Measuring the Changes in Physical Activity of Students: Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic

Despite experiencing the pandemic for more than a year, it is undeniable that most people are still in shock and are still in the process of adapting. As every aspect transitioned to a new normal, positive and negative changes towards every individual have occurred. One of which is the changes in physical activities. As the COVID-19 protocols and safety measures restrict physical interactions, people are obligated to avoid outdoor activities. With that, occurrence with the decline of physical activities is evident. To address this issue, this study focused on assessing and measuring the changes in physical activity of undergraduate students in Mapua University before and during the pandemic. The respondents were tasked to comply with a 16-question survey questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The researchers disseminated the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) to obtain the needed data. Upon applying descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (paired-sample t-test), results showed an extensive change in students' physical activities. Results showed that from having a total of 97 students who met the WHO recommendations before the pandemic, 54 students were recorded to have met the recommendations during the pandemic. This shows how the phenomena affected physical activities. Before the pandemic, most of the respondents tended to meet the MET minute per week;however, data showed a contradicting result during the pandemic. On the other hand, based on the paired-sample t-test results, dimensions work, and travel and sedentary behavior showed significant differences in students' physical activities before and during the pandemic. © 2022 ACM.

Measuring the Risk Level of Employees in Transportation Sector for COVID-19

With the current struggles brought by the pandemic, it is undoubtedly a fact that service providers, may it be public or private servants, encounter difficulties in providing safe and effective service. As everyone tries to cope up with the new normal, the government provides restrictions and health protocols to prevent the spread of coronavirus. With this, different sectors including the transport sector were given the chance to operate but with reduced capacity and other limitations. Despite the risks they must face, the transportation sector was forced to operate as there are inadequate options for traveling especially for the essential workers. Employees in the transportation sector were left with no choice but to be exposed to the risk of getting infected as they must go outside and physically interact with other people. To address the uncertainties in the transport sector, the researchers used RIKA Risk Assessment Tool to evaluate the risk level of those who are involved in the said industry. To attain the said objective, this study measured the health risk, behavioral risk, exposure risk, and social risk of the participants. The results of the study showed that 78% of the respondents have moderate-risk levels and none are identified to have a high-risk level. Results also depicted that relationship between lockdown and compliance, and total risk score and the smoking habit has a high correlation among other variables. © 2022 ACM.

A Case Study of Perceived Effect of Thermal Comfort to the Mental Fatigue Level of Students during Online Class

As the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took away the accustomed routines of the people, the prevalence of online platforms in present times became more evident as every field or industry opt to adapt to the new normal. With that, education was never excluded from the said adaptation. As schooling cannot be hindered, the educational system transitioned from having a face-to-face method to conducting online classes for a safer and more convenient learning experience. However, this adaptation did not solely bring convenience as numerous students and teachers encounter different challenges, and one of these is the condition of the available workplace. Several studies have proven that the environment of the area of work must always assure comfortability as this can impact an individual's mental fatigue and cognitive performance. As the temperature is among the said factors, the researchers aimed to determine the perceived effect of the thermal comfort and measured temperature level on the students' mental fatigue. Upon the evaluation of gathered data and application of statistical tools using ANOVA and correlation analysis, it proved that thermal comfort experienced by students during online class varies based on the time of the study (morning, afternoon, and evening) and based on the source of ventilation (fan, A/C units and multiple sources of ventilation). Results also showed that thermal comfort indeed plays a pivotal role in the mental fatigue of students. it depicted that measured temperature level of students during online class has a direct relationship to the mental fatigue of students specifically on dimensions such as Concentration Difficulty (r=0.482, p<0.001) Irritability (r=0.813, p<0.001), Unproductivity (r=0.402, p<0.001), and Mental Recovery from high temperature (r=0.661, p<0.001). © IEOM Society International.