometabolic activities of both heterotrophic and autotrophic microorganisms. Metabolism of EOCs can only be observed by heterotrophic microbes. Autotrophic ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and ammonia oxidizing archaeal (AOA) cometabolize a variety of EOCs via the non-specific enzymes, such as ammonia monooxygenase (AMO). Higher biodegradation of EOCs is often noted under nitrification at high ammonia loading rate. The presence of a growth substrate promotes cometabolic biodegradation of EOCs. Potential strategies for enhancing the biodegradation of EOCs were also proposed in this review. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Visintin, P, Oehlers, DJ, Haskett, M & Wu, C 2013, 'Mechanics-Based Hinge Analysis for Reinforced Concrete Columns', Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 139, no. 11, pp. 1973-1980.
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Visintin, P, Oehlers, DJ, Muhamad, R & Wu, C 2013, 'Partial-interaction short term serviceability deflection of RC beams', Engineering Structures, vol. 56, pp. 993-1006.
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Wang, Q, Ye, L, Jiang, G & Yuan, Z 2013, 'A free nitrous acid (FNA)-based technology for reducing sludge production', Water Research, vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 3663-3672.
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Wang, Q, Ye, L, Jiang, G, Jensen, PD, Batstone, DJ & Yuan, Z 2013, 'Free Nitrous Acid (FNA)-Based Pretreatment Enhances Methane Production from Waste Activated Sludge', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 47, no. 20, pp. 11897-11904.
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Wang, Y-K, Sheng, G-P, Ni, B-J, Li, W-W, Zeng, RJ, Wang, Y-Q, Shi, B-J & Yu, H-Q 2013, 'Simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removals in membrane bioreactor with mesh filter: An experimental and modeling approach', Chemical Engineering Science, vol. 95, pp. 78-84.
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Wei, W, Li, J, Cao, L, Ou, Y & Chen, J 2013, 'Effective detection of sophisticated online banking fraud on extremely imbalanced data', World Wide Web, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 449-475.
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Sophisticated online banking fraud reflects the integrative abuse of resources in social, cyber and physical worlds. Its detection is a typical use case of the broad-based Wisdom Web of Things (W2T) methodology. However, there is very limited information available to distinguish dynamic fraud from genuine customer behavior in such an extremely sparse and imbalanced data environment, which makes the instant and effective detection become more and more important and challenging. In this paper, we propose an effective online banking fraud detection framework that synthesizes relevant resources and incorporates several advanced data mining techniques. By building a contrast vector for each transaction based on its customer's historical behavior sequence, we profile the differentiating rate of each current transaction against the customer's behavior preference. A novel algorithm, ContrastMiner, is introduced to efficiently mine contrast patterns and distinguish fraudulent from genuine behavior, followed by an effective pattern selection and risk scoring that combines predictions from different models. Results from experiments on large-scale real online banking data demonstrate that our system can achieve substantially higher accuracy and lower alert volume than the latest benchmarking fraud detection system incorporating domain knowledge and traditional fraud detection methods. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Wijekoon, KC, Fujioka, T, McDonald, JA, Khan, SJ, Hai, FI, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2013, 'Removal of N-nitrosamines by an aerobic membrane bioreactor', Bioresource Technology, vol. 141, pp. 41-45.
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Wijekoon, KC, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Price, WE, Guo, W, Ngo, HH & Nghiem, LD 2013, 'The fate of pharmaceuticals, steroid hormones, phytoestrogens, UV-filters and pesticides during MBR treatment', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 144, pp. 247-254.
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This study examined the relationship between molecular properties and the fate of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) in the aqueous and solid phases during wastewater treatment by MBR. A set of 29 TrOCs was selected to represent pharmaceuticals, steroid hormones, phytoestrogens, UV-filters and pesticides that occur ubiquitously in municipal wastewater. Both adsorption and biodegradation/transformation were found responsible for the removal of TrOCs by MBR treatment. A connection between biodegradation and molecular structure could be observed while adsorption was the dominant removal mechanism for the hydrophobic (logD > 3.2) compounds. Highly hydrophobic (logD > 3.2) but readily biodegradable compounds did not accumulate in sludge. In contrast, recalcitrant compounds with a moderate hydrophobicity, such as carbamazepine, accumulated significantly in the solid phase. The results provide a framework to predict the removal and fate of TrOCs by MBR treatment.

Wu, C & Sheikh, H 2013, 'A finite element modelling to investigate the mitigation of blast effects on reinforced concrete panel using foam cladding', International Journal of Impact Engineering, vol. 55, pp. 24-33.
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Wu, C, Lukaszewicz, M, Schebella, K & Antanovskii, L 2013, 'Experimental and numerical investigation of confined explosion in a blast chamber', Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 737-750.
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An experimental blast program consisting of four tests was conducted in a blast chamber to investigate the effects of cylindrical charges on the peak reflected overpressure and impulse on the wall of the chamber. The charge mass varied from 0.095 kg to 0.2 kg and the standoff distance remained constant at 1.5 m and 1.3 m for the axial and radial directions, respectively. Eight pressure transducers were used in each test to measure the reflected overpressures on confined chamber walls at key locations. A high speed camera was used to record footage of each blast event. The test results indicated that UFC-3-340-02 (Unified Facilities Criteria, 2008) gives a significantly lower prediction for the axially oriented cylindrical charge, and also underestimates the radially oriented cylinder. Another purpose of the blast program was to develop an experimental data set which would validate the AUTODYN model. This would enable the validated AUTODYN model to be used with confidence to generate the overpressure and impulse distribution on a structural element for varying parameters such as the charge shape and charge orientations. Based on the simulated results a new blast model for cylindrical charges has been proposed by considering blast loading on the same level as the charge across the longitudinal direction. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Xiao, J, Li, W, Corr, DJ & Shah, SP 2013, 'Effects of interfacial transition zones on the stress–strain behavior of modeled recycled aggregate concrete', Cement and Concrete Research, vol. 52, pp. 82-99.
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Based on nanoindentation tests and analysis, the constitutive relationship of the Interfacial Transition Zones (ITZs) in Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC) is put forward. Together with the meso/micro-scale mechanical properties of each phase in Modeled Recycled Aggregate Concrete (MRAC), the plastic-damage constitutive models are employed in numerical studies on MRAC under uniaxial compression and uniaxial tension loadings to predict the overall mechanical behavior, particularly the stress-strain relationship. After the calibration and validation with the experimental results, a parametric study has been undertaken to analyze the effects of ITZs and new mortar matrix on the stress-strain relationship of MRAC. It is revealed that the mechanical properties of new mortar matrix and relative mechanical properties between ITZs and mortar matrices play a significant role in the overall stress-strain relationship and failure patterns of MRAC under both uniaxial compression and uniaxial tension loadings. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Xiao, J, Li, W, Corr, DJ & Shah, SP 2013, 'Simulation Study on the Stress Distribution in Modeled Recycled Aggregate Concrete under Uniaxial Compression', Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 504-518.
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To investigate the stress distribution in recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) under uniaxial compression, modeled recycled aggregate concrete (MRAC) was studied by numerical simulation. The mechanical properties of interfacial transition zones (ITZs) of RAC were measured by the nanoindentation technique. A two-dimensional numerical study of the stress distribution characteristics of MRAC under the uniaxial compression is presented. The simulation was verified by experimental results. A parametric analysis is then conducted to study the sensitivity of each phase's mechanical properties and the amounts of old cement mortar in the MRAC. Simulation results demonstrate that a concentration of tensile stress and shear stress appears around new and old ITZ regions. It is found that when the elastic modulus of natural aggregates increases, the magnitude of tensile stress concentration becomes higher, whereas as the elastic modulus of ITZs increases, the magnitude of stress concentration decreases. It is also shown that the higher relative elastic modulus of new cement mortar compared with that of the old cement mortar significantly reduces the stress concentrations at the regions between recycled coarse aggregate particles. The amount of old cement mortar affects the stress distribution in the new ITZ much more obviously than that in the old ITZ. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Xiao, J, Li, W, Sun, Z, Lange, DA & Shah, SP 2013, 'Properties of interfacial transition zones in recycled aggregate concrete tested by nanoindentation', Cement and Concrete Composites, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 276-292.
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The properties of new Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ) and old ITZ in Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC) were investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and nanoindentation. From the SEM images, obvious voids and high concentration of calcium hydroxide can be found in both old ITZ and new ITZ in RAC. Based on the nanoindentation study, it is indicated that the thicknesses of old and new ITZs are in the range 40-50 μm and in the range 55-65 μm, respectively. It is also found that the average indentation modulus of old ITZ is 70-80% of that of old paste matrix, while the average indentation modulus of new ITZ is 80-90% of that of new paste matrix. Additionally, the influences of mix proportion, aggregate types and hydration age on the properties of ITZs in RAC are discussed in this study.© 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Xie, M, Nghiem, LD, Price, WE & Elimelech, M 2013, 'A Forward Osmosis-Membrane Distillation Hybrid Process for Direct Sewer Mining: System Performance and Limitations', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, vol. 47, no. 23, pp. 13486-13493.
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Xie, M, Nghiem, LD, Price, WE & Elimelech, M 2013, 'Impact of humic acid fouling on membrane performance and transport of pharmaceutically active compounds in forward osmosis', WATER RESEARCH, vol. 47, no. 13, pp. 4567-4575.
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Xie, W-M, Ni, B-J, Seviour, T & Yu, H-Q 2013, 'Evaluating the impact of operational parameters on the formation of soluble microbial products (SMP) by activated sludge', Water Research, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 1073-1079.
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Xu, J, Fu, Q, Ren, JM, Bryant, G & Qiao, GG 2013, 'Novel drug carriers: from grafted polymers to cross-linked vesicles', Chem. Commun., vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 33-35.
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Yan, C, Yang, Y, Zhou, J, Liu, M, Nie, M, Shi, H & Gu, L 2013, 'Antibiotics in the surface water of the Yangtze Estuary: Occurrence, distribution and risk assessment', Environmental Pollution, vol. 175, pp. 22-29.
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The occurrence and distribution of five groups of antibiotics were investigated in the surface water of Yangtze Estuary over four seasons. Of the 20 antibiotics, only sulfamerazine was not detected at all sampling sites, indicating widespread occurrence of antibiotic residues in the study area. Detection frequencies and concentrations of antibiotics were generally higher in January, indicating that low flow conditions and low temperature might enhance the persistence of antibiotics in water. Antibiotic levels varied with location, with the highest concentrations being observed around river discharge and sewage outfall. Furthermore, a positive correlation between total antibiotic and DOC concentrations revealed the significant role played by DOC. Risk assessment based on single compound exposure showed that sulfapyridine and sulfamethoxazole could cause medium risk to daphnid in the Yangtze Estuary. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Yang, F, Coughlin, DR, Phillips, PJ, Yang, L, Devaraj, A, Kovarik, L, Noebe, RD & Mills, MJ 2013, 'Structure analysis of a precipitate phase in an Ni-rich high-temperature NiTiHf shape memory alloy', Acta Materialia, vol. 61, no. 9, pp. 3335-3346.
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Yang, J, Du, H, Li, W, Li, Y, Li, J, Sun, S & Deng, HX 2013, 'Experimental study and modeling of a novel magnetorheological elastomer isolator', SMART MATERIALS AND STRUCTURES, vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 1-14.
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This paper reports an experimental setup aiming at evaluating the performance of a newly designed magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) seismic isolator. As a further effort to explore the field-dependent stiffness/damping properties of the MRE isolator, a series of experimental testing were conducted. Based upon the analysis of the experimental responses and the characteristics of the MRE isolator, a new model that is capable of reproducing the unique MRE isolator dynamics behaviors is proposed. The validation results verify the model's effectiveness to portray the MRE isolator. A study on the field-dependent parameters is then provided to make the model valid with fluctuating magnetic fields. To fully explore the mechanism of the proposed model, an investigation relating the dependence of the proposed model on every parameter is carried out. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Zare, M, Pourghasemi, HR, Vafakhah, M & Pradhan, B 2013, 'Landslide susceptibility mapping at Vaz Watershed (Iran) using an artificial neural network model: a comparison between multilayer perceptron (MLP) and radial basic function (RBF) algorithms', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 2873-2888.
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Zarifi, F, Mahlia, TMI, Motasemi, F, Shekarchian, M & Moghavvemi, M 2013, 'Current and future energy and exergy efficiencies in the Iran’s transportation sector', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 74, pp. 24-34.
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Zeng, J, Guo, Y, Li, Y, Zhu, J & Li, J 2013, 'Two-dimensional magnetic property measurement for magneto-rheological elastomer', JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS, vol. 113, no. 17.
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Zhang, J, Xu, YL, Li, J, Xia, Y & Li, JC 2013, 'Statistical moment-based structural damage detection method in time domain', Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 13-23.
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A novel structural damage detection method with a new damage index, i.e., the statistical moment-based damage detection (SMBDD) method in the frequency domain, has been recently proposed. The aim of this study is to extend the SMBDD method in the frequency domain to the time domain for building structures subjected to non-Gaussian and non-stationary excitations. The applicability and effectiveness of the SMBDD method in the time domainis verified both numerically and experimentally. Shear buildings with various damage scenarios are fi rst numerically investigated in the time domain taking into account the effect of measurement noise. The applicability of the proposed method in the time domain to building structures subjected to non-Gaussian and non-stationary excitations is then experimentally investigated through a series of shaking table tests, in which two three-story shear building models with four damage scenarios aretested. The identifi ed damage locations and severities are then compared with the preset values. The comparative results are found to be satisfactory, and the SMBDD method is shown to be feasible and effective for building structures subjected to non-Gaussian and non-stationary excitations.

