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The performance of thermal comfort utilising machine learning and its acceptability by students and other users at the Professor Sir Edouard Lim Fat Engineering Tower at the University of Mauritius are evaluated in this study. Students and building occupants were asked to fill out surveys on-site as data was gathered from sensors throughout the structure. The Thermal Sensation Vote (TSV) and other important data were collected through the surveys, including the effect of wind on thermal comfort. An adaptive model incorporating solar and wind effects was evaluated using multiple linear regression techniques and RStudio. Three models were used to evaluate thermal comfort, including the adaptive one. Numerous models were compared and evaluated in order to select the best one. It was found that the adaptive model (Model 1) was deemed to be the best model for its application. It was also found that Fanger's PMV/PPD (Model 2) was a very good approach to determining thermal comfort. Through thorough analysis, it was concluded that the range of air temperature and wind speed for thermal comfort was 25.830°C–28.0°C and 0.26 m/s to 0.42 m/s, respectively. In order for cities to remain secure, resilient and sustainable, it will be important to manage thermal comfort and reduce populations' exposure to heat stress (SDG 11). The achievement of income and productivity goals will be hampered if measures to protect populations from heat stress are not taken (SDG 8). Thermal regulation is also necessary for the provision of numerous health services (SDG 3).

University spaces are being created without a clear understanding of what students want and how they use informal learning spaces. This research study was designed to examine the students’ study environments to determine what aspects of those spaces are important to students. It also discovered aspects that the students did not notice but were important if they were missing. This study’s design was a visual ethnography using participant-generated photographs and text. The theoretical framework for this study was Gibson’s Theory of Affordances, which assisted in identifying the perceived and ignored affordances of the space and environment.

This chapter attempts to clarify the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between socioeconomic status and health outcomes. Former studies of this relationship have largely focused on the materialist predictors of health outcomes, examining variables such as income, access to healthcare, or quality of housing. The current study, by contrast, looks at individuals’ behaviors and attitudes, particularly in relation to physicians, and their impact on the quality of care patients receive. Using data from a sample of 64 hemodialysis patients in a middle-class suburb of Long Island, I examined the effect of comfort and ease with doctors and willingness to engage them on patient compliance. The findings suggest that patients who are more comfortable asking their doctors how they feel, and those that push for more information in general, tend to be more compliant, and therefore enjoy better and more successful patient outcomes.