Urban road traffic noise and annoyance: the effect of a quiet façade

Road traffic noise in urban areas is a major source of annoyance. A quiet fac?ade has been hypothesized to beneficially affect annoyance. However, only a limited number of studies investigated this hypothesis, and further quantification is needed. This study investigates the effect of a relatively quiet fac?ade on the annoyance response. Logistic regression was performed in a large population based study (GLOBE, N~18,000), to study the association between road traffic noise exposure at the most exposed dwelling fac?ade (L(den)) and annoyance in: (1) The subgroup with a relatively quiet fac?ade (large difference in road traffic noise level between most and least exposed fac?ade (Q>10 dB); (2) the subgroup without a relatively quiet fac?ade (Q<10 dB). Questionnaire data were linked to individual exposure assessment based on detailed spatial data (GIS) and standard modeling techniques. Annoyance was less likely (OR(Q) (>10)相似文献   

Citizens’ perception of the efficacy of airport noise insulation programmes in Spain

Airport noise insulation programmes (NIPs) implement active measures for reducing the amount of noise to which people are exposed without impacting the operating capacity of an airport. This is the reason why they are one of the most extended actions adopted internationally by airport authorities to fight noise in airport surroundings.Beyond the assumption that a correct implementation of the NIP will significantly reduce sound exposure, this research aims to determine the efficacy of the NIP as a result of the beneficiaries’ subjective perception in terms of satisfaction, and the reduction of the reported annoyance.A telephone survey was carried out in more than 650 dwellings in the surroundings of several Spanish Airports (Alicante, Bilbao, Grand Canary, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca). The results have shown that: (a) the beneficiaries have a generally positive perception regarding the actions implemented, (b) they are quite satisfied regarding the insulation of the façades after NIP implementation, (c) they report a reduction of the annoyance, but (d) they still perceive aircraft noise as a source of disturbance.The statistical analysis of the results has also shown that there are some non-acoustic factors influencing citizens’ perception of NIPs. Factors such as the aesthetic of windows, or the reliability and professionalism of the workers and technicians involved in the NIP, have been shown to modify people’s reaction. But, the dissatisfaction with legal aspects of Spanish regulations concerning a lower protection of some practical spaces (like, bathrooms and kitchens that have been left out in many cases) has been found to be the factor most affecting people’s response.     

Road traffic noise—The influence of the road surface and its characterization

Unacceptable errors in the prediction of traffic noise occur in some cases when the road surface is largely different from that on which the prediction model is based. The reason is that tyre/road noise has appeared to be the dominating component of the noise from free-flowing traffic and that this noise is to a substantial extent dependent on the road surface.The mechanisms for tyre/road noise generation and its relation to road characteristics are described. Relevant road surface characterization methods are suggested. The major method is the measurement of the road texture profile and subsequent spectral analysis of the profile curve. Supplementary methods concern the measurement of acoustical and mechanical impedances. It is concluded that the road surface effect on traffic noise is extremely complicated and that it is very difficult to generalize any simple relations.For free-flowing traffic it is shown that the tested road surface types and conditions may influence the traffic noise by up to 11 dB(A). This calls for a correction term for the road surface in the prediction models. Despite the complicated relations, it appears feasible—within stringent limitations—to use a table where the correction term is a variable of vehicle type, vehicle speed as well as road surface type and condition.     

Façade noise abatement prediction: New spectrum adaptation terms measured in field in different road and railway traffic conditions

The Façade Acoustic Insulation Index is one of the most disputed parameters for residential and non-residential buildings. The real performance of the façades does not often agree with the calculated one during the design stage. The field measurement sessions are usually carried out using pink noise spectra, as suggested by the International Standards ISO 717-1. In the present paper six mean spectra derived from in field measurements were proposed: urban toads, traffic lights, roundabouts, freeways, Highways, very high speed trains, high speed trains, and low speed trains. The proposed spectra were equalized against acoustic distortion and were used to measure the noise abatements in a terraced house and in a classroom façade. The highest abatements result for spectra with high levels at high frequencies, better absorbed than low ones by façade elements and frames. The spectrum adaptation terms were also calculated both for the standard and the proposed spectra and were used to predict the façade abatements in compliance with EN ISO 12354-3: the values C_j calculated from the proposed spectra provided more reliable results than the terms C and C_tr (ISO 717-1) and represent a useful tool to predict the noise façade abatements.     

The influence of sensitivity for road traffic noise on residential location: does it trigger a process of spatial selection?