Zhao, YX, Gao, BY, Qi, QB, Wang, Y, Phuntsho, S, Kim, J-H, Yue, QY, Li, Q & Shon, HK 2013, 'Cationic polyacrylamide as coagulant aid with titanium tetrachloride for low molecule organic matter removal', JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, vol. 258, no. 1, pp. 84-92.
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This is the first attempt to use cationic polyacrylamide (PAM) as coagulant aid with titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) to improve the coagulation performance and floc properties. Coagulation-flocculation treatment was applied to simulated water (with fulvic acid (FA) as model organic matter) for both coagulation behavior investigation and floc characterization. The effect of PAM on floc reformation properties after cyclic breakage/regrowth was also investigated. Ultrafiltration experiments were performed to investigate the influence of PAM aided TiCl4 coagulation on the membrane fouling. The results showed that organic removal was enhanced by PAM addition at low TiCl4 doses. Floc growth rate and floc size were significantly affected by dosing sequence. TiCl4-PAM significantly improved the floc strength factors (Sf) and recovery factors (Rf). The dosing sequence of TiCl4 and PAM significantly influenced the floc structure. Characterization of the flocculated sludge indicated that TiO2 with anatase structure and high photocatalytic activity could be obtained from the TiCl4-PAM flocculated sludge. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Zhao, YX, Gao, BY, Shon, HK, Qi, QB, Phuntsho, S, Wang, Y, Yue, QY, Li, Q & Kim, J-H 2013, 'Characterization of coagulation behavior of titanium tetrachloride coagulant for high and low molecule weight natural organic matter removal: The effect of second dosing', CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, vol. 228, no. 1, pp. 516-525.
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A two-stage titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) dosing strategy is applied for investigating the coagulation effect on simulated water containing humic acid (HA) and fulvic acid (FA) and these represent the dissolved organic matter (DOM). The influence of second TiCl4 dose on coagulation efficiency, flock re-growth and the fractal dimension properties is studied for the beneficial effect of the second coagulant dose. Moreover, the impact of increased shear on the ultra filtration permeate flux in coagulation-ultra filtration (C-UF) hybrid process is explored. A small second dose essentially decreases the residual turbidity and improves the organic matter removal. Also, flocks with larger size and better recoverability result and having more compact structure than those obtained without the second TiCl4 coagulant dose. At the same total TiCl4 coagulant concentrations, the two-stage dosing mode reveals significant advantage over the single coagulant dosing in terms of turbidity removal, flock size and recoverability although organic matter removal and flock compactness degree are more or less deteriorated during the two-stage dosing process. The second TiCl4 dose contributes to larger re-generated flocks with better re-growth ability than those obtained without the second dose within a wide range of high shear rate and even with prolonged breaking period. Two-stage dosing mode could improve the ultra filtration permeate flux under certain shear conditions. An extension in breakage time leads to much severer flux decline than short breakage periods. In case of FA simulated water, the ultra filtration permeate flux was less sensitive to increasing shear rate than in case of HA simulated water. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Zhao, YX, Gao, BY, Zhang, GZ, Phuntsho, S, Wang, Y, Yue, QY, Li, Q & Shon, HK 2013, 'Comparative study of floc characteristics with titanium tetrachloride against conventional coagulants: Effect of coagulant dose, solution pH, shear force and break-up period', CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, vol. 233, pp. 70-79.
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Characteristics of flocs formed by titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), ferric chloride (FeCl3) and aluminum sulfate (Al2(SO4)3) were comparatively investigated in terms of floc growth rate, size, strength, recoverability and fractal dimension in real water treatment. Impacts of coagulant dose, solution pH and hydraulic conditions, including shear force and break-up period, on floc properties were investigated. Results showed that the floc size followed the order of TiCl4FeCl3Al2(SO4)3 within the dose range investigated. The response of floc strength to coagulant dose depended on the coagulant used, while the floc recoverability decreased with the increasing dose regardless of the coagulant used. Within the solution pH range investigated, the floc strength and recoverability showed the following order of Al2(SO4)3FeCl3TiCl4 and those of TiCl4 were the least affected by solution pH. Additionally, the floc strength decayed with the increasing shear force and break-up period for the three coagulants. TiCl4 yielded the flocs with the weakest recoverability within both the shear force and break-up period ranges investigated. Moreover, the floc compactness followed the order of FeCl3TiCl4Al2(SO4)3 under either shear force condition. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Zhao, YX, Phuntsho, S, Gao, BY, Huang, X, Qi, QB, Yue, QY, Wang, Y, Kim, J-H & Shon, HK 2013, 'Preparation and Characterization of Novel Polytitanium Tetrachloride Coagulant for Water Purification', ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, vol. 47, no. 22, pp. 12966-12975.
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Polymeric metal coagulants are increasingly being used to improve coagulation efficiency, yet the research on the development of titanium and particularly polytitanium salts remains limited. This study is the first attempt in the synthesis, characterization, and application of polytitanium salts as coagulants. Polytitanium tetrachloride (PTC) solutions with different basicity values B (OH/Ti molar ratio) were prepared using a slow alkaline titration method. Jar tests were conducted to assess coagulation performance using both synthetic and real raw water samples, and the floc characteristics were monitored online using a laser diffraction particle size analyzer. Electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI-TOF-MS) was utilized to identify various Ti species, with the results providing strong evidence of the presence of various hydrolyzed Ti species in the titanium aqueous phase. Compared to titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), higher or comparable turbidity and organic matter removal efficiency could be achieved by PTC with improved floc characteristics in terms of size, growth rate, and structure. Besides, the water pH after PTC coagulation was significantly improved toward neutral pH. This study indicates that PTC is an effective and promising coagulant for water purification. Besides, the PTC flocculated sludge was able to recycle and produce functional TiO2 photocatalyst. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

Zheng, Y, Hou, L, Liu, M, Lu, M, Zhao, H, Yin, G & Zhou, J 2013, 'Diversity, abundance, and activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea in Chongming eastern intertidal sediments', Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, vol. 97, no. 18, pp. 8351-8363.
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Zhu, XQ, Hao, H & Fan, KQ 2013, 'Detection of delamination between steel bars and concrete using embedded piezoelectric actuators/sensors', Journal of Civil Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 105-115.
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© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013. The interface between concrete and steel in reinforced concrete governs the interaction between the two types of materials under loading. When the interface is seriously damaged, such that a macro-crack is formed, debonding may take place or large slip may occur, and the load-transferring capacity of the interface would drop dramatically. This paper presents a novel technique to detect the delamination between the steel bars and concrete in the reinforced concrete structures. The piezoelectric components are mounted on reinforcing bars embedded in RC structures as sensors and actuators to generate the signal, which is sensitive to the delamination between the steel bars and concrete. The experimental study is carried out on two concrete slabs with different debonds between the rebars and concrete. Three parameters are calculated from the measured responses and used to indicate the bonding damage. The test results show that the debond damage between the rebars and concrete can be detected with the embedded piezoelectric sensors and actuators.

Zulkifli, NWM, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH & Yunus, R 2013, 'Experimental Analysis of Tribological Properties of Biolubricant with Nanoparticle Additive', Procedia Engineering, vol. 68, pp. 152-157.
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Zulkifli, NWM, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH, Shahabuddin, M & Yunus, R 2013, 'Wear prevention characteristics of a palm oil-based TMP (trimethylolpropane) ester as an engine lubricant', Energy, vol. 54, pp. 167-173.
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Zuthi, M, Ngo, H, Guo, W & Nguyen, TT 2013, 'The effects of biomass parameters on the dissolved organic carbon removal in a sponge submerged membrane bioreactor', World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 78, no. 1, pp. 46-50.
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A novel sponge submerged membrane bioreactor (SSMBR) was developed to effectively remove organics and nutrients from wastewater. Sponge is introduced within the SSMBR as a medium for the attached growth of biomass. This paper evaluates the effects of new and acclimatized sponges for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal from wastewater at different mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration of the sludge. It was observed in a series of experimental studies that the acclimatized sponge performed better than the new sponge whilst the optimum DOC removal could be achieved at 10g/L of MLSS with the acclimatized sponge. Moreover, the paper analyses the relationships between the MLSSsponge/MLSSsludge and the DOC removal efficiency of SSMBR. The results showed a non-linear relationship between the biomass parameters of the sponge and the sludge, and the DOC removal efficiency of SSMBR. A second-order polynomial function could reasonably represent these relationships.

Zuthi, MFR, Guo, WS, Ngo, HH, Nghiem, LD & Hai, FI 2013, 'Enhanced biological phosphorus removal and its modeling for the activated sludge and membrane bioreactor processes', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 139, no. 1, pp. 363-374.
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A modified activated sludge process (ASP) for enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) needs to sustain stable performance for wastewater treatment to avoid eutrophication in the aquatic environment. Unfortunately, the overall efficiency of the EBPR in ASPs and membrane bioreactors (MBRs) is frequently hindered by different operational/system constraints. Moreover, although phosphorus removal data from several wastewater treatment systems are available, a comprehensive mathematical model of the process is still lacking. This paper presents a critical review that highlights the core issues of the biological phosphorus removal in ASPs and MBRs while discussing the inhibitory process requirements for other nutrients' removal. This mini review also successfully provided an assessment of the available models for predicting phosphorus removal in both ASP and MBR systems. The advantages and limitations of the existing models were discussed together with the inclusion of few guidelines for their improvement. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Zuthi, MFR, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Li, JX, Xia, SQ & Zhang, ZQ 2013, 'New proposed conceptual mathematical models for biomass viability and membrane fouling of membrane bioreactor', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 142, no. 1, pp. 737-740.
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The production and accumulation of soluble microbial products (SMP), extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and colloidal inert compounds within a membrane bioreactor (MBR) may greatly affect the biomass viability and subsequently the permeability of the membrane. This paper aims at presenting new mathematical models of biomass viability and membrane fouling that has been conceptually developed through establishing links between these biomass parameters and operating parameters of the MBR. The proposed models can be used to predict the biomass viability and membrane fouling at any state of operation of MBR. Meanwhile, easily measurable parameters of the proposed model can also serve to estimate SMP/EPS concentration in the supernatant of MBR without the tedious and expensive measurement.

