Covid-19 Pandemic: Strategies to Improve Daylighting and Visual Comfort for Building Occupants

Sufficient lighting has a substantial impact on the health, comfort, and performance of building occupants. Researchers frequently focus on daylighting for its psychological, physiological, and economic benefits to human well-being. However, the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that these wellness considerations are no longer optional features of a building, but rather a necessary component of providing a comfortable and healthy living environment. Everyone must adhere to the stay-at-home order to mitigate pandemic transmission. This study aims to review the literature and recommends strategies that will improve building occupants’ daylighting and visual comfort. For the review, this study identified 41 peer-reviewed journal articles using a keyword search followed by a filter based on SCOPUS and Web of Science inclusion criteria. However, once the inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, only 31 papers were chosen for evaluation. Thematic analysis of these 31 publications revealed eight tentative criteria for effective daylighting in buildings, categorised into three clusters: passive design, active design, and projected ideal daylighting based on daylight simulation tests. The results demonstrate that a passive design strategy provides improved illumination and is a more cost-effective way to achieve appropriate daylight and visual comfort in a facility. Despite its limitations, the study recommends the hybrid technique of passive and active design as a helpful experimental tool for future research targeted to increase the interior environment’s quality. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Molecular evidence and hematological alterations associated with the occurrence of coronavirus in domestic dogs in Pakistan.

Canine Enteric Coronavirus (CCoV) is one of the major enteric pathogen affecting dogs. This study aims to investigate the molecular prevalence, phylogenetic analysis, associated risk factors, and haemato-biochemical alterations in Canine Coronavirus in dogs in district Lahore, Pakistan. 450 fecal samples were collected from symptomatic dogs originating from various pet-clinics and kennels during 2018-2019. Samples were initially analyzed by sandwich lateral flow immunochromatographic assay and then further processed by RT-PCR (reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction) targeting the M gene followed by sequencing. RT-PCR based positive (n=20) and negative (n=20) dogs were samples for their blood for the haemato-biochemical analysis. A questionnaire was used to collect data from pet owners, in order to analyze the data for risk factors analysis by chi square test on SPSS. The prevalence of CCoV was 35.1%, and 23.8 % through Sandwich lateral flow immunochromatographic and RT-PCR respectively. Various risk factors like breed, age, sex, vomiting, diarrhea, sample source, body size, cohabitation with other animals, living environment, food, deworming history, contact with other animals or birds feces, and season were significantly associated with CCoV. The CCoV identified in Pakistan were 98% similar with the isolates from China (KT 192675, 1), South Korea (HM 130573, 1), Brazil (GU 300134, 1), Colombia (MH 717721, 1), United Kingdom (JX 082356, 1) and Tunisia (KX156806). Haematobiochemical alterations in CCoV affected dogs revealed anaemia, leucopenia, lymphopenia, neutrophilia, and decreased packed cell volume, and a significant increase in alkaline phosphate and alanine transaminase. It is concluded that infection with canine coronavirus appears widespread among dog populations in district Lahore, Pakistan. This study is the first report regarding the molecular detection and sequence analysis of CCoV in Pakistan.

Evaluation of Student Core Drives on e-Learning during the Covid-19 with Octalysis Gamification Framework

Learning activities during the Covid-19 pandemic were carried out with an online system even though in reality many institutions had not prepared their systems and infrastructure properly. Some e-learning media that are generally used based on survey results include 53.81% google classrooms combined with other applications that are not integrated with the institution’s Learning Management System. This condition provides research opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of online learning, especially how students are motivated to learn the method, where the results can be used as a reference in developing and refining the method. Based on many studies, that the gamification model can increase individual motivation in carrying out activities, this study uses a gamification octalysis framework to analyze the extent of the role of gamification in the learning process and measure the amount of student motivation in online learning activities. The evaluation results show that the conclusion of the Likert scale results in a “High” level, while the highest score is “Very High”. As for the octalysis test scale, the average score of 6.5 on a scale of 1 to 10. The conclusion from the results of this evaluation is that the motivation to learn e-learning during the Covid-19 period is quite high and has the potential to be developed. While the results of the Octalysis framework with 8 core drives are still average, for that we need innovation in E-learning which aims to increase student motivation based on Octalysis’s 8 core drives. The results of this study recommend that gamification is needed to increase student learning motivation in order to improve learning outcomes. © 2020. All Rights Reserved.