People move to another house for different reasons. It is sometimes presumed that a process of self-selection might take place on the basis of noise sensitivity, i.e., sensitive people would either leave high noise areas or not move into these areas in the first place. Thus, a "survivor population" would remain in the high noise areas. This research aims to investigate whether such a process can be observed in the Netherlands. The study does not show evidence of a process of self-selection based on noise sensitivity. Nevertheless, the results suggest that noise-sensitive people are less satisfied with their living environment and are more willing to move than those who are not noise sensitive. Due to the limited sample size, external validity is limited.     

The fluctuation of acoustic field due to internal waveson the thermocline in typical shallow water

1IntroductionPartialwaterhasverticaldisplacementwhentheexternalforces,suchastheblockingeffectoftide,thefluctuationofatmospherepressureandthesurgesonthesurfacearepushit.Duetothelayeredcharacteristicsofdensity,itproducesarestoringforceindirectiontothebalanceplaceandthewavespreadingaround,whicharetheinternalwaves.Theinternalwavesarethedynamicprocessmovinginsidetheocean.Theyappearattheinferiorsurfaceofstructure-layeredarisenfromthedensitydifference[1],whichisduetotemperatureandsalinityintheocean.…     

Study on the effect of protein on drug efficacy: cefonicid sodium–pepsin binding mechanism

The mechanism of interaction between cefonicid sodium and pepsin was investigated by various spectroscopic methods and molecular docking. Cefoncid sodium quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of pepsin at pH of 2.0 to form a new complex in a 1:1 binding mode driven by Van der Waals and hydrogen bonds. The mechanism of quenching was static. The results of molecular docking indicated that the cefonicid sodium-binding site was located in the active site of pepsin. The protein binding rates of cefonicid sodium in gastric juice was calculated and the binding model was established. It is concluded that cefonicid sodium is not suitable for oral administration.     

The thermal–optical effect due to varying the angle of incidence used for designing a tunable filter in photonic crystals

Tunable devices based on photonic-crystal (PhC) structures are employed in optical sources, detectors, and filters. We present the design and optimization of a wavelength-selective tunable filter with potential applications to the wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) systems. We analyze the design of a 1D tunable photonic-crystal filter, where tunability is achieved either by changing the temperature or the angle of incidence. The device is designed in a multilayered structure of silicon/silica (Si/SiO₂) with a defect in the middle. Based on the induced variation of optical parameters introduced by an external change of temperature, we analyze the effects of these changes in temperature on the transmission of the optical filter at different angles of incidence. We show that the position of the resonance peak has a linear dependence on temperature and the square of the angle of incidence. A linear regression provides a slope of d??/dT?=?+0.06?nm/°C and d??/d?? ²?=??0.104?nm/degree² around the transmission wavelength ???=?1.55???m. We obtain the corresponding field patterns and the transmission spectra using the transfer-matrix-method (TMM) simulations. We show the ability to tune the optical properties of the photonic-crystal filter elaborated by changing two parameters: the angle of incidence for selecting the wavelength and the temperature for fine tuning of the wavelength, which can be applied in integrated optics.     

Dynamical Study of Tensor Observables in the Energy Range of 80 keV to 95 MeV: Tests of Effective Two-Body Models

 Realistic interactions are used to study tensor observables in the energy range of 80 keV to 95 MeV deuteron laboratory energy, as well as the differential cross section for the two-body photodisintegration of . The Siegert form of the E1 multipole operator in the long-wavelength limit is taken as the sole component of the electromagnetic interaction. The three-body Faddeev equations for the bound-state and continuum wave functions are solved using the Paris, Argonne V14, Bonn-A, and Bonn-B potentials. The corresponding nucleon-nucleon t-matrices are represented in a separable form using the Ernst-Shakin-Thaler representation. The Coulomb force between protons is neglected and no three-nucleon force is included. The contribution of nucleon-nucleon P-wave components to the observables is carefully studied, not only in the angular distribution of the observables, but also as a function of the deuteron laboratory energy for fixed centre-of-mass angle. Comparison with data is shown wherever it exists. Results with simple Yamaguchi-type interactions with variable %D-state in the deuteron are compared with realistic interactions and one of these model potentials is used to study the results in terms of contributions from specific wave-function components or terms in the electromagnetic operator. Effective two-body models are examined by means of a derivation that is consistent with the underlying three-body calculation and that leads to an effective two-body t-matrix for neutron-deuteron elastic scattering carrying the same on-shell amplitudes as the original three-body equations. Received September 21, 1999; revised December 23, 1999; accepted February 9, 2000     

Singlet—triplet oscillations of spin-correlated radical pairs due to the Larmor precession in low magnetic fields