Zuthi, MFR, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Zhang, J & Liang, S 2013, 'A review towards finding a simplified approach for modelling the kinetics of the soluble microbial products (SMP) in an integrated mathematical model of membrane bioreactor (MBR)', INTERNATIONAL BIODETERIORATION & BIODEGRADATION, vol. 85, no. 1, pp. 466-473.
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Soluble microbial products (SMPs) tend to accumulate in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems as a consequence of high membrane rejection and apparently low biodegradability within the wastewater treatment system. The extension of the activated sludge models (ASMs) with SMPs, therefore, has received crucial importance in recent days, particularly considering their potential use as indicators of the membrane fouling propensity. This paper presents a critical review of the formation and degradation kinetics of SMP subdivisions that have so far been used for the mathematical modelling of MBR. The paper identified a simplified approach to incorporate the kinetics of the SMP formation and degradation in the general mathematical models of MBR. It suggested that the inclusion of only four additional linear differential equations in the ASM1-SMP integrated mathematical model could simulate well the effluent quality and membrane fouling prediction. The model would also serve as a useful tool in optimizing operation conditions for better treatability and fouling control.

Al Mahmud, KAH, Zulkifli, NWM, Masjuki, HH, Varman, M, Kalam, MA, Mobarak, HM, Imran, A & Shahir, SA 1970, 'Working Temperature Effect of A-C: H/A-C: H and Steel/Steel Contacts on Tribo Properties in Presence of Sunflower Oil as a Bio Lubricant', Procedia Engineering, Elsevier BV, pp. 550-557.
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Alam, T, Mahmud, KHAA, Hasan, MF, Shahir, SA, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Imran, A & Mobarak, HM 1970, 'Effect of Magnesia on Zinc Oxide Stabilized Nano Alumina Ceramic Powder in Sintering Process and its Impact on Mechanical Properties', Procedia Engineering, Elsevier BV, pp. 723-729.
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Al-Sharif, AAA, Pradhan, B, Hadi, SJ & Mola, N 1970, 'Revisiting methods and potentials of SAR change detection', Lecture Notes in Engineering and Computer Science, pp. 2231-2237.
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Change detection is one of the important applications in earth environment observation, risk management and security. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) provides a dependable and valuable source of information for monitoring changes and change detection applications. In this work, different methods and different SAR data that used in change detection application and factors which effect on this application have been studied. It has been found that the use of SAR data in monitoring and detecting changes is beneficial and advantageous; especially if SAR data integrated with optical data. Combination of methods and considering target conditions and other factors, overcomes the deficiencies that affect the use of SAR data in change detection. The use of combination technique gives an indication that we can combine other methods to enhance monitoring changes based on study area conditions; also we can develop new algorithms based on which combination would be used.

Askari, M, Li, J & Samali, B 1970, 'A Multi-objective Subtractive FCM Based TSK Fuzzy System with Input Selection, and Its Application to Dynamic Inverse Modelling of MR Dampers', Lecture Notes in Computer Science, International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Zakopane, POLAND, pp. 215-226.
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A new encoding scheme is presented for a fuzzy-based nonlinear system identification methodology, using the subtractive Fuzzy C-Mean clustering and a modified version of non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm. This method is able to automatically select the best inputs as well as the structure of the fuzzy model such as rules and membership functions. Moreover, three objective functions are considered to satisfy both accuracy and compactness of the model. The proposed method is then employed to identify the inverse model of a highly nonlinear structural control device, namely Magnetorheological (MR) damper. It is shown that the developed evolving TakagiSugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy model can identify and grasp the nonlinear dynamics of inverse systems very well, while a small number of inputs and fuzzy rules are required for this purpose.

Athukorala, R, Indraratna, B & Vinod, JS 1970, 'Modeling the Internal Erosion Behavior of Lignosulfonate Treated Soil', Geo-Congress 2013, Geo-Congress 2013, American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 1872-1881.
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This paper presents the development of an analytical model to predict the erosion rate of stabilised soil based on the law of conservation of energy. The model incorporates the strain energy intensity until failure, obtained from the stress-strain curves of lignosulfonate treated soil, to account for the stabilisation. The novel approach of this model is to correlate the shear strength characteristics with the erosion resistance. The proposed equation was used to predict the erosion rates of a non-plastic silty sand treated with lignosulfonate. The erosion resistance was interpreted in terms of the coefficient of soil erosion and the critical shear stress initiating erosion. It was observed that with the increasing amount of lignosulfonate, the critical shear stress increases and the coefficient of soil erosion decreases. The proposed model predicts the erosion resistant behaviour of lignosulfonate treated soil similar to the laboratory experiments. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Azari, B, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 1970, 'Long-term Viscoplastic Behaviour of Embankments Built on Improved Soft Soil Using Vertical Drains', Geo-Congress 2013, Geo-Congress 2013, American Society of Civil Engineers, San Diego, California, pp. 2124-2132.
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In this paper, a nonlinear elastic visco-plastic model is incorporated in the general consolidation equation to investigate the time dependent performance of embankments constructed over deep soft soil deposits stabilised with prefabricated vertical drains (PVDs) and preloading. To model vertical and radial consolidation processes, a finite difference formulation is implemented for fully coupled axisymmetric consolidation. The developed numerical model is validated against Väsby test fill with the available long-term settlement monitoring results for the soft clay deposit improved with PVDs assisted preloading. Practicing engineers can adopt the developed code and guidelines to predict the long term performance of embankments on soft soil consolidated using preloading. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Ball, JE, Retallick, M, Babister, M & Finlay, S 1970, 'Managing a National Design Flood Estimation Project', PROCEEDINGS OF THE 35TH IAHR WORLD CONGRESS, VOLS III AND IV, 35th World Congress of the International-Association-for-Hydro-Environment-Engineering-and-Research (IAHR), TSINGHUA UNIV, Int Assoc Hydro Environm Engn & Res, Chengdu, PEOPLES R CHINA.

Castel, A, Gilbert, RI & Ranzi, G 1970, 'Overall Stiffness Reduction of Cracked Reinforced Concrete Beams Due to Long Term Effects', Mechanics and Physics of Creep, Shrinkage, and Durability of Concrete, Ninth International Conference on Creep, Shrinkage, and Durability Mechanics (CONCREEP-9), American Society of Civil Engineers, pp. 443-450.
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The aim of the research described in this paper is to assess the deformation of cracked reinforced concrete beams under both short- and long-term service loading. Beams are subjected to short-time bending tests, including loading cycles with different peak values leading to concrete cracking (pre-cracking tests) and long-term tests under sustained loading. Long-term deflection appears to be much more important than the deflection due to short-term loading and leads to important permanent deformation after unloading. After 6 months under sustained loading, the overall instantaneous stiffness of all beams was substantially reduced. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Chen, JY, Ummin, O, Yu, T & Qi, YJ 1970, 'Applications of Rayleigh Wave Detection Technique and Polymer Grouting Technology in Waterproof Construction', Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2nd International Conference on Civil, Architectural and Hydraulic Engineering (ICCAHE 2013), Trans Tech Publications, Ltd., Zhuhai, PEOPLES R CHINA, pp. 748-754.
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The underground water seepage is always the key and difficult point in waterproof engineering. Aiming at the characteristics of underground engineering waterproof, this paper describes how to make use of Rayleigh wave detection technology to detect leakage in underground works, and find disease location through the analysis of the dispersion curve, and then combine Rayleigh wave detection technology with polymer grouting technique grouting on the disengaging position, to achieve the effect of waterproof plugging. Research results show that through combining Rayleigh wave detection technique and the combination of polymer grouting technology, it is quicker and more convenient to manage underground leakage defects, which satisfies the project need and has wide application value and social benefits.

Coorey, BP & Jupp, JR 1970, 'A SCHEMA FOR CAPTURING AND COMPARING PARAMETRIC SPATIAL DATA', PROCEEDINGS OF THE 18TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTER-AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN RESEARCH IN ASIA (CAADRIA 2013), Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) annual conference, CAADRIA and Centre for Advanced Studies in Architecture (CASA), Dept of Architecture, NUS, National University of Singapore, Singapore, pp. 509-518.
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In this paper, the authors consider the problem of architectural spatial performance indicators for assessing computer generated design, where identification and analysis of meaningful and relevant spatial qualities is the target of assessment. The paper presents a parametric spatial analysis schema and spatial database structure for the restricted, but still significant, domain of residential housing. A process for the capture and comparison of different types of architectural spatial data is described where analysis focuses on a series of 2D metric and topological spatial measures. The process is then demonstrated in our discussion of a descriptive scenario.

Da Rocha, CG, Kemmer, SL, Meneses, L & Formoso, CT 1970, 'Managing the information flow in customised apartment building projects', 21st Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction 2013, IGLC 2013, pp. 275-284.
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The adoption of customisation strategies increases the degree of clients' involvement in apartments building development and production and also the amount of information that needs to be managed. In such strategies, clients' specific requirements need to be translated into design and construction instructions. Failure in efficiently and effectively processing this information can result in apartments that do not fulfil clients' requirements and/or drawbacks in the construction process such as delays or reworks. As a result, having an appropriate information flow among companies, clients, and suppliers is an important success factor for a customisation strategy. This paper presents the evolution of the information flow in four apartment building projects developed by a Brazilian construction company. This research follows a previous study on the same topic (i.e. customisation in house-building) published in 2010 at the IGLC conference. While that paper sought to describe a set of practices applied by this company for managing customisation and its connections with lean concepts and principles, this one aims to show how those practices have evolved through time. Thus, based on the analysis of these practices, this paper aims to provide guidance on how to manage the information flow in customisation strategies.

Dackermann, U, Li, J & Samali, B 1970, 'Transmissibility function analysis for boundary damage identification of a two-storey framed structure using artificial neural networks', From Materials to Structures: Advancement Through Innovation - Proceedings of the 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, ACMSM 2012, Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, CRC press/Balkema, Sydney, Australia, pp. 891-896.
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This paper presents a damage identification technique that uses output-only scalar transmissibility measurements of a structure to identify boundary conditions. A damage index is formulated based on output-only acceleration response measurements from ambient floor vibration. The damage index is analysed by a system of artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict boundary condition changes of the structure. Using the data compression and noise filtering capabilities of principal component analysis (PCA), the size of the damage index is reduced in order to obtain suitable patterns for ANN training. To test the proposed method, it is applied to different models of a numerical two-storey framed structure with varying boundary conditions. Boundary damage is simulated by changing the condition of individual joint elements of the structure from fixed to pinned. The results of the investigation show that the proposed method is effective in identifying boundary damage in structures based on output-only response measurements. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group.

De Silva Wijayaratna, K 1970, 'Reliability of the South West Sydney Transport Corridor', Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management (AITPM) National Conference, Perth, Western Australia.

DRAGOS, J & WU, C 1970, 'A NEW APPROACH TO DERIVE NORMALIZED PRESSURE IMPULSE CURVES FOR ELASTIC MEMBERS', Journal of Earthquake and Tsunami, World Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt, pp. 1350016-1350016.
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A pressure impulse (PI) diagram is a useful preliminary design tool for structural members against blasts. An extensive amount of investigation has been undertaken to generalize PI curves, using single degree of freedom (SDOF) theory, for elastic structural members. In this study, a new original approach also using SDOF theory, relying on the concept of effective pulse shape, is presented for determining a PI curve for any elastic member. The advantage of this approach is that it can be applied to any given type of blast load. The techniques and equations involved in this approach are outlined. Then, to assess the accuracy of this approach, elastic normalized PI curves generated using the new approach are compared against those obtained using the traditional methods. Finally, this approach is compared against other simplified techniques for determining elastic normalized PI curves.

