Selected Online Reading on Light and Noise Pollution

Noise pollution is one of the factors that affect the quality of life of the general population, especially in urban areas, where the noise levels are often high due to the presence of numerous sources, such as transport infrastructures, activities production and commercial areas, entertainment venues and other sound sources which, although temporary, such as construction sites and outdoor music events, affect general noise levels. Even if noise is one of the oldest pollutants referred to in history, for years, the problem of noise pollution has been often considered less important than others related to the environment, such as air pollution, water pollution, and waste management.The regulations in force to contain the noise have become increasingly stringent as each individual is constantly exposed to noise and often the noise is treated just as a scourge of modern society. Making noise is becoming easier and cheaper each day, but just the opposite for controlling it. Deeper studies are needed to understand the core of current noise problems; new materials and techniques are needed to control them. This book is a combination of theory and practice based on the latest research. The studies in this book range from evaluation methods for the perception of noise and outline forecast criteria that can be integrated with applications for acoustic mapping as well as the use of innovative techniques and materials for its abatement. The main purpose of this book, organized in 8 chapters, is to provide an overview of the recent studies in this field and the applications in different research studies. The authors, contributing to the success of this book, provide a series of practical applications of their recent studies aimed at the reduction of noise in different environments. The editors would like to thank all the authors who, through their studies and research, have accepted our invitation to share recent discoveries in this field with the scientific community.

Scientific and societal concern about the effects of underwater sound on marine ecosystems is growing. While iconic megafauna was of initial concern, more and more taxa are being included. Some countries have joined in multi-national initiatives to measure, monitor and mitigate environmental impacts of ocean noise at large, trans-boundary spatial scales. Approaches to regulating ocean noise change as new scientific evidence becomes available, but may also differ by country. The OCEANOISE conference series has provided a platform for the exchange of scientific results, management approaches, research needs, stakeholder concerns, etc. Attendees have represented various sectors, including academia, offshore industry, defence, NGOs, consultants and government regulators. The published articles in the Special Issue cover a range of topics and applications central to ocean noise.

In Atmospheric Noise, Marina Peterson traces entanglements of environmental noise, atmosphere, sense, and matter that cohere in and through encounters with airport noise since the 1960s. Exploring spaces shaped by noise around Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), she shows how noise is a way of attuning toward the atmospheric: through noise we learn to listen to the sky and imagine the permeability of bodies and matter, sensing and conceiving that which is diffuse, indefinite, vague, and unformed. In her account, the "atmospheric" encompasses the physicality of the ephemeral, dynamic assemblages of matter as well as a logic of indeterminacy. It is audible as well as visible, heard as much as breathed. Peterson develops a theory of "indefinite urbanism" to refer to marginalized spaces of the city where concrete meets sky, windows resonate with the whine of departing planes, and endangered butterflies live under flight paths. Offering a conceptualization of sound as immanent and non-objectified, she demonstrates ways in which noise is central to how we know, feel, and think atmospherically.

The Phenomena study was seeking to define the potential of measures capable of delivering significant reductions (20%-50%) of health burden arising from the environmental noise of roads, railways and aircraft, and to assess how relevant noise related legislation could increase the implementation of the most effective measures, while considering the constraints and specificities of each transport mode. The project relied on a combination of policy research, consultation, health economics and environmental assessment. Using the DPSEEA framework, individual noise abatement measures were examined and their health impact quantified. A shortlist of the most effective combinations of measures were identified for each transport mode. The analysis found that an effective and EU-wide reduction of noise health burden can only be reached by a set of combined and complementary measures. Altogether 23 individual policy options are proposed. This includes six legislative changes for generic policy measures that would affect all transport modes. The remaining policy proposals are split between road, rail and aviation specific legislations. This approach follows the principle of horizontally integrating environmental issues into different policy areas. Therefore, it is suggested that the proposed policy options are developed within the context of an overarching strategy.

