Xiaying Xin

Queen's University | QueensU

The potential ecological risks of nanoplastics (NPs) may be inaccurately assessed in some studies as they fail to consider the impact of environmental factors and their interactive effects. Here, the effects of six representative environmental factors (N, P, salinity, DOM (dissolved organic matter), pH and hardness) on NPs' toxicity and mechanism t...

The study on micro/nanoplastic pollution should embrace complexity. Here, we aim to develop an aquatic environmental system-based comprehensive assessment approach of micro/nanoplastic impacts (ACAM) to evaluate the effects of micro/nanoplastics on aquatic ecosystems from the global environmental change (GEC) and systematic perspective. A case stud...

This review considers the interaction of microplastics (MPs)/nanoplastics (NPs) and co-existing contaminants, including organic contaminants, potentially toxic elements (PTEs), and metal/metal-oxide nanoparticles. Stronger adsorption between plastic particles and co-existing contaminants can either facilitate or prevent more contaminants to enter p...

Neural network modeling (e.g., deep neural networks) has been growingly applied in environmental data and imaging analysis but is significantly limited by its large dataset size and quality demand. To help address the challenge, this study developed an integrated framework by combining the convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and the improved deep...

Faced with the degraded ecological environment, it is necessary to optimize the energy structure and inter-regional energy trade framework to achieve sustainable and balanced development. A RIMSP-based energy-structure balance development model is proposed to solve the contradictions among energy consumption, economic system cost, and ecological em...

The challenge from pathogenic infections still threatens the health and life of people in developing areas. An efficient, low-cost, and abundant-resource disinfection method is desired for supplying safe drinking water. This study aims to develop a novel Ti³⁺ doping TiO2 nanoparticle decorated ceramic disk filter (Ti³⁺/TiO2@CDF) for point-of-use (P...

This study explored the combined disruption mechanism of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) on the three key receptors (estrogen receptor, thyroid receptor, and adrenoceptor) of the human endocrine system. The intensity of PCN endocrine disruption on these receptors was first determined using a molecular docking method. A comprehensive index of PC...

Microplastics (MPs) have been found in oil-polluted oceans, but studies on MPs and oil were still focused on their respective transport, biodegradation, and bioaccumulation. The interactions between MPs and oil in the marine environment remain unknown. MPs would incorporate with oil to form MP-oil agglomerate (MOA), the behaviors of MOA were thus d...

Oil spill and microplastics (MPs) pollution has raised global concerns, due to the negative impacts on ocean sustainability. Chemical dispersants were widely adopted as oil-spill-treating agents. When MPs exist during oil dispersion, MP/oil-dispersant agglomerates (MODAs) are observed. This study explored how MPs affect oil-dispersion efficiency in...

Semiconductor photocatalysis is one of the most widely used environment-friendly technologies for removing various contaminants. As a well-developed photocatalyst, titanium dioxide (TiO2) still has limits in its wide bandgap and rapid recombination rate of photogenerated charge carriers. Recently, black TiO2 appears as a strong candidate in the imp...

Microplastics (MPs) can interact with spilled oil to form MP-oil-dispersant agglomerates (MODAs) in oceans. This study investigated the MODA formation mechanism and its impact on oil dispersion during marine oil spill responses. Two types of agglomerates, MODA-1 (MP-in-oil) and MODA-2 (MP-oil droplet-embedded), were identified. The 12μm-MPs only fo...

Links between environmental conditions (e.g., meteorological factors and air quality) and COVID-19 severity have been reported worldwide. However, the existing frameworks of data analysis are insufficient or inefficient to investigate the potential causality behind the associations involving multidimensional factors and complicated interrelationshi...

In this study, the processes of wheat residue degradation in combination with various tillage treatments were explored to determine the ideal management prescription for maximizing canola crop production. A field experiment within a western Canadian context (near Saint-Front, Saskatchewan), consisting of a 2 × 3 factorial design, was conducted to d...

Canola is one of the main crops produced in Canadian Prairie. It is important to provide an effective approach for improving the growth and yield of canola. The effects of tillage and residue management on the growth of canola have been analyzed in this study through evaluating physicochemical features of canola plants under the interferences of ti...

Little is known about the trophic transfer of nanoparticles and personal care products via dietary exposure in an algae-algae eating fish food chain. The bioaccumulation of nano-TiO2 (P25 – nTiO2), nano-ZnO (nZnO), and triclosan (TCS) in eight different combinations were explored in this study through algae, Asterococcus superbus, to fish, Gyrinoch...