Fatahi, B, Le, T & Khabbaz, H 1970, 'Influence Of Insitu Stresses On Deformation And Stability Of Embankments On Deep Clays', Proceedings of the International Conference on Ground Improvement and Ground Control, Ground Improvement And Ground Control: Transport Infrastructure Development and Natural Hazards Mitigation, Research Publishing, Wollongong, Australia, pp. 491-496.
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Time dependent behavior of soft soils under embankments is one of the challenging problems in geotechnical engineering, since soft ground has been utilised for development. This paper presents a numerical study of the influence of the initial stress state on the ground lateral deformation and pore water pressure by revisiting a case study of an embankment constructed on Boston Blue Clay. The insitu stress state is usually determined by the coefficient of lateral earth pressure at rest (K0), but there are various correlations to estimate the value of K0. In this paper, a numerical parametric study is conducted to investigate the effect of K0 on the vertical and horizontal displacements, the excess pore water pressures, and the factor of safety of the embankment. The results show that the value of K0 has notable influences on the predictions of horizontal and vertical displacements, but minor effects on the predicted pore water pressures. The choice of the lateral earth pressure coefficient at rest also has impact on the long term stability of the embankment. Thus, it is emphasised that the initial stress state should be concerned regarding the stability of the embankment for analysing the performance of embankments constructed on deep soft soils.

Fatahi, B, Le, T & Khabbaz, H 1970, 'INFLUENCE OF SOIL CREEP ON STABILITY OF EMBANKMENT ON SOFT SOIL', Ground Improvement and Ground Control, International conference on Ground Improvement and Ground Control, Research Publishing, Wollongong, Australia, pp. 485-490.
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As a result of the scarcity of land for construction, number of projects to construct man-made islands or to expand lands over soft grounds keeps increasing. Consolidation and creep are significant in the soft soil and hence, their long term deformation must be taken into account in engineering design and practice. Soil creep has significant impacts on the stability of the structures constructed on the soft ground. In this paper, a case study of an embankment constructed in stages in north Boston over a thick layer of Boston Blue Clay is numerically investigated in order to consider the effects of the soil creep. The behaviour of the ground is simulated using a finite element program associated with and without soil creep. A parametric study on the soil creep ratio is conducted to evaluate its effects on the predictions of the excess pore water pressure and lateral displacement. It is observed that the increase in the value of creep index causes the increases in both of the horizontal displacements and excess pore water pressures of the ground. In addition, the factor of safety against slope instability decreases with the creep ratio. Thus, the effects of soil creep should be earnestly considered in predicting the ground performance under embankments.

Fattah, IMR, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA & Varman, M 1970, 'Effect of Antioxidant Added Coconut Biodiesel Blends on Emission Characteristics of a Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine', INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FRONTIERS OF ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND BIOSCIENCE (ICFEEB 2013), International Conference on Frontiers of Environment, Energy and Bioscience (ICFEEB), DESTECH PUBLICATIONS, INC, Beijing, PEOPLES R CHINA, pp. 425-430.

Fukumoto, T, Thomas, P, Simon, P & Stuart, BH 1970, 'Estimation of the curing rate of acrylamide used as a consolidant in heritage sandstone conservation', 4th Joint Czech-Hungarian-Polish-Slovak Thermoanalytical Conference Abstracts, 4th Joint Czech-Hungarian-Polish-Slovak Thermoanalytical Conference.

Gandhi, S & Jupp, JR 1970, 'Characteristics of Green BIM: Process and Information Management Requirements', Product Lifecycle Management for Society, IFIP WG . International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Nantes, France, pp. 596-605.
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In this paper, the authors explore the characteristics and requirements of digitally supported green? building design. Well planned, integrated and interdisciplinary digital design practices play a vital role in the iterative processes of sustainable building design. Unlike traditional ways of working, the management of design information and process integration in green building design involves a wider range and a larger number of consultants utilizing sophisticated environmental modelling and analysis systems. To understand the complexities surrounding information management in this context, the authors focus on issues relating to: 1) information exchange and model management, and 2) multidisciplinary design process coordination. Different aspects of sustainable design modelling methodologies are explored in relation to technology requirements, information exchange, and multi-disciplinary collaboration. Finally, the literature is synthesised in a conceptual roadmap framing the key factors identified by the study.

Gandhi, S & Jupp, JR 1970, 'Green BIM and Green Star certification practices: Case studies in commercial high-rise office design', Proceedings: 38th AUBEA International Conference 20-22nd November 2013, Australian Universities Building Education Association Annual Conference, AUBEA2013, Auckland, New Zealand, pp. 1-10.
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With the goal of reducing a building's environmental footprint, environmental sustainable design (ESD) and green building certification (GBC) is having an increasing influence on design practice. The application of building information modelling (BIM) is also affecting traditional ways of working. Whilst sustainability is a key underpinning of both initiatives, the consequences to design practices of their combined implementation are not well understood. Projects looking to realise the value of their collective benefit persist against an array of implementation challenges and unspecified management requirements. Using a qualitative case study approach, the authors explore the application of BIM from the point of view of ESD consultants and a GBC certification authority. Case study interviews reveal a range of new design workflow and management requirements relating to the communication and coordination of model datasets. The paper closes with a discussion of these management requirements and presents a strategy for future work.

Ghosni, N, Samali, B & Vessalas, K 1970, 'Energy absorption and flexural toughness evaluation of fibre reinforced polymer modified concrete', Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures, FraMCoS 2013, International Conference on Fracture Mechanics of Concrete and Concrete Structures (FraMCoS-8), International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE), Toledo, Spain, pp. 1122-1130.
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This paper presents the effect of fibres on the behaviour of fibre reinforced concert (FRC) which nowadays is recognised for its energy absorption capacity as well as other benefits. Incorporating fibres in concrete, results in an ameliorated mix design which can dissipate energy and improve the fracture performance of concrete matrix. There are different types of test methods developed to measure the concrete energy absorption capacity, one of which is the four point bending test. This research work is on the flexural behaviour characterisation of polymer modified synthetic fibre reinforced concrete incorporating polypropylene (PP) fibres and styrene butadiene (SB) latex copolymer. Results of this study show that by adding PP fibres to concrete, toughness and energy absorption characteristics can be enhanced. By increasing the amount of fibre used in the concrete matrix this value can be increased. It has also been concluded that by adding fibres to the concrete matrix, the energy absorption characteristics can consequently be improved.

Gu, X & Li, Y 1970, 'Comprehensive Investigations on Magnetic Field Distribution in a Solenoid', Volume 1: Development and Characterization of Multifunctional Materials; Modeling, Simulation and Control of Adaptive Systems; Integrated System Design and Implementation, ASME 2013 Conference on Smart Materials, Adaptive Structures and Intelligent Systems, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Snowbird, Utah, USA, pp. 1-7.
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Finding engineering applications for a new class of smart material, magnetorheological elastomer (MRE), has been a major task for researchers in this field. Novel MRE devices, such as vibration absorbers and vibration isolators, have been proposed and fabricated to pioneer its engineering applications. In civil engineering, the author has proposed a novel MRE based isolator to be used in the base isolation system for mitigating the devastating effects of earthquakes on civil structures. For any MRE-based device, electromagnetic coil is evitable involved to provide magnetic field for the MRE materials. Comparing with magnetic circuit design in magnetorheological fluid (MRF) device, i.e. MR damper, MRE devices normally need a larger coil to energize the MRE materials, particularly for a large-scale MRE device. Therefore, investigation of the solenoid on the magnetic field distribution is of great importance for the design and development of MRE based device. In particular, provision of sufficient and uniform magnetic field is essential towards the success in designing MRF/MRE devices. To understand the mechanism of magnetic field generation in a solenoid is the key for device design and optimization. The main objective of this paper is to analytically investigate and experimentally validate the magnetic field distribution in a solenoid. The theoretical investigation starts from the analysis on an ideally thin cylindrical solenoid in order to obtain analytical results. To stimulate the coil which can be used in the design of MRE device, theoretical investigation is to conduct on a thick-wall cylindrical solenoid. Finite element analysis is also used to examine the magnetic field distribution in the solenoid. In order to verify the theoretical findings, experimental testing is conducted to acquire the magnetic field distribution in a sample solenoid. Results from analytical solution, finite element analysis and experimental testing agree very well. ...

Hassan, MH & Kalam, MA 1970, 'An Overview of Biofuel as a Renewable Energy Source: Development and Challenges', Procedia Engineering, Elsevier BV, pp. 39-53.
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Hassani Esgandani, M, Vessalas, K, Baweja, D & Schmidt, Z 1970, 'Assessment of watertight concrete and role of chemical admixtures', Concrete Institute of Australias Biennial National Conference 2013, Concrete Institute of Australia - Biennial Conference, Concrete Institute of Australia¿s, Gold Coast, Australia.

Heitor, A, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Indraratna, B 1970, 'Behaviour of a compacted silty sand under constant water content shearing', 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Challenges and Innovations in Geotechnics, ICSMGE 2013, pp. 1007-1010.
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The structure derived from compacting the soil at different water contents and energy levels can have a substantial effect on its shear strength. While the shear strength with varying suction can be estimated based on the saturated shear strength parameters and the unsaturated angle of shearing resistance (b), limited studies have explored the variation of shear strength properties with different compaction states. In this paper, the shear strength of a silty sand soil was investigated using a conventional direct shear box under constant water content condition. The tests were conducted on specimens prepared by Proctor compaction with three different normal pressures. The shear strength parameters were obtained and modelled in terms of ultimate states.

Ho, H, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 1970, 'Exact Solution to Predict Excess Pore Pressures and Settlement of Unsaturated Soil Deposit due to Uniform Loading', GEO Montreal 2013, GeoMontreal, Canadian Geotechnical Society, Hilton Bonaventure Montreal Hotel, pp. 1-6.
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This paper explains a simple yet precise analytical solution for the nonlinear governing equations for one-dimensional (1D) consolidation of an unsaturated soil deposit using eigenfunction expansions and Laplace transform techniques. The mathematical development adopts two-way drainage condition for the unsaturated soil, in which the permeable top and base boundaries allow free dissipation of pore-air and pore-water pressures under uniform loading. Eigenfunctions and eigenvalues are parts of the general solution and can be obtained based on the proposed drainage boundary condition. Furthermore, uniformly distributed initial pore pressures can be used to determine the initial generalised Fourier coefficients. Besides, Laplace transform method is adopted to solve the first-order differential equations. Once the equations with transformed domain are obtained, the final solutions, which are proposed to be functions of time (t) and depth (z), can be achieved by taking an inverse Laplace transform. A worked example is provided to present the consolidation characteristics of unsaturated soils based on the proposed solution. Significance of air permeability to water permeability ratio on the excess pore water and air pressure dissipation rates is investigated and discussed.

Hokmabadi, AS, Fatahi, B & Samali, B 1970, 'Seismic response of superstructure on soft soil considering soil-pile-structure interaction', 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Challenges and Innovations in Geotechnics, ICSMGE 2013, International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Presses des Ponts, Paris, France, pp. 547-550.
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This paper presents results of shaking table tests and three dimensional numerical simulations to investigate the influence of Soil-Pile-Structure Interaction (SPSI) on the seismic response of mid-rise moment resiting buildings supported by end-bearing pile foundations. Three different cases have been considered, namely: (i) fixed-base structure representing the situation excluding the soil-structure interaction; (ii) structure supported by shallow foundation on soft soil; and (iii) structure supported by end-bearing pile foundation in soft soil. Comparison of the numerical predictions and the experimental data shows a good agreement confirming the reliability of the numerical model. Both experimental and numerical results indicate that soil-structure interaction induces significant increase in the lateral deflections and inter-storey drifts of the structures on both shallow and end-bearing pile foundations in comparison to the fixed base structures. This increase in the lateral deformations and in turn inter-storey drifts can change the performance level of the structure during earthquakes which may be safety threatening.