Noise generated by aircraft continues to be a pressing issue for society, as an increasing number of people residing in close proximity to airports make noise complaints on a regular basis. The reduction in aircraft noise is therefore a very important engineering task that would require the careful identification of different acoustic sources around the airplane, the understanding of noise source behavior and ranking along flight trajectories, sophisticated measurement techniques, and robust and accurate numerical tools aimed at predicting the generation of noise, the propagation through the atmosphere, and the resulting noise impact along approach and departure flights. For an overall assessment of the situation, it has to be assessed along entire flight trajectories rather than assessing limited operating conditions only. Furthermore, it is highly recommended to apply multiple acoustic metrics and account for different and widespread observer locations along the flight. Only then can the overall situation be adequately captured. Obviously, this is a highly multidisciplinary effort and no single discipline can address this problem. This reprint includes selected research studies with that multidisciplinary context that deal with numerical or experimental investigations that range from the investigation of specific noise sources to the assessment of noise generated by the overall aircraft in operation. Both basic and applied research studies involving the modelling and simulation of aircraft noise are included.

This study, provided by the Policy Department for Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Petitions, aims to provide a clear and simple overview to the nonexpert reader, on the Impact of aircrafts noise pollution on residents of large cities, as well as to give recommendations addressed to the most relevant actors. Noise is one of the most important problems linked to aviation. It can lead to health issues, as well as to negative social and economic effects. Examples of health issues produced by aviation are sleep disturbance, community annoyance, cardiovascular disease, and mental health problems.

This open access book provides a view into the state-of-the-art research on aviation noise and related annoyance. The book will primarily focus on the achievements of the ANIMA project (Aviation Noise Impact Management through Novel Approaches), but not exclusively. The content has a broader theme in order to encompass. regulation issues, the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) balanced approach, progresses made on technologies and reduction of noise at source, impact of possible future civil supersonic aircraft, land-use planning issues, as well as the core topics of the ANIMA project, i.e. impact on human beings, annoyance, quality of life, health and findings of the project in this respect. This book differs from traditional research programmes on aviation noise as the authors endeavour, not to lower noise at source, but to reduce the annoyance. This book examines these non-acoustic factors in an effort to help those most affected by aviation noise - communities living close to airports, and also help airport managers, policy-makers, local authorities and researchers to deal with this issue holistically. The book concludes with some recommendations  for EU, national and local policy-makers, airport and aviation authorities, and more broadly a scientifically literate audience. These recommendations may help to identify gaps for progress in terms of research but also genuine implementation actions for political and regulatory authorities.

Birgit Schmidt beschäftigt sich in diesem Buch mit den monetären Folgen, die ein Flughafen - hier der Flughafen Wien - seinem Umfeld auferlegt. Der Fokus liegt auf den Preisminderungen für Wohnimmobilien, den Gesundheitskosten und der Zahlungsbereitschaft zur Vermeidung von Fluglärm. Die hierzu verwendeten ökonomischen Verfahren werden ausführlich erläutert und die Autorin zeigt in einer Gegenüberstellung, wie diese externen Kosten aus Sicht der Bevölkerung und aus Sicht des Verursachers unterschiedlich taxiert werden.

How does the state separate music from noise? How can such filtering apparatus shape the content and form of sound production in the city? As a marker of co-presence to the hearing body, sound is always open to (or rather opens up) the politics of shared existence. In the throes of thepost-dictatorship period, Brazil's legislative and executive branches implemented a series of sweeping measures to address quality of life concerns, including environmental pollution and urban inequality. In Sao Paulo, noise control became a recurrent controversy, growing in size and scale betweenthe 1990s and 2010s. Together with the much-debated fear of crime and the socioeconomic and cultural tensions between the rich urban center and the poor peripheries, such ecological agendas against noise as a harmful pollutant have reconfigured the presence of environmental sounds in the city.In this book, Cardoso argues that the framing of specific sounds as unavoidable, unnecessary, or as harmful "noise" has been an effective strategy to organize spaces and administer group behavior in this rapidly expanding city. He focuses on two interrelated processes. First, the series ofinstitutional regulatory mechanisms that turn sounds into the all-embracing "noise" susceptible to state intervention. Second, the constant attempts of interested groups in either attaching or detaching specific sounds (musical events, industrial noise, traffic noise, religious sounds, etc.) fromregulatory scrutiny. Sound-politics is the dynamics that emerges from both processes - the channels through which sounds enter (and leave) the sphere of state regulation.

