The effect of different industrialized building system (IBS) construction methods compared to the conventional method on occupational safety and health (OSH) industry risks in construction

The construction industry is known for the hazardous physical working conditions and high risk of accidents because of the nature of the workplace activities. It is one of the most dangerous business sectors compared to the other industries. The accident cases in construction industry contribute to the rises statistics of accidents in Malaysia. Therefore, IBS construction has been suggested to replace the many initiatives that could be implemented to improve OSH performance due to frequent accidents as a substitute for the traditional construction methods. Improving the performance of the construction industry has pushed forward the need for innovation and adopting new construction methods and technologies in the industry. This study aims to analyze and validate the impact of major activities of the IBS construction method which are prefabricated steel framing system, prefabricated timber framing system and formwork system. This study involved a field observation to on-site that use these 3 types of IBS as a residential building construction method. The data was collected through interviews with the safety and health officers, other than observed the operations involved in each type of IBS method to determine the major activities and OSH risks associated throughout the construction process of the IBS. Next, the activities and the risks involved in each activity were tabulated before it was analyzed and validated with the competent professionals. The findings revealed that the major activities in the prefabricated timber framing system and formwork system have low risk compared to the conventional method. Meanwhile, majority of the activities involved in the prefabricated steel framing system has high risk compared to the conventional method. Moreover, 2 methods have introduced new activities which are prefabricated steel framing system (2 new activities) and prefabricated timber framing system (4 new activities). Therefore, this study offered a better understanding of the risk/hazard of IBS construction method and the effect the IBS towards safety and health

Nanowire Photoelectrochemistry.

Recent applications of photoelectrochemistry at the semiconductor/liquid interface provide a renewable route of mimicking natural photosynthesis and yielding chemicals from sunlight, water, and air. Nanowires, defined as one-dimensional nanostructures, exhibit multiple unique features for photoelectrochemical applications and promise better performance as compared to their bulk counterparts. This article reviews the use of semiconductor nanowires in photoelectrochemistry. After introducing fundamental concepts essential to understanding nanowires and photoelectrochemistry, the review considers answers to the following questions: (1) How can we interface semiconductor nanowires with other building blocks for enhanced photoelectrochemical responses? (2) How are nanowires utilized for photoelectrochemical half reactions? (3) What are the techniques that allow us to obtain fundamental insights of photoelectrochemistry at single-nanowire level? (4) What are the design strategies for an integrated nanosystem that mimics a closed cycle in artificial photosynthesis? This framework should help readers evaluate the salient features of nanowires for photoelectrochemical applications, promoting the sustainable development of solar-powered chemical plants that will benefit our society in the long run

Bandgap engineering in semiconductor alloy nanomaterials with widely tunable compositions

Over the past decade, tremendous progress has been achieved in the development of nanoscale semiconductor materials with a wide range of bandgaps by alloying different individual semiconductors. These materials include traditional II-VI and III-V semiconductors and their alloys, inorganic and hybrid perovskites, and the newly emerging 2D materials. One important common feature of these materials is that their nanoscale dimensions result in a large tolerance to lattice mismatches within a monolithic structure of varying composition or between the substrate and target material, which enables us to achieve almost arbitrary control of the variation of the alloy composition. As a result, the bandgaps of these alloys can be widely tuned without the detrimental defects that are often unavoidable in bulk materials, which have a much more limited tolerance to lattice mismatches. This class of nanomaterials could have a far-reaching impact on a wide range of photonic applications, including tunable lasers, solid-state lighting, artificial photosynthesis and new solar cells

Zinc Oxide Nanostructures: Synthesis and Characterization

The summary should be ca. 200 words; this text will present the book in all promotional forms (e.g. flyers). Please describe the book in straightforward and consumer-friendly terms. [Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a wide band gap semiconductor with an energy gap of 3.37 eV at room temperature. It has been used considerably for its catalytic, electrical, optoelectronic, and photochemical properties. ZnO nanomaterials, such as quantum dots, nanorods, and nanowires, have been intensively investigated for their important properties. Many methods have been described in the literature for the production of ZnO nanostructures, such as laser ablation, hydrothermal methods, electrochemical deposition, sol-gel methods, chemical vapour deposition, molecular beam epitaxy, the common thermal evaporation method, and the soft chemical solution method. The present Special Issue is devoted to the synthesis and characterization of ZnO nanostructures with novel technological applications.