In tunnels, lighting not only affects visual performance, but also non-visual aspects such as drivers' physiological fatigue and mental stress. The non-visual impacts in the interior zone of long tunnels are particularly prominent as drivers are confined for a long time. To alleviate this problem, this study aims to investigate the relationship between drivers' physiological and psychological states and lighting environments. The physiological signal test system (MP150) breathing belt was used to record the changes of heart rate variability (HRV) of drivers when passing through the interior zone of a long tunnel under various lighting conditions. In particular, sympathetic indicators of physiological fatigues and the ratio of low frequency and high frequency (LF/HF) representing mental load were obtained. By analyzing the temporal variation in these two indicators, it is found that environmental luminance perception can more accurately reflect drivers' physiological and psychological states in the long tunnel than road luminance. An increase in road luminance or background luminance will result in a decrease in the mental stress, thereby reducing fatigue sense. Compared to simply increasing road luminance, mental stress of drivers decreased more obviously when the background luminance of long tunnel increased. Based on this, this paper proposed a method to regulate non-visual effect by adding contour markers without increasing light source intensity for the improvement in lighting performance, driving safety, and energy efficiency in long tunnels.

The design of bottom-overhead (or lift-up) buildings is advantageous in improving the thermal environment of high-density cities and enhancing the comfort level of occupants’ activity space on the ground floor. This study aims to investigate the impact of multiple architectural design variables on the ground floor overhead area of slab-like and tower high-rise residential buildings from the perspective of pedestrian-level thermal comfort with ENVI-met simulations and Standard Effective Temperature (SET*) evaluation. The design variables of the 25 tested models include the number of continuously arranged buildings, aspect ratio, overhead form, overhead space height, positions of overhead space enclosures, and openness degree, derived from existing overhead buildings in Chongqing. The results demonstrate that when the number of continuously arranged buildings and the aspect ratio increase, the overhead area has a more comfortable environmental state, while the overhead height is negatively correlated. In addition, when the enclosures are on opposite sides and their openness degree is 0.75–0.5, the area tends to be more comfortable. For slab-like buildings, the thermal comfort of the partial-overhead form is the worst while the semi-overhead form is relatively better. However, the overhead form has no significant impact on the thermal comfort of tower buildings. These findings can provide some suggestions and inspiration for the design of overhead buildings to create a more sustainable and livable microenvironment.

Visual fatigue is a serious issue among Chinese secondary school students owing to prolonged daily exposure (8–10 h) to visual display terminals (VDTs) in widely equipped multimedia classrooms. To mitigate such effects, this exploratory study identifies promising lighting parameters by evaluating the influence of blackboard reflection coefficients, the ratio of desktop illumination to blackboard illumination, and correlated color temperature (CCT) in a simulated multimedia classroom environment. Thirteen participants performed visual tasks (Landolt ring visual acuity tests and Anfimov’s Chart Task) under various conditions. Visual fatigue scale (VFS-10), index of mental capacity (IMC), and eye movement parameters (EMP) were used to assess visual fatigue and efficiency. Results suggest that higher blackboard reflection coefficients improved efficiency and reduced fatigue. Increased blackboard illumination alleviated fatigue at constant CCT, whereas changes in desktop illumination showed no significant effect. The highest efficiency among the tested CCT values was observed at 4700 K, while visual fatigue was minimized at 4000 K. The findings provide preliminary practical applications for minimizing visual fatigue and improving performance efficiency in secondary school multimedia classroom environments equipped with VDTs.