Abstract
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, space and ground-based observations have shown how Earth’s atmosphere has observed significant reductions in some air pollutants. Many studies, all over ...the world, demonstrated how the governmental restrictions imposed because of the spreading of the virus had positive and negative effects on the environment. In this paper, authors discuss how the levels of concentrations of some pollutants varied, in two case studies in Italy, because of the imposed lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic. The extent of the variations CO and PM
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has been evaluated by comparing data registered by local monitoring stations, related to the baseline February-May, of three different years, 2018, 2019 and 2020. In order to better assess the variation of the temporal trend of pollutants before (2018, 2019) and during COVID-19 lockdown (2020) proper physic-mathematical models have been applied to the datasets. The calibration and validation of AutoRegressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models on interesting series of CO and PM
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data complete the work.
Abstract
Currently, noise pollution deriving from traffic, industry and leisure activities is one of the main environmental problems that affect people quality of life and health. However, it is very ...difficult to quantify noise effects, because they depend on people noise level tolerance, environmental noise sources, methods of definition of noise exposure and indicators. The acoustic descriptors currently used, indeed, are hardly understandable for those who do not deal with the topic, thus limiting the comprehension of the damage caused by noise. Consequently, it is essential to provide information that is easier to understand and closer to the noise pollution perceived by people. Innovative acoustic indices, like the Harmonica Index, have been defined in recent years, to overcome the aforementioned limits. Their application to different spatial contexts, with the identification of the background and the event-based components of the environmental noise, can contribute to understand the influence of human activities on the quality of an acoustic environment. In this paper, starting from data acquired both in crowdsourcing and with traditional instruments, the application of the Harmonica Index to urban, peri-urban and rural areas in south Italy will show their acoustic characteristics that could be understood also by a non-technical public.
In recent decades, the awareness that noise pollution caused by traffic, industry and recreational activities constitutes one of the main environmental problems is growing. In order to control the ...environmental noise, many regulations propose the creation of noise maps according to standard procedures that involves the data acquisition, analysis and elaboration. In this paper, crowdsourcing noise data collection is described. It involves volunteers that can record sound pressure levels thanks to specific applications on their mobile devices, such as the "NoiseCapture" app developed in France by CNRS and IFSTTAR, and upload the measurement, with their GPS location data, on a continuously updated map. This approach mainly contributes to citizens' greater awareness about noise pollution in an urban area. Beside this mode of data acquisition, the paper focuses on the analysis of the acquired data with the kernel density estimation technique, implemented in a GIS environment. The results allows the elaboration of sound density maps, defined from the spatial and temporal point of view, that can support the appropriate mitigation actions.
Because of the increase of vehicles number, the evaluation and monitoring of road traffic noise assume a significant role for decreasing risks for human health and managing environmental pollution in ...urban areas. Noise measurements cannot be performed everywhere, or even in a large number of sites, because of high costs and time consumption. For this reasons, Road Traffic Noise predictive Models (RTNMs) can be implemented to estimate the noise levels, knowing certain parameters needed as input. This paper describes the comparison of the results, in terms of sound power level emitted by a single vehicle, obtained with the application of some Emission Models (EMs) to different simulations of driving conditions. After a preliminary comparison between the models, the evaluation of two indicators, namely the average and total source power level, will be discussed in relation to different conditions of the vehicle kinematics.
Abstract
Currently, the European Union has adopted a series of measures to combat noise problems, focusing on some key indicators, such as the daily and night level of noise. Among the possible ...actions to manage environmental noise, there are the creation of noise maps and the adoption of action plans. Noise maps are, usually, produced by modelling and simulating data relating to traffic and various activities of an area. However, in some cases, these input data are not available or it is not possible to include all noise sources in the models used, causing difficulties in the prediction and analysis of the environmental impacts of noise. In this paper, starting from the analysis of open-source software tools for data collection, noise modelling and mapping, i.e. Openstreet Map, Noise Modelling and QGIS, based on free and public licenses, a methodology for the creation of noise maps will be presented. Finally, the outputs of the application of the methodology to the city centre of the Municipality of Nocera Inferiore, in south Italy, will be the creation of noise maps characterized by the spatial representation of the main standard noise indicators.
The assessment and control of acoustic noise in every place in which humans live is usually performed measuring the sound pressure levels and comparing these results with the thresholds defined by ...regulations. The latest approaches include the possibility to consider the subjective perception of sounds, using the so-called "soundscape" approach. In this paper the authors present a practical application of this approach performed in the Campus of Fisciano, University of Salerno (Italy), with the aim to compare the physical parameters, obtained by measuring the sound level, and the psychoacoustics one, acquired by administering questionnaires to a group of students during a soundwalk. Results will show that the higher sound pressure levels will not always correspond to the more annoying places. In particular, the main park of the University campus will present a positive soundscape, even though noise from the nearby highway will be highly present. Similar conditions will occur in vibrant areas of the campus, in which the interviews will highlight a good perception of the soundscape, even with quite high sound pressure levels.
Among the most common techniques and methodologies for the analysis of the exposure to polluting agents, the definition of environmental indexes represents a very useful tool to easily describe the ...quality of the environment. Based on experimental measurements, an approach using indicators quantitatively and qualitatively describes the 'health status' of the environments. For this reason, it is considered one of the most clear and efficient tools to support decisions and actions for the competent control authorities. In this paper the development of a general Physical Agents environmental Quality Index (PAQI) describing the potential impact related to the presence of all the different physical pollutants is discussed. The result is represented by a quantity that measures a weighted combination of sub-indices relating to each pollutant and described by means of an appropriate normalized mathematical function. The main idea is to provide an indicator able to describe, in a clear and concise way, the grade of physical pollution of the environment, suggesting in which areas it would be necessary to intervene or not, in order to improve the general environmental conditions.
Abstract
Among the most common techniques and methodologies for the analysis of the exposure to polluting agents, the definition of environmental indexes represents a very useful tool able to ...describe the status of the environment quantitatively and qualitatively. In this perspective a general Physical Agents Quality Index (PAQI) describing the status of an environment in terms of presence of different physical pollutants was developed by authors in a previous work. In this paper the PAQI concept is extended from a punctual idea to a spatial analysis and a practical application in order to evaluate the potentiality of the index on a visual map is discussed. In particular, the PAQI visual map of the Campus of the University of Salerno (Italy) was redacted. The results are presented and lay down the basis for further improvements in the visual mapping and also in the calibration of the calculation of the index.
The implementation and monitoring of the urban transformations provided by the planning tools require a control by the responsible territorial authorities on the compliance of the proposed ...transformations with the technical and binding rules of the current plans. Considering the complexity of the urban and territorial scale, professionals need a tool capable of satisfying the planning, design and management needs of urban space. The large amount of data and the possibilities of managing the multiple information contained in a BIM model can, indeed, be integrated usefully and declined at higher scales than the single building one, since they can be extended from the sphere of pure architectural design to planning sector. In such a wide context, the GIS-BIM approach can represent a real shift of paradigm aimed at managing the complexity of urban processes more effectively.
Aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of specific information program on DPI use on the functional respiratory parameters in a group of 15 welders compared with 18 welders not included in the ...program and 18 workers of industrial sector. Spirometryc parameters were recorded and compared and the results pointed out a significant increase of FEV1 and FVC in the study group compared with welder out of the study while no difference were observed between study group and workers of industrial sector. Results shown that the correct use of DPI could reduce the effects of welding fumes on respiratory tract making these effects equal to the exposure to industrial dusts.
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