The Environmental Noise Directive (END) requires that a five-year updating of noise maps is carried out to check and report on the changes that have occurred during the reference period. The updating process is usually achieved using a standardized approach consisting of collecting and processing information through acoustic models to produce the updated noise maps. This procedure is time consuming and costly, and has a significant impact on the financial statement of the authorities responsible for providing the maps. Furthermore, the END requires that easy-to-read noise maps are made available to the public to provide information on noise levels and the subsequent actions to be undertaken by local and central authorities to reduce noise impacts. In order to update the noise maps more easily and in a more effective way, it is convenient to design an integrated system incorporating real-time noise measurement and signal processing to identify and analyze the noise sources present in the mapping area (e.g., road traffic noise, leisure noise, etc.) as well as to automatically generate and present the corresponding noise maps. This wireless acoustic sensor network design requires transversal knowledge, from accurate hardware design for acoustic sensors to network structure design and management of the information with signal processing to identify the origin of the measured noise and graphical user interface application design to present the results to end users. This book is collection in which several views of methodology and technologies required for the development of an efficient wireless acoustic sensor network from the first stages of its design to the tests conducted during deployment, its final performance, and possible subsequent implications for authorities in terms of the definition of policies. Contributions include several LIFE and H2020 projects aimed at the design and implementation of intelligent acoustic sensor networks with a focus on the publication of good practices for the design and deployment of intelligent networks in other locations.
URI

Light is essential for living organisms; however, excessive light causes adverse health conditions. This book covers the most recent progress on nanotechnology for reducing light pollution, discussing many approaches and technologies for controlling light pollution. The book explores the fundamentals of light and the causes of light pollution, delving into light pollution's social, economic, and ecological impacts, its effects on living beings and the environment, as well as possible solutions and methods of control. The text discusses smart lighting technology, covering the various smart nanomaterials, nanosensors, and nanodevices involved. It also explores smart lighting involving natural light from the sun, artificial skydomes, shadow-free/secondary light sources, and the basics of many emerging devices such as light-emitting diodes and photosensors. Nanotechnology is key to providing a new route for the next generation of lighting devices and systems with reduced light pollution. This essential reference illuminates emerging technologies and their applications, providing new directions to scientists, researchers, and students to better understand the principles, technologies, and applications of nanotechnology in light pollution.

The book includes current and emerging concepts in the area of environmental biotechnology like pollution- source, control and measurement, bioremediation, biofuels, biosensors, conservation biotechnology etc. The book includes recent studies and innovations made in this field and incorporates case studies to help in understanding the concepts.

Transportation, Energy Use and Environmental Impacts shows researchers, students and professionals the important connection between transportation planning, energy use and emissions. The book examines the major transportation activities, components, systems and subsystems by mode. It closely explores the resulting environmental impacts from transport planning, construction and the decommissioning of transportation systems. It discusses transportation planning procedures from an energy use standpoint, offering guidelines to make transportation more energy consumption efficient. Other sections cover propulsion and energy use systems, focusing on road transportation, railway, waterway, pipeline, air, air pollutants, greenhouse gas emissions, and more.

"Written at a level that is accessible to students in all disciplines, Introduction to Environmental Management, Second Edition translates complex environmental issues into practical and understandable terms. The book provides students and practitioners an understanding of the regulations, pollutants, and waste management issues that can be applied in various related environmental fields and industries. This new edition is updated throughout and adds eleven new chapters, including coverage of water conservation, water toxins, measurement methods, desalination, industrial ecology, legal issues, and more. Features: Updated throughout and includes eleven all-new chapters. Reviews the specialized literature on pollution prevention, sustainability, and the role of optimization in water treatment and related areas, as well as references for further reading. Provides illustrative examples and case studies that complement the text throughout, as well as an appendix with sections on units and conversion constants. Includes ancillary exams and a solutions manual for adopting instructors. This book serves as a complete teaching tool, offering a combination of insightful coverage, concise language, and convenient pedagogical features, and supplies practical guidance that will aid students and practitioners alike"--

Originally published in 1988, this book reviews a selection of national policies and sets them against EU (the former EEC) action or inaction to sharpen the readers' understanding of both national and supranational policies. The book is innovative in its method of studying the subject and its focus on multi-dimensional transport issues including the impact of the Common Transport Policy. The analysis is seen throughout from the consumers' perspective. The book will be of interest to those concerned with European transport studies, especially geographers, economists and planners.