Huang, Y, Hong, G, Cheng, X & Huang, R 1970, 'Investigation to Charge Cooling Effect of Evaporation of Ethanol Fuel Directly Injected in a Gasoline Port Injection Engine', SAE Technical Paper Series, SAE/KSAE 2013 International Powertrains, Fuels & Lubricants Meeting, SAE International, Seoul, Korea, pp. 1-13.
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Ethanol direct injection plus gasoline port injection (EDI+GPI) is a new technology to make the use of ethanol fuel more effective and efficient in spark ignition engines. It takes the advantages of ethanol fuel, such as its greater latent heat of vaporization than that of gasoline fuel, to enhance the charge cooling effect and consequently to increase the compression ratio and improve the engine thermal efficiency. Experimental investigation has shown improvement in the performance of a single cylinder spark ignition engine equipped with EDI+GPI. It was inferred that the charge cooling enhanced by EDI played an important role. To investigate it, a CFD model has been developed for the experimentally tested engine. The Eulerian-Lagrangian approach and Discrete Droplet Model were used to model the evolution of the fuel sprays. The model was verified by comparing the numerical and experimental results of cylinder pressure during the intake and compression strokes. Mesh density and time step sensitivities have been tested. The verified model was used to investigate the charge cooling effect of EDI in terms of spatial and temporal distributions of cylinder temperature and fuel vapor fraction. Compared with GPI only, EDI+GPI demonstrated stronger effect on charge cooling by decreased in-cylinder temperature. The cooling effect was limited by the low evaporation rate of the ethanol fuel due to its lower saturation vapor pressure than gasoline's in low temperature conditions. Copyright © 2013 SAE International and Copyright © 2013 KSAE.

Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S, Anantanasakul, P, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Neville, T 1970, 'Performance Monitoring of Rail Tracks Stabilized by Geosynthetics and Shock Mats: Case Studies at Bulli and Singleton in Australia', Geo-Congress 2013, Geo-Congress 2013, American Society of Civil Engineers, USA, pp. 19-33.
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Rail tracks are conventionally built on compacted ballast and structural fill embankments overlying the natural subsoil. Ballast plays an important role in providing track stiffness to support heavy traffic loads, and providing rapid drainage. However, ballast deforms and degrades progressively under the heavy cyclic loading of passenger and freight trains, which may lead to a loss of track geometry, and require costly regular maintenance. In particular, track construction requires appropriate stabilization techniques for ballast, the extent of which depends also on the type of subgrade. Comprehensive field trials were carried out on two rail lines in Bulli and recently in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia. In these studies, several track sections were reinforced with different types of geosynthetics placed beneath the ballast embankment. Both fresh and recycled ballast was examined for varying subgrade conditions. Recoverable and irrecoverable deformations of the substructure were routinely monitored. It was found that geogrids and geocomposites can decrease the vertical strains of the ballast layer, resulting in reduced maintenance costs. This paper describes the comprehensive field instrumentation, construction procedures, and field performance evaluation of these full-scale geosynthetic- stabilized ballast embankments in Bulli and Singleton. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Indraratna, B, Nimbalkar, S, Rujikiatkamjorn, C, Neville, T & Christie, D 1970, 'Performance assessment of synthetic shock mats and grids in the improvement of ballasted tracks', 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Challenges and Innovations in Geotechnics, ICSMGE 2013, pp. 1283-1286.
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In Australia, railways offer the most prominent transportation mode in terms of traffic tonnage serving the needs of bulk freight and passenger movement. Ballast is an essential constituent of conventional rail infrastructure governing track stability and performance. However, in recent times, higher traffic induced stresses due to dramatically increased train speeds and heavier axle loads have caused excessive plastic deformations and degradation of ballast. This seriously hampers safety and efficiency of express tracks, for instance, enforcing speed restrictions and effecting more frequent track maintenance. Installing layers of synthetic materials such geogrids and rubber pads (shock mats) in rail tracks can significantly reduce ballast degradation. Field trials were conducted on rail track sections in the towns of Bulli (near Wollongong City) and Singleton (near Newcastle) to measure track deformations associated with cyclic stresses and impact loads. This paper describes the results of large-scale laboratory testing as well as the observations from full-scale instrumented field trials characterising the behaviour of rail ballast improved by shock mats and synthetic grids.

Indraratna, B, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Balasubramaniam, AS 1970, 'Ground Improvement at the Port of Brisbane, Australia Using Vertical Drains and Vacuum Assisted Preloading', Sound Geotechnical Research to Practice, Geo-Congress 2013, American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Indraratna, B, Rujikiatkamjorn, C, Geng, X & Ameratunga, J 1970, 'Performance and prediction of vacuum consolidation behavior at Port of Brisbane', 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Challenges and Innovations in Geotechnics, ICSMGE 2013, pp. 2497-2500.
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due to a projected increase in trade activities at the port of Brisbane, new berths on fisherman islands at the mouth of the Brisbane river will be constructed in the outer area (235ha) close to the existing port facilities via land reclamation. a vacuum assisted surcharge load in conjunction with prefabricated vertical drains was choosen to reduce the required consolidation time. the features of the combined vacuum and surcharge fill system and the construction of the embankment are described in this paper. a comparison of the performance of the vacuum combined surcharge loading system with a standard surcharge fill emphasizes the obvious advantages of vacuum consolidation. field data is presented to show how the embankment performed during construction. an analytical solution for radial consolidation incorporating both time-dependent surcharge loading and vacuum pressure is employed to calculate the settlements and associated excess pore pressures of the soft holocene clay deposits.

Indraratnaa, B, Tennakoon, N, Nimbalkar, S & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 1970, 'Effects Of Fouling On The Stress—Strain—Degradation Behaviour Of Rail Ballast', Proceedings of the 18th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conference (18SEAGC) & Inaugural AGSSEA Conference (1AGSSEA), 18th Southeast Asian Geotechnical Conference (18SEAGC) & Inaugural AGSSEA Conference (1AGSSEA), Research Publishing Services.
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Ismail, MS, Moghavvemi, M & Mahlia, TMI 1970, 'Optimization of a PV/microturbine hybrid system for tropical climates', 2013 3rd International Conference on Electric Power and Energy Conversion Systems, 2013 3rd International Conference on Electric Power and Energy Conversion Systems (EPECS), IEEE, Yildiz Tech Univ, Davutpasa Campus, Istanbul, TURKEY.
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Jiang, X, Li, Y & Li, J 1970, 'A piezoelectric wafer-stack vibration energy harvester for wireless sensor networks', SENSORS AND SMART STRUCTURES TECHNOLOGIES FOR CIVIL, MECHANICAL, AND AEROSPACE SYSTEMS 2013, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems, SPIE, San Diego, USA, pp. 1-9.
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Over the past few decades, wireless sensor networks have been widely used in civil structure health monitoring application. Currently, most wireless sensor networks are battery-powered and it is costly and unsustainable for maintenance because of the requirement for frequent battery replacements. As an attempt to address such issue, this paper presents a novel piezoelectric vibrational energy harvester to convert the structural vibration into usable electrical energy for powering wireless sensor networks. Unlike the normal cantilever beam structure, the piezoelectric harvester presented in this paper is based on the wafer-stack configuration which is suitable for applications where large force vibration occurs, and therefore can be embedded in civil structures to convert the force induced by vibration of large structures directly into electrical energy. The longitudinal mode of the piezoelectric wafer-stack was developed firstly to illustrate the force-to-voltage relationship of piezoelectric materials and to find the inter-medium force that will be used to convert vibration energy into electrical energy. Then, two electromechanical models (without and with a rectified circuit), considering both the mechanical and electrical aspects of the harvester, were developed to characterize the harvested electrical power under the external load. Exact closed-form expressions of the electromechanical models have been derived to analyze the maximum harvested power and the optimal resistance. Finally, a shake table experimental testing was conducted to prove the feasibility of the presented piezoelectric-wafer-stack harvester under standard sinusoidal loadings. Test results show that the harvester can generate a maximum 45mW (AC) or 16mW (DC) electrical power for sinusoidal loading with 40mm amplitude and 2Hz frequency, and the harvested electrical power is proportional to the levels of exciting vibrational loading. © 2013 SPIE.

Jiang, XZ, Li, YC & Li, JC 1970, 'A novel piezoelectric wafer-stack vibration energy harvester', From Materials to Structures: Advancement Through Innovation - Proceedings of the 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, ACMSM 2012, Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, CRC press/Balkema, Sydney, Australia, pp. 399-404.
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Piezoelectric vibration-based energy harvesters are attractive as inexhaustible replacements for batteries in low-power requirement wireless electronic devices and thus have received increasing research interest in the last few years. This paper presents a novel piezoelectric harvester based on the wafer-stack configuration to convert the external vibration into usable electrical energy for this purpose. Both analytical and experimental investigations are undertaken at University of Technology Sydney. Firstly, an electromechanical model with a rectified circuit, considering both the mechanical and electrical factors of the harvester, is built to characterise the harvested electrical power across the external loadings. Exact closed-form expressions of the electromechanical model have been given to analyse conditions for maximum harvested power. Finally, a shake table experimental testing was conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the presented PZT wafer stack harvester under standard sinusoidal loadings. Test results show that the harvester can generate a maximum 16mW electrical power for sinusoidal loading with 40mm amplitude and 2Hz frequency. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group.

Jozi, BJ, Dackermann, U, Braun, RB, Li, JL & Samali, BS 1970, 'Separation of bi-directional stress waves for the non-destructive condition assessment of in-service timber utility', 6th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (SHMII-6), International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure, Hong Kong.
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Timber utility poles represent a significant part of Australia’s infrastructure for power distribution and communicationnetworks. Due to the advanced age of Australia’s timber pole infrastructure, significant efforts are undertaken by stateauthorities on maintenance and asset management to prevent utility lines from failure. However, the lack of reliabletools for assessing the condition of in-service poles seriously jeopardizes the maintenance and asset management. Forexample, each year approximately 300,000 poles are replaced in the Eastern States of Australia with up to 80% of themstill being in a very good serviceable condition, resulting in significant waste of natural resources and money.

Jupp, JR 1970, 'Incomplete BIM Implementation: Exploring Challenges and the Role of Product Lifecycle Management Functions', Product Lifecycle Management for Society, IFIP WG . International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Nantes, France, pp. 630-640.
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Implementing the BIM methodology relies on mastering new digital ways of working. However approaches to BIM often lack a holistic perspective that spans the whole building lifecycle. The omission of Product Lifecycle Management functions in the implementation of the BIM methodology can lead to failures in delivering the benefits of BIM to operations and diminish its value to clients with large property portfolios. In an empirical study, the paper presents an investigation into the current situation of BIM using an Australian commercial property development project. It explores implications of partial implementation for operations. Case study findings identify deficiencies in the project environment, management shortcomings associated with the specifics of client requirements and constraints, and difficulties in the transverse use of BIM and PLM platforms due to human interface problems.

Keshavarzy, A & Ball, JE 1970, 'PIV measurements of coherent turbulent flow structure and bursting process around a scour hole', PROCEEDINGS OF THE 12'' INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON RIVER SEDIMENTATION, ISRS - Advances in River Sediment Research, International Symposium on River Sedimentation, Taylor & Francis Group, Tokyo, Japan, pp. 1093-1100.
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The results of a series of experimental tests related to the flow characteristics in a scouring hole are presented in this paper. The experimental tests were carried out for five different stages of development of a scour hole. These stages are defined on the basis of experimental observation. The mechanisms of the development of the scour hole and flow characteristics were investigated in this study. The flow velocities were measured using Particle Image Velocimetry to characterize the mean velocity field and turbulent characteristics of flow in the scour hole. The measurements reveal a good understanding of the flow characteristics and bursting process and a strong recirculation in the hole. The results showed that upstream of the orifice, the transition probabilities of the stable events were higher than other transition probabilities. Therefore, the events of P11, P22, P33 and P44 were dominant when compared to others. This can be interpreted as an expectation that entrainment should occur at this location. These expectations are consistent with scour hole development and were confirmed by measuring scour hole depth upstream of the orifice.

