Assessing human biometeorological conditions in hot summer days in a world heritage site in Hampi in India.

Heritage sites exhibit distinct microclimatic conditions compared to the nearby areas owing to archaeological activities-driven landscape modification and tourism. Such sites are also susceptible to heat stress causing health hazards to tourists and locals. In one such context, this study used data from micrometeorological measurements performed in different sites in a large world heritage precinct (Z-1 & Z-2 are two bazaar streets; one partially shaded and one unshaded respectively, Z-3 ASI modified and Z-4 riverside) in Hampi, Karnataka, India on hot summer days in April 2024.

Quantifying the potential of evidence-based planting-pattern for reducing the outdoor thermal stress from a bio-meteorological perspective in tropical conditions of Indian cities.

The impact of declined natural greenery and increased built surfaces exacerbates heat stress in urban areas causing limited usage of outdoor spaces. Greenery strategies such as trees are capable of mitigating outdoor thermal stress gain because of their phytological properties. While urban greenery guidelines have suggested the ad-hoc procedure of tree planting-schemes based on aesthetic-value, soil-water preservation etc.

Identifying the factors influencing plagiarism in higher education: An evidence-based review of the literature.

The present study explores the major reasons for committing plagiarism, as reported in published literature. One hundred sixty-six peer-reviewed articles, which were retrieved from the Scopus database, were carefully examined to find out the research studies conducted to explore the most common reasons for academic cheating among students and researchers in different disciplines in higher education. An analysis of collected literature reveals that 19 studies were conducted to identify the perceived reasons of committing plagiarism.

The importance of public participation in framing air pollution policy: outcome of a judicial review in New Delhi, India.

Setting: Air pollution, including particulate matter, causes health problems for residents of major cities around the world, including New Delhi, India. Public participation is important in framing policies related to such public health issues.

Objective: To study how the public's comments on air pollution, which had been collected on the orders of the Indian Supreme Court, influenced air pollution policy in New Delhi.

Compliance With Higher Education-Related Tobacco Control Law Provisions by Institutions of National Importance in India.

Introduction India formulated an anti-tobacco and anti-smoking law in 2003 in response to its resolutions in the United Nations' bodies. This law has been detailed subsequently to make it focussed on educational institutions, which are supposed to perform on-ground action in a decentralized manner. The first step is to put up signboards prohibiting the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products within 100 yards, the second is prohibiting smoking within the campus, and the third is implementing the law related to collecting fines from the offenders as well as the presence of vendors within 100 yards.

Indoor air quality guidelines from across the world: An appraisal considering energy saving, health, productivity, and comfort.

Buildings are constructed and operated to satisfy human needs and improve quality of life. Good indoor air quality (IAQ) and thermal comfort are prerequisites for human health and well-being. For their provision, buildings often rely on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, which may lead to higher energy consumption.

Decentralisation of the Compliance of Anti-tobacco Law in India: The Case of Higher Educational Institutions in New Delhi, India.

Introduction This paper studies the decentralised compliance responsibility of India's tobacco control legislation, called the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act of 2003, with its rules, which the government has outsourced to higher educational institutions, studied through an example of New Delhi. The study looks into the three most important parameters of decentralised compliance. Two of these require the installation of signboards by higher educational institutions, and the third involves imposing and collecting fines against persons found smoking within the educational institutions.

Analysis of urban streets and surface thermal characteristics using thermal imaging camera in residential streets of Gurugram City, India.

The thermal properties of the urban landscape are significantly affected by various human activities such as changing land use patterns, the construction of buildings and other impervious surfaces, and the development of transport systems. Urbanization often leads to the replacement of natural landscapes with impervious surfaces such as concrete and asphalt, which have a higher heat absorption capacity and lower emissivity. The continuous displacement of urban landscapes by impermeable surfaces therefore leads to an increase in urban temperatures, ultimately causing the development of the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon.

Analysis of the Indian Government's position on the use of asbestos and its health effects.

Based on WHO guidance, all forms of asbestos are a health risk. In India, the mining of asbestos has been stopped, but chrysotile (a type of asbestos) is still imported and processed in large quantities. Chrysotile is mainly used for asbestos-cement roofing, and the manufacturers claim its use to be safe.

Does the Presence of Asbestos-Containing Materials in Buildings Post-construction and Before Demolition Have an Impact on the Exposure to Occupants in Non-occupational Settings?

