Design, sustainability and Australian mass-market fashion : three case studies

The production of fashion garments has negative environmental and social impacts that can potentially be reduced through decisions made in the design process. This research explores to what extent Australian mass-market fashion designers consider environmental sustainability within product design. The study presents three case studies from different market levels, assembled through interviews with designers, along with an analysis of the Australian mass-market fashion industry. The project provides insights into the workings of the fashion design process within mid and high volume companies, and identifies opportunities and barriers for consideration of sustainability.

In situ Raman studies of the selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde and ethene to ethylene oxide on a polycrystalline silver catalyst

The combined techniques of in situ Raman microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been used to study the selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde and the ethene epoxidation reaction over polycrystalline silver catalysts. The nature of the oxygen species formed on silver was found to depend critically upon the exact morphology of the catalyst studied. Bands at 640, 780 and 960 cm-1 were identified only on silver catalysts containing a significant proportion of defects. These peaks were assigned to subsurface oxygen species situated in the vicinity of surface dislocations, AgIII=O sites formed on silver atoms modified by the presence of subsurface oxygen and O2 - species stabilized on subsurface oxygen-modified silver sites, respectively. The selective oxidation of methanol to formaldehyde was determined to occur at defect sites, where reaction of methanol with subsurface oxygen initially produced subsurface OH species (451 cm-1) and adsorbed methoxy species. Two distinct forms of adsorbed ethene were identified on oxidised silver sites. One of these was created on silver sites modified by the interaction of subsurface oxygen species, and the other on silver crystal planes containing a surface coverage of atomic oxygen species. The selective oxidation of ethene to ethylene oxide was achieved by the reaction between ethene adsorbed on modified silver sites and electrophilic AgIII=O species, whereas the combustion reaction was perceived to take place by the reaction of adsorbed ethene with nucleophilic surface atomic oxygen species. Defects were determined to play a critical role in the epoxidation reaction, as these sites allowed the rapid diffusion of oxygen into subsurface positions, and consequently facilitated the formation of the catalytically active AgIII=O sites.

Spectroscopic studies of the adsorption and reactions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC-11 and CFC-12) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC-22) on oxide surfaces

Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy have been applied to a systematic investigation of the adsorption and decomposition of dichlorodifluoromethane (CCl2F2, CFC-12), fluorotrichloromethane (CCl3F, CFC-11), chlorodifluoromethane (CHClF2, HCFC-22) and molecular chlorine on oxide surfaces. Additionally, the effects of heating and ultraviolet photolysis of the CFC and HCFCs adsorbed on the oxide surfaces have been investigated. Spectral features for these species indicated a small wavenumber shift (1-6 cm-1) associated with the adsorbed phase. Some evidence, specifically the appearance of the Raman band at 507 cm-1, is presented to show that chlorine decomposition species are associated with these oxide surfaces. It was concluded that the new spectral feature (at ca. 507 cm-1) related with the decomposition of the CFC and HCFC molecules was an important indicator of the extent to which the reaction between the adsorbed CFC and HCFC and oxide surface has taken place. The extent of CFC-surface interaction has been quantified in terms of a maximum (Raman) frequency shift parameter (AM). Wavenumber shifts suggest both cation-adsorbate and non-specific adsorption interactions are occurring in the internal channels of the zeolites. Slow decomposition of the adsorbed CFCs under ultraviolet-visible photolysis (at ? > 300 nm) and/or thermal treatment was observed spectroscopically. Using FT-IR spectroscopy, the formation of gas-phase products (CO, CO2, HCl) both onyn photolysis and heating was evident. Results of these measurements are compared with the observed atmospheric reactivity of these compounds.

Advantages of tandem LC-MS for the rapid assessment of tissue-specific metabolic complexity using a pentafluorophenylpropyl stationary phase

In this study, a tandem LC-MS (Waters Xevo TQ) MRM-based MS method was developed for rapid, broad profiling of hydrophilic metabolites from biological samples, in either positive or negative ion modes without the need for an ion pairing reagent, using a reversed-phase pentafluorophenylpropyl (PFPP) column. The developed method was successfully applied to analyze various biological samples from C57BL/6 mice, including urine, duodenum, liver, plasma, kidney, heart, and skeletal muscle. As result, a total 112 of hydrophilic metabolites were detected within 8 min of running time to obtain a metabolite profile of the biological samples. The analysis of this number of hydrophilic metabolites is significantly faster than previous studies. Classification separation for metabolites from different tissues was globally analyzed by PCA, PLS-DA and HCA biostatistical methods. Overall, most of the hydrophilic metabolites were found to have a "fingerprint" characteristic of tissue dependency. In general, a higher level of most metabolites was found in urine, duodenum, and kidney. Altogether, these results suggest that this method has potential application for targeted metabolomic analyzes of hydrophilic metabolites in a wide ranges of biological samples.

Pharmacokinetic studies of a Chinese triple herbal drug formula

Yin Chen Hao Tang preparation (YCHTP) is a classic traditional Chinese medicine formula, which is commonly used for clinical treatment of hepatological diseases. In this study, a rapid and validated high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed to simultaneously identify 6,7-dimethylesculetin and geniposide in rat plasma. This assay was performed on a Dikma Diamonsil RP(18) column (200 mmx4.6 mm, 5 mum) with acetonitrile-methanol-water (0.1% formic acid) as the mobile phase, showing acceptable linearity, intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy (R.S.D.=5%), and absolute recovery for two analytes (74%); the limits of quantitation were 0.4 and 1.12 mug/ml, and the limits of detection were 0.06 and 0.09 mug/ml for two analytes. The developed method was successfully applied to study the effect of formula compatibility on the pharmacokinetics of 6,7-dimethylesculetin and geniposide in YCHTP when orally administrating an effective human daily dose of YCHTP to rats. We surmise that formula compatibility can significantly influence the pharmacokinetics of YCHTP, and we have elucidated and validated the compatible administration of YCHTP.

Sleepy driving and pulling over for a rest : investigating individual factors that contribute to these driving behaviours

Driver sleepiness is a substantial crash risk factor and as such, is a major contributor to crash statistics. A number of individual factors (i.e., psychological factors) have been suggested to influence driving while sleepy. However, few studies have examined the influence of these individual factors for sleepy driving in combination. The current study sought to examine how various demographic factors, attitudes, perceived legitimacy, personality constructs, and risk taking variables were associated with self-reported likelihood of driving sleepy and pulling over and resting when sleepy. The results show that being a younger driver, having positive attitudes towards driving sleepy, and high levels of emotional stability were related to self-reported likelihood of driving sleepy. Whereas, being an older driver and having negative attitudes towards driving sleepy were associated with self-reported likelihood of pulling over and resting when sleepy. Overall, the obtained results suggest that the age and attitudes of the driver have greater influence than personality traits or risk taking factors. Campaigns focused on changing attitudes to reflect the dangerousness of sleepy driving could be important for road safety outcomes.