Background: Toxoplasma gondii is one of the zoonotic protozoa parasites. It can prevalently infect humans and warm-blooded animals, causing human health problems and substantial economic losses to the livestock industry worldwide. Chicken is one of the potential sources of toxoplasmosis, but there is no report of the prevalence of toxoplasmosis and their genotypes in free-range chickens in Libya. Aim: The current study aims to conduct a survey of molecular prevalence and identify the Toxoplasma gondii genotype in free-range chickens and its association with the risk factors of age, gender, and region in Northeastern Libya. Methods: This study was conducted by examining a total of 315 free-range chicken organs (brain and heart) derived from three administrative districts in Northeastern Libya. The molecular prevalence was determined by PCR technique using B1 gene amplification and the Toxoplasma gondii genotype was determined by nested PCR-RFLP of GRA6 gene amplicon with restriction enzymes (MseI). Results: The overall molecular prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in free-range chicken in all three districts was 9.5% (30/315), and the highest (15.4%) was in the Al-Marj district (p =0.01; ?2 =9.238). The highest prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii by age was in chickens aged more than two years (p = 0.001; ?2 = 15.530). The difference in Toxoplasma gondii prevalence in male and female chickens was not significant (p = 0.372; ?2 = 0.798). The predominant genotype I (93.3%) had identified at position 544 bp and 194 bp at the GRA6 marker, and only two positives were from genotype II (6.7%) at 700 bp and 100 bp fragment. Conclusion: The molecular prevalence of toxoplasmosis in free-range chicken in three districts in Northeastern Libya was 9.5%, and the highest rate was shown in the Al Marj district. Chicken by age more than two years had more risk to transmit toxoplasmosis in human. There was no different infection risk by consuming male or female free-range chicken. It is the first report to determine the predominant genotype, which was genotype I.

Through the last decades, the impact of thermal comfort on the working performance of users and occupants of an indoor space has been a concern. Research papers concluded that natural ventilation quality directly impacts the levels of thermal comfort. Natural ventilation must be put into account during the design process in order to improve the inhabitant’s efficiency and productivity. One example of daily long-term occupancy spaces is educational facilities. Many individuals spend long time receiving a considerable amount of knowledge and it takes additional time to apply this knowledge thus, this research is concerned with user’s level of thermal comfort in design studios of educational facilities. The natural ventilation quality in spaces is affected by a number of parameters including orientation, opening design and many other factors. This research aims to investigate the conscious manipulation of space physical parameters and its impact on natural ventilation performance which subsequently affects thermal comfort of users. The current research uses inductive methods to define natural ventilation design considerations, which are used in a field study in a studio in the university building in Alexandria (AAST) to evaluate natural ventilation performance through analysing and comparing the current case to the developed framework. Also, the study conducts a computational fluid dynamics simulation. Results have proved that natural ventilation performance is successful by only 50% from the natural ventilation design framework, these results are supported by CFD simulation.

Education is one of the major sectors of national development. People devote their time in educational buildings which must be constructed to shelter inhabitants against any unfavorable outside conditions and to offer them a healthy, comfortable and sustainable environment. Learning and Studying is a very concentrated and complex procedure which requires a lot of mental work. Thus, it requires an area with a good quality of air flow and natural ventilation to thermally satisfy inhabitants which can possibly increase their productivity. Currently, many educational buildings have some problems with poor natural ventilation and indoor air quality. When it comes to design of educational buildings architects most commonly rely on fulfilling the functional requirements. However, for a sustainable educational environment, natural ventilation design measures must be taken into account. A healthy and comfortable indoor condition heavily depend on the design and operation of the natural ventilation system which comply on actual standards. Therefore, this paper will analyze natural ventilation design measures in Mediterranean climatic region which have an impact on airflow on a private educational building in Corte Madera, California .