Hoisting is an essential aspect of Industrial Building System (IBS) construction. Although research on hoisting safety in China has made strides to focus on "worker," "data," "task," "site," and "accident," there still needs to be more approaches based on multi-dimensional social system thinking. Therefore, the paper aims to fill this gap. We investigated 105 hoisting accidents in China and found that hoisting accidents occurred most frequently in China's southeast coastal region; truck-mounted cranes and tower cranes were the most common types of machinery involved in accidents; hoisting load off, capsizing of crane machinery, and workers falling from height are the three most common accident types; the average impact of a single hoisting accident is approximately RMB 2.43 million direct economic loss, 1.543 deaths and 0.829 injured. This study used three algorithms (Rindge regression, Lasson regression, and partial least squares regression) to explore the impact of deaths and injuries on direct economic losses. By combining Rasmussen's risk framework with the characteristics of hoisting construction, six risk domains and thirty-six safety risk factors were identified. Finally, we used AcciMap technology to construct a qualitative IBS hoisting management model, which exhaustively presents the systematic levels and propagation paths of the influencing factors by the PDCA method. The research helps academics explore strategies to improve the safety of hoisting construction in IBS. Moreover, the study outcomes can inform the policy-making process towards promoting healthy and sustainable construction development.
Carboxymethyl starch (CMS) was produced from sago starch via carboxymethylation. The CMS with different degree of substitution (DS) ranges from 0.4 to 0.8 were mixed with polyethylene glycol (PEG) of different molecular weight and distilled water and the hydrogel was cured by electron beam irradiation with doses ranging from 25 to 35 kGy. The results revealed that CMS-PEG hydrogels with DS 0.4 give the optimum gel content when radiated at 30 kGy and with PEG 600. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that there are two phases exist in CMS with DS 0.4 in contrast to the three steps decomposition occurs in DS 0.6 and 0.8. It shows that the CMS with DS 0.4 is more thermally stable. Surface morphology revealed crosslinking among the blends when subjected into the radiation dose. The study shows both radiation and PEG addition improved most of the properties of CMS irrespective of the DS value.
Cancer is the leading cause of death, acting as a global burden, severely impacting the patients' quality of life and affecting the world economy despite the expansion of cumulative advances in oncology. The current conventional therapies for cancer which involve long treatment duration and systemic exposure of drugs leads to premature degradation of drugs, a massive amount of pain, side effects, as well as the recurrence of the condition. There is also an urgent demand for personalized and precision-based medicine, especially after the recent pandemic, to avoid future delays in diagnosis or treatments for cancer patients as they are very essential in reducing the global mortality rate. Recently, microneedles which consist of a patch with tiny, micron-sized needles attached to it have been quite a sensation as an emerging technology for transdermal application to diagnose or treat various illnesses. The application of microneedles in cancer therapies is also being extensively studied as they offer a myriad of benefits, especially since microneedle patches offer a better treatment approach through self administration, painless treatment, and being an economically and environmentally friendly approach in comparison with other conventional methods. The painless gains from microneedles significantly improves the survival rate of cancer patients. The emergence of versatile and innovative transdermal drug delivery systems presents a prime breakthrough opportunity for safer and more effective therapies, which could meet the demands of cancer diagnosis and treatment through different application scenarios. This review highlights the types of microneedles, fabrication methods and materials, along with the recent advances and opportunities. In addition, this review also addresses the challenges and limitations of microneedles in cancer therapy with solutions through current studies and future works to facilitate the clinical translation of microneedles in cancer therapies.
Occupational injuries in the construction industry have plagued many countries, and many cases have shown that accidents often occur because of a combination of project participants. Assembled construction (AC) projects have received extensive attention from Chinese scholars as a future trend, but few studies have explored the interrelationships and potential risks of various stakeholders in depth. This study fills this research gap by proposing a multi-stakeholder AC risk framework. The study surveyed 396 stakeholders, then analyzed the collected data and created a risk framework based on Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and the CRITIC weighting method. The results revealed that factors like "regular supervision is a formality," "blindly approving the wrong safety measures," and "failure to organize effective safety education and training." are vital risks in AC of China. Finally, the study validates the risk factors and the framework with 180 real-life cases, which shows that the proposed framework is theoretically grounded and realistic. The study also suggests multi-level strategies such as introducing AI-based automated risk monitoring, improving the adaptability of normative provisions to technological advances, and advancing the culture of project communities of interest to ensure AC's safe practices.