This narrative review aims to determine if asbestos-containing materials in buildings pose a hazard to building occupants in non-occupational settings. This paper is limited to the post-construction and pre-demolition stages of a building. The researchers selected 19 studies from the 126 studies screened, concerning exposure to asbestos fibers in non-occupational building settings, with a focus on post-construction and pre-demolition phases.

Pedagogy for Teaching Fire Safety through Design-Based Immersion of the National Building Code 2016 with Feedback from Students of Undergraduate Architecture.

This study is based on the feedback from 3-year architectural undergraduate students at a leading architectural education college in India. An undergraduate degree in architecture in India leads to a professional license to practice as an architect in India. Fire safety is also a component of the architectural curriculum, but there are concerns worldwide that architecture colleges may somehow not give the impetus fire safety education may require.

Global survey shows planners use widely varying sea-level rise projections for coastal adaptation.

Including sea-level rise (SLR) projections in planning and implementing coastal adaptation is crucial. Here we analyze the first global survey on the use of SLR projections for 2050 and 2100. Two-hundred and fifty-three coastal practitioners engaged in adaptation/planning from 49 countries provided complete answers to the survey which was distributed in nine languages - Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

Implications of a Twitter data-centred methodology for assessing commuters' perceptions of the Delhi metro in India.

Owing to the onset of the new media age, the idea of e-public participation has proven to be a great complement to the limitations of the conventional public participation approach. In this respect, location-based social networks (LBSN) data can prove to be a game shift in this digital era to offer an insight into the commuter perception of service delivery. The paper aims to investigate the potential of using Twitter data to assess commuters' perceptions of the Delhi metro, India, by presenting a comprehensive methodology for extracting, processing, and interpreting the data.

Mediation effect of diversity and availability of high transit service on transit oriented development and spread of COVID-19.

The impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues unabated. Still, it seems that apart from contact and respiratory transmission, the design and development pattern of an area does echoes to be a contributing factor in virus spreadability. The present study considers land use and transportation system parameters under TOD mode of 16 BRT station provinces in Bhopal, India, and COVID-19 cases data were collected from April 2020 to August 2020.

Post-COVID-19 performance evaluation of urban metro transit system in Delhi and influence on access mode.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been observed to affect the travel patterns, routes and traffic in public transportation systems across the world. It is important to evaluate the performance of the Delhi Metro (DM) post-COVID-19 pandemic for its successful operation In this study, the BLUE line of DM with the longest route and highest number of metro stations has been examined for performance evaluation. The performance is evaluated based on travel time components (access, egress, transfer, waiting and main haul time) to calculate various performance indicators i.

Public Health Issue of Indoor Dilution Ventilation for Disease Prevention Versus PM2.5 in Intake Air in Auditoriums of Premier Engineering Institutes in India.

Background: Dilution ventilation by enhancing fresh air intake has been prescribed to reduce airborne infection spread during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is all the more important in assembly spaces like auditoriums. Premier technology institutes have large campuses with large auditoriums for academic and cultural events in India.

Studying the Double Paradox in Air Conditioning at Indian Airports for Airborne Infection Prevention and Filtration of Harmful Suspended Particulate Matter.

Background Airports are hubs of diverse human interactions. During pandemics, they may serve as centers for the spread of airborne infection. Appropriate methods for the prevention of the spread of airborne infections must be integrated into the air conditioning systems of airports.

The Risk Status of Waiting Areas for Airborne Infection Control in Delhi Hospitals.

Background Hospital waiting areas are overlooked from the airborne infection control viewpoint as they are not classified as critical for infection control. This is the area where undiagnosed and potentially infected patients gather with susceptible and vulnerable patients, and there is no mechanism to segregate the two, especially when the potentially infected visitors/patients themselves are unaware of the infection or may be asymptomatic. It is important to know whether hospitals in Delhi, a populated, low-resource setting having community transmission/occurrence of airborne diseases such as tuberculosis, consider waiting areas as critical.

Living walls enhancing the urban realm: a review.

In the current Anthropocene epoch, globalization and urbanization have adversely affected our environment causing global warming. To counter the adverse effects of global warming, research is being conducted into many innovative technologies to identify viable solutions. This paper will focus on one such solution, Living walls and how the built form is enriched by the environmental and psychological benefits provided by Living walls.