Suchergebnisse

Building information modeling (BIM) has received considerable recognition in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry because it can potentially reduce costs and delivery time and improve quality. Conscious of the benefits derived by adopting BIM, the Taiwanese government is planning to enact a policy that would incorporate BIM-based e-submission into the Taiwanese building permit review process, revolutionizing the local AEC industry. Nevertheless, the effects of BIM application are unpredictable. The aim of this study was to investigate the current status of BIM adoption in 224 Taiwanese architectural firms, assess how accepting and ready the firms were to implement BIM, and create a predictive model that can be used by decision makers who are considering adopting BIM. The results revealed that approximately one-third of the firms surveyed had already adopted BIM-based tools. More than half of the firms were willing to use BIM-based tools to streamline the building permit review process; however, their willingness was strongly influenced by governmental policies, competitor motivation, financial incentives, and technological support. The challenges, problems, and opportunities related to adopting BIM were discussed. Lessons learned from the experiences of the Taiwanese firms may be useful to firms facing similar situations and challenges in other countries. First published online:27 Jun 2016

The study illustrates that graphene oxide nanosheets can endow materials with continuous electrical conductivity for up to 4 weeks. Conductive nerve scaffolds can bridge a sciatic nerve injury and guide the growth of neurons; however, whether the scaffolds can be used for the repair of spinal cord nerve injuries remains to be explored. In this study, a conductive graphene oxide composited chitosan scaffold was fabricated by genipin crosslinking and lyophilization. The prepared chitosan-graphene oxide scaffold presented a porous structure with an inner diameter of 18–87 μm, and a conductivity that reached 2.83 mS/cm because of good distribution of the graphene oxide nanosheets, which could be degraded by peroxidase. The chitosan-graphene oxide scaffold was transplanted into a T9 total resected rat spinal cord. The results show that the chitosan-graphene oxide scaffold induces nerve cells to grow into the pores between chitosan molecular chains, inducing angiogenesis in regenerated tissue, and promote neuron migration and neural tissue regeneration in the pores of the scaffold, thereby promoting the repair of damaged nerve tissue. The behavioral and electrophysiological results suggest that the chitosan-graphene oxide scaffold could significantly restore the neurological function of rats. Moreover, the functional recovery of rats treated with chitosan-graphene oxide scaffold was better than that treated with chitosan scaffold. The results show that graphene oxide could have a positive role in the recovery of neurological function after spinal cord injury by promoting the degradation of the scaffold, adhesion, and migration of nerve cells to the scaffold. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Animal Research at the First Affiliated Hospital of Third Military Medical University (Army Medical University) (approval No. AMUWEC20191327) on August 30, 2019.