This study focused on the impact of microalgal biomass on the oil behavior in a sand-water system. The microalgal biomass was characterized, and the interaction between microalgal biomass and oil was analyzed through Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The effects of different conditions including microalgal biomass dose, pH, temperatur...

Microplastics (MPs) and spilled oil are both major concerns in the marine environment. In this study, we investigated if and how MPs would interact with crude oil and potentially reduce the effectiveness of oil dispersants applied during oil spill response operations. With the addition of dispersant, MPs and oil (covered by dispersants through thei...

A large amount of annual global carbon input is reported from pyrogenic organic matters (POMs) production, motivating numerous research studies. Given to Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) can be frequently exposed to...

Rapid industrialization leads to potential energy scarcity. The formulation of energy intervention can alleviate the economic losses caused by insufficient energy inputs in advance. In this study, the energy dependency and sensitivity quantification model (EDSQ) is firstly developed to evaluate the impacts of insufficient energy support on economic...

Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs) have been frequently detected in the environment around the world. Algae play a significant role in aquatic ecosystem, thus the influence on algae may affect the life of higher trophic organisms. This review provides a state-of-the-art overview of current research on the toxicity of PPCPs to algae....

Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is the most widely distributed sulfonamide antibiotics detected in decentralized poultry wastewater in rural communities. As an economically-feasible and eco-friendly technology for decentralized wastewater treatment in rural areas, vertical-flow multi-soil-layering (MSL) system was promising to mitigate the ecological and hu...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are hazardous contaminants existing ubiquitously in polluted soil. In this study, using nanocellulose (CNC) fluid as an eco-friendly agent was proposed for the first time in the remediation of phenanthrene (PHE) contaminated soil. The effects of environmental factors on the mobilization of PHE in soil by CNC nanoflu...

The intaking of water with undesired substances may cause many water-borne diseases. It is required to develop efficient and low-cost water purification technologies for developing countries. In this study, a new ceramic disk filter functionalized by chitosan/TiO2 nanocomposites (CT-CDF) for bacterial removal from drinking water was investigated. T...

Toxic effects on Asterococcus superbus were studied based on different combinations of P25-TiO2, nano-ZnO and triclosan under multiple illumination conditions. A full factorial design (2 × 2×2 × 3) was implemented to explore interactive effects, and to identify significant factors. The results showed illumination is the most important factor with s...

The long-term environmental effects of pyrogenic carbon have recently drawn many concerns in terms of the fate and transport of emerging pollutants. This study explored surface changes of geometric structure, functional group, and site-energy distribution at pyrogenic carbon surface throughout a long-term physical aging process. Through synchrotron...

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an effective process for waste management, pollution mitigation, renewable energy utilization, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. However, low temperature is one of the most limiting factors for the application of AD in many cold regions. To expand the applications of AD to larger areas in the world, many studies ha...

Ceramic water filter is suitable for low-income families and rural communities in developing countries to obtain safe drinking water because of its low cost and good performance. As an innovative effort, the ceramic disk filter coated with Ag/ZnO nanocomposites (AZ-CDF) was proposed in this study. The manufacture of AZ-CDFs was optimized by experim...

The availability of safe drinking water is an important issue in developing countries and remote areas where clean drinking water cannot be fully accessed. In this study, a low cost porous ceramic disk filter (PCDF) functionalized with Fe/TiO2 nano-composites was used to remove E. coli from water. The production of PCDFs coated with Fe/TiO2 nano-co...

Multi-soil-layering (MSL) system with brick-wall pattern structure and gravitational flow can be used for decentralized rural domestic sewage treatment. The capability of soil for contaminant removal is maximized within soil mixture blocks (SMBs). However, the performance of removing nitrate was still not ideal during operation. To improve its perf...

This study explored the toxicity of triclosan in the presence of TiO2 P25 to the green alga Eremosphaera viridis in Lake Erie. Multiple physicochemical endpoints were conducted to perform a comprehensive analysis of the toxic effects of individual and combined pollutants. Fourier transform infrared spectromicroscopy and synchrotron-based X-ray fluo...