Khabbaz, H, Shrestha, B & Fatahi, B 1970, 'Parametric Study On Behavior Of Reinforced Soil Walls With Combined Horizontal And Vertical Geosynthetics', PROCEEDINGS OF THE 2013 AGS SYMPOSIUM - Retaining Structures: Recent Advances and Past Experiences -, AGS Symposium – Retaining Structures: Recent Advances and Past Experiences, The Australian Geomechanics Society, Sydney, Australia, pp. 173-181.
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The reinforced soil system employing geogrids, as a cost effective reinforcement technique, has come to play an important role in a variety of civil and geotechnical engineering applications. In regular reinforced soil wal1s, the reinforcements are usually laid horizontally in the soil. In this study, the behaviour of reinforced soil retaining walls with combined horizontal and vertical reinforcements are investigated experimentally as well as numerically. The results, indicating the effects of vertical reinforcement inclusion, are compared to conventional reinforcing types under static and dynamic loads. The performance of retaining walls employing vertical reinforcement in conjunction with horizontal reinforcement is convincing from the results of the shake table tests conducted by the authors. In this paper, PLAXIS, well-known geotechnical software, is used for conducting a series of pararoetric studies on behaviour of reinforced soil walls under construction and subject to earthquake loading, incorporating the vertical reinforcement. The vertical reinforcement layout and its strength are among the major variables of the investigation. The geometry of the model, soil properties and reinforcement characteristics have been kept identical in all different cases selected for parametric studies. The performance of the wall is presented for the facing deformation and crest surface settlement, lateral earth pressure, tensile force in the reinforcement layers and acceleration amplification. The vertical ctefOlIDation, horizontal deflection, reinforcement force and earth pressure develop drastically under earthquake loading compared to the end of construction. The results show that these variables are considerably reduced when incorporating the vertical reinforcement in the system. In addition, the findings suggest better performance and higher structural safety for reinforced soil walls, when employing this proposed orthogonally horizontal-vertical geosynthetics.

Le, TM, Van Le, P, Khabbaz, H & Fatahi, B 1970, 'Stability and Deformation of Sheet Pile Walls for Protecting Riverside Structures in the Mekong River Delta', Geo-Congress 2013, Geo-Congress 2013, American Society of Civil Engineers, San Diego, California, pp. 1349-1358.
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Regions of the Mekong River Delta consist of soft soil, which causes significant issues on the stability and deformation of the surrounding structures, especially the riverside structures. Sheet pile walls are considered as one of the effective methods used to support the riverside structures against soil sliding and flooding. This paper presents a precise study on the stability and deformation of sheet pile walls constructed along the riverside areas in the Mekong River Delta. An approach founded on the limit equilibrium method is proposed to solve the equilibrium equations of lateral forces and moments. The proposed approach allows the designed depth of embedment to be determined by the factor of safety. Additionally, it is a simple method to analyze the performance of sheet walls in multi-layered ground conditions. A program code is written to implement the proposed method. In this paper, in order to evaluate the stability and deformation of the walls, the prediction results obtained by the developed method are compared to the results by finite element analysis. Furthermore, the results show that the predicted maximum lateral movement of the wall is in reasonable agreement with the field measurement. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Lee, JH, Gu, N, Ostwald, MJ & Jupp, J 1970, 'Understanding cognitive activities in parametric design', Communications in Computer and Information Science, International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Futures, Springer, Shanghai, China, pp. 38-49.
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Parametric design offers a new paradigm in the field of Computer-Aided Design; a paradigm focused on the potential for producing design variations. However, despite this potential, the cognitive activities associated with parametric design are not well understood. The authors of this paper present a formal method for capturing cognitive activities via protocol analysis. To support the interpretation of this method, this paper evaluates creativity implicit in design products by way of a consensual assessment technique. The findings identify two cognitive activities ('making generation' and 'changing existing parameters') as potential critical to divergent thinking and the restructuring of design components. These activities facilitate the generative aspects of parametric design. The paper concludes with a discussion of three cognitive levels (physical, perceptual and conceptual) that support an understanding of cognitive activities in parametric design. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Li, J, Li, Y, Li, W & Samali, B 1970, 'Development of adaptive seismic isolators for ultimate seismic protection of civil structures', SENSORS AND SMART STRUCTURES TECHNOLOGIES FOR CIVIL, MECHANICAL, AND AEROSPACE SYSTEMS 2013, Sensors and Smart Structures Technologies for Civil, Mechanical, and Aerospace Systems, SPIE, San Diego, USA, pp. 1-12.
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Base isolation is the most popular seismic protection technique for civil engineering structures. However, research has revealed that the traditional base isolation system due to its passive nature is vulnerable to two kinds of earthquakes, i.e. the near-fault and far-fault earthquakes. A great deal of effort has been dedicated to improve the performance of the traditional base isolation system for these two types of earthquakes. This paper presents a recent research breakthrough on the development of a novel adaptive seismic isolation system as the quest for ultimate protection for civil structures, utilizing the field-dependent property of the magnetorheological elastomer (MRE). A novel adaptive seismic isolator was developed as the key element to form smart seismic isolation system. The novel isolator contains unique laminated structure of steel and MR elastomer layers, which enable its large-scale civil engineering applications, and a solenoid to provide sufficient and uniform magnetic field for energizing the field-dependent property of MR elastomers. With the controllable shear modulus/damping of the MR elastomer, the developed adaptive seismic isolator possesses a controllable lateral stiffness while maintaining adequate vertical loading capacity. In this paper, a comprehensive review on the development of the adaptive seismic isolator is present including designs, analysis and testing of two prototypical adaptive seismic isolators utilizing two different MRE materials. Experimental results show that the first prototypical MRE seismic isolator can provide stiffness increase up to 37.49%, while the second prototypical MRE seismic isolator provides amazing increase of lateral stiffness up to 1630%. Such range of increase of the controllable stiffness of the seismic isolator makes it highly practical for developing new adaptive base isolation system utilizing either semi-active or smart passive controls. © 2013 SPIE.

Li, W, Xiao, J, Corr, DJ & Shah, SP 1970, 'Numerical modeling on the stress-strain response and fracture of modeled recycled aggregate concrete', 13th International Conference on Fracture 2013, ICF 2013, International Conference on Fracture, Beijing, China, pp. 749-759.
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According to the nanoindentation tests, the constitutive relationship of the Interfacial Transition Zones (ITZs) in Recycled Aggregate Concrete (RAC) is proposed with a plastic-damage constitutive model. Based on the meso/micro-scale constitutive relations of mortar matrix, numerical studies were undertaken on Modeled Recycled Aggregate Concrete (MRAC) under uniaxial loadings to predict mechanical behavior, particularly the stress-strain response. The tensile stress tends to concentrate in the ITZs region, which leads to the development of microcracks. After the calibration and validation with experimental results, the effects of the mechanical properties of ITZs and new mortar matrix on the stress-strain response and fracture of MRAC were analyzed. The FEM modeling is capable of simulating the complete stress-strain relationship of MRAC, as well as the overall fracture pattern. It reveals that the mechanical properties of new mortar matrix and the corresponding new ITZ play a significant role in the overall stress-strain response and fracture process of MRAC.

Li, Y, Li, J, Li, W & IEEE 1970, 'Design and Experimental Testing of an Adaptive Magneto-Rheological Elastomer Base Isolator', 2013 IEEE/ASME INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ADVANCED INTELLIGENT MECHATRONICS (AIM): MECHATRONICS FOR HUMAN WELLBEING, IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, IEEE, Wollongong, Australia, pp. 381-386.
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Magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) is known for its field-sensitive shear modulus and damping property when it is exposed to a magnetic field. It has a great potential for the development of vibration reduction devices. Many research, mostly in mechanical engineering, have been focused on different kinds of vibration absorbers and vibration isolators, however few research addresses its potential in base isolation system in civil engineering application. The objective of this paper is to pilot the design and experimental testing of a novel device, an adaptive MRE base isolator, for the development of smart base isolation system. A large-scale design of the novel device with unique laminated structure of steel and MR elastomer layers is adopted. Detailed procedures on designing such adaptive base isolator are introduced. An innovative design on the magnetic circuit, with aim to provide strong and uniform magnetic field to the multi-layer MRES, is proposed to incorporate into the device design. Experimental investigation is conducted to examine its behavior under various cycling loadings when it is applied with different current inputs. Experimental results indicated that the force increase and the stiffness increase of the novel device are about 45% and 37%, respectively. To conclude, the MR elastomer base isolator will be a promising candidate to facilitate the development of adaptive base isolation system for civil structures. © 2013 IEEE.

Li, Y, Wang, J & Kong, X 1970, 'Zero velocity update with stepwise smoothing for inertial pedestrian navigation', International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Society 2013 Symposium Proceedings, International Global Navigation Satellite Systems Society, Menay Pty Ltd, Australia, Surfers Paradise, Australia, pp. 1-10.
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Zero velocity update (ZUPT) is an effective way to correct low cost inertial measurement unit (IMU) errors when it is foot-mounted for pedestrian navigation. The stance phase in steps provides zero velocity measurement for inertial sensor error correction. As the errors of IMU estimated position and velocity grow rapidly with time between each correction, ZUPT applied at each step leads to sharp corrections and discontinuities in the estimated trajectory. For motion analysis and visualization, these large corrections are undesirable. Consequently, the implementation of smoothing for ZUPT-aided INS is considered to eliminate the sharp corrections. In this paper, we propose a closed loop Rauch-Tung-Striebel (RTS) smoother using a 24 error states extended Kalman filter (EKF) implement on our previous pedestrian navigation systems. Unlike common RTS smoother which operates as off-line processing mode, a near-real-time stepwise smoother is implemented to eliminate the sharp corrections over the steps. The impact of the near real-time smoothing filter for different step manners (walk, run and climb stairs) combined with the Constant Velocity Update (CUPT) concept we proposed previously is illustrated and analysed. Experimental results show that the proposed method can dramatically improve pedestrian navigation smoothness.

Mollaee, S, Pirasteh, S, Ramli, MF & Rizvi, SMA 1970, 'Identifying Effecting Factors and Landslide Mapping of Cameron Highland Malaysia', 2013 Fifth International Conference on Geo-Information Technologies for Natural Disaster Management, 2013 Fifth International Conference on Geo-Information Technologies for Natural Disaster Management (GiT4NDM), IEEE, pp. 73-83.
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Moshiri, F, Gerber, C, Valipour, HR, Shrestha, R & Crews, KI 1970, 'The predictive model for strength of inclined screws as shear connection in timber-concrete composite floor', From Materials to Structures: Advancement Through Innovation - Proceedings of the 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, ACMSM 2012, Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, CRC PRESS / BALKEMA, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, pp. 1059-1064.
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Interest in timber-concrete composite (TCC) floors has increased over the last 30 years. TCC technology relies on timber and concrete members acting compositely together. Both timber and concrete exhibit a quite brittle behaviour in bending/tension and compression respectively whilst the shear connection is identified as the only contributor of ductile behaviour. Therefore, the strength, stiffness and arrangement of the shear connection play a crucial role in the structural design of TCC. There are only few investigations on analytical closed-form equation to predict the stiffness and strength of TCC joints as input values to design a partially composite floor. For example, Johansen's yield theory was adopted as European yield model in Eurocode 5. However, the equations are limited to vertically inserted dowels or screws and Eurocode 5 recommends that the strength and stiffness of unconventional joints should be determined by push-out tests. Previous investigations reported that the inclined shear connector significantly increase the initial stiffness and ultimate strength of the TCC joints and consequently composite floor. This paper presents a model for the strength ofTCC joint using crossed (±45°) proprietary screws (SFS Intec). The Johansen yield theory is extended to derive the strenght model of TCC joint with crossed (±45°) screws which are loaded in tension and compression. The model is an upper bound plastic collapse model that assumes the behaviour of timber and screw perfectly plastic with undamaged concrete. The failure modes considers of yield of screw, in tension or shear, and some combined modes assuming screw withdrawal, lateral crushing of the timber and the development of plastic hinges in the screw. The experimental aspect of the research consists of push-out tests and aims to verify the strength model of TCC joints with inclined screws. The failure modes are also investigated. The model seems to be reasonably accurate in predicting bo...

Moshiri, F, Shrestha, R & Crews, K 1970, 'Investigation on TCC systems using self-compacting concrete', Proceedings of the 13th East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction, EASEC 2013, East Asia-Pacific Conference on Structural Engineering and Construction, Sapporo, Japan.
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Interest in timber-concrete composite (TCC) floors has increased over the last 20-30 years. Since the 1990's, TCC solution is seen as a viable and effective alternative to conventional reinforced concrete and/or traditional timber floors in multi-storey buildings. TCC technology relies on timber and concrete members acting compositely together. Thus, the strength, stiffness, location and number of connectors play a crucial role for the composite action and determine the structural and serviceability performance of TCC solutions. To date, conventional concrete (CC) has been used in most investigations on TCCs. Also, there are only few researches about the effect of concrete properties on the structural behaviour of TCCs. Self-compacting concrete (SCC) is highly workable and can be compacted without use of conventional vibration methods. As such, there is a potential for application of SCC in difficult to access areas or areas where complex formwork make it difficult to use conventional vibration methods. University of Technology Sydney has investigated TCC solutions since 2007. The investigation presented in this paper focuses on utilising mechanical fasteners for their ductility and stiffness to compositely attach a SCC slab to a timber beam and to investigate the effect of use of SCC on the behaviour of such connections. The experimental aspect of the research consists of push-out tests and aims to characterise slip modulus and load capacity. The responses of the specimens are also compared to that of TCC systems with conventional concrete. The failure modes of the connections are also studied.

Nabavi, F, Nejadi, S & Samali, B 1970, 'Experimental Investigation on Mix Design and Mechanical Properties of Polymer (Latex) Modified Concrete', PROGRESS IN POLYMERS IN CONCRETE, International Congress on Polymers in Concrete, TransTech, Shanghai, China, pp. 112-117.
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This paper presents the experimental investigation to enhance the mechanical properties of Polymer Modified Concrete (PMC) incorporating Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) and describes the potential of using PMC as a structural material. PMC has been used for many years as an over layer in the bridges deck or for the repairing the defected concrete structures subjected to marine environment. But, because of low compressive strength due to foaming phenomenon, PMC has not been considered as a structural concrete. In this study, a range of investigations including sensitivity of PMC to water cement ratio, the effect of SBR proportion on compressive strength and modulus of rupture, selection of the proper antifoaming agent, the effect of various curing methods on compressive strength, proper mix design of PMC to achieve medium to highcompressive strength are carried out. Also, the instructions for casting PMC are composed which can be stated as a standard for mixing and curing procedure of PMC. Results show that increasing the proportion of latex in PMC causes the strength reduction. But, using appropriate antifoaming agent (defoamer) and proper curing method, the mechanical properties can be recovered remarkably. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.

Nguyen, L, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 1970, 'Predicting behaviour of cemented clay considering strength reduction due to high confining pressure', GeoMontreal 2013, GeoMontreal, Canadian Geotechnical Society, Montreal, Canada, pp. 1-6.
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A predictive constitutive model referred to as Cemented Cam Clay (CCC) model developed by the authors is presented in this paper to precisely predict the behaviour of cemented clay capturing the effect of cementation degradation during loading. When the confining pressure increases, the effect of cementation gradually diminishes due to the breakdown of cementation bonds as observed in laboratory experiments. The proposed model includes a non-associated plastic potential function and elasto-plastic stress-strain relationship inspired by the framework of the critical state concept. The main feature of the proposed model is the formulation of the failure envelope which describes the beneficial effect of cementation at low pressure range. As the confining pressure continues to increase, it gradually merges with the critical state line indicating a degradation of cement bonding. The proposed model is validated through comparison of the model predictions with the results of an array of triaxial tests conducted on Ariake cemented clay.

Nguyen, V, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 1970, 'Three dimensional numerical simulation to predict performance of laterally loaded piles on clay-sand layered slope', GeoMontreal2013, GeoMontreal, GeoMontreal2013, Montreal, Quebec, pp. 1-6.
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Predicting the deformation of the laterally loaded piles constructed on a slope is one of the challenging issues in foundation engineering. Numerical modelling is an efficient method to investigate the effects of the distance from the pile centreline to the slope crest on the performance of laterally loaded piles considering the shear plastic deformations of the ground. In this paper, finite element software, ABAQUS, has been employed to simulate the performance of some piles subjected to lateral loads in the sloping ground including sand and clay layers. Appropriate subroutines have been adopted to simulate the soil-pile interface, capable of incorporating the gapping and sliding in the soil-pile interfaces for both sand and clay layers. The numerical results are used to predict the lateral load-deformation of piles for various cases and validated through comparison with an array of full scale field measurements.

Okumura, U, Qi, YJ, Long, Y & Zhang, TH 1970, 'Research on the Roller Intelligent Detection System Based on LabVIEW', Applied Mechanics and Materials, 2nd International Conference on Civil Engineering, Architecture and Sustainable Infrastructure (ICCEASI 2013), Trans Tech Publications, Ltd., Zhengzhou, PEOPLES R CHINA, pp. 1084-1088.
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Based on the platform of LabVIEW, a set of roller intelligent detecting system is developed. With this system, it is easy to realize functions of fast nondestructive testing of subgrade compaction degree, roller speed, rollers compaction trajectory, compaction times, GPS real-time positioning as well as saving and printing report forms. Compared with traditional detection methods, this detecting system can test and control on-site compaction quality much more easily, in order to speed up the construction progress, improve the quality of subgrade compaction, control and manage compaction work better.

Parsa-Pajouh, A, Fatahi, H & Khabbaz, B 1970, 'Numerical analysis to quantify the influence of smear zone characteristics on preloading design in soft clay', 18th International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering: Challenges and Innovations in Geotechnics, ICSMGE 2013, International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Presses des Ponts, Paris, France, pp. 2573-2576.
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In this paper, the effects of uncertainties of smear zone characteristics induced by installation of prefabricated vertical drains on the preloading design are numerically investigated. FLAC 2D finite difference software with additional developed subroutines has been employed to conduct the numerical simulations. The finite difference analyses have been verified using a case study. Furthermore, a comprehensive parametric study is conducted to investigate the influence of smear zone permeability and extent on the model predictions. Results of this study indicate that the assumptive properties for smear zone characteristics may result in inaccurate predictions of ground deformations and pore water pressures. This may lead to early removal of the surcharge in the construction process causing excessive post construction settlement. It is recommended to practising engineers to use results of trial preloading to back calculate the required smear zone characteristics in the early stages of embankment construction to optimize the design.

Peng, L & Stewart, MG 1970, 'Corrosion and damage risks for reinforced concrete infrastructure in China due to a changing climate', Safety, Reliability, Risk and Life-Cycle Performance of Structures and Infrastructures - Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability, ICOSSAR 2013, pp. 1527-1534.
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A changing climate which leads to increases in atmospheric CO2 concentration, and changes in temperature and relative humidity (RH), especially in the longer term, will accelerate the deterioration processes and consequently decline the safety, serviceability and durability of reinforced concrete (RC) infrastructure. This paper presents an investigation of carbonation induced deterioration in two typical Chinese cities (Xiamen and Jinan) under a changing climate. The changing trends of atmospheric CO2, local temperature and RH of typical Chinese cities are projected based on the latest CO2 emission scenarios. The time-dependent analysis is based on Monte-Carlo simulation, and includes the uncertainty of climate projections, deterioration processes, material properties, dimensions, and accuracy of predictive models. Deterioration of RC structures is represented by the probabilities of reinforcement corrosion initiation and damage. It was found that the mean carbonation depths by 2100 may increase by up to 44% for RC buildings in China due to a changing climate. It was also found that climate change can cause an additional 9-20% of carbonation-induced damage by 2100 for RC buildings in temperate or cold climate areas in China. The findings provide a basis for the development of climate adaptation strategies through the improved design of concrete structures. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group, London.

Retallick, M, Babister, M & Ball, JE 1970, 'Use of Two Dimensional Hydraulic Models to Estimate Hydraulic Hazard', PROCEEDINGS OF THE 35TH IAHR WORLD CONGRESS, VOLS III AND IV, 35th World Congress of the International-Association-for-Hydro-Environment-Engineering-and-Research (IAHR), TSINGHUA UNIV, Int Assoc Hydro Environm Engn & Res, Chengdu, PEOPLES R CHINA.

Ringel, SA, Carlin, JA, Grassman, TJ, Galiana, B, Carlin, AM, Ratcliff, C, Chmielewski, D, Yang, L, Mills, MJ, Mansouri, A, Bremner, SP, Ho-Baillie, A, Hao, X, Mehrvarz, H, Conibeer, G & Green, MA 1970, 'Ideal GaP/Si heterostructures grown by MOCVD: III-V/active-Si subcells, multijuntions, and MBE-to-MOCVD III-V/Si interface science', 2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), 2013 IEEE 39th Photovoltaic Specialists Conference (PVSC), IEEE.
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Shrestha, R, Baweja, D, Neupane, K, Chalmers, D & Sleep, P 1970, 'Mechanical Properties of Geopolymer Concrete: Applicability of Relationships Defined by AS 3600', Concrete 2013, Concrete Institute of Australia - Biennial Conference, Concrete Institute of Australia, Gold Coast, Queensland.
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Geopolymers are new inorganic polymer binders; synthesised from aluminosilicate powders such as fly ash and blast furnace slag with alkali activators and producing good binding properties similar to ordinary Portland cement (OPC). This new generation binding material has a potential application in structural and non-structural concretes, fire resistant composites and ceramics. Previous research around the world has suggested that geopolymer binders possess superior engineering, mechanical and durability properties over conventional Portland cement. The process of setting and hardening of geopolymer concrete is based on different chemistry called Polymerization instead of Hydration in OPC. The silicon and aluminium oxides in the source materials are activated by a combination of sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate in presence of water to form a sodium aluminosilicate paste called Geopolymer which has binding properties similar to CSH in OPC. In this study, some engineering and mechanical properties of different grades of Geopolymer concrete were tested and evaluated according to relevant Australian Standards and compared against the same grade of OPC concrete. Australian Standard AS 3600 describesinterrelationships between different mechanical properties of concrete such as compressive strength and uniaxial tensile strength and compressive strength and flexural tensile strength. From this study, it is found that uniaxial tensile and flexural tensile strengths attained by the geopolymer concretes investigated were higher than those prescribed by AS 3600 for the given grade of concrete. Modulus of elasticity, however, was found to be similar to calculated values provided by AS 3600 for similar grades of concrete. This suggests that geopolymer concretes of the type investigated may be used in selected structures using design procedures currently available. Further verification work on this is currently under way.

Tabatabaiefar, HR, Fatahi, B & Samali, B 1970, 'Inelastic lateral seismic response of building frames under influence of bedrock depth variations incorporating soil-structure interaction', From Materials to Structures: Advancement Through Innovation - Proceedings of the 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, ACMSM 2012, Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, CRC press/Balkema, Sydney, Australia, pp. 587-592.
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In this study, a fifteen storey moment resisting building frame is selected in conjunction with a soft clayey soil, representing soil class Ee, according to Australian Standards. Different bedrock depths including 10 m, 20 m, and 30m are employed in the numerical modelling using finite difference software FLAC 2D. The above mentioned frame has been analysed under two different boundary conditions: (i) fixed-base (no soilstructure interaction), and (ii) flexible-base (considering soil-structure interaction). Inelastic dynamic analyses under influence of different earthquake records for three mentioned bedrock depths are conducted, and the results in terms of inelastic lateral deflections and inter-storey drifts for the above mentioned boundary conditions are compared and discussed. The results indicate that the bedrock depth variations play a significant role in inelastic lateral seismic response of the building frame under the influence of soil-structure interaction. As the bedrock depth increases, lateral deflections and inter-storey drifts of the structures increase. The mentioned effects can change the performance level of the structures from life safe to near collapse or total collapse. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group.

Tao, M, Wu, C & Li, X 1970, 'Numerical simulation of multiple fracture zones in underground dynamic loading processes', Rock Dynamics and Applications - State of the Art: Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Rock Dynamics and Applications, RocDyn-1 2013, International Conference on Rock Dynamics and Applications (RocDyn), CRC Press, Lausanne, Switzerland, pp. 451-456.
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The excavation fracture responses around cavities in rock mass with initial stress were examined using three dimensional numerical modelling. In addition to the primary fractured zone in near field, numerical modelling generated the second fractured zone in far field, and an elastic non-fractured zone between the two fractured zones, i.e., the fractured zones and the non-fractured zone occur alternately around deep cavity. This finding proved that the zonal disintegration phenomenon can occur in underground excavation process. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group.

Thomas, D, Ding, GK & Crews, KI 1970, 'Medium-rise structural timber apartment: Luxury or long-term carbon storage solution?', Proceedings of the Sustainable Buildings - Construction Products & Technologies, Sustainable Buildings - Construction Products & Tecnologies, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria, pp. 647-654.
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The Australian construction sector contributes almost a quarter of the nations carbon emissions and the main strategy to address this has been to reduce the operating energy of existing buildings and by regulating energy consumption of new buildings. However there has been less focus on minimizing the embodied energy of new construction projects. Engineered timber products have been used in a number of large building projects to replace heavier materials as a structural alternative whilst providing benefits such as aesthetics and the capacity to store carbon. Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has found a market in apartment buildings in Europe with a growing number of projects using the product for both structural floors and walls up to 9 storeys high. Australia's first major CLT building stands 10 storeys high and is currently being marketed as a sustainable city apartment alternative to reinforced to reinforced concrete. This paper looks at the perception of consumers towards this new construction innovation in an attempt to understand whether Australian residents will accept sustainable timber use in apartment living.

Wei, W, Li, J, Cao, L, Sun, J, Liu, C & Li, M 1970, 'Optimal Allocation of High Dimensional Assets through Canonical Vines', Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Gold Coast, Australia, pp. 366-377.
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Abstract. The widely used mean-variance criteria is actually not the optimal solution for asset allocation as the joint distribution of asset returns are distributed in asymmetric ways rather than in the assumed normal distribution. It is a computationally challenging task to model the asymmetries and skewness of joint distributions of returns in high dimensional space due to their own complicated structural complexities. This paper proposes to use a new form of canonical vine to produce the complex joint distribution of asset returns. Then, we use the utility function of Constant Relative Risk Aversion to determine the optimal allocation of the assets. The importance of using the asymmetries information is assessed by comparing the performance of a portfolio based on the mean-variance criteria and that of a portfolio based on the new canonical vine. The results show that the investors using the forecasts of these asymmetries can make better portfolio decisions than those who ignore the asymmetries information. © Springer-Verlag 2013.

Wijayaratna, K, Dixit, V, Mao, T & Waller, ST 1970, 'Emissions impacts of transit signal prioritisation', Australasian Transport Research Forum, ATRF 2013 - Proceedings.
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The environmental implications of transport planning and infrastructure have become an important consideration across the last decade. Significant research has been carried out to identify methods to reduce the impact of transportation systems, in particular surface transportation systems, on the environment. Transit signal prioritisation has been widely used throughout mass-transit systems to ensure schedule adherence and reduce delays for transit vehicles, primarily buses at a minimised cost to other vehicles on the network. However these systems do not take into consideration the impact on the level of emissions created by the signal prioritisation scenario. The paper demonstrates the emissions impact of a standard Transit Signal Priority (TSP) application simulated using the microsimulation tool, Paramics on the corridor network of El Camino Real, CA. Environmental performance data was collected using the emissions modelling tool 'Paramics Monitor' and the results of the simulation indicate that even though emissions levels of busses reduce, the overall level of emissions tend to increase with the implementation of TSP. Accordingly the research study further proposes a methodology for the determination of real time transit signal prioritisation optimisation model with the primary aim to minimise the environmental impact (emissions and fuel consumption). In other words, this will in the future result in the development of an Eco-Transit Signal Prioritisation application. The provision of priority considers a number of parameters including the vehicle's location, speed, vehicle type as well as emissions (such as greenhouse gasses) and fuel consumption. In addition schedule adherence and the number of passengers on board also serve as important factors affecting both the level of emissions as well as delays experienced.

Wijayaratna, KP, Duell, M & Waller, ST 1970, 'Predicting disrupted network behaviour incorporating user equilibrium with recourse', Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of Hong Kong Society for Transportation Studies, HKSTS 2013 - Travel Behaviour and Society, pp. 633-640.
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Disruptions to a network create uncertainty which affects the rationality of a user as well their familiarity of the road network. Accordingly traditional equilibrium concepts are not applicable when disruptions are present on a network, especially when developing models for the purposes of incident mitigation or disaster planning. To address this need, this work presents the disrupted equilibrium assignment with recourse (DEAR) model that incorporates a decision-making process in which users gain information about the uncertainty created by a disruption as they travel though the network. The core of the work builds on an existing static, Disrupted Network Assignment Model (DNAM) by incorporating and adaptation of the user equilibrium with recourse (UER) model. Demonstration of the model methodology is presented on a simple network with results indicating the necessity to account for the adaptive behaviour of users in light of a disruption.

Xuezheng Jiang, Yancheng Li & Jianchun Li 1970, 'Design of a novel linear permanent magnet vibration energy harvester', 2013 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics, 2013 IEEE/ASME International Conference on Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), IEEE, Wollongong, Australia, pp. 1090-1095.
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This paper presents a novel linear tubular permanent magnet (PM) energy harvester to scavenge energy from ambient vibrations. The proposed linear PM energy harvester consists of a mover attached with PMs and a slotted stator with build-in two-phase electromagnetic coils to induce the electromagnetic induction for converting vibrations into useful electrical energy. The magnetic circuit model of the PM harvester is built to analyze the parameters about scavenging energy and used to optimize the non-dimensional geometry factors and the structural parameters in order to maximize harvested energy under given vibration and space conditions. To confirm the design, dynamic FE simulations were conducted and compared with the analytical results. Simulation results indicate that the proposed PM harvester is able to scavenge about 100 W DC power when the RMS of vibration velocity equals to 0.4 m/s. Also, the harvested power increases as the vibration velocity increasing. © 2013 IEEE.

Yin, J, Zheng, Z, Cao, L, Song, Y & Wei, W 1970, 'Efficiently Mining Top-K High Utility Sequential Patterns', 2013 IEEE 13th International Conference on Data Mining, 2013 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM), IEEE, Dallas, TX, USA, pp. 1259-1264.
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High utility sequential pattern mining is an emerging topic in the data mining community. Compared to the classic frequent sequence mining, the utility framework provides more informative and actionable knowledge since the utility of a sequence indicates business value and impact. However, the introduction of 'utility' makes the problem fundamentally different from the frequency-based pattern mining framework and brings about dramatic challenges. Although the existing high utility sequential pattern mining algorithms can discover all the patterns satisfying a given minimum utility, it is often difficult for users to set a proper minimum utility. A too small value may produce thousands of patterns, whereas a too big one may lead to no findings. In this paper, we propose a novel framework called top-k high utility sequential pattern mining to tackle this critical problem. Accordingly, an efficient algorithm, Top-k high Utility Sequence (TUS for short) mining, is designed to identify top-k high utility sequential patterns without minimum utility. In addition, three effective features are introduced to handle the efficiency problem, including two strategies for raising the threshold and one pruning for filtering unpromising items. Our experiments are conducted on both synthetic and real datasets. The results show that TUS incorporating the efficiency-enhanced strategies demonstrates impressive performance without missing any high utility sequential patterns. © 2013 IEEE.

Zabihi, Z, Shrethta, R, Samali, B & Crews, K 1970, 'Ultimate performance of timber connection with normal screws', From Materials to Structures: Advancement Through Innovation - Proceedings of the 22nd Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, ACMSM 2012, Australasian Conference on the Mechanics of Structures and Materials, CRC PRESS / BALKEMA, Sydney, Australia, pp. 1083-1088.
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This paper presents the results of experimental push-out tests on two different types of timber composite connections using only normal screws as the shear connecter. The push out tests were conducted based on Eurocode 5 recommendations and the load-slip responses obtained from lab tests are used to determine the stiffness of the connections at serviceability, ultimate and near collapse levels, and the performance of the connections are assessed at ultimate load. Moreover, an analytical model is derived for each type of connection based on the experimental results and using a non linear regression, which can be implemented into non-linear FE analysis of timber beams with normal screws. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group.

Zulkifli, NWM, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH & Yunus, R 1970, 'The effect of temperature on tribological properties of chemically modified biobased lubricant', 5th World Tribology Congress, WTC 2013, pp. 143-146.

Al-Sharif, AAA & Pradhan, B 2013, 'Efficiency and reliability of probabilistic based frequency ratio model (FR) in urban growth modelling'.
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Urban expansion is a dynamic and continuous spatial phenomenon which associates population growth and economic development. Analysing and understanding urbanization process require models that capable to simulate, monitor and predict both urban growth and urban sprawl. In this paper, a probabilistic based frequency ratio model (FR) that has not applied before in urban growth modelling of cities was employed to simulate and predict the urban expansion of Tripoli metropolis city, Libya. Three temporal remote sensing data (RS) of years (1996, 2002 and 2010) and geographic information system (GIS) were used to extract various urban deriving factors for the study area. The considered urban factors are: slope, distance to active economic centre, distance to central business district (CBD), distance to roads, distance to built up areas and distance to educational area. Subsequently, for model calibration FR model was applied to simulate urban growth for time period 1996 to 2002. For model validation, temporal data between 2002 to 2010 were used and subsequently future urban growth suitability map was produced. The relative operating characteristic method (ROC) was used to validate the FR model. The validation results indicated 83.2% prediction accuracy. Finally, the results demonstrated that FR model can be used in urban growth modelling of cities. On the other hand, FR model has temporal and dynamic limitations that should be considered in urbanization analysis. This research recommended that to improve FR model performance further, it is necessary to correlate urban expansion rates within the classified classes and their frequency ratios of particular urban deriving factor with time change. Copyright© (2013) by the Asian Association on Remote Sensing.

Hugo Scheer, Leenawaty.Limantara 2013, 'Knoweldge creates development: The Role of Humboldt-Alumni in South East Asia', Shaker-Verlag, Aachen.

Kabiri, K 2013, 'Benthic habitat mapping and coral bleaching detection using quickbird imagery and Kd algorithm', Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Kandasamy, J, Sounthararajah, D, Sivabalan, P, Chanan, A, Vigneswaran, S & Sivapalan, M 2013, 'Socio-hydrologic drivers of the Pendulum Swing between agriculture development and environmental health: a case study from Murrumbidgee River Basin, Australia', Copernicus GmbH.
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