Singlet—triplet oscillations in spin-correlated radical pairs have been studied at magnetic field strengths low for one radical and high for the other. Oscillations with frequencies close to the Larmor frequency ω₀ of electron spin precession have been predicted under these conditions. Both numerical and exact analytical solutions in arbitrary magnetic fields are presented for three cases of hyperfine couplings in wide-spectrum radical. For the case of unresolved spectrum, singlet—triplet evolution was found to contain a single oscillating term with frequency ω₀. In the case of one spin-I magnetic nucleus, there are two low frequency oscillating terms with frequencies ω_? = ω₀ ? ω₀/(2I + 1) and ω₊ = ω₀ + ω₀/(2I + 1), the amplitude of the first term being larger than that of the second. The case of a number of equivalent protons also has been analysed as a superposition of one-nucleus oscillations. The predicted oscillations were observed in a time resolved magnetic field effect for several radical ion pairs produced by X-ray irradiation of alkane solutions with charge acceptors. For pairs (p-terphenyl-d ₁₄)^?./(isooctane)^+. and (p-terphenyl-d ₁₄)^?./(2,4-dimethylpentane)^+. the oscillation frequency in a field B ₀ of 0.5–4mT is about 20% lower than ω₀. Oscillations were observed also in pairs with equivalent nuclei: (p-terphenyl-d ₁₄)^+./(C₆F₆)^?. and (p-terphenyl-d ₁₄)^?./(hexamethylethane)^+.     

Study of normal breast tissue by in vivo volume localized proton MR Spectroscopy: variation of Water–Fat ratio in relation to the heterogeneity of the breast and the menstrual cycle

Purpose

To investigate the alterations in water–fat (W-F) ratio of the normal breast tissue of female volunteers as a function of the histological phases of the menstrual cycle.

Methods

Image-guided volume localized in vivo proton (¹H) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at 1.5 T was carried out in the para-areolar region and the upper and lower quadrants of the normal breast tissue of volunteers (n=29; mean age 33.7±6 years) during five histological phases of the menstrual cycle.

Results

A W-F value of 0.90±0.41 was observed for the para-areolar region during the proliferative phase, which reduced to 0.46±0.21 and 0.45±0.25 during follicular and luteal phases, respectively. The value increased to 0.76±0.61 during secretory and to 0.87±0.37 during menstrual phases. No significant difference was observed in the W-F value for the upper and the lower quadrants of the breast during various phases of the menstrual cycle. However, the W-F ratio of the para-areolar region was significantly higher compared to the upper and the lower quadrants during all phases. This reflects the dependence of W-F value on the amount of glandular and adipose tissues and the heterogeneous nature of the breast.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that changes in the normal breast tissue characteristics occur due to physiological factors like menstrual cycle that strongly influences the W-F value especially the para-areolar region in a cyclic manner. Thus any assessment of breast pathology using W-F values should be carried out carefully taking into consideration the location of the tumor within the breast as well as the time of menstruation.     

Role of the Near-Surface Region of a Substrate in a Two-Dimensional Phase Transition Leading to the Growth of Single-Layer Graphene: The Pt–C System

JETP Letters - A new approach to the growth and destruction of graphene owing to a two-dimensional first-order condensation phase transition on metals dissolving carbon has been proposed and...     

A comment on Baker et al. ‘The time dependence of an atom-vacancy encounter due to the vacancy mechanism of diffusion’

Abstract

Baker et al. derived time-dependent expressions for calculating average number of jumps per encounter and displacement probabilities for vacancy diffusion in crystal lattice systems with infinitesimal vacancy concentrations. As shown in this work, their formulation is readily expanded to include finite vacancy concentration, which allows calculation of concentration-dependent, time-averaged quantities. This is useful because it provides a computationally efficient method to express lineshapes of nuclear spectroscopic techniques through the use of stochastic fluctuation models.     

Shift in elastic phase boundaries due to nanoscale phase separation in network glasses: the case of Ge x As x S1 − 2 x

Binary and ternary sulphide glasses, in contrast to their selenium counterparts, are usually not fully polymerized. This circumstance provides a means to examine the role of nanoscale phase separation effects on global elastic phase diagrams of disordered networks. In bulk Ge _x As _x S_{1 ? ?2 x} glasses, the non-reversing enthalpy (ΔH _nr) near T _g is found to display a global minimum (～0) in the 0.11<x<0.15 range, the reversibility window. Furthermore, the ΔH _nr term is found to age for glass compositions below (x<0.11) and above (x>0.15) the window, but not in the window. In analogy to corresponding selenides, glass compositions in the window represent the intermediate phase, those at x<0.11 are floppy, and those at x>0.15 stressed-rigid. Raman scattering shows floppy and stressed-rigid networks to consist of S₈, and As₄S₄ and As₄S₃ monomers, respectively, aspects of structure that contribute to a narrowing of the intermediate phase and to suppression of the ΔH _nr term in S-rich glasses qualitatively in relation to corresponding Se-rich glasses that are fully polymerized.