Domestic sewage in rural areas is often poorly treated and discharged into waters, resulting in negative impacts on regional environment, natural resources and human health. A cost-efficient decentralized sewage treatment technology is sustainably necessary for rural areas. In this study, a modified multi-soil-layering (MSL) system was developed to...

The study explored the chronic toxicity of triclosan to green microalga Chlorococcum sp. under multiple interactions among environmental conditions. This is the first study on chronic algal toxicity to combine synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared spectromicroscopy, factorial analysis, principal component analysis and stepwise-cluster analys...

This study explored the long-term impacts of a pulse disturbance of triclosan on five non-target green algae in Lake Erie. Comprehensive analyses were performed using multiple physiological endpoints at community and subcellular scales. The toxic mechanism of triclosan in a wide range of concentrations was analyzed. The diverse sensitivity of algae...

Multi-soil-layering (MSL) system was developed as an attractive alternative to traditional land-based treatment techniques. Within MSL system, the environmental cleanup capability of soil is maximized, while the soil microbial communities may also change during operation. This study aimed to reveal the nature of biophysiological changes in MSL syst...

This study investigated the toxicity of triclosan to the green microalga Chlorococcum sp. under multiple environmental stressors. The interactions between triclosan and environmental stressors were explored through full two-way factorial, synchrotron-based Fourier transform infrared spectromicroscopy, and principal component analyses. Phosphorus co...

Lack of access to safe water is a challenge in many developing countries, especially in rural areas. It is urgent to develop cost-effective water purification technologies to guarantee drinking water safety in these areas. The present study investigated the reduction of Escherichia coli (E. coli) using ceramic disk filters (CDFs) decorated by nano-...

This study explored the adsorption of Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) on pinecone-derived activated charcoal. The interactions between TBBPA and activated-charcoal surface, as well as the corresponding effects of functionality and adsorption capacities, were investigated through synchrotron FTIR, kinetics and surface functionality analyses. It was fo...

Lack of access to safe water is a challenge in many developing countries, especially in rural areas. It is urgent to develop cost-effective water purification technologies to guarantee drinking water safety in these areas. The present study investigated the reduction of Escherichia coli (E. coli) using ceramic disk filters (CDFs) decorated by nano-...

From the view of economic efficiency and technology sustainability, biomass adsorbent has a high potential for pollution control. In the present study, the performance of gemini 12-2-12 surfactant-modified wheat bran (MWB) for the removal of anionic azo dyes from aqueous solution was investigated. A new insight was gained into the modification mech...

Although pharmaceuticals and personal care products have been used and introduced into the environment in large quantities, little information on potential ecological risks is currently available considering their effects on living organisms. We verified the feasibility of using synchrotron-based Fourier Transform Infrared (SR-FTIR) spectromicrosco...

From the viewpoint of sustainability, biomass adsorbent has a high potential in pollution control and there is an emerging interest to investigate the behaviors of pollutants at the interface between biomass adsorbent and solution. This study investigated the performance of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide surfactant-modified flax shives (MFS) for re...

Marine biofouling is a common worldwide problem. Current toxic antifouling compounds cause serious harm to marine environment and human health. Natural nontoxic antifouling compound development has been the primary way to solve this problem. In an ongoing survey of sponge-associated bacteria to find an antidiatom adhesion property, one strain named...

This study proposes a factorial two-stage irrigation system optimization model (FTIM) for supporting agricultural irrigation water-resource management under uncertainty. The FTIM incorporates fractional factorial design, two-stage stochastic programming (TSP), interval linear programming (ILP), and interval probability and is applied to agricultura...

In this study we propose a factorial fuzzy two-stage stochastic programming (FFTSP) approach to support water resources management under dual uncertainties. The dual uncertainties in terms of fuzziness in modeling parameters and variability of α-cut levels are taken into account. As different α-cut levels are assigned to each fuzzy parameter (inste...

Background In this study, we applied the geostatistical modeling to analyze an oil field. The reservoir properties, thickness, porosity and permeability, were studied. Data analysis tools, such as histogram, scatter plot, variogram and cross variogram modeling, were employed to capture the interpretable spatial structure and provide the desired inp...

Crude extracts of 52 marine bacteria associated with sponges, which were collected from the sea near San Juan Island, Washington, USA, were screened using diatom attachment assays against Amphora sp., Nitzschia closterium, Sellaphora sp. and Stauroneis sp. to investigate their antidiatom activities. Among these samples, five expressed